"Aurora Dawn" was Herman Wouk's first book, and while it is an enjoyable read, it is not comparable to his masterpieces like "The Caine Mutiny" or "Marjorie Morningstar." This tale of a young man in advertising who is determined to rise to the top at all costs is told in a flippant, almost sarcastic style. The author keeps intruding himself into the tale with comments on how the story is going, which can be annoying even though it yields some of the book's most humorous lines. The characters are deftly drawn but not especially sympathetic. This book is a quick and enjoyable read, and has some interesting takes on the advertising business. Just don't expect one of Wouk's masterpieces.

I don't know if it is accurate to say that this novel is not as good as Wouk's masterpieces (Caine Mutiny, Winds of War, etc.), because it is an entirely different genre. As an example of satire, Aurora Dawn excels in much the same way that the Caine Mutiny excels as a war novel. Wouk very cleverly mocks the modern world, from psychiatry, to advertising, to irreligiousness. An easy, enjoyable read.

This is a great, even epic poem, but it can not be considered the definitive ninteenth-century work by any means. It can not be considered in any way to measure against such other epic poems, such as the classics (Homer, Vergil, Langland, Chaucer, etc.), later epics along the lines of Pope's "The Rape of The Lock" or Goethe's "Faust," and, most especially, Milton's "Paradise Lost," the great English epic poem above all others (if somewhat more esoteric to nowaday's "well-read" intellectuals). The "Aurora Leigh" has also unfortunately suffered the stigma of being a work solely concerned with feminism and social commentary. But I digress. The "Aurora Leigh" is an amazing work to explore, a true landmark, despite its flaws (of which there are honestly a few), in both the English language and ninteenth century studies. The Norton Critical Edition is wonderful, complete with well-organized and relevent supplementary literature (such as interpretive notes, essays, etc.). A great work to explore, though remain aware that this is a single interpretation of the ninteenth century, and that E.B.B., for all her gifts, was not the "shining light" of the time (there are writers just as good from the period, such as her husband Robert Browning).

E.B.B. set out to outstrip Milton and does so in an amazingly original way. Aurora Leigh is a novel in blank verse that is actually longer than Paradise Lost! She combines the genre expectations for a woman writer--the novel--with an audacious bid for poetic immortality. The book tells a good story but it also works as a formidable reminder to her contemporary poets that the novel is taking over and poets must make sure that they are writing in the spirit of the age.

This is the 3rd of the trilogy and is a good read, but the buildup to the conclusion fell short I'm afraid. The ultimate goal was really never shown or told well, but the trilogy was entertaining overall and worth the read.

Auroura Quest, the third and final to the EarthBlood series, is one of the best books I have read. I did not read the other two EarthBlood books, but because of superb writing and story-telling genius, I understood the plot of the story. Just like Deathlands, you can pick up anywhere in the story and catch on to the story quickly. Mr. Axler is not a well-known author, but a fantastic one. His mammoth knowledge is incredible. He researches everything and brings something futuristic and makes it seem truly existent. I highly recommend this book and as well as anything by James Axler

This book begins with a murder - the mother (Aurora) killing her 17-year-old daughter (Hildegart). Hildegart was a political, feminist child-genius in Spain. Her major activity occurred between 1928-1933. She was a planned superwoman of her mother who raised her specifically to fulfill a political mission. The author has done an excellent job of portraying the socialist movement of the period and the roots of Aurora's project. There is the usual gap between words and deeds, the political deals, the self-serving compromises etc. But most of all there is a mother on a mission, ignoring and overriding anything for Hildegart that is outside Aurora's goal.

Beautifully written, this book is very appropriate to our times. It shows in a sympathic way the dangers of fanaticism.

I read this book in the late 80's. It made a deep impression on me. I have been searching for it again since that time. I dont have an actual copy yet but I am so glad to know the book hasnt been forgotten. It should be required reading....perhaps it already is.

This is a book that explores the nature of folk stores told by a grandad, that no one, not even the grandad are sure is true. It is works with the notion that many of our folklores well are they just folk stores?? Not to be outdone are the illustrations of the book. The northernlights in this book sometimes seemed to dance on the pages. The illustrations of the book are some of the best.

After seeing this book read on a children's show, I knew that my son and I would adore feeling the magic of this family story. I was right! The illustrations evoke a sense of quiet not unlike the snow itself, and the end leaves us eager to listen to some of our own family stories.

This book is THE reference needed for all Aurora model collectors. Unlike other references, this book contains ALL the Aurora models, not just the figure kits and/or monsters. This reference has the airplane kits, the missle kits, the car kits, as well as the figure kits (knights, wildlife etc...) as well as the famous monster kits. Half the book is Aurora history and development along with color pictures of representative models from each line. The last half of the book is the listing of the model kits by line (aviation, vehicles, characters etc..) and then by model numbers with years of production and going prices. I find the prices listed to be more accurate (via ebay) than other guides.

