Caldwell Books

Back cover reads:
A LONG, TALL TEXAN FINALLY MEETS HIS MATCH...?
He was rich, powerful and every woman's fantasy. Although many had tried to lasso Jacobsville's sought-after bachelor, none had managed to catch Matt Caldwell's eye. However, mysterious Leslie Murry was about to change all that. For the cynical Texas tycoon's spirited new employee roused his temper like no one ever had before. And despite his fierce denials, her soft vulnerability also brought out his every protective instinct. After sampling her soul-searching kisses, Matt was sorely tempted to possess the enticing innocent who clearly ached for a man's tender touch. Still, this Long, Tall Texan wasn't about to let down his guard until he sweet-talked Leslie into surrendering her heart!

Nobody beats Diana Palmers when it comes to finding love. I was stuck on the book from the first and could not put it down till I was though.

I highly recommend this book.

Well you'll wish you had one handy while reading this book. Diana Palmer is a decent writer despite the fact that all her heroes and heroines are basically the same. The book started off good but slowly went downhill. The heroine and hero both have troubled pasts that separately would be terribly tragic but together, arghh. It's enough to drive you crazy. Not since Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley have two people been so wrong for each other. The male lead is a times viciously cruel(though not physically) and then seems to be a freakin saint. The heroine ranges from proud and spirited to unbelievably meek and mild. This book was so horrible and cliched and the charaters should be screened for schizophrenia. Don't let this review discourage you from her other books, just this one.

A good book. It is a lot like the other books she writes. It starts out with Matt being a selfish, insensitive and rude man but by the end of the book you love him. I enjoyed it.

Matt Caldwell cruelly harasses his female employee (both verbally and sexually) to the extent that if in the real world, he would be experiencing serious difficulties with the legal system. She, following the typical Palmer formula, falls in love with him. He discovers the truth about her, instantly turns into a charming and caring man, and they live happily ever after. Give me a break. A real woman would find a good attorney and file charges against this abuser. Not one of Ms. Palmer's finer moments in literary history.

I heard this quote in reference to the book, and then read this quote from another reviewer: The quotation was from 'Escape from Childhood' page 1: "I propose...that the rights, privileges, duties of adult citizens be made available to any young person, of whatever age, who wants to make use of them."

My review of the book is based entirely on that quote, as from my point of view, utter common sense says that, while maybe well-meaning, this statement verges on the totally unbelievable.

I was a flight instructor. Students are taught theory and practical lessons. Eventually, at my discretion, the student is allowed to fly solo. I may not have been a perfect instructor, but my goal was to equip my students with enough knowledge and practical experience to not only survive, but to fly with competence. I as the instructor determine when the student is ready to fly solo, not the other way around. Do you understand what disaster awaits the eager student that decides to hop in the plane and take off alone without the instructor being ready to release them?

Utter disaster. Please. Debate the various approaches to parenting, but do not be fooled for a moment that maybe the role of "parent" has little, if any use, and that kids should be treated as adults. If you find yourself with this point of view, I recommend reading the book, "Escape from Insanity".

(I clicked on 1 out of 5 stars, with the understanding that "1" means "the absolute worst" with 5 stars being the best.)

A longtime teacher Holt cared very much for the children he taught. He had a clear sense of how they were oppressed at home and in the school- system. He was especially appalled by the way children were subjected to fear and punishment tactics.
His aim was to provide children with autonomy and respect, to truly empower them against the forces he felt were oppressing them.
All this sounds sensible enough except if one takes a look at some of Holt's specific recommendations. Here he seems to go completely off the wall in empowering children before they are ready for it, and in depriving parents of their proper place in raising children.
One example is his idea that children should be allowed to vote. He says that even twelve year olds should be allowed to vote and that eventually even children much younger than this should be given the vote. This is obviously absurd as children cannot possibly have the knowledge, and understanding required to be responsibe voters. Holt does not seem to understand that empowering children at too young an age, before they are right for would also be a form of oppression.
This book is an example of something which frequently happens. Wrongs are seen but the corrective measures introduced are not balanced, and do harm also.
The more moderate Holt of the earlier books made more sense.

The New York Times called this book "astonishly cogent," and I agree. This is one of the most insightful and thought-provoking books I've ever read. Sadly, 30 years later almost nothing has changed. While the ACLU fights for the voting rights of convicted felons, a 17-year-old "child," no matter how sensible or informed, cannot cast a ballot in the United States. Millions of children are shipped off to school every day, where they are mostly taught to do as they're told (no matter how arbitrary or pointless) and above all, conform--lessons which will serve them all too well for decades to come. The transparency of Holt's writing should also be an example to authors everywhere. It is a tragedy that this book is out of print, and Holt no longer with us. The world desperately needs more like him.

This guy is a psycho-boomer looney. His book serves best as kindling.

