Clubs Books

At once an art, adventure, and biography, MARGARET MEE'S AMAZON: DIARIES OF AN ARTIST EXPLORER is profiled here for its simply gorgeous pages packed with botanical illustration and photos. Unlike most illustration titles, however, MARGARET MEE'S AMAZON isn't just a photo or illustration catalog, but an in-depth survey blending her amazing drawings with accounts of her thirty-two years of expeditions into the Amazon rainforest. Her first expedition to Amazonas was in 1956, where she began the diaries and sketchbooks which comprise this title. From vivid accounts of plant-collecting expeditions to the exhibition of her paintings at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew (who work with Antique Collector's Club in producing this title, this is a definitive, outstanding piece holding wide-ranging interest and recommendation from art library holdings to botany collections, natural history holdings, and even the general-interest public library collection.

Passionately written and superbly illustrated; a must have for the tropical afficionado's library and the tropical gardener and botanist

I have read another book by Margaret Mee and must confess to being fascinated by her life story. Her life was one of which most of us will only glimpse from our armchairs. But most wonderful of all are her beautiful botanical drawings. This book provides a real gateway into another world.

Margaret Mee was an amazing woman and her work is exquisite. This book is perfect because it shows a great part of Mee's work in Amazon in her own words, with beautiful illustrations and photographs. It's a book to look and read all the time.

Timid, sensitive Mary Anne is baby-sitting an actual PRINCESS...a little girl who is used to being waited on hand and foot, complains endlessly about her "frightfully" old "fusspot" of a nanny and is, to put it mildly, blunt. Mary Anne does a commendable job with her, attempting to crack her royal "shell." I admired how patient Mary Anne was with her. While the other kids were quick to dismiss Victoria as a spoiled snob, perceptive Mary Anne saw a lonely insecure girl who needed a lot of love. I also loved how Ann Martin interwove a subplot of Mary Anne's growing closeness with her stepmother Sharon, who misses Dawn. What a kind heart Mary Anne has to arrange that Thanksgiving surprise for Sharon. I like how close Mary Anne and Sharon have become. Mary Anne desperately needed a mother and I'm glad she has somebody as wonderful as Sharon. I wish I had a daughter or baby-sitter like Mary Anne!!!

When some British diplomats (a little odd for a story, I must say) come to live in Stoneybrook, Mary Anne is hired as a companion. This is far-fetched but highly entertaining. Look for Princes Victoria in more books, like the European Super Special, when the BSC goes to London and visit her. Victoria is one of the most interesting child characters yet in the BSC books.

What a great book this is. i highly recommend "Mary Anne And the Little princess 10 stars. The story is Mary Anne baby sits for a British child.

Timid, sensitive Mary Anne is baby-sitting an actual PRINCESS-a little girl who is used to being waited on hand and foot, complains endlessly about her "frightfully old" nanny, and is to put it mildly, blunt. Mary Anne does an admirable job with her and cracks her "royal" shell. I admired how patient Mary Anne was with her. While the other kids were quick to dismiss Victoria as a spoiled snob, perceptive Mary Anne saw a lonely, insecure girl who needed a lot of love. I also loved how the author interwove a subplot of Mary Anne's growing closeness with her stepmother Sharon, who misses Dawn. What a kind heart Mary Anne has to arrange that Thanksgiving surprise for Sharon. I like how close Sharon and Mary Anne have become. Mary Anne desperately needed a mother and I'm glad she has somebody as wonderful as Sharon. I wish I had a daughter or baby-sitter like Mary Anne!!!!

I haven't read this book, but it looks good! I hope I read it soon. It sounds very dramatic, and I like dramatic books! I know I'll like it because all the BSC books I've read are great! This review was written by Erin Cohenour, age nine and a half years old

It was a great book! there's this guy, fowler, and he wants to redo stoneybrook with malls and junk. so ther's this fire at a client's house,and the babysitter quits. mary anne is the first one to babysit the kids, luke and amalia. luke doesn't seem to trust his sitters. the fire was in a townhouse in miller's park, where fowler wants to tear them down. the mystery has to do with allie, the old babysitter's boyfriend, fowler's twin brother, and a map of stoneybrook the way fowler wants it. i just wish the book was longer. luke isn't a silent witness like everyone thinks. he just finds that map. very interesting.

