Owen Books

What can I say about you book?! It. Is. Great. Owen Egerton's short stories are right up my alley - darkly, almost pitch black, hilarious. Gut wrenching. Layered. My favorite entertainment in any genere is simply that which reflects life. And life is funny, sad, scary, loud, calm and everything at different times and sometimes all at once.

We are all headed toward the same fate - read this book and let's connect before then, shall we?

I picked this book up because I wanted a break from non-fiction. I am a scientist and always felt I was wasting time if I wasn't reading about science. But I was drawn to this book for some reason. This book made me think and made me feel closer to the human condition. That might sound lame but it is true. Older works of fiction sometimes give you a connection to by-gone times. This book gives you a connection to our times and to one of the sure things in life (... not taxes).

I love this book because I see myself in it. Every single story touched me in some way, in some personal way. If you have dealt with death, or thoughts of mortality then you will also see yourself in this book. Sometimes it is disturbing but it is always funny and often encouraging in a way. Every mortal person should read at least a couple of the stories out of this book. It is dark at times but never depressing. While reading it I got a sense of the courage and a feel for how much thought Egerton put into this. I hope the Reaper has Owen Egerton's sense of humor.

... you are going to die.

How do I know? Owen Egerton told me. He told me he was going to kill you with a loaf of white bread.

Just kidding! Owen Egerton is not going to kill you with bread...

...but you are going to die.

How are you going to die? I don't know precisely. I know your heart will stop beating. You will stop breathing. But the details that caused the cessation is a little harder to nail down. You might die sleeping, or a horrible disease. You might be in a car wreck. Or you might die flying (and subsequent inability to land) a small plane. Maybe you will be at the wrong end of a Chuck Norris fight. You could be devoured by a pit of pigs. Or maybe it will be a freak accident involving a water slide & Christianity. Who knows?

Question: Who knows how you are going to die?
Answer: Owen Egerton
His Answer: A loaf of Wonderbread, with the crusts cut off.

But before you die, make sure you read "How Best to Avoid Dying", the book that somehow made death funny & sweet. I laughed my head off. Which you would think would have killed me... but it didn't. I died the old fashioned way: Owen Egerton beat me with a loaf of bread.

These beautifully crafted, provocative stories keep you both laughing and thinking. Give yourself a real treat.

Rarely do stories complement each other so well as in this bizarre collection, which is at once darkly tragic, hoarsely satirical, exuberantly hilarious, and deeply moving. Egerton's art is driven by a playfulness which rings throughout all these gems, but it far from undercuts the serious. The variety of genres in this volume, from traditional short stories to blistering flash fiction, fairy tales to self-referential annotations, are all peppered with an abundance of moods and attitudes. The stories strike you with horror, form lumps in your throat, and make you smirk. This assortment of style, form, and tone demonstrates Egerton's considerable versatility. And as plated here together, kicking, whirring, and giggling, they make a multi-faceted medley which lingers on the tongue, leaving a bittersweet aftertaste.

Egerton begins with a short absurdist tale about a spelling bee, in a world where such competitions decide the ownership of land masses and the losers, intrepid 8-10 year olds, are dropped into a pit below stage where the audience can watch them slaughtered. Other stories include a Christian camp where counselors encounter fatal "accidents" in twisted attempts to drive the campers towards a life in Christ; an account of a married couple's tepid romantic life and the deeper sexual ambitions and desires embodied in a talking, knighted penis; a look into the life of Lazarus, resurrected by Christ and now living in the modern day, desperate to die; and a girl who niggles the narrator to not kill her off, which closes the volume on a note of poetic gorgeousness. And these are the more traditional ones.

One story, "Holy," is a sparse paragraph. "The Beginning of All Things" is a two-page story about rodents fighting for a Snickers bar that turns into a prose poem creation tale. "The Adventures of Stimp" morphs into a series of run-on sentences, almost stream of consciousness, which portrays absolute devotion between a hamster and his owner. As a whole, these shorter pieces aren't as good as the longer ones. They are excellent examples of Egerton toying with narrative form, always original, and brilliantly carve a small but powerful piece of art in miniature. However, several of them lack the emotional depth of the longer works, and they all are missing a sense of roundedness--minute details injected into the narrative that both flesh out the universe of the story and greatly contribute to its power to move.

