Fitzgerald Books

The Beaded Garden: Creating Flowers with Beads and Thread
This book is a little treasure trove. Diane is known everywhere as a great beader/designer/teacher.
I have long admired her work but had never tried any of her projects. This book is mostly peyote and square stitch and is an excellent guide to really beautiful beaded flowers. This technique is entirely
different than the French beaded flowers I've always made and a nice change. I just finished my first beautiful flower and am making it into a broach. Being me, I had to add a bit of sparkle. This book is a delight.

I love all the different types of beaded flowers in this book and am very pleased I decided to buy it. The instructions are easy to follow.
Diane Fitzgerald seems to know just what the beader needs.

The Beaded Garden: Creating Flowers with Beads and ThreadThe directions are easy to follow. Some pieces are a little over done and I would prefer a "little less". You will not be disappointed when you get it and your knowledge base will have been increased.

Another one of Diane Fitzgerald's great beadwork books. Even if you are a beader who is not at all interested in making flowers, beadwork patterns for the flowers can be adapted to other beadwork - or, you can try a flower! The instructions are well written, photos are helpful, completed project pictures are motivating. This is another must have for your beadwork library.

I visit the book store several times a week to look at bead books, but I haven't actually bought one in months because nothing seemed to be really different or exciting. This book is different. I have been experimenting with beaded flowers using off-loom techniques for a while now, and I've had to compile patterns and techniques from various sources. This book has all of those techniques in one place so I can stop looking for projects and get back to the good stuff (beading!). I can't wait to get started playing with these gorgeous flowers.

Dragons. What fantasy nut does not love dragons? And while they have been hinted at all through Emily Rodda's Deltora series, they have not been taken seriously until this last selection.

Rodda does an enchanting job of making dragon lore work for her imaginary kingdom. Here the dragons are inseperably connected not only to the gems of protection but to the land itself. It's natural, cool, and makes the dragons more important than just giant lizards flying around.

The problem is that with Deltora freed and the slaves returned, the land is still stuck with famine because there are no wake dragons to heal the land.

So, of course, it is up to our favorite trio to save everyone once more in classic Deltora fashion.

'I have many plans. Plans within plans...' - The Shadow Lord

A great start-off to the DRAGONS OF DELTORA series. This series is scarier and a bit more violent than the previous two but is still meant for children.

While destroying the Shadow Lord's communication device (from series 1 and 2) Lief stumbles upon something that could mean life or death for his land. He must now quest with Barda and Jasmine to stop an ancient evil and the only thing that can help them succeed are Deltora's last dragons.

"You will never be free of me, king Leif of Deltora," said the hoarse voice of the Shadow Lord. "I can talk to you and others through the crystal. The weak minds of your people can, break so easily. It will be fun destroying the minds of your people of del.
Emily Rodda brings your emotions wild in this series and they will change almost every page. Some parts you might find funny because of sarcasm and other parts will leave out of your seat wondering what will happen next. In the series "Dragons of Deltora" Emily Rodda just will leave you with cliffhangers on every page, no doubt about it.
When the king of deltora Leif finds out that the evil shadow lord has put four vile monsters on each part of deltora. They are called the sisters of the north, south, east, and west. He and his friends barda and jasmine embark on a journey to destroy these sisters that are destroying the land but to defeat them they must seek help of the last of deltoras dragons.
Next they go on their journey to beat the sister of the East they have to go through End wood, a part of the forest of silence (a spooky forest with strange beasts) Leif and his friends get drugged by fruit. But because of the magical belt of deltora he did not fall into a deep sleep. Then he saw a strange monster bird called an orchard keeper. It was aiming for barda when a spear flew out of nowhere. What happened, did it hit the orchard keeper did it run read to find out.
Have faith, be strong, and don't eat drugged fruit. Always be cunning and meddling. The books have many themes. Some are funny others are serious. Trust your instinct, which was one of the main themes. If Leif did not trust his instincts he would have never survived the things he went through.
If you like dragons and adventures read the series. If you like mythical creatures read theses books. I like those things and I think you will like it to if you read this funny and thrilling adventure book you will want to read the next book of the series. If I had a choice to rate it I would give it a ten out of ten. Emily Rodda is one of my favorite authors now because of this book. Emily Rodda will be one of your favorite authors to.

Everyone in Deltora think that the dragons have disappeared, but King Lief knows that it's not true. Also, the evil shadow lord has sent and poisoned the land with four creatures hidden with such stealth that only the bravest hero can find them. So King Lief and two other friends set out to find them, and their only allies are the last of the last of the seven Deltora's dragons. On their way there they encounter many things that were both sad and scary for them. One of the scary parts were when in the forest they found strange creatures that are torturing a Capri, which is a half man-half horse by asking it questions. But the sad part about the story, well you'll have to find out by reading the book.

I liked the book, and the way they greatly described the dragons.

the book kept me in suspense, wondering what would happen next.

it was suspensfull alot and the dragons were described exceptionally well, I give it a 5\5 and definately recomend this book for anyone, and everyone to read.