When Mary Anne baby sits for Luke and Amalia, Luke does not trust his sitter. And Only Luke knows what is happening that Mary Anne does not. This is the Second best baby sitters club mystery i have ever read.

When a new client askes for a babysitter every weekday untill they find a permanent sitter Mary Anne is the first to be free.Meanwhile an evil man plans to rip down a park!The BSC have to do somthing and just their luck the new client lives near the park!The clients are a boy and his little sister.But Mary Anne decides somthings wrong with the boy after all their was a fire at their house not too long before the last sitter quit and BSC took over the roll.But wierd things are going on threatening messages,strange neighbours and alot of questions the BSC have to answer before the park gets ripped down and a kid being terrified forever!!!!!!!

This is a great book. Easy to read. Covering most aspects of castle life. I would highly recomend it, and may purchase it again (it will make an exelent gift for friends that are intrested in either history or castles).

Philip Warner was lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England and is the author of a numerous of books.
In this work, he gives you the need for the Castle, why it came into being, how it developed. He show the strict structure of the Castle society - inside and out, the lives of the people running it and those serving in it, even down to what they are and worse. He even cover medieval recreation!!

He breathes live into the subject, giving a fresh new look instead of tired impressions.

Excellent work for people wish to see Castle life as it was or for Writers of Historical works.

Highly recommended.

This beautifully illustrated book explains how and why castles were built in the middle ages and why they were such a dominant influence on medieval life, especially in times of war. Philip Warner recreates a complete picture of daily life in a medieval castle: how peasants and nobles lived; how men fought in tournaments and trained for combat; how castles were sited, designed, managed, attacked and defended; and what the the people who lived in them ate, drank, and wore. This book will also go a long ways toward breaking up some of the preconceived notions that people have about castles. One learns that the castle was not primarily a refuge. The object of the castle wasn't to retreat from conflict, but to control it. The Medieval castle was a dynamic integral part of medieval society and Philip Warner does brilliant work in showing this. Whether you're a medieval history buff or just a curious layman read this book. It will take a little effort to find it, but it's worth the time.

If you only read two books on castles, make it Gies' Life in a Medieval Castle and this one. The two books are very similar in layout and readablity, but Warner's is a bit more detailed and in depth. It also has very nice illustrations. As much as I love Francis Gies' book, I think this one just edges it out.

As a new member of the club, I really appreciate Bert's candor throughout his experience. He's witty and a great story teller. I was hoping for more humor, but I guess there really isn't much in the process to laugh about. I am glad I waited until after having the procedure to read this book. My recovery has been much better than the author's, and the book may have been "too real" before the operation. However, I definitely was able to relate to his war stories after the fact and highly recommend reading this book durine recovery.

Take down the wallful of industry awards, put away the Clios, move over Beethoven, this is Bert Gottlieb's finest hour. Not that Beethoven would notice, nor Dicken's or Faulkner for that matter. This is not just a book. Not just a string of incisive words, carefully and beautifully crafted; it's more the struggle of a man who was suddenly scared witless, and emerges, witfully, I must add, scaring the boogey man.

This is a must read for anyone over 50. Not a manual about the aspects of Prostate Cancer, although it is that, rather a chronicle of the all too human being we all carry around in us and forget.

I read it in two sittings and I was moved. There were laughs, there were tears. I learned a lot. I hope I never have to use what I learned. If I do, I hope I can face it a bravely as Bert Gottlieb did.

Well done!

An intimate and courageous encounter of one man's bout withprostate cancer. Bert Gottlieb treats his fears and anxieties withmegadoses of wit. Concurrently, Dr. Thomas Mawn open his notes to reveal his analysis of every phase of the case, never losing sight of the patient's and his family's feelings. Everyone with a prostate must read this book. All others will find it a well written, entertaining story. END

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOOK THAT ALL MEN SHOULD READ. I BOUGHT A COPY FOR MY DAD, FATHER-IN-LAW AND HUSBAND. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO KNOW ABOUT IT.

I am sometimes sorry I cannot give less than one star to some books I have read (I read hundreds of books professionally). On this occasion I am sorry I cannot give more than five stars.

