Collins Books

I found the photographs in this book nothing short of astounding. It may be because I'm a graphic artist. The art which the people of Kau live within is jarringly beautiful; indeed, their tatoos and face painting did not cover or mark the human canvases, but instead enhanced and brought out the very soul of them. My hair stood on end.

The best photography book I ever had. Wonderful book.

I first discovered Leni in the early 80's. As an amateur photographer for many years, Leni's work provided the drive for me to work hard for an image, wait for the light. Leni's photojournalistic ability has been an inspiration. In my opinion, Leni makes a person want to record their observations on film.In terms of ability and true gutsiness she is unique. Her insight and sensitivity into the culture of the People of Kau provides a startling immediacy to their unique way of life. Leni's drive to provide a record, a tangible proof of the horrible beauty of their lives moved me to breathlessness. Her level of communciation through the use of film is singular. This book is a must have. It is a must read. For a photographer it is a must do.

I felt priveleged to join Leni, through her stunning photography, on a voyage to a place in time and history that may by now have already been changed forever. It is difficult to conceive of cultures that today are so unlike our own, yet give us glimpses into how our own forebearers may have lived out their lives.

I found this book in a library in the mid/late seventies. I was a poor surfer dude in those days and never bought books. It was the first time I just went out and forked out a huge dollop of cash for a book. I never have regretted it for one moment. Never!
As someone else in the reviews says, "Just get it!" Go on!

I prefer Bartlett's for one major reason: You know where what you're looking for came from. There's plenty of good material in here, don't get me wrong, but if it's a Shakespeare quotation, I like to know *exactly* where it came from in MacBeth, so I can find it and cite it!

It does have an interesting organization-- by theme-- which is different from Bartlett's and can make flipping through it amusing. In that way, you can actually pick this up and just browse instead of reading 16 pages of lines from Paradise Lost, all together.

However, if you're looking for something practical, something you can use to give people an answer if they ask you, "Hey, that was interesting, where did it come from, exactly?," you're not going to be able to answer the "exactly" part. Just be aware of that.

Well worth the price of the book - excellent collection of quotes. Wonderful source of reference. I look forward to "wearing it out" as one other reader has!!!

I have had this book for 9 years and it continues to be my favorite. I have several other quotation books, but I always keep coming back to this one. It covers many topics that are categorized in a user friendly format which makes searching for the perfect quote a breeze. I recommend this book for the quotation fanatic!

A lot of quote books focus on the timeless and famous or the "witty" and not-so-meaningful. Peter's Quotations is a clasic among public speakers and essayists because it focusses on what these people are likely to need. It addresses broad, abstract topics such as "kindness" but also lays out the lawyer jokes. The topics are a good mix of the immortal and the current and, while often witty, are never ridiculous or campy (well, almost never campy). I've used it for years as a debater and public speaker, as a coach, and as a teacher. The best indication I can give you of its outstanding usefulness is that I buy a new copy for my speech team every year because a graduating senior always steals the old one. I'm on my third personal copy because I've worn two others out.

Not a "real" quotation reference like, say, Bartlett's, but a great compendium of mostly modern quotes. The book has a sharp, sassy, punchy, pointed sensibility (which only lags, unfortunately, in Dr. Peter's own added asides which are uniformly below the standard of the rest of the book). This is a quotation book that you will read cover to cover. Organization is handy so that when you want to find that pithy bon mot that struck you the last time you read the book, you'll be able to locate it easily. Highly recommended.

Obviously, 200 years is a lot of history. That's why you leave this book with a "I want more" flavor on your mouth. But this book has the most important happenings in the past 200 years of NY history -- including 9/11. It is something to read over and over, and to use as a history source, even for kids.

This will be a pleasantly surprising book for those unfamiliar with the long and, dare I say, glorious history of the oldest daily newspaper in the USA.

Founded by Alexander Hamilton, the NYP went on to help shape New York City and even the nation, in substantial, surprising ways (the creation of Central Park, the candidacy of Lincoln, the founding of the NAACP, etc.). Page Six fans will be pleased too -- there are ample servings of dirt, scandal and snort-inducing headlines. In short: an informative, fun read.

One small complaint: I would have liked to see 200 years worth of editorial/political cartoons included in the book.

I grew up with all those great New York Post headlines. But I never knew how big a part the newspaper played in the city's - and country's - history.

