You can always count on William Logan to cut down good poets and promote hacks, and anyone who has ever forced herself to read his wooden poetry will understand why he cheers the wrong side. If you want a quick taste of how poor his judgment is in REPUTATIONS OF THE TONGUE, just read his viscious little review of Timothy Steele's second volume of poetry, SAPPHICS AGAINST ANGER, a collection finer in toto than any single poem Logan himself has managed to date. After you read this poison pill, take up Steele's volume and judge for yourself.

As for the other essays in this book, they are predictable Logan through and through-illogical, blunt, ungenerous, and deaf. Don't waste your money on his residue.

I have been a fan of Logan's poetry and criticism for quite some time. I have always profited from reading his criticism, but this collection was better than even I expected. The first essay on Tradition has sentences that are aphoristic without compromising the continuity of the piece. Powerful, intelligent writing. Logan is at the height of his powers in this book.

An infuriating critic to most, Logan is sharp, honest, and a careful reader of poetry--a rare thing in American Letters today. It isn't surprising that this collection has been nominated for the 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.

LOGAN IN OVERTIME, written by Paul Quarrington, is not lacking in ambition. It aspires to the magical quality achieved by W.P. Kinsella in his baseball stories, and to the large, often bizarre cast of characters seen in the novels of Dickens and Irving. But LOGAN is a mess, a slight, sometimes amusing riff on the sport of hockey that achieves nothing more than the creation of a nostalgic feeling for Quarrington's far better, more fully realized novels. In WHALE MUSIC and CIVILIZATION, and the autobiographical THE BOY ON THE BACK OF THE TURTLE, Quarrington mixes the odd with the realistic, creating memorable characters that come to life not only because of their eccentricities, but because of Quarrington's very palpable fondness for them. In LOGAN, his characters feel half-finished, coasting by on their oddness, and not creating any real empathy with the reader. It's not the subject matter: Kinsella achieved a far greater story with his similar IOWA BASEBALL CONFEDERACY. There, as in LOGAN, unusual, somewhat magical events are mixed with a story surrounding a single game, but Kinsella balances his mystical-realism with a flair for fully-functioning characters that exist long after the tale is ended. Here, the effort is half-baked, as if Quarrington read Kinsella's novel, changed baseball to hockey, and hoped the rest would fall into place. Sadly, he fails.

I'd read Whale Music by Paul Quarrington and loved it, so when I spotted "Logan in Overtime" I gave it a go. I never laughed out loud for so long since losing a number of tickle contests as a kid.

I'd always known that Goalies were a little strange - my perspective being old enough that I'd known a couple of kids who would play without masks or padding. They were nuts. Logan is such a goalie - nuts.

The premise is that Logan is a fellow with an alcohol problem and some minor dementia. He believes that space aliens (are there any other kind?)are out to get him. He is also a semi-professional goalie in a hockey league with a minor problem. They have no overtime rule for their play-offs. Everyone plays until the game is over (kind of like European soccer, I guess).

The team he plays for is mentioned in a book by the same author, "King Leary" which is a lot easier to find, let me tell you. In fact, I'd be very interested in finding a copy of "Logan" if that were at all possible...

Ok let me start by saying that I read tons of books-in my own collection I have well over 500 paperbacks.. As far as the love story goes, this book is good-and for that reason I'm giving it 2 stars... But god, Logan really needs to work on her writing. I liked how we knew what the characters where thinking, I really enjoyed the dialogue between the characters-they were great, I especially loved the little girl. But, scene transitions were horrible!! I mean, one minute there is a noise, next minute there's a campfire and a tied up "bad guy." The first time it happened, I just figured the editor cut parts out, but after having it happen again and again, I started to get really annoyed...I mean the heroine gets kidnapped and we don't get to experiance that???? Come on, give us something... Things were just too snappy-important parts were skipped....

If your looking for a good love story, read this, because it really does have a good story. If you want something that is easy to follow, don't go for this-it leaves you guessing...

I'd give the love story a 5 star rating, but unfortunetly the writing leaves much to be desired...

Cait can bring you right into the world of long ago in America, the trials, tribulations and you picture the people and their homes and lives in your mind while reading. After reading the Wedding Gamble I went on line searching for more the the rarely available books that she has written. Her research makes it more believeable that anyone could imagine. You live their lives while reading the book

The A10 Warthog was manufactured by Fairchild Republic. Without the Fairchild Aircraft Company, there would not have been a A10.......so why in the world would you title it the Republic's A10... where in the world do you get your information ?

This follows the typical pattern of Don's books, with lots of colour photos of squadron aircraft - mainly taken on operational pans. Excellant, if you want a central reference for the colours and markings for the aircraft.

This is the best book on the A-10 I've ever seen. It is packed full of info, lots of stuff that you couldn't find elswhere. Its has full listings of squadrons, inluding ANG and AFRE. Its only downside is that over half the pictures are squadron pics, which show an A-10 on the ground, doing nothing. Overall this book is great for any A-10 anthusiest.

Another book that is not worth the paper it is printed on.

