After reading the book A House Divided by Michael Phillips and Judith Pella, I learned that it was really an interesting love story. It takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. Anna Burenin is a young servant girl who goes through many trials and tribulations. She is torn between the man she loves and her family, hence the name A House Divided. If you have a hard time following stories I would not recommend this book for you unless you don't mind taking notes. Personally, I think that book is worth taking notes.

Anna's love interest is Prince Sergei who's reign over his vast empire is being threatened by a revolution. Anna's brother Paul is part of the revolution to overthrow the Prince's reign and win back the Motherland. Although she loves her brother dearly and doesn't want to tear her family apart, she understands that what her brother is doing is very wwwwrong. Anna knows in her heart that Prince Sergei doesn't deserve the way he's being treated. Anna also faces the reality that her best friend Katrina is in love with the Prince too. The only person Anna can rely on now is God. Her faith and trust in God is all she has top get her through this.

Will she choose a great new future with her Prince or will she choose her family who raised her and has always been there for her? I think that the decision will definitely suprise you.

Book two of the Russians series has action, romance, friendship and best of all, an interesting storyline.

This series is typically categorized by bookstores as "religious fiction". I will say that there is an underlying message about God (after all religion plays a huge part of Russian history) but it was simply woven into the story subtly and relevantly. I have read other Pella books and found this to be the case with them as well.

This book was the start of my infatuation with historical fiction and I am thankful for it. I do recommend all seven in the series with five stars - read them, although it may take a while!

As you probably guessed after reading my review of the first book in the "Russians" series, I grabbed the second one up as quickly as I could...and I certainly wasn't disappointed. The book begins right where the first one left off, and it quickly presents us with new changes and challenges that the chracters are facing. Prince Sergei and Anna's relationship is a major component of this novel-it is talked about more than it was in the first novel. Paul Burenin, Anna's brother, also takes a much bigger part in this novel, and his revolutionary ideas that had begun to take root in the last novel are now the only causes he's living for. I thought the authors did an excellent job of portraying Paul and his conflicting thoughts about sacrifices for the revolutionary cause, and his anguished wonderings about what lengths he will go to as he fights for change. And Katrina's love life takes a few new turns...but I can't really say anymore. All I can say is that, if anything, the history in this book is more masterfully blended into the story than it was in the last book, and anyone who loved the first book in this series MUST read the second!

First, this cookbook won a julia child cookbook award. That is always a good sign. The book is a large book with glossy wipe-able pages (something I love in cookbooks). It lies fairly flat altho with its paperback binding I am sure after lying flat a number of times on the same page, its bound to crack. It lies fairly flat towards the middle of the book altho at either end, its more of a challenge.

The beginning is a guide to healthful eating with a focus on fresh ingredients, moderate to low fat and lower sodium. Some dishes would be very hard to fit into a low carb life style as that isnt the focus..altho if you were low carbing with more of a focus on watching your glycemic index this book would work out much better.

There are many color pictures of the dishes. Most full page and opposite the recipes. There is a bit of an intro prior to the recipe. Sometimes about why a cooking method was chosen or about an unusual ingredient. Along the side of the pages are snipits called *cooking clinic* about how to choose produce, or how to preform a technique etc...or a *nutrition note* about a specific ingredient.

The layout of recipes is ingredients down one side and cooking method down the other. I prefer ingredients on top and cooking at the bottom. I find it less confusing but it is a personal preference. The recipes take up the whole page so the size of the font and layout puzzles me a bit. It could have been much bigger and easier to read...there is half a page of blank space on a considerable number of pages. When Im cooking I dont want to be switching back and forth with my reading glasses all the time......That said, they are fairly easy to read.

I have tried an enjoyed several soups. Chicken and orzo, lentil, and split pea. They were all very good! Most people, I think would be used to more salt and could add it if necessary. The roasted pepper sauce is very good. There is a recipe for lime scallops with orzo that I made with shrimp instead. It was really very good also.. Its quite low in sodium but the tang of the lime dims your need for the salty flavor. I didnt miss it with this one.

There is a section on what they call finishes... and they classify them as breakast-y, brunch-y...even a dessert. But they really have more of an appeal as a breakfast item. Whole wheat popovers with prune puree wont float the boat of many of my guests, frankly. Other more reasonable dessert choices woule be some of their fruit options.

