George Books

This is a handsome republication of Orwell's two most renowned works, Animal Farm and 1984. Even if you're just looking for 1984, this edition is to be commended; it comes with a fine introduction by today's leading Orwell enthusiast, Christopher Hitchens, and the reward of including Animal Farm requires very little in the way of additional effort or expense on your part. At 80-odd pages, you may as well pick it up in the same volume, and you're virtually certain to be glad that you did.

I'm not alone in being of a generation that was first required to read Orwell in my student days (Middle School, in my case.) It seems that there was a lot of literature churned out then, accessible to if not directly aimed at children, with the horrors of totalitarianism as its theme. In addition to reading Orwell, we were also reading Huxley, Bradbury, and Verne -- the youth-oriented John Christopher books being yet another example. The generation that lived through Nazism and Stalinism clearly wanted the younger set to be aware of the horrors that could be, and to remain on guard against them.

It doesn't seem to be quite that way anymore. Orwell's name is invoked today, but often in trivializing contexts: "Big Brother" is now a brain-numbing reality show, and "Orwellian" is a convenient and often hysterically-applied charge to political opponents. Some complaceny does seem to be inevitable: we are now further removed from the days when the likes of Hitler and Stalin killed tens of millions. Still, regimes arise that are nearly as horrific on a local scale, from Pol Pot to Saddam Hussein to the Taliban, and are real enough that Orwell's book is no joke. Orwell deserves attention if for no other reason than to sensitize us to the bad form associated with invoking his name in a trivializing context. There was a political ad on Youtube last year from an Obama supporter that cast Hillary Clinton on a giant Big Brother-like screen. I'm not in the least a fan of Senator Clinton, but associating her image with those of 1984 -- as was also done in an infamous Apple Computer ad -- trivializes Orwell's message in a deplorable way. Orwell wrote his novel to warn against real dangers that his generation lived through, and which others might yet, not as a marketing ploy to be used in selling either computers or nearly indistinguishable democratic political candidacies.

The main reason I am writing this review, however, is that re-reading Orwell in my 40's is a stark reminder that his novels are more than political parables, but are worthy literature. I hope that those reading these reviews will be aware of this, and not shut their minds to a rewarding literary experience.

As a kid, I was able to perceive the pedagogical intent of these books, but less so was I able to appreciate the literary artistry. 1984 in particular passes the Nabokovian test of creating a fully believable, if terrifying, alternate world. Beyond that, on nearly every page, Orwell leaves an image that just might stay with you forever. Small wonder that so many of the terms in 1984 ("Big Brother," "Newspeak") have burrowed their way into our lexicography.

Orwell was a man of the left who understood something that many of his compatriots did not; that what had arisen in the Soviet Union was a regime unprecedented in its horror (arriving before, and ultimately outlasting, its horrific mirror image, Hitler's Third Reich.) At a time when others on the left simply refused to believe in the reality of the USSR, he looked at it unflinchingly and wrote what it was really about.

Also, in childhood, I was not able to fully appreciate that Orwell's books simply weren't negative-utopian nightmare-fantasies, but paralleled actual events in the USSR with chilling accuracy. I knew, at some level, that he was satirizing certain events and characters in the Russian Revolution, but only in adulthood was I able to closely recognize nearly every episode and character in Animal Farm. Those familiar with USSR history will find it all here in the two books: the rewriting of the past to reaffirm the infallibility of the Party, the sudden reorienting of national propaganda to suit the latest twist of foreign policy, and the complete elimination of all references to those unfortunate souls decreed never to have existed.

Truly, the thing that makes 1984 terrifying now, is not what was imagined in the novel's construction, but what was real in its sources. It exaggerates even relative to the Stalinist state -- but not by much. It is this recognition that makes it a chilling read today.

1984 is the more vivid and evocative of the two novels. Excepting one passage (Goldstein's dreary history lesson about 2/3 of the way through) it is riveting almost throughout its 300 pages.

A few notes for younger readers: The moral of Animal Farm is not that Napoleon was simply a bad apple, but rather that the system adopted by the Animals ensured that ultimately such a tyrant would dominate. (I find the end of Animal Farm to be something of a false note; in the end the pigs prove no better than, and resemble, the humans they replaced, but this understates the tragic reality that the USSR was worse still than that which it replaced.)

As I close, I leave you with one random question about 1984: how come it never occurs to Eastasia and Eurasia to combine against Oeania? Given that Oceania keeps flipping its allegiance from one to the other, you'd think they'd ultimately catch on and both decide to attack Oceania at the same time.

Silly questions aside, this book is highly commended. Worth re-reading again, especially if you only have read Orwell when as immature as was I.