This is a great, fun read.

Whether you love or hate New York, you will love this book. Whether you love or hate the New York Post, you will love this book. I was surprised at how quickly I was taken in my the fabulous photographs and memorable headlines. It's a wonderful historical record of New York. It's also a wonderful historical record of the country.

I could see history bufs, celebratory hounds and just about everyone being interested in it. It would make a great gift.

This is a book ideal for perusing. All the headlines, front pages, photos, and stories make for a unique view into New York's history. It is at the same time, entertaining, informative, and truly relaxing. Over the course of its history, the Post has covered the ideological spectrum from Left to Right, and this places fascinating interpretations into past and recent events.

A couple of shortcomings ring loud: (1) There is weak writing (or editing), and (2) there should be a bit more depth to the history presented.

Overall, however, this is highly recommended, especially for anyone interested in New York City, and those living here.

Baxter's time was not too unlike our own. Despite there being a large theological agreement that there must be discipline within the Church, very few leaders in the church are willing to carry it out. Baxter reminds us, and convincingly so, that we must do so for not only the good of the soul of the individual, but for the rest of the Church, and even ourselves. Most of the book rotates around the subject of discipline in the pastoral ministry. It also contains many other details concerning the ministry that would be good for any aspiring, or current pastor to read.

The only reason I give the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because this version is the abridged version of what Baxter wrote years ago. However, there is nothing that would tell you this unless you read the preface. I was a little disturbed upon originally reading the preface that this was the case, and that the original work is closer to 700 pages (depending on margins and type settings). This book has a rather tiny font size, and very little margin, so even though it is only over 100 pages, if it were in the typical type setting you see in most books, it would probably be closer to 3-400 pages.

Also, the ancient Elizabethean english has been revised for the modern reader, which probably accounts for the shorter number of pages.

Don't let any of this distract you from getting this book though, there are still many redeeming qualities to it.

The Reformed Pastor was actually very different than I anticipated, being nothing about reformed theology or even theology at all. "Reformed Pastor" actually means reforming pastors, using the word the same way we would say "reformed hardened criminal." Hmmm. I guess that already tells you this book isn't one of those "feel-good" books.

Richard Baxter was famous for two things: being a tremendous pastor to a town in England, and getting constantly into trouble for being so blunt that he would make enemies of his friends. This book is about being a tremendous pastor, and it is very very blunt.

It is an extended lecture he proposed to give to a local ministerial association in 1656. The book uses as its foundation and framework Acts 20:28: "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." The book first deals with pastors "taking heed" to their own spiritual state and life, and then turns its attention to taking heed to all the flock.

As to the topic of taking heed to their own spiritual lives, Baxter starts at the beginning, with making sure the reader is truly a Christian, and progresses through disciplines, qualifications, and indwelling sin. He next emphasizes the reasons why a pastor must be rigorous in his own spiritual life. He expounds reasons such as how many eyes are on the man of God, how difficult the work is, and how the honor of Christ depends on it. He reminds his reader of many practical insights, such as "all that a minister does is a kind of preaching" and to avoid the error of men who "study hard to preach exactly, and study little or not at all to live exactly."

After dealing with the pastor's personal life, he tackles the pastor's responsibility to shepherd his congregation. His most radical recommendation, radical back then and almost unthinkable to American churches today, is for a pastor to personally visit and catechize people (for those unfamiliar with the term, it means to teach a list of several hundred questions and answers of basic theology). Specifically, he says a pastor should catechize each and every family, in the pastor's entire town, each and every year. In Baxter's town that meant 2000 people in 800 families, that he and his associate pastor took two full days every week to go through the whole town every year.

He bluntly states, "If the pastoral office consists of overseeing all the flock, then surely the number of souls under the care of each pastor must not be greater than he is able to take such heed as to here is required." Yea, and I'm sure the pastoral staff of most churches personally know every member of their flock. And yes, I know that we consider Sunday School teachers or small group leaders to be "overseeing the flock"- but how many of those leaders in our churches see themselves as shepherds, have been theologically trained and commissioned as overseers, one-on-one ask them regularly about their spiritual life, and are seen by the members of their class or group as having spiritual responsibility over them?