Most discussion of what passes as "children's rights" today seems to fall into two categories. One is what I think of as the bare minimum of rights: the child's right not to be beaten or molested. The second uses the term as a euphemisim for parental rights: who gets them in a custody battle and when the state is justified in revoking them. Holt's thoughtful book is revolutionary because it does not fall into one of these categories. Instead Holt argues that children are not the property of their parents or the state, that they are human in their own right, and that they deserve all of the rights adult citizens already have. In the first few chapters Holt examines the current state of childhood in the West. In the second half of the book he details specific social, economic, political, and educational rights he argues children should have, and suggests how society might have to change to accomodate these rights.

On the whole, Holt presents an argument profoundly sensitive to the plight of children without ever letting himself or his readers descend into sentimentality. My criticisms of the work, were I to list them, would be mostly technical in nature. With post-Columbine hysteria steadily turning schools more and more prison-like and innovations like the V-chip and Internet filters increasing in popularity, _Escape_ is just as relevant today as it was in 1974, if not more so. It's shameful that books like this are so difficult to find and so often out of print.

This book is one of the best I have read. The plot is gripping. It keeps one at suspense till the end where one finds out who's the traitor. The story characters are unusual and the first I have come across. Read the book, you probably won't regret it.

I recently have discovered the world of Holly Lisle. I have never read any of her books before, but within the first couple of pages, I was hooked.

There was so much detail that was sensory so that it appealed to all of the readers senses.

The characterization was so well planned and thought through I felt that I could picture any of the given characters at any moment during the book.

I enjoyed this book and breezed through it rather quickly. If you are looking for something in depth, try somewhere else. But if you're looking for something fun and light-hearted pick up this book. The main character, Kate Beacham, is a Wiccan who is being harassed and threatened by close-minded people in her small town. She was assaulted in the alley behind her work by three masked men, and when she came home she found her horse dead in the drive with a note through his head saying that she would be next. When she loaded her shotgun and went to bed, she found a Fodor's guide book to a place called Glenraven on her nightstand that she was positive she had not seen before. When she opened the book to take a look at it, words magically appeared in it telling her to get out of the house fast. Being a practitioner of magick, she obeyed the book and went outside just in time to see a large hole open in the air and group of people on horseback gallop out being pursued by a monster. After killing the thing with her shotgun, Kate finds these strangers in her yard and in her house without a way home. The book tells her that she has to help them, otherwise both their worlds are in jeopardy. She has to learn to trust and be trusted by these strangers from another world in order to save them all.

This isn't up to MZB's usual level of writing, but it's decent for a quick read (it was an airplane flight read for me). It suffers from being a bit preachy at times, from the 'good guys' being overly trusting and unable to look about critically, and from being somewhat unoriginal (too many 'alternate earth' books out there these days). On the positive side, the story moves along smoothly and the imagery and types of magic used/described are fairly original. -omar

This book was fairly good. The action was appealing and the characters were pretty well-developed. But I have to say that if you hadn't read "Glenraven" first you would have been lost. This book deals with two seperate worlds: the one we're used to, and Glenraven. Glenraven is a little province in Italy that hasn't advanced along with the rest of the world- in fact, Glenraven appears to have hidden in a fold of time. Somehow creatures from Glenraven escape into the real world. They wreak havoc upon the already upside down world of Kate Beacham, an alleged witch. And everything turns into a whirlwind from there. The plot is pretty well-laid, and there are some intriguing tensions between characters that enhance the quality of the book. You want to keep reading to find out what happens next.

The only majorly disappointing thing I found in this book was the fact that MZB didn't really bring in characters from "Glenraven." She had developed some really strong personalities in JayJay and Matthiall. MZB only mentioned those two about two times, maybe three, in "In the Rift."

If you read "In the Rift" before "Glenraven" you should take the time to read "Glenraven." It'll clear up a lot of misconceptions you might have.

Sorry if I was confusing to you. "In the Rift" is a very good book. I just think maybe MZB should have tied in the characters more.

now I'm going to be polite to everybody. woohoo

Those expecting a savory collation of anecdotes about rudeness, ancient and modern, will be disappointed. Even Jerry Springer is only mentioned briefly in passing! The book is really about the history of good manners (actually, about the history of books about manners) over the centuries. Witty and amusing in places, but it often degenerates into brief summaries of other books (actually, I found its chief value was the pointers it gave to other, and more interesting, books on manners).

Written by a professor at Fordham University in New York who had written an earlier history of t.b., THE LAST CRUSADE. He used a lot of footnotes, meaning that he used other persons' opinions to support his own.

He says that what we call 'manners' has little to do with ethics or morals. Edmund Burke, on the other hand, wrote, "Manners are of more importance than laws. According to their quality, they aid morals...or totally destroy them." Rudeness rarely kills. Politeness (good manners) does not a saint make!

He uses Martha Stewart as a paragon of manners, who certainly set an example about lying (or getting caught). New Yorkers Emily Post and Amy Vanderbilt were the epitome of etiquette experts, but it takes a Southerner with manners to show how it's done. The mobile society of today has almost ruined Southern manners. Boorish behavior is still thriving, there is a good example right here in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Emily Post (and later her daughter, Elizabeth) believed that "the code of ethics is an immutable law of etiquette, instinctive decency, integrity, self-respect, and loyalty." Others considered 'civility' as politeness, refinement, propriety, courtesy, affability and good behavior. Class differences define "good taste" but not "good manners."

