Q Books

I really looked forward to reading this urban tale. I found it a bit disappointing, it was just not what I expected. In my opinion the story line was a bit vague revolving around Steve and then with his costly decisions causing him mishap and mayhem not to mention his philandering wife. On the flip side the end of the book did restore my confidence with the surprise ending. So, not the very worse, and not the absolute best.

Although I must say that this book was quite long It was also a great read which held my attention from start to finish.The plot was great and I enjoyed the characters(even the scandolous ones!)The ending was a shocker as well.BUT I would have like to have known the reactions of Michelle,Byron,Big Steve,Tosha and Angela to what happened to Melody and Larry at the end.I hope the author brings back Michelle's character in a future novel because homegirl was cold in this story!
Also,I could have cared less about Big Steve's experiences in jail,the author could have saved us readers alot of time by not even getting to deep in that,cause Melody had all the drama and thats where the focus should have remained!

I loved Samuel L. Hair's "Someone Else's Puddin'. Meet hairstylist Melody Pullman who is married to Big Steve Pullman. They were married at a young age and Big Steve falls victim to the streets. Instead of Melody supporting her husband she turns to her married client husband for comfort, financial support and a whole lot of loving. She is playing in dangerous ground. Will she get caught slipping while dipping in someone's else's puddin. You will have to read this book to find out what happens.

This book is a definite must read. I read this book in two days, could not put it down!!!

This book started out with a great story line but I feel it was all over the place. I think the author combined two books in one,Big Steve's book and Melody's book because there was really no connection between the two but a bunch of unanswered letters. I think the book would have been a lot better had the author centered on a smaller group of people instead of the whole Riverside crack scene,and Prostitutes,and everyone in prison. Mr. Hair good try.

This depiction of Lorrie's life prior to, with, and shortly after Keith will stay with you forever. You will listen to her music (and his music) from a different and enlightened perspective. You will have a profound respect for Lorrie, too, once you finish reading this book. She is a real trooper. A must-have for all Lorrie fans and anyone wanting to know more about Lorrie and/or Keith Whitley.

this is a good book to read but wasnt wrote that great' i dont think it was... keith whitley is my favorite singer. and i like some of lorries stuff aswell.. but i feel there is some stuff that should remain private even if you are famous... doesnt matter... but then i guess like the saying goes to each his own... now i know its hard to go through things she went through. but its a he did this- she did that kinda deal and no one is perfect...kellysherman

I found this book interesting. I found it unique as an autobiography, as I've never read one quite like it. Usually when I read these, they are filled with scandals and controversy. Sure there is a bit of that in here, but Lorrie Morgan writes this from her heart it seems. Of course you can't believe everything, authors of autobiographies want to write the book from their perspective and present in the best light, whatever way they want to. Lorrie chose to write this book about her great love with Keith Whitley, a fine country singer that was gone too soon. She recalls their relationship, which in fact when you read about it, seems much longer than it really was, which was 3 years. When she met him he was married, so she thought "hands off" but soon enough he was divorced and they were together. Their love story is sweet in the beginning, however later in the book it becomes more and more complex and confusing, as to why she'd stay with him. Keith Whitley was an alcoholic. She says she was so in love with him and that it wasn't as bad as it sounds, that there was still some great moments. She goes into great detail about his drinking binges, visits to the porn stores, his treatments, his career versus hers, and more. The events surrounding his death were complicated, as her career was just taking off and she was required to do some promotional work, and Keith ended up having an affair, and overdosing on alcohol, and ultimately dying. As well she talks candidly about growing up and finding herself. You call tell this love was very real and she very much loved him, but was love enough for this couple? Overall it's a slow starter but worth the effort to read, especially if you are a fan of Lorrie's.

I'm an avid reader and I have to say this is the most poorly written book I have ever read. Specifically the writing style was disjointed, uneven and childish. If you manage to continue reading through lorries choppy, confusing writing you will find that Lorrie portrays Keith as a drunken, cheating porn-addicted hillbilly. She always paints herself as the perfect loving, caring wife. I find it interesting that this person who would have the reader believe that the failing marriage was totally Keiths fault is currently working on her 5th failed marriage.