But it was a radical idea even back then, so much so that Baxter takes dozens of pages to specifically give all the reasons why every pastor should devote himself to this universal visitation and dozens more pages to specifically answer a whole series of objections to the work. In short, he says that he had found that an hour of focused questions concerning a person's spiritual state was often more helpful than years of listening to sermons for their spiritual growth. It's hard to argue with that conclusion, and harder to argue with the marked growth (in both numbers and spiritual maturity) that history shows that his church had under his pastorship.

As to objections to why not do it, he says that they all are variations on the theme of "I'm too lazy or greedy" which he viciously attacks as unworthy of any follower of Christ, let alone a pastor. To laziness, he asks "Are these works to be done with a careless mind, or a lazy hand? O see, then, that this work be done with all your might!"

To greed, he states that if a pastor has too many families in his church for him to visit individually, then he should hire another pastor out of his own salary to help him. He challenges, "What! Do you call yourselves ministers of the gospel, and yet are the souls of men so base in your eyes, that you had rather they eternally perish, than that you and your family should live in a low and poor condition?" Whoa there, Baxter must have never read Your Best Life Now!

The book is chock full with other helpful insights and wry comments, such as "All our teaching must be as plain and simple as possible." "Is it not a pity, then, that our hearts are not as orthodox as our heads?" "It is a contradiction in terms, to be a Christian, and not humble." "We must study how to convince and get within men, and how to bring each truth to the quick." "In the name of God, brethren, labour to awaken your own hearts, before you go to the pulpit, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners." And my list could go on and on and on. I have already discussed his specific instructions on personal evangelism in another article.

After reading The Reformed Pastor, I have to agree with Spurgeon, Packer, Dever and all the other big kahunas- this is absolutely essential reading for any man called to the ministry, to pin him against the wall and make him take stock of his ministry, his priorities, and his life before God, and to make him deeply consider about how best to "take heed over" himself and all his flock.

It would be silly to say that you NEED to read this book before entering into the ministry. God has used many a man who have probably never even heard of Baxter or "the reformed christian."
However, if you are considering purchasing this book, then I would say dont even think twice. Besides the "pastoral epistles" of Paul (1st & 2nd Timothy, and Titus) I know of no other piece of work that will prepare you and teach you the way that those who lead the church ought to be. I would recommend it to anyone who has a heart for the Lords work, not just pastors.
Richard Baxter was a man full of the Holy Spirit. The words in this book will illuminate your soul, and convict you to the point of crying out to God and running to the cross of Christ. It can be a very painful book in many areas because it will cause you to look at yourself and wonder if you are really walking the life that The Lord wants from those who lead his people.
Its very difficult to find the words to describe how incredible this book is. I have to read it in tiny little sections instead of by chapters because there is so much depth to it. and each small section will bring me to tears.
Physically, this book weighs about as much as any other paper back. Spiritualy, you wont be able to lift it off the ground, much less turn a page

This is no candy or soup for the soul, its solid and challenging real world meat for the work of the ministry. Baxter challenges us to a kind of ministry that exceeds human ability alone. Such a ministry drives us to our only hope for that ability and keeps us returning to the everlasting arms of our heavenly father.

I read this book because so many people have spoken of it as a classic. Having now finished it, I must say I am a little disappointed with the content. I expected profound and striking ideas. In these pages however, were no new principles I have not already learned.

The smallness of Baxter's content however, is far exceeded by the substance of his character. It is his character, his pastoral passion for ministry that makes this book the classic it has become. His single-minded devotion to God and his tender, shepherd's heart for his flock have inspired pastors for over 300 years.

This book is not an easy read. The English language has changed substantially over 300 years, and as a result the essence of Baxter's pastoral passion is undoubtedly distorted. Still, this volume IS a classic, and is a must-read for any pastor wanting to refine and/or restore his motivation for ministry.

This is the ultimate players manual--great information in a concise and logical format. I have been searching for the perfect golf manual for years and now I have found it. Practical, insightful, brilliant in its' simplicity. Well done!

If there is one book to add to your golf bookshelf, this is the one. There is something to learn in every chapter and each one treats a specific point. You not only learn the basics but he shows you how through pictures and then explains in details the different aspects: setup;the swing; the strategy and the swing thoughts for each and every shot he teaches. To make it complete and very functional, he even gives you practice strategies and fundamental drills.
All in all, probably one of the best books I have read on shot making and shot shaping.