So you could go borrow the book at the library or buy the paperback, get the content down, and be done with it. But for same reason people buy very expensive European cars, there is something attractive to looks of a exterior that makes the consumer want to own, not rent, but possess. I love both books by Orwell, and this edition is one to show off.

When I saw that Chris Hitchens wrote the intros to this I was optimistic that he would shed a great amount of light on the subjects. Unfortunately, the intros are too short to get into much depth.

Many of us were assigned these books to read in school by thoughtful teachers. All of us should read them. In both, George Orwell gives us the tools to see exactly what liberty means and why we cannot afford to lose it.

In "Animal Farm," the fable is sufficiently removed from human experience that you can read this one to quite young children, just as you can "Alice in Wonderland" or other classics which say more each time you read them as you grow up. Even a first-grader could see the relationship of the politics of the barnyard to the politics of the playground. The jeering refrain of "Surely you don't want Jones back" can easily be recognized as the propaganda fallacy called "Reductio ad Hitlarum." Whenever the ruling pigs ran out of useful things to say, they fell back on slogans which meant nothing, but which could be molded to mean whatever they wanted them to mean in a given circumstance.

The completely classic "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" is one we must keep in mind whenever politicians start using words as if they mean the reverse of what they do mean.

1984, too, has its beautifully classic lines. The main characters are all members of the Ingsoc Party (English Socialism). It is not until well into the book that we learn they are only some 15% of the population; the rest are proles. The proles are easily dismissed as insignificant: "They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect." Use that line the next time someone tells you it's not important to educate our entire population to the best of their capabilities.

When the main character, Winston Smith, attempts to placate his tormenter by saying "You are ruling over us for our own good," he is scorned as "stupid, Winston, stupid." The party big shot responds with one of the most chilling lines I have ever read: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face--forever."

Through the medium of conversations in the lunch room of the "Ministry of Truth," Orwell is able to tell us much about the creation and preservation of a totalitarian state. One key is the control over language which the Party exercises: "Newspeak." One of the people working on the Newspeak dictionary explains it to Winston: "You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We're destroying words--scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We're cutting language down to the bone." He brags that very soon "all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron--they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be."

Putting these two in a single hardbound volume and adding a thoughtful introduction by Christopher Hitchens was a stroke of genius on the part of Harcourt Books. It will make it all the easier for professors of political science, literature, history, psychology . . . indeed, if it was not such a contradiction with regard to books so dedicated to liberty, I'd say make them required reading.

Animal Farm and 1984 are classic literature. You've probably already read them.

This edition presents them in a classic manner -- it is a lovely book, lovely dust jacket, and Christopher Hitchens does the intro. I usually find him funny and a little snarky, but in this intro, he is serious, high-minded, informative, and respectful.

I wanted to read 1984 again, since so many people are kicking around the terms "Orwellian" and "Big Brother" regarding current politics. I'm so glad this is the volume I bought. I know I would have gotten the same *words* in a flimsy paperback, but this was a really nice read.


I read both novels again. It has been... 20 years? Maybe longer since my first read-through. I'm a different reader than I was before.

Now it seems to me that the people who shout "Orwellian" the loudest, the people that warn of "Big Brother" most fiercely, are the ones who really want to be Orwellain Big Brothers. Interesting.

I've got that grisly Room 101 scene back in my head -- I had forgotten that one. Thanks, Mr. Orwell.

This is a lovely edition. Treat yourself.

I always preview any books I purchase for my grandchildren. I give this an A+ for its style of writing and for keeping it light enough for young minds. The storyline has action, is fun, and has some core values instilled in the actions of the chatacters. I was entertained and finished the book with a feeling of having had a good adventure. I wanted more.

I had heard good things about this book when I picked it up, but I didn't expect to fall in love with it. The style is delightful, the characters dynamic, and the story creative and new. I look forward to seeing more from Jessica Day George.

This book was the best book I've read in my whole entire life!! I love the characters Creel, Prince Luka, and Shardas! I loved it when Creel knocked out Princess Amalia! I was also very annoyed with how Larkin just took Creel's shoes without asking and just gave them to Amalia! You would love this book if you're into adventurous, funny, fantasy, and action books!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
________ Lael sommer !!!