These details are subtle and quiet: ornamentations of a master's hand. In Egerton's hands, they may be lightly whimsical or deadly serious; in either case, they are some of the finest proof of Egerton's capabilities. Far from feeling tacked-on, these details are weaved into the fabric of the fiction, as Egerton plays with his worlds and our minds. One such detail is a description of looking in on the agonized faces in private hospital rooms, "like looking deep into a radiation chamber, knowing that if you open the door--even a crack--all that radiation would zip out and scar your eyes, throat, and skin." With this brief, almost passing note, the whole of the protagonist's relationship with sickness and disease in the antiseptic desert of the hospital is revealed. In "Spelling," the point that America lost Hawaii to Korea in a spelling bee is again mentioned in passing, evoking both chuckles and a sense of terror: in a single line Egerton has given us all we need to know about the politics of this nightmare. Other cases are more light-hearted elements of comedy that show why Egerton has been considered by so many to be an excellent humorist.

If these details describe Egerton's delicate manipulation of narrative, there are just as many examples of immense linchpins: single lines on which the literary value of the story is hinged, which launch the text into the realm of works truly memorable. In such cases, the delicacy is replaced by hammering immediacy, and our hearts and minds are surrendered to the work. In "Tonight at Noon," perhaps the best story in the collection, a jazz enthusiast wakes up to find his girlfriend has committed suicide. He says of jazz virtuoso Charles Mingus, "Most people say The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is his best, and it's good. But Ah Um is going for more. It hurts more. Lives more. Jenny is dead."

These examples may serve to show the incredible sense of balance present in these stories, which may ultimately be what makes them so successful (there is only one exception to this: "The Fecalist" is boring satire--a departure from the usually sophisticated presentation). Comedy and tragedy are bound inextricably; passing jabs, lasting one-liners, and poetic passages are joined by their poetry; whimsy, heartbreak, and joy are merely different sides of the same thing. The stories, in their individual components and as a collection, build off one another with grace and ease.

If a philosophical point is permitted, this playful balance and duality may be the essence of what Egerton calls how best to avoid dying. The characters in these pieces, who are never mere tools of narrative, are all faced, in one form or another, with the agony of dying and the beauty of living. Or is it the other way around? Laughter and sorrow, fear and joy--these may all be the same entity--and assisting that interpretation may be Egerton's primary objective. If this is in fact the case, barring some minor, unmentionable imperfections, he succeeds with dazzling brilliance.

[Author website: www.owenegerton.com]



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Max Falkowitz, 2007

This is one of Vesaas' last books, and quite well-known in literary circles, both in Norway and abroad. The book spins around two girls living in rural Norway in their eleventh winter. One of the girls has just moved to the tiny village, and instantly forms a bond of friendship with the leader of the pack of children at their school; the other girl. Then something sad happens that I won't reveal. The tale spins around these happenings: the struggle against the dark forces of the human mind, and the experience of growing up. The tale is a short read, and is Vesaas at his most typical style of writing. I really enjoy this book, and I've read it several times.

So if you want to get to know one of Norway's greatest authors, almost up there at Knut Hamsun's level, then this would be a great place to start. The author died in 1970, but his anti-modern thought was quite present in most of his books, although an annoying streak of pacifism and humanism is present in some of his works. But this is not one of those books, so no reason to avoid this great read from the winter nights of rural Norway.

(I read a different edition of the book)

Vesaas's book is beautiful.

His style is experimental and modern, which means that he presents information in a slightly elliptical way, perhaps one that more closely echoes the motions of actual consciousness. This means that you may have to read the same passage two or three times: there are very few topic sentences introducing clearly defined paragraphs. Luckily, his vocabulary is pitch-perfect: small words, chosen for precision rather than pretence.