I'm a high handicapper, however, this book is concise, clear and actionable. Mike describes 12 useable shots. The descriptions are technically clear and memorable. For example, the chapter on putting was simple and to the point, the 3 steps Mike recommends have helped me see green slope. The thoughts on hitting a low trajectory shot (a low shot requires a low finish) are simple to understand and stay in your memory regardless of if you are in a forest to the side of a fairway or on the practice range.

If you are not confident being able to get the ball into the air on the golf course you need a book on basics. Otherwise, this is a really good, valuable, actionable, short read. David Perz take note (please).

I have read a number of books and magazine articles over the
years, but none have given me insight on what shots I need to
concentrate on most.

This book outlines the twelve most important shots and
describes in detail, how to go about accomplishing them.

This book is making me a better golfer in record time!
I highly recommend it!

Golfers know that to recover is what it's all about. When you don't have your A game that day, to still score takes the shots that McGentrick gives in this book and the ability to pull them off with consistency.

From playing a fade to draw, to flyer lies to flop shot to restricted swings, this book gives chapter on each of these and seven others. In each is hints on setup, swing and strategy, followed by practice drills and what I find especially useful to learning it, competitive drills, i.e. drills which give you games to get the adrenalin going and groove the shot.

After several of the previous books in this series were somewhat disappointing, this book was a welcome improvement. The author paced the action better and formulated the mystery better than in the books just prior to this book. While I rated this book at four stars, when I compare this book with other books in the series I think it is one of the better books in this series.

Frank and Joe Hardy become involved in a mystery surrounding a new reservoir for Bayport. The reservoir is complete, but the water level is not rising. To be more specific, the water level rises during the daytime, but then drops during the night. If authorities are unable to solve the mystery, Bayport may soon be out of water.

Some of the Hardy Boys mysteries are very convoluted and complicated. This story has a much simpler, focused story. The story still has multiple facets, but everything revolves around why the reservoir will not fill. Because the story has focus, it is easier to follow, and I think it is also more interesting. I also think that because of the focus, the main story line has more detail than many of the previous books in this series, particularly those with multiple overlapping mysteries that the author often explains minimally.

This story also has fewer science elements, which many of the previous books handle poorly. This story focuses on the mystery and uses as little science as possible to establish the story and the mystery. Because of the focus and the minimal reliance on science, this story is easier to read and easier to believe. Because the author focused this story more tightly focused than previous stories, it is also more enjoyable. I look forward to the next mysteries in this series to see if the author maintained the quality of the story line exhibited by this book.

The Hardy Boys series is recommended for ages 8 to 12 because the series is relatively tame for the previous target audience of ages 10 to 14. However, the series still contains some interesting moments and will keep most readers guessing the answers to the mysteries until the final solution is revealed.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was pretty fun, adventurous, and mysterious. Like many of the other Hardy Boys books, it is fun and exciting and it is hard to put the book down after a few chapters.There is always something suprising at the end of each chapter. When I tell myself to read just one chapter, I end up reading the whole book instead! I think this book may be one of my favorite books in the whole Hardy Boys Series.I enjoyed this book mostly because it is pretty humorous in some parts when Frank and Joe trick Chet. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the book.

This book was the best in the series. I have most of the hardy boys books. I love reading them. They are so exciting to read. I read one chapter a night before I went to bed and I couldn't put it down it's so exciting to read these books. My favorite part in the book was when they kept finding skulls on the ground, and in caverns and crevices. I would recomend this book to a person who likes mystery.

This review concerns the original 1948 edition and the revised 1966 edition. The revised edition follows the plot of the original and only had some events cut to eliminate some pages. Bayport is facing a water shortage when the newly constructed reservoir on Skull Mountain will not fill with water. The funny thing is that the water level in the reservoir rises during the day, but then it falls again at night. Frank, Joe and Chet camp out on Skull Mountain with two engineers to try to solve the mystery. Both editions are really great books; the original is well-written (the revised edition lost much of the rich language of the original, for that reason I'd rate it 4 stars), both have lots of interesting characters, a lot of action and an intriguing mystery. This book is what the series needed to get back on track following the extremely disappointing "The Phantom Freighter". Both books are really good; although, if possible, I'd recommend reading the original. I can't think that any Hardy Boys fan would find either of these books boring.