CREEL IS THE HEROIN OF THIS STORY. AFTER HER AUNT TRIES TO MERRY HER OFF TO THE LOCAL LORD'S SON BY BEING A DRAGON'S CAPTIVE SHE DECIDES TO GO TO THE KING'S SEAT AND TRY HER LUCK AS A DRESS MAKER. IN EXCHANGE FOR TALKING THE LORD'S SON OUT OF FIGHTING THE LOCAL DRAGON THE DRAGON GIVES HER A PAIR A DRAGON SKIN SLIPPERS, SLIPPERS THAT CAN CONTROL DRAGONS (UNKNOWN TO HER). WHEN SHE REACHES THE RATH FOREST (I THINK THAT'S WHAT ITS CALLED) SHE GETS ATTACKED BY BANDITS, WHEN SHE CRIES FOR HELP A GOLDEN DRAGON DROPS A GLASS WINDOW ON THEIR LEADER'S HEAD, PICKS HER UP IN HIS CLAWS, AND TAKES HER TO HIS LAIR (SHE FAINTS WHILE IN HIS CLAWS). AFTER SHE SPENDS SOME DAYS WITH SHARDAS (THE GOLDEN DRAGON) HE FLIES HER TO THE KING'S SEAT. TO FIND OUT MORE YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK OR ASK SOMEONE WHO HAS. F.Y.I. IN THE SECOND LAST CHAPTER CREEL IS KNOWN AS THE HEROIN OF THE DRAGON WAR. AND THE KING TRIES TO MARRY HER TO HIS ELDEST SON MILES. (THOUGH CREEL PREFERS THE SECOND AND YOUNGEST SON LUKA).

What do you get when you mix a sassy damsel, dragons who hoard everything except gold, and some fancy slippers? A page turning fun tale similar to the PRINCESS BRIDE meets DRAGON RIDER.

Creel's aunt suggests sacrificing her to the local dragon in order for the family to get financial gain. True a dragon comes but he's nothing like the village tales. First, he doesn't care to eat humans. Second, he doesn't hoard gold but other things. One of which is shoes. Creel asks for a pair and the dragon lets her have them.

Creel goes to the King's city to get employment as a seamstress. But something is going on with the slippers. Her feet itch something terrible but she ignores them. Once in the city she ends up stepping on the spoiled queen to be, Amalia's, dog. Needless to say Amalia doesn't care for Creel. But the princess doesn't like anything. Nothing that is except Creel's slippers, which she says she'll get.

Little does Creel know that she holds the secret to either peace or destruction for her kingdom.

I really got into this tale. I'm not one for dragon stories but this story kept my interest from the very first page. Creel is spunky and doesn't like it when others, including snotty Amalia, put their noses down at her because she's a common villager.

Creel meets others in her travels. Marta, another seamstress with dream of opening her own dress shop. Luka, the younger prince, who is interested in Creel. Shardas, the dragon who's friendship means alot to Creel even if this means she has to put her life in danger to protect him and the other dragons.

This is a fun tale that reminds me of PRINCESS BRIDE. Readers who love dragon tales with a twist will especially love this story. Now I can't wait for the sequel.

I adore this book. It makes me wish I lived on the plains of Hungary on a ranch like this family. The Good Master is the story of two twelve year old cousins growing up and learning what it is to be a good, respectful and hardworking person. Jansci, the son of the "Good Master", is excited for his cousin Kate to come from Budapest to live with them. That is until she gets there. She is not used to living in the country and gets into many different "adventures". The time setting is about 1900 because the next book The Singing Tree is about WWI. The Good Master is just a wonderful book that everyone will love.

This was my favorite book from my childhood-- it is a classic children's novel full of great Hungarian folktales and tall tales. It is very autobiographical for the author. Kate Seredy should be an author every child reads at least sometime. I still love this book and bought it to give to my child's teacher.

This is a wonderful book forupper elementary or Jr. High girls who just love horses...which is a big section of this age group. The extra bonus is that it gives them a broader picture of girls/horses than the usual stories of girls and their horses in America....this is a great story of a culture and time much removed from their own sphere of experience.

This book and it's sequel, The Singing Tree, are the reasons that I am such an avid book reader. My mother read this book to me as a child, and when I have children, I will read this to them as well.
This story is a wonderful tale about life in a different time and a different place, and the best things in life.

My sixth grade teacher read it to me in 1961. I became a teacher and have read it to hundreds of students as well as my own two children. It should be on a required reading list. It is a simple but delightful tale that centers on family, love and hard work.

A little bit longer than some other books like this, so perhaps slightly more complex. This is a just post Pantheon Hulk, stuck in reverse, intelligent and green, or mindless savage and human.

A younger relative Major Talbot reforms the Hulkbusters and fails, the Banners are forced to move a couple of times. Betty gets pregnant.

Siamese twins, enter Dr Strange in a complicated surgical procedure to try and save them.

Enter the Maestro, taking one son.

The Hulk follows through the Crossroads and dimensions, to track him down. A planet with a stuffed Rick Jones, and an elite unit of Hulks, including WolvaDeathlok Hulk, Thing Hulk and Elric Hulk. The Hulk's son is now a grown half-Hulk, too. In a nasty twist, the name of this unit is also the Hulkbusters.

All in all, one of those crazy Hulk stories with the lot, tragedy, Hulkbusting and bashing.