A novel has two major compenents, one being the social background of the story and the other being the story itself. The background is crystalline and very, very Norwegian: a harsh climate; reserved, good people; an aura of isolation that may only come from years of cold. The story itself turns on a secret and a promise, and the young girl Siss's reaction to them: not a secret like those in Babysitters' Club books, nor like the secrets in a spy novel: but a compelling one, an all-encompassing one, one that drives people in a way that doesn't make sense in a wholly rational world and yet drives them all the same. I won't say more.

Highly recommended. Oh-- and read it quickly. Like, perhaps, Faulkner (though not as difficult), you'll lose track of what's going on if you take too much time between readings.

It is a beautiful piece of poetic prose. The innocent and simple story of two girls and their budding friendship broken by death is at the same time intense and calm. The descriptions of the surroundings, the ice palace at the waterfall, which claims Unn, together with the thoughts of Siss, create the Nordic climate, make the reader breathe the cold air, and show the world as a complicated and unyielding entity, strange for a little girl, hard to understand. Yet Siss understands somehow, her world gets in order and all the events have their place.
Only a poet can use words in such a beautiful fashion. This book was a sensual delight. Probably a great bonus is the translation, must have been not a trivial task!

One of the most beautiful books ever written. You are not literate before you have read this book.

A beautiful book. The imagery is lovely, and I got hooked when one of the characters actually wanders into the ice palace. The descriptions of the light, and the interplay of the changing colors and shapes of the ice were mesmerizing--I stayed up late and couldn't go to bed. And in the morning it seemed it should be all ice outside instead of the height of summer. Tremendously atmospheric, simply splendid. The first book in about six months to make it straight to my read-again shelf. And short--a quick read if you're busy.

As a 3rd year medical student, I found this book very helpful to have in my pocket for studying dense information in short breaks. It helped me score very well on the Shelf exam.

This book offers an impressive amount of info in just 2 pages per syndrome/disease. Love it for boards & reading up on topics you'll find on the office, however it lacks some acute issues you may find in the hospital. For instance, Electrolyte imbalances...a book like Inpatient Pediatrics sheds a great deal of light on that subject, but the book itself is physically larger.

This book has the essentials of over 220 topics in Peds - in a single page it gives you etiology, epidemiology, differential, signs and symptoms, treatment, and prognosis. What more can you ask for? Excellent as a quick reference and for studying.

This is a fantastic reference for residents and medical students. I especially found it useful in preparing for attending rounds, but it's also great for exam review. I'm very happy with this purchase.

As a practicing pediatrician, I use this book to review a few items that I have long since forgotten. I also recommend it to the medical students and pediatric residents that rotate through my office. I love the fact that the material is written in an easy to understand format. It virtually jumps off the page at you. I also think its organization into to etiology, epidemiology, differential diagnosis etc. makes it idea for the medical student. Its format reflects how you will be "pimped" on rounds and the key stats and concepts that you will see on the USMLE. A great read!!!

Robb has a real knack for taking an unexplained (and little known) moment from medieval history and building a mystery around it. This time around she's also managed to make two of the most frustrating characters in previous stories, the Archbishop of York and Alice Perrers (the king's mistress) much more sympathetic to the reader, while still layering both with an undercurrent of deceit and treachery. It's one thing to see these two veteran players of the system caught up in their own webs and at the mercy of others. It's another to realize that at least one of them might not have learned their lesson from it. Without moralizing heavily, Robb shows us that the idea of the political whims of the powerful impeding the pursuit of justice is not a modern concept, but has been around throughout the ages. Entertaining light reading, yes, but with just enough "mental meat" to chew on for a while after the book is done. That's the best kind of reading. And that's what this book is.

Candace Robb has read and researched medieval history for many years, having studied for a Ph.D. in Medieval and Anglo-Saxon Literature. She divides her time between Seattle and the UK, frequently spending time in Scotland and York to research her books.

York is very close to my own home and many of the places mentioned in the Owen Archer books are still there to be seen and of course Archbishop John Thorseby is mentioned in the records of York Minster. All this adds spice for me and helps me to picture the time and events that took place. This is the fourth novel in what is proving to be a captivating series.