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Grace & Power has to be one of my favorite non fiction pieces. I originally borrowed it from my local library, and once finished, decided I wanted a hardback copy for my own collection. Grace & Power walks its reader through almost every day in the Kennedy Whitehouse paying close attention to detail. One begins to feel like a fly on the wall of every ball, press conference and tete-a-tete. For anyone who has a fascination with the Kennedy family, or politics in general, this is a must read. Thank you Sally Bedell Smith!

Don't look for an in depth analysis of policies or events. Instead, look for in depth analysis of the parties and the social scene. The book does give slightly more insight on some of the key interpersonal relationships. It also carves a picture of Jackie as being much stronger than others. You get more of a sense of her grace, intelligence, and grit.

Although Sally Bedell Smith's "Grace and Power" cannot compete with Arthur Schlesinger's "A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House" nor with Theodore Sorenson's "The Kennedy Legacy," the author makes absolutely no pretensions of doing so. Far from a political history of the Kennedy years, Ms. Smith has drawn on private letters, personal papers and 142 interviews with those close to John F. and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy to illuminate the personal lives of the martyred president and his First Lady. Her take on the couple's complex relationship, including his compulsion to take numerous lovers and her manner of coping with this problem, are mainstays here.

The book reads like an upscale Kitty Kelly bio. It is filled with sensational gossip, character sketches of glorious personalities, and fascinating anecdotes of the people and events that made the Kennedy years so exciting. Ms. Smith is an excellent raconteur who has done her research and written a nonfiction "tell all" that reads like a best-selling novel. But it is not what I would call a serious biography.

Sally Bedell Smith has also written biographies of Princess Diana and Pamela Churchill Harriman and has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair for about ten years.

If you are a "Kennedy junkie" and want to read about the 20th century Camelot, this is a book you will love. If you are looking for excellent political history, go elsewhere. I did enjoy "Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White House," and though I was an adolescent during the magical time JFK was in office, it brought back memories of the president and first lady I idolized. On the other hand, there are things I wish had never been made public. And it is all made public here!
JANA

Washington insider and biographer Sally Bedell Smith opens the doors to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue during the Kennedy administration. This is a revealing look at the private passions, joys, griefs and lives of those people who were stars
in the Kennedy court. We also get a good look at Jack Kennedy and
his wife Jackie. Those readers expecting a tabloidish perusal will be disappointed. This is a serious book and deals with
the major obstacles faced by Kennedy in his short term prior to
the tragedy of Dallas. We learn:
how Kennedy dealt with Khrushchev; the Bay of Pigs and Cuban
Missle Crisis; the burgeoning furor over integration and the
relationship Kennedy developed with his staff and Congress.
We learn about the lives and opinions of such key Kennedy loyalists as Bob McNamara; LBJ; Dean Rusk. We are invited to
the Kennedy compound where we become better acquainted with that
fascinating family. US involvement in Vietnam following the overthrow of Diem is also discussed with intelligent commentary,
Jack Kennedy was brilliant. He was also ill with many problems most notably his Addison's disease. Kennedy was a notorious womanizer who was amoral! The press of the day did not reveal his many affairs with everyone from Marilyn Monroe to White House secretaries. Jack Kennedy was not a nice man!
Jackie was a jet setter who loved to spend money on clothes, travel and shopping sprees. She was also highly intelligent, engineered much needed White House renovation and was a plus on
diplomatic jaunts abroad. In Paris she talked fluent French with De Gaulle and represented the US well in trips to such places as
India.
This is a fine book for those seeking more knowledge of the Kennedy White House. Along with the book by Richard Reeves it is a good introduction to John Kennedy and the 1000 days this modern day Prince Arthur and his Guineviere reigned over America.

What a unique way to weave the story of the politics, history, friendships, relationships, marriage into one finely written work. It's as if you can pick any day from January 1961 to Nov 25, 1963 and there, as if opening a long forgotten datebook, is the gem containing an intimate picture of a special family party, a state dinner, a cruise on the Honey Fitz, Jackie's White House school--name it, if it's personal and human (yet without judgement) you'll find it in Sally Bedell Smith's cultural/social history of the Kennedy years. It's not all fine dining and socializing because important history and the toll it takes is playing out all the while--a deft tapesty!

In fourth grade I read the book The Great Brain at the academy, I thought it would be a challenge because it was fifth grade level. All of my group members ( 7 people) and I read it. Majority of us said it was boring( 6 people) and one person liked it. It was confusing because at the begening Tom rides the train and controls it then in the middle he plans of making a candy store and tries to make it work and at the end he has a basket ball game which has nothing to do w/ the candy store . You would explain this book like a book that was going on the right track (like maybe a pretty dress) then after too many things get added ( like designers putting too many pathes on it) . The ending of this book should've had Tom making the candy store w/ Father Rodrigues's aprooval. But instead he was in the b-ball game.

I received the set of Great Brain Books when I was 8-years-old (back in 1978). While all of them are great, this was by far my favorite because Tom pulls off things every kid wishes s/he could. I don't even know how many times I read it as a kid, but it was more than once a year.

