Browning Books

I have read almost all of Hugo's novels and I feel he was a master beyond most as far as story telling goes. This particular books is ingenious with the various characters and the twists and turns and the tragedies and political statements. It broke my heart, while exciting me to cheer on the lead character in his efforts to right the wrongs of the parliament. I loved the characters of this books and the story line and I would strongly recommend it to any who are fans of "Hunchback" or "Les Miz" (forgive me). While I really loved Les Miz (and again, it broke my heart, as did the musical,which I thought was brilliant), this is the one that stayed with me. I read it many years ago and have a number of copies (some very old). When I bought this movie, I had no expectations, and I was amazed to see how much of the story was included. It was brilliantly produced, directed and acted. Even though it is a silent movie, it speaks volumes. I highly recommend the book and then the film. I also urge everyone to see the musical "Les Miserables" because it is all so wonderful. Hugo was a true master!

I come to the conclussion that The Man Who Laughs is the most descriptive, saddest, romantic and most beautifully written book that Victor Hugo has written. It is unfortunate that this book doesn't have the standing that Les Miserables or Our Lady of Notre Dame occupies. Also, it is a very hard to find book, specially in Spanish, which is my first language. The traduction is done extremely well (I have verified it with a Russian version I have). It is highly recommended.

This is a difficult and demanding read, but entirely worth it for those who want more from a novel. The story is of a confrontation of moral opposites set in England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, as a deliberately disfigured outcast named Gwynplaine faces a powerful conflict between the simple life of a mountebank, with the love of a pure-hearted blind girl, and the power, glamor, and corruption of nobility, with the love of a depraved, self-loathing noblewoman. Gwynplaine's disfigurement hides his true identity from all, including himself; and out of the eventual revelation of this truth, Hugo constructs a magnificent and heart-wrenching symbolic drama that is as filled with meaning as anything you'll find in literature. Again, this is not light reading, and it is not made for those who prefer to breeze through an action thriller in an afternoon.

Hugo has much to say about the destructive nature of political power, as well as the envy and injustice that conspire to keep the high and low in their respective places. The Mohawk Club of the nobility exemplifies these themes through their vicious and destructive pranks, victimizing the helpless in the name of "fun."

Hugo's contempt for the period's institutions of power is evident throughout the novel; on the wicked Barkilphedro's rise to prominence, he writes: "He had crawled where he wanted. Flat beasts can get in everywhere. Louis XIV had bugs in his bed and Jesuits in his policy. The incompatibility is nil." Clearly this is a novel of ideas, written by one who had a great deal to say and knew how to express it. Even so, I must acknowledge that Hugo's expository passages, although witty, impassioned, and eloquent, occasionally become a distraction from the story.

Hugo's style is astonishingly lofty, in a way that just doesn't happen in the present day. It is an ambitious and demanding discipline, now so far gone that we scarcely even know to miss it. As such, it may strike today's readers as unnatural and overdone; or so it did to me, at first. But by the finish, I was fully seduced into Hugo's stylistic world, and left unable to choose what to read next -- for what is there today that is even conscious of this standard of craftsmanship? I can only imagine how much of the effect of this high language is lost in translation from the original French.

If you are interested in this book, I strongly recommend the Paper Tiger edition, with its afterword by Shoshana Milgram. This afterword was of great use in understanding the book's ending, which to me was difficult; it clarified how the ending was necessitated by the novel's overall theme -- and it made the extent of Hugo's achievement that much more evident.

This is extremely well written and the story is easy to follow. The story had me smile and cry. The method that Victor Hugo collected the sections of this book is similiar to the style Ayn Rand used in writing Atlas Shrugged-my favorite book. The Man Who Laughs is one I think every Victor Hugo fan would want to read and read again--I loved it!

I read this book as a teenager, along with "Toilers of the Sea," Ninety Three" and "Hunchback of Notre Dame."
I have re-read only "Toilers of the Sea" and found it as riveting now as were all of Hugo's book then. I can't imagine a library system not containing these timeless classics or their being out of print.

This book was very helpful and comforting. I lost my "Best Friend" which happen to be my Mom!! I felt I wasn't a lone going through is grieving processes. Even thu her passing has been over a year I understand now that even thu it may be a year it many take many more years to except and that is okay!! She is ALWAYS with me. Except & listen to signs 'cause they do reach out to US from beyond.. :)

I am still in the process of reading this book. I am enjoying it and the unique way it came about. It is a group of stories from different women. Every crayon in the box has contributed to this book. Red, yellow, black, white, rich, poor, middle class, etc.

