Peter Books

And Quiche was a great kick-off to start this series. Great characters, good mysteries, fun protag. Just a good read all the way 'round.

As a devoted fan of M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series, I was intrigued to keep reading reviews of Hamish Macbeth books by people who claimed they liked the Agatha Raisin series better. But every time I contemplated the title, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, it just seemed too tongue in cheek to be possibly any good. Well, I was wrong. Although the book couldn't be any more satirical and much punnier than it is, the book works very well both as a straight story and as a satire. It's like getting two books for the price of one.

Since the Hamish Macbeth series started first, let me address Hamish Macbeth fans first: Think of Agatha Raisin as being one of the optimistic incomers to Lochdubh who hope for peace and tranquility without realizing what village life in Sutherland is really like. But Agatha has mostly good intentions (except towards the women in the area who drive her batty) instead of being an incipient homicidal maniac like the incomers in Sutherland. Agatha is also her own woman, and not about to take any prisoners she doesn't have to. Like Hamish, she has a crime-solving partner, Bill Wong (of the local detectives), who helps her in ways she doesn't always appreciate (like Priscilla Halburton-Smythe does for Hamish). Agatha is based, however, in the gentle Cotswolds so there won't be too many stories about brutal winter blizzards in this series. You won't miss hearing about Strathbane.

In this inaugural book, Agatha has just sold her PR firm in London (where she succeeded by being a blunt instrument in plying journalists with meals and drink and then shaking them down for stories) and decided to retire to a cottage in the Cotswolds, an area she had once visited as a child. Naturally, she has a romanticized view of what life there will be like. Having been a busy businesswoman, she now finds herself not quite sure how to fill her time. Although she had made no friends in London, she expects to make many in rural Carsely. People nod and are friendly, but it goes no further. Agatha soon makes an enemy of her next door neighbor by stealing her housekeeper. While catching up on her reading of Agatha Christie mysteries, Agatha decides she needs to get everyone's attention. Why not win a prize for baking?

Plotting her strategy, Agatha invites the quiche competition judge, Reginald Cummings-Browne, and his wife, Vera, to an expensive dinner (expecting to curry favor as it were in the quiche wars). Agatha instead ends up with a very large bill and a not very high opinion of the Cummings-Brownes. Agatha makes a quick foray to London to buy a wonderful spinach quiche that she enters as her own.

But her plot is soon foiled when the woman who always wins the quiche competition once again triumphs. Agatha leaves her quiche behind in disgust, and Vera Cummings-Browne takes it home as a snack for her husband. That night, he eats the quiche and dies of poison! Naturally, there's a police investigation and Agatha has to confess that she cheated.

Feeling like she will never make it in Carsely after such a large faux pas, Agatha begins to think she should move out and go back to London. Soon, she's between two islands of discord and not sure what to do.

The police decide that the poisoning was an accidental death, but Agatha's not so sure. Before long, she starts acting on her urge to detect . . . with consequences that definitely heat up the story.

Where most detective stories are mostly about a crime and the process of uncovering the criminal, that element retreats into the background in this book. Instead, Agatha's search for happiness is the main focus of the story. The crime and its solution are merely incidents along the way. I liked that element. In fact, this would have been a very entertaining story even if it hadn't contained a mystery.

Any time your attention threatens to flag, you can just sit there and chuckle over the outrageous satirical elements. Although you know they are overdone, you can't help but laugh . . . as you might at good burlesque sketches with imaginative pie throwing.

Although I haven't read past this book in the Agatha Raisin series, I would have to say that Agatha could displace Hamish as number one in my affections for M. C. Beaton characters.

Enjoy!

This is the very first Agatha Raisin book. In it we meet Agatha, retired early from the London PR firm she owned, and ran with an iron hand. Agatha grew up in the Birmingham slums, and dreamed that one day she would live in a Cotswold village and no one would ever know she had been poor. In order to escape the slums, she learned to be tough and hard-headed, and never had a friend in her life. Now she wants to be someone important in her new hometown. She has never cooked or baked, or planted a garden, but has learned through hard experience how to get by: with ingenuity and a little cheating. When the judge of a local baking contest dies after eating the quiche she submitted, the truth comes out: she bought the quiche in London. Now she must deal with utter humiliation and try to clear her name, and in the process she begins to thaw out and make friends for the first time in her life. What a great book!

As a devoted fan of M. C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth series, I was intrigued to keep reading reviews of Hamish Macbeth books by people who claimed they liked the Agatha Raisin series better. But every time I contemplated the title, Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death, it just seemed too tongue in cheek to be possibly any good. Well, I was wrong. Although the book couldn't be any more satirical and much punnier than it is, the book works very well both as a straight story and as a satire. It's like getting two books for the price of one.