This is the story of Tom being shipped off to Catholic School and taking on the Jesuit teachers. He keeps up his swindling ways and finds ways to make school life much more exciting for everyone! My daughter is now enjoying the series, and I can't wait until she gets to this one!

this book is full of action about this guy at a school that fools all the monks, smugels candy, and tricks his friends.this book is sugested 4 people with boring lives

When I was in third grade or so, my mother bought a boxed set of the first five Great Brain books for us for Christmas. This one (the fourth in the series) was my favorite; I read it until the pages were so dog-eared that it was almost impossible to slide them back into the box, and then I read it some more until I had it nearly memorized, and then I read it some more until it fell apart.

I still have the books; I ran across them when we moved recently and realized that I need to look for hardcover editions. They are all in bad shape, despite attempts at mending them over the years.

The books are still funny, and they still develop the important critical and analytical thinking skills needed to imagine a different time, place, and way of life.

I think that the books are well suited to the 9-to-12 age range that is usually recommended. Each chapter is typically a separate story, which makes the series ideal for the reader who struggles with longer works. They're officially "boys' books," but the publisher's notion of the primary market segment didn't stop me or my sisters from enjoying them.

(A slightly technical aside: what makes a publisher think of a book as a "boy's book" or a "girl's book" is not just the gender of the main characters (which are all boys here). It's also the style: boys usually buy action-oriented books, and girls usually buy books which invest more time in thought, dialogue, and emotion.

(To give one example of this phenomenon, Bridge to Terabithia, whose main character is a boy, is definitely a girl's book.

(While the Great Brain stories are almost always action-driven, there is a fair bit of thought analysis in these books, so I think they're a little closer to the midpoint of the gender spectrum than the typical "boy's book."

(For example, something will happen, JD (the narrator and the Great Brain's younger brother) will then analyze the situation: if I do this, my friends will think this, Papa will think this, and Mama will think this. If I do this other thing, then everyone except Mama will react this way. So I will do this other thing, and be prepared to give Mama this excuse for what I'm doing.)

I want to add for the sake of those who might have to listen to complaints (e.g., those on school library committees) that various bias and sensitivity organizations which review children's literature have occasionally rated books in this series as racist, sexist, materialist, individualist, and conformist.

That is, the various stories (many of which are at least semi-autobiographical) in the series depict things like:

* the horrible treatment of a new Greek immigrant boy at the hands of the town bully (as well as the silent compliance of most of the boys -- isn't that just like real life?), and the town people's shocking indifference to the welfare of an elderly Jewish man (thus the racist label: people behaved badly at times in the books -- just like they do in real life -- except that here, they're all sorry for it in the end);

* fairly run-of-the-mill girls-have-cooties themes and some historically accurate gender roles (and some historically accurate breaking of gender roles: for example, Mama is a crack shot with a rifle) (thus the sexist label);

* The Great Brain himself is tormented by his Money-Loving Heart and constantly scheming to get more money (thus the materialist label);

* The Great Brain has a me-first attitude (which is partly balanced by actions like whipping the bully for mistreating the immigrant boy) (thus this individualist label); and

* the boys in the story have an informal code of honor (you don't pick on kids younger than yourself, for example) that they all conform to, and social censure is applied by the whole group (none of the other boys will play with you any more if you break the code of honor) (thus the conformist label).

I was thinking of their code of honor the other day when I took a couple of neighborhood girls to the park and witnessed a (completely unsupervised) boy of about eight or ten annoying a couple of preschoolers. It sure made me wish for a time when boys thought that annoying little kids was dishonorable.)

Over all, I think these are excellent books which every child should have the opportunity to read -- and I'm searching now for a complete set of the books in hardback editions.

"If any of you kids want a bar of candy," Tom said, "it will cost you a dime."
"But they are only nickel bars of candy," Rory protested.
"That is the price in a store," Tom said. "Ten cents is the price in the academy."
Rory was completely flabbergasted as he stared at Sweyn. "What kind of a brother have you got?" he asked.
"An eighteen-karat conniver," Sweyn answered.

In this fourth chapter of the Great Brain books, John D. is left behind when Tom joins the oldest brother, Sweyn, at a learning institution. Tom's naturally independent nature, his demand to know the reason that things work as they do, and his self-righteousness combine with his smarts to get him into trouble at the academy. Every time he uses his brain to distinguish himself from his peers, he is slapped back down by the strict staff.

This book distinguishes itself from its predecessors by having a more cohesive storyline than the others. While many of the books involve stand-alone episodes in which Tom employs one scheme or another, this book has far more continuity, as Tom finds himself in an ongoing struggle with the academy administration, led by the harsh Father Rodriguez.

Partially because of this, the chapters deviate from the familiar formula of Tom extracting money from those around him. Instead, he has to use his wits to accomplish other feats, such as unlocking a locked door, for example, when he lacks the key.

This difference is generally a positive one, as we get more and more invested in the story as it develops. We are also treated to the inside of the religious academy, and we really get a sense of its inner workings and how students lived there.

As always, the language is engaging, filled with colloquialisms that are easily understood, even though they are far outdated. The books allow us to see a slice of American history while still being completely accessible to modern children.

Kids will love to place themselves in Tom's shoes, and imagine how they too can put one over on their peers and loved ones.