I have had different "things" happen since my mother died and truly feel they are "things" she has sent to console and reassure me that I will be okay and that she is okay.

I plan to write the author with my experiences, since my mother's death, as she collects them and hopes to put together another book someday in the near future.

If you believe in psychics, mediums, and see things "outside of the box" this book is for you.

A very intersting book relating experiences women have had after the death of their mother.

A friend told me to read this book shortly after I lost my dear mother to breast cancer. It is full of inspiring, wonderful true stories of women who lost their mothers and had signs of them being near them after passing. The most wonderful thing happened to me after I finished this book a couple of weeks after my mothers funeral. I was going to church every morning at 7 a.m. for mass every day on my way to work after she died. One morning I was sitting in my usual pew in front of the Blessed Mother statue waiting for service to begin....I looked down as I knelt to pray at the pew seat in front of me and there was a feather! It was over 3 inches long - I looked everywhere else around me - no other feathers but the one right in front of me. I believe this was a sign from my mother. Please read this book - your mother is still with you...you will always be together.

I have given this book to about four of my friends whose mothers have died. It is a compilation of stories from women of all walks of life who have experienced some sort of "visit" or sign from their mothers after their mothers have passed on. It is so interesting and so comforting. It expresses what many of my friends have experienced but hadn't been talking about. Are these visits coincidences or are we living in a dream here and the world after this is the real world? It gave me great comfort and hope when my mom died, and I continue to hear from her in so many ways.. strange bird visits.. dog visits, dreams.. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone who has lost a mother, whether they were on good terms or bad. I will continue to order this book and share it with my friends. Thanks for reading!

This book is an interesting, enjoyable, quick read. If you believe MLM is a ripoff then that will be confirmed but true believers will disagree and brand the author a "loser". I commend the author for being brave enough to hang out his dirty laundry in public but wish he had been more forthcoming with details. The effect of MLM on personal relationships is huge and these were not touched on sufficiently.

I stupidly was involved with Equinox for a few short months back in the spring of 1994, I'm embarassed to admit. A good friend of mine had gotten me into the company (he had already been involved for a few months himself at that point). I can't remember how much money I put up but I believe it was about $2,500. Anyhow, I never really made any money. I did sell some products. But my friend very quickly got a bad feeling about Bill Gouldd & dropped out (plus, it was causing problems at home & his wife was almost ready to leave him over it). I stuck around for a few months & then realized it wasn't for me.
I have only read the first 3 chapters of this book but it is an excellent read & reminds of some of the "atmosphere" of a typical Equinox office. I was located in the New Haven, CT office. I remember one of the top guys there was a young guy named Dave Campo. I wonder what ever happened to him. I now wonder if he ever made any money with the company himself. And another guy named Mario. They seemed like nice guys, who believed 100% in Equinox. Maybe they were just good liars...? I don't know. I'd like to believe that they WERE good guys who just got caught up in this "scheme" like everyone else. Hopefully they didn't lose their shirts. I remember a few other names as well, Beta, Katie, Mike...
Anyhow, I do believe the products were of good quality but it seems like the products were almost an afterthought to these people. It was all about bringing in more & more people. I would always wonder, "if I'm just bringing in more people & then they bring in more people, who is actually SELLING PRODUCTS??" Nobody ever seemed to be doing any selling.
The last thing I have read about Bill Gouldd is that he had some new seminar company. But that was back in 2003. I wonder what he is up to these days. And how much money he has left. I seriously doubt he can be doing as well as he was in the mid-90s. I still don't know what to think of that guy. Was he a good guy who let money corrupt him? Or was he a bad guy all along? All I know is he should be in jail for all the people whose lives he ruined. Whether intentionally or not. His company's principles were built on quicksand.
Anyone who was ever involved with Equinox or any of these other pyramid schemes, should read this book. And stay away from companies like these. If it's too good to be true....

In the early 90s my former wife got hooked into the NSA MLM program in Baltimore. She chased her dreams of fortune at the clip of $4,000/month for desk rental, phone rental, seminar training for herself and paying for others to attend as she tried to con them into her new world. At one point the first office had to be closed, and several senior reps opened a new office. The idiots asked me to sign the lease contract, as none of them had the money or good credit to do so. I refused, and was immediately branded an enemy. The NSA product line was soon after moved to Equinox, and the heat for new recruits was turned up.