I found this book to be impressive, even though I once worked as a mold designer for a company that acquired many of the Aurora molds in the eighties. In fact, the thrill I got from flipping through this book was only topped by the thrill I got when I was first given the key to the "sample room" (i.e. a room containing reference samples of almost all U.S. made model kits.) The photography and descriptions are crisp, informative, and professional, and if this isn't a complete listing of the Aurora inventory (except for those few items that never when into full-scale production) then my memory is going. In fact, knowing as I do the terrible state of the drawings and other record keeping in several companies from this period, I marvel at how the author did such an exceptional job. I just wish there was an equally comprehensive, equally well-produced guide for all the various companies that I either worked for or had dealings with (Monogram, Revell, Ertl, AMT, Airfix, Testor, Linberg, ect.) I always thought the Aurora line was the best in the industry, but if I would have admitted that about a competitor I probably would have gotten canned.

In fact, this book is alot more fun than actually working in the business....

Aurora Teagarden's fiance, Martin Bartell, gives her the deed to the Julius House as a wedding gift. The house has a dark history. Some six years before an entire family named Julius had disappeared from the residence leaving all of their belongings. Despite a careful investigation into their disppearance by the authorities no trace was ever found. Aurora decides that she is going to find the Julius family.

On the personal side, though, she is also finding out some things about her future husband that make her more than a bit uneasy. Then Martin tells her that he a friend from Vietnam who has lost his job in Florida and will be staying in their garage apartment. When she meets the Youngbloods she knows that Martin is not being completely open with her.

There's a satisfactory resolution of the story but as with many literary villains, much of the detail comes out only because the evil person, once immobilized, cannot keep their mouth shut. However, Harris has created a page turner as the focus moves from Aurora's less than idyllic personal life to the puzzle of what happened to the former owners of her home.

Although this book is out of print, it is well worth the time to find it. It was even better than "Three Bedrooms, One Corpse." I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story.

This is a lively, informative book which takes the student through the more complex grammar and language which Suenos World Spanish established. Along with audio-cassette pack, this is ideal for the self-starter student. For those who need the discipline of a tutor, this is also rewarding but the tutor him/herself could do with a tutor's pack concentrating on the main exercises as per the first book. If I could get hold of this, I could really get down to delivering the standard of lesson this book merits.

The book and audiotapes of Suenos World Spanish 2 are unusually imaginative, with great variety of voices, topics, pleasant music, and with a seductive real life quality of the dialogues. The tapes are excellently suited for those who wish to learn in their car while commuting to work. In subtle ways, the book and tapes teaches us to love both Latin-American and European Spanish people. There is a gentle emotional quality to the dialogues (i.e., to the voices on the tapes) that is uncommon in similar audio-publications. The topics and emotional tone of some of these conversations remind me of those I had in English with my best friends. There are 5 hours of audiotapes (4 audiotapes of 75 minutes each). While listening to the tapes for the first time, I had an uneasy feeling that I might never understand them, due to the speed of speech. However, after listening to all these tapes for about 8 times, I now understand more than 85% of the words. The course is well worth the money I paid for it. It is a pity that a similar emotional approach has not been more extensively used to teach other languages, too, for example Chinese, Japanese, French, or German. The authors of Suenos World Spanish 2 (Juan Kattan-Ibarra, Aurora Longo, and Almudena Sanchez) deserve much praise for their original creative work as they transform for us the hard work of learning into a delightful passtime that brings us lifelong benefits.

A great book for the beach or vacation, perhaps even for a long soak in the tub. The writing requires no extra brain power and the main character, Roe, is an interesting person. It tickled me the way Roe was such a mystery book fanatic. She seems to have books scatered throughout her house, as well as her purse. Whipping out a paperback even if she was only standing in line at the checkout counter. The story was short, the action moved quickly, but the who-done-it was extremely easy to predict.

In this 3rd. book of the series, Aurora Teagarden has quit her job as a librarian and decides to try her hand at her mother's real estate business. In the very first house she goes to with a client, she discovers a dead body. The deceased is a rival real estate agent who was reputed to have numerous extra-marital affairs. There are many suspects--jealous husband, rival realtors, spurned lovers, but Roe is the one who uses an obscure clue to track down the murderer. Also in this book, she meets and falls in love with Martin Bartell, a wealthy older man who is the manager of a large company. His attraction to Roe seems unlikely, but their relationship proceeds very rapidly, if unbelievably throughout this book.

