Warner Books

London is a fascinating place. By day it is a centre of culture and economy, government and teeming humanity. Even well into the evening, the city does not stop -- the government is used to meeting well into the night (there is a light at the top of the Big Ben Clock Tower signifying that the House of Commons is still sitting; often this light burns until nearing midnight), and the theatre and restaurant districts continue bustling well into the darker hours.

However, after midnight, the city begins to slow. Public transport stops, the pubs have closed, and decent folk have returned to their flats, terraced housing, or outlying homes. This is London After Midnight -- a place for the less reputable folk, the criminals and the cads. Many is the author who has used this rich resource as the seedbed for their stories. Peter Haining has compiled a nice collection of stories that show the darker side of London, by giving a literary tour of its criminal haunts.

Haining has arranged these stories, recent and older, into two broad categories -- Black Spots and City Sleuths. In the category of Black Spots, Haining has selected stories from such notable mystery authors as P.D. James and Graham Greene. London being the international city that it is, one also finds the likes of Fu Manchu in Limehouse. This section concludes with the ironically entitled, 'People Don't Do Such Things' by Ruth Rendell; alas, people do.

Under City Sleuths, no collection of London detectives could be complete, or even seriously considered, without the great Sherlock Holmes by Conan-Doyle. Joining him are the creations of authors such as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie. Searching for the great and the overlooked, these detectives have set a standard that goes beyond the literary -- Holmes, for example, is required reading by the detective forces of many nations. Agatha Christie is perhaps the most translated female author of all time.

One of the things that makes this literary tour so compelling is the element that makes many of the typical (and not-so-typical) British mysteries a delight -- they take place most often in real places. Sherlock Holmes' flat at 221b Baker Street might not be there, but Baker Street surely is. Hercule Poirot's Park Lane, Peter Wimsey's Piccadilly, and John Thorndyke's Temple legal haunts are all real, and can be visited on tour in London. In fact, Haining says in the introduction that it was on such a tour that the inspiration for this arose.

There are twenty-two stories here, all in short-story format that can be easily read in one sitting; some may be unnerving, as crime, even proper English crime in London, can sometimes be a grisly affair. But those who love a good mystery, it doesn't get better than this.

London After Midnight is great it has some really gorey parts and is extremely intense, it brings the deadly murders to life and will haunt you in your dreams. If you haven't got it yet then you should quickly run to your nearest bookstore and buy one, and it's worth every penny but be carful i'm serious in some parts i would say it would not be okay for children.

Marina Warner is always interesting and worth reading, but for those of us who have lost a father, especially early in life, THIS book will hold a special fascination.

It is really about the quest for identity in individuals and in families, the difficulties of this challenge which confronts all of us, and the ways in which these difficulties are enhanced by the absence of a male authority figure who is, say, taken by death, before we can define ourselves in opposition to or in reaction against him.

For a young woman without a father, the task is to enter adulthood unescorted, without a test of her feminine power to charm; for a young man in that situation, it is to define himself without an Oedipal struggle or test of courage and manhood that involves the defeat -- if not literally the "killing," as Freud alleged by way of the Greek tragedy -- of the older "self."

Myth and the dreaming faculty are shown in this work to be essential to human beings, who most genuinely and meaningfully "live" only in the stories they construct all the time. We are dreaming creatures, symbol-making animals, and our most powerful symbols eventually define us.

Like Hamlet, whose words to his father's ghost are quoted in the title of this review, we aim to please most those fathers who are absent forever -- and whom we are, therefore, least likely to succeed in pleasing.

Read this book.

Marina Warner's multiple award winning "Lost Father" is nothing less than a minor classic. Beautifully romantic and lyrical in style and content, it recalls one of those magical realism tinged three generation family sagas so typical of Latin novelists of today. The narrator is Anna, daughter of Fantina and grandaughter of second generation patriach Davide Pittagora of Rupe, Italy. Once married to but now divorced from an Englishman, Anna lives in London but undertakes a personal project of tracing and writing her family's history by interviewing her own mother. Piecing together bits and pieces fitfully remembered and sometimes imagined by Fantina (Davide's youngest daughter), Anna's story takes us from the Pittagoras' hometown of Rupe, then briefly to their new immigrant home in New York before their final return to Italy in the 1920s. It is a colourful story, filled with memories of love, friendship, loyalty and honour but also treachery and deceipt which tainted the unrequited love affair of Rosa and her brother Davide's best friend Tommasso, and spawned the mythological duel fought between Davide and Tommasso in defence of Rosa's honour. All this is told in grandiosely sweeping style against a backdrop of political upheaval as Italy enters its Fascist period under an unnamed "Leader" with ambitions to dominate the world. The flow of words from Warner's pen is unmatched in the incandescent beauty it produces. "Lost Father" positively shimmers. Jumbled up, its poetic and dreamy sequences resemble fragments snatched from the recesses of fading memory. It is a tour de force and should not be allowed to languish on old bookshelves. Go buy yourself a copy and read it.