This is one of those books that you wish you could give 0 stars to. I say this not because I'm a huge whitley fan, but because the writing is sloppy, forced and ridiculously insincere. I bought the book hoping to get some insights about the late country music star. Instead I got some sort of public relations attempt by Lorrie Morgan.

This is the first book I've ever reviewed on Amazon but felt the need to express my opinion since I read other peoples before buying.
This book is very poorly written, almost like teenager diary entries. It is poorly worded and I agree with other reviewers, some things are meant to be kept private.
Maybe Lorrie needed to tell her story & maybe this was her therapy because she needed to heal BUT don't spend money buying it! She reads the audio book herself, but again very disappointing!
I am an avid Keith Whitley fan and have listened to Lorrie a lot as well, but it is rather one-sided and immature.

The most poignant moment of Franz Kafka's 1915 novella The Metamorphosis occurs when the narrator remarks that nobody thought to open Gregor's bedroom door to see him, though the door was now unlocked. In time, Gregor no longer wishes to emerge from his room, to be seen. All connection with his family and his former self is lost.

Gregor the travelling salesman had gotten into the habit of keeping his door locked, even at home. He became private to the point of being paranoid. Gregor the absentee member of the Samsa household--albeit the breadwinner--is unknown to his sister Grete and to his parents. The loss doesn't quite register with them.

This is the story of the man who wakes up as a bug. He literally embodies his emotional and psychological perception of himself: that he is vermin. He has become his own self-loathing. As this reality settles into his mind, he hopes his family will in some way respond to his need, to feed the unnameable hunger that gnaws at him throughout this ordeal.

Instead, they turn away. He is the dirty secret, the problem child, the social stigma they could do without, thank you very much. The father beats him back into his room every time he emerges. His mother lacks the emotional fortitude to face the situation and faints instead. Grete, his sister, feeds him and cleans his room until he reaches out for her in his buggy way--by creeping toward her while she is playing the violin for lodgers.

Gregor's financial control of the family plays a role in the neurosis that afflicts each member. Not until he is free of their control can they realize their potential. That control cannot buy Gregor the food he requires--some form of emotional and spiritual nourishment in the form of genuine relationships--though he does somewhat sadistically enjoy being the center of their fleeting attention for a little while. The door had been locked for a little too long. Family connection lost its relevance. Here is the tragedy of modern life: we're all so busy getting and doing that we lose track of what it means simply to be.

The verb "to be," I learned as a young girl in English class, is not a very strong one. It's boring and should be replaced with verbs that sugget activity and emotion.

I've come to realize that being isn't so bad; it's being alone that can kill you. This is the kind of starvation that killed Gregor. The Metamorphosis (Bantam Classics)

This collection of short stories was my first introduction to Kafka and I highly recommend picking this up for anyone thinking about reading his works. The short stories range in length from many pages to single paragraphs. Most of the stories shorter than 2 pages seemed pointless to me but the lengthier entries were excellent in their content and writing style.

Kafka's writing style is unique and really needs to be read to be understood. The word Kafkaesque now means something to me. I look forward to reading some of his novels to see if they match the power of and imagery of The Metamorphosis.

Bottom Line: Kafka is hip again and this is a good sampling of his short stories.

Kafka is one of the unique geniuses of world - literature.
His stories are parables that have an uncanny quality about them, and so defy our simple understanding.
As Camus pointed out Kafka's stories demand rereading and reinterpreting again and again, without one ever having conviction that one has truly grasped the true meaning.
The beauty of this uncanniness, the strange power of these stories is the genius of Kafka.

I am german. I have never read the english translation of "The Metamorphosis" and so I don't know how it is and how it sounds in english. I can only say that it is a really deep, intensive and wonderful story in german language. "Die Verwandlung" has really changed my way of thinking! It is a book like a mirror, you can lay your own feelings in it. Some think it is too dark, i think it is "life and life only".

Frankly, I have only read the Metamorphosis and the Penal Colony. I will admit that both were a bit unusual, but I fell in love with the Penal Colony. It's laconic, but extremely well-written (kudos to the translator). Given it's length, I'd suggest it to anyone looking for a shortcut to one of literature's masterpieces. As for the Metamorphosis, I cannot say the same. God only knows (as Kafka cannot tell us) what he meant with the transformation of Gregor into a vermin. I found that story simply bizarre, devoid of any blatant parallel.