The Hulk and Major Talbot discuss Les Miserables, and Banner and his son have an argument about Nietzsche! Didn't see those coming. Something here for everyone almost, and really, a 3.75 I'd say.

While I enjoy stories about the Hulk, I've grown so very tired of 'evil army people' after the Hulk. Yes, I know that the military chasing and hunting the Hulk as been there since the beginning but I really wish they would do away with it. After all if the military chased down super-being because of the damage they coul dor have done they would be after everyone. It just isn't a story line that should be kept up. Aside from not liking the military involvement in the Hulk "What Savage Beast" was a decent read. It was a quick read (finished in 2 days) and you really don't have to strain yourself to follow along.

To have been a really good book the author should have delved into the relationship problems between Bruce and Betty. If there were ever a place to show the most powerful being in the world to be completly helpless it would be as he faced the wrath of his wife. That I would have payed extra to read. But alas the tension in the marriage was never used to full effect and only briefly touched on.

Again not a baad book but I would borrow it from a friend or library and spend my $ on something better.

I've been a fan of the Hulk for almost two decades now, so I was very excited when I first heard he would be featured in a full-length book.

Having been ousted by his former Pantheon teammates, the Hulk is left with only one alternative: to keep a low-profile and try to lead a normal life with his beautiful and understanding wife, Betty. However, things have never been that simple for the Hulk, and soon he must deal with an endless array of obstacles including a single-minded army major, an unexpected pregnancy, and a bizarre new series of transformations.

Peter David, a magnificent writer of both comic books and novels, manages to blend the two distinct mediums together and produce a story that has an instant all-around appeal. The first chapter tells new readers everything they need to know, most notably how the Hulk changed from a raging child-like brute to an intelligent and self-confident genius.

David's descriptions of the characters and their surroundings are expressed with such vivid detail that it's easy to picture the workings of each scene in our minds. From a mundane suburban apartment to a mysterious otherworldly dimension, everything is always perfectly clear.

Also featuring illustrations by renowned comic book artist George Perez (Incredible Hulk: Future Imperfect, Avengers/JLA), What Savage Beast is an action-packed, emotionally-gripping tale that more than lives up to its reputation. Strongest one there is!

Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Finally a novel worthy of its main character. You can tell that Peter David knows his stuff, and *GASP!!!* actually CARES about his characters instead of just writing about them. I was actually shocked by how much turmoil that the main characters (Bruce Bnner/Hulk, Betty Banner, Doc Samson)went through in this book, OUTSIDE of normal comic continuity. This is quite literally a "page turner" as the sotry is just, literally, all over the place. My only complaint is that the end conclusion feels abrupt and rushed. Maybe Mr. David was on a deadline, or maybe he just couldn't come up with a worthy enough conclusion to his fantastic story. Who knows, but it won't diminish the impact of what happened before. It's a shame that Mr. David didn't write another Hulk novel, as the Hulk novels are actually some of the better ones. Oh well, definately check this out!

The Incredible Hulk was my favourite marvel superhero ever since I was a kid ,that is why I purchased this book because I had hoped that it would bring me back to the childhood days of yesteryears,boy did I got more than what I bargained for!!I was stuck with the savage Hulk when last I read about him ,and when I read this book....it took me to new planes of where the Hulk is now,his multiple personality disorder and his temporary cure by Dr Leonard Samson,His relationship with Betty Thunderbolt Ross,the miraculous cure of the Hulks transformation dilemma was really a cool twist in this book ,and most of all,The Hulks/Bruce Banners sons!!!!!I shouldn't say anything more!this book kept me at the edge of my seat and made me beg for more.If you're a fan of the Hulk,this is an epic,if you're not a fan ,you'll become a fan !!!!!!

I found this book (a first edition) in the dusty corner of a library in New York. The title intrigued me, so I had to check it out. I honestly do not think I have ever read a more enjoyable memoir....and about such a subject. There is absolutely no other book out there that describes a patients stay at a TB sanatorium. Sure, there is the Magic Mountain and various others that are tiresome and not REALLY and simply about a stay in a sanatorium....interesting, because so many people had that experience-and no, not everyone died. This is the only book of its kind and I am thrilled and honored to have accidentally discovered it. I was even more shocked to find out that she was Mrs. Piggle Wiggle...hey, I grew up with her!

If there's anything good about a disiplinarian TB institution in the 30s (not 40s), it's the opportunity to meet so many different kinds of people. Macdonald is an observer and nailer of people's quirks on a level with Dickens (both of them, Charles and Monica). I love this book. There's one thing I would like explained, though. American readers talk as if Macdonald's "racism" was an understood and obvious thing. I see no racism in this book. OK, she calls somebody "coloured" and another girl "black". She also mentions that her roommate is Japanese and her workmate an Eskimo. Is she racist for not using today's PC terminology? She praises the institution for accepting everybody and mixing them together. She quotes some racist comments from other patients, but doesn't say she condones them, in fact "Betty" in the book answers back and disagrees. Please, please, somebody tell me why it is currently PC to say Macdonald is racist?