After that who I met Bill Gouldd once in a Building Blocks seminar my former wife forced me to go to (yes, I also paid $300 to go, plus she paid again). What a smooth operator, spawned from the loins of Satan himself. I saw right through the hype. But my wife saw glamor and riches.

After that came the Journey seminars for herself and others she tried to recruit. $2,500 a crack, and she paid for these folks in the hope they would buy into her dream. I finally called American Express to advise I was no longer going to pay for her card use. It was her account, they refused to close it. I never paid another dime for her account. I hid every dime I had left after she burned through over $80,000!

I remember she did not want to pass on shipping charges or sales tax. She absorbed it, as though magically losing money was going to help her break a profit. I was all about getting new suckers in her downline, the hell with good business sense.

So much of what this book says is so true, the cult mentality was so pervasive, and the attempt to alienate new recruits from other Neg Heads permeated everything. After the former wife burned through over $200,000 (most of it conned from my own parents behind my back), and wound up all but bankrupt (my CA home was in my name, and I had my own credit and money - now I am independently wealthy due to hard work in the computer software business), she decided I was to blame (more Gouldd cult influence) and filed for divorce. Good fu@^ing riddance. She was later impregnated by some Peruvian guy who bolted out of the USA upon hearing of the pregnancy. Poetic justice. The last I heard she could not afford to pay for repairs for her BMW, left it for the repair shop to sell to cover the bill, and wound up in a rusted out Taurus from her parents.

Drawing and Quartering of Bill Gouldd would not be enough to mete out justice. Bravo for the author to have come out so clean in the end. I do not blame Bill Gouldd, or anyone else, for my rather nasty turn in life. His influence merely brought a basic fault in the ex-wife to a very costly head. I survived financially, and kept my own pride intact, but so many others were deep into a downward spiral even in the earliest days of my seeing all this going on. All in denial, the next big deal was just around the corner, just had to get to some more $eminars... Meantime get a fancy car before going totally broke, "If you can't make it, fake it." Gawd, the memories...

A cautionary tale of greed gone oh so wrong, Spellbound made me thankful that my experiences with direct marketing have all been with a company that actually wants its sales force to make money. For those of us who believe in capitalism and have done direct sales with a well-run and fair company (Mary Kay Cosmetics), this book comes as a sad surprise.
What particularly left me with respect for the author is that Styler makes no victim of himself, instead admitting his own culpability in everything that occurred; and makes no hero of himself for helping to bring down a selfish and dangerous man who gave direct marketing a bad name.
Spellbound is a readable book. The tone is confessional but without maudlin sentimentality. Pick it up when you have plenty of time to read; you won't want to put it down.

This books took a tremendous amount of courage. First to walk away
from a lot of money because Styler discovered unethical practices,
then to stand up against a $200 million dollar company and later shut
them down with his testimony...that takes character. When you read
the story, what is really surprising and interesting is how honest
Styler is. He does not make himself out to be a victim. He owns his
faults and learns from them. It is a fascinating read.

I gave this book 5 stars not because it is an easy read and certainly not because books detailing the atrocities of the holocaust "should" be given a high ranking. I rate it high precisely because of the high quality of scholarship and because of the author's insights.

I will make no attempt to summarize this detailed, complex history. I will, however, paraphrase what I learned. The Nazis entering the halls of power in 1933 were antisemitic but, despite Hitler's barely-veiled threats in "Mein Kampf", there was no plan for genocide. Also, Nazi anti-semitism stemmed from multiple roots one of which was an ingrained pattern of belief going back centuries. Another root was no-doubt the Nazi struggle with Communists in Bavaria in the 1920's and early '30's. Many/most of these Communists were Jews. Somehow--gradually probably--the belief arose that the Jews were inveterate Communists and the Communist leadership was essentially Jewsih. Here, I think, we can smell a whiff of "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

In any event, the Nazis were determined to get rid of the Jews by "humane" means and ratcheted up the pressure on German Jews to leave the country--school segregation, Stars of David, boycotts and Kristal nacht. Many left. Then came the war and suddenly millions of Jews were included in the Greater Reich. The Nazis, in their malign wisdom, decided it was necessary to compel ethnic Germans to live in or close to Germany; for Poles to settle elsewhere; and for Jews to survive as best they could. The Nazis got USED to the idea of absolutely controlling the movements and fates of millions of people although, at this point, murder was the exception.