Over all a very good book, with some minor design flaws. I can see this book fitting in to a number of popular diet plans as well as for the person who would just like to add a few more halthful items to their menus

I first viewed this book in-store and fell in love with the pictures and the luscious sounding food. A few weeks later I ordered a copy and immediately began using it. With a couple of exceptions, everything I've made from this cookbook has been a little off, flavor-wise. Although I still love this cookbook, I use it as more of a guide, since I know I will have to make some modifications in order for the food not to be bland. I do not recommend this book for anyone who is somewhat uncomfortable in the kitchen or just learning to cook. With the blandness that I've found in many of the recipes, an inexperienced cook may believe they've done something wrong or be afraid to experiment. But if you love having a basic recipe and then making it your own, I would recommend this, as it has definitely helped me cook more healthy foods.

The Mayo Clinic Cookbook was given to me as a gift from a friend who also loved it. The recipes have comprehensive nutrition analyses, and a color picture of every dish showing the individual portion size. This is very helpful, you can browse through and see what you're in the mood for. Their preparation times don't seem to correspond to a home kitchen, I wouldn't rely on them. The recipes are all very tasty, but I have found that the assortment of spices they use are very limited. They use black pepper to an extreme. I no longer use a recipe straight from the book without analysing the spices they suggest first. Changing the flavoring with different spices does not affect the nutritional value of the recipe, it just allows you to adapt the flavor to your individual palate. I have been able to control my blood pressure, reduce my blood cholesterol, lose weight, and save money, all by using this cookbook exclusively for three months. Try it. I'm back here to buy three more to give to friends this Christmas!

With so many different Lovecraft collections out there, it may help prospective buyers to know what's actually in this one:

[By S. T. Joshi and James Turner:] Editorial Note; [By Joshi:] Introduction; Dreams and Fancies [an introduction to the following group of H. P. Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Little Glass Bottle [a short story written during childhood]; The Secret Cave [a short story written during childhood]; The Mystery of the Grave-Yard [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; The Mysterious Ship [a novelette-styled story written during childhood]; A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson [a literary parody]; Old Bugs [a literary parody]; Memory [a prose poem]; Nyarlathotep [a prose poem; not to be confused with his later verse poem retelling with the same title]; Ex Oblivione [a prose poem]; What the Moon Brings [a prose poem]; Sweet Ermengarde [a literary parody]; The Very Old Folk [an excerpted recounting of a dream from a letter he wrote to someone]; History of the Necronomicon [a literary parody]; Ibid [a literary parody]; Discarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" [the surviving portion of an early draft of one of his great novelette]; The Battle That Ended the Century [a literary parody written in collaboration with R. H. Barlow]; Collapsing Cosmoses [a round robin literary parody written with Barlow]; The Challenge from Beyond [Lovecraft's contribution to a pulp magazine's round robin short story]; [By Joshi:] The Weird Fantasist [an introduction to the following group of Lovecraft selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Commonplace Book [the text of the notebook Lovecraft maintained for recording ideas for future stories]; Lord Dunsany and His Work [an essay]; Notes on Writing Weird Fiction [an essay]; Some Notes on Interplanetary Fiction [an essay]; In Memoriam: Robert Ervin Howard [a remembrance of Robert E. Howard]; [By Joshi:] Mechanistic Materialist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Idealism and Materialism -- A Reflection [an essay]; Life for Humanity's Sake [a reply to other writers]; In Defence of Dagon [the collected replies to correspondence disparaging his short story "Dagon"]; Nietzscheism and Realism [a collection of excerpts edited by Sonia Greene from Lovecraft's letters to her]; The Materialist Today [an essay]; Some Cause of Self-Immolation [an essay]; Heritage or Modernism: Common Sense in Art Forms [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Literary Criticism [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Metrical Regularity [a commentary]; The Vers Libre Epidemic [a commentary]; The Case for Classicism [a reply to another writer]; Literary Composition [a guide]; Ars Gratia Artis [a commentary]; The Poetry of Lilian Middleton [a commentary]; Rudis Indigestaque Moles [a commentary]; In the Editor's Study [a commentary]; The Professional Incubus [a commentary]; The Omnipresent Philistine [a commentary]; What Belongs in Verse [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Political Theorist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Crime of the Century [an essay]; More Chain Lightening [an essay]; Old England and the "Hyphen" [an essay]; Revolutionary Mythology [a commentary]; Americanism [an essay]; The League [a commentary]; Bolshevism [an essay]; Some Repetitions on the Times [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Antiquarian Travels [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] Vermont -- A First Impression [an essay]; Observations on Several Parts of America [an essay and literary parody]; Travels in the Provinces of America [an essay and literary parody]; An Account of Charleston [an essay and literary parody]; Some Dutch Footprints in New England [an essay]; Homes and Shrines of Poe [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Amateur Journalist [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] In a Major Key [a commentary]; The Dignity of Journalism [a commentary]; Symphony and Stress [a reply to another writer]; United Amateur Press Association: Exponent of Amateur Journalism [a guide]; Les Mouches Fantastique [a commentary]; For What Does the United Stand? [a commentary]; Amateur Journalism: Its Possible Needs and Betterment [the text of a speech]; What Amateurdom and I Have Done for Each Other [a commentary]; Lucubrations Lovecraftian [an ensemble of commentaries and replies to other writers]; A Matter of Uniteds [a commentary]; Mrs. Miniter -- Estimates and Recollections [a remembrance]; Some Current Motives and Practices [a commentary]; [By Joshi:] Epistolarian [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] (without listing each one, six letters-to-the-editor and three private letters); [By Joshi:] Personal [an introduction to the following group of selections]; [By Lovecraft:] The Brief Autobiography of an Inconsequential Scribbler [a commentary]; Within the Gates [the text of a speech]; A Confession of Unfaith [a commentary]; Commercial Blurbs [a collection of advertising copy]; Cats and Dogs [an essay]; Some Notes on a Nonentity [an essay]; [By Joshi:] Bibliography [a listing of the sources for the Lovecraft texts used in this volume]