I read this book long ago, have forgotten a lot of it, but just about every December I find myself singing "Deck the Halls in Old Crepe Paper, fa la la" etc. Used to confuse my kids no end. For those who haven't read it yet, look for the scenes of holiday celebrations in the old TB sanitaruims-- sad & funny.

as "The Egg and I"--her statement in that book that "I do not like Indians and I think we did a good thing in coming over and taking this beautiful country away from them." made my part-Cherokee blood boil--could write another that was so UNracist. While the author does use terms like 'colored' and 'Negro', those were (one can understand) the accepted terms in the 1930s, and while she records the racist attudes of some of the patients and staff, she apparently does not agree with them. She formed a close attachment with a Japanese patient--whom she later urges to go to college--and when an African-American (to use the accepted term of today) patient tells her that she doesn't mind being in isolation because the white patients don't want her as a roommate anyway, she thinks this absurd.

It is difficult for us today to understand how very scary TB was back then. While TB is not unknown today, if caught early it is easily treated with appropriate medications; not so, then. The only treatment was a rest-cure with pallitive measures; many people recovered, but many did not. There were some surgical treatments (collapsed lung), but they were painful and not terribly effective. It was known to be contageous, although not nearly as contageous as many people thought it was. The nearest modern equivalent might be HIV/AIDS, except that the latter is always fatal.

As other authors have mentioned, one hardly thinks that such a story would be funny, but BMacD is able to find humor in any situation. I've read all four of her books for adults and enjoyed them very much--even 'Egg'. That she was able to be discharged from the sanitarium after only about a year shows that laughter is, indeed, the best medicine.

This book is filled with an off beat sence of humor. It isn't the slap you in the face kind of humor but rather the kind of humor that hits you later. For example, I found myself smilingat something I read earlier in the day while cooking dinner. At the end of this book you feel like you know each of the people personally. I wanted a follow up to find out what happened to each person. It's that good.

Basically this book is about Betty MacDonalds stay in a sanitorium while she had TB. She can take such a serious topic that could be pretty morose and turn it into something interesting and funny.

I am not a person with an aptitude for baking-to put it mildly. But when the cooking guru in my family bought this book, I was so impressed with the variety of recipes that I decided to try baking one of the easy ones. My first project was Adele's low-fat bran muffins- and they were perfect on the first try. Then I went on to bake many other items successfully, gradually building the skills to do yeast breads and fancy items. I mention this because if I can do it, anyone can! The recipes cover many well-known and popular bakery items, and some that are lesser known but equally delicious. The instructions are clearly written, and there is plenty of good information on using the right types of flour, as well as baking tips that only a professional would normally know. Another bonus is that the author often gives several variations of some of the recipes, depending on the quantity you need, and the method you will be using i.e. hand-mixing or using machinery. Although the title sounds like this is only about Jewish-style baking, other traditions are honored too. My favorite recipe from this book is the Irish Soda Bread - three variations, all of them great;).

I am a native New Yorker - who moved from Manhattan in 1999. I was back to NYC recently for a visit - and enjoyed some great NY rye bread. When I returned home - I did a internet search for a local bakery in my hood that could make such yummy rye. The search did not turn up any local bakers within walking distance - but did turn up this book! So I figured "What the heck - I will make it myself!".

I made the sourdough rye bread - and it is spot on. The book is excellent for a novice baker and provides such minutia as the proper way to 'fold' a standing pan loaf.

Great reading and great bread. Much thanks to the author for sharing his expertise with the world.

I bought this book over 10 years ago. I've been making bread at home for over 25 years, and have dozens of bread books. This volume is the one that I return to again and again. Every recipe comes out great, and the tips are invaluable. The New York-style specialty breads are the jewels of the collection in this book. My Brooklyn-native husband was floored when he tasted the rye bread made from the recipe in this book - he said that it tasted just like the rye from the local bakery on Brighton Beach. The challah recipe is terrific, as are the bagel and bialy recipes. After all, who can find real bialys outside of New York? The ones made from the book's recipe taste truly authentic. If I could only keep one bread book, this would be the one.

.
Secrets? Vat Secrets?

It is really quite simple to make a loaf of bread. The greatest challenge for professional and striving artisan home bakers is to be able attain consistency; to factor in and accommodate specific needs of that day's dough, be they changes in ambient temperature, humidity, ripeness of poolish or biga or sourdough, and the tolerance of dough during fermentation.

I purchased this book with the expectation of finding baker's percentages, generous use of specialized pre-ferments, in addition to a heavy reliance on naturally leavened indirect methods. I also rightly expected professional "secrets" as the title implies.