Hollywood produced 'comedies of manners' in such films as 'The Philadelphia Story,' 'My Man Godfrey,' and 'Bringing Up Baby.' The Titanic sank on April 14, 1912. The "ladies first behavior showed that the men were gentlemen to the edge of death." The glamor of life on the Titanic floated and sank, as did the civility of opposites, high class and not-so-high.

Kathryn Murray who had a dance show with her husband, Arthur, wrote a guide for teenagers in 1961 and she has noted: "Though this may surprise boys who have never thought about it, most girls notice 'table manners'...Girls take a dim view of a boy who slouches on his elbows, grips his fork like a shovel, or eats untidily." At a recent noontime organ concert downtown, a man brought his lunch, seated himself on the first row, turned sideways to eat (where all could see) and put on his own show. He had atrocious manners. I read in the local paper about a concert in this newly renovated theater where beer and liquor floated freely and normal patrons could not see the stage for all the drunken activity. Those expensive new seats and carpet will be stained and smelling soon.

One's command of the written language divulges evidence of status, wealth, or education on cyperspace. Chat rooms on the Internet can be dangerous as you can't see who is on the other end. I received a communication from Music Of Your Life with a virus in it. No one is safe from some kind of abuse these days, be it rudeness or damage to the computer by viruses through email.

The double standard between the sexes still exists. Nowadays, a man who believes a woman is harassing him has simply projected his own lust onto an innocent female. Data shows that some men are likely to interpret relatively innocent behavior as invitations to sexual contact. It's a fact!

If somebody holds two doors open for you, do you thank him twice? I do, as it is unusual in Knoxville, not the norm; but usually if the first door is opened for me, I open the second door for the other person. Manners are universal, not just a considerate male. Oh, by the way, do you eat fried chicken by holding it in one hand? Or is that just a Southern way of doing things? I admit we are less formal in the South ( you do have to speak to a man first!), but Knoxville isn't exactly Southern anymore. The downtown area has been taken over by folks from other places, and the only people who talk to you on public transit are the homeless, of which we are overrun (unless, of course, it is someone you know). We have all kinds of dialects and accents here, not like Nashville where people are friendlier.

Really excellent book on a neglected subject. A bit too focussed on NYC and neglects the South, but overall an excellent read. Highly recommended.

No matter Caldwell's argument for focusing--almost exclusively--on New York City (it's easier to research NYC, he says on the last page of the intro), his subtitle suggests a wider range. James and Wharton have told us more about NYC manners than Caldwell, trapped inside nonfiction's perimeters and by a bloodless style, can approach. Looking to the rest of the United States, then, would have had the meritorious effect of opening his topic up beyond the much-overdone.

The nicest thing about this book is the picture of Chet's Signature Gibson on the cover. The first 70+ pages of this volume could have been - and probably were - lifted straight out of countless other Mel Bay Guitar Method books. The guy has made a fortune pasting new covers on the (mostly) same old books!

If you know how to flat pick some chords but always wanted to learn finger picking like me, check out Mark Hanson's books; read the reviews and choose the most appropriate one for you. The accompanying audio CDs are excellent and the music is enjoyable and fun to play. Instead of yawning through endless and mindless etudes Mark Hanson will have you sounding better than you ever thought you could in no time. Learning is almost painless when you enjoy the music.

Hanson's method will prepare you for learning to REALLY sound like Chet. Once you get the basics of fingerpicking under your belt, go to Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop and pick up some instructional DVDs, the late Marcel Dadi's Travis and Nashville Picking volumes are very good and there others. In addition to Chet you'll get some Jerry Reed, too. Chet and Jerry performed together many times over the years.

You could just dive into the DVDs but I recommend completing one or more of Mark Hanson's books first to prevent frustration later! Chet's playing was subtle but complex. He made it look and sound so easy - NOT!

Take a pass on Mel Bay and go straight to Mark Hanson.

The word "Complete" in the title is a little bit of a misnomer. Then again you would probably need an encyclopedia of information to accurately depict Chet Atkins style. In Mel Bay's introduction he says, "This is not a method but an elementary approach to the Chet Atkins Style of guitar playing. The basic fundamental rudiments are presented in order to elevate the player into this style with ease." This sums up the book quite accurately.

When I first opened up the book, it looked very basic and my first thought was here is another elementary beginner's guitar book. It takes you from tuning the guitar to learning where the notes (tab) are on the fretboard and identifying various chord shapes for learning the alternating bass technique.

Tab is great, but if you can't count it will be more difficult to grasp Chet's style. The book also takes you through learning the major and minor scales, the chords within the keys and various accompaniment styles. This is where the book excels. It's a progression from the basics to more advanced techniques. And best of all, you will learn along the way a number of Chet's songs that he has recorded.

I was wrong; it is not just a basic beginner's guitar book. I would highly recommend this book to a beginner or an advanced guitar player who wants to learn fingerpicking in the Chet Atkins style. If you are a beginner, it will teach you from the ground up and if you are a tab player, it will take your playing to the next level. If you are a straight picker and want to learn fingerstyle picking, this book is also for you. It will teach you solo playing in the Chet Atkins style in a natural progressive manner. Follow the step-by-step lessons in this book and you will sound like Chet Atkins in no time.