(I've somewhat arbitrarily drawn a distinction above between "essay" and "commentary". By the former, I mean more or less self-standing nonfiction pieces; by the latter, nonfiction pieces that refer to the periodical in which they were to be placed or to a specialized audience being addressed.)

As one can see, this is one long and complicated hodgepodge of selections. There's good news and bad news here.

The good news is that this book brings into a collected bound volume many interesting pieces, including certain works of short fiction that were omitted from Arkham House's four volumes of Lovecraft's fiction, that were either long out of print or only available in chapbooks from tiny specialty publishers (mainly Necronomicon Press).

The bad news is what this book isn't. It purports to fill in the fictional pieces omitted in the same publisher's forementioned four-volume set, yet in turn omits two Lovecraft collaborations, "The Hoard of the Wizard-Beast" and "The Slaying of the Monster", that were (finally) first published the year before in chapbook form. Moreover, Arkham House, which was originally established to publish and promote the writings of Lovecraft, should be publishing multiple organized collections of Lovecraft's complete works, not a crazy quilt omnibus that in effect belittles his literary importance.

The editor of this collection, S. T. Joshi, is not to blame here: He'd love to edit a systematically arranged, complete set of the works of Lovecraft. Blame the August Derleth Estate, which controls Arkham House and seems to prefer publishing mediocre s/f anthologies to properly honoring Lovecraft.

This is the final volume to date in Arkham House's decades-long effort to get Lovecraft between hard covers. With a literary style honed on the finest 18th Century models, Lovecraft is a continuously interesting writer, and this volume covers a vast miscellany of his output, from hilarious dime-novel imitations written by the pre-teen Lovecraft, to some of the last heartrending notebook entries from just before his untimely death. If you love Lovecraft, you need this one.

Miscellaneous Writings is an extensive and impressive collection of works by the famous and ground-breaking horror author H. P. Lovecraft, who is perhaps best known for creating Great Cthullu and other primordial cosmic entities. This volume compiles Lovecraft's little-known letters, essays, short stories, and much more spreading the gamut from nonfiction to personal to instructional to commentaries on social issues. To put it plainly, this Arkham House edition of H.P. Lovecrafts' Miscellaneous Writings is a mandatory addition to the reading list of dedicated Lovecraft fans and scholars who would learn more about this enigmatic and influential author through his erudite and deftly penned correspondences and writings.