The book consists of the 4th and 5th books in Trek Mi Q'an series by Jaid Black. I love this series of stories and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of this book. The book is a large mix several stories going on at the same time. Once I pick this book up I did not put it down until I had read from Cover to cover. It's well worth your money. I love this series of stories and am eagerly awaiting the next book in this series.

Let me start but saying that i love Jaid Black and I love a lot of her books. But this book I did not like at all. I have two other of her trek books so I do know that i would be missing book three so I know there would be a jump. but this one. In both books she jump from the main story to subplots and simed to focus more on them than on the main story (I think she was tring to set up the final book which so far five years later she has not written) Me I am going to wait (maybe I don't think she is going to) for the final book.

Kara runs from Cam to the matriarchal planet Galis to hide from being married and madness insues. in book 5 librarian Brynda is taken by Jek to a different wold where men ruled and women did as they were told

I liked it both stories. But i think if you do not follow the other stories then you will be confused so if you are planing to read start with the first book. GOOD READ

This book "Conquest" includes two stories: "No Escape" and "No Fear" (books 4 and 5). I rate both of them 4 stars. Even though some books are better than others, I love the series and plan to read them all. It is a wild and fun escape. I recommend reading the books in order. See my review of "The Empress' New Clothes" for a list of all the books. I reviewed it 3/11/08 under 5 stars.

No Escape:
This story has several stories in process, to be continued in the next book. The primary story is about Kara fleeing from Cam because she wanted some independent time before she married. He initially thought she was dead, but as soon as he heard she was alive, five years later, he was able to hunt her and find her. Separate stories begin about Dari fleeing her future husband while learning about and how to stop the evil one. Jana mates with Yorin who takes her to his ice planet. Kari continues to flee from Death and helps Dari.

Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: thirteen plus. Setting: 6044 and 6049 Yessat Years Galis, Khan-Gor and other planets. Copyright: 2001. Genre: erotic paranormal science fiction romance.

No Fear:
The main story is about Jek and Brynda, but several side stories are happening which will be continued in the next books. In this story, Jek finds his Sacred Mate Brynda who is a librarian in Texas. She has cancer and expects to die within the year. Jek takes her and they visit two planets on their way to his home. They visit Wassa where men have gills and live both underwater and above water. All females are slaves to the men on this planet. They next visit Dementia, where the men look like ape men from the movie Planet of the Apes. Brynda gets caught by the predatory vine which injects an aphrodisiac into her and drinks her fluids.

Sexual language: erotic. Number of sex scenes: twelve plus. Setting: 6049 Red Moon of Morak and 1986 Houston, Texas. Copyright: 2001. Genre: erotic paranormal science fiction romance.

I don't understand why this book gets such high praise. It is not a how to book but more of a show and tell. If you want to learn survival skills look elsewhere. I bought this book thinking I was going to learn something. It just shows you what a shelter is and what this is or that.

This book is still used and recommended by the Boulder Outdoor Survival School, possibly the most reputable school in the business. Larry Dean Olsen, the author, is a guru in the field, and quite an amusing writer as well. This book is a classic, having come out originally in 1967 (my copy is the 30th anniversary edition from 1997). This is not a book for weekend backpackers, it is a text for those who want to explore and preserve true primitive survival skills - living off the land, friction fires, etc. If that is what you are looking for, this book is a great choice.

On reading some of the foregoing reviews, I can't believe we're talking about the same book. I received my first copy of Outdoor Survival Skills in the late 60's and it was the first of the best. There have been many excellent survival/primitive living skill authors since - Tom Brown Jr., John McPherson, Richard Jamison, Kochanski, Mears, Graves, Janowski, more recently, Cody Lundin, and the list goes on. By the way, the reason it was my first copy, was because I lent it to someone, who I guess, appreciated it as much as I did, so I never saw it again.
Even though the first edition came out sometime in the late 60's
the information is just as thorough, valuable, and accurate as it was then. Anybody that does not find this book so, should stick to outdoor writer's like Cliff Jacobson, who it appears, believes the only reason to carry a knife in the outdoors is to spread peanut butter.
Well done, Mr. Olsen, I thank you.

This book is meant for the survival enthusiest. I.e. someone who likes to go out and intentionally spend weeks at a time living off the land. For them, this is a good book.