Bayport is suffering a water shortage due to water from a newly constructed reservoir mysteriously disappearing at night. Deciding to take on this 'mystery' for a bit of fun, Frank and Joe Hardy along with their best friend Chet, soon find themselves the target of a sequence of deadly attacks to get them off the case.

You might find the writing style of the book a bit dated due to the age of the novel, but you will soon get 'sucked in' to the story disregarding the 'cornyness' of the style. It follows the basic layout of a Hardy Boy story, the most noticable being the case they are working on has something to do with the case their famous detective father, Fenton Hardy, is also working on in Chicago. Great for young readers and nostalgic value. RECOMMENDED TO ALL!!!

Cantrip is missing! Having been seconded to assist with the mysterious Daffodil settlement in the Tax Haven of the Channel Islands, he disappears, and there seem to be bodies all over the place, bodies and unlimited suspects who might well have been involved in murdering them - or then again might not. Even murder isn't necessarily on the cards here. Really, it is up to Professor Hilary Tamar to sort things out and find the culprits, and find Cantrip at the same time.

A while ago we were discussion (on a Jane Austen list) the art of the epistolary form of the novel - and perhaps this is the original idea behind Caudwell's form of mysteries - they are very reliant on letter writing. While the first mystery featured letters by Julia from Venice (Thus was Adonis murdered), and the second Serena from Corfu (The Shortest Way to Hades), this has Young barrister, Michael Cantrip, writing from..... well.... all over France - and using the handy mechanism of the Telex machine to send his messages back to the members of the nursery at 62 New Square (and the occassional less than flattering note to their Clerk, Henry).

A very funny, bouynat mystery with the usual Caudwell twist at the end - I guess the unexpected seems to occur every few pages really - The only thing I would mention is that I didn't feel like all the clues were quite at my grasp as they might have been - however, I didn't mind, it was such a rollicking good fun ride. Sometimes I wonder if I read these as mysteries or comedies - they are lovely as both. .

After the relatively disappointing second book in the series (The Shortest Way to Hades) I was enraptured to find The Sirens Sang of Murder on a par with the first Sarah Caudwell, the one that made me sing hosannas and rush out to buy everything she had written. One of the strengths and pleasures of Sirens, as with Thus Was Adonis Murdered, is that a large part of it takes the form of an epistolary novel, in this case through telexes in the hilarious voice of Cantrip. Surely Caudwell is a fan of P.G. Wodehouse, since the hapless Cantrip reminds me irresistibly of clueless Bertie Wooster, even down to his malapropisms and his dotty uncle (reminiscent of Uncle Fred). Having so many adventures related through his harried, well-intentioned, quirky voice ("pottle" is one of his favorite verbs) makes everything that much livelier. Another clever, enjoyable device is the use of hackneyed romance-novel cliches, which circulate due to Cantrip and Julia's collaboration on a would-be bestseller. Added to this heady mixture is the faintly dangerous, sexy whiff of witch lore and the supernatural.

If you enjoyed Thus Was Adonis Murdered, don't hesitate to heed the Sirens' seductive cry.

This is the third of Sarah Caudwell's sublimely funny murder mysteries narrated by Hilary Tamar, professor of legal history at Oxford, and featuring her young barrister friends. All four of these books are hilarious, and this is the funniest of the lot. Not many books in my life have made me cry with laughter, but this one reduced me to tears on several occasions. The adventures of young Michael Cantrip (educationaly disadvantaged, poor boy, he went to Cambridge)in the Channel Islands and in France and Monaco are full of wildly funny incidents. The poor boy has to suffer spending five hours shut in the boot of a car, being locked in a wine celler by a dotty waiter etc, meanwhile back in london his colleagues are having to cope with his barmy uncle. The plot is amazingly convoluted, and like all the books you may find yourself getting a bit lost in the complexity of the financial details, but who cares. Just enjoy the ingenious story, the wonderful characters, the witty dialogue, and Sarah Caudwell'smarvellous style. What a tragedy that there are only four of these marvellous books.

I was delighted with Cauldwell's third book in her too-short series. Much maligned Cantrip always makes me laugh, and you get plenty of him in this book.

