Bryant Books

John Bryant presents many ideas in this book which, if implemented, would bring about strong pressure for reform and restoration of Constitutional government. Most of these ideas are implemented on a local basis from which it would grow larger and connect with other local communities, eventually connecting into a national phenomenon. Some of these ideas have already been implemented in some communities in the U.S., so it is proven that they work. However, in order for it to become a national force for change, these ideas need to be repeated many times upon many times, in communities all over the U.S. Before I read this book, I was quite cynical about our nation's future as it seemed like there was nothing one could do to change our course. After reading this book, I am invigorated with new hope and ideas and am confident that these ideas, if implemented in communities all over the U.S. will bring about a peaceful revolution. Let's get to work!

John Bryant presents many ideas in this book which, if implemented, would bring about strong pressure for reform and restoration of Constitutional government. Most of these ideas are implemented on a local basis from which it would grow larger and connect with other local communities, eventually connecting into a national phenomenon. Some of these ideas have already been implemented in some communities in the U.S., so it is proven that they work. However, in order for it to become a national force for change, these ideas need to be repeated many times upon many times, in communities all over the U.S. Before I read this book, I was quite cynical about our nation's future as it seemed like there was nothing one could do to change our course. After reading this book, I am invigorated with new hope and ideas and am confident that these ideas, if implemented in communities all over the U.S. will bring about a peaceful revolution. Let's get to work!

Bryant starts this book by telling us that he does not believe there is any such thing as truth. Furthermore, if there is such a thing, it is confined to descriptions of the state of one's own mind. From this initial solipsism, the book quickly heads down hill. Who the heck cares about Bryant's fantasies, which don't have any claim to truth and aren't interesting enough to be fictions!

An example of the tedium that fills these pages -- Bryant wants us all to know that Hustler magazine once stole a joke from him. "Well, sue them if you'd like but leave me out of it," will be the response of anyone outside the circle of the author's immediate friends and family. And a good response it will be.

Don't waste one dime, or a minute of your time, on this volume.

I totally LOVE this book! It's one of the best Saddle Club books ever! Another one of my favorites is Hobbyhorse, you should try that one, too.
The storyline is that the Saddle Club all make New Year's resolutions. Carole's is to eat less junk food, Stevie's is to be nice to a brat named Veronica, and Lisa's is to learn embroidery. The Saddle Club gets into quarrels about their resolutions, too. They also have to call a weirdo nerd boy named Simon and get him into Horse Wise, which is in jeopardy.
I love this book and all of the other Saddle Club books! You should read this book!

THE SADDLE CLUB #62: HORSE BLUES

WRITTEN BY: Bonnie Bryant
COVER ART BY: Paul Casale
PUBLISHED: 1997
PUBLISHED BY: Skylark
PAGES: 150
...
EXTRAS: A summary for The Saddle Club #63: Stables Hearts.

SUMMARY:
The girls in The Saddle Club are making their New York's resolutions. That's the easy part. Keeping them ill be another matter! Can Stevie really be nice to Veronica diAngelo for a whole month - especially when the snobby girl is showing off all the expensive loot she got for Christmas? Can Lisa learn embroidery to make her mother happy? And how can Carole give up junk food when her dad is always making delicious buttery popcorn to eat during the old movies he loves to watch? To keep themselves on the right track, the girls have made a bet. The first one to waver from her resolution must pay a price - and it won't be peasant!

COVER ART REVIEW:
This is one of the most boring covers. (One would think I would like a cover with Lisa being buried in snow.) The cover is so boring; I put off reading the book for a while. Of course, after I read the book, the cover seemed fitting. The horses are just two copies of each other and look like they were tossed in there at the last minute.
OVERALL: PINK. It's a boring and dull cover, but at least it's a scene from the book. And Lisa is being buried in snow.

BOOK REVIEW:
This book was a struggle. This book is the worst of the New Year books (Purebred and Horse Fever). Too little horses, too much embroidery. Lisa proved what a *itch she is by running away from Simon. Didn't she learn anything in Gold Medal Horse? Mrs. Reg's was so painfully obvious that I'm starting to doubt Lisa's intelligent. Carole is absent minded and Stevie never pays attention to anything. But Lisa? ...
OVERALL: WHITE. A filler book, but Veronica (who I really, really love) adds color to the book.

When New Years comes around Carole, Lisa, and Stevie make resolutions to each other. But they find out just how hard it is keeping so easily made ones. I liked this book because it showed just how strong friendship can be and just how hard it is keeping a resolution when you don't know for sure what really fits under the catigory. It teaches you not only about friendship but also about to make to right resolutions. An A+ for another winner.