I have never been a good finger picker but this book is really pushing me. The thing is, you've got to push yourself as well! What I do, is learn a piece in segments, and then keep playing it until I can get a good speed. Then, I listen to the CD. Review previous songs, and repeat. Its also important to see a lot of the stuff in this book as exercises.


While this guitar booklet will not leave you sounding exactly like Mr. Guitar, it will familiarise yourself with Atkins techniques amd style.

This is an excellent introduction to the Chet Atkins style with palms muted alternating bass.

There are really a lot of songs arranged in this particular style. The first ones rather easy. The challenge thoug is to get the muffled alternating bass to sound right. I have experimented a lot with amp settings and muting to get it sound right. There is a lot to be said about it, but it is not said in this book. The entire discussion of the subject here is "Muffle the Bass strings with the heel of the right hand", and after that the subject is never again tuched upon. That is the really weak point of the book and the reason for 4 stars rather than 5.

[...]

On the value of the CD I disagree with one of the previous reviewers: the CD is essential. Since the book is poor on explaining how to do it, your ear is the only guide, and the CD demonstrates how this technique sounds when the muted bass i done correctly. It may be argued that you should know from listening to Chet how it is supposed to sound, but then not these particular arrangment and these particular songs. The CD makes it possible to experiment with the muffled bass on the easier songs to get it right. Moreover, there are really a lot of songs, and you can play trough the CD and figure out which one you like and learn them. You do not need to learn all the songs to proceed in the book.

The first 25 pages are elementary stuff, explaining TAB, note values, with some single note melodies. Alternating bass is introduced on page 28, and I guess most players with the ambitions to play like Chet will proceed quickly until that part of the book. Then quite soon there are pieces that - while simple - clearly resembles the style of Chet Atkins, at least when you get the muffled bass right. From then there are lots of nice pieces to choose from in increasing difficulty.

In short it is a good book but you should be prepared to spend some time experimenting to get the muffled bass right, as this is not at all discussed in the book.

This book has many of the common faults of Mel Bay company's guitar books: It has very little in the way of verbal aid. It's page after page of staffs, notes, etudes, exercises, with no guidance on how to move through them and learn, no advice for example on how to properly do a palm mute (as most of the examples on the CD are played), nor how to coordinate the right hand fingers, etc.

Then there's a superficial fault (also characteristic of many Mel Bay books): It seems way too elementary when you glance through it. When I ordered, I did so guardedly, thinking, "After all the years you've been playing, another elementary method is not what you need. Would Chet Atkins put his name on an elementary method and call it the Chet Atkins Method?" I hoped not.

When I got it and looked through it the first time, I thought, "Hosed again. It's for kids and beginners." Most of the etude songs are traditional or Foster tunes--Streets of Laredo, Marine Hymn, American the Beautiful. But I listened to the disk anyway. And as I did I thought, "Well, I can't play that stuff myself now." So I looked deeper at it, and tried a couple tunes. And found that this is a book I can use.

It has to be something you can use. But if you've ever listened to Chet and thought, "Man, that's so sweet" as he does his thumb-bass pickin', and haven't been able to get it down, this may be for you. I can play typical rock lead and blues lead, but this is something different. The basic technique Chet uses in much of his work is called "Travis picking," after Merle Travis, and that's what this book is all about. ALL about. And that's really a good bit of what I'd want to learn from Chet. (Could anyone ever learn EVERYTHING Chet did?)

So if you're looking for a way to learn THAT--Travis picking, that thumb-bass fingerpicking, this really turns out to be a pretty good book, and worth the time and money. The CD is useful and a good reference, but oddly enough, Travis picking looks simple enough when you read it, and you won't have any trouble without the CD. Most of the tunes will be familiar, and if they're not they're straighforward quarter note stuff, dotted quarter note at the weirdest. (Of course, you have to be able to read music to read that way, and there's a quick primer in the book on it. But don't worry--it's also all in tablature.)

So put the ego away and don't worry too much about the lack of detailed instruction. If you want to Chet-pick, pick this up. If you want more detail, I strongly recommend also "The Art of Solo Fingerpicking," by Mark Hanson. His book is also about Travis picking, but much more detailed in instruction, and more emphasis too on exercises to liberate your digits. Good scores in it, more complex than Chet's book. Start with Chet, read the technique info in Hanson, and proceed to Hanson's music.... now that's a good fingerpicking course!