Owen Archer, the one-eyed former captain of a company of Welsh archers finds himself working on behalf of the king, to promote Wykeham as the new Bishop of Winchester. Owen places his old comrade Ned in charge of a company travelling to Rievaulx Abbey, north of the city of York. By doing this he hopes to dispel the rumours of Ned's involvement in a mysterious death. But is his plan about to back fire on him as days later, the murders and intrigue begin . . .

The fourth book in the series does not disappoint. It has an intriguing story line with one of Owen's friends falling and love, and murder ensuing...
My favorite is still no. 2, The Lady Chapel, with Nun's Tale and this one right close behind.
I cannot say enough about how well the author Candace Robb writes these characters. I am not only interested in the plot and mystery of each book, but also the continuation of the lives of Owen, Lucia, Thoresby, Sir Robert, Jasper, Brother Michaelo, Riverwoman, the kids and even Lucie's Aunt.
I am now reading A Gift of Sanctuary, having just finished the Riddle of St. Leonards. These books are delicious reads truly.

I have enjoyed all of her books. If you like historical fiction that is light reading but entertaining this is the book you want.

I started reading Candace Robb's Owen Archer series at the suggestion of one of my patients, beginning with her favorite The Cross Legged Knight. I was immediately entranced. The King's Bishop was my second visit to 14th Century York and the home of Lucie Wilton and Owen Archer. I was not disappointed.

Ms Robb is an historian just shy of her PhD and specializes in Medieval History. She is also a consummate storyteller. Her characters are multidimensional; their actions are plausible; and their setting is believable. As a mystery writer, she excels in complex motives. In the Cross Legged Knight, she was able to pull a Collin Dexter out of the hat by producing two possible endings. In The King's Bishop she is able to recreate the ambiance of court intrigue and the murders that arise when ambition is the ultimate measure of an individual and where everything rests on the success of plot and counter plot.

One of the things that took me a while to get used to was the ending to these tales. Not everything comes out happily ever after. The sleuth is not always able to denounce the villain at the end as one is accustomed to reading in stories of this sort. What the ending is, however, is very realistic. Even in modern times, the guilty are not always punished according to the dictates one would expect of "justice;" even justice itself is designed to support the class structure. It is precisely for this reason that we usually enjoy murder mysteries: the guilty are brought to justice, their crimes are made manifest to society, and they are punished accordingly. In Owen Archer mysteries, the guilty sometimes get away with their miserable acts just as they do in our own times.

The stories are wonderfully detailed with respect to historical accuracy, yet they do not overwhelm the reader. Ms Robb is not a pedant. She seeks to create a venue for the actions of her characters without making the reader feel as though there is a test at the end of the story! Most of the unfamiliar terms are understandable from context, although she does supply a glossary for those of us who like to have more information. She also includes a small bibliography and a short history of the period and the characters. And yes, many of the characters were real people from history. These short texts are generally at the end of the book so one needn't feel obligated to read them, but I've taken to reading them first. I enjoy a little background material before I get into the meat of the work.

Very impressive. I would recommend the book to anyone from advanced junior high to adult readers.

What an inspiration this book was to me as a woman and mother. May I be able to pass a legacy onto my children worthy of Fedencia Castillo-Morales. What a joy to read. Laura J. Davidson (Frisco, TX)

Just think how much better a place this world would be, if others would follow the excellent example set by Ms. Fedencia Castillo-Morales.

This book was a real wake-up call to me in that we can be much more unselfish and more worshipful of our loving Lord, Jesus Christ.

I highly recommend the book as a model for Christian parents and children.

Patrick S. Woods
Founder, Supply Chain Education

Not only is this book an encouragment it is the truth word for word. I am named after the wonderful Fedencia, my name is Amanda Fedencia Meehan, and it is a true honor. I am so very proud of my mother for completing this book! I know each and every person who reads this will be truly blessed.

I thought that this book was very heartfelt and encouraging. I think it is a great book to give as a gift to loved ones in the family.