"Quartet for the End of Time" is a 20th century classic, but hardly an item that most children would relate to. The music demands sophisticated listening for most adults, though like any music a listener may choose just to daydream with or without Messiaen's own descriptive commentary. The children's storybook format is charming on its own, though the depiction of a POW camp is heavily sugar-coated. "Schindler's List" this is not! "Music for the end of time" hardly evokes the brutal harmonies or mystic vision of the actual music, but might just get someone started down the path to exploring a composer well worth discovering, especially in this [2008] his centennial year.

This story is based on the experience of Olivier Messiaen, a Christian French composer. In 1941, he is detained in a German prison camp, but he is granted permission to play a piano and compose his music. A German officer leads him to the piano and he eventually becomes inspired by the song of a nightingale, which he translates into a sonata. Two new prisoners arrive carrying their instruments in cases and before long, voila!-- chamber music for a camp concert in front of 5,000 prisoners. The camp is described as desolate, and the first illustration does show a dejected line of khaki-clad prisoners being guarded through the gates by German guards and a dog. The prisoners are sent to their barracks where they receive non-striped khaki uniforms and mattresses made of straw, but the lovely pastel illustrations down play the harshness of the surroundings. There is no Jewish content.. The now-famous piece Messiaen composed there, is: Quartet for the End of Time. For ages 8 and up. Reviewed by Marcia Posner

Music for the End of Time is a children's picturebook based on the true story of French composer Olivier Messiaen, who was captured by the Germans during World War II and sent to a prison camp in Gorlitz (now part of Poland). Despite the bleak living conditions, he received the gift of a small miracle - the opportunity to write music again. With the aid of three fellow musicians also taken prisoner, the song of a beautiful nightingale, and the permission of a German officer, he was able to compose and play the now-famous "Quartet for the End of Time", in a performance appreciated like no other by his fellow prisoners. The emotionally touching pastel illustrations add the perfect quality to this simple story about keeping hope alive in the darkness.

I checked this out from the library, looking for inspiration for an upcoming party. I have been disappointing by over-the-top books that purport to tell us how to decorate for a party... IF that party is at our country home in Connecticut, or at our Manhattan loft! Well, I have neither, just a VERY small condo in Seattle. This book has lots of clever ideas for making use of small spaces, mismatched tableware, and other things that "normal" people have in their homes, or can borrow from friends. For example, there are some great ideas for using the wooden "TV trays" that many people have. Also good ideas for using inexpensive color overlays, mini lights, and different levels on tables to liven things up.

I didn't find this book a bore at all. I loved it!

I was very dissapointed with this book. First, the concentration focused more on center pieces than table settings. It also had some very strange chapters. Example: How to set TV trays. Like I really need to know this? The book also strayed from the subject and focused too much on decorating your home for the holidays.

I do not think that this book was worth the investment. It also failed to give any new "funky" or modern ideas on how to deecorate tables and that's what I wanted.

I loved this book. It is a fresh approach to decorating a table with plenty of unusual ideas. Admittedly it is not primarily about table settings as in "where-does-which-spoon-go-and-how-many-do-I-need-anyway", so the title of the book might be misleading to some people (I bought it in the store and was able to thumb through it before).

Instead it gives you an abundance of suggestions on how to achieve an individual and unique look for any occasion you might have in mind. Yes - there is a page on TV trays in there, but it is rather general, and just another "table" in the eyes of the authors (ok, I admit that even I didn't need THAT).

The book is arrranged by topics like dinnerware (the authors encourage you to mix and match freely), table coverings (vintage, quilts, any fabric, bare wood - you name it), how to present the food on the table nicely and appealingly, and last but not least the book shows you different and complete table decorations for all kinds of seasons and occasions. In addition to beautiful and very professional photographs of the varius decorations, the reader is offered alternatives to each of those settings. For example one decorating idea uses flowering witch hazel, but you may also use weeping cherry, or Bradford pear instead.

The centerpiece idea for a winter table is awesome and worth the book in itself - they suggest making a luminary of ice filled with twigs and red berries, and to put a candle in it - step-by-step instructions are of course included.

One word of caution: If you are looking for suggestions on formal or traditional decorating ideas, this book is not for you. It is geared towards people who would like to achieve highly personal and unusual, yet tasteful table settings (as in decorating). It is about pairing unusual things, e.g. bundling asparagus and displaying the bundle as centerpiece, and most importantly it is about freeing yourself from the notion that only a table setting with matching china and a traditional layout can be stunning and successful. My tip: Try it and see for yourself!

