This is a book with all the answers to anything a person may want to know about Texas lighthouses, including their construction, history, and all of the data about them. It's really complete and exhaustive but not at all dull to people who like lighthouses. I think all Texas lighthouse lovers should have this book.

This book is absolutely wonderfull. There's nothing else to say ! Je le conseille vivement à tous les amateurs du genre... vous allez adorer !

This book is part of a great trilogie. The story is base on the idea that humanity is back in some kind of middle age era after a big disaster that kill a lot of the people and reshape the earth. The universe the author has created is fantastic, fill with great tribes and complex caracters. The author, trough is characters, philosophy a little bit on humanity's great achievments and errors. So, either you go for the good plot or the ambiance, this story is great. A must read for everybody who enjoy Lords of the ring.

If you develop your own weekly spelling lists, this is a WONDERFUL resource to have at your fingertips. It makes having multi-leveled spelling much easier in a single classroom. Buy it, you won't be sorry!

The perfect Goods to climax a happy occassion...to make any occassion happy. This GOODS goes along. I'm an useful and enjoyable book, making friendly wiseness. Allows to banish negetive mind to land of ghosts and wind! He always stays near you to be called "friendly". None other seldom exeeds to this, for Captain, chief of thought, important man, or other. For home-life an work-life, won't you be called enjoyable? Many do!

You have no chance to survive make your time.

Someone set up us the BOMB!

Growing up in Columbus, GA, I was familiar with the names, places, and events of this period in Phenix City. Most of my relatives live there. But I could not ask for a better account of the details of how truly corrupt the entire local government was than that provided so carefully by Ms. Barnes. Her research was impecable and the heroic Bentleys and Britons are legendary to those of us who read of their suffering in the Columbus Ledger. How the state of Alabama let it go on so long is a shameful chapter in their history. The book captivates you and you will be unable to put it down until the final chapter.

For those who grew up in Phenix City, this is a very enthralling look at how things were in the 50's when the mob and the gamblers "Lawlessly" ran the town...holding the town at bay in fear of murders, bombings and destruction. It teaches you a lot about the history of the buildings, the many names you have always been familiarized with (lawyers, judges, buisnesses, streets) while uncovering the sins and evilness of the gamblers that once dominated...and the crooked politics that took place during those times. It will provoke you to take a closer look at some of the old buildings and places as you pass them next time; and, you will never see Phenix City the same way again. This book is hard to put down. It is one of those non-fictional books that you will probably read several times, based merely on the intrigue of all the secrets you will uncover and things you will learn about "The Tragedy and Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama."

Margaret Barnes thoroughly researches her books and is an excellent writer. I am from South Carolina; I am seeing how video poker can corrupt the local government. It bought our most recent gubernatorial election with the promise of windfalls for education. Readers of Triumph and Tragedy may be able to predict what will happen to our state in the long run if the gambling syndicate is allowed to take over our state. As if we didn't have enough problems! If you haven't read it yet, don't delay. It could happen to your town! SOON TO BE RE-RELEASED: BARNES' A Buzzard is My Best Friend, a hilariously funny story based on the author's (mis)adventures on a Virginia farm. Lighthearted story sure to keep you laughing.

There are 60 illustrations, excellent paintings, with the accompanying text that inspired it. The colours are very well down, and each painting is brilliantly done in terms of publication. There are nine artists represented. These are:

Inger Edelfeldt: 7 paintings

Tony Galuidi: 2 paintings

Roger Garland: 10 paintings

Robert Goldsmith: 2 paintings

Michael Hague: 7 paintings

John Howe:10 paintings

Alan Lee: 10 paintings

Ted Nasmith: 10 paintings

Caro Emery Phenix: 2 paintings

My personal favorite is John Howe. He brings out a lot of dark imagery. I don't know why, but Hague's stuff just does not appeal to me. I have seen him do Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress, and some other stuff, and I just don't like his style (also saw his illustrations for WIZARD OF OX). His are of THE HOBBIT. Galuidi has almost a computer generated quality, and his work is especially intriguing, although there are only 2 of his paintings in this collection. Lee is good. All in all, this is a fair book, collecting the paintings of artisits brining about their own vision of Tolkien's classic saga. Over all, a four star book (bumped up one star because of Howe's supreme quality).