After reading "Lessons from a Virtuous Woman" I knew without a doubt it was a lesson I wanted to share with the women who are incarcerated within the fences of TDCJ (Texas Dept of Criminal Justice). I head up a Prison/Jail Ministry and encouraged Dolores to come and share her testimony. Through these pages Dolores paints a vivid picture of just what A Virtuous women is. I feel every women has that potential we only need to be directed and that just what Dolores accomplishes through these pages.

Sure we all have those looseends--what to do? READ HILL'S book for the answers you never thought of before. And who knows? The answer won't be what you mihgt have thought, yet Great Literature always sneaks up on you that way, right? Think of Dr. Williams' stories--and then don't--Read Hill's stories now, or you might find yourself at more of a looseend than you thought!

I'm just a bunny with writer's block, and I'm flatso at that, but even I know that this is the best book of the decade. The book gathers together various legends and attitudes about artists, ancient and modern. Owen Hill is regarded as the most important Indian saint and Sage of the present century! I know, you say "Bunny This, Bunny That, that flat old bunny is full of bung" but shoot, this volume carefully integrates theory and application. Buy 10 copies now.

Yes, Owen Hill has a certain way about him, a way of doing things that has made him the world's most beloved bear. And what is Loosends? It is very simple. It calls for living without preconceived ideas about how life should be lived-but it's not a preconception of how life-it's...well, you'd do well to read this book, and listen to Owen if you really want to find out.

Whoops! Looks like I forgot to say that Loosends is by far the boffoest book at Slamazon.slop! I loved every word, although, hack that I am, I wouldn't know quality from the stuff that comes out the back of a dog.

Open this book and you will plunge five miles below the surface of the sea into an unforseen realm inhabited by living creatures who strain the bounds of credibility. Even today only a handful of people have seen the pillow lava, smoking chimneys, and shimmering water of the hydrothermal vent fields, which are colonized by blind white crabs. As we have come to expect in previous books, Owen Hill is our engrossing guide to the last frontiers on earth.

Louis Owens has crafted an engrossing story that mixes a not unfamiliar crime thriller with the supernatural world of two half-Cherokee friends, Billy Keene and Will Striker, and Billy's elderly grandfather. When Billy and Will watch a body and suitcase full of cash fall from the sky while out hunting, their entire world changes immediately. After a brief debate, they decide to leave the body where it impaled itself on a pine tree and take off with the $850,000 dollars in cash; but, before they even get out of the forest, they are attacked by a helicopter.

Yes, the beginning seems familiar and the storyline done before; but, the direction this book takes departs from your standard boilerplate crime thriller. Between romance with beautiful strangers and the grandfather involving the spirit world in protecting Billy and Will, this book is a fun romp from beginning to end. And, don't expect a pat ending, as the climax of this story has a twisting and turning path to the last word.

>>>>>>><<<<<<<

A Guide to my Book Rating System:

1 star = The wood pulp would have been better utilized as toilet paper.
2 stars = Don't bother, clean your bathroom instead.
3 stars = Wasn't a waste of time, but it was time wasted.
4 stars = Good book, but not life altering.
5 stars = This book changed my world in at least some small way.

A body falls from the sky in the dry New Mexico wilds. Two native American ranchers sight the mysterious image and set off to find it. Nearby to the body impaled in the limbs of a tree, they find a suitcase full of money.

This could be their lucky break, or their worst nightmare. They decide to risk keeping the money -- and to face the inevitable consequences . . .

The native American insights are a delight to read. Louis Owens's beautifully crafted prose leaves a last impression.

Owens' third American Indian crime thriller has received praise from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly, Booklist and others. The consequences of trying to keep found money (in this case, $850,000 dropped from a drug dealer's plane in remote New Mexico) take ranchers Will Striker and Billy Keene on a wild ride. Enter sex and magical realism, stir, and find yourself reading a "well-wrought thriller capped by a twist-filled climax."

from the very first paragraph. Owens's brand of wit and humor blend with his examination of the ranching life in the New Mexico desert to create a highly-charged, complex murder mystery. Set in Indian country, Nightland stakes a strong multicultural claim to the art form of the American Murder Mystery, but it stakes a claim also on the magical realism of American Indian and South American literature. The resulting blend of ghosts and grim realism give the story a dark, mystical, enspirited patina. The pig and dog are hilarious counterpoint to the Cherokee mixedblood heroes. Round out the story with amiable ghosts, a seductive shape-shifter, and some nasty bad guys and you have a bona fide page-turner.