I wish I hadn't opened the CD encasing so I could return it and get my money back. Unfortunately, it was required for an AfterEffects class last term and I had no choice. By the end of the class even the instructor gave up on the book. This term the instructor went back to the Classroom in a Book even though it's for AE 5.0, and rightfully so.

The examples are impossible to follow, the support files are incomplete. It's just a pain to learn from.

This book is not very good if you are a brand new user to After Effects. I found myself continuously going to the help button to find the item the book told me to use. I thought about selling it back as a used book, but I didn't want to be responsible for someone else wasting their money. Do not buy this book unless you already know the basics in After Effects. There are some good tips, but that was not why I bought this; I had never used After Effects and thought this was a step by step tutorial.

i should have read all the reviews not just the first one. i didnt like this book at all.

I am an Elvis fan and got this book as a gift for my birthday. I'm sure a lot of work went into it, but it's not actually an Elvis quiz book. At least I didn't have to pay for it, so I suppose it could have been worse.

Moore & Scott have a real winner with the Ultimate Elvis Quiz Book. It is a very unique way to learn about Elvis. More importantly, it is just a lot of fun doing the clever puzzles. A bonus is the great pictures, most of which are rarely seen. There are books available about all aspects of Elvis' life, but this one is totally different from all the others. All Elvis fans should have this book.

After years of agonizing near misses, the common man's poet, William Logan, finally discharges the poetic equivalent of "Springtime for Hitler." Logan's verse has always been remarkable for the simple rhymes, predictable structures, sloppy word choice and desperate, cloying neediness. This time, somehow, Logan turns all of those hideous tendencies into a hilariously comic satire on academic verse with a collection of mulch-pile ditties so lifelessly bombastic that it screams "I was born in an MFA workshop."

I laughed so hard as I read this book that I almost wet my pants. Logan has finally done something worthwhile with his life. Can the Broadway musical of "Vain Empires" be far behind?

Vain Empires is not quite as good as Logan's book Night Battle; nevertheless it is still excellent--stunning heightened language in the best modernist style; reading Logan is like reading a version of Geoffrey Hill that makes more immediate sense (not, of course, to denigrate the venerable Hill). Logan's accessibility combined with his craftmanship with rhythm--his song-poems are especially stunning--is gorgeous, and makes for very readable poems. Combined with his Keats-like disassociation of sensibility, Logan's depressed suburban vision makes for a very unique book of poems.

Comparisons by other reviewers to so-called 'academy verse' are completely wrong; they apparently have never been near an MFA program. I wish to God MFA programs produced poems with language as careful as this.

Also, the particular example below ('shopping cart') is not only out-of-context, but carefully selected from the worst poem in the book. I can't imagine what would motivate this kind of selective reviewing except for the fact that Logan, as a critic, tends to skewer other authors in print. This makes for a lot of personal animosity on the part of other writers, and--although its not really a fair argument to make--may be behind the strange responses below.

The oranges swell within the Age of Reason.
Across the rusted screen, pad by silk pad,
the gecko presses claim upon the eye,

black heart soaking through its papery skin...

These two need to give me a break. They sound like free verse cry babies who couldn't get a poem published if they paid for it. This book is probably not the best example of Logan's abilities, but it's better than most of what passes for poetry today by the same MFA graduates that are referenced in the first review. OK, I adimit there are generally not shopping carts at shopping malls and I've never seen or thought about seeing malls or carts discussing the art of death. You can always find one stupid example in every book of poetry. But in "Nocturne Galant" there's the following stanza: "I promised her that I'd be faithful/ with all my faithless heart/ for a month or until next Tuesday/ Love lies, and so does art." Which I think makes up for cart/mall analogy. Believe me I'm no expert, but I know decent poetry when I read it. And as for Logan being the poet of the "common man"! Where is the reviewer getting that? Most poetry today is so below even common that Logan seems like a prodigy. So change your diaper curl up with your dog-earred copy of "Howl"

In reading this anthology, I realized why I tend to stay away from short stories: even good authors may be unable to create a worthwhile story in relatively few pages. There is definitely a talent and also a honed skill needed to accomplish character development and sufficient plot in the space allotted. I initially picked up this book because the title led me to believe that the stories might be fun, funny, amusing...which they are not in any way -- rather the stories are all quite serious and not what I expected (as others have noted the blurbs on the back cover are untrue.) In one story a woman wants to have sex with a male slut she somehow learned about because she thinks she is dying -- how is that naughty? In another, a woman trying to divorce her scary husband has not-very-exciting sex with a stranger in a bar and we then follow them as they try to extricate her from her marriage. The last story about the woman who has sex for the first time with a man who yelled at her for "encouraging" a near rape while sunbathing fully clothed left me cold. Susan Johnson is the first author in the book and recognizing her name and her usually good stories led me to expect a lot more than is delivered here. I usually enjoy her work, but in this case I actively hated the story almost by the 10th page. Johnson takes what I consider her worst characteristic -- a tendency to be a little too anatomically descriptive -- and makes it into the entire story. This piece consists of a couple engaging in constant unemotional sex without any foreplay, which is not of interest, I would think, to most readers in this genre. More importantly, the sex scenes are BORING! Then she throws in some military/political hooha just to give it some kind of plot. The story would have been much more interesting had it acutally followed the plot listed on the back cover in which debutantes make the bet, rather than bored society matrons in Vienna. Save your money and buy a good Susan Johnson book, rather than this anthology.