Since the Hamish Macbeth series started first, let me address Hamish Macbeth fans first: Think of Agatha Raisin as being one of the optimistic incomers to Lochdubh who hope for peace and tranquility without realizing what village life in Sutherland is really like. But Agatha has mostly good intentions (except towards the women in the area who drive her batty) instead of being an incipient homicidal maniac like the incomers in Sutherland. Agatha is also her own woman, and not about to take any prisoners she doesn't have to. Like Hamish, she has a crime-solving partner, Bill Wong (of the local detectives), who helps her in ways she doesn't always appreciate (like Priscilla Halburton-Smythe does for Hamish). Agatha is based, however, in the gentle Cotswolds so there won't be too many stories about brutal winter blizzards in this series. You won't miss hearing about Strathbane.

In this inaugural book, Agatha has just sold her PR firm in London (where she succeeded by being a blunt instrument in plying journalists with meals and drink and then shaking them down for stories) and decided to retire to a cottage in the Cotswolds, an area she had once visited as a child. Naturally, she has a romanticized view of what life there will be like. Having been a busy businesswoman, she now finds herself not quite sure how to fill her time. Although she had made no friends in London, she expects to make many in rural Carsely. People nod and are friendly, but it goes no further. Agatha soon makes an enemy of her next door neighbor by stealing her housekeeper. While catching up on her reading of Agatha Christie mysteries, Agatha decides she needs to get everyone's attention. Why not win a prize for baking?

Plotting her strategy, Agatha invites the quiche competition judge, Reginald Cummings-Browne, and his wife, Vera, to an expensive dinner (expecting to curry favor as it were in the quiche wars). Agatha instead ends up with a very large bill and a not very high opinion of the Cummings-Brownes. Agatha makes a quick foray to London to buy a wonderful spinach quiche that she enters as her own.

But her plot is soon foiled when the woman who always wins the quiche competition once again triumphs. Agatha leaves her quiche behind in disgust, and Vera Cummings-Browne takes it home as a snack for her husband. That night, he eats the quiche and dies of poison! Naturally, there's a police investigation and Agatha has to confess that she cheated.

Feeling like she will never make it in Carsely after such a large faux pas, Agatha begins to think she should move out and go back to London. Soon, she's between two islands of discord and not sure what to do.

The police decide that the poisoning was an accidental death, but Agatha's not so sure. Before long, she starts acting on her urge to detect . . . with consequences that definitely heat up the story.

Where most detective stories are mostly about a crime and the process of uncovering the criminal, that element retreats into the background in this book. Instead, Agatha's search for happiness is the main focus of the story. The crime and its solution are merely incidents along the way. I liked that element. In fact, this would have been a very entertaining story even if it hadn't contained a mystery.

Any time your attention threatens to flag, you can just sit there and chuckle over the outrageous satirical elements. Although you know they are overdone, you can't help but laugh . . . as you might at good burlesque sketches with imaginative pie throwing.

Although I haven't read past this book in the Agatha Raisin series, I would have to say that Agatha could displace Hamish as number one in my affections for M. C. Beaton characters.

Enjoy!

...And great fun to read! Agatha first comes across as hard to take, but pretty soon we begin to appreciate her vulnerability. Set in the Cotswold villages of Britain, Agatha's adventures are closely tied in with her inability to safely navigate normal social life amongst the village. The supporting cast is wonderfully diverse, and the humor that is liberally sprinkled throughout Agatha's observations and experiences kept me thoroughly entertained chapter to chapter. I don't much care for series, but look forward to reading more in this one. I appreciated that it was PG rated, and that the main emphasis was on characterization and solving the mystery. No blood and guts.

Get out of your usual routine and get fantastic results with this workout program. Whether you're a Navy SEAL or not, this program will get you into shape.

The book was delivered fast and in good condition. The writing is easy to follow with plenty of pictures to also show correct formfor most of the exercises. I have started the basic workout and in just 3 weeks have noticed a difference even though i am not doing the swiming all round a very helpfull book

Haven't started following the routines yet.
The exercises taught in the video are great.
I never knew there was a easier way to increase
the number of pull ups
even if you cannot do one.

First instruction book I found that teaches running in sand.

I am in the 12th week of the 12 week program and have just
> completed the max push/pull/situp day. I am so impressed. I have gone from only 7 pullups/75 pushups/ and 55 situps in week one to 38 pullups/125 pushups/ and 80 situps in week 12. I have lost about 15 pounds and I am in the best shape of my life. I love the fact that I can look around at the gym and I am confident that no one is working out as hard as I am. I am also trying to convert my friends to the workout, but I think they doubt themselves when I tell them about it. Heck, I was doubting myself when I would look to the workouts later in the program. This is a great book for anyone looking to lose weight, tone up, and gain alot of strength.