Sometimes it is good to revisit a favourite novel or to watch again a film that always brings you pleasure.

J. L. Carr's exquisitely written novella A Month in the Country was first brought to my attention in 1987 when I saw the film adaptation at the cinema in London. The film affected me so profoundly that I went out the following day to buy the book and what immediately struck me was the fact that there were only one hundred and five pages to it. The concise nature of this story does not reflect upon the depth of the prose and, in fact, the author imbues every line with description and dialogue so wonderfully rich that the length of the work is irrelevant.

The book is rich with characters and atmosphere. There is a gentle, bucolic peacefulness and a kind of restrained beauty as the idyllic summer unfolds. But it is the final scene (both in the film and the novel, although they are treated differently) that never fails to take my breath away.

Carr writes: `We can ask and ask but we can't have again what once seemed ours forever - the way things looked, that church alone in the fields, a bed on a belfry floor, a remembered voice, a loved face. They've gone and you can only wait for the pain to pass. All this happened so long ago. And I never returned, never wrote, never met anyone who might have given me news of Oxgodby. So, in memory, it stays as I left it, a sealed room furnished by the past, airless, still, ink long dry on a put-down pen. But this was something I knew nothing of as I lifted the loop and set off across the meadow.'

This passage never fails to tug at my heart; the acknowledgement that there are certain moments in time that have passed and will never again be recaptured. It is one of the very few pieces of fiction that never fails to blur my vision by the final line and, for one so cynical, that is no mean feat.

If you have never read this spellbinding analysis of love and art then I suggest you buy a copy immediately. This beautifully crafted and understated story of ordinary people, places and experiences is a treasure to be revisited time and time again.

I really enjoyed this book. It says so much - the beginning of the end of the UK class system & sexual repression; as well as how people dealt with the horrors of the Great War.

The main theme of this charming novel is how important it is to understand the irretrievable passage of time and to savor the good times that come along. The narrator tells the story of an enchanted summer he spent in Cornwall uncovering an ancient painting in a country church. He looks back upon this time (1920) as one of the most wonderful, important periods of his life. He meets several villagers who make an indelible impression upon him and pleas with us to appreciate our own little "months in the country"--those days when things are going well. Such a good, kind, fully-alive character. I was moist-eyed by the final pages (it's a very short novel) and didn't want it to end. Sweet, powerful, and as lovely as a summer day in the country.

This is one of those works of art that falls into a category of its own. Carr's writing is impeccable and it took on a magical quality where the past and future were perfectly brought together through the voice of the protagonist Tom Birkin. I'm on my fourth reading of it.

If you have seen the movie you will love the book.If you have read the book then you will love the movie.1920 England has slowly climbed out of the Great War and many are still finding their way in the aftermath of it all.Tom Birkin is an art restorationist who is called to the North English town of Oxgodby in order to uncover a 500 year old painting in the the nave of the village Church.There he is met with the most unusual likeable and unlikeable characters who are there to help,hinder or confuse Birkin during the hot summer months as he tirelessly and obsessively works to reveal a Judgment Scene that will play as the key to unlock his troubled heart and soul.J.L Carr's book is extremely intimate and personal,told more from the thoughts and observations of Birkin than dialogue from supporting characters.The 1987 film version is incredibly accurate and is extremely good in bringing out the subtleties of the book.I highly recommend both.

Ribsy is one of Beverly Cleary's series on the children of Klikitat Street in Portland Oregon. It is pure 50's childhood and very entertaining. I use this as an independent reading selection for groups of my fourth grade ESL students. They can easily read it on their own, helping one another on the vocabulary, and they stay interested. All have asked to take it home to finish it. If you're a teacher who is looking to keep your class occupied while you hone in on students with learning problems, then let them read any of this series and they will let you work with your group for a half hour without interruption.

If you're looking for a good gift for a child in 3d, 4th or 5th grade, this is one.

I purchased this book for my daughter who loves reading Beverly Cleary books. I read her books, too, when I was little. I have purchased just about every book she has written!

Ribsy is an excellent story my girls enjoyed listening to. They like to hear stories more than once, and this is one I don't mind hearing repeated! The packaging of the CD set is made of paper and I don't think will last over time and use.

The main idea is Ribsy the dog was gotten himself hopelessly lost in huge shopping mall parking lot in a rainstorm. Ribsy runs all over looking for the Huggins` family car.

Detail one. One if the detail is when Ribsy got a bubble bath!! Joy folly sally and Lisa began to swish their hand in the water to make bubbles, lot of them. Giving a dog a bath was fun, but was even more fun. Eight hands and a whole bottle of bubble bath can make a lot of bubbles. The girls screamed with pleasure as Ribsy found him surrounded by billows of bubbles that were rising higher and higher.

Detail two. The second detail is when Ribsy when to all club for ladies. The ladies of the club all gasped and applauded at him that he dropped his pipe. Mrs. Frawley picked it up and poked it into his mouth once more. "Sit up Rags, "She directed. "Sit up boy. Obediently Ribsy sat up. All the ladies laughed. Isn't that cute? They murmured. Isn't that adorable. Just like a little old man."