Aurora Teagarden returns in the 3rd book in the hilarious mystery series. Aurora is a short, respectible, 30-something single female in the small town of Lawrenceton. She used to work at the library until she unexpectedly inherited a fortune from a friend. Now she is footloose and fancy free with no job to tie her down, no boyfriend (due to a recent break up) and no money problems. Too bad that she is bored to death. Aurora decides that she needs something to do, so she starts learning about the real estate business from her mother, the best real estate agent in town. When her mother asks her to go and open up an expensive home so that her wealthy new clients can take a look, Roe is agreeable and cheerfully sets off to show the home to the best of her ability. Within an hour she has decided that the real estate business isn't for her, that the new guy in town, although quite a bit older is really hot and there is definitely some attraction there, and that, no matter how trashy in real life, no one deserves to be murdered and put on display in an empty house for someone to find. When her friend's husband is accused of being the murderer, Roe feels that she has to intervene and find out what really happened. Along the way she has to deal with her completely physical reaction to a gorgeous, wealthy older man, a cantankerous cat, shopping for a new home, and a disgruntled ex-employee of her new boyfriend who has started stalking her. You know, the usual problems...

I thought that Three Bedrooms, One Corpse was quite entertaining and finished it in one sitting. Charlaine Harris is a very talented author and, while there may have been a few small errors (which I didn't notice because I was too caught up in the story), she has a very smooth writing style that allows you to be amused and informed at the same time. The plot moves quickly and there are several subplots that keep the reader involved with the characters. Although I still enjoyed the Lily Bard/Shakespeare series and the Southern Vampire series more, I have grown quite fond of Aurora Teagarden and know that I will pick up anything that Charlaine Harris cares to write. At the cheap price that these books are available for, why not treat yourself?

It pains me to give American Aurora a relatively negative review, as the book was entertaining and well-prepared. I must do so, however, because the book offers only part of the story. James Thomas Callendar is one of the most amusing characters of early American history -- the forefather of folks like Walter Winchell and Matt Drudge, the first American "scandalmonger," as William Safire calls him. But he was motivated by money and personal pique, embracing and denouncing Washington, Adams, and Jefferson in turn to sell papers and whenever he felt one had slighted his ambitions. American Aurora focuses only on the period of the Alien and Sedition Acts and Callendar's campaign against Adams. The book makes Callendar out to be a John Peter Zenger-caliber hero of free expression, ignoring the fact that Callendar once praised Adams, and would later tarnish Jefferson -- Callendar's hero in American Aurora -- and breaking the story of Sally Hemings. This is a fun read. Too bad it's not the whole truth.

You will notice that even the reviewers that hate this book are passionate in their hatred. Which is more than you can say for those damn text books that went something like Our FOUNDING FATHERS blah blah, Founding fathers blah blah, etc... that's because this book fleshes out these historical figures, makes you like them and hate them.

Part One sets the stage with the initial articles of The Aurora claiming that Adams is a monarchist who only wants to be king. Published by William Duane and Benny Bache (grandson of Benjamin Franklin) the Aurora pulls no punches and neither do its detractors. The historical background is told from the perspective of Duane which is irritating at first because you feel like you are being confronted rather than informed. The articles seem just a little bit like a radical college student rambling on about how bad everything is (Gore Vidal's history books are like this as well).

Part Two goes back to before the Revolutionary War to trace the personal and professional conflict between John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. Adams wants a government like England's while Franklin sees a one house parliament as ideal (much like Revolutionary France). Not only are they split in the professional sense but they don't like each other either. Washington is seen as a spoiled elitist who spends all his time whining about the army when its Franklin that wins the war by involving France.

Part Three comes up to the 1800s in which Adams' Sedition Law is in effect and one by one papers that are seen as disloyal face jail sentences and high fines. Most are shut down. Aurora stays in business even though the publisher has to go into hiding. There are street brawls and open hostilities as every article of the bill of rights is challenged by the Adams administration. The problems don't end until Jefferson's election.

Important things in this book -- many of the Founding Fathers hated each other. Washington was a popular president more due to reputation than anything presidential. Adams could be compared to George Bush in many ways (vice president for mediocre popular president, mediocre president, loses election to charismatic whoremonger, son goes into politics), History is a LOT more interesting than the high school textbook would have you believe.

Love this book or hate it, you won't come away neutral.

I never knew about this America. I didn't know John Adams was jealous of Ben Franklin, and that Thomas Jefferson was kind of like a bright kid in my high school class who always hid when there was trouble. I knew George Washington wasn't a great general, but I never knew that all that junk in the history books of the 50s was fantasy. The Continental Congress started a war in spite of the fact that they had no gun powder, no money to fight the war, no food to feed the army, and a reluctant army. I didn't know that the French had truly won the war. They supplied billions of dollars, ships, generals and fighting men. -- in fact, after they won the war for the Americans they were bankrupt. Now I want to know more about the French King who fought this war. I am only half way throught this book.