I was the type of kid in highschool that did every sport i could...football, track, basketball, and heavy weight training...when i got this book i thought wow this isnt gonna do anything for me...wow was i wrong. I never felt this good in my life, who woulda thought pushups, situps, and pullups with swimming and running could get you in such good shape...This book's awesome i advise anyone who has the work hard mentality to get this book it's well worth the 15 dollars to get it, VERY VERY PLEASED.

As a Culinary Institute of America graduate, I was fortunate enough to take the Chocolates & Confections class that this book is based on. We used it as a textbook and it was such a huge help in understanding the theory behind candymaking. Chef Grewling is a very knowledgable and enthusiastic instructor. The formulas in the book are the ones that we used in class, so trust me when I say they work and produce some tasty results!! And for all you bakers that are maybe not so serious or just wanting to do stuff at home, Chef is working on a book for the home baker, so look out for that in the future! Enjoy!

It's like being in school - fantastic book. Great educational book. It's a wonderful learning tool.

As a culinary student, my chocolates and confections class instructor relied heavily on this book to teach us recipes and techniques. My team has yet to fail in any of our candy making endeavors. :)

Part food-porn, and all instructional, if you're serious about making the best ganaches, chocolates and confections, look no further. This book is absolutely indespensible.

My wife wanted this for Valentine's Day. It went over swimmingly. She's a bit of a cooking freak. I can't vouch for the contents of this book, but it's managed to give her ambitions to be an artisan chocaltier.

This book is a little pricey, but you get what you pay for. I am getting into the chocolate business and have a recent certificate in chocolate making. Of all of the books I have read on chocolate making, this one has the best lay out and photographs. The how to sections are easily read for the amateur but very comprehensive for those wishing to read further.

This is another great collection of Sandman stories which anyone who is a fan of the series should read. My only complaint with this collection is that the stories start out very strong but the ending is a bit of a flop. I am glad that I read it since this does contain events which will probably be of greater importance further along in the series.

Dream is sulking, until his sister Delirium motivates him to help her look for Destruction, their brother who has abdicated his Endless responsibilities.

On the way, through the various people they meet, and reflected in his servants and helpers, we see Dream's thought processes begin to change and mellow, even more so after he finally gets around to dealing with his son, Orpheus, after such long neglect.

Read this series! I read these when they were published as individual comics and revisiting the series has been a joy. Read them in order if at all possilble. I wish Gaiman had the time to write another graphic novel series.

I thought Season of Mists was my favorite The Sandman volume until I read Brief Lives.

Brief Lives absolutely has it all--drama, action, comedy, romance, and philosophical ponderings. It focuses upon Morpheus rather directly--unlike other volumes where sometimes he exists within the stories only peripherally--as he helps his sister Delirium track down their brother known as Destruction.

Destruction is part of The Endless. The other members of The Endless are his brothers and sisters Destiny, Death, Dream (Morpheus), Desire, Despair, and Delirium. He long ago abandoned his post and family, choosing instead to exist on his own terms. Addle-brained Delirium unusually makes up her mind and decides she wants to reunite with her favorite brother. She is very surprised when she manages to enlist the aid of her brooding brother, Dream, especially after all her other brothers and sisters refuse to help her.

Dream accompanies Delirium on quite a journey as created by Neil Gaiman who makes brilliant use of legend and mythology, both preexisting and self-manufactured. They finally find Destruction, but things don't go exactly as expected and incredible possibilities are revealed.

I love this volume so much because something happens to Dream that hasn't really occurred in the previous volumes--he changes. While always dynamic in dialogue and appearance, Dream was not a character who seemed to evolve. I enjoyed Lord Morpheus just as he was, but now that Gaiman introduces a changing Dream, a Morpheus who suddenly empathizes with mortals and family members, he becomes all the more fascinating.

Furthermore, the afterward by Peter Straub was absolutely riveting. Brief Lives was enthralling on its own, but Straub's afterward analyzing the volume makes it, and the intricacies of Gaiman's artistry, all the more impressive.

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

This is one of my two favorites in the 11-volume "Sandman" series, which has proven Gaiman to be a genius storyteller. Three centuries ago, Destruction -- one of the seven Endless, who existed even before the gods -- abandoned his responsibilities, left his realm, and went off to do his own thing. Essentially, he ran away from home. Not that the world has lacked for destruction since then, but he's not behind it, anyway. Delirium, who has roughly the persona of a three-year-old combined with a drugged-out-flower child -- but is a very sweet person for all that (well, . . . not "person" . . .), misses her big brother and tries to find one of her siblings to help her look for him and convince him to return. Dream (the Sandman) finally agrees to accompany her, but for his own reasons, and the quest brings in a number of innocent bystanders (who suffer, as bystanders do), as well as an assortment of ancient but now out-of-work deities. A number of neat ideas are tossed out casually, too, like the notion that a few thousand people still exist on Earth from the very earliest days of civilization, or even from the dawn of the species.