Detail three. The third detail is at the lunchtime Ribsy got in line and went to the cafeteria where he finished the sandwiches of those. Who asked him to-except peanut-butter sandwiches? These Ribsy would sniff and politely refuse. Peanut-butter stuck to his teeth. After lunch he lay at the back of the room with his nose on his paws, waiting for school to be out so that he could play with anyone who wanted to play with a friendly dog. It was a pleasant life of a dog.

My conclusion. I did like the book because; I don't like to read books. But if you do like to read I recommend this book for you.

My 7 year old grandson and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Ribsy while driving. In fact my grandson would beg me to stay in the parked car once we were home so he could continue to listen. Of course I couldn't do that because I had to know what was happening next to Ribsy also. It's a delightful story for both young and slightly older ears.

I enjoyed listening to ALL TOO HUMAN: THE LOVE STORY
OF JACK AND JACKIE KENNENDY--written and read
by Edward Klein.

Yes, it's gossipy, but that's a large part of the fun . . . also,
I do believe that Klein had his facts straight (or at least most
of them), in that he had once worked for Jackie . . . and she
became, thereafter, a lifelong friend.

You'll find out more about such interesting tidbits as the
following:

* Jack had one of the worst attendance records when he was
in the House of Representatives;

* His back problems were not the result of war and/or sports
injuries;

* Their respective families had too much control over their
adult lives (in fact, Joe Sr. even picked out the engagement
ring that Jackie got);

* While Jack was indeed a womanizer, Jackie also had
her share of male admirers; and

* Jackie had perhaps as big an impact on modern culture as
did Jack.

If you're new to the lore of the Kennedys, then you'll find ALL TOO
HUMAN a very readable introduction . . . others will appreciate
being given the opportunity to revisit what seems to have been
mythical times in the White House.

I am wildly into Jack and Jackie Kennedy and their mythical 1000 days of "magic" in the White House. After hearing all excellent things about this book, I gave it a shot. It was rather disappointing, not in the effort but in the actual biography/story it tries to tell. Looking through the author's notes, it is obvious that Edward Klein put his all into researching this colossal and intimidating subject. Klein's awe and admiration for the Camelot couple is felt, and parts of his narrative brings tears to your eyes, but you still feel as if there are tremendous holes that, I suppose, can't be helped when writing about such an elusive subject as Jack and Jackie.

Klein basically took all relevant parts out of available books already written about the couple and stringed them into a narrative along with inputs from interviews that he mostly conducted himself. What you get is a rough, distorted gem that is beautiful in its own way but not what we were really looking for...basically meaning that while it does shed light on some touching, intimate moments in their lives we were not aware of/did not understand before, it is still just a composite of information gathered from interviews and other books TRYING to be "the love story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy." Maybe I am being too harsh (and this is not to say I did not enjoy the book--I did), but a good love story shows clearly and distinctly who and what the main players are--gets inside their heads so that afterwards, you feel as if you have personally met them and experienced the tribulations and joys in their life too. This does not quite accomplish that. It simply left me wanting for the more, more of the truth.

The Kennedys may have lived in the White House but in many respects were just like the neighbors who seemed like the perfect White Picket Fence family. Both the myth and fascination with the Kennedys is shattered here. It's an intimate take on the family politics of one of the most intriguing American political dynasties.

Jackie was Edward Klein's editor at Doubleday. The book opens with chapters that present a detailed biographical sketch of Jackie's pre-JFK life and then proceeds into how Jack and Jackie came to be. Joe Kennedy needed to find a suitable wife for John if he was to advance in politics. He turned to his good friend Arthur Krock of The New York Times who suggested Jackie Bouvier. Joe approved so Arthur contacted newspaperman Charlie Bartlett, Jackie's friend, to arrange an introduction.

John was the [fun loving person] of Washington with one of the worst attendance records in the House of Representatives. He found girling and parties much more interesting. Jack liked the challenge of conquest but once conquered he soon lost interest and was incapable of sustaining a prolonged relationship. He stated that he wanted to have children but he wanted to marry a woman who was chaste because he was worried about being compared to other men.

Both Jack and Jackie's families had way too much control over their adult children's lives! Joe Sr. even picked out Jackie's engagement ring. At the luncheon where the mother's were to discuss their wedding, Jack acted like a scolded child. It was pretty clear that he didn't want to kiss bachelorhood goodbye and that he wasn't in love with Jackie.

Janet Bouvier Achincloss, Jackie's mother, felt her daughter was marrying beneath her and was putting up a fight with Rose about how the wedding should go. Joe Kennedy intervened. He sneered at the Archinclosses because they were old money but were unable to maintain it and keep living in style. In the end, Joe got his very public very politic wedding.

Jack treated Jackie as the means to an end: the White House and children. Jack even had a brief fling with Jackie's sister Lee while Jackie was in the hospital. Friends implied that the Cuban Missile Crisis caused Jack to take a renewed emotional interest in his immediate family and that he and Jackie very close. Yet he still had a mistress? Please!

