"Advice to a grand-daughter" is a collection of letters from Queen Victoria to her granddaughter, Princess Victoria of Hesse, wonderfully selected and edited by Richard Hough. The letters date from April 1870 to July 1900. Victoria of Hesse was the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria's Hessian grandchildren, and after their mother (the Queen's daughter Alice) died in 1878, Queen Victoria undertook to raise them long-distance, often by barraging Princess Victoria with instructions on how to deal with the younger children.

As always, the Queen's charming and forceful-- if occasionally overbearing-- personality makes itself felt in her letters. The Hessian royal children grew up to be forceful personalities in their own right. Princess Victoria married Prince Louis of Battenberg; the family changed their name to Mountbatten towards the end of the First World War; Victoria's youngest son is best known as the late Earl Mountbatten of Burma, and one of her grandsons is Prince Philip, the current Duke of Edinburgh. The second girl, Princess Elizabeth, married a son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and, after his murder by anarchists, took the veil and was herself murdered during the Russian Revolution. The third, Princess Irene, married the only brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II. The youngest daughter, Alix (or "Alicky", as she appears in these letters), married Tsar Nicholas II of Russia; she and her entire family were killed during the Revolution. The boy, Ernest Louis ("Ernie"), was the last reigning Grand Duke of Hesse, a patron of the arts.

These letters provide a detailed and fascinating recounting of some of the childhood events of the Hessians-- Princess Victoria's marriage, the Queen's hissy fits over each marriage, in turn, of the three youngest girls', family births and family deaths, the Queen's trips to Europe. An absorbing book, highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Queen Victoria and the intertwined relationships of European royalty of the period.

In the late-80s, Tess and Becky are negotiating the world of high finance and the City. When disaster hits amid rumours of incompetence, Tess's father, a Lloyd's Name, suffers terrible losses. Meanwhile, Tess and Becky are faced with hard choices, not least the one presented by biology: children. This is a deliberate reworking of Thackeray's Vanity Fair. In this version Becky Sharp (still called Becky) is a city whizz-kid of the eighties- clever, beautiful and amoral- while Amelia (now called Tess) falls in love with a man who marries her but doesn't love her. Elizabeth Buchan draws some clever parallels between the eighties and the Regency (when Vanity Fair was originally set)and this novel has the same sharpness and unsentimentality as Thackeray's masterpiece.

This work has the depth of a textbook with the buoyancy of a good browse. The authors have put together a volume full of well-documented statistics on the aging US population and issues related to its health and health care. Information is clearly presented, in a friendly format, with insightful analyses and interesting annotations to enhance the raw statistics. The book is easy to skim-for the casual browser-or to study in-depth--for more scholarly research. Readers with interest in the statistical realities of health and aging are sure to find this text useful and very readable.

The Alaska-Klondike Diary of Elizabeth Robins is a refreshing look at life at the end of the American Frontier. The feminist view that Robins carries to the gold rush of 1900 offers the reader not only a glimpse into the life of women at the time, but offers an in depth look at the struggles and hardships faced by men and women alike as they fight for survival in the Klondike. Just as Gates promises in the introduction, "At times the reader may forget that it is a day-to-day account of events as they unfold and think it instead a novel," the diary flows with the practiced ease of thinking to oneself. In addition, Gates' careful editing is complimented well with augmenting photos that lend to the flow. The Alaska-Klondike Diary of Elizabeth Robins exemplifies the literary spirit and zest for life for which popular culture has acquired a taste. Gates' novel is carrying on the spirited tradition Jack London Style.

This, the second book in the Alberta trilogy, breaks with the past in more ways than one. While the first book concerned itself with the struggles of an adolescent girl growing up in a cold and alienating small town in Northern Norway, the first book examines Alberta's life seven years later. She is now a woman living on the fringe of the expatriate artist community in Paris, and she struggles to maintain her autonomy, develop her voice as a writer, and stave off crushing loneliness and poverty. Sandel is a master of Norwegian prose fiction, and although Alberta's situation is often desperate, the writing is always exquisite.