It is NOT useful for hikers/backpackers/boaters etc. who are worried that if they get lost or stuck they need survival skills to last until rescued.

It has a information on topics such as building a bow and arrow, setting trap lines of 100-200 traps, making stone tools, and tanning hide (all things that require considerable time, energy, and practice). What it does not have is any information on getting rescued - not even a mention of what makes a good distress signal.

I haven't read many survival books, but if you're looking for a "survive until rescued" book check out The Complete Book of Outdoor Survival by J. Wayne Fears.

I have read many survival books including: Wilderness Survival; the October 1970 edition of the Army Feild Manual; Living off the Country;Tom Brown's Feild Guide to Wilderness Survival;and this one as well as many others. Aside from Tom Brown's feild guide, this book is definately one of the best I have read. I would rate Tom Brown's feild guide higher than this one, but the two together make a great pair. Both cover topics such as the four great needs: shelter, water, fire, and food, as well as weapons, edible plants and animals et cetera, but they both explain different techniques and different ways of doing the above mentioned topics. The back of this book has color photos of many plants that are edible.
I strongly reccommend buying both books, they are very similar yet you can learn more from both than you can from just one.
If you don't wan't both then I reccommend Tom Brown's Guide. Either way you go, try to use your library and the internet in conjunction with the books.

This was really thought provoking and brought back many memories. That era is gone forever but we will always have our memories!
If you read this book you will have to read "Leap" also.

Sara Davidson's "Loose Change" is a brilliantly-written account of the Sixties as experienced by three young women coming of age. I bought this book when it first came out in 1977 and loved it. Recently, I came across "Loose Change" in a used book store and just couldn't put it down.
The Sixties were a time of great social upheaval, and I remember many of the major events. I went though college in the late 60s and early 70s. Even though my background is somewhat different -- Blue collar, conservative, Catholic, male, short-haired, Pittsburgh, and definitely never inhaled -- it was interesting to see the female, radical point of view. Like many others in that period, Sara, Susie, and Tasha search for life's meaning in a turbulent time in which the old values they grew up with have withered away.
You are there in the historical events and movements of that period -- the Antiwar movement, major student protests at Berkeley and Columbia, the bloodbath at the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, the music of Woodstock, rural communes, free sex, and the terror of the Altamont Concert.
This book seems to get better over time because there is a greater contrast between today's world and the 1960s. The Antiwar, Womens' Liberation, and Civil Rights Movements changed the country and the world for the better, and drugs have changed things for the worst. And the sexual revolution.... well, you be the judge.
I like Ms. Davidson's rich writing style, as she places the reader right there, feeling and experiencing life with Sara, Susie, and Tasha, "warts and all." She's gutsy enough to talk about sexuality, a formerly taboo subject. Sara, Susie, and Tasha follow their sexual drives and suffer many bad love affairs, for which both the men and women share the blame.
I've also enjoyed a few of Sara Davidson's other articles and her biography of Rock Hudson. "Loose Change" is now historical, and it's so alive you can hear the music and the protest marches. This book is definitely worth five stars and I would recommend it to almost everyone, even my own daughter.

I thought I was going to read thoughtful, personal accounts of the sixities as experienced/described by three thoughtful, incisive women. Unfortunately, what the author chronicles is how she and two other self-absorbed irritating women move from stupid, annoying man to stupid annoying man during the era of free love. Every so often, one of the women manages to witness a Pivotal Event (tm) of the '60's. When the women are not witnessing pivotal events, they are whining about stupid, annoying men.

This book pales in comparison to other, superior chronicles of the '60's such as Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem or White Album. Do not bother with Sara Davidson's tripe.

It takes a lot to make a book excellent where all elements are concerned, but Sara Davidson has managed to accomplish that with Loose Change. The characters are very vivid, and easy to picture. What really made me enjoy this was that it was based on the actual lives of the three main characters. I thought that the sixties was covered here in great detail, with images that seemed to jump out at the reader from the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and would love to read others that were similar to it. Highly reccommended!

When I first read this book some 10 years ago, I quickly identified with the characters, even though I am Jewish girl from NYC. Ten years later, I often think about the characters and wonder how they turned out. I ffound the book to be true to "us" and how "we" really felt as we went through the 60's, Vietnam, drugs and free love. You had to be there. The author captures the moment. Why not write a follow up to Loose Change? You could call it Dollar Bills.