This book has it all scandal, [physical attraction], drugs and lies! It takes an intimate look inside the world of old money WASPs and of the newly moneyed and their views of each other. Klein used primary sources including interviews with many of the people in Jack and Jackie's life. One thing Klein never discussed was what Jackie's feelings and beliefs were surrounding the conspiracy theories that have grown up around JFK's murder. A great companion book to this is The Day John Died by Christopher Andersen, which focuses on really both JFK's children's lives before and after the assassination. I simply could not put either book down!

ALL TOO HUMAN is a touching history of the marriage of John Fitzgerald Kennedy to Jacqueline Bouvier.

In hindsight, Jacqueline had as big an impact on modern culture as did her first husband, perhaps simply because her life lasted longer. Yet this is not to belittle her actual influence; an entire generation of women modeled themselves on her style. Her dignity, her educational standards, her appreciation of the arts, all proved to be an inspiration to the world.

Author Edward Klein has turned writing about the Kennedys into a cottage industry. This particular biography is a nice balance to many other harsher reports, focusing here as he does on the good points of the marriage of this President and his First Lady.

this book gets a D-

it wasn't terrible enough to fail.. but it was darn close.

if nothing else, it's a good addition to the rack of reading materials in the bathroom... who cares if you accidentally piss on it.

I found this book boring. I can think up wittier things to say after two margaritas. Besides, it's all someone else's opinions, and I hear enough of those. If you want funny opinions, look up Mitch Hedburg jokes online.

Now, I'm a huge fan of the website, but I don't let that cloud my judgement. These ratings are hilarious. Plain and simple. Now a lot of you "simple minded" folk out there might not be interested due to Lore's advanced and half made up vocabulary, but to the rest of us it's a great book to pick up and read whenever we need a laugh. Even if you look at it in terms of the website, buy it anyway. It has plenty of new content and you can read it when your waiting to get your teeth drilled at the dentist's office. Overall I give it an A. It would get an A+, but it didn't have all of the ratings. Then it would be perfect.

Okay, maybe not the end, but let me tell you something. Here it is: If you have never read this book or gone to Brunching.com, you are seriously missing out. Of course some people might not like this book. Y'know like the ones who can't read and have trouble with the big words but if someone read it to them, then yes, a drink to nose connection would probably be made if they were drinking something. Which we will assume they were.

Lore does use quite a bit of vocabulary and pop-culture references in his ratings but even if some of them go over your head you're bound to get most. There's even a rating for "References from the last rating" where he rates some of the more obscure or over the headish references he made in the previous rating.

Bottom line: Buy this book. Immediately. That means now. Go. Now.

(If you want to see if the book is for you go to Brunching.com and check out the ratings. It probably is.)

This was my Valentine's Day gift. My girlfriend tells me that I'm so opinionated about stuff that I could have written this book. She may be right. I think I can remember yelling "but Twinkies [are gross]!" while reading the book. Maybe I just thought it very loud. I've never been to the website that this guy rates stuff for, but Sjoberg rates everything under the sun (from the Seven Dwarfs, to food made by Hostess, to national sports, to....well, anything and everything). It's very interesting.

The structure of the book is in two to three page segments, each one covering a topic. Sjoberg picks several aspects of the topic, give a brief rating of each, and then a letter grade (an example of this would be the Seven Dwarfs as a topic, and then each dwarf gets a short paragraph and the letter grade). The book is consistently amusing with some very funny one-liners tacked in there.

I liked this book, it reminded me of high school where we would make all sorts of lists and put them in order of best to worst. This is a better written extension of that.

Flannery O'Connor holds a distinctive place within the canon of American writers, not only as a woman, but as a southerner, who crafted stories of bitter reality encased within humor and horror. Famously known for the violence depicted in her fiction, O'Connor used violence as a means to shock, and never shied away from any means of accomplishing that. She also never shied away from exposing the hypocrisy that existed within people and their beliefs.

"Everything That Rises Must Converge" is a collection of nine short stories that were published after O'Connor's death. She had hoped to craft a third novel, but never got further than the first chapter. Included in this collection are some gruesome tales, as well as some that are lighter in tone. All of them are examinations of disintegrating family relationships mixed with some heavy soul searching in a changing world. The title story is an examination of bigotry and stereotypes, as a son takes pleasure in seeing his mother learn that class stations may no longer exist within society. "Greenleaf" and "A View of the Woods" are two stories with particularly unsettling endings that depict the old generation's struggle over what to leave to their undeserving heirs. My particular favorite from this collection is "The Lame Shall Enter First", about a widower who is so conscientious of saving a juvenile delinquent that he neglects his own son with dire consequences.

The works of Flannery O'Connor are definitely not for the weak at heart. Her stories, while definitely confined to time and place, are timeless examinations of people and their prejudices. She was a master at weaving images into existence and delivering justice, however shocking or strange. "Everything That Rises Must Converge" is just as great an example of O'Connor's genius as her more famous collection "A Good Man is Hard to Find".

Flannery O'Connor (1925 - 1964) was a Southern writer and a Catholic writer, the former obvious if you have only read one or two of her stories excerpted in an anthology, the latter apparent as you read a full collection of stories or a novel. EVERYTHING THAT RISES MUST CONVERGE is her last collection of short fiction. It is strong and revealing of her considerable talents and themes. The stories included are the title fiction, as well as "Greenleaf," "A View of the Woods," "The Enduring Chill," "The Comforts of Home," "The Lame Shall Enter First," "Revelation," "Parker's Back" and "Judgement (sic) Day."