Bernie the lawyer, killed by the collapsing wall of a derelict building, tells Death, "I did okay, didn't I? I lived fifteen thousand years. That's a pretty long time." To which Death, a pragmatic sort who resembles a Goth girl, replies, "You got what everybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more, no less." Great stuff.

This book is even better than the glowing reviews suggested. It's simply a masterpiece of intelligent writing. The author respects the reader's intelligence, and has an amazing ability to mix detail and the big picture. I love the way the author combines a highly readable style with both arresting action, minute detail, and yet keeps his balance. He is able to get you excited about the events in Albany, GA as though they are happening now, then backs off to show how the whole campaign kind of died. He has remarkable energy and writing talent, and a wonderful ability to shift gears, weave threads together.

As you begin to read chapter one, this book will become a page-turner. The amazingly woven detail gives life to this story of over fifty years ago. Author Taylor Branch documents how M. L. King, Jr. walked into the storm of what was to become the Civil Rights Movement, and was then sucked into its vortex. As a "boomer" I was alive during parts of this, growing up in the Midwest. I remember some headlines and TV scenes, but reading the minutiae of what was behind those headlines was like unto discovering a mother's diary. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The best single book on the civil rights movement I have ever read. Parting the Waters is partly a wonderful, complicated biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. However, it is also a history of the early years of the entire civil rights movement. King, SCLC, and SNCC are described in great detail and their efforts are set against a background of federal reluctance to intervene in the South. Inspiring and detailed.

I am about halfway through this book. Even though I have not finished yet I feel compelled to comment on it. I believe it is extremely important for African Americans of my generation to get a more complete understanding of the civil rights movement. So far this book has opening my eyes and changed the way I view our African American experience.

What is best about this read is it flows like a history book. I give much credit to Mr. Branch for simply telling the story and not adding too much of his own commentary and opinion. That is one of my pet peeves with many of our `writers' today. They want to impose their opinions and biased interpretations. We do not need opinions. We need to educate ourselves with facts and draw our own conclusions. Okay, I will get off the soapbox.

Anyway I highly recommend this book. It is a very long read, but if you seek a deeper understanding of the African American experience this is a great start. Many of the issues we face today can be interpreted more accurately by getting a more complete account of our past.

By most accounts, Branch's three volume history of the Civil Rights Movement is the authoritative account of Dr. King's life. But beyond the facts and history, this particular volume is an example of masterful storytelling. I read this book during my morning and evening commutes, stuffed between strangers on the train. Branch transported me to another time and place, at times on the brink of tears. Branch devoted decades of his life to crafting this story. His efforts leave us with an honest and beautifully told story - one of our nation's most inspiring and tragic.

I was so glad to find this book again as I had read it to my sons when they were in grade school. This is a very fun book for children big and small! This was our very first Daniel Pinkwater novel and was the biginning of our lifelong love of his writings. Read this to your children - give it to them to read. ONE disclaimer - if they are already immersed in fantasy then they will have little appreciation of how subtly Pinkwater takes you from known to the absurd to the almost believeable.

Lizzard Music is the way I got my son Matt to read as a kid. He could read but wasn't at all interested in the boring books he got handed at school. It was like pulling teeth to get him to read. I gave him lizzard music and asked that he read for 1/2 an hour and that was the last I heard from him except for some laughing and every once in a while a "wow! mom this is great!". He didn't put the book down except to eat and sleep until he finished it and then made me go get more Pinkwater books. So basicly my son reads thanks to the humor of the genius that is Daniel Manus Pinkwater!!! Thanks Mr. Pinkwater from moms everywhere

A very appealing book, and a favorite from Pinkwater. Good for both boys and girls, especially those looking for something funny and original.

Manus Pinkwater is a pretty cool kinda guy. He has the unique feature of being as tall sitting as he is standing, and that makes me wonder if the convex dimensions of an author's backside are somehow related to the quantity of his imagination. You see, Manus writes far-out books. No, no, I mean...realllly far-out books. I think he passes the Twilight Zone somewhere in route to where he goes to pen his creative little novels. Lizard Music may take the cake among everything straaaaange he's written, however. This story puts your brain in a food processor and hits frappe. What's it about? Oh, you want to know that, don't you? Okay.