Edit: By the way, another review of the book says "It is not full of real 'Chet' music though, more a lesson to teach you how to get there." This isn't really true. The tutorial section of the book goes to page 82, and all the study songs and etudes are Chet Atkins style (Travis picking) etudes. Then, the next 23 pages ARE, in fact, transcriptions of songs from Chet's albums: Spanish Fandango (from Alone, 1975), Just As I Am (same album), John Henry (from Hum and Strum Along with Chet Atkins, 1959), Me and Merle (I can't find where this has been recorded--maybe it hasn't; it's not on the CD that comes with this book either; but it's quite a piece), Wimoweh (you'll recognize it as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"; it's on The RCA Years 2-disc collection, and on Chet Atkins Picks on the Pops, 1969, My Favorite Guitars, 1965, and Finger Pickin' Good, 1973), Liebestraum (from Me and Chet, 1972, with Jerry Reed), Czardas (from Chet Atkins at Home, 1958, and Relaxin' With Chet, 1969), and Yankee Doodle Dixie (from The Best of Chet Atkins, 1964 and four other albums). That's all real Chet music.

I have loved giving this informative guide to my friends as shower gifts! With its snappy cover and easy writing style, it sets the tone for the fun adventure to come. I bought a copy for myself (3 children) as I still have endless questions on where to go and what to do around the city for my children. I gave one to my mother, who is always asking me questions where she should take her grandchildren that I don't have time to answer. If you already have children, or are on your way, this cool book is a must have for getting around town, and the author will keep you laughing the whole way!

Finally, a current, comprehensive (and absolutely cool) DC Guide that every NYC mom takes for granted.

When I had my daughter 4 years ago in DC, I had a HUGE folder of notes and emails and clippings listing every baby service, store and resource in the DC metro area. I carried it around like a crazy person when I was pregnant, always thinking there had to be a better way of getting the most up to date information for a new mom in the district. City Baby DC is it!

I love that the sections are very specific -- bookstores, breastfeeding and pumping resources, birth announcements, sleep consultants, etc. The guide listings are presented alphabetically (with address, phone and website info) and with equally thorough information within each listing to help you make an informed choice without a lot of extra work.

Great shower gift and a great, great book for any DC mom!

As a new mom in DC I found this book to be a great resource. City Baby DC packs a lot of good information in a handy paperback guide that fits right in my diaper bag----from advice on picking a pediatrician, navigating playgroups, to where to find good baby bargains this book has it all.

I was eagerly looking forward to this book coming out and once I received it, I found it completely disappointing. The information contained in the book is very basic and already known to anyone who has lived in DC for any amount of time. Additionally, many baby services and stores were omitted entirely. Overall, it did not seem well researched and I felt that I could have obtained the same information just using Google. I would not recommend this for anyone who has lived in the DC area for any amount of time--might be helpful for someone new to the area.

This review is written from the perspective of a pregnant woman who works in NW DC and lives in Alexandria. My husband and I are certainly not rich by DC standards. We have ample income, but are conservative with our funds.

***

While out to lunch over the weekend of 3/8/08, I caught the cover story of The Georgetowner about the new book City Baby DC which had just been released on 2/26/08.

"...do you know what they [pregnant women] crave more than ice cream? Useful information." That line in the article had me hooked. I had to buy this book.

City Baby DC has lots of general, but not exactly helpful information. To find an OB ask your friends. Or check with your insurance company. Or read the Washingtonian for their Best Doctors List.

The author has plenty of useful information on DC, Montgomery County and Northern Virginia hospitals including Cesarean rates for the hospitals that would release that information, but as far as the book is concerned Prince George's county doesn't exist. She lists zero hospitals there. I can count the references to PG county businesses in the rest of the book on one hand.

The book also has lots of incomplete and some incorrect information. For some reason she mentions chain stores like Target for maternity clothes in Sterling, but not in Springfield or anywhere in Maryland. She also says you can buy maternity clothes at Old Navy in Potomac Yards and I know for a fact that they do not carry maternity clothes. I'm not sure what the point is of publishing 5 of the 7 local stores of a particular chain. Some addresses are completely wrong. Tysons is not in Gaithersburg and Woodbridge is not in Maryland. Editing errors, I'm sure.

In addition to her focus on Northwest DC, the author is obviously I-66 and I-270 oriented as she mentions numerous stores and resources in Fairfax, Loudon and Montgomery counties. Meanwhile, besides neglecting PG county, she manages to miss the fact that the City of Alexandria has its own day care directory and Parks and Recreation Department. As an Alexandria resident, I feel slighted by this book even though she does mention a some Old Town boutiques.

I'm willing to pay a little more for unique and quality merchandise from small specialty shops, and the author does admit to some splurges, but if you can afford to shop regularly at Tiffany or Gucci, you probably don't need her to tell you how cute their baby items are. She doesn't miss an opportunity to splurge and even recommends a bakery in Baltimore where you can buy a $500+ birthday cake, but I don't think that is in the budget of the average DC mom I know.

I was looking forward to the fitness section, but she doesn't separate prenatal classes from postpartum fitness classes. I'm pregnant now. I want to know where I can go now without reading a whole paragraph to figure it out. Many pregnant women love to swim. You have to read the YMCA blurb to find out they offer aquatics. I may be wrong, but I think Rhode Island Avenue is the only YMCA location in the area with prenatal aquatics. Not so hard to mention that, is it? Instead I am referred to ymcadc.org where I can search for it myself.