The title story sets the beat for those that follow. In the mid 20th century, O'Connor finds a south that is still coming to terms with the Civil War and on top of that must deal with the new social imperatives brought on by the civil rights movement. The characters in conflict are often parents and children, one usually trying to preserve the once known world, the other trying to accommodate the new social order and progress, neither ever getting it right. In fact, they often get it so wrong as to the point of tragic loss. Her stories swoop with human comedy and high tragedy in pursuit of a moral vision. There is often incredible violence.

First and foremost about her stories is that they are so very readable. Characters are deftly sketched, her narrative voice is straightforward. Her plots are sturdily built. And if the stories are variations on similar characters, themes, conflicts and consequences, each is remarkably distinct, its own entity. The critical introduction to this edition is by a longtime friend of O'Connor's, Robert Fitzgerald, who provides biographical context.

Most of the stories in this wonderful collection turn on a recurrent conflict, the war between parents and their own children. In this, the titular story is representative; a bratty child with what could be called a Northern higher education is pitted against a Southern parent distinguished by finer, older manners, but racism as well.

O'Connor's treatment of this theme is both hilarious and sad. With wit and delicacy, she exposes "the people gap," that funny but frightening separation even of those persons presumed to share great intimacy. Her vision in this regard coincides with the witty paradox of George Bernard Shaw who famously declared, "There are no greater strangers than parents and their own children."

I confess I had never heard of Flannery O'Connor until recently perusing a list of National Book Award winners (for her posthumous 1972 collection, 'The Complete Stories'). I wasn't even sure if Flannery was a man or a woman, American or Irish. After reading just one of her short stories I became a devoted follower.

Flannery O'Connor is one of great American writers of the 20th century, a Southern Gothic stylist of the first order.

O'Connor sets her stories in the rural South and populates them with twisted characters - this is not the imagined noble, glorious, and chivalric South, but rather the real South of the poor and middling whites of the 1950's (race is mostly in the background). She catches the nuances of human behavior. Her stories have powerful, unexpected and disturbing endings.

Pick up a story and read just one paragraph and you will be hooked.

"Asbury's train stopped so that he would get off exactly where his mother was standing waiting to meet him. Her thin spectacled face below him was bright with a wide smile that disappeared as she caught sight of him bracing himself behind the conductor. The smile vanished so suddenly, the shocked look that replaced it was so complete, that he realized for the first time that he must look as ill as he was..."

Absolutely the highest recommendation.

For her first collection of stories ("A Good Man Is Hard to Find"), O'Connor gathered an assortment that had been previously published in magazines; the result was a fascinating, but unsystematic, potpourri of experimentation and originality. As she prepared the stories for "Everything That Rise Must Converge," however, she instead developed each selection under a thematic framework. (Only the last two stories, which were literally rushed to completion as she lay on her deathbed, seem to stand a bit apart.) The collection as a whole, even more than her previous fiction, emphasizes the absurdities and monstrosities of everyday life and the tension between the demands of the self and the mystery of the divine presence.

One of O'Connor's primary mentors for her approach to fiction was, surprisingly, James Joyce (and, specifically, "Dubliners"), and his influence is nowhere more obvious than in this book. In one story ("The Enduring Chill"), she pokes fun at Joyce's worldview in an exchange between an artist and a priest. She was surely alienated by Joyce's un-Catholic sentiments, but she acknowledged his influence in her essay "The Nature and Aim of Fiction": "The major difference between the novel as written in the eighteenth century and the novel as we usually find it today is the disappearance from it of the author. . . . By the time we get to James Joyce, the author is nowhere to be found in the book. The reader is on his own, floundering around in the thoughts of various unsavory characters."

"Unsavory characters" are, without doubt, O'Connor's specialty. Yet, is O'Connor effectively able to remove herself from her narratives? Do the stories in this collection succeed, as she intended, as a thematically linked sequence? And, aside from her stated literary goals, are these stories really that good?

Well, on the first two counts, the results are mixed. In spite of her intentions, O'Connor's presence crowds several of these stories. In "The Lame Shall Enter First" (my own favorite), a vague didacticism is obvious both in O'Connor's not-very-subtle manipulation of events and in the story's portrayals of the juvenile delinquent Rufus Johnson and his mentor Sheppard, a Good Samaritan wannabe. Yet O'Connor steps back just enough to allow the story itself to convey the depth of Sheppard's moral collapse. The less successful "Parker's Back" (one of the deathbed stories) concerns a "trailer trash" husband who, much to his wife's dismay, gets a tattoo of Jesus Christ inked on his back. It's one of O'Connor's more brilliant scenarios, but the psychological sermonizing of the omniscient narrator is a bit heavy-handed. The author is everywhere to be found in this story.