Lizard Music is about a ten-ish young man named Victor, who is left one summer in the early 1970's in the custody of his free-loving teenaged sister, Leslie, when their parents take a summer vacation. Not ten seconds after the parents exeunt stage left Leslie does the same thing, meeting up with some hippie buds and taking off in a van with the warning that Victor better NOT tell on her for this. Hey, Victor's more than happy to oblige. What ten-year-old wouldn't love being left alone with a full frige, a small stack of spending money, and no rules or supervision whatsoever? Victor has the time of his young life. He eats what he wants, he does what he wants, and he stays up as late as he wants watching previously forbidden monster movies. It's this last liberty, the late bedtime, that sends young Victor's life into some veddy odd places. One night, past midnight, Victor is up watching the TV station sign off after the late-late-late show has concluded and right in front of his drowsy eyes he sees the most peculiar program he's ever witnessed: a jazz group composed entirely of man-sized lizards performs a concert in the minutes before the station ceases its signal. That's not to say it's a cartoon or guys in costumes...these appear to be great big lizards playing jazz. The next morning Victor wonders if it was all a dream. (He had after all been hitting the candy and cola a little hard the last couple nights...) To get to the truth, Victor stays up another night to see if it happens again. It does...and something else does too. Let me just say Victor takes a trip that's even weirder than the one his sister is on with her fellow hippies. "LiKe FaaR OuT, dUdE!!!" Lizard Music is the sort of book no one but Pinkwater could have written, no one could possibly figure out before its conclusion, and that no one will quite know what to make of when they've finished reading its mind-altering text.

I remember the night that my grandmother gave me this book. My mom was in the hospital for what would have been her last round of chemo and I had been beaten up in school that day for tucking my pants into my argyle socks in a rather unsporting display involving football players, loose change, and vending machines. Pinkwater's book kept me sane through the sixth grade and then some. There are a whole bunch of physicists in my department who feel the same way. We are very much in debt to the Chickenman and some other friendly phantoms from Bughouse Square and Pinkwater's memory (real or not, we are smart enough as a collective to get back to them).

I love Astrid Lindgren's book (but not a big fan of PP Longstocking). I used to read her book when I was a child in my native language. Too bad they don't translate some of my favorites, I don't even know what the translation is into English... Anyway, Ronia is a great book. I didn't read it until now, so I can tell you that adults will enjoy this book too.

Just like Pippi Longstocking or the Brothers Lionheart, this is an Astrid Lindgren classic that every child should read.

"A robber's daughter, joy and gladness!" shouted Matt the stormy night that his daughter, Ronia, was born. Ronia grew up in Matt's Fort with her parents and her father's band of robbers. When she was old enough her parents let her walk through the woods by herself. While she was exploring she met Birk, the son of her father's arch enemy, Borka. Birk along with his parents and their band of robbers move into a section of Matt's Forest which they called Borka's Keep. At first Ronia and Birk despised each other but, they soon became best friends. One day, Matt captured Birk and wanted to use him to get Borka off his land. Ronia was extremely upset. Matt was furious and said that he no longer had a child. Birk and Ronia ran away into the woods where they lived all spring and summer long. Awhile later, Ronia came across Matt, who begged her to come home. After a few difficult decisions and challenges, Borka and Matt joined forces and Ronia and Birk were allowed to see each other anytime without worrying about their fathers' feud. This book was a very good adventure story.

I liked that the author threw in some scenes that were a little suspenseful. Bumper, one of Matt's robbers, was shot in the neck with an arrow by one of Borka's men. He survived, thanks to the nursing skills of Ronia's mother. When Ronia found a spot to meet Birk under Matt's Fort she heard someone coming but, the person did not come all the way down to see Birk. There were several times throughout the book when Birk and Ronia were almost attacked by wild harpies and other creatures. While Ronia and Birk were trying to train and ride wild horses they lost control and the horses went galloping as fast as they could through the forest to get them off.

I also liked how the characters developed. When Ronia and Birk first met they did not like each other at all. They then became best friends and later became "brother and sister." Matt and Borka had been rivals for many years. In the end, they were friends and partners, like they were when they were very young. Even Birk's mother and Ronia's Mother were able to get along.

Some of the creatures of the forest had odd ways of saying things. When Ronia got her foot stuck in a rumphob's den one of them asked, "Un's stuck in t'roof, woffer did un do it?" The gray dwarfs exclaimed, "Gray dwarfs all, bite and strike!" They would say this every time they saw a human. While out in the woods Birk and Ronia were being chased by a whole flock of wild harpies. One of them screamed, "Ho, ho! Lovely little humans in the water! Now the blood will run, ho, ho!" These kinds of dialects gave the creatures more character and made the book fun to read.

The thing that I liked the most about the book was that the author put a lot of detail into the characters' emotions, especially Matt's. When Ronia was first born Matt carried her high and proud and showed her off to all of the robbers. He danced and cheered with lots of enthusiasm. After Bumper was wounded, Matt was walking up and down the hall grinding his teeth and cursing Borka under his breath. While Ronia was out living in the woods, he would lie in bed almost all day, staring at the ceiling. He barely ate and everyone in the fort was depressed and they never sang or danced. Ronia was screaming and hitting everyone within her reach when she saw that her father had captured Birk. This is an excellent book for anyone who likes stories of friendship and adventure.

