Hunter Books

In this, the third volume in the Anita Blake, vampire hunter, series of books, the author does not disappoint the reader. Anita, our intrepid vampire hunter, is once again called upon by the St. Louis police to assist with some unusual murders. It appears that someone or something is killing humans in the city, and it appears that it may be a renegade pack of vampires that is doing so, hell bent on challenging the power of Jean Claude, the vampire that reigns supreme as Master of the City.

Moreover, Anita is footloose and fancy free, notwithstanding her attraction to the Master of the City, when she meets Richard Zeeman, a hunky junior high school science teacher. The only thing is that Richard has a secret that may impact on how Anita may feel about him. Their budding romance, however, is never the focal point of the story. Rather, it is a sustaining and tantalizing backdrop to the adventures of Anita, as our feisty, tough talking heroine tries to save the city of St. Louis from a fate worse than death.

Once again, the author holds the readers' interest with her richly detailed alternate universe, where vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other monsters are part of the landscape and live side by side with humans in a somewhat uneasy alliance. The plot is fully fleshed, as are most of the characters, and the dialogue is crisp and snappy. This is a fun, fast-paced series of books, and I look forward to reading each and every one!

This series is from the 90s, and with close to 40 volumes, I admit, it is an investment. But, for those willing to take the plunge, what a world you will find!

Hojo's art is about precision. He's painstakingly thorough (very!), and you as the reader reap the benefits by getting such realistic environments and action sequences, they run like cinematographic masterpieces. His drawing pen is like a camera capturing scenes as they're played: every frame, a perfect snapshot as he fusses over motions, angles, expressions, all the tricks of a skilled photographer. This visually-stunning style makes his art...voyeuristic, and downright masculine by its obsessive indulgence in detail. It may be why he started out as a shonen (boys) mangaka (he has all the dynamic quality of one!)

Except he devotes that skill to the telling of and about beautiful objects. The typical character is physically an Adonis/Aphrodite, an idealist's dream. Hojo enjoys showing off the human body as it moves, jumps, and stretches in appealing positions. He is also fashion-conscious to extreme, accessorizing his characters with the hairdo's, clothes, shoes with the flair of a learned designer. This trait, in making things so darn neat and pretty, is...feminine, which, interestingly, is suggestive about the artiste. The Hojo universe is friendly to ladies, e.g. Ryo Saeba himself, while an expert in guns and martial arts, is at the whim of his partner Kaori. He empowers his women; they're the ones with mystery, strength, and character. The man simply loves women - how can any young female not be flustered?

Art aside, City Hunter endures for its storytelling. Yes, it's one detective mystery after another, and there are many. But they're each as unique and memorable as the clients they represent. There's intricate plotting involved, to hold up the series for so many volumes, building up momentum, adding in character depth, sustaining the reader's attention all the way to the finale! As you get familiar with this world, there's a whole lot to discover about Japanese culture and society (Shinjuku's!), their particular habits, what gets expressed or not expressed in relationships so that there's a fair amount of realism amidst the fancy gun play and skirtchasing.

You kinda mature along, like Ryo (from his dark and moody beginnings to becoming the rascal so adept at turning Kaori purple with rage and jealousy!)

If you like City Hunter, I highly recommend other favorites, like F. Compo and Under the Dapple Shade. Tsukasa Hojo is a virtuoso.

This is a brief memoir by a girl who knew Sylvia Plath at Smith College. It describes some events that have been recounted in the numerous biographies which quote from this book. These events include the cucumber sandwich gluttony at Mrs. Prouty's, the trip to Cambridge to attend Harvard summer school, the affair with the biology professor met on the steps of the Widener Library, and the resulting hemorrhage.

As this book is a compilation of Eric's columns, the sections come in short, easily digestible chunks. The range of topics is wide, the writing is concise, and his viewpoint is insightful.

This book is a good, basic, organized introduction to the world of mortgage. This is a serious book. I enjoyed reading it and learned a lot from it.
I guess that even the title "save 50,000.00" can be considered correct. The mortgage is more expensive than your home. If you do not know what you are doing, you will pay a hefty price.

This text provides a clear overview of the power structures within local community systems, then expands the concept to a more regional view. Hunter's work fits well with C. Wright Mill's studies, and should be considered and studied alongside Mills. Some of the topics investigated: community power and the individual; types of power in a local setting; private aspects of power; location within a community; loci of control in elites.

This book helped me pass my hunter education test which is needed to get a hunting license in my state, so I can testify to its usefulness.

It is well illustrated and clearly written. It is intended to be more of an introduction than an encyclopedia of hunting, even though it is pretty comprehensive. It covers topics like types of firearms, ammunition and bows, their safety, and techniques for hunting various types of game. Also, there is a comprehensive section with most of the popular birds and mammals in North America.

Topics which are not well covered are what to do with (dress) your game after you've taken it, and legal issues around getting licensed, tagging the game, etc - for those, you need to check with your state Fish and Wildlife agencies.

Overall, it is a great book and highly recommended.

If you are a person with disabilities or have some functional limitation, there are so many tools and resources available to help you achieve your potential. But where to start? Start with this book by the Alliance for Technology Access! From establishing a vision of how your life to be, to giving you step-by-step instructions for creating a plan, to educating you about technology tools that are available, to describing your legal rights, this book has it all. I know of dozens of people for whom this book has opened doors they barely had dreamed of.

This is the best book I found for the end user with a disability. Unlike most books in its class, the book is well writtten and organized. It also has a people directed approach. The focus is on people not on technology. I like how the book helps the reader map out a strategy to explore and evaluate his options with technology.

This dictionary has everything needed in an excellent historical dictionary. Great for purposes of improving individual study of Japan's history.