I have to start off by saying I am a bit confused as to the complaints about this book being a rip-off -- it is printed on almost indentical grades of paper and a fraction of the price of other similar photo-centered skating books, so how could this possibly be a rip off in comparison to others in the genre? Although many of the photos are not new, the book is nicely laid out and presented, like a personal scrapbook. I enjoyed it, but with its simple presentation it is most definitely geared towards Michelle's younger fans.

I really enjoyed this book! Michelle's book focuses only on positive things -- her own skating, friends, family, and favorite things. Michelle is truly a class act, and this book is yet another reflection of what makes Michelle a true champion.

This book was a nicely arranged book with many pictures and captions. They help you to know a little more about Michelle Kwan and her family and friends. It is worth getting and it is short but very enjoyable to the reader. This book is a must have for any Michelle Kwan fan !

Great, full-color photos featuring Michelle in all her best-loved programs over the years. A must-own for any Michelle kwan fan!

Michelle is a great athelet and role model for kids. This book is great for it's price. It has many good pictures of Michelle and her family. Any true fan of Michelle Kwan must have this book.

This book enriched my experience of my first child's early months by making me more aware of all the changes she was going through, and how incredible even tiny new developments are -- such as learning to move her arms and legs intentionally. The book was first published in the 1970s and this is a revised edition from the early 1980s, but in many ways it feels more modern and sensible than many of the books on babies which are most popular today. It addresses the issues of babies' individual personalities and how this can affect how they develop -- a subject which more practical, but less well-informed baby manuals don't even acknowledge.

This book enriched my experience of my first child's early months by making me more aware of all the changes she was going through, and how incredible even tiny new developments are -- such as learning to move her arms and legs intentionally. The book was first published in the 1970s and this is a revised edition from the early 1980s, but in many ways it feels more modern and sensible than many of the books on babies which are most popular today. It addresses the issues of babies' individual personalities and how this can affect how they develop -- a subject which more practical, but less well-informed baby manuals don't even acknowledge.

While Penelope Leach's other book was refreshing with new common sense insights onto my little one's behavior, this book is much to wordy. I suspect it was written as a PhD thesis as it reads about as exciting as one. It is very wordy and seems to ramble. I lose interest long before I discover any new useful info.

Everything that is written in support of this book is true. It's thorough, interesting, etc. The only drawback is that it is very academic as well. Leach is a psychologist and writes at length of the nuts and bolts of animal behavioral studies that are interesting to researchers, but what I want is the conclusions of those studies and more of a how-to manual. I recommend Magda Gerber's books for that approach.

The only thing this book left me wishing for - is that that there was anything remotely similar to it today. The book is not written in an easy "a-to-z" or "month-by-month" or any other format for people who don't like to read. It is a textbook... on babies, the only one I have found.

With all the controversial advice out there, all I wanted was to understand WHERE it came from, WHY we believe this or that, WHAT the evidence suggests. This book answers these questions as adequately as the research conducted by the 1980's allows it.

There are many books which are easier to read, will give you more step-by-step cookbook advice, and are a reference on the brands of food and strollers. So though this book lacks in all of those areas, it is the only one which can be used as a pure source of knowledge about the baby's development.

`Dream Story' is now a famous novella on account of Kubrick's mediocre film `Eyes Wide Shut,' but it remains a fabulous literary exploration of infidelity and the Freudian conceptualization of Eros. After over eighty years, Schnitzler's prose remains fresh and mysterious like a cold, damp Viennese alley. It is the story of a young couple's adventures in infidelity both real and of the unconscious. After a jealous fight, the protagonist leaves his home and wife and wanders the deep recesses of Vienna in search of sexual gratitude and revenge. He encounters a lonely widow, the young promiscuous daughter of a shop owner, and religious orgy. He returns and his wife reveals dreams of infidelity and betrayal. Schnitzler is probing the darker and more painful dimensions of human sexuality, the fact of Eros, the fact of desire, both real and imagined. After a moment of reconciliation the bourgeois home has come full circle; `Dream Story' is brilliant in its ability to be both conventional and provocative. It is a wonderful novella of intrigue, sexuality, and love.