By K. Lissner

I wanted to buy this book for my children to read, because it was my favorite story when I was little. The book arrived quickly, in perfect condition, and I couldn't be happier.

In my opinion, this is one of Astrid Lindgren's best books, ever. It teaches you that you must love to be loved in return, and that love makes the world go around. I personally think that young Ronja here makes a great role-model for all young girls. ;)

I had not heard of James Thurber (I'm not from Northern America :)) until one of my friends on a study abroad program brought this book to our apartment and we started reading it out loud to each other. I loved it so much that I've read it three times already. Thurber's playing with the language is so amazing, cute and fascinating that it makes you speak "his way" after you read the book. :) And all his ideas are wonderful! This all makes the book one of a kind, really.

read it, lest you end up being slit from your guzzle to your zatch! a book for all ages, and any age. Fairy stories with a twist of Thurber.

I really do like this book. I like fairy tales, especially the kind like Ella Enchanted and Fairest by Gail Carson Levine. In the pictures the wicked duke looks so hilarilously silly! The prince is handsome and the princess pretty, of course! The Golux's hat is indeed indescribable and the woman Hagga cries jewels instead of tears. He! He! He!

The Thirteen Clocks, by James Thurber, is a perfect book. The only way it could be better would be by being longer. The story is classic in its simplicity, so elemental that anyone can easily find a way inside. The big setting - a castle - the big players - a Prince, Princess, and wicked Duke (very wicked) - the big themes - courage, redemption, selfless sacrifice, and just a whiff of magic. Best of all, the big problem - time is frozen. Our enterprising Prince must do the impossible to win the hand of Princess Saralinda. This is road-tested material but Thurber breathes new life into it, making it fresh and irresistible. The musicality of his language is delightful, there is so much joy and play in the words, they giggle and dance like water gliding over stones in a stream. His rogue's gallery of secondary characters is just too good; each is slightly more improbable and splendidly cracked than the last. Most of all, this story ends exactly as it should, the resolution is not forced, it's simply correct. The Thirteen Clocks is a slice of heaven that can be enjoyed by anyone able to read. Thurber, it turns out, really was as good as he claimed. This lasting jewel proves it.

Watch out for the Todal

James Thurber's The Thirteen Clocks is a delightful tale for people of all ages. I was first introduced to this seemingly conventional story at age five when my father read it to me as a pleasant bedtime story. It was not until I could read for myself that I began to notice what sets this story apart from so many other children's stories--its characters and great dialogue. Even re-reading it now, as a college student, I immensely enjoy its refreshing humor. Thurber uses a simple storyline, poetic devices, and clever characterization to make The Thirteen Clocks enjoyable to any and all ears.

The Thirteen Clocks is enjoyable for kids of all ages (meaning grown-ups as well) because it follows the basic and familiar "prince saves princess" storyline. Prince Zorn of Zorna must win the hand of Princess Saralinda by bringing back a thousand jewels to her uncle in "six and sixty days" (32). Though it seems that six and sixty days are not ample time for him to complete such a task, Zorn of Zorna miraculously succeeds. This follows the plot of most classic fairy tales I can think of (excluding Rumplestiltzkin and Beauty & the Beast). There are so many prince-princess stories because every child (and deep down, every adult, too) wants to be a prince or princess. There is something appealing to human nature about glory, fame, wealth, beauty, and general happiness, all of which are presented as direct benefits of being royalty. Also, everyone loves a happy ending where justice is served--the good guys win and the bad guys suffer. The Thirteen Clocks does indeed include a happy ending of this nature. Not only is the story simple enough, but it is also relatively short (my copy is seventy pages with fairly large text) and includes pictures. Bedtime stories are, by nature, short stories. When parents concede to read just "one more bedtime story," they do not want it to take all night. Furthermore, it is simply easier to understand a story when you sit down and read the entire thing at once. Children admittedly have short attention spans. The rest of us adults do too, but we pretend to have a more mature mind, especially when it comes to paying attention. The Thirteen Clocks appeals to everyone, young and old because it is a familiar and somewhat simple tale.

All audiences can also appreciate The Thirteen Clocks for its musical language as seen by the poetic devices of rhyme and rhythm. In the beginning of the story, Prince Zorn of Zorna disguises himself as a minstrel and sings of various things whose mention are forbidden by the evil Duke. A villager tells the Prince that one of the Duke's spies will "die because to name your sins, he'll have to mention mittens. I leave at once for other lands, since I have mentioned mittens...You'll never live to wed his niece. You'll only die to feed his geese" (17). The rhyme combined with the absolute hilarity of this statement amuses the reader and is rhythmically pleasing. Smaller children may not catch or understand the substance of this passage completely, but they will enjoy hearing the rhyme scheme (AAABB) and rhythm pattern (8-7, 8-7). Literary enthusiasts will take note and admire the patterns evident in Thurber's writing. Another great example of Thurber's amusing and rhyming style is, "'It's odd,' the Golux muttered to himself. 'I could have sworn that she had died. This is the only time my stomach ever lied'" (54). Here again, Thurber amuses his audience by using this constant pattern of rhyme and rhythm. Humans love to find patterns--it brings sense and order to the sometimes chaotic world we live in. By creating this literary and somewhat musical pattern, Thurber's tale appeals to both the young and old.

