Clark Books

Definately one of the most engrossing Regency novels it has ever been my pleasure to encounter! Dulcie Bligh, the dear Baroness, is a fascinating protagonist. With her ever-changing hair colours, her outrageous pets, and delight in amateur sleuthing, she keeps the action moving right along, pulling the reader with her. A must read for anyone who enjoys a love story AND a bit of a mystery, complete with a generous dollop of humour on the side.

I always thought this was one of the best books written on how to look at (enjoy and understand)great works of art. Kenneth Clark writes so easily, the writing just flows and everything is made so CLEAR to the average Joe Schmoe who doesn't know much about art but knows what he likes! If you are confused by great art in general, or feel awkward when trying to discuss your reactions to it, this book will help you understand, and appreciate, so much more.

I sent this to my Dad since he grew up in the area and his Dad was a Bear Mountain cop. We have heard stories about Bear Mountain all our lives. Dad loved the book and read it in a few hours. Mom loved the book. They asked me to send copies to my brothers, who loved the book. Dad has his own stories and memories to add to the book and will write them in the borders for me. If you have any connection to Bear Mountain or just interested in the area, this book is for you.

This fun little book portrays explorers Lewis and Clark as bears setting out to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Follow along with them and fellow bear explorers Sacajawea, Pomp, and Charbonneau as they travel up rivers and over mountains along the historic Lewis and Clark route. The easy reading and expressive illustrations tell a complex story in a simple and exciting way. This delightful book is bound with real suede fringe that gives it an authentic appeal (a limited special edition without the suede fringe is also available). It is a "must-have" for Lewis and Clark collectors of all ages.

Ironically, I read this book in three days, which was a record for me thanks to my extra short attention span. I also had to speed it up to get it done for a high school paper.
Well anyways, I thought it was great, like all the other books I've read by MHC so far, which add up to about five. She got me, to say the least, to start reading. Her "Loves music, loves to dance" was the first adult fiction novel I've ever read for leasure after a long streak of Goosebumps-like stories in the middle school reading hour.
My favorite aspect of this book is the connection of "supernaturalism", if such is a word, with real deep mystery, one that starts with the kid seeing snakes in his dreams. The connection of all those things, and the romantic content, felt very real and almost above my MHC expectations; so, cudos to her.
Whoever said that her books are made for women must expect men to only read books where no less than 5 people get brutally murdered before the end. On the contrary, men should start reading more romance to figure out, or get closer to, knowing what the heck it is that women really want.
So, anyways, this was a marvel to read, and I recommend it to everyone.

Review by Jeffrey A. Katt, a noted SF author

Behold Leviathan, an ambitious first novel by Will Clark, is both original and intriguing. Certain chapters are loosely autobiographical, bringing a realism to the tale and making the story even more interesting. The novel begins with SP4 Cleary, an army specialist formerly stationed at the White Sands Missile Range, testifying before Congress. Shortly thereafter Cleary develops a love interest with Nikki, who is much more than she initially appears. After that, well, you would have to read the book yourself to appreciate all the twists and turns that the author supplies. Like the proverbial onion, each chapter reveals another layer of the intricate tale, until the reader descends into world steeped in international intrigue, politics, religion, corruption, humor, love, and the darkly supernatural.

Clark uses his own personal knowledge of politics, engineering, and the military to lend credibility to the story, and he takes the reader on a fast-paced ride into a world most of us have not imagined ý except, perhaps, in stress-induced nightmares. Just when the reader thinks he knows where the story is going it turns in an entirely new direction. Only after finishing the book can the reader look back and clearly sort out which portions were pure fiction, and which are chillingly familiar ý and true. Additionally, the chapters are not strictly in chronological order, a technique I usually find to be quite annoying, but here it serves to make the story evolve in a more logical manner.

Behold Leviathan is one of the most unique and original books I have read in quite some time. From the sharply satirical to the forcefully blunt, the novel holds the readerýs interest and forces him to reconsider the world around him. I look forward to future offerings from Mr. Clark.

It's a shame about Ben Franklin. A printer, inventor, statesman, diplomat and patriot, he played a huge role in bringing America to birth. Yet when he is impersonated today, it is so often as a buffoon - a wit-spilling, innocuous jolly chubby comic. Ronald Clark's "Benjamin Franklin: A Biography" puts the lie to Franklin-as-comic-distraction, placing him at the center of a very serious America drama.

Clark takes us from Franklin's early days in Boston, a town that (sadly) he came to despise. A printer's apprentice for his overbearing and less talented brother James, young Franklin found liberation penning phony advice from a fictitious widow, Silence Dogood, and slipping them under the print shop door at night. The success of these bits of writing put Franklin on a path of self-reliance and innovation that lasted his entire life.

Clark follows Franklin to Philadelphia where he deftly maneuvers his way into the printing business, to his scientific endeavors. Not enough of us know that Franklin's experiments in electricity (not just his kite flying) where very serious science in the 18th century. Franklin was highly regarded for the common sense way he approached the subject. Our everyday language of electricity - that it has positive and negative aspects - is Franklin's. I was surprised to know that the facts behind the story of the kite are less certain that I imagined. If the story happened (and it has a whiff of Franklin's direct and simple methods) Franklin may have been keen to keep it quiet after realized how lucky he was to have survived the experience.

Clark details Franklin's importance to the American revolution - especially his long service as diplomat to the French, wheedling out of them the guns, uniforms and supplies the colonies desperately needed to keep fighting the British Army. Clark covers Franklin's flirtatious behavior with the noble ladies of France, but leaves it mostly up to the reader to determine whether he as just playing at seduction as was "a la mode" in elite Parisian circles, or was truly engaged in something more serious. Franklin rather paternal and often long-distance relationship with his wife Deborah is detailed via their letters.

In short, Clark gives a us a Franklin who is an American genius, springing up at a time when the nation most needed a man of his craft, seriousness, subtlety and intelligence. You will read it and forever be dissatisfied with the vacuous impersonations that have smoothed out and tamed this must unruly of intellects.

Dorothy Bryant has written a wonderful historical novel centered on Berkeley, with believable, interesting characters who interact with well known people of the times. But it is her relationships, and questions about relationships and continuing loyalty and interests, which drew me in and brought to life the times and the town. The book reads beautifully - she is such a skilled writer, and her language is rich and complex. Bryant's characters are often people we wish we knew.

I highly recommend this book - it would be great for book groups or even a class on American cultural history!

Best Of Bayou Cuisine is a new version of the classic 1970 cookbook showcasing favorites from the Mississippi delta, and is edited to contain only the most highly acclaimed recipes from the original edition. In addition, the editors have added nearly one hundred brand new recipes showing the amazing talent and inventiveness of Delta cooks in the past thirty years. Filled with mouth-watering, sumptuous recipes from Sherried Shrimp Dip; Hamburger Cornpone Pie; and Mississippi Fried Chicken; to Sazerac Cocktail; Crystallized Grapefruit Peel; and Caramel Pudding, Best Of Bayou Cuisine has something for all three meals of the day!

The author tells a painful story of a betrayal in his own life that left him devastated and without the wife he planned to spend the rest of his life with. This is a beautifully written book and a very easy read. If you've ever been falsely accused of something, you will truly appreciate reading this man's experience.