No problem. Germany would win the war and the Jews--all the Jews--would be rounded up and exported to Madagascar. Germany, although militarily successful beyond their early expectations, couldn't defeat England...and...England controls the waves. Germany continued to gain ground--and Jews--in the East but had no military capability of shipping the Jews out. Something had to be done. Forced labor was definitely considered and, to a certain extent, was used. More radical Nazis--Heydrich, Himmler and probably Hitler--opted for mass murder rather than the use of the Jews as slaves.

The Nazi psychology is remarkable. To the extent that is possible to get into their mind-set, the "Final Solution" was incredible. Why not, indeed, use the Jews--many of whom were skilled craftsmen and scientists--for their talents? These arguments were definitely made but the exterminatists gained the upper hand. Here we see the schizophrenia inherent in Nazi circles. They came to a kind of evil compromise. Jews were worked as slaves as they were simultaneously starved to death. What kind of a worker is a starving, dying person?

Nazis responsible for Jewish labor made precisely this complaint to their superiors but, like I said, the exterminationists won the argument. Or, as one Nazi official said, "We may lose the war against our external enemies, but we'll win our war against the Jews." [!].

Still, the holocaust was not deliberately sadistic. German soldiers suffered imprisonment and even death for deliberate cruelty against the Jews and other people. Not that there wasn't plenty of sadism but this was counter to official Nazi policy. The killings, the camps, the gas chambers were meant to be cold, efficient and mechanical. Let Poles, Ukrainians, Russians and even Jews do most of the real dirty work.

There are still important questions. How many Jews actually died? I've heard figures of six to fourteen million but how were these figures arrived at. Robert Conquest, in his studies of Stalin's purges, actually studied Russian population statistics to come up with a minimum of twnety million people murdered by Stalin. Why hasn't this been done for the holocaust? Maybe it has and I'm not familiar with it.

In one sense the precise number matters only to the dead. Is a person who murders 100 people less evil than someone who murders 1,000? I doubt it.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Christopher Browning has left us with THE book written on the topic.
Highly detailed, meticulously and flawlessly researched this book presents the result of many years of careful studies.
The gradual shift in Nazi-Policies to wholescale extermination of an important part of the European population is well described and intelligently subdivided in chapters by which the author helps the reader along carefully page for page sharing his wealth of knowledge and understanding of "the inexplicable".

It is after all one very well crafted piece of research dealing with one truly important topic in human history and clearly shows, as the Nazi administration struggled along to find a "viable solution", that early naivety of both victims and on-lookers was terribly out of place. True, the Nazis took great pains to hide the truth from the population, but it is only through this book that I came to understand how they actually succeeded. The monstrosity of the crimes becomes even more perplexing by understanding the gradual shift in time and place from mass-deporting and sorrounding the victims to mass-murder. What could have been expected from a sick brain like Himmler's, who had been a large scale chicken breeder in Bavaria before?
This book is an outstanding achievement. !Principiis obsta!

This is a most commendable work from Browning, an internationally repescted Holocaust researcher who conclusively demonstrated that Hitler, while desiring of the cleansing, ie, forcible expulsion, of the Jews from German dominated Europe, in one way of another, had never decreed that the Final Solution , as coined by Himmler and his deputy, Heydrich, should end in the death camps and gas chambers.

The radicalization and escalation of measures against the Jews mostly originated from his underlings who competed for brute power in a polycratic, darwinist bureaucracy, and who sometimes paid little attention to Hitler's expressed wishes, unless they were set down as written directives.

On wonders all those counter factual arguments puit forth by the Intentionalists that Hitler, mindful of the adverse consequences (!) of a written directive putting Jews to death, was careful not to lay down a paper trail leading to him as the main culprit, when Hitler himself signed a directive for the forced euthanasia of crippled , mentally handicapped, and deformed GERMAN babies and old people (what would cause a greater outcry amongst the Germans, should a directive be found, one for disposing of thier own kin and the other of the despised Jews?).