Billy Keene and Will Striker, the main characters of Louis Owens' novel Nightland, are half-breed Cherokees living on failing ranches in New Mexico that their grandparents bought from the Mexican-Americans whose family had a grant from Spain [who took the land from Native Americans in the first place]. They're out hunting deer when a man [who we find out is of Pueblo Indian blood] falls from the sky and ends up skewered on a juniper tree. A suitcase full of money falls with him. Despite misgivings, Billy and Will keep the money. Then all hell breaks loose. Nightland is at heart a thriller, but as with Owens' other novels, it is also a musing on identity. Native American spirituality and the supernatural play a key role in the novel, so if suspension of disbelief is a problem for the potential reader, don't start this book. This is a much faster read than Bone Game and The Sharpest Sight. I found Nightland to be one of the highlights of my summer reading. Oh, and as if my opinion actually counted, I think Richard Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino should buy the rights to Nightland and make a movie. One of the pieces of sad news from this summer was that Louis Owens had taken his own life. He left us five great novels, including Nightland.

To be frank, the Jedi classes offered in the Core Rulebook just aren't that cool. You can be a Guardian (typical butt-kicking Jedi saber-warrior) or a Consular (Princess Leia-ish diplomat type that shuns violence). The two prestige classes (aside from master, which of course is always cool) are interesting, but not that great. Additionally, there's little guidance on how to handle Force Spirits, which you would think is an important Jedi aspect.

Power of the Jedi remedies all of these deficiencies, adding several prestige classes that are both interesting and useful (e.g. the Jedi Healer and Weapon Master), additional light side feats and skills (including Battle Meditation and Cure Disease/Poison), and rules for managing a Jedi campaign and Jedi characters- including Force Spirits. There's also a section on Jedi equipment, including some older Jedi starships and specialized lightsabers (including the dual-phase and great saber), additional species, nasty force-wielding monsters, and a description of Jedi history and famous Jedi. The latter is particularly extensive, and includes descriptions and maps of some famous Jedi sites (e.g. the Chu'unthor).

The volume is hardcover, which largely explains the cost, and includes numerous and excellent illustrations- many of which are actual art instead of just more film captures.

If you are planning on running a Jedi campaign, or even have any light side Jedi players in a non-Force oriented campaign, this supplement is critical. I can't overstate how much depth and material it adds to the Jedi character in this game.

The Power of the Jedi Sourcebook is a full-color, hardcover resource for all things pertaining to the Jedi Order. Continuing from the standard set by the Dark Side Sourcebook, the "PotJ" book combines information and utility with a tasteful arrangement of interior artwork and photos.

Most players will probably be most interested in the selection of new Jedi Prestige Classes, Light Side Force skills, feats, and equipment that the book offers. But there are also sections discussing Jedi history, Jedi traditions, new equipment, and new force-sensitive creatures. There are entries on important characters, important locations, and even advice on how to run a Jedi campaign. And of course, no book on the Jedi would be complete without a discussion of Force Spirits. This is also a section discussing new races, but most of these are also in the newer Ultimate Alien Anthology.

This book has been one of the important resources in my Star Wars campaign. I've really enjoyed using the Prestige Classes. From the Jedi Healer to the powerful Jedi Weapon Master, players now have a much wider range of advancement options open to their characters. In addition many of the force-sensitive characters, creatures, and locations have already popped up in my storyline. I also found the notes on running a Jedi campaign to be very useful, for not only can they guide a GM but they can also aid players on how a Jedi should conduct himself.

However, I do have a few minor complaints. A few of the Light Side force skills, particularly Force Light and Sever Force, seem to be quite powerful. Perhaps this is because they were based on the abilities of comic-book characters, but in any case, it was a wise move that such skills may only be acquired with GM approval. I would have also preferred to see a much more in-depth history section, particularly as it pertains to the Tales of the Jedi storyline. Finally, I felt that the maps for some of the important locations were fairly inadequate.