And I thought the new TB books were bad. Yuck. Mrs.Bryant did so well with #74 but then she just went back to her own riding style. I don't know about the rest of you but I"m more interested in real horses, not fake ones. I've always hated Stevie and this book just proves that not everyone is a great writer. I

When Stevie's class goes on to a trip to NYC, they have to write an 8-page-paper on an oject from the Metropolitan Museum Of Art. Stevie slips away from the class and meets a mounted police officer. She also rides the Central Park Carousel 10 times. I can't believe she did that! She slips away again the next day. When her teacher gets hurt and she saves she regrets what she did. Stevie is such a daredevil!

I can't tell you what happens next, but it is soooooooo good! Please read! (Stevie is NOT a horrible character) WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GET GOING!

In this book, Stevie rescues her cousin Angie's sweet 16 party, and she get's Angie back to riding her horse, Sparkels! When I read the part about a blizzard (snowstorm), there was a recored setting blizzard where I live! Meanwhile, Carole and Lisa are training Samson, and he just won't behave. Will they get him to behave? What will Stevie do to to rescue the party?I call this a must have!

In this book, Max decides to move the colt Samson to another barn to benefit his training. Lisa and Carole are heartbroken and set about trying to prove that Samson belongs at Pine Hollow. It seemed kind of neglible that he kept letting the girls (who didn't know what they were doing) work with the colt. That's how bad habits get started. Meanwhile, Stevie is visiting her cousin Angela. Angela used to be horse crazy, but now all she can think about is her Sweet Sixteen party, and she's a cheerleader! Can Stevie salvage her visit, even when weather threatens to ruin the party?

This book was okay,but not wonderful.I thought Carole was being sort of unrealistic thinking that she and Lisa could train Samson all by themselves.They're only what,12.You can't be the perfect trainer when your 12.Other than that this book was pretty good.

The author covers every aspect of the battle but only glances over most information with a page or 2 when I would have really liked a lot more. There are only about 30 pages on the actual battle (many pictures take up a lot of space) I wish he had written twice that amount of information. The information given is excellent, but like I said I just wish there was more. It does read a bit like a high school text book which can take away the emotion from the reader.

This book is almost the only treatment of this battle available in English unless you want to buy an out of print war game on ebay or a set miniature rules. Like most Osprey books you will find a formula presentation with workman like but not inspired writing. Osprey battle studies are utilitarian at best and his one fits the mold. Illustrations as always are excellent.

When I read this book, I knew nothing about the period except what I had learned reading "Shogun". This book led me to go out and read further on the topic. Anthony Bryant does an excellent job of not only describing one of the most decisive battles in Japanese history, but also giving the background to understand it. He takes an very complex situation and makes it understandable. He even points out which people were the inspiration for which characters in Shogun!

The description of the battle itself is the core of this book and the author does a first rate job on this. Following the standard Osprey Campaign book format, he describes the opposing commanders (a fascinating topic in itself!), the opposing armies (this was a transition period with gun-armed troops fighting side by side with sword-wielding samurai) and the opposing plans before describing the battle. Unlike many books, however, he follows up with what happened after. The action is greatly aided by a series of maps which go a long way to making the complex events understandable.

Although the book is only 96 pages long, it provides a very satisfying introduction to the period that saw the end of internecine warfare and the reestablishment of the Shogunate. Please note that at present at least (July 2003), there are two identical editions of this book available on Amazon.Com at two different prices. So check around!

THIS STORY TAKES ME BACK TO MY TEEN YEARS, WHERE EVERYTHING WAS AN EMERGENCY AND SO VERY IMPORTANT. TEEN YEARS AND YOUNG ADULT YEARS ARE PROBABLY THE MOST ROMANTIC AND THE MOST TRYING YEARS OF OUR LIVES.

MANICA BRYANT HAS CAPTURED THE TRUE-LIFE DRAMA OF TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS ALIKE. SHE GIVES THE READER A BIRDS-EYE PEEK AT WHAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE GOING THROUGH THESE DAYS, DURING ONE OF THE TOUGHEST TIMES OF THEIR LIVES. THE CHARACTERS SEEM SO REAL AND THE SITUATIONS ARE BRUTALLY GENUINE.

I HOPE ALL TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS PICK UP A COPY OF THIS BOOK. YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH THE CHARACTERS AND MAYBE...JUST MAYBE...YOU WILL FIND A LITTLE BIT OF YOURSELF WITHIN THE PAGES.