As from 1939, Hitler, as evidenced by all the OKW/OKH/OKL/OKM dairies as well as his so called table talk,concerned himself exclusively with foreign diplomacy or his campaigns, and never gave much thought about domestic politics or internal administration, thus leaving a void for his cohorts to enagage in a free for all power grab, with to each his own interpretation of what Hitler mentioned as the end of Jewry in Europe, and each and everyone going for increasingly radical measures as justification for aggregating addtional power/authority to oneself.

All in all, this is a sad book to read of the fate and treatment of the Jews by their persecutors, tormentors and executioners, be they Germans, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Dutch, French, Italians, Russians, Slovaks, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Belgians, Greeks....

This is one of the best books on the market that explains the political development of the Holocaust inside the Nazi power circle. It provides a strong argument that the Nazis did not originally plan to exterminate the Jews in Europe, but rather export them from Germany. Browning's thesis is a challenge to the slippery slope fallacy, which suggests that just because a person steps a foot in one direction doesn't mean he'll step a mile. The Nazis clearly started out w/ a 'Final Solution' plan of sending the Jews to a place like Madagascar (which was on the table as late as the Battle of Britain), but after the invasion of Russia this 'Final Solution' snowballed into a landslide of killing Jews via gas chambers (not that the Anti-Semitic rhetoric of the early 30s were justified in any way, whether pro-genocide or pro-expulsion). The Nazis took a step in a bad direction, and then they walked a mile along that evil path. This would give logicians a nightmare.

Most people assume that Hitler ran on a genocide program in 33. This is a dangerous assumption, for two reasons: 1.) it tends to view the Nazis as a supernatural party of evil. Make no mistake, the Nazis WERE evil, but they believed themselves to be do-gooders who provided solutions to the problems the average German faces. Did the German people know what they were getting into in 1933? Sure, they were willing to view Jews as the scapegoats for the Depression, but did they hate Jews enough to kill them? This book challenges the "Hitler's Willing Executioners" theory, because although Hitler touted a Final Solution in Mein Kampf, that wasn't interpreted by him or his companions as outright genocide until 1941.

And 2.) Holocaust deniers use this fact, that the "Final Solution" in the 30s meant population dispersal rather than genocide, and then they play the "Well, if you were lied to in high school about the original intentions of the Nazis, what else were you lied to about? (hint hint, you were lied to about the Holocaust period!)" card to gain confidence w/ the unsuspecting listener, and then convert this person into a Holocaust denier. It is important that we know the facts about the Holocaust, so that the uninitiated in deep WWII history won't be hoodwinked w/ "gotcha" facts by Holocaust deniers.

The mystery of how the Final Solution became the Final Solution will never be truly solved, that is lost to history, lost within Hitler's mind. Christopher Browning explains some of the forces and events that sped the Final Solution along. Browning may be the most eminent Holocaust scholar in America today. He has been looking at the whys and hows and wheres, mainly of the executioners, where motivations are still not crystal clear. What I saw as a reader was that the road to the Final Solution was almost an organic event. Poland was the first step, ethnic German resettlement next,then the necessities of occupation and finally Russia. Not one decision, but as you will see, decisions and choices dictated by events as much as ideology. This story will carry you along with fascination, with horror, and with a chilling understanding, not justification mind you, but understanding.

I used this guide for my Word Expert exam and passed. It's comprehensive enough to double as an intermediate course in Word. Unlike other study guides, it will definitely increase your productivity in Word. That said, the authors did leave me scratching my head over at least three objectives--they have a bad habit of skimming over advanced features, like forms, for which you'll need a third-party manual to figure out properly. That certainly detracts from one's confidence. The handling of Word's graphic/drawing features is only cursory and they stop short of suggesting logical solutions that would definitely come in handy during the exam--using tables to line up graphics next to bulleted lists, for example. For something as specific as an exam study guide, this is crucial. Also, though it wasn't a problem for me, there are no practice documents provided (the small download from the Sybex site is a joke) and they fully expect you to have to hand a cache of unformatted Word documents of all varieties as you work through this book--this wastes a lot of valuable study time. A major oversight on the publisher's part.

We have used this book for over a year and have found it to be not only a study guide, but a good reference book. Our students have obtained results that we are proud of. I recommend this book if you are serious about taking you MOUS and Master certification.

I thought this book prepared me for the MOUS exam very well. The information is direct and exact. I look forward to other books by Gini Courter.