As a pregnant woman I could go for a good prenatal massage. Many pregnant women worry about seeing just anyone because of the stories of untrained therapists accidentally triggering miscarriages. I know there are many places in the area that offer prenatal massages, but her list was short on independent MTs and small parlors. She listed more TJ Maxx stores in the shopping section than she does massage therapists in the massage section. Despite how worried we pregnant women are about doing something potentially harmful during our pregnancy, she recommends getting a prenatal massage at a place with the belly hole. I thought that was a no-no. I also didn't need this book to find Red Door or a $225 massage at the Mandarin Oriental.

dcurbanmom.com (DCUM) got a nod in the book. According to the author DCUM and craigslist are the places to find a nanny. Re: DCUM "It is also a great place to connect with other parents and get answers to anything child- or parent-related." If you skipped the nanny section because it didn't pertain to you, you would have missed this piece of excellent advice. I thought DCUM would get referenced more since I find it to be one of the best local resources for me as an expectant mother. I found my doctor there, my prenatal aquatics class there, and am now searching for a pediatrician there. Alas, DCUM was only in the nanny section and again at the end under web resources.

Besides all the information on interview questions for your nanny, how to do a background check on your nanny, and how to file nanny taxes, there is very little on finding child care in the book. I think someone purchasing this book would be disappointed to discover it doesn't offer more resources for locating day care centers or pre-schools, especially outside of her preferred neighborhoods. This section of the book has no value for me.

I was so excited to buy this book and planned to give it to other friends who are expecting, but don't think any of them will find it particularly useful. I guess I feel let down by City Baby DC and [...], every time I pick it up I find myself thinking "I can't believe she is recommending that!" And "Why isn't she mentioning...?"

Maybe some of the information for parents will be useful once my bundle of joy has arrived and I want to do things in Fairfax, Loudon or Montgomery Counties, but as far as the rest of my pregnancy goes, I'll be back in the DCUM forums and searching Google for my answers. If you live in PG County or would prefer more information down I-395/I-95 this book is not for you.

i never received my purchase. I had ordered the book for a class and needed it as soon as possible. Since the book never came in, i had to buy it again from other site. I paid DOUBLE for the book.

With all due respect, well, yes, this book is of GENERAL use-there is a certain convenience in having all these languages in one book. And it maybe a way to begin this type of study. But, alas, there are so many aspects about diction not even addressed. Mistakes abound, and whereas those can be corrected, what about the information that is simply not included? The singer using this book will indeed gain a smattering of diction in all languages, but for adequate preparation for a classical singing career, singers should further their education with more specific textbooks on the languages in question. For instance Evelina Colorni's Italian book, Nico Castel's Spanish offerings, Glenn Paton's Gateway to German Diction, Thomas Grubb's Singing in French or Eileen Davis' new book Sing French. Shortcuts are exactly that, SHORTCUTS! If you are a serious singer, shortcuts just don't work. Get with it-study the details in order to be really competitive in your art. Would you shortcut your vocal technique? Of course not! Nor should you shortcut any part of your training. If you are a diction teacher of students targeting a performance career, please consider the future of your students and the foundation you are providing them.

Diction for Singers is a great book, it has helped my singing tremendously! It gives detailed information about a variety of languages and their pronunciation! I recommend this book for any singer!

Diction for Singers is a great book, it has helped my singing tremendously! It gives detailed information about a variety of languages and their pronunciation! I recommend this book for any singer!

This book is a must-have if you are to sing successfully. It is pretty easy to understand, and it introduces IPA without confusing everyone. There are a few mistakes in it but almost every book has mistakes in it. Excellent and easy to understand. Get it if you are a singer!

I have read a lot of books in this series and for the most part the books were very good. IMHO This book was long and accually took effort to finish and when I got to the end I was almost glad it was over. Story was ok, characters were ok and all in all the book was just OK.

this book was horrible, the worst in the series.
its long , hard to read and pointless- Stay away!

Personally, I felt that this was the best in the Ravenloft series. It is clear from the other reviews that I am in a bit of a minority, but that's OK. I am not one to read books more than once generally, but I have read Tapestry twice and will probably read it a couple more times.

Elaine succeeds in weaving a tale that is not immediately obvious and mondain in the way that many fantasy novels are. She paints a number of characters whose intentions are not immediately clear, who even shift as the story progresses. As such, the characters are all but flat. Characters whose nature changes through the progression of a novel are difficult to write, but Elaine shows a great capacity for doing just that.

Another positive characteristic of Tapestry is that it is original. The Ravenloft series has a horrible propensity towards poorly-written facsimiles of such great classics as Dracula and Frankenstein. As a result, the novel kept me guessing through-out.

This Ravenloft novel is only "hard to read" if you're working with a 5th grade education, or only read series tie-ins. The author takes time to develop atmosphere, establish relatively complex characters and situations, and chooses to suggest and insinuate rather than spell everything out, which leaves room for reader interpretation and results in a more satisfying read. "Tapestry of Dark Souls" feels like an actual horror novel rather than 350 page advertisement for a D&D expansion set. If you actually read horror, you'll probably like this one.