This book is a very valuable resource for teenage girls on the cusp of womanhood. The writing is accessible and addresses a wide spectrum of highly relevant issues, particularly ones that most girls are uncomfortable discussing with their parents. Parents: buy this book for your daughter and it may facilitate important discussions. Even if it doesn't, it is sure to answer questions that are on her mind, and yours. Bravo to Gray and Phillips!

Beauty, body image, eating disorders, sexuality, and a myriad of complex associated issues fill the pages of this book. It's fact-filled and teen-friendly.

Nice touches include quotes from real girls. They are poignant and articulate: "It's upsetting to me that I wasted so much time and energy on anorexia." says one 17 year old. "The things that aren't perfect give you personality." says a 16 year old. "I stand up for myself when I need to." says a 14 year old.

Real Girl/Real World contains information, facts and resources in an easy-to-read style that doesn't talk down to young people. The authors define key terms, discuss different sides to some issues (Barbie, abortion), and insert brief case studies to illustrate important points.

There's straight talk about labels, such as sluts and studs, and each chapter includes books and resources for further information. Real Girl/Real World is a welcome addition to a teen's bookshelf. It's appropriate for approximately ages 13-21.

The book would make a great gift for a high school senior or college freshman!

Want a book that will serve the facts up as they really are? Try out this book "Real Girl/Real World." This book covers a wide range of topics from anatomy to sexuality. I think it is probably most suited for high school age girls, and possibly college freshman who may need some enlightenment before leaving for school. For those out there who aren't lucky enough to have open parents to talk to, this book is essential for the facts and the "do"s and "don't"s of womanhood. I especially found the first chapter on the beauty standard interesting. The authors, Gray and Phillips, challenge society and propose suggestions that point to why women are the way they are. They talk about the role models of beauty, why beauty is perceived as important, and eventually come to conclude how useless the beauty standard really is. Filled with pictures and small boxes of cute side info, this book is a good read from cover to cover. I found that I could read it in one sitting without getting bored (which is better than any normal sex and sexuality "textbook" can say). I'd like to see this book become a standard on any shelf of textbooks in a health classroom. Cheers to Gray and Phillips!

If you have little or no background in Latin, then this book will only serve to confuse and frustrate you. The introduction claims that it is meant for students with two years in Latin, and if you have had this much Latin, then you should have enough knowledge of the classical grammar systems to simply re-apply it to the Greek language. WIthout this background, or without a great instructor, you will be lost, because Chase & Philips most often introduces a knew form, gives one or two paradigms for it, and nothing else. Rarely are there examples and even more rare are parallels to English given so that you can figure out the essential basic translations. Beginners beware!

When I first started with Chase & Phillips I became very frustrated. I was used to language courses that employed repition. This book contains little to no repitition.

As unpopular as the notion is, only hard work will get you through this book. Unlike other coursebooks, however, this one will remain useful after you have finished the course. The books lack of repition is due to its systematic introduction of key concepts. Its terse style gives you exactly what you need to know, when you need to know it. The way you progress when you follow this book page-by-page is uncanny. It was written 100 years ago and hasn't been updated much at all. There is very little that one could add. I am a third year student of Greek, and still use the one copy that I purchased years ago. It is no longer a textbook to me, but a reference tool. That is what lends this text so much versatility and longevity.

As a beginning student in the Greek language it at first seemed an insurmountable task to learn such a language that is "Greek" to me. With a very different and imposing alphabet I thought that it would be hard to come by. Not so with Chase and Phillips text.

Even though I am still in the beginning chapters of this text, it is arranged in a very user friendly format, and the first three chapters are arranged so that it is not too complex or overwhelming, so as not to discourage, but to encourage the student to continue on with a bit of self-esteem.

I have not had the time to really compare the differences between this and Athenaze (the other Greek text) but from what I have seen and heard, the Chase and Phillips excels the Athenaze in most every aspect of the texts. I would highly recommend this text to anyone who is interested in learning CLASSICAL Greek based on the ease and friendly format of this text.