This Microsoft approved courseware is the ticket to achieving certification in either the core or expert Word 2000 exams. This book covers everything from using styles and templates to creating macros and generating reference documents. The information is clearly explained, logically sequenced, and surprisingly concise! You will find a comprehensive list of Mous objectives needed to pass the exam, and advice on how to best prepare for the test. No matter what level user you are, working through the exercises in this book will give you the confidence and know how you need to breeze through the exam. Even if you think you are a proficient user of Word, after reviewing this study guide you will likely find that the methods you have used are neither the most efficient, nor the most effective. Thus, I would recommend this book simply as a tool for improving your Word skills, regardless of whether professional certification is your ultimate goal.

After reading this book cover to cover and doing the hands on excercises, I passed both MS exams. If you know everything in this book, you KNOW Word. I wish every Office 2000 application had a Study Guide from these authors.

Marie Browning has the Midas Touch when it comes to crafting. On my most cerebrbally challenged "daze" (I have a huge family, toddlers under three!) I can go to any of her books and choose a project that is both challenging and creative, add my own panache and have soemthing that is uniquely "Alouette." Look at her basic pocket accordion book! She has two different examples (business card and stamps) that give way to more inspiration. She is elegant, she is whimsical. Some of her ideas are very masculine, others are delicate and lady-like. (Crafters often get stumped when coming up with ideas for guys-- she has no shortage of masculine ideas!)

I have not yet started my project, but am confident that this book provides good instruction. The pictures are great, and helpful for sparking new ideas. The instruction is detailed, and there a variety of different techniques displayed. I would have liked a list of sources, instead of just "available fine art stores", but overall this was a good purchase.

I had bought another book in Amazon about scrapbooks and journals and even if it had good pictures of the final projects it lacked photos of the different passages. I have Browning's book now and really you can't go wrong. DIfferent techniques, plenty of explanations, great ideas from the simple "messages" note pad to the more complicated seeds book! I can't wait to try her ideas that I consider as a starting point for my own creativity!

I think this book is an excellent start for beginners. I have never made anything before (book, album, etc.) and once I read through the book one time I was able to make an open spine book in one day. Instructions and photos are great.

Of all the manuals that I have seen on handcrafted books, Marie Browning's is the absolute best! Her instructions are precise and easy to follow. She sets out a basic formula for making a book and goes individually through each material necessary. She illustrates the spectrum of materials that can be used for different parts of the process. A must-have for book artists!

Heard this story as a child from my grandparents who were on German background. This story is just like they told it. Beautiful illustrations complete the story that swirled in my head so many years ago!!

Ok.I HAVE NOT READ THIS BOOK.I hope that you don`t hurt my reviews for this,but in a way,I HAVE read this book.I am in this play,so I have read this script.And since the play is going to be on Saturday,(5th) and Sunday(6th) and also for the next weekend,I have to read this script over and over and over again.I think that this book is a very good book.In the play I am Miss Applebee but I think that this book is very good it must be.

When I was about seven-years-old a family member gave me a recording, (78s) of the Pied Piper of Hamelin narrated by Ingrid Bergman. As I listened, I could see the characters in my head and never tired of the story.

A month ago I bought the book for my eight-year-old granddaughter who lives about eight hundred miles away from me, because I was afraid with the passing of one more generation, the story might be forgotten.

It is a lovely book, written by Robert Browning more than a century ago. The drawings are perfect, given the dated language used in this book. And the story has a simple message, about honoring our promises.

Sadly, my granddaughter glanced at the book and was clearly not interested. I wanted to read it with her, intending to make clear the English used by Browning.

So, a tale almost twelve hundred years old bit the dust, at least in our family it did.

But if you are a lover of this fable, it is worth your time to try it out on the children in your family. They will be the richer for it.

This book would be a wonderful treasure for the pictures alone. Kate Greenaway, noted children's illustrator, has created a magical world of beautiful children, innocent faces, and romantic, nostalgic costumes. The colors on these pages are breathtaking, and the details (although Greenaway is always faulted for not drawing hands and feet well) are superb. This story is not for very young children, as it contains some troublesome themes. For the older child, perhaps 7+, the story might provoke some interesting post-read family discussions about honesty, trust, and the actual state of the children at the end of the tale. This is even a beautiful book to give to adults, as the messages about human nature can be appreciated on a deeper level.