Jeffrey Hamelman, author of BREAD remarked that he used to marvel at his ability to make acceptable loaves one day, and then wish he could hide his loaves the next. Secrets of a Jewish Baker is a book of practical, empirical, and intuitive information that uses packaged yeast (as many as three packages per recipe), volume measurements (cups and teaspoons), and will not contribute much to bakers aiming to expand their knowledge beyond today's flooded bread book market.

I should have known better than to fall for come-on titles like, "Secrets of a ......." yet I was still annoyed when his "secrets" such as the one for producing a rich mahogany-colored rye, is the addition of coffee, cocoa, or molasses. All of which impart their own alien flavors along with the color benefits they provide. In the case of selecting molasses for bread color, that ingredient also contributes considerable sweetness that is uncharacteristic of traditional sour rye.

Unlike Nancy Silverman's bread recipes using baked potatoes to great result, Greenstein's potato breads rely on boiled potatoes. Aside from the tendency of boiled potatoes to become gooey, they also contribute inconsistent quantities of hydration to the already vague formula: "a small or medium potato".

This 1993 title would have been far more conducive to my needs today if the author remained true to his original bakery formulas, provided actual "secrets" to his readers, and did not re-write his methodology to over simplify his recipes and production techniques for non-bakers.

The added sugar content in food (vegetables, breads, entrees) is often a regional and ethnic preference. I was born in Los Angeles and as such, I disfavor added sugar in my foods, particularly breads and vegetables. This book uses far more sugar and commercial leavening than is acceptable to my preference.

Overall, this book's content which also includes many quick loafs is very disappointing.

My family has been in the baking business for at least 150 years, and I grew up in the sort of bakery that Greenstein describes. Our bakery produced all rye and pumpernickel breads, kaiser rolls, onion rolls, and other items, including the fabulous wonder cake much as Greenstein describes them in this book. If you are into more artisanal baking or have no interest in replicating authentic and age-old bread formulas, then this book is not for you. If, however, you yearn for the rye than you gnawed in your mother's arms, smelling the fermenting dough, and listening to the clank and craw of machines as they mixed and molding hundreds of thousands of loaves of rye, then this is book for you.

Greenstein offers home versions of many types of baked products, all formulated to be kneaded either by hand, cusinart, or stand-up mixer. I've tried many of the formulas and have made good rye and pumpernickel. I have a few issues, however. I use a wetter, 1:1 ratio of rye flour to water for my sour, as we did in our bakery. This makes for a wetter dough, one much easier to work by hand.

Also, my wife loves the Black and Whites from this book. What better endorsement can I offer?

To get the best results, I would order the proper white rye and clear flours from King Arthur. Also, if you bake the rye in a preheated covered pan like pryex, or a cast iron frying pan, you will get that professional crust. This allows you to skip the often infective tossing in of ice cubes.

Good recipes, easy to follow instructions, but I think that such a very famous writer as George Geary should spent a little more in pictures, there are only a few, not enough for someone with a very good resume.

The book is very good and the tips very helpful and easy to follow. It takes you 5 minutes to read them and they are nothing too complicated.
The only bad thing that i see is that the book only has a few pictures, like 6 or so, and i think pictures are very helpful when it comes to choose what cheesecake you wanna make, and here you have 125 to choose!

I have tried several recipes from this book, followed the instructions exactly, and they have all come out perfect. I'm officially the cheesecake queen at work now. Anyone wanting to make superb cheesecakes with the most wonderful assortment of toppings will truly enjoy this book

I planned to take a cheesecake class taught by George Geary at a local cooking school. When I was forced to work on the day of the class, I ordered the book from Amazon and decided this would be my substitute for taking the class.

Although I have only tried one of the recipes (Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake), I believe that as I work through the rest of the recipes, they will all be as amazing as this one. I took this one to my family Thanksgiving dinner and everyone just LOVED it!

Be sure to read pages 8 through 20 (especially "Basic Techniques for a Perfect Cheesecake"). I have been making cheesecakes for about 25 years and this book supplied me with quite a bit of helpful information regarding the basics.

The book has plenty of pictures as well as 13 recipes for sauces/toppings to serve over your finished cheesecake.

I can't wait to try more-next on my list are the Turtle Cheesecake and the French Apple Cheesecake.