So often the essence of Hispanic culture, especially when addressing Mexico, Central and South America, is referred to as "Magical Realism". Whether referring to the literature of Marquez, Allende, Arenas, the paintings of Kahlo, Rivera, Bravo, Marquez, Borges, or the music of Ginestera, et al - the unifying element usually refers to this genre. Few authors have been successful in describing the origins or even the meaning of the term...that is, until John Phillip Santos elegantly warm memoir PLACES LEFT UNFINISHED AT THE TIME OF CREATION. Santos revisits his history through the immediacy of immigrant (yet unaltered) Old Ladies, creating from their tales a lush, incendiary canvas of passion, faith, commitment, hardship, and resilience. He adroitly mixes the two languages (Spanish and English) with finesse, at times translating for the non-Spanish reader, and at times allowing the beauty of his Spanish phrases to sing for themselves. This book is a paean to the sanctity of the souls of the immigrants who have endured the agony of expatriation, who have entered El Norte to find, if not their fortunes, then their integrity as human beings. This beautifully written book should be on the shelves of the libraries of schools throughout the USA...but it should also be in the library of everyone who wonders about the beauty of the Hispanic heritage - which for lack of a better name we call Magical Realism.

JP Santos is a master of the human language. In this day and age of bestseller who-cares-who-done-its it's refreshing to see a masterpiece of literature emerge to the forefront. This is a must read for anyone serious about literary excellence.

An amazingly eloquent book. The book reads like poetry, and has a language rarely seen in today's writing. Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation is truly one of the most beautifully written books of 1999. It is not your typical book written for a limited reader. The prose are prolific and wrought with amazing imagery. It is so refreshing to read a book written by someone with such a gift for language. Places Left Unfinished paints a very interesting and accurate story of a culture in transition, through the story of a family in touch with its past and exploring its future. This is truly a book lover's book!

This book contains excellent material, which shows what way to look if you want to increase your productivity/profitability. The whole approach is very customer-oriented, which makes it possible to avoid distinguishing between manufacturing and service businesses (and thus getting lost in irrelevant details). The concept of quality the way that Crosby presents it is fairly universal to all types of businesses. This lets one see to the bottom of the quality issue, which is essential for true understanding.

I found very useful the idea that quality should be observed in all business activities, not only customer-specific (e.g. hiring, bookkeeping, etc. vs programming). If this is neglected then the firm simply does not know the true cost of quality. Seems to be so obvious, but ask yourself if you really think of it this way. Also very useful is the suggested way to measure quality in dollars, instead of indirect measurements, like defects-per-KLOC and such. After all, everything boils down to money, and that's the only real indicator of performance.

The weak point of this book is its language: it is a little bit hard to read, especially if English is not native to you. It would be much better if it were written in decent English, instead of US spoken.

Another pitfall is a somewhat free use of terminology. Thanks to this, many authors argue that the book message is not (entirely) correct, but the point is that some of its statements should not be taken literally. One needs to grasp the true meaning, which Crosby attaches to some of his words, like "requirements".

I rate that book with 4 stars only because of readability, which could be better. The contents deserves full 5 stars, and I consider it a must-read for all managers.

The author has figured out that it is traditionally difficult to have a meaningful, real-life, factual discussion on sex, quality and other complicated subjects until some basic erroneous assumptions are examined and altered.

"The first erroneous assumption is that quality means goodness, or luxury, so shininess, or weight. We must define quality as conformance to requirements if we are to manage it. The second erroneous assumption is that quality is an intangible and therefore not measurable. In fact, quality is precisely measurable by the oldest and most respected of measurements - cold hard cash", says the author. For example, "It is much less expensive to prevent errors than to rework, scrap or service them".

This book does not only have theoretic approach, but also brings practical value. It offers a quality improvement program that can be installed in any service or manufacturing company.

Philip Crosby's "Quality Is Free", first published in 1979, influences the book "Business @ Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates, released twenty years afterwards. With a bright set of modern case studies, he illustrates the basic concepts presented by Philip Crosby:

- There is absolutely no reason for having errors or defects in any product or service.
- Basically, we are slow to change because we reject newness.
- Transmitting: how you come across to others should not be left to chance.
- It is much less expensive to prevent errors than to rework, scrap or service them.
- Business is ... communication that we control and utilize. The effectiveness of the business is determined by how well we do that data transmission.

In the same year when the Bill Gates's book was published, Philip Crosby exposes his own case studies entitled "Quality and Me: Lessons from an Evolving Life".

Tchiker tesk miserka-masurkayet...matzurkae! Tchet, yeteMUSS! Blazkir ye Fzjieste cozte lidenczery, yetemire. Diskzt muzsye ister neueyrnz. Me ye yetskirmire!