As for the collection's coherence: O'Connor moral vision is certainly more easily discernible in this book than in any of her previous works. But, like the "Lives of the Saints" she so cherished, O'Connor's hagiography of sinners, read back to back, occasionally suffers from a certain formulaic uniformity and predictability. Still, each story, enjoyed at random on its own, has the potential for being your "favorite O'Connor story"-and it's hard to find two readers who will agree on which stories in this collection are best. As a collection, then, it's a bit tame. Individually, however, the stories really are that good.

Throughout her career, O'Connor invented a gallery of memorable reprobates and unlikely prophets. Whether read separately or as a cycle, these nine stories add much to her unique legacy. And the collection will also help clear the air for readers (like me) who had always been enchanted by O'Connor's works of fiction but perplexed by critics who stress their theological and symbolic underpinnings.

I have a couple other recent books by this author, and coming upon a hardcover copy of THE FITZGERALDS AND THE KENNEDYS at the local Goodwill for .75 cents, how could I lose.

I was in high school when Jack ran for president, and as many others I was for him all the way. Too young to vote, however, and though down through the years of military and college I have continued to have memories of him (he was my commander in chief during those military years) I no longer have 'stars' in my eyes as back then. But I do still admire the practical politician he was, and think had he been allowed to finish his second term this country might be much different than it is.

This book is excellent history and politics as most reviews here will admit, however, I personally do not feel or see the Kennedy family as 'royals' as some put it. Favored family they may have been up to a point, but never royals. Where do people get this feeling? Also, Doris has been given the rap of caring or fawning too much on this family, but my feeling as a sometime writer would be, why write on any subject you dislike. A writer has to have some affinity to the subject being written about, and in many cases, as was recently said of David McCullough when writing JOHN ADAMS that he fell too much in love with his subject. I suppose that is a danger present in any biograpy, but I would rather read a sympathetic, factual bio than a hateful, factual bio. Why bother to write of some figure from history if all you are going to do is trash them due to subjective dislike.

As far as plagarism, who cares in this instance. To loosely paraphrase what Abraham Lincoln said of Grant 'he fights better drunk than my other generals who are all sober. Send him another keg'. So with Doris I say, IF she plagarised, she still writes better history than most other writers. Love her work and the subjects she picks for her work, FDR and Lincoln, especially.

Having had a mother who claimed to be Irish (now deceased) and an Irish wife (very much alive) I am glad to have this book in my home library; maybe on a lesser historical plane I can learn something of practical daily use from this large book. Hah!

Semper Fi.

Another book I bought for my wife's birthday from Amazon. My wife is an ardent reader and enjoys Doris Kearns Goodwin. My wife loves to read about all different types of people. In fact she is on the back porch now reading a book. This book was in excellent shape and the supplier shipped the book right away, and for a reasonable price.
Thank You, William D. English

I was thoroughly enthralled, gripped and engaged in this story of three generations of the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys. The story begins in 1863 with the baptism of John Francis Fitzgerald in Boston and concludes almost 100 years later with the inauguration of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The families' roots are traced back to the great immigration following the Irish potato famine in the 1840's. From immigration to becoming the American royal family in just three generations is a remarkable achievement that is chronicled in fascinating detail in this comprehensive, definitive narrative.

Even though it is more than 800 pages, the book is not a dry history text, but rather an intriguing glimpse into the lives of the charmed and sometimes tragic lives of this huge Irish Catholic clan. Nothing is omitted, from the affairs of Joseph Kennedy, to the flirtations of Kathleen, the appalling lobotomy of Rosemary, and the sexual antics of John F. Kennedy. The political shenanigans of the elder Fitzgerald provide an interesting examination of Boston politics in the early 1900's...rife with graft and insider manipulation.

The author's writing style is rich, powerful and mesmerizing. For instance, to describe the ascent of JFK into the limelight of American politics, she writes: "For his capacity to arouse the questing imagination of his fellow citizens, and of much of the world beyond America's borders, was to elevate the family saga past the borders of mythology. By the beginning of the fifties he already contained all the elements which his leadership was to be compounded, forged in tumultuous experience, anchored and given direction by his often resented but always unbreakable links to his extraordinary family."

The level of detail and insightful analysis into the complex characters and relationships in the family is well worth your investment of time in reading this tome. A book you won't soon forget.

Dr. Goodwin writes wonderfully about American politics, the Irish Catholic immigration and integration into the polical landscape of Boston, and two families, both with terrific strengths and well noted weaknesses. The writing on Rose Fitzgerald and Joe Kennedy, Sr are particularly good. One gets a visceral feel of destiny as the desire to succeed, almost at any cost, throughout her well researched and written work. Much has been written about "plagarism" or a lack of proper footnoting (corrected in the paperback edition). I would encourage all potential readers to not allow such an unfortunate circumstance in her many years of teaching and writing to get in the way of reading this important piece of U.S. history. This book is a well researched and incredibly well written and readable account of immigration, politics and the rise of 19th Century immigrant families to economic, social and political prominence.

this is the best book about the kennedys.
it'svery complete. the book ends when jack becomes president, i hope she will write a follow-up. there are a lot of rares photos.
she's tells us mainly about the golden trio( jack, joejr and kathleen).
i suggest all the fans of the kennedys to buy it.