Arthur Schnitzler - "Dream Story" (1926)

A potentially interesting book, about the period of just a day in one man's life - but lacking any sufficient ending to do justice to the material, and ending up as a mere fragment.
At the end, a prostitute is in hospital but we are not told why; a secret meeting took place, but its function is never explained; a woman acting as a saviour at the secret function may have been killed or may not have been, but we are not told more about her fate; an old piano-playing friend goes missing but we are left in the dark as to what happened to him after that. Why raise these questions in the reader's mind, then just drift the plot off into nothing? What was the point of the thing?
The quality of writing, as expression, is good, but the book fails to go anywhere sufficiently significant and conclusive by the end to have justified taking the reader on the journey there. The reader is let down at the end, being given only half a story and a lot of straggly ends that drift off to nothing, creating a feeling of dissatisfaction. The book posed too many questions but then failed to answer them and was only half a book, cheating the reader out of a story worth reading.

1 star out of 5

Published in 1926, Arthur Schnitzler's DREAM STORY ("Traumnovelle") is a novella of dark Freudian images and plays on the merging of the conscious and subconscious in human life. Forgotten for several decades, it has returned to print with Stanley Kubrick's last film EYES WIDE SHUT, which was a somewhat faithful adaptation set in the present day. DREAM STORY tells of a married couple in Vienna, perhaps at the turn of the 20th century though the date is unspecified. While having what begins as a friendly conversation one evening, Albertine confesses to her physician husband Fridolin that during a vacation in Denmark the previous summer she felt she could leave him and their daughter behind for a handsome naval officer who was staying in the same hotel. Fridolin, shocked that his marriage isn't terribly stable and that his wife could maliciously leave him, is then called to visit a patient. From there he encounters several women in his journeys through Vienna and eventually gains entrance to a upper-class orgy (presented somewhat differently than the black mass of Kubrick's film). The action takes place over only two days, and this slim volume can be read in a mere two hours. I can't comment on this translation, having read the translation into Esperanto by Michel Duc Goninaz, but the novel's meaning is based on symbolism that wouldn't lose much in translation, though one must be aware that the German names of the characters (and the Schreyvogelgasse, a Viennese street) are linked. People owning a German dictionary will get a little more out of this novella.

Arthur Schnitzler was quite enamoured by the theories of Sigmund Freud, so much so that Freud joked that he would never meet the novelist because of the belief that one would die upon encountering his double. DREAM STORY is full of allusions to Freudian psychology, and the orgy is both a real event and a representation of Fridolin's subconscious. Albertine's dream recounted to Fridolin afterwards, told in unrealistic detail that shows Schnitzler is trying too hard for a roman a clef, echoes the previous action eerily and hence the title of the novella. It is because of its Freudian basis that DREAM STORY is ultimately disappointing. Freudian psychology has been taken some heavy blows in favour of the theories of Jung and Lacan, so this story shows its age. And while it would seem at first that Schnitzler is being progressive in saying that women do indeed think of sexuality, it is apparent that Schnitzler believes that women unhealthily desire sex only as a tool to hurt and strike out, as Albertine insinuates several times that she would take great pleasure in abandoning Fridolin for a purely physical relationship with a younger man. As a result of this basis, DREAM STORY is quite out of date and misogynist.

I really couldn't recommend DREAM STORY, unless one has an interest in Freudian psychology and its application, in which case this novella is a treasure of the thought of the period. While recommending the movie over the book is a reversal of the usual order of things, I'd recommend simply watching EYES WIDE SHUT. Stanley Kubrick was aware of many of the flaws of the source material and fixed a few of them, and the art direction and cinematography are superb. The novella doesn't have much going for it.

In a short novel of one-hundred pages length set after the turn of the twentieth century Arthur Schnitzler, the contemporary of Sigmund Freud, elegantly poses an implicit question. Are life, intentions and consciousness what they seem and would it matter were one's motives other than their outcome?
Dream Story came to me in the reverse order to what is typical. Having seen the film by Stanley Kubrick the masterful direction and intriguing premise acted as impetus for seeking out the book from which the former was adapted. Never mind that Kubrick is unlikely to be bettered; such was the quality of the film, Eyes Wide Shut. Moreover, it was unlikely that Kubrick would pick anything less than a winning novel as his outline to work on.
In twenty four hours the realities of a physician used to dealing with the corporeal and physical is altered once faced with the surprise, trauma and discovery of puzzling and nefarious happenings not oordinarily out in the open. Apparently, nothing is what it seems and reckoning only yields more questions. Forced to avert his eyes from the facade, the charlatans and the masquerade because of his emotions and coercion from a secret society Fridolin, the protagonist, comes to believe that what is most grounded in reality is something one cannot touch, namely feeling, emotions and intentions. Temptation might carry the battle, but the war is won by honesty, bonds of relationship and trust in the hidden motive.
Ultimately, as Fridolin and his wife Albertine concur, trusting in original intent surmounts momentary lapses or deviations from that essence. It is a lesson worth pondering.

