Burnett Books

An absolutely astounding work. Ghost Dance is so intricately detailed,yet, expertly delivered, that I suspect this writer has published many other works under a different name. It is an emotional roller coaster, nail-biting, edge of your seat dark thriller that is impossible to put down. It suggests at the end that a sequel is in the works, God I hope so.

Poker, especially No Limit Texas Hold 'em, is an exclusive province of male players no more. Every local, regional, and national poker tournament is seeing more and more women entering the fray to pit their skills against their fellow players. Indeed, an increasing number of women are following the examples of outstanding female players Annie Duke, Cindy Violette, Kathy Liebert, Jennifer Harman and Clony Gowan in becoming professional poker players and earn their living at Texas Hold 'em in both cash games and tournament play alike. Now poker enthusiast Eliza Burnett has written the "Girl's Guide to Poker" providing a comprehensive introduction to playing Texas Hold 'em, including the terminology and tactics of the game at all of its stages. Readers will learn when and how to call, check, raise, and fold. Often women will have an advantage over their male counterparts with a superior ability to read body language, calculate odds, and compete successfully in what once was a 'man's world'. Readers will learn basic strategy, intermediate strategy, and advanced strategy, how to analyze the game, as well as when, where, and how to go 'All In'. The "Girl's Guide To Poker" should be considered a 'must read' by women wanting to learn about (and try their hand at) the premier poker game that is Texas Hold 'em -- and has much of value for even the more experienced female player!

An interesting novel about the inhabitants of a large Victorian household. It features a pair of over-bearing parents who are dominiating this mysterious home's occupants. The conversations revolve around the makings of successful marriages. It is significant that the white males of the story are always attempting to boss the women around, as if they had no choices to make in any matters at all. An extraordinary work by a feminist novelist of genius.

Paperback, 1972, DAW books.
Sub-title: The Last Stand of the Prehumans

Though this was my first exposure to Swann, he is obviously
an academic and a scholar of classical Greek literature,
history, and mythology. Set in the time of the fall of Troy,
the book borrows characters out of Homeric legend and/or
history (Aeneus and his son Ascanius), adds Centaurs, Dryads
and Fauns, and tells a very modern-sounding story of the
Battle of the Sexes which could easily have inspired some of
today's popular Goddess mythology.

A Little Princess follows the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl whose mother died when she was a baby and who has been sent to bording school. She has the finest clothes and toys and anything she wants but isn't spoiled (the story is a fairy tale, by the way). She imagines herself as a princess and wants to be kind wise and just. She does good deeds as her way of "scattering largess to the population." This results in her being the social butterfly of the bording school and earns her the animosity of its queen bee. All this changes in an instant when her fortune is lost and she becomes a scullery maid in the same boarding school. She works all day, sleeps in an unheated attic, and is underfed. She now imagines herself as a princess in disguise, and continues to try and do good deeds for anyone less fotunate. But now she has another identity too - a soldier, like her father, who must live on rations and bravely face each day.

I didn't find this book to be overly sappy and sentimental, but it got close to the borderline at times. There were plenty of discussions of dolls and lacey dresses and ribbons. I read this as an adult. I guess these are supposed to appeal to little girls who want to have a little princessy playground and so would love to read about ribbons, but I think descriptions of lace would have put me off as a child as well. Like I said, these only get borderline sappy, probably because Sara soon becomes penniless and enters the lower class. As a scullery maid she experiences hunger, phsychological abuse from the bording school mistress, and a grinding work schedule. This is not sugar coated for the children, but it isn't the focus either. The focus is on Sara's internal thoughts, her relationships with her few loyal student friends, and what she thinks of the neighbors and the new people she meets and things she sees. So even though there is all this poverty it is there as a setting and not because the author has an axe to grind. Even the ending is fairy tale, but partly bitter-sweet. Strangely enough, this book came across as realistic.

This is a children's book, but functions as a book for adults as well. For example, the estate agent's diplomacy in getting Sara hired by the bording school after she is found to be penniless has some subtlties that are going to be more real for older readers.

I recommend this book to all. It is a children's book that works for adults too. It skirts the border of sappy, but for me didn't cross over at any point. It was a good story that I read through quickly and did not get bored with or bogged down by.

Jane Burnett Smith's "Hobbled Stirrups" exceeded my expectations. This book is a fast-paced, yet indepth portrayal of life behind the scenes in American rodeo. Smith tells all without bitterness (although her experiences could easily have made her a bitter woman) and with the blunt humor of someone who has learned to let the hard times roll off her shoulders. To date, no other rodeo performer, cowgirl or cowboy, has written such an honest account of the sport as "Hobbled Stirrups." This is the type of book I find myself rereading to better absorb the experience.

I have been a fan of Carol Burnett for many years. The play HOLLYWOOD ARMS is based on her life with Nanny before Carol moved to New York and made it big. Its a good play, and a fast read. For anyone interested in looking for new plays to produce for community theatre, check out this script HOLLYWOOD ARMS! Teri

I'm beginning to become addicted to these little neglected treasures that the NYRB Press is reissuing. Not only are the editions themselves little marvels (with beautiful and well-chosen color covers and gorgeous paper stock), but whoever is making the choices for which books are reissued has near-infallible taste.

A HOUSE AND ITS HEAD, like so many of Ivy Compton-Burnett's novels, reads something like a modern updating of a Greek tragedy: most of the novel is told through dialogue, there is a kind of chorus that comments on the action of the principal characters, and the plot involves murder, incest, and familial cruelty. Yet for all these borrowings Compton-Burnett paradoxically remains wonderfully sui generis: no one else has ever mastered her capability for evoking such extreme subtlety in manners that the merest cruel nuances can become evoked (if one reads carefully enough). She is also a master plotter: just when you think you've caught up with the characters' schemes, she allows the other characters in the novel to make similar realizations, and then jumps even further ahead. This is a real page-turner as well as a subtle commentary on Edwardian manners and moral monstrousness.

I have a 3 month old son. This book keeps his attention very well. It has lots of shiney colors and some different textures. Once he is old enough he will be able to learn his numbers from it also. I really think this is a cute book. It is also simple so if your child is just starting to read he/she could learn this easy.