The humor is elaborate and depends on convoluted witticisms couched in a pastiche of eighteenth century prose, alternating with sharp observations of contemporary British life and amazingly effective slapstick. This sort of thing has to be done superbly well or it falls flat. This is done superbly well. The plot seems completely fantastic until the murderer is revealed and you realise you should have thought of that person all along. The same setting as the other Caudwells - the London singles bar scene.

I have just received this book but have noticed that Pericles, Prince of Tyre has been left out - I wonder why? Haven't read the book yet; when I do, I'll add my opinion on it here.

This book does an excellent job of describing the plots, settings, and characters of the stories of all Shakespeare's plays. The author also provides good background detail of the time, relevant facts from Shakespeare's life, and some not-excessively-detailed analysis where appropriate. My one small complaint with the book is that the author is so deeply in love with the works and the very idea of Shakespeare that she rarely lets an opportunity pass to tell us how wonderful he is. (The level of fawning and gushing is sometimes reminiscent of listening to a fourteen year old girl talk about Justin Timberlake.) But apart from this minor complaint, I heartily recommend the book -- it's quite readable and the overall scholarship is outstanding.

I used this book successfully to help negotiate top grades in an Ivy League Shakespeare class more than 30 years ago, and I still use a copy to reorient myself and my family to Shakespeare's works. An invaluable guide to the essence of each play, including all significant aesthetic themes. Indispensable as a quick read before seeing a Shakespeare play that hasn't been read or seen for some time. I've come across no other book that is so helpful yet concise.

Margaret Chute's Stories of Shakespeare uses an novel technique. She writes treatments for 36 of the plays (those in the First Folio), a present tense chronology of the plot in simple, eloquent language. This book is useful for actors, students or the casual fan. The book also appreciates the beauty of Shakespeare's language by offering selected excerpts. Further, it recognises the humor, the history and the tragedy of the story and gives concise summaries so the reader can always follow the action. This is an excellent book.

Chute's book provides a basic summary for each of Shakespeare's plays. Her writing is as lyrical as it is complete for such a book, which makes it a handy, enjoyable reference. Her main goal is to make the stories digestible, and to that end, the essence of Shakespeare's plays emerges brilliantly, freeing the average reader of dusty Elizabethan language. Unlike other books that give choppy scene-by-scene summaries (though helpful in their own way) or brief plot highlights, Chute's summaries seamlessly tie the play's entire action, principle and otherwise.

The plays are grouped by comedies, tragedies, and histories, with comedies and tragedies in the likely order they were written and the histories arranged chronologically by reign. She includes an illuminating introduction that sheds light on Shakespeare's genius and innovation as well as how best to approach his work. An index of characters is also included. One of the many things I appreciated about this book is Chute's resistance to overemphasizing popular texts. With the exception of "Titus Andronicus," she devotes a fair amount of text to each play, though some do receive added attention.

Those looking for a more detailed or critical reading of Shakespeare's work would not benefit from Chute's book. There are numerous (non-academic) guides for those desiring more than a casual read and study of the Bard. ("Shakespeare for Dummies," "The Pocket Companion to Shakespeare," and "The Age of Shakespeare" are all books I've consulted for more background and a better understanding of the author and era.) In her introduction, however, she points out that the purpose of her book "is to give the reader a preliminary idea of each of the thirty-six plays by telling the stories and explaining in a general way the intentions and points of view of the characters." On occasion she gives critical analyses of characters and plays but in an informative and unobtrusive manner. This book is not Cliff's Notes or a substitute for the actual play, but it does make Shakespeare understandable.

Reading this book, I got to share a fascinating life with people who lived adventures I never dreamed of. I wouldn't have considered going to Moscow State in my early 20s! I have followed international news over the past 40 years, sometimes more closely than other times as "life" allowed. And I was aware of Russia, but my images were formed by tne nightly broadcasts from Moscow....only to learn, duh, what a huge and diverse country Russia is and was.

Naomi's rich descriptions of sparse student lives, charming (who knew?) villages, life as an expat, and the bravery of the U.S. diplomats is captivating. Regardless of one's interest in Russia, this is a fascinating story told by a keen observer and skilled writer.

Her book and story is too important (now I know that) to call an "airplane" or "beach book" but it is that engrossing of a read.

The book makes the whole experience come alive. The best part was the parallels between the changes in Russia and the changes in the author. And I liked the way Ambassador Collins' chapters provide a context for the work at the beginning and end.

