Such a shame that this book is going out of print! I was lucky enough to find a copy through the publisher after months of looking. I have quite a few of HWB, Annie's Attic, Needlecraft Shop Publications (they are all basically from the same publishing house) and many of them have received wishy washy reviews from me because there are as many uninteresting or horrid projects in them as there are gorgeous ones. This book is the EXCEPTION as just about everything makes you want to take out your yarn and hook and start crocheting! It is noteworthy to mention that the styling of the projects are not only cute and country-like as the title suggests but there are also many designs with a Victorian inspired feel to them. The variety and amount of projects in this book are abundant and the projects and pics are fantastic. There are far too many to mention them all....a gorgeous welcoming holiday mat, a warm and cozy ladies Christmas cardigan that is elegant and doesn't scream of tackiness, cute Christmas kitchen projects, tons of beautiful country and Victorian style ornaments, a flip-over Christmas dress doll (one side is a doll, the other a bear), a Victorian decorated Christmas tree...

Why this one is going out of print is beyond my comprehension but if you can find it get it!

If you love christmas and crocheting this book is a must.The patterns in this book will have you decorating for your home and gifts. The book has patterns that are easy take along projects to larger pieces.The instructions range from beginner to advanced, there is something for everyone. So grab this book,your hooks and yarn and start crocheting for your holidays.

This book was thoroughly fascinating. As I was reading it I felt as if I was being given a guided tour through the world's great museums and their collections of Egyptian, Hittite, and Mesopotamian artifacts. Admittedly, at first I was a little daunted since it appeared very specialized. I was delighted to discover that the author (Starbuck) has done a wonderful job of summarizing and explaining the complexities of the royal psalms for an avid reader of the scriptures. His own translations of court oracles as well as sections of Isaiah and 2 Samuel, together with detailed commentary, made these texts come alive in new and amazing ways. Prior to reading Court Oracles in the Psalms I had always found these texts confusing and distant. I can't wait to get to them now! Most exciting is the way in which the author explains the reappropriation of royal materials for common people, especially women! Why have we missed this for so many years?

Court Oracles in the Psalms is the most exhaustive and thorough treatment of the royal psalms in many decades. Its method of presentation is lively, yet concise; incisive, while judicious. Extremely well written, this volume will prove to be essential reading and study for the scholar as well as the student of the biblical psalms. The author cuts through a labyrinth of previous scholarly opinion and then offers a new definition of a "royal psalm" that is certain to become the new standard.

Enthusiastically recommended for scholars, teachers, pastors, and enterprising students.

"Cruel Miracles" (one section of "Maps in a Mirror," a huge hardcover that contains practically every short story OSC wrote up to its publication) is a good introduction to OSC, and very rewarding for long-time enthusiasts. Its stories deal with religious and ethical issues, which are, of course, a major theme in his writing. It also covers other standard territory: the gifted child, the troubled family, and the slow understanding of an alien culture.

No story in this volume is bad, though I personally found "Saint Amy's Tale" a bit confused and not equal to the others. "Saving Grace" and "Kingsmeat," on the other hand, are very powerful, and the award-winning "Eye for an Eye" is a moving character study.

Be warned: this book is not always pleasant to read; it contains some extremely disturbing images, especially in "Kingsmeat." But as an examination of the power of religion (for good or otherwise), it is invaluable.

In Cruel Miracles, Card touches upon the subject of religion, and his touch is not gentle. One might say that the book emphasizes the importance of religion and faith, but it also emphasizes the need to examine oneself (and others) constantly, not follow rules and regulations like sheep, as if blind faith is a commandment. The story I liked best is Saving Grace, although the revelations about TV preachers there may be hard to swallow; then again, those revelations are one of the things that contribute to the story's impact. The other is the realistic view of the rugged life of the people on the other side of the screen. While Saving Grace is best, both Eye for Eye and Holy are very close seconds, and the rest of the stories are not lightweights whatsoever. Thus, this book is one of the best I have ever had the pleasure of reading, and well worth buying. I recommend it to any science fiction/fantasy reader, and also to those who wish to ponder morality in religion a bit deeper than usual.

I have done quite a bit of crusing, fishing and diving but I always wanted to learn how to clean and prepare the fish myself. The book gave some very good insight into this but I didn't think it was detailed enough. The books starts out with the basics of fishing while crusing and then on to every theme possible: 1.) Fishing under power or sail 2.) Gear and Tackle (excellent drawings for knot tying) 3.)Offshore Trolling 4.)Adrift or Anchored 5.)Dingy Techniques 6.) Walking, Wading and Diving 7.) Tools and Nets 8.) Arranging your vessel for fishing 9.) Processing your catch 10.) Medical Considerations for the Crusing Fisher 11.) Getting the most from your new crusing skill 12.) A guide to Edible Fish and Invertebrates ( would be much better in color as I have not seen many fish come up black and white) 13.) Seafood recepies

If you are planning any type of crusing for a longer period of time. This is an absolute must have. A transatlantic or gulf stream crossing can sometimes get boring and knowing these skills take out a lot of the intimidation a lot of us have about fishing and cleaing our own catch.