To be quite honest, I had no idea that Dream Story was the inspiration for Eyes Wide Shut. It's quite unfortunate that Schnitzler should finally have garnered the attention of a wider reading audience because of some cheap Hollywood flick.

Since I have no interest in the movie, I have no way of relating the book to it, but I would like to point out the fact that some of the other reviews are unreasonably harsh in their criticism of Schnitzler. He is a superb writer, a keen observer of human emotions and behaviours.

Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that the story was written nearly a century ago (it was published in 1926, but I understand that it was probably written prior to World War One). It is easy then for the modern reader to interpret the story out of context, since much of what made the story so titillating has long since become commonplace.

One thing that I want to point out that was mistakingly claimed in a previous review is that the couple was "happily married." Not so. It is quite evident in the first few pages that Fridolin and Albertine have grown weary of one another. Both are tempted to engage in extramarital relationships, yet are incapable of actually carrying them out. We see this first-hand from Fridolin's perspective as time and again he finds himself in situations where he could easily submit to the temptation.

In my opinion Dream Story is an excellent read, and a work that I wish would not have been subjected to the indignity of being associated with some cheap Hollywood flick.

It's always on and poppin. I could not wait until the2nd part came out. i Love this part.

This book was wonderful but you have to get part II, then wait for Part 3 which I haven't heard anything about. This book isn't predictable at all.

It has been over six months since I have read anything. I saw this book at Wal-Mart and it got my attention. I love the way the author paid attention to details and how he took his time to make Dee Dee the Baddiest "Itch." I recommend to this book to anyone that is looking for a fast pace, straight out gansta type of reading, "This Is The One." I bought the book last night and I finished it today. I just couldn't put it down. This novel was what I needed. To each of you enjoy reading and take care.....Peace.

Alastair J. Hatter's It's On and Poppin' treats readers to a fresh scene of the grimy streets of Memphis. A story about twin brothers and a younger sister from a a good Christian home may not be what the streets is craving, but throw in the fact that this family is running the drug game in Memphis and you might have yourself a great page turner. Jay and Bee are making waves in the drug game when their younger sister Dee Dee decides to leave the stifling roof of her mother's home to live with her brothers. When things start to go wrong and her brothers end up locked down, Dee Dee is determined to keep the family enterprise afloat by showing her worth. Mr. Hatter can be commended for his great character development, but there are a few editorial issues that should be addressed. All in all It's On and Poppin' leaves readers craving a sequel with a final funeral scene that is anything but expected.

1. What did you like best about this book?
I liked that Alastair gave readers a new setting of Memphis.

2. What did you dislike about this book?
I didn't like the few typos that I found throughout the book.

3. How can the author improve this book?
I think this book is good the way it is creatively. All that needs to be done technically, is maybe a final proofread to clear up any inconsistencies.

"It's On and Poppin" is definitely that and a realistic hood legend!!! Alastair penned this novel around siblings, Bee, Jay, and baby sis, Dee Dee. Bee and Jay are young guys in the game on the come up with alot of muscle, loyalty and street smarts. They're living comfortably but in search of their big break while standing watch over their sister trying to protect her from thugs in the street that live a life similar to theirs. Bee and Jay end up in jail leaving sheltered Dee Dee at the realm of their budding empire, and she's left to fend for all and has to discern who's truly gangsta and who's snake. Can Dee Dee stand for her family or will they all fall?

"It's On and Poppin" is full of gritty, enthralling drama that will have you turning pages and becoming more intrigued with the supporting characters as much as the central characters. Mr. Hatter captures your attention with love, murder, scheming, back-biting, drug game tales, cheating, grief, and heartbreak in the lives of true playas.