~Lois

We have made at least 15 different recipes from this book and they have all turned out incredibly well. People are always excited if I'm bringing a cheeseceake and we've developed a reputation for being fantastic cheesecake makers. Yet, I cannot take the credit. This book provided me with all the recipes. Our favourites are the pina colada, key lime and peppermint chocolate. Yet I can think of at least 3 more I loved. This book is fantastic and completely worth it.

the best and funniest of the 3 archie and mehitabel books offered period how could you not love a book written by a cockroach on a typewriter by slamming his head on the keys one at a time and skipping punctuation and capitalization of letters because comma well comma archie is a cockroach with a not so big reach and only one head to slam keys with period what would you leave out if you were in his same situation question mark
much is still relevent today comma especially the references to the scopes monkey trial period
and mehitabel comma why comma the song of mehitabel is simply one of the funniest poems ever written period garrison keiller lists it in his book good poems period

When I was in high school, ovefr sixty years ago, I used to read Dan Marquis clever column in, I think, the New York World Telegram and found it a fascinating piece of imagination. Coming back to it now, nothing has changed. In telling the story of the typewriting cockroach and the wayward cat he touches, with great humour, so many of our human foibles and hopes too.

It's a bit of a stretch for todays kids, but I think they can imagine a mechanical typewriter and once they get a hold of this the fantasy should grab them.

A classic book from an author who thoiught outside the box - you'll love it.

Anyone who hasn't read Don Marquis' stories of the adventures of Archie and Mehitabel, have missed what is doubtless one of the world's greatest pieces of humorous literature. These stories delve into history to pull out hysterically humorous aspects of incidents regarding such characters as Cleopatra, and apply them to the lowly day-to-day events in the lives of a cockroach who operates a typewriter, a cat that complains she cannot understand why she is blessed with so many of those damned kittens, and a dead rat that receives glorious last rites by being filed in an alley ash can. No words can do justice to Don Marquis' fantastic imagination and his equally fantastic sense of humor. Anyone who misses this work is to be pitied! A. D. Holcombe

This is classic humor - and even though it is nearly 100 years old, this is still funny and interesting. In fact, Mehitabel's refrain has become my mantra: "wotthehell wotthehell toujours gai I always say, there's life in the old girl yet."

Ellen Meister knows how to create lovable and interesting female characters! Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa were all wonderfully developed stay-at-home moms rather than than usual dull cliches used to describe housewives. I loved the plots and worries of these three women and couldn't put the book down--and that's saying something! Meister has a terrific writing style that flows easily.

However, I absolutely hated the movie production/George Clooney plot running through the book. I wish Meister had thought of a more realistic problem for the PTA, and I was happy when it wasn't mentioned and I could pretend it didn't exist. The PTA moms were also consulted about every tiny detail of the movie deal and held an enormous amount of power for ladies who only have control over which flavor of Juicy Juice is at the kids' Halloween party! It's too much of a stretch of the imagination for me. I also felt the ending needed work--in typical romance fashion, everyone comes to a happy resolution, but Meister's ending is rushed and sloppily thrown together in a brief 4 page epilogue. I also didn't appreciate pornographically described sex scenes such as, "Maddie looked...to Cora Ann, face slick from cunnilingus, and wondered if this was the kind of 'scene' she had in mind." (It's a scene I know I don't want in my mind, thanks.) Yuck. It is possible to write with some taste, even in a mindless beach read.

All in all, I would recommend reading the book just for the great characters, despite the other flaws. I think Ellen Meister has great potential and did a good job on her first novel!

Ellen Meister's Secret Confessions of the Applewood PTA reveals that there is much more happening at PTA meetings than discussions of bake sales. Meister has excellent comic timing and revels in the exploits of her three compelling heroines, Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa, bringing a fresh look to seemingly familiar situations: the appearance of an old flame, caretaking of aging parents, and coping with alcoholic parents. Set in our culture of celebrity, George Clooney appears as a Christ-like figure, seemingly able to deliver redemption, forgiveness, and salvation to our heroines with simply his proposed presence in Applewood, Long Island.

"Confessions" is certainly no literary masterpiece, but Meister's writing style is fun and breezy, and her characters are a riot. No, they're not particularly believable, and the plot sometimes veers off into ridiculous sit-com territory, but you just won't care. You'll be having too much fun to care, and hoping for the best for these kooky women.

If you're in the moody for something light and fluffy with a healthy dose of middle-aged soccer-mom angst thrown in, this is the book for you. (Best if you've graduated from the chic lit geared toward "girls" in their 20's -- this is better for women who've attended a few PTA meetings themselves!!)

Have a glass -- or a bottle -- of wine and enjoy.

Yes, it's a cliché and it's also one of the two highest compliments you can give to any novelist. I'm a busy mom with plenty of my own writing deadlines to meet, but I MADE time to read this novel all the way to its satisfying conclusion. Ellen Meister is a wonderful storyteller--smart, witty and wise. I really did feel I'd made three new friends, sharing their problems and coming through it all with a better sense of what's important to me in my life. Fun, but not at all fluffy, I can honestly say this is a book worth reading (which is, by the way, the other compliment every writer longs to hear). Give yourself a treat and find out what really goes on behind those PTA smiles!