It is absolutely superb, a perfect jewel of a book which I had never heard of and discovered only by chance. The heroic scale and width of concept, and I say this with all seriousness, can be called Shakespearean. Splendid descriptive writing, action and characters, with resonances at the very centre of great mytho-poetry. I knew Poul Anderson was a great writer, but this took my breath away! The best novel I have discovered in years!

This is one of my two or three favorite Poul Anderson books and one of my top 20 favorite novels, period. It's a combination alternate history-swashbuckler-magical fantasy set in the era of the war between Cavaliers and Roundheads, but with a difference: they have railroads already. Well plotted, well paced, inventive, suspenseful, great descriptions. Not too deep, though--just great fun. Characters: Traditional but not stereotypical hero, heroine, sidekick, villain, a few historical figures, some familiar literary non-humans and a guest cameo appearance by a character from one of my other favorite stories of his. This story makes one really appreciate how well grounded in history and literature Anderson is. He also displays that all-too-rare ability to use the English language of the past with complete accuracy, a skill the lack of which can easily break the spell of an effort which might have otherwise succeeded. Attention English majors: There's one other feature I won't completely give away so as not to spoil your fun of discovery, but I will say--pay close attention to the dialog

This is one of those books you want to keep and read again over the years. It's a historical what if? story. What if there was a world where Shakespeare's stories were history rather than fiction and in this world railroads were built 200 years early? It's a wonderful story with all the elements of fantasy of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" combined with the battle between Royalists and Roundheads in a world of premature steam industry. The only thing that would be more wonderful would be if it were twice as long! This is a book you can read today and it is still as great as when it was written.

This story is truly one-of-a-kind; a labor of love (being dedicated to the author's wife) as well as a tour de force. It can be savored on four levels: first as "simply" a fine and original fantasy novel; second as a clever and "natural" (that is, unforced) interweaving of characters and locales from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, with a light seasoning of Arthurian themes; thirdly as a masterful adaptation of the language rhythms of a Shakespeare play (with the chapters/acts divided into "scenes"); and finally as an extraordinary, subtle (that is, unobtrusive) integration of poetry (again a la Shakespeare) into prose narative. For example, chapters or "scenes" occasionally end with a rhymed couplet, but that is only the most obvious of the many Excellencies. All four levels are seamlessly incorporated in a most extraordinary manner. The first time I read this book - in 1974 - I was halfway through before I began to realize what the author had achieved. Thus lovers of fantasy can thoroughly enjoy the story, while connoisseurs of the English language will find additional reasons to rejoice. This book is a gem - a masterpiece. I have treasured my paperback copy for 27 years. I assume it is reprinted regularly, but I have never seen it again in bookstores. It deserves a fine hardcover "limited" edition with illuminated script highlights and four-color illustrations by a top artist sympathetic to the genre. I plan to commission one as soon as I win the power ball.

It was bound to happen, an individual life bathed in glorious poetry is about to change form and become public prose as a movie. Be prepared, keep the book close at hand and memory and let others talk prose. You will carry the poetry and the poetry will carry you.

It was bound to happen, an individual life bathed in glorious poetry is about to change form and become public prose as a movie. Be prepared, keep the book close at hand and memory and let others talk prose. You will carry the poetry and the poetry will carry you.

Antonio de Nicolas, the philosopher and poet, has written a very original epic based on his own life experience. I recommend it strongly!

There is, as the title suggests, a fire within, a fire without, and it is also within this book. It is written in a simple and self-effacing style that does not point the way for others, but simply shares something of life lived with a great desire for the Whole of things. The rhythm of the prose poetry is not self-conscious, but rather invites us to be more deeply a participant in our own personal living. We too have had such desires to be part of a great wholeness; maybe we have forgotten them. A book like this can awaken such desires even long buried since our childhood. Professor Antonio di Nicolas writes so that the shift between personal and universal abolishes the distinction between the two. Transcendence is found in quite ordinary life where even amongst our chores we can find the love that moves the stars.

For those in search of a book which does not preach but simply shares what is probably already our own, it can be a book with light on our sometimes darkened footsteps. You can take from this book what you need without being offended.