"The Alchemy of Love" by Elizabeth Engstrom and Alan M. Clark is a fascinating collection of stories accompanied by intriguing art work that together, you can never quite stop thinking about. They blend fantasy and reality is such a way that you are not sure when and where imagination takes over from rational thinking. In this book the written word intertwines with the visual picture so intimately you feel you know one by examining the other. It caused me to revisit and reexamine my definition of love on every level. It is more than an easy joy ride of a read with interesting illustrations. Although it is that, it is also like visiting a work of art that allows you to be swallowed up whole and participate in its essence. And what a trip it is. Definitely not Kansas. Not unless you consider that the wicked witch of the west is within each of us to some degree. And perhaps she is. And perhaps our perception of love and hate, hope and despair, are never further apart than our minds perception of what power these emotions hold over us. Each story and work of art suggests exactly that. I have added depth to my reality of what love is - might be - can do - and all because of these two artists who weave their tales much like a spider spins its web. These stories and works of art are interesting, intricate in design, and sometimes even deadly. In several of them I am left feeling like the fly who is caught, sucked in, left stunned. I like that feeling. It isn't one you are likely to forget. "The Alchemy of Love" isn't a book you are likely to forget either. It will change and transform you as only truly great artistry can.

This beautifully illustrated book looks at the history of herbs, gives details of how and where to grow them, uses of herbs and a slection of tempting recipes. Many types of growing areas are covered from window boxes, pots and tubs to cultivating herbs in gardens - large or small. Janet Dampney has emphasised the decorative uses of herbs in the garden and for flower arrangement-- details, with helpful line drawings, are given on how to make herb pillows and linen sachets either as a treat for yourself or to give as presents. Readers will find the A-Z section on herbs particularly helpful. Here the most popular herbs are listed, with a line drawing alongside each herb for identification and details given on planting times, where to grow, culinary and other uses, when available and propagation. A glance at the selection of clearly set out recipes, giving metric, imperial and American measures, will tempt you to try Elizabeth Pomeroy's imaginative ideas for using fresh herbs. some herbs may be stored, by drying or freezing, so the authors have included a short chapter on how to store your herbs. The attractive line drawings and colour pictures in the book showing the cultivation of herbs and many delighful cooked dishes will guide gardeners and cooks to success in growing and cooking with herbs.

The "All Color Book of Cats" by Elizabeth Towe and Christine Metcalf is a collection of 100 illustrations in color. The poses are the type one would pose for the old tin type pictures. They sit there calmly looking out into space with that regal superior look. Most of the background is flowers and trees. Some of the little cuties turn out to be leopards.
The collection is well worth the price and makes a good coffee table book.

An excellent book of well-prepared interactive discussions for the Intermediate/Advanced English as a Second Language classroom. Mss. Coelho, Winer and Winn-Bell Olsen have given us 2 interesting preparatory activities and 5 substantial discussions of increasing difficulty which get the students involved in discussion with EACH OTHER, not just the teacher. Designed to work with a multi-level classroom (upper intermediate and above) each "Jigsaw Activity" can occupy your students over several days, up to 5 hours of class time. My students get very involved with the material, and more important, with each other on these topics. The overall goal of the activities, beyond plenty of vocabulary building, and natural discussion forums, is for the students to become aware of other POINTS OF VIEW, other ways of seeing "Truth". Thank you, ladies, for this well-crafted curriculum. I only wish there were a sequel.

I really enjoyed this cookbook, not only because of the recipes, but also the way it was designed. You can look up individual dishes in the back, most of which are creative spins on favorite meals, or you can browse by your favorite sport (as I did). Because of the variety of athletes who contributed, the range of recipes goes from traditional "American" fair like Mickey Mantle's Country Fried Steak to Jaromir Jagr's Czech dish, Chicken Paprikash. I recommend this cookbook no matter what your kitchen skills because none of the dishes are overly complex (though some are far more difficult than others)and there is something for everyone. As an added bonus, proceeds for the book go to the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis and the Women's Sports Foundation. Helping two great causes for buying an excellent cookbook (with some great kitchen shots of the athletes).