This is an excelent source book for the voyaging sailor,or anyone, who wants to learn how to have better success when fishing the worlds oceans. The authors have cruised extensively aboard their yacht,Ian, and have a background in marine biology. They have a unique perspective into how you can increase your success rate in having fun while catching dinner. Topics cover equipment selection, tips for catching specific species, toxicity issues, and much more. Even if you are not cruising the Seven Seas, you will learn a lot about offshore fishing from this book. I reccomend it.

This is one book that I will never lend out. I fell in love with it after just reading the first few pages. Scott Cunningham writes with such warmth and sincerity. This book is chock full of information on almost everything you can find in the kitchen, and it even offers you suggestions on the magical uses of each food. As soon as I got it, I copied a bunch of the ideas down into my Book of Shadows. This is one book that you must have.

The original title of this re-release is "The Magic of Food" from 1990. Llewellyn has put this book back into print.

I love the opening lines "Food is essential to our lives. For many of us, the art of cooking and eating is a chore. For others, it is a great delight. And for some, the culinary arts and their products are indulgences. Food is substituted for love. Food is an excuse. Food is a god."

Scott explores all these aspects of food, as well as its magical properties and how this magic affects us and can be worked into our lives. The first part of the book is a small introduction to the magic of cooking, associations, tools, histories, practicing food magic and even some discussion on vegetarianism.

The meat and potatoes, if you will, of the book are the sections on specific types of foods. The foods are broken down into groups, like bread and grains, fruit, spices and herbs, etc. Common names, specific names, ruling planets, ruling elements, energies, lore and magical uses are explored, explained and looked at in its uses in magic and healthy living.

Mini-discussion on uses of salt in foods, substitutes for additives that do not promote overall good health, the healing qualities of foods, little known facts on food usages and food preparation make each of the topics covered interesting as well as useful.

"Nuts & Alleged Nuts . It is curious that one contemporary slang term for insanity is "nuts," as in, "That politician's gone nuts." In the past, these crunchy foods were thought to bestow wisdom, not mental derangement.*"

Footnote "*Then again, wisdom and insanity are often subjectively determined."

Scott's wit and humor are prevalent throughout the book as well as generous helpings of his wisdom and vast knowledge base.

And we are also treated to "Scott's Favorite Recipes". Appetizers, such as magic herb toast, beverages, desserts, main dishes. all here for you to consider and concoct in your own kitchen. Even magical soups and romantic salads are here for you to consider.

The book has a good table of contents, indexed, and contains a good glossary, tables of correspondences and bibliography. There is a mail order resource list which appears to be current, where you can get those hard to find ingredients.

Overall, a good book for your library, a better book for your kitchen and an essential book to have in your Cunningham library.

This book is awesome! The only bad thing is that the stories didnt last that long, but it was still awesome! All three stories are great, but my favorite was the first one, Mason & Erin. It was the perfect story. Anyways, it was real great reading about three different couples going to the same dance, and how it was different for all of them. And I also really liked how in each of the stories the same characters from the other stories were talked about (example: Michael & Caroline were in Mason & Erin's story, and vice versa. Also, Serena and David were in all three stories.). Anyways this was a great book, and you should definitelyget it!

All three of the stories in this book were awesome. The first is about a sophomore trying to get elected "queen" of this dance, just so she can dance once with her brother's best friend, the guy she likes. The second is about 2 class clowns who decide to go in gag outfits, but in a series of mix ups, they go in proper formal wear. The third story is about a foreign exchange student who has to leave the next day and has only this night to get together with the girl he's had a crush on since he got there. All three stories are good, and hilarious! Especially the one about Caroline and Michael, the class clowns. Even if you don't normally go for these kind of books, read this one. It's worth it.

Bringing back the very foundation of any story or novel. Zablackis brings to life the fantastic tale of man set out to save the universe. Filled with exploration, emotion, and passion Zablackis has created a classic that can be enjoyed by all. I've been a fan of his work for a long time and enjoyed some of his underground work and can hardly wait for his new upcoming novel.