The book was a good read but it took too long to get to the point to me. I like how the main character was confedent about herself.

Heroine: very tall, abundant

Mississippi-born, Compton-bred, and now based in upscale Cerritos, Miss Queenisha Renae Sutton is doing very well for herself as a buyer for Macy's. But she'd like more going on in her personal life. For starters, how about finally meeting a man worthy of being with her?

Lured by her best friend, self-styled voodoo priestess Poetta, to a charity bachelor auction with promises of meeting the delicious Billy Dee Williams, Queenie winds up instead buying a date with drop-dead gorgeous Denzel-look-alike Zeke Washington. However the auction's promised single outing with him isn't enough for Queenie; she's made up her mind that she wants this man for good.

But dating the super-fine Zeke comes with a price even heftier than the $1250 check Queenie cut for the pleasure of his company. The question is: is he worth it?

What worked for me:

I would love to have friends like Queenie and Poe. They'd certainly make my life more interesting! Queenie was a riot and it was fun living in her head, but at the same time it was hard not to try and be her conscience and yell at her when she was about to do something she really shouldn't.

It was very easy to visualize the story's colorful, well-defined cast of characters. It wouldn't surprise me to one day see it at the cinema with luscious, lovely Latifah in the lead role.

Size-wise Queenie was very tall and quite bountiful; so don't judge this book by its cover, it does not do justice to Queenie's statuesque build.

What didn't work for me:

The story is in first person point of view and I was thrown off a bit at first when Queenie would switch from her casual dialogue to a more formal-sounding narration. But eventually I got used to it and began to relish the rich prose.

Some of the unexpected twists in this story were maybe a bit too twisted and over-the-top for my personal taste, but they still earn points just for being so unpredictable.

Overall:

"The High Price of a Good man" is sassy fun; a well-written multi-cultural novel which might also appeal to fans of Chick Lit and romance. Be sure to grab a copy this summer to take to the beach!

Warning: this book features some coarse language, weight-loss, and occult and sexual scenarios.

If you liked "The High Price of a Good Man" you might also enjoy "Good in Bed", "Commitments", "Living Large", or "Jemima J.".

This book was EXCELLENT! It is one of the best books I have read. It had me laughing out-loud. Queenie would tell it like it was and didn't care if your feelings were hurt or not. I don't want to give away too much of the book, but we have all been in Queenie's shoes when it comes to a man. Her girlfriend Poe is a trip. It's funny how a man can have you doing things you wouldn't normally do. Please read this book and when you get to the character of Brooda, please come back and write a review and let us know what you thought. That Brooda had me rolling on the floor.

Can't wait for Ms. Phillips next novel.

I bought the book, and interesting as it is, I'm just not sure what it's worth to me as a lover of literature and as a writer. I like seeing some of the original manuscripts, the various pictures, and such, but that really didn't enlighten me to anything. Yes, there is a small biographical introduction to each writer, but it's so short as to be almost pointless. This is the kind of book you check out of the library, not buy. I don't want anyone to think it's not a good collection. It is. But I can't in any good faith recommend someone spending this much money on something that really doesn't bring to light anything new or special about any one of these writers. It's just...well, it's just neat. If you want something special, then look elsewhere. If you just like spending money on neat books, then maybe this is for you.

This is a beautifully designed book that will satisfy every single literary peeping tom. Those voyeur pleasure spots will be rubbed just the right way with each intriguing entry. The book is a collection of pictures, short biographies and handwritten notes from a wonderful list of 100 writers. The doodles, the scribbled draft poems or the penciled revisions in the margins next to a picture of the poet allow the reader to experience a rare intimacy with the poet and his art. My favorite picture in the book is of Randall Jarrell holding his beloved "Kitten" in front of a mirror. Jarrell's eyes are looking with joy on the reflection of his cat and "Kitten's" eyes are glaring from the mirror directly at the reader. If you love literature and are intrigued with the creative process, you will love this book.

There is something magical about seeing well known and loved poems in the poet's own hand... this book provides an interesting insight into the works of a good number of well-known poets. A must-have for those who read poetry with more than just a passing interest, this book is also a good starting point for biographical information. Nice photographs, and, when necessary, captions transcribing the poets' sometimes illegible handwriting make this book a gem. Perfect for browsing.