However, as I noted earlier, these were minor complaints.

Overall, I found this to be an outstanding addition to my Star Wars campaign. I use it often, and it is likely that I will continue to do so for some time to come. Whether you're the GM of a campaign with Jedi in it, or whether you're a player wanting to explore the possibilities of a Jedi character, I'd recommend this book as a solid investment.

The "Power of the Force" book by Wizards of the Coast is one of the most complete indexs of the force put out by either West End Games (the privous owners of the Star Wars RPG franchise) or Wizards to date. It has a number of stats of characters that have made up the esteemed order along with additional jedi powers, feats, equipment and so forth. Another great feature of this book is that it also has stats on such jedi's like Kit Fisto, the Gray Lady, as well as updated stats on Mace Windu.

The book also shows some of the other functions of the Jedi Order and some races also view it. I only wished that it had come out after the Knights of the Old Republic game so that the Jedi Sentinal PrC could've been included but then again, that's just me.

Other than a few minor issues with the rules, Power of the Force is a great book to own and a *MUST* if you play a jedi in any era of Star Wars.

If you have the Core Rulebook, this supplement is a must. It contains lots of info on the jedi and lots of great stuff about the types of jedi you can play with prestige classes and all. Being a Jedi is what Star Wars is made of, so this book is a must if you want your adventure of RPG to be complete.

This is a must have for all Star Wars roleplayers. It has a huge amount of new stuff for playing as a jedi. An EXTREMELY helpful addition.

It was my honor to have met Bill Owens in 1975. My San Francisco Art Institute photography class went to his home to meet him and discuss his work. At the time he shot the photos he lived in suburbia and made his living shooting for the local newspaper. He was, in fact, documenting his own neighborhoods. We were a bunch of hippy art students expecting someone similar to ourselves and what Bill had to say was "yes, suburbia is weird but it still a pretty good place to live. Safe and comfortable." It should be noted that bay area suburbs were not exactly Ohio or Florida. Weed and wine were both first class. The book remains as one of the most insightful documents of California in the '70s and great fun to revisit.

I'm delighted to see this book available again. Last year I spent $100 for a copy (well worth it!) because it was out of print. I plan to buy the new version for the additional pictures promised. I've been fascinated with this book since I was a kid (and his other out-of-print books). I have too much to say about Bill Owens' work and not nearly enough room! I love "Suburbia" and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves to study people just "doing their thing".

The 1973 original edition, which contained only black-and-white photos, may not have been to everyone's taste. I went to the library and compared the "NEW & IMPROVED" (as the red 8-pointed star on the cover proclaims) 1999 edition with the old. The new edition is a lot better. First, some photos that did not have much impact for me (e.g., a shot of adults kissing on Halloween) have been deleted. Second, 18 pages of color photos (some of which have the gaudy color combinations typical of the 1970s) and a number of B&W photos were added. Third, the order of photos is more meaningful; for example, "I believe in women's liberation" was the second photo in the old edition but is on page 21 in the new edition (opposite a depiction of two chairs and a TV). Fourth, Owen's editor Shimshak has added captions for photos that previously had none (e.g., on pages 16-17). Finally, there is a new introduction by journalist David Halberstam.

I think this new edition of Bill Owens wonderful book is slightly better than the original. Having both editions I find that although the halftone screen is less than the original (first edition was over 200, this edition is 170) the printing quality and paper are better, giving the photos more depth. After all these years the images still look fresh and fascinating and the amount of detail the photos contain is amazing. As far as I am aware no other book comes close in capturing the feel of the American suburb of thirty odd years ago.

The book is always favourably mentioned in photo history books as an example of the `new topography' with photographers like Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams and Stephen Shore and the critics suggest that the citizens of this suburbia lead superficial lives because they live there. But they can't get round the fact these folk, living in Livermore Amador Valley, California, or perhaps three thousand miles away in Levittown, Long Island enjoy the life-style of suburban living and Owens photos capture this feeling so well.