Bigotry, religion, war and money in the early 1900s all come together n this romance written by Coloradan A. Robert Hill. The story starts with a boy and girl on the banks of the Cuchara River in southern Colorado and follows that boy and girl as life buffets their hopes and dreams. For most of the book, both the boy, Robert, and the girl, Concepcion, are suject to forces outside themselves. Robert is sent to a Catholic college in the east by bigoted parents who want him away from Concepcion and her Hispanic ancestry. Concepcion, whose parents disapproved of her involvement with Robert, marries someone else while Robert is gone and she has a son. Robert, disappointed with Concecion's abandonment and grieving of the deaths of his parents takes his vows and becomes a priest. Robert works among the poor in St. Louis for a while, but eventually ends up back in his hometown of La Plaza de los Leones. Concepcion is still there and an incredible temptation, so Robert takes off again, heading for World War I in Europe and more tests of his faith. The story is good and its only stumbles are a few missed typos that the editor should have caught. The characters are well defined. Readers get to know Robert, caring and hoping that he will eventually find the happiness he has sought for so long.

I think the what I like the most is the way the author places the reader beside his characters. You feel, smell, sense the beauty of Colorado; its vast grasslands, its mountains, its people and their loves. A beautifully told story!

Once in awhile a novel comes along that really grabs me. A. Robert Hill's novel, A Mountain Stands There is one of these that does. From the time the little German boy and the little Hispanic girl swim in the buff, the story dug deep into my mind. Robert Gunther is the little boy and Concepcion de Varga is the little girl. Born and raised on neighboring ranches, the two children become physical lovers the night after they graduate from high school. Like many "White people" in Colorado, the Gunthers do not want their son marrying one from the Brown race. This fact lights the fuse for a story that explodes like Roman candles on the Fourth of July. Through the advice of a former high school lover, Emily Schumann, Gunther sends Robert to a Catholic school in Boston. After a series of tragedies, Robert becomes a priest who does not keep his vows when Concepcion seduces him. The guilt driven priest ends up in a trench in France during the height of World War I. The author through Father Robert Gunther reveals warfare in the European war. The author's description of the fighting during this period is amazing. Wounded, the priest resigns both his Army commission and his black frock and comes home to his ranch in Colorado. I don't want to ruin your enjoyment of this book by telling you more. I will tell you this, from the time you pick this book up, you won't want to put it down! Even though I finished A Mountain Stands There a week ago, the words still throb inside my head.

I just thought I would let you know that I enjoyed the novel,"A Mountain Stands There", as well as a friend of mine in Walsenburg who read the novel. I was especially intrigued by the Hispanic and Anglo relationships that were definitely part of our history and culture, and still prevails today, even though there are more mixed ethnic marriages and less surface prejudice, etc.

I had lunch with Van Reid in August of 2001. He was as fun to talk to as his books are to read! I love the humor, the insight, the intrigue and the adventures of the Moosepath League! I agree that this installment is not as "heavy" as Daniel Plainway (at least to all but Ephram, Eagleton,and Thump!) but all the other elements are present. I laughed out loud several times while flying, which caused my fellow passengers to wonder about me, I am sure. Moxie!

How could I have missed this series? I enjoy stories set in this period because my own father was born in 1890; in Kentucky. He was a small-town boy, following the work to Ohio where he and several of his brothers settled.

I can picture him being a member of such a club as the Moosepath League and having small adventures such as author Reid depicts in this series of books. My father was not bumbling like most of these characters, but he was witty and funny and would no doubt have led them on even more exciting adventures.

Reid paints a vivid picture of a small town of the late 80s ... filled with characters who would make entertaining neighbors. They'd certainly liven up any neighborhood with their quaint, old-fashioned, yet quirky fun.

It's obvious this is a satire, and I love satire myself. (I discovered these books because on Amazon.com they were placed beside one of the books I wrote: THE TOONIES INVADE SILICON VALLEY. While the TOONIES does not disparage our lovely Valley in anyway, I certainly delighted in poking a bit of fun at our techie culture ... tongue-in-cheek humor, of course ... as Mr. Reid does in these books.)

Fun reads! Enjoy all four.

For excellent quality, humor, detailed plots, and kind, likeable characters, you can't beat Van Reid's "Moosepath League" novels. The latest, "Mrs. Roberto", seems to me to be a little lighter in tone than "Molly Peer" or "Daniel Plainway", but is still immensely involving and entertaining. This kind of writing just cannot be found anywhere else today. If you are fond of the classics or nineteenth century American literature, you will love Van Reid.