"Rats!
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women's chats,
By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats."

Robert Browning (1812-1889) first published his poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin, A Child's Story" in 1842, based on an old German legend which may or may not have had some basis in historical fact. Browning was a serious poet; even in a poem filled with playful rhymes written specifically for children, he did not "dumb down" his language, but expected his readers to do a little work in understanding some of his "big words."

Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) was one of the most famous and popular illustrators of children's literature in the latter part of the 19th Century. She had grown up loving Browning's poem, and shortly before his death she requested and received his permission to republish it accompanied by her own illustrations. This edition was initially published in 1888 under the imprint of George Routledge & Sons, which was at that same time in the process of splitting between Routledge and Frederick Warne. Starting in 1889 all subsequent editions carried the Warne imprint. The book continued to be popular, and Frederick Warne has issued reprints from time to time, well into the late 20th Century. This Warne edition is not in print at present, but used copies with various reprint dates are available from Amazon Marketplace sellers.

However, two different reprint editions are currently available, each with the complete original text and illustrations, and each presented with loving care from an eminently respectable publisher, in well-made but modestly priced editions. The Dover reprint (ISBN 0486296199) is full-size, in a sturdy paperback; the Alfred A Knopf/Borzoi/Everyman's Library reprint (ISBN 0679428127) is part of their Children's Classics series, in a very sturdily constructed hardcover with sewn sections that will not crack with use, but the page size is somewhat smaller. Both are beautiful books, and either is an excellent value.

As noted in the Editorial Reviews above, there have been other editions of "The Pied Piper," with different illustrations, and at least one seems to have been issued with the poem itself "retold" to make the language simpler; neither of those reviews is discussing this original version. Some readers may prefer one or another of these different versions. But anyone wanting to stick with Browning's original full text and Greenaway's original charming, muted and subtle illustrations should choose between the Dover or the Everyman's, or visit Amazon's Marketplace sellers to look for a copy of the Frederick Warne.

Browning turns the mystery of the Wild West into modern day mayhem. Transforming Penny Mackenzie from a lackadaisical reporter to a new age Calamity Jane with style, grace, and downright stubbornness. Pat Browning strikes gold with this new series. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us next!

Cindy Daniel, author of DEATH WARMED OVER--COMING SOON
October 2003/Quiet Storm Publishing

I loved the book. There may be a little prejudice in that statement, since Pat was one of my favorite classmates at Moss high school in Oklahoma. I liked the story line. I loved the fresh comments and her style of writing. The only problem I had with the book, and that can be blamed on my short term memory, was so many characters in the beginning for me to remember. I had not seen nor heard from this lovely lady in a number of years until she began publishing. Pat, I loved your book and wish you multitudes of sucess in your next books.
Harry Shumard

Author Pat Browning's literary hero was John Steinbeck, who won the Nobel Prize for literature. Her esteem for him and her careful study of his style is reflected in the characterization of her heroes, heroines and villains. The book reads well and is worth reading for its ties to the master.

The rural, hometown personalities of Pat's characters really sparkle. Quirky and real, the dialogue only adds more charm to the story.

I believe the town of Pearl exists in pockets as Anytown, USA. Pat has a real flair for capturing the tell-it-like-it-isness of the folks. I think she must have known my Grandmother!

The mystery is twisty-turny, too, just the kind I like. I learned clues along with Penny MacKenzie, leading to a satisfying and logical end.

It's just the sort of book that goes with a cup of tea and a languid afternoon.

Penny Mackenzie is the Lifestyle Editor for The Pearl Outrider - the local newspaper for the small town of Pearl. Her friend, Maxie Harper, reporter for the Outrider, talks her into a late night stakeout. Although a tip that local eighth graders are worshipping the devil and doing human sacrifices turns into nothing more than a pot party, the discovery of a skeleton in a nearby cotton field, throws Pearl into a frenzy of secrets, lies - and murder. Penny finds Maxie's body during an event put on by the Chamber of Commerce. Dinner in the Round is a progressive event that takes the participants to several locations for different parts of the dinner. However, Maxie's progress is ended permanently - at Egg Foo's Bar and Grill.

Who killed Maxie Harper and why? What does the book, Pearl, The Little Town That Gold Built, written by Dabney Brewster, a retired English teacher and the town's local historian, have to do with her death? And whose skeleton has been hiding all these years in Digger Pott's field?