This book will serve as a good guide on Christian love for individual or group study. Among the topics covered which will generate much soul-searching and discussion are "Different Types of Love" and "What God Expects From Our Love." The author deserves 5 stars for addressing the fallacy in Tina Turner's popular song "What's Love Got To Do With It."

I thought the book was especially uplifting. I was written from a Christian perspective that has a Agape revelation. Once one understands - as the author does - the all encompassing Love that God has for man, then and only then can one begin to unveil that Love to others. I thought the book was very well written, insightful, and illuminating. I recommend it to others.

I love the book.It told me everything I did not know about All My Children.It has pictures,fun facts,and triva.It is the best book for anyone that likes All My Children.I mean the best.It is worth the money.It even tells you the All My Chilren stars that watched All My Children before they were on and even tells you when people dies and how they were killed.The sad stories and love stories and how the show got started.It is the best for any Soap fan

Fabulous photographs, detailed storyline recaps, stunning layouts, all make this book a MUST HAVE for all true daytime fans. It was heartwarming to reflect on some of daytimes greatest love stories. It was also a good reminder of why I started watching abc daytime.

Lucifer Jones has a talent for getting out of trouble that is only superseded by his idiotic behavior, easily manipulated greed, easily manipulated lust, suspicious miserdom, unscrupulous gluttony, wanton blasphemy, and a canny knack for getting into adventures in the first place. He proves the point better than any other character I know of, that an adventure is where some other guy gets into trouble, `cause, friend, the Reverend Lucifer Jones is never without trouble.

All through his adventures, Lucifer attempts to scam, cheat, con, steal, or otherwise obtain the necessary funds for the establishment of his Tabernacle, where he intends to do the lord's work with any attractive young women who're willing. All through his adventures, Lucifer is scammed, cheated, conned, beat up, shot at, and ejected and banned as a threat to the nation from every country within whose borders he sets a foot. From Hong-Kong to Paris, Transylvania to Peru, Lucifer makes his blindingly shady way. Just read it. I guarantee it's a gut-buster.

The Right Reverend Doctor Lucifer Jones is neither a reverend nor a doctor nor right. He's a bumbling, money-grubbing fool from the Midwest. This wonderfully clever book follows Jones as he travels the world in search of a place to build his tabernacle. But along the way, Jones discovers lost civilizations, dragons, evil would-be world conquerers and every conceivable low-life. Jones is always looking for the next money making scam. The fact that Jones isn't too bright makes his adventures highly entertaining and very humorous. He eventually gets banned from every nation he encounters, from Hong Kong and Japan to England and Spain and everywhere inbetween. Highly entertaining stuff, laugh-out-loud funny.

One of the most consistantly great things about Mad Magazine over the last 30+ years has been Al Jaffee's fold in's which were always on the inside back cover. This book features many of them with a before (not folded) and an after (folded) picture. The book is very sleek because of the excellant job that was done with the fold ins. If you're a long time Mad Magazine fold in fan you need this book.

Al Jaffee's fold-ins amazed us In April 1964. This Is a collection of Fold-In's and a breif paragarph with each telling why he made it and what was happening in the world at the time he made It! A Must have for anyone!

I read this book in the 50's and it changed my life. View life as a cornucopia with all good things flowing to you is what I have carried with me all of my life. Believe me when I say,it has brought me a life of plenty, good and plenty for me and everyone I know.

i only read it once, and i will like to read it again, but i dont have it on hand. it is open mind, let you learn about yourself, and the power you have hiding in your mind

A thoroughly enjoyable tale, this book is what I wish Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Godmother series was: ingenious and satisfying grantings of wishes without so much dwelling on the grimness of some parts of life (child molestation, the problems of the homeless, inhumane governmental policies, etc.) The characters are real individuals, and I liked them immensely. I stayed up late to gulp this book down in one evening and was so charmed that I've hunted through all the list of Jody Lynn Nye's books, HOPING for at least one sequel. No luck. Ms. Nye, PLEASE WRITE SEQUELS TO THIS BOOK!

The Magic Touch is a book about a boy named Raymond whos grandmother talks him into joining an organization of fairy godmothers. He becomes an apprentice to an experienced fairy godmother. He has all sorts of adventures including several run-ins with a gang of demons. Even if the plot sounds like a children's story, it definitely wasn't written for children. It starts off a little slow and I was tempted to abandon it at first but after you get into it it's really great.

Great book, especially if you are opened minded to reincarnation. I honestly believe everything written in this book is true. It gave me new language to describe things I've always felt, such as meeting someone that I really felt I've always known. This book is uplifting. I think everyone should read this and The Tao of Pooh.

These books were the first set of books to have opened my eyes and mind to think and view the world and situations differently. They are very uplifting and enlightening, well written and extremely easy to follow. Must haves in every home.

I bought this from my bookclub and hoped it was a steamy novel like the rest of her books. It wasn't, but it was superb in a different way. These three women in the book will win your heart from the start. Don't hesitate, this one's a keeper!

Pat Booth's new book "Marry Me" is not like her previous books. I expected it to contain adult contents. I am only half way through but I can't put it down. If only I had all the time in the world I could finish it in one sitting. It always upsets me when I have to put it down. Definitly a page turner.