This book does not do justice to the courageous crews of the USS Dace and Darter. The book compares poorly to any published record or memoirs of U.S. Submarine action in WWII that I have read and may become the best example of why publishers should use editors and proofreaders. The author deserves credit for extensive research and countless interviews with surviving crew members, but appears to have been unable to discard the most insignificant detail, some of which are quite tasteless. As a result the book reads like the compilation of a stack of index cards which have been only roughly organized.

This book, a text book syle in my eyes tries to educate the reader about prison style living and the authors own view on life. He expects us to adopt it just because we are reading his book. Although this is my view I also believe that the book is extremely well written, easy to read and keeps the interest of the reader. Above all I would reccomend the book to anyone who enyoys reading and wants to feel as though the author is having a personal conversation with the reader.

While there is considerable talent in the people who do the reading in these classics, be advised that these books are ABRIGED, and have large sections completely omitted.

I'm looking for information about Beatrice Hastings in relationship with Amedeo Clemente Modigliani (Longhorn, Tuscany, Italy 1884 - Paris, France 1920). I found a book in Amazon Library: "Lives and Letters A. R. Orage, Beatrice Hastings, Katherine Mansfield, John Middleton Murry, S. S. Koteliansky, 1906-1957." by John Carswell. But this book is out of print. How can I read this book ? Escuse my terrible english language. Please help me.

Elizabeth Mansfield is one of the best. Alas, My Lord Murdereer does not measure up to her usual standard. She has the regency nailed: the attitudes, the manners, the mood of the period. All that My Lord Murderer lacks is a convincing love story.

I first saw this little book on the shelves at my local library. When I got it home, it was obvious that all Ms Mansfield had done was travel from tasting room to tasting room, meet with the marketing staff, and collect the recipes they provided. (Each recipe has a copy of the wine's label facing it so there is no doubt where it came from.) Instead of a bound book, CelestialArts could have gone to Kinkos and had the whole ensemble published/stapled for a lot less. * sigh * That being said, the recipes themselves are fairly easy for an experienced family chef (read Mom) or anyone who loves to cook and knows the difference between saute and sauce. The pasta dishes are elegant and the ingredients can be picked up at the local market. There is no nutritional analysis information available, but reading through the recipes one notices lots of cream, butter and soft cheeses so it doesn't take a Susan Powter to realize these dishes should be reserved for an occasional, special meal. I decided to buy the book just for that reason- these recipes (there are no photos of the finished victuals)are good ones to have in your repertoire (filed under "dinners that Wow 'em"). As much as I disliked all the obvious gushing over the winemakers, the recipes sound wonderful and I will probably cook lots of them!

The Trespasser is the tragic tale of Siemund, a music teacher with an unhappy family life, and his student, who becomes his lover. It isn't a worthless book, but your time would definately be better spent reading one of the famous Lawrence books - this is clearly the creation of a young, impressionable mind. For instance, Lawrence makes constant reference to Wagner's 'Ring' in the book, rubbing the reader's nose profusely in heavyhanded hints that Siemund is borrowed from the German composer's work.

Rest assured I am not an Austen purist disgusted by the whole concept of someone picking up the beloved Austen torch. Far from it; I only require good or at the least entertaining writing and I'm happy. "Mansfield Revisted" does not fullfill these requirements, mostly due to one of the worst endings I have come across in quite a while.
Things start out rather well, actually, as the novel follows the romantic adventures of Fanny's younger sister Susan as she resides at Mansfield while Fanny and her husband are away in Antigua. Many of the old characters return, and I have to give Aiken credit for creditably fleshing out the character of the wicked Mary Crawford. Since the end of Austen's novel, Mary has suffered a great deal, and Aiken does a good job of making her a tad more complex. What she does with Henry Crawford is interesting also; although here Aiken sows the seeds of her novel's undoing. (SPOILER) She sets up Henry to be the romantic hero of her novel, a mildly shocking idea for fans of the original. The next third of the book is devoted to the evolving relationship between him and Susan, and we come to expect the inevitable. And then, in a highly annoying manner, Aiken wimps out and sticks her with another character who has spent the length of the novel being loutish and vulgar, and who at end is redeemed in a completely unbelievable way. I felt extremely sorry for poor Susan, and I don't think that was Aiken's intent. (END SPOILER)
So, while it starts out promising, "Mansfield Revisted" ends badly, leaving a sour taste in the reader's mouth. I do not recommend it, especially not for Austen fans.