I liked this ravenloft adventure very much. It became an obsession after I struggled through the first (rather boring)chapter. Elaine didn't use the 'higher' Ravenloft-caracters and thats why she could do with her caracter what she wanted. It not an open ended story this time, its has a sad end, but that's Ravenloft. I preferred the Ravenloft adventures written by female writers, because it's not just the horror they are writer about, it goes much deeper. I should rather classify this novel as 'dark Fantasy' I loved it!!!

My friend found this jewel of a book (The Beth Book) at a Garage sale for ten cents. Now in our small town teachers and waitresses are discussing the profound nature of Sarah Grand's masterpeice.

Originaly I was intrigued by the oldness of the book, but was swiftly engrossed in the details of Beth's life, upbringing and the changes she makes from sheer determination. The inconsistancies in her nature make her real. The loss of her Father is eloquent and vivid.

Adolecense is as troublesome for beth as is anyone. The author gives a great story of someone whom we can understand and not understand at times. She is all human. Both great qualities and some not so great accompany Miss Beth's diverse if not contradictory charater. The woman she becomes is to be admired.

The Beth Book is seemingly a biographical novel of a genius female raised in the days that her peceptions and intellegence is squashed and suspect. Rather than be beaten down, comes through life triumphantly. The Beth book is not only a story of life, but one of abuse, feminism and true love.

I highly recommend The Beth Book. I anticipat learning more of Sarah Grand and reading more of her works.

My friend found this jewel of a book (The Beth Book) at a Garage sale for ten cents. Now in our small town teachers and waitresses are discussing the profound nature of Sarah Grand's masterpeice.

Originaly I was intrigued by the oldness of the book, but was swiftly engrossed in the details of Beth's life, upbringing and the changes she makes from sheer determination. The inconsistancies in her nature make her real. The loss of her Father is eloquent and vivid.

Adolecense is as troublesome for beth as is anyone. The author gives a great story of someone whom we can understand and not understand at times. She is all human. Both great qualities and some not so great accompany Miss Beth's diverse if not contradictory character. The woman she becomes is to be admired.

The Beth Book is seemingly a biographical novel of a genius female raised in the days that her peceptions and intellegence is squashed and suspect. Rather than be beaten down, comes through life triumphantly. The Beth book is not only a story of life, but one of abuse, feminism and true love.

I highly recommend The Beth Book. I anticipate learning more of Sarah Grand and reading more of her works.

My friend found this jewel of a book (The Beth Book) at a Garage sale for ten cents. Now in our small town teachers and waitresses are discussing the profound nature of Sarah Grand's masterpeice.

Originaly I was intrigued by the oldness of the book, but was swiftly engrossed in the details of Beth's life, upbringing and the changes she makes from sheer determination. The inconsistancies in her nature make her real. The loss of her Father is eloquent and vivid.

Adolecense is as troublesome for beth as is anyone. The author gives a great story of someone whom we can understand and not understand at times. She is all human. Both great qualities and some not so great accompany Miss Beth's diverse if not contradictory charater. The woman she becomes is to be admired.

The Beth Book is seemingly a biographical novel of a genius female raised in the days that her peceptions and intellegence is squashed and suspect. Rather than be beaten down, comes through life triumphantly. The Beth book is not only a story of life, but one of abuse, feminism and true love.

I highly recommend The Beth Book. I anticipat learning more of Sarah Grand and reading more of her works.

This is one of the "lost books" by a forgotten female writer who didn't make it into the literary canon.

Unfortunately, that's probably a good thing. The book purports to be the history of a "woman of genius" and the intro to my edition of the book waxes eloquent about authenticity of voice and how Grand was able to capture the mental and emotional growth of a child from birth onwards.

The problem is, the book is badly written. Grand contradicts herself time and time again in her characterization of Beth. Beth had "no ear for music" on one page and then on the next she possesses a "great talent for music." Beth is "painfully sensitive to others' feelings" yet her favorite passtime as an adolescent is to beat up on her younger sister.

Where it really gets strange is in the final quarter of the book. Here Grand throws in everything but the kitchen sink: drunkenness, immorality, prostitution, and vivisectionism.

The book ends up being more polemical than anything else, which may have been Grand's point, but to call this good writing is to besmirch the memories of the truly fine "forgotten" women writers.

Other commentators have explained the basis of the book, and I agree with them. I first read this in 1968 at the age of 12, one of the first "serious" history books I have read. There are a number of photographs, and the book is heavily footnoted. I recall that I enjoyed the book and also was incredulous at the stupidity of the officers back in England over the use of the convoy as bait to try and trap the Tirpitz and the failure to protect the convoy from the U-Boats and Luftwaffe. Later on in life it was hard to compare this book with the fact that Irving seemed to deny that the holocaust took place. At the time he made these allegations there were certainly plenty of folks alive who had entered the camps as liberators. But putting that aside I thought it was a very well done book, it certainly pricked my interest into a serious study of military history. For that reason alone I like this book. 4 stars out of 5.