This review was just sent to me in a letter by another American in Moscow who does not use Internet.
"I have just finished the book and am in awe of the writing. The book masterfully conveys the multi-textured Soviet experience over changing decades as well as evoking the challenges "wife of" has to surmount. Once I picked it up, I couldn't stop reading. It transported me to living in the days of the Soviet Union."

Naomi Collins helps the reader walk the tightrope between the private and personal life of the individual and the massive presence of the Soviet/Russian state. It is both a personal diary and a political essay that takes the reader through the recent past as perceived by a talented and sensitive observer of her world. The personal narrative creates the focus through which to take hold and grasp major events of our time. The author's willingness to share with us thoughts and emotions originally intended for personal journals and close friends and family is a gift to her wider audience. It is beautifully written. Her poetry, written during periods in Russia, is truly evocative of time and place.

Invite Naomi Collins to your home. Ask her to relate her experiences as the wife of a Foreign Service employee who eventually becomes the Ambassador to Russia. The night before her arrival prepare some bifstek and kvas so that she will feel at home. Be sure to listen intently to her every word as she shares the last 40 years of her life in and out of Russia. If she is either too busy to visit or you cannot make or purchase kvas, do the next best thing and pick up a copy of her book "Through Dark Days and White Nights". I assure you that her story will captivate and fascinate you as if she were sitting in your living room. Her style of writing is as natural as her speech. Her observational skills and her careful documentation of events help to paint her story with passion and realism that could only be matched by someone traveling along with Naomi. I shivered as she described the winters in Russia and cringed at the description of the putrefying matter found in the unkempt bathrooms. You need not be interested in Russian history or politics to enjoy this book. The 4-decade memoir transitions from life as a student at Moscow State University, to wife of the American Ambassador to Russia at the Spaso House. It is a quick read and disappointing that it ends so soon. I await the writing of another book by Naomi Collins.

This book is an absolute winner. Every little girl I give it to accepts it immediately as a firm favorite. It all started with my memories of not wanting to return it to the library. Modern little girls like to carry it about with them (Hoping that someone new will read it to them? As an opportunity to admire it in public? Because they can't bear the thought of being parted from it?) Who knows. All I know is that this is a great book.

My fiancee bought this book for my daughter and I was a little doubtful at first, but she loves it and knew it off by heart by the time she was 18 months old! we read it over and over again and she even says good bye, good bye, good bye, good bye to the tiger on the very last page. This was an excellent buy and I'm looking forward to my younger daughter reading it too.

I was a little unsure when a good friend insisted on buying this book for my then 16-month old daughter at a local book shop. Firstly, it wasn't cheap so I was afraid that it would be a waste if my daughter didn't like it and it wasn't a board book (although my daughter did have some paperback books, she had mostly board books at the time). However, my friend said that she'd loved the book as a child and her own 2-year old loved it as well. So, she got it...and I needn't have worried at all. My daughter loved it from the get-go and was willing to sit through the story at least twice at each sitting, which amazed me as it is not a short story. I decided to try another book by the same author - "Mog, the forgetful cat" and my daughter enjoys that too (it's an even longer read!). As an aside, I have found that the best books to get are the ones that you yourself remember reading as a child or ones that someone else you know remembers from their childhood. It's obviously left an impression and it'll do the same again.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK! I'M BUYING A 2ND COPY TO HAVE A MINT CONDITION BOOK FOR LATER. OUR TODDLER WANTED THIS READ 7 TIMES IN A ROW UNTIL WE FINALLY SAID IT'S NAP TIME. IT'S NO SURPRISE OVER 3 MILLION COPIES HAVE BEEN SOLD!

It took me nearly twelve years to locate a hardbound copy of this book, and was well worth it. I remember this book vividly from my childhood. My mother read it to my sister and I on rainy days. It is the story of a girl named Sophie who is visited by a hungry tiger with a voracious appetite for tea and biscuits. He ends up eating everything in the cupboards to satisfy his appetite.

It is a sweet story that is easy to follow and read along with your mom, or if you are like me, read all by yourself now that you are an adult. It made me not only want to have a pet tiger, but it made me want to travel to Europe, where the book is set. Sadly, I still do not have a pet tiger, but I have traveled to Europe!

If you are lucky enough to find it in stock - snatch it up quick - they go really fast!