This novel is amazing, although it does have it share of errors it can, and should be overlooked. The author of this book has an amazing view of the world of tomorrow. The book pulls you into the world of Adam Smith, a young and promising captian of the Earth Fleet. Earth is at war with an alien race, the Martyrs, they will die to recieve honor, they will kill to obtain it, and kill to regain it. Just as we thought our war could get no worse, a new foe comes into play, the Deseeds, they have the ultimate weapon. They wish to extinguish what they deem unholy, their war is that of a religious nature, and the war seems to be going their way...will humanity live, or wil we too be extinguished?

a must have for any deadhead! an excellent reference to any show or date or setlist. this book has it all. great for keeping those bootlegs in order. this will solve those 4 or 5 song mystery tapes with a complete setlist date and venue. i love it and so will you.

The Deadbase contains much need information for both the tape collector or die hard fan. Easy to use setlist and songs played sections allow information to be at your fingertips in seconds. An interesting stage banter section gives exact quotes for every band members stage chat said in between songs played. This must have guide gives tape collectors setlists for every show played in the Dead's 30 year history, and as a bonus includes Jerry's solo setlists. THe die hard fans guide of everything the dead did on state in their 30 year touring trip.

Deep Sky Wonders is a collection of issues spanning several decades of the late Walter Scott Houston's monthly column in Sky and Telescope magazine. The noted astronomer and author Stephen James O'Meara organized Houston's writings by subject matter and further by month of optimal viewing for better readability. O'Meara also only edited the text for consistency in a couple places, so it remains Houston's work. I think he did an excellent job in the compilation. A section on any given constellation or deep sky object may contain excerpts from many of Houston's articles, yet O'Meara managed to make the transitions seamless and got the flow right.

I read this book over about a month and it was a most enjoyable experience. Houston's writing is superb, which is not surprising considering he held degrees in English. Also, his love and enthusiasm for amateur astronomy comes through better than in any work I've read so far barring perhaps Burnham's wonderful Celestial Handbook. Houston knows the sky and was an active observer right up to his death in 1993.

Both beginning and veteran observers will enjoy using this work to plan observing sessions, to check what interesting or challenging objects are up during a session, or to read in a comfortable setting on a night of no observing. I plan to take this book with me on every observing session. Highly recommended!

Walter Scott "Scotty" Houston is a name many astronomers know well. Author of the Sky & Telescope Deep Sky Wonders column from 1946 until his death in December of 1993. He was a passionate amateur astronomer to the end of his long life. Houston's last column appeared in Sky & Telescope in July 1994 issue, and since that time, amateurs have had to scour back issues to excavate Houston's gold mine of observational knowledge. Enter Stephen James O'Meara. O'Meara has been on the staff of Sky & Telescope magazine since the late 70's, and was editor of Houston's column from 1990 until his death. O'Meara began the compilation by working with photocopies of the nearly 550 individual columns spanning Houston's career. He sorted, organized, and collated each of the works and produced a chapter for each month of the year, into which he inserted Houston's colorful prose, descriptive history, and observational commentary. O'Meara begins each section with some light annotation, but most of the words in this book are Houston's, and as a collection, they jell beautifully into a seasonal observer's guide that challenge Burnham's for the sheer elegance and depth of feeling that emanates from the pages. Upon receiving the book, I quickly turned my attention to a few of my favorite deep sky objects and marveled at the timelessness of Houston's descriptive prose. Before I knew it I had been reading for over an hour and could have spent several more lost in the beauty of Houston's finely knit web of description, quotes from other authorities, and the words of his readers. An example from his description of NGC2403, a little known but beautiful galaxy in Camelopardis:

"My 4-inch Clark refractor shows it as a lovely gem. I logged it as an "ocean of turbulence and detail" as seen with a 10-inch reflector under dark Kansas skies in the 1950's. In 1992 I saw it with a 20-inch telescope from the Florida Keys - a view that transformed it into a hurricane of cosmic chaos." (pp 28-29)

O'Meara's compilation of Houston's works has quickly taken its place as one of my favorite cloudy night books. It is also a valuable resource for planning observing sessions. It's organization by month lends itself well to selecting some prime targets for easy observing, with a generous does of difficult challenges for the more adventurous. This book is destined to be an instant classic.

Along with its amazing choice of words and indescribable wit, The Great Gatsby has become the greatest novel an American author has ever written. F. Scotts Fitzgerald's genuine look into "The Roaring Twenties" gives us a view of a "lost generation" of aristocratic life and the American dream. It must be analyzed and compared to our time in the late 1990's and early second millenia. This book is a classic not because critics revered its content, it is as great as it is because America embraced it. The novel deserves your attention and leaves you satisfied. So when Nick Carraway says "So we beat on, boats against the current, born back ceaselessly into the past," the reader would close their books and look at the front cover of the novel and feel a little bit more complete.

The Great Gastby is simply captivating! It pulls you into this dream world of the "night life" and you long to be with these characters. With it's intense symbols, mysterious style, and it's stunning turn of events, this is a classic.