I have just discovered the Joan Aiken offerings to the Jane Austen collection. Mansfield Revisited is a quick read, with more description of the odious characters and even some redemption of unsatisfactory characters in the Jane Austen original. However, I wonder why the reader is not made privy to the contents of Fanny's letter to Mary Crawford. And though the lady in velvet at Mary's grave site is not a mystery, there is so little information as to her purpose. Her meeting with Henry later seemed to me to cause more stir than the circumstance warranted. It is gratifying that the unpleasant characters do not get on quite so unscathed as they often do in Austen stories. Julia and Miss Yates are hardly to be tolerated and eventually they pay the price for their incivility. Capt. Sarton is introduced and exits so quickly, he seems no more than a throw away character. William Price falling so quickly for the insipid charms of Miss Harley is inexplicable; still she will have 30,000 -- a not inconsiderable sum that brings its own charms. Naturally, Susan Price and Mrs. Osborne must be worthy of our admiration and I enjoyed being with them.

This book is a sequel to Mansfield Park that centers around a blossoming love story between Susan Price and Tom Bertram. Before their love can conquer all, Susan must contend with the prejudices of Mrs. Norris and the return of Mary Crawford. For those who wish to be reacquainted with Fanny Price and Edmund Bertram, you will only be disappointed; Fanny and Edmund have gone to the Bertram's Caribbean estate for the duration of the book. A better book is Aiken's "The Youngest Miss Ward", a prequel to Mansfield Park.

I must have found this book in the wrong section. It says it is a romance but I have rarely read such an unromantic book with so little chemistry between our hero and heroine. The story takes place in North Carolina at the beginning of the Civil War in sort of farming community that has lots of Germans. Our heroine, Caroline, finds out in the beginning of the story she is to marry her former brother-in-law, a dour German, Frederich. Her sister died in childbirth with her third child, who also died, leaving behind two girls. She refuses to marry Frederich and is beaten really badly by her brother, Avery, because of her refusal. She is rescued and ends up married in name only to Frederich. There is not a single moment of sexual heat, chemistry, love, interst in this story. They sleep together one time (when he is on leave from the war) and it is a hurried affair and as a reader, you are left thinking why bother? Romance this is not...

The heroine Cassie was not appealing at the beginning of the book. She was too shy to speak up for herself when being accursed of stealing at a shop. Then came her 'knight in shining armour' who defended her. It was love at first sight - on her part only. He married her for money and kept remembering his lost love. As the story progressed, Cassie revealed her strength underneath her 'mousy little wife' exterior. She winned over his best friend and his sister. The most touching part was the love letters she wrote impersonating his lost love, in order to give him something to hold on when he had lost all his dreams. When they finally understood each other and found their love, I wondered how much of his love was out of gratitude ?

i bought this book to get a quick start with vb.net having c, c++ and mfc experience, i manged to get the examples to work, but i can see a beginner spedning hours trying to figure out why the sample code in lesson 6 does not work. this books practice bad programming technics in general.

For those of you jumping into VB.NET for the first time, and specifically PROGRAMMING for the first time, this book is a very quick way to get your feet wet.

The writing style is informal and approachable. I also found myself marking the book in several places to make it usable as a quick reference to common activities (particularly where they differ from VB6).

However, the comments regarding errors are spot-on. I tried running the app (the one you build in the book using DataSets) from the book's CD-ROM even, and it didn't work! I quit reading after this, leaving a few chapters left. Unfortunately Hungry Minds doesn't seem to want to fix the problem???

Starts good, ends bad. Get the Microsoft Step-by-step book instead...

While the book is at a level I can understand, the author spends too much time saying "Click on this, but we won't cover it in depth until Chapter XX". It's very confusing skipping around like this and in some cases he says try some code in one chapter that will still be in your project later on when he asks you to try something else, but doesn't mention how to deal with the code you tried 3 chapters ago...Delete it or add on..if add on how do you do it?

I'm only in Session 4 but getting ready to give up and try another book.