Although short stories aren't always the truest introduction to an author, I've read enough Susan Johnson to realize that I'm not going to read her anymore. She is the best-known author in this anthology, but her story is the worst. As another reviewer has already pointed out, the book blurb regarding her story is totally deceptive. Her characters are shallow, their relationship unfathomable, and the language used in the sex scenes is jarring, considering the time setting of this story.

The story by Leandra Logan, seemed as though there was too much story trying to be crammed into too few pages, so the story felt choppy to me. The initial sex scene set up as a one-night-stand didn't seem true to the female lead. There were some interesting secondary characters, but the story form is just too short to allow adequate development of that many characters.

I felt that the stories by Adrianne Lee and Anne Marie Winston were the best of the bunch. The characters were better developed, the sexual tension better maintained, and storyline flowed better. I would recommend the book for the sake of these authors. I don't know if they have written anything else, but I'm certainly going to find out.

I wanted this book for the story by one of my favorite authors,Susan Johnson, but to my delight I found "Winner Take All" by Adrianne Lee. This story really drew me into the characters. I found Mitch to be a totally believable hero. He struggles to prove an important point to his business partner (along with winning a bet!) and in doing so, matures as a "whole" man rather than a male lead by his "other parts". He finds himself confronted with a special woman who truly touches his heart...but she wants to touch so much more! Talk about FUN conflict! I was so impressed by Ms. Lee's characters I've decided to add her works to my "To Be Read" pile.

I have been traveling around Egypt by 4WD, along the Nile valley and also in the Eastern and the Western Deserts. I took this book and found it useless -- worse than useless, in fact, because it is so inaccurate and out of date that it is dangerous to rely on. I recommend instead a good map such as that by Freytag + Berndt.

This atlas is way out of date (i.e., 1996) and not for the serious drive-yourself traveler. Be aware that most road identification signs are in Arabic, with only the major routes identified in English. I suggest using an up-to-date map, such as the Bartholomew World travel Map series - obtainable in bookstores located in Egypt.

We returned this very thin volume almost immediately. It is essentially a road atlas for Egypt, and doesn't give any other information at all. If we'd been planning to drive out in the desert, this would have been great to have. We weren't.

I just completed a three week trip to Egypt. Some of the areas I visited included Cairo, Sharm el-Sheik, Mt. Sinai, Western Desert, Alexandria, Luxor and Aswan. While the book does have solid information regarding places to stay, restaurants to eat at, Internet cafes, etc., it does not provide its readers with a good, thorough backgrounder on each of the areas I visited. This can especially be said for the temples visited in Luxor and Aswan. The book really didn't give you a feel of the history behind what you were looking at. In addition, it was not complete in that certain monuments were described while others didn't even make it into the book, it seems. What makes things particularly worse is that information you would expect to be physically near to each other is all over the book. One thing that had me a bit angry was a lack of information about the bus system and a lack of detail on the scarcely available maps. If I were to make one recommendation, it would be to have a nice, detailed map of each area of Egypt one would visit.

This book was recommended by the Egyptian agency which was helping us plan an independent tour. I quickly saw why. It is a concise, practical guide, giving down-to-earth accessible information. The general introduction to the history, geography, economy, and culture of Egypt, while only about 30 pages long, provides an appropriate starting point for a visitor along with a 3 page list of recommended readings for travelers who want or need more in-depth information (Susan Wilson's "Culture Shock! Egypt" would be a useful addition to the list). The brief overview of temple/tomb architecture and of the gods/goddesses (with handy line drawings) was especially helpful when fatigue led to information blur later in the trip. The "Facts for the Visitor" section was indispensible as it provided basic information on everything from visas to money to toilets. The metric conversion table inside the back cover was a blessing! The advice for women travelers and for traveling with children was especially helpful for us (a party of 2 women/2 young teens). The cautions perhaps encouraged us to be too guarded at first, but they also allowed us to gradually relax into our comfort zone with very few unpleasantries. The actual guide to places, sites, and activities suited our needs well. The maps provided were clear and helpful; the descriptions, histories, and commentaries of the various sites and locations interesting. The amount of information provided was quite appropriate (one, after all, has to be able to carry the book conveniently about). Where we felt we needed more information, we simply bought something more extensive on the spot or made a note to look for resources upon returning home. The information provided on Internet cafes was a godsend, if a bit fiddly to find; listing all the cafes in a single section or at least including a page number for each city in the table of contents or index would be most welcome. All in all, this was the most used guide that we took with us. It will definitely return with me next time.

I am planing another trip to Egypt, and am considering taking this lonely planet along, as well as the new and much improved rough guide 2001. my last trip, the rough guide was the most serviceable, and the new edition is much better. don't bother with lets go. I loved egypt, and am off again this fall. Both the rough guide and lonely planet are thin on recomendations for day guides in cario, but they are there, hidden in the chapters. justine who loves to travel