The Thirteen Clocks is appealing because its characters, the likes of which have never been seen before in literature, add excitement and flavor to this familiar story. There are three truly out-of-the ordinary characters--the Golux, who is "always on hand when people are in peril" (18), Hagga, the weeper of jewels; and the unpleasant Todal. Of these, the Todal is the most outrageous character. The Todal is "made of lip," "looks like a blob of gulp," and "smells of old, unopened rooms" (36, 29). This creature is "waiting for the Duke to fail in some endeavour such as setting you a task that you can do" and is "an agent of the devil, sent to punish evil-doers for having done less evil than they should" (29, 30). There is no monster as quirky, interesting, and terrifying as the Todal in real life or in a book. By presenting his readers with such bizarre characters, Thurber appeals to their sense of humor, as well as to their sense of terror. The creativity and flair for language possessed by Thurber are most obvious in the descriptions of his characters. This sets his tale apart from others with similar, but seemingly less lively stories. More than anything else, The Thirteen Clocks is enjoyable because of its uniqueness in characterization.

This truly wonderful and shockingly good fairy tale is full of enough excitement and goodness to be appropriate for a bedtime story. Yet Thurber's true talent lies in his creative and imaginative abilities which allow for readers and listeners alike to enjoy this book. It is set apart from other fairy tales by its clever use of words and unparalleled characters. Buy this book (though I would suggest the hardcover edition with colored illustrations) or run to your local library before the Todal gulps you!

This is a re-read from my youth and I am glad that it has been reissued. I love all of Engdahl's work and I only wish that she would write more after her long dry period. A well-writte intelligent and charming female protagonist learns and grows within a setting much like early (good) Andre Norton- reminiscent of Ice Crown, in fact.

This is an interesting book. I like the three different voices she uses to narrate the three different worlds, and the way the most advanced world, being the most self-aware, is done in first person.

Interesting questions are raised and about truth, right/wrong, etc. I do not agree with everything the author seems to believe, but this book would be a good springboard for discussion of questions like, "What is truth?" and "What/who is God?" and "Is there anything beyond what we can see and study with traditional science?"

There are a lot of other interesting questions that can be pondered that the book raises but does not answer. For instance, was Alana's father exploiting her young heart and propensity to fall in love in order to save the world of Andrecia and, if so, is that a morally defensible thing?

Not the absolute best book I have ever read, but worth reading, and probably worth reading more than once.

Having read Sylvia Engdahl's excellent novel, The Far Side of Evil, several years ago, I approached this book with a positive outlook that it would be just as thought-provoking and well told. I wasn't disappointed, though this novel is indeed different in tone.

The Enchantress of the title is Elana, whose exact age is never given but can be assumed to be in her late teens or early twenties. Elana, looking for adventure and real life experience, stows away on board a starship that is sent to Andrecia, a medieval planet that is currently being colonized by a more advanced society. Once her presence is known, her father and boyfriend decide that Elana can indeed help with the plan to oust the invaders, which will allow Andrecia to continue to develop at its own pace. Elana becomes the "Enchantress"; she befriends two locals who are off to fight the "Dragon" (a massive rock-chewing machine), and helps them by awakening their own skills so that their quest will be successful. In the process, Elana finds herself falling for the local known as Georgyn, and in her inexperience, putting them both in grave danger.

This book moves seamlessly between points of view, which gives it a much more universal feel than had we only known Elana's side of the story. When Georyn's voice takes over, the story almost becomes a fairy tale; indeed, that is how he sees Elana and the invaders who have come to his world. Elana is, of course, young and inexperienced but desperate to do the right thing; and Jarel is the lone voice of the invaders, unsure of his world's plans but unable to do anything to stop them.

I enjoyed this novel but did feel that at times it was a bit on the fantastic side. I felt the plans Elana's father made to dupe the invaders weren't necessarily believable, but I was able to keep in mind that this is indeed a fantasy. Elana could be infuriating in her lack of knowledge and her headstrong ways, and her poor boyfriend Evrek is relegated to the background while Elana forges ahead with a relationship with Georyn. Overall, however, this is a well-written novel and Engdahl has a gift for telling a tale that will pull you in from the first pages. Over thirty years since its debut, this thought-provoking novel holds up well and is just as relevant today. Recommended for lovers of fantasy.