On the visual strength of `Suburbia' I bought another book of Bill Owens photos, `Working: I do it for the money', published in 1977, a super collection of photos showing Americans at work and Like `Suburbia' it includes many observations from those in the photos. Well worth searching out for.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I'm delighted to see this book available again. Last year I spent $100 for a copy (well worth it!) because it was out of print. I plan to buy the new version for the additional pictures promised. I've been fascinated with this book since I was a kid (and his other out-of-print books). I have too much to say about Bill Owens' work...and not nearly enough room! I love "Suburbia" and would highly recommend it to anyone who loves to study people just "doing their thing".

Knowing the places in this book only help to create the images in my mind. Anyone would benefit from reading this book and being inspired that no matter their circumstances, they can achieve what they set out to do in life. I would also like to know more about the author's life after he went to school.

Absolutely amazing - the story and the writing. This book will stay with me forever. My copy is becoming old and tattered - I lend it to everyone I can.

THIS STUBBORN SOIL is a history book. No, one will not find the annals of nations set down here, nor even accounts of great wars or of vast economic movements. In these pages lie the images of poverty, illiteracy, sickness, premature death, fear, and bigotry that characterized the life of early 20th-century families enduring the ravages of both flood and drought in rough wood shacks with mud-and-straw chimneys and in poor, sandy fields where they tried to eke out an existence with a little livestock and with what few crops they could grow.

These were families for whom school was not nearly as important as having an extra hand in the field with a hoe or a cotton sack, families whose entertainment consisted of singing around an organ or a piano, the presence of which stood in stark contrast to the rest of the house, which never saw an electric light or a telephone wire. These were families that watched over their sick and watched them die either because there was no money to pay a doctor to come or because the nearest doctor was self-taught through mail-order books.

This is also the story of one boy who grew up in such an environment, who quit school many times because the choice came down to feeding the mind or feeding the body, who very nearly succumbed to the lure of wandering or of "riding the rods" as a hobo, and who was taught early on to denigrate Blacks and to hold Catholics in suspicion. In religion, he was exposed to holy rollers and tent revivals and pulpit-pounding evangelists. In school, when he went, he had teachers who had themselves barely finished an elementary education or, at the most, high school.

In this boy, however, there was something as strange and seemingly out of place as the organ in his ramshackle home-a thirst for learning and an unquenchable desire to go to school at Commerce, Texas, home of East Texas State Teacher's College, the only place he had ever heard of where he could continue his often-interrupted education. Both lack of money and inadequate preparation threw substantial barriers in his path. Of course, even before reading this book, we know of his eventual success thanks to the Ph.D. that came to follow his name.

THIS STUBBORN SOIL, therefore, is both a description of families who survived or died in a hardscrabble existence in early-1900s America and a hearth-side story of a boy whose love of learning survived all of the impediments in his path and finally resulted in the prize he sought for so long-a formal higher education. The soil on which he lived was indeed stubborn, for it yielded little and that only after back-breaking effort. He, however, was yet more stubborn, and that stubbornness bore succulent fruit.

The book is a personal memoire, and, for readers who share lingering childhood memories of dirt roads, railroad tracks past cotton fields, unquestioned racial segregation, and one or two-room schools reached by horseback or "footback," this narrative will awaken nostalgic images from the mists into which they have faded as the years have passed. For those who have never experienced the type of life Owens led as a boy, THIS STUBBORN SOIL will be very instructive and will help fill a pronounced gap in their knowledge of a large corner of early twentieth-century America. Though now out of print, copies can be found through many used-book sources, and the message remains timely, instructive and perhaps even inspirational. The book is worth far more than the effort needed to track it down, and I hope that every reader interested in American history at the personal level, in rural "local color," or even in just a well-written personal narrative will begin the search for it without delay. The reward of reading it is great.

My one line summary says it all. I am sure I was there. I anticipate each chapter anxiously waiting to see what funny, tragic desperate event is next and admiring the author for the practical and inventive mechanisms he has in place to keep his education going. I would like to know more about him in his later life.

I believe William A. Owens is all too often overlooked as one of Americas greatest authors and this book just proves my point. It is a great piece of work and an inspiration to all that read it.