May Books

Gene (Genevieve Bonneau) is finally reunited with the aristocratic Southern family she never knew. Although her long-lost grandfather still denies Gene her inheritance, she finds several reasons to stay in Louisiana--not the least of which are several attempts on her cousin's life and the handsome but distant Jonathan Eversleigh. May, in typical fashion, really waits until chapter sixteen to metaphorically take us there, but, as usual with May, it's well worth the wait. This is the first of May's books in which she touches upon the issue of race. However, aside from a few carefully crafted Jefferson/Hemmings moments, the main character, Genevieve, does not deal with it and thus we are given no vicarious insights into May's own views. Personally, I hope that May will write a novel that addresses her perspectives on bridging the racial divide, as I am sure she has had such experiences. This book is extraordinarily gripping and the back cover photograph is now imprinted on my soul.

This book is wonderful, it has evry peice of information that you could want during this time period. It easy to read. It is a book that you can read on cold nights to find some interesting facts. Most of all though, it looks really good on a bookshelf and will have friends very impressed with your collection no matter what else their is.

I have read and owned this book. It was published in 1900 as a fund raiser for the deceased miners. The original bound version is getting scarce and includes photos. The book was reprinted by the Utah Railroad and Mining Museum of Helper, Utah as a part of the Centennial Celebration in 2000. The museum is a good source of information with many stories and video clips. However the Museum is volunteer funded and operated and it is not very efficient. I have made a xerox copy of this book. The one I used and read was stolen out of the Provo City Public Library sometime between 1984 and 1992. Other copies can be located at the Utah Historical Society in Salt Lake City.

After finding out that my father served at Guadalcanal (sadly after he passed away), I became very curious about what it was like. This book summed up everything I wanted to know about Guadalcanal and the surrounding battles. The writing style is crisp and accurate and you get a feeling of being there. One minor caveat, this was written shortly after the war, so some of the words are not PC for today's world. Ignore it though, it shouldn't offend anyone but the most sensitive.

If you like WW II history and want to know more about this epic battle (actually battles - land and sea) this is the best book to get all you need to know.

I was looking for something to inspire me for Holiday/Christmas ideas. This book has it all! From table decorations to window treatments to desserts, you can apply your own imagination to the ideas also.

This is a great book!!! great picture's .. this is a great book for someone who is buying a horse.. it really helpt me!!!

Built around the development of this house, four novellas are arranged by four authors who interweave them expertly. Each author brings with her a style and story intimately her own. I highly recommend this collection. Although I may be new to this genre, I LOVED this book! Several of the tales won Best Novellas of the year 2003 from the American Christian Romance Writers' Association.

Grandmother Louisa Lane was a fabulous person: actress, theater manager, and she held the family together. Once her husband and her sister went on a long, long tour. Then they presented her the baby they "adopted". Louisa was a good sport: she presented them the baby she "adopted". Her daughter Georgie, who married matinee-idol Maurice Barrymore died of tuberculosis when their children Lionel, Ethel and John were very young. Maurice suffered the consequences of syphillis and spent his last years in an asylum.

Lionel was the one with the long MGM career. His Macbeth flopped but he won an oscar in Hollywood. He shocked his family when he left his first wife to marry his brother's ex-mistress. She was wasteful, domineering - but he worshipped her. He was also very secretive: Was he morphine-addicted? involved in John Gilbert's downfall in order to please Louis B. Mayer? Why did he die penniless?

Ethel Barrymore could have become Mrs. Winston Churchill, but she married Russel Colt instead. He was an accomplished wife-beater. She deserved the name "First Lady of the stage" for the length of her career. She financed a big house with many servants and when she reached middle-age and lost her figure she had a problem. She drowned her sorrows in the bottle, but later cured herself and won an oscar for "None but the lonely heart". She too died impoverished.

John nursed his beloved grandmother all alone when she died. His father's mental illness traumatized him. Not that he needed more problems: his stepmother seduced him when he was a teenager and his subsequent alcohol-addiction ruined his life. He had the potential to become America's greatest actor - attractive, charming, well-bred, quick-witted, immensely gifted - and he succeeded - on stage: Justice, Peter Ibbetson, Redemption, the Jest, Richard III and his epoch-making, incestuous Hamlet (Michael Morrison describes these performances in detail in his excellent book: John Barrymore, Shakespearean actor).

John was also unbelievalbly self-destructive: He fell in love with the wrong women. His first wife, a society lady cuckolded him. His second one, a strong-willed, vindictive poetess, misused their daughter in order to hurt him (Diana was allowed to visit her father only when chaperoned by her stepfather!).

He seemed at the height of his career when he left the stage for Hollywood but his downfall had already begun: drinking was considered "manly" then, but his frequent stays in detoxication centers prove how much he suffered under his addiction. He and Dolores Costello (Drew Barrymore is their granddaughter) became Hollywood's dream couple but his film career is uneven: He wasted his talent on insipid scripts, the Hollywood smart set resented his brilliance, his producers resented his mocking performances and he squandered his fortune at a breathtaking rate. Everybody fleeced him...

"Counsellor at Law" (1933) and "Twentieth Century" (1934) were his last hurrahs. Then he could no longer remember his lines: Korsakoff's syndrome - loss of short-term memory. His marriage exploded under dramatic circumstances and he fled to India out of fear that his wife might commit him to a mental institution.

During his stay at a New York hospital, Elaine, a 19 years old aspiring actress visited him. He moved in her one-bedroom apartment where she lived with her parents. They enjoyed the fashionable restaurants. And the publicity! The interest of the yellow press was insatiable. Despite his provocative manners John remained moral at the core: he accepted the most humiliating roles in order to pay his taxes & alimony. Elaine wanted to work on stage with him so they went on tour with "My dear children" (1939-40)- a monstrous hit. Critics wept. Some colleagues tried to help him, others turned their back on him. His last films show a broken man, humiliated by his co-stars in order to squeeze some laughs out of a sadistic audience. His death was surrounded by family wars - then his creditors pounced upon his belongings.

642 pages on which not one word is wasted. Thorough investigation. Margot Peters offers not just a biography but the psychograph of her peerless protagonists. This is not a scandal-mongering book: she writes with deep sympathy even when she describes the most hair-raising events. This is the most touching and absorbing star biography I read in my entire life. Read it, and read also John Kobler: "Damned in Paradise - the life of John Barrymore" - you won't be disappointed.

It was said.."seek and ye shall find". This book involves looking into the pristine waters of Life and seeing the diamond in the blue. The diamond is there beneath the surface of the mind. It reveals to you the difference between misery and the best of life. It is like searching for the needle in the hay stack. The needle is there. Meditation, meditation, meditation.

There are many methods for attracting birds to a garden: How To Attract Birds To Your Garden by aviary gardening expert Derwent May covers all kinds of garden birds, their feeding needs and ranges, and discussions of the flowers, trees and shrubs which attract them. Add a chatty tone and explanations of why some methods are better than others and you have an easily-understood guide, spiced with illustrations by Peter Brown.