As these questions swirl around Penny like crazy birds trying to find a place to land, Pearl's unique citizens create more questions than answers while a long lost love interest pops back into Penny's life, complicating matters even more.

In this stunning debut series novel, Pat Browning has created a wonderful protagonist and surrounded her with interesting side characters. Penny and Pearl hold the promise of many more intriguing adventures. Browning's writing is professional and flawless and the story is engrossing, with just the right touch of suspense and humor.

This is a winning cozy - from an exciting new author. I'll be watching for the next book in the series - and the next - and the next....

I give FULL CIRCLE my highest recommendation!

In my own opinion, Elizabeth Barrett Browning at her best and most seductive; lie there reading them in bed and let them ravish you! To read them, so intimately sweet as they seem, is almost to feel EBB herself there, her small form snuggling happily in your arms. Of course nobody would have known better than EBB herself what dulcet love songs these sonnets were, since she had never intended them for publication. They were secret, often quite confessional, love poems she wrote about her Robert while he was courting her, all unawares, and then for awhile after their marriage, in which they continued carrying on as two of recorded history's most passionate lovebirds.

It was only after Robert Browning somehow discovered and read them that he managed to convince EBB that they were really too good not to be published. He was right, of course. Even so, Elizabeth was sensitive enough about the matter to want to screen the work off under a somewhat misdirecting title. SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE might hope to create a casual impression that they were foreign translations of some mysterious sort ... which, of course, obviously they aren't, but who's philologically analysing; read and enjoy!

In fact, the name settled on was a mere lover's in-joke. Because of her somewhat exotic looks and olive-colored skin, Browning's pet name for EBB, other than the baby-talk "Ba," was "my Portugese;" hence the title. The collection was tremendously successful and deservedly so, and this edition of it, gorgeously illustrated, is very nice indeed.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote these sonnets for her husband and fellow poet Robert Browning. She is capable to move and haunt without saccharine kitsch & schmalz. Her sincerity and intensity are an example to everyone who wants to write poetry or song lyrics. Two thumbs up!

This book of sonnets and poems is just wonderful. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's writing is able to get to the very heart of the reader with honesty and beauty. This collection really speaks to the romantic soul with passion and truth. I find her writings to be incredibly moving and this volume touched me deeply.

These sonnets ease my tension when I read them.

My ex girlfriend, Ashleigh, gave this to me years ago, before she was forced by her family to marry this guy. Long story but she sent this book to me and signed the inside.
Next to Shakespeare, this is the most bittersweet and poetic
poems of love that I have ever read.
It was said that a husband and wife team wrote these so one can only imagine how passionate their marriage was, huh?

The book is very sweet but will have value for a small audience, fathers with little girls or Elvis fans

We gave this book to my three step-daughters for Christmas and they all were overwhelmed with emotion. It is a wonderful testatment to the bonds between a father and a daughter especially when there has been a divorce. It is a keepsake and a reminder of the love shared between parent and child. Even if that father had to be a "weekend dad". Something they will cherish long after we are gone. The song while being played and reading along is very, very heartwarming and emotional. I cannot listen to it without tearing up, and that is a very good thing.

There just aren't that many books that let a father convey these kind of feelings for his daughter. Great book.

We all know the lyrics, but in a different context. This beautifully illustrated book made me cry way before I got to the end.

This would be a perfect gift for a single father with a daughter, as all the illustrations are a man and girl together, but any child would love to hear this book read (or sung...you can't help it!) to them by anyone. Father, Mother, Aunt, Grampa...doesn't matter.

My father died when I was 15. I look for books to read with my children that have words that they will keep their hearts forever if anything ever happens to me or their dad. This will be a book we'll sing together for a long, long time. I can't recommend it enough.

Illustrator, Tom Browning, puts a new twist on an ELVIS classic love song. Never before has this song meant anything other than a dedication from a lover to another. But now, this book brings to life in a unique way the emotional bond between a father and his daughter.

Rich colors and sweet, sensitive facial expressions bring the lyrics to life in an extraordinary way as we see the many ways a father shares special moments with his daughter, from ice skating, feeding ducks on a pond, bundling up in the fall breeze, and blowing out birthday candles on a special cake.

Share this one with your little one, your father, or your grandfather. An absolute TREASURE of a book. And the cd of the Elvis is even included in the back!