This is a perfect example of a work of fiction where I didn't like the characters but I loved the book. Good writing, a funny plot bordering on the absurd, and colorful, fully fleshed out character development, make the farcical and morally ambiguous ladies of the Applewood PTA surprisingly believable. The time spent reading these pages was for me, pure, self-indulgent entertainment. It was like watching Bravo television shows about The Real Housewives--or like watching the catfights between the Carrington wives back in the old days of Dynasty. Aside from juicy, gossipy `grown-up' sorority spats, this romp has a little of everything: Medical dramas, tennis matches, infidelities, ménage a trios, alcoholism, learning disabilities, fires . . . just about every kind of suburban drama known to a generation raised on a soap opera diet.

Meanwhile, if the actor George Clooney has ever entered your fantasies, or if you've ever spent time on a PTA committee and recognize the circle of self-important hags running the show like it's work as important as the UN, and if you don't mind a few predictable and contrived plot twists, pick up this book and give yourself a dose of literary masturbation. I don't ever want to meet these women, or serve on any committees with them, but reading about them was a hoot. Well done.

From the author of A Line Between Friends and The Things I Wish I'd Said.

Reviewed by Melissa LaMunyon for RebeccasReads (6/08)

Christian George's provocative title and the stylish cover of his latest book, "Sex, Sushi and Salvation" is a perfect example of the new movement in the Christian faith. Young Christians of all creeds and from every part of the country are seeking far more from their faith and their churches: more depth, more philosophy, more intimacy and more practicality. Apparently, theology and spiritual thought are not just for pastors anymore.

Reflecting on his childhood, mission work, the courtship of his wife, Rebecca, and his world travels, George draws a multicolored, many hued picture of his life experiences for the reader. Using an intense, poetic and descriptive style, George takes the reader on a rambling journey through his life as he demonstrates the universal human needs of intimacy, community and hope for eternal life through the eyes of his faith. Combined within the stories from his life, George waxes theological; drawing on many scriptural passages until he gradually intertwines the bite-sized chapters together at the end.

I appreciated George's fresh and frank approach to this book and to life. A few of the stories stood out to me in particular; one was an encounter with a young Russian girl during a mission trip. When George gently refuses the teenage girl's offer of sex (not without pause, he admits) he finds out that he is the first man who has ever turned this young girl away. After a brief period of awkwardness, the two are able to have real conversations about life and God.

George has a passion for pilgrimages and a thorough knowledge of Christian history. During one of the vignettes, George describes his exploration of the country side around a European monastery and musing over the early monastic life; what it would mean to completely have the focus of ones life being in the pursuit of knowing God. Using his vivid style, George tries to imagine what it would be like to live in one of the caves around the monastery during all kinds of weather and without any modern conveniences. These kind of rambling stories make up the bulk of "Sex, Sushi and Salvation."

My only issue with the book was the occasional over use of descriptive language. While George's style is certainly unique and appealing, it felt as though he was trying too hard to be clever, and a little shocking, in the first few chapters. Another important note; this is directed towards those of the Christian faith. Seekers or spiritualists would be better off looking elsewhere for reading material. Christians, however, of all walks will enjoy this book, and George's fresh approach to theological writing is surely to be well received.

George provides a thick Christianity for a watered down culture. As a prophet, he boldly states what the Bible demands of people. Many times, this seems to take you by surprise forcing you to examine your own life and admit your own shortcomings before you even realize you are agreeing with him. Throughout the book, George's abilities as a wordsmith created memorable quotes that cemented his ideas in my mind. I would recommend this book to everyone, regardless of age or spiritual maturity.

Christian George is a theologian disguised as a story teller. His writing is colorful and vivid, and each vignette contributes to a timeless picture of God for a new generation.

Parents and grandparents, take note. Christian George's book is not JUST
for the younger generation. It is a wonderfully honest book that is full of insights about God and how he is working in the life of an incredible
young man. I could not put it down, and I have shocked my grandchildren
and nephews by giving them a book with "sex" in the title.This is a great gift for birthdays and upcoming graduations, and you will learn a thing or two yourself. I expect to hear great things from this very "real" writer with such compelling writing skills.

This book tackles the tough questions and comes face to face with life's real issues. It leaves no room for fluffy, hollow theology. Where does our deepest pain and our deepest need meet the truth's of Christ and the promises of God? The Author dives in deep, leaving all false sense of security and Christian one-liners behind to make the real connections between the confusing, painful, poverty-stricken lives we live with the risen, redemptive and glorious life of the Savior. In a unique mix of poetic and yet common-place language we find ourselves following Jesus through the twists and turns of a life that in my mind, reflects the beautiful dance that God has orchestrated for the display of His glorious splendor.