GREAT JOB MANICA! LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT BOOK!

REVIEW BY BARBARA GROVNER
AUTHOR OF "EVEN NUMBERS" AND "WE BELONG TOGETHER"

Growing up, Shona was abused and mistreated. She lost her husband to an accident that she has not quite gotten over. Now in a new relationship, Shona wants the love she had with Tony, her husband, but feels that Kareem does not express the same feelings. Kareem makes several mistakes with Shona but she forgives him and they are determined to make it work. Her desire is to find love in her family and her relationship with Kareem.

Shona's sister, Destiny, is a married mother of one. Despite her loving husband and child she is very ungrateful and not willing to make sacrifices needed to make her marriage work. Destiny finds herself stuck between a rock and hard place.

Carmen is the youngest sibling and is fed up with her mother's constant verbal and physical abuse. However, Carmen has a boyfriend, Robert, who is just as abusive as her mother. Carmen leaves home to avoid her mother and goes to her sisters, Shona and Destiny, for support.

"So Much in Love...Addicted" by Manica Bryant chronicles the lives of three sisters, victims of abuse, as they search for love. It was a very fast read and I recommend this book to all youths transitioning into adulthood.

Reviewed by: Tekisha

Manica Bryant brings us the story of three sisters each with their own issues. First, we meet Shona who once had it all in a loving husband that she lost in an accident. Shona has moved on to be with Kareem. Feeling the effects of an abusive childhood with her mother, she accepts his childish ways all in the name of love. Shona is searching for something that only she can provide see if she is able to find self love.

Destiny is the middle child who has a loving husband and a six-month-old daughter. Destiny is so happy to be out of her over bearing mother's house that she has her priorities all screw up. See if she is able to grow up before her husband is fed up with her childish ways.

Carmen is the baby who is stuck at home and left to deal with their mother antics. Carmen is the typical teenager not shown enough love at home that she goes out in the world looking for love in all the wrong places. See if her older sisters can steer her in the right direction even as screwed up as they are.

Manica brings us a coming of age story that all teenagers and young adults can pull something from. Manica tells a story that I think all can relate to on some level. We were once all in these young girl's shoes on one level or another. Whether we had the love at home or not, at some point I think most girls start smelling their selves as the older generation calls it. This family is dysfunctional on many levels but there is a lesson to be learned here. I recommend this book to the younger generations.

SiStar Tea
ARC Book Club Inc.
4 Star Rating

Considering the ripe market for Xena-Warrior-Princess-type juvenile fiction, it is rather astounding that SONG FOR A DARK QUEEN has never been reprinted. With a sleek new cover a la Keira Knightley from "King Arthur" and a small publicity push, this novel would do quite well. Not only is this story more plausible than those found in the usual girl power paperbacks, it is rooted in historical fact.

This is the story of Boudicca (Boadicea), the Iceni queen who led the revolt that very nearly ended the Roman Empire's domination of Britain. It is told in the first person by Cadwan, harpist to the queen, who loves Boudicca without being blind to her faults. Because of his position within the royal household, Cadwan possesses an intimate knowledge of the Iceni's last queen and an understanding of her greater than anyone in the tribe besides only that of Boudicca's nurse Rhun.

As a character, Boudicca is aloof. She is tragic, noble, and fearless in a manner very similar to Tolkien's elves. Rosemary Sutcliff gives Boudicca four very human moments: one as a young girl trailing after her father's war host, one as a young bride, one as a new widow, and one as a fallen queen being brought home after her final battle. The author reveals just enough to prevent her from becoming a cold cardboard figure, but Boudicca is always encircled with the mystique of legend, distanced from everyone else in the tale. In contrast, Cadwan is warm, though reserved, with an unflinching devotion to his queen and a heartbreaking bond with her doomed youngest daughter Nessan.

The plot is fairly simple: The free tribes of Britain want to remain free under Roman occupation, and the Roman forces want their complete submission. The narrative would be flawless if it weren't for the letters of Gneus Julius Agricola, which first appear a third of the way through the book. This device was probably designed to supply certain historically details unavailable from anyone belonging to the Iceni, and although the Roman perspective does provide a greater background and prevents the story from being completely one-sided, it is more of a jarring interruption than a useful addition. These letters are set apart with a border and can be easily skipped without losing anything.