David Irving's "Trail of the Fox" is the best action biography I've ever read, so when I wanted to learn more about the infamous Lend-Lease convoy PQ 17, Irving was my author of choice for source material, despite the controversy that now hangs about him as a result of his being tagged a 'holocaust denier' (a punishably crime in many European 'democracies'). I was especially intrigued that this book was banned by the British Admiralty for twenty years. Did they have a book bonfire, I wonder, or do only NSDAP students have those?

This book is a sample of Irving's early work, and is much drier and more methodical than I was hoping for. Unlike a biography, where the writer can focus on a single individual or cast of characters, a book like "Destruction" is forced to split its attention over numerous historical figures -- pilots, U-boat commanders, staff officers, ship captains -- with the result that we never really get a clear picture of any of them. Then again, the story is about the convoy, not just the people in it.

Convoy PQ 17 was a 34 ship train, with heavy naval protection, dispatched from Iceland in July of 1942 carrying hundreds of thousands of tons of American-manufactured war materials for the faltering Soviet Union. The Germans were determined to prevent it from arriving, and prepared their battleships and battle-cruisers in Norway to intercept it. The British Adminralty got wind of this, panicked, and withdrew the convoy's naval escort, ordering the convoy to scatter and make Soviet ports alone. When the Germans realized this, they threw in every aircraft and U-boat available on the now-defenceless mass of ships tacking over the Arctic Circle. What followed was the biggest single massacre
of merchant ships at sea in World War II -- twenty-two of the thirty four transports were sunk by aircraft or U-boats, hundreds of men drowned in icy waters or were captured, and more than 100,000 tons of spare parts, explosives, tanks, aircraft, fuel oil, and God alone knows what else sank to the bottom of the ocean, where it all remains to this day (and for all time). The slaughter was so severe the PQ convoy route (Iceland to Murmansk and Archangel) was suspended afterwards, the Soviets screamed bad faith, and the British Admiralty began a systematic attempt to muzzle the truth of what had happened (hence the banning of this book).

Irving recounts all the strategy, planning, accident, confusion, cowardice, and heroism in a dry, by the numbers fashion, as if reciting a list of figures. Sometimes the human moments break through, and they are moving and horrifying: men are left adrift on icy seas with only the cigarettes, congac and advice their German attackers threw them to sustain them ("Russia is 400 miles that way, start paddling"); a German pilot lands his seaplane in the path of an onrushing British destroyer under heavy fire to rescue a shot-down comrade; teenage British gunners volunteer to man their AA weapons to the last round even as their ship sinks. Unfortunately, Irving tends to go too deep into all the fruitless planning of the various Naval Staffs and leaves these human moments fewer and farther between than I wanted.

In light of the present war in Iraq, the most interesting point made by the book is how truly difficult the so-called "intelligence game" really is. British Intelligence is portrayed in books and novels as being almost Omnipotent in its genius, besting the Germans over and over again in World War II, and indeed the Brits won numerous intelligence triumphs, some of them staggering in their brilliance. But in the case of Convoy PQ 17, the Admiralty misread the facts, saw an enemy fleet where there was none (the Germans actually never committed their heavy battleships, fearing Allied aircraft carrier attack) and left a helpless convoy at the mercy of the Luftwaffe and wolf packs.

Intelligence is a brutally difficult affair, with horrendous consequences for even small mistakes, and a constant orgy of Monday-morning quaterbacking by men of self-righteous personality and cowardly character. Hack novelists often refer to it as "the great game." I doubt very much if the men who drowned in freezing water looked at it that way, and I prefer Dirty Harry Callahan's view: "Funny....I never thought of it as a game."

David Irving's The Destruction of Convoy PQ-17 is a well-researched and well-written story of one of the northern Lend-Lease convoys to Soviet Russia during World War II. Due to a series of maneuvers by the Germans, messages by the British, and mistakes, the convoy scattered and suffered very high losses to German U-boat and air attack before the survivors finally reached Soviet Russia. Irving's account of this action is one of the most readable narratives of any sea action that I have ever read.

(The author is a controversial "historian" and a Holocaust-denier. This book pre-dates his public refutation of the Holocaust. However, Irving was sued for libel and lost because of some passages in the book about Captain Broome, the commander of the destroyer escort for Convoy PQ-17. Anyone reading this book should be aware of the libel action and should also realize that the action was based on a handful of passages that were taken out of later versions of the book. There are accounts of the libel trial on the internet. I did not even find the "libelous" actions offensive.)

Irving's account of the battle is extremely well-researched. He recounts how confused and in the dark both the British and German commands were during the battle. Much of his story is based on archival research into both the British and German commands' actions and decisions, but he fleshes out the story with great narratives based on ship logs, the memoirs of many participants, and interviews with many of the survivors. The personal stories help add a human dimension to the story, as he recounts the difficulty of trying to survive at sea in the northern latitudes with German aircraft and U-Boats stalking the ships.

Irving wrote a wonderful book that tells a fascinating and harrowing story of a WWII naval action. Even if this book is read with skepticism toward Irving's handful of criticisms of Broome, his numerous criticisms of the RN, and his later controversial history (at the time of this writing, he is in prison in Austria for Holocaust denial), it is a great work. It is a shame that someone of Irving's considerable research and writing skills has wasted them for much of his career.