A usual book review outlines something of the plot, not enough to give everything away, but at least something to catch a potential reader's fancy. I cannot assure you that this book has much of plot---some men come together to run a new bi-weekly magazine in New York in the 1880s, their financial backer has hickish, conservative tendencies and he opposes a certain impoverished writer who supports socialism (then a wild-eyed fantasy. This rich man's son, who abhors any form of business, is made into the managing editor. A crisis develops, takes a sudden unexpected turn, and the men buy out the backer, who leaves for Europe. Most novels have a main character whose moods and motivations are central to the work. Not A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES. Several people figure almost equally in this respect, none of them women, but women are developed more than in most male-authored novels of the time, even including a sympathetic view of a very independent female character. Basil March might be taken for the main character, but that would be mostly because he is introduced first. He is abandoned for long stretches while we follow the lives and personalities of others.

Yet, I must say, I admired Howells' novel very much. It is not for those who require action, sex, or dramatic events. Rather, it is a slice of life of the period, of the place, of family life and social repartee that may be unequalled. Though Howells claimed to be a "realist" and he is often spoken of, it seems, as one of such a school in American literature, the novel oscillates between extremely vivid descriptions of all varieties of life in New York, humanist philosophizing, and mild melodrama, thus, I would not class it as a truly realist novel in the same sense as say, "McTeague" by Frank Norris. Howells had the American optimism, the reluctance to dwell on the darker sides of human nature. This novel may draw accusations, then, of naivete. I think that would be short-sighted. Henry James and Faulkner might be deeper psychologically and Hemingway more sculpted, but Howells sometimes puts his finger right on the very essence of American ways of thinking and on American character. Some sections, like for instance the long passage on looking for an apartment in New York-over thirty pages---simply radiate genius. The natural gas millionaire and his shrewish daughter; the gung-ho, go-getter manager of the magazine; the dreamy, but selfish artists, the Southern belle---all these may be almost stock characters in 20th century American letters, but can never have been better summarized than here. Two statements made by Basil March, a literary editor married into an old Boston family, sum up the feel of A HAZARD OF NEW FORTUNES, a novel that takes great cognizance of the potential for change in people (always an optimist's point of view). First, he says, "There's the making of several characters in each of us; we are each several characters and sometimes this character has the lead in us, and sometimes that." And lastly, he says "I don't know what it all means, but I believe it means good." Howells was no doubt a sterling man and this, perhaps his best novel, reflects that more than anything else.

This title should be on the syllabus of every American lit class. Read it and you'll realize that the canon is as full of holes as a chuck of swiss cheese.

William Dean Howells in his lifetime was ranked with his friend,Henry James as a writer of a new realistic kind of fiction,and however mild and idealistic it seems today,was considered by its admirers as refreshingly revolutionary and by others as cynical meanspiritedness seeking to sacrifice all that was "noble" in art.While actually having little in common with James, (he seems to be closer in spirit to Trollope)Howells' name was always side by side with James' and it was probably supposed that their future reputations would share a similiar fate. Unfortunately,that was not the case-while Henry James is considered a giant of American belles lettres,Howells has been relegated to minor status and except by a happy few,little read."A Hazard of New Fortunes",possibly Howell's best work,is one of the better known-but most people aren't aware that it is one of the greatest works of fiction in American literature.It is an impressive panorama of American life towards the end of the last century.People from Boston,the west,the south and Europe all converge in New York to enact a comedy of manners or tragedy,depending on their fortunes,that compares in its scope and masterly dissection of society, with"The Way We Live Now".Howell's light irony touches upon the eternal divisions between the haves and the have-nots,male and female,the socially secure and the unclassed,and with the Marches,the book's ostensible heroes,uses a typical normal middleclass family-with all of its intelligence,understanding,decency on one side and with all of its pretensions,timidity,selfishness on the other-to reflect the social unease and lack of justice in a supposedly sane and fair world.The book is subtle in its power and underneath its light tone probes the problems of its day with compassion and insight.Indeed,many of the problems it depicts are still relevant today.William Dean Howells wrote so many novels of worth that he deserves to have more than just a cult following; "A Hazard of New Fortunes" amply illustrates this.