This is a collection of 50+ paintings based on various works by Tolkien, which fans of Tolkien will no doubt enjoy. It may be of speial interest to those who watched the movies (and who hasn't, who read Tolkien...) as you can clearly see how some of these paintings are replicated in Jackson's movies; it takes but a moment to catch it in the film, but if you see the pictures enough you'll recognize it.

The quality of the paintings are uneven, and each one has its favorite. Like many people, I find Hague lacking, but also Edelfeldt, who isn't bad but whose style is not unique enough in my opinion.

My favorites, on the other hand, are Howe, Garland, Nasmith, Lee and Galuidi. Garland, my favorite, has a unique and glowing, almost 'mystical' style that does the book justice. Howe's pictures are also intriguing and beautiful, and feel true to the book (and thankfully, he seems to dominate the book in terms of the number of contributions). Nasmith has some splendid landscape pictures, though his vision of the characters leave something to be desired (especially of a fat, distorted Boromir!) Galuidi's sci-fi, computerized style may not appeal to some, but I find them interesting. Finally, Lee's soft watercolors are very appealing, and his vision of the characters is near-perfect (especially Galadriel and Gandalf).

"Tolkien's World" is a very handsome book: large, hardcover, sleeve-cover, fine print and paper. It consists on a serie of paintings divided by books (The Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion, etc.) printed in the largest scale possible and with great definition. Beside the picture there is the passage of the book which inspired the painting. In the end there are one-page texts about or written by each of the artists, explaining their influences and relation with Tolkien works. My favorite artist is, without a doubt, Ted Nasmith, that draws very realistic pictures. Second place is John Howe, with his dark and intriguin style. All in all, a pretty nice book. I was very satisfied with it and it helped me to figure the places and events of LOTR. Be aware that there's a book that is kind of a sequel to this one: "Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-Earth", which I'm planning to get. It is written on its purchasing info that the author is Ted Nasmith, so is the cover authory. Lucky me.

Years ago Ian Vorres wrote "the last Grand Duchess", which was a biography of the life of Grand Duchess Olga based on a series of personal interviews he had with her before her death. It was hard to imagine at first why this book was written and what it could cover that the first book didn't.

I found this book very easy to read. It approaches Olga's remarkable life in chronological order and it never looses track of the fact that this book is about Olga's life and not that of some of her more famous relatives.

Olga was a very adapable woman. She was born to Czar Alexander 3rd and his wife Marie when they were on the throne of Russia. She lived a life in palaces surrounded by servants and guards. Despite this she always carved out an independant niche for herself and this stood her in good stead when the old russia was engulfed in revolution.

Olga moved from the life of a pampered princess and society woman to that of a nurse at the front line and from there to a refugee, with her family in Europe and Canada.

This book fills in some of the areas glossed over in Vorres book. It deals with the later problems with her brother Michael, and the heartache her children bought her later in life. It also deals with lingering mysteries like the sale of her mother's jewels to Queen Mary of England.

I would have to say this is not a minute by minute account of Olga's life but it does bring her life into perspective and presents a woman who wasn't afraid to take life by the horns and run with it. It's book worth a read, especially if you are interested in the old imperial russia or the life of refugees afterwards.

This book came highly recommended to me by a colleague who is currently coordinating a school-district's balanced literacy approach in 1st grade. Phenix offers a comprehensive, yet managable approach to effectively teaching writing to young children. The concepts and strategies can be applied at all levels, but this book is tailor-made for emerging writers. A great balance of theory and application.