The willing adventurers of the Moosepath League of Victorian Portland, Maine, have lost none of their good-natured innocence in this fourth adventure, despite entanglements with tavern keepers, loose women, pickpockets, hoboes and worse. Indeed, Van Reid's droll storytelling depends upon it.

Misdirection and misunderstanding form the strong foundation of the meandering and digressive missions of the League's six members, who gather at the Shipswood Restaurant in the spring of 1897 for one of their regular dinners. They raise their water glasses (prohibition has been in effect in Maine for 46 years) to their only female member, Miss Phileda McCannon, who's making a journey to settle her deceased aunt's affairs. Mr. Tobias Walton, their chairman and the oldest at 48, is a bit subdued on this occasion as Phileda has not given an answer to his proposal of marriage.

Joseph Thump, Christopher Eagleton and Matthew Ephram are still in a small state of excitement after nearly running down a tavern keeper named Sparks who could have been Thump's double, but for his workingman's clothing and his high-pitched voice. The youngest member, Walton's faithful assistant Sundry Moss, 23, is the only one who dares to hazard that the crowd of ruffians backing away from the near-accident were pursuing Sparks rather than attempting his rescue.

The trio of Thump, Eagleton and Ephram have not seen the last of Sparks. Walking home through an unfamiliar and doubtful part of town, Thump happens to save a policeman from certain death-by-falling-piano, thereby incurring Mrs. Sparks' heartfelt gratitude for preserving her cousin, the perpetrator, from a murder charge.

This might again have been the end of it, but the trio, inspired by an incident in a play, determine that the lovely balloon ascensionist, Mrs. Roberto, must be in need of rescuing. Their mission leads them to a house of ill-repute (not that they ever realize where they are) and a run-in with the gang that's after Sparks, from which they escape thanks to Sparks' youngest son and his urchin friend who lead them over Portland's slippery rooftops. Sparks' network of less-than-respectable relatives continues to aid the trio as they seek Mrs. Roberto from Bangor to Dresden Mills, taking up with a large party of hoboes along the way.

Meanwhile, Moss, attempting to distract his employer, has taken Walton to visit his uncle in Norridgewock, though they never make it quite that far. The train is delayed in Bowdoinham where Walton is pressed to come to the aid of a glum prize pig. Perplexed by the locals' assumption of his expertise in porcine matters (the reader has been let-in on the misunderstanding), but as willing and easy-going as ever, Walton embarks on a visit to the Ferns, unhappy owners of the depressed pig, where Moss, a farmer's son and a bit more worldly than his fellow Moosepathians, soon susses the problem.

With digressions for the furtherance of romance and good acquaintance, Reid piles misunderstandings upon misunderstandings, constructing a hilarious journey through the towns and by-ways of Maine and the social strata of its best inhabitants. It all culminates in a spectacular and chaotic natural disaster, reuniting the League and necessitating numerous rescues and confusion and some wonderfully vivid writing.

Lots of local color and history round out the adventure. Reid's prose is playful, witty and dry, as well as eloquent and visual. The contrast between the transparent innocence of the steadfastly clueless trio and the sharp wits of Sundry Moss (think young George Burns and Gracie Allen) is a pleasure, further enhanced by the ready-for-anything calm of Toby Walton. Reid (whose Maine roots go back more than two centuries) leaves us with a tantalizing hint of the next to come in the League's adventures. These books are for anyone who enjoys wit and good-natured storytelling in the Dickensian tradition.

To watch my child enjoy reading Christian novels gives me great joy! I have always enjoyed my own and when I discovered the wholesomeness in a children's book for my childs age...Woo Hoo! Simple reading with great lesson.

I think your books are great they are so cool!!!!! I think you should write more of these books I learned alot from these books.

Calie cat

This book is so funny, I read it several times! In this book, Patience, the three cousins, third cousin, is telling tall tales. When she tells a tall tale about dancing angels, Timothy, Titus, and Sarah-Jane, don't believe her. Have they stumbled upon another mystery or is this just another one of Patience's tall tales?

This is the best book that Elspeth has made!

Three cunning ten year olds try to solve the mystery of the dancing angels... read this book to find out more!