When Elana's mission gets put in jeopardy she faces a lifetime of torture and imprisonment. Will she be able to save herself and the mission? Elana, the Enchantress, and her father were agents of the Federations Anthropological Center and it was their assignment to stop the Imperials from taking over the planet Andrecia. They led Georyn, a woodcutter's son, to believe that a stone was the source of his new magical powers; however, the truth was that they had taught him telekinesis and he wasn't even aware of it. Georyn was supposed to use his "magic" to defeat the dragon (a mechanical weapon used the Imperials). Elana and Georyn were on their way to the Imperials camp when natives captured them. The natives took them to the Imperials camp where they were locked in barracks. The Imperials planned to send them to a research center to be studied. Elana persuaded one of the guards, Jarel, to help them and he let Georyn out of his cell when no one was paying attention. When it appeared that the dragon was going to defeat Georyn, Elana decided to sacrifice herself to try to end the whole ordeal. As she ran and laid in front of the dragon, a flood of courage surged through Georyn. He used his magic powers to save her, stop the dragon, and scare away the Imperials. Georyn went to the king to announce that the dragon had been killed and to get his reward. He decided to explore the rest of the planet he lived on while he had the chance. Elana left Andrecia after accomplishing her goal and traveled back to her own planet. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone who enjoys reading a great book.
This book is written with loads of details. Georyn was the youngest of four sons born to a poor woodcutter, who lived on the planet Andrecia. Elana was a young woman in the First Phase of her training to be an agent. Jarel was an Imperial medic who was determined to prove that his civilization was not right in trying to colonize Andrecia.
Even though this is a science fiction book some of the things in it are realistic to our own world. The cool, green, peaceful planet, Andrecia is the third planet of a medium sized yellow sun. The Federation tried to prevent weaker nations from being taken over by stronger nations. Some types of people tend to be better at some things than others.
This book will stretch the reader's imagination. The Imperials used a huge machine that resembled a dragon to clear an area on Andrecia for the colony they were planning to establish. Georyn was taught telekinesis on a subconscious level, therefore he didn't even know about it. The Federation was an organization meant to save weak planets from the more powerful ones trying to colonize.
I recommend this book to everyone. It is a great read. It is very imaginative but some of the elements of the book seem somewhat realistic. Even if you are not a big fan of science fiction books this is a story that everyone should read.
~V. Newberry

Please keep in mind that I really liked this book. "Enchantress" is well written and enjoyable. That being said, I could not entirely enjoy the story because I had a problem with the heroine. I know this probably says more about me than her but...

The heroine, as thoughtful and insightful as she is, is a bit of a hypocrite. She "suffers" enormously with guilt about even the smallest of lies she is forced to tell her "poor primitive" lover.

On the other hand she only feels a twinge of condescending pity for her fiancé whom she has been more-or-less betraying by concealing her "forbidden love" for the "primitive" for most the book.

And when it comes to lying to her father and sneaking around behind his back; forget about it! She doesn't even hesitate a second and even takes a certain pleasure in it, even when, inevitably, her "disobedience" endangers entire civilizations.

There are only four main characters in this book. The heroine, her male father, her male fiancé, and her male lover. I found myself many times wishing she had a mother, sister, or best friend to whack her upside the head and tell her to stop acting so ridiculous.

The one woman who COULD and WOULD have set her straight was killed as the book opened. (Actually there WAS one other female in the book; a practically-unconscious sacrifice victim being "delivered to the dragon.")

Anyway enough about my problems. If you didn't even notice the things I had issues with, (and you probably didn't) "Enchantress" is a good read.

This is a great econometrics book. I wish that I had found this book earlier in my graduate career, and now I find myself going to it all the time. It covers all the important concepts and is very clearly written. The best thing about the book is that it teaches how to use econometrics not just what it is. It makes that very important jump of teaching students how to apply these tools properly. I cannot recommend this book enough!

I highly recommend this book as a source of intuition for econometrics. As a Ph.D. student working on my own research I find this book very helpful when I want a quick and easy explanation. This book is also good for clarifying some basic concepts that never got adequate explanations in my econometrics courses. I only wish that this book had a little more coverage on limited dependent variable models.

Not many scientists can write but Peter Kennedy is NOT one of them. He presents the mathematical and statistical information in clear, concise language. A wonderful AND informative read!!

This is a great book. But buy it for the right reason. All by itself, not as useful as a lot of the reviews suggests.

This has to be used together with Greene's <>. It suppliment a lot of the formulae with ideas and reasons. But it is light on formula by itself, and you can not use it as a reference. This is a explain book, tells you why we should do it this way, what to caution/watch for, what is the logic behind that.

So buy it with greene's book. Learn the math in greene's book, keep greene's book on the shelf as regular reference book. But read this book to understand ideas, and sort out complexicities.

Overall, still a great buy.

The product arrived in a timely manner and I have no complaints. I would use this seller for future transactions.