SONG FOR A DARK QUEEN is closely akin in style and content to THE EDGE ON THE SWORD by Tingle, and it is a story that fans of Tamora Pierce's lady knight series or legends of old Britain such as Springer's Rowan Hood series could really sink their teeth into. Also, recommended is SONG FOR ELOISE by Sauerwein and PEREGRINE by Goodman.

I hope that every histprical fiction fan gets around to reading this great book! It's got a touch of everything that it needs to have, and it really gets to you. it's ending will leave you changed, and you'll most likely want to read it again. This is a good book that deserves more popularity that it gets; too bad it's out of print!

I was drawn to this book, its armed queen gazing darkly at me from its cover. The plot focuses on the real Queen Boadicea (or Boudicca) who fought the invading Roman hoardes in Britain in 62 A.D. Told from the perspective of Boudicca's faithful harper Cadwan, the story follows the young queen from her birth to her death at the hands of the Roman hoards. It is a dark story, filled with images of bloodshed and violence.

The book was certainly written with teens in mind. I myself was more than a little shocked when I found a particularly violent passage. In it (just prior to fighting back) Boudicca is whipped half-naked before the Romans whilst hearing her teen-age daughter screaming as they are raped. This scene is meant to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back, forcing Boudicca to round up the different native tribes into her war host. Just the same, don't go handing this book to a ten-year-old who's interested in battlescenes. I'd even be a little hesitant to hand it to a fifteen-year-old, but that's just me.

The author's writing is rather lyrical in its passages. There are beautifully evocative lines describing, "The dark, lifeless and lightless green of forest depths in late summer". At the same time, it can be rough going. Sutcliff is attempting to bring the reader fully into early Britain. In doing so, she makes no social comment on war and the cruelty of armies. Boudicca shows no mercy to the Roman men, women, and children she catches. This book is filled to the brim with blood, gore, and muck. It is difficult not to sympathize with the protagonist, but it is clear that she is just as depraved, in many ways, as the Romans she fights. Throughout the book the author dots her passages with letters a young Roman sends to his mother at home, giving the reader a glimpse of the opposing side's point of view. Admirable, admittedly. Yet in the end the book suffers from the greatest flaw of all. It's boring. Anyone who has read the author's preface at the beginning knows that Boudicca is bound to fail, and that it is only a matter of 181 some pages before she does. To slough through this story is hard going at times. When Sutcliff writes dialogue or action, she is excellent. But most of the book is bogged down in exposition, and I would be very surprised if younger readers take to the style. A good effort made to glorify a worthy subject, but in the end a poor showing.

I enjoyed the book. I learned a lot of new facts and was inspired by the way the author wove the life of Bear Bryant and the devotionals. I dont know what the other reviewer was wanting out of the book, but I thought it well worth the money.

There are a lot of unknown facts about the Bear here. I was surprised. I recommend it for the die-hard Bama fan, along with "A Tailgater's Guide To SEC Football" by Chris Warner.
Both are great for SEC fans and fans of "The Bear".

...and save your money by not buying this book! Let me first say that I have purchased well over 100 books in the past two or three years from Amazon.com, and spent more money than I care to add up, and I have never written one review nor have I returned even one book...until now. It's hard to even know where to begin, so I'll just start before the beginning, on the Dedication page. It is not for whom the dedication was written (the author's father), but the juvenile,amateurish way in which it was written, topped off with poor grammar and punctuation. On to the Introduction I went, however, giving the author the benefit of the doubt. As I began reading, I had the strange feeling I had read some of these same words before in another book about Coach Bryant. Now I'm not talking about well-known stories which can be found in any biographical sketch of the legendary coach; I'm talking about the exact same words! Lo and behold, I pulled from my bookshelf a book written by Mickey Herskowitz 17 YEARS EARLIER and read verbatim the exact same passages now plagiarized in this book. The same introduction referred to a tie game the Tide had with Southern Miss in 1982. I immediately knew this was wrong because I was at that game in 1982 when Southern Miss handed 'Bama its first loss in Tuscaloosa in about 19 years. The tie came the year before. Picky? Yes, if this kind of mistake takes place impromptu over water cooler chat, and not from the author of a book. Mind you, I'm still in the introduction, which spans a whole one and a half pages, start to finish. Let's just say it (1982) was a typo. You'll find plenty of those in this book. How does a manuscript such as this even get published, I wonder? I'm certainly no linguist or even a teacher--although the author ironically IS a teacher and has been for over 20 years--but I can't read one full page without having to go back and figure out what this guy is trying to write. To sum it up, this book is chock full of poor grammar, typographical errors, and plagiarized material. (You'll know the