As in his first, and more well-known novel, Leaving Las Vegas, O'Brien plumbs the depths of alcoholism in this vision of societal meltdown. Inspired by the 1992 riots in LA, O'Brien's unfinished manuscript (completed by his sister) imagines a not-to-distant future in which everyone carries guns and mass race rioting and anarchy has spread like wildfire and the entire US is going up in flames. But rather than examine what happens to humanity when there are no rules (Nobel prizewinner Jose Saramago does an amazing job of this in Blindness), O'Brien gives the reader the claustrophobic bunker of Tony's Bar and its alcoholic denizens (plus waitress and busboy). The title nods its head to John Carpenter's excellent 1976 film The Assault on Precinct 13 (itself a loose modernized remake of Howard Hawks' western Rio Bravo), and as in that film, the men holed up in the bar must defend themselves-and more importantly the liquor-from all outside forces.

It's a really interesting idea, undermined only by the fact that alcoholics aren't really very interesting people in general. O'Brien writes from their perspective with a true insider's grasp of what makes them tick, but after about fifty pages or so, their ramblings get kind of old. And unfortunately, the only three non-alcoholics in the book are mere ciphers and much less convincing characters. The waitress and busboy are caricatures of sorts whose actions are exceedingly hard to understand. Later, when the bar takes in a hunted liberal outsider, its as a device for O'Brien to have characters debate. Meanwhile, the ticking clock of the dwindling liquor supply is a neat device on its own, it can't sustain the book on its own. None of this is to say that O'Brien can't write, because in general the prose is quite nice. However, the premise is never fully realized and one could interpret the book as being quite racist. Clearly the guys in the bar are bigots, But in the end the actions of the rioters and busboy serve only to confirm their fears-and presumably O'Brien's own internal demons. It's quick reading, but definitely heavy and not for the faint of heart.

A novel that speaks to the darkest parts of oneself. Rambling and lost at times, a true voice emerges from the chaos. O'Brien has been here, he knows his way around all that flawed and desperate humanity and he shines a flashlight directly into it's decaying face, watches the insects scurry from the light. It's too late to take it back; he has shown us. I am grateful.

If there is a Tony's in heaven, we can bet where John O'Brien would be: In the half-light of the corner booth, glass full to the brim, chuckling to himself about some melancholy truth.

I need to collaborate on a biography of this O'Brien fellow...any takers?

Each time I begin reading a Lael-Miller novel I tell myself that its the last book by this author that I'll read. Yet, I am sometimes swayed by a particularly appealing story line outlined on the back cover. Banner O'Brien is no different. I did a lot of eye rolling throughout, from the first time the good doctor refers to the heroine as "Shamrock" (for the color of her eyes), to the stunted and unemotional ending. The main characters lacked a development that normally leads the reader to root for them. In fact, very early on they declared their love for one another. Boring! All the hero and heroine had in common was a somewhat delicious sex life and their choosen professions. The villians lacked development as well, and the end seemed to culminate in one page with a barely perceptible shrug. It seems as though this novel was written on auto pilot.

"Banner O'Brien" is another great book by Linda Lael Miller. I loved it. Banner is a strong, courageous, fiesty female who earned her doctor's degree and deserved to practice. So what she is a female. It was time for a change and Banner was just the person to initiate the change.

Banner came to town to help another doctor who was injured and meets Dr. Adam Corbin, the source of the other doctor's injury. Banner's and Adam's coming together is rocky at first, but as each put their differences aside and love enters, their situation gradually smooths out. Adam no longer sees Banner as a rival and a doctor, but as the woman he loves. In turn, Banner returns his feelings. Banner is indeed just what the doctor ordered!

"Banner O'Brien" is the beggining of the Corbin legacy. A great series and great reading. I loved them all.

I gave a great deal of credit to Banner who made it to the top as far as women of that time were concerned. A fine match for her feisty mother in law. It's a romance, so it would be believable or even likely that they could have fallen in love in a week or a day. And besides, once in awhile it happens in real life. The main characters were playful and charming and if he spanked her once or twice, I don't believe it was spousal abuse. But this was another place or another time. It wouldn't work in a story set now, but let's hope it was just a lighthearted way to handle her willfulness. In anycase, it did not detract from the book. When I found that there was yet another Corbin book, I ordered it as fast as I could.

There is much in O'Brien's book that is interesting, original and insightful. But it suffers from two fatal flaws, one stylistic/structural, one substantive: (1) It is a mess. It is part personal biography, part intellectual biography, part annotated anthology, all mixed together in a confusing and unsatisfactory hodge-podge that may have been deliberate, given Burke's (and therefore O'Brien's) aversion to systems and abstraction. It is as if the author set out with a firm intention to portray Burke a certain way, collected up all the relevant facts, but just couldn't pull it all together in the end. It reads like a work-in-progress, several drafts short of completion and in dire need of a good editor; (2) It seriously overstates its case, and is therefore simply not reliable as an account of Burke's thought. O'Brien's Burke is a pluralist liberal, one of the "good guys" not to be classed among the "reactionaries", as Isaiah Berlin has done. But as Berlin points out--with far too much courtly politeness--in his exchange with O'Brien (reproduced in the appendix), the author has simply turned a blind eye to those aspects of his subject that make him appear illiberal. Most liberals at the time supported the French Revolution, at least in its early phase, and with good reason: it destroyed a confused mass of privilege, injustice and corruption that served the interests of a largely hereditary elite, which Burke vigorously defended. Most liberals since have supported it too. Few (if any) liberals today would hesitate to condemn someone who defended tradition, hereditary privilege and deference to authority as Burke did. To say that Burke was a liberal just doesn't wash. Granted he had SOME liberal tendencies, but he had many other tendencies that liberals have always found repugnant. It is a crude and one-sided portrait. O'Brien subscribes to the old-fashioned Cold War liberalism of Jacob Talmon, who interpreted the struggle between liberal democracy and "totalitarianism" in the 20th Century as a replay of the struggle between liberalism constitutionalism and the Terror. O'Brien's agenda in this book is to accept this dubious and anachronistic framework and to place Burke firmly on the "correct" side in it, with a demonic Rousseau on the other. THE GREAT MELODY was probably out-of-date before O'Brien wrote a word of it, just as much of Burke was when it appeared in the eighteenth century.

"The Great Melody" by Conor Cruise O'Brien is not your traditional biography; there is little here concerning Burke's personal and family life. Instead, the work concentrates on Burke's political career and thought and, specifically, how they relate to his Irish heritage. The result is a fascinating look into the mind and personality of a man who suffered from a conflict of emotions over his Irish heritage that included his father's conversion to Protestantism while his mother and wife remained Catholic. Burke himself was torn in different directions his entire life; loyalty to Britain and also his Irish ancestors and friends suffering under the Penal Laws, loyalty to the British constitution, but also a deep feeling for the need of justice for the oppressed people at home and abroad.

O'Bien's book takes an in-depth look at Burke's career in parliament and as a member of the Whig party through an extensive analysis of his letters, speeches, political relationships, and writings, specifically, as they relate to his struggle on behalf of the American colonists, the struggle of the Irish Catholics, the people of India suffering at the hands of the rapacious East India Co., and the French Revolution.

The work can be a little dry at times and tends to quote in an overly lengthy manner, but the immense erudition and scholarship and the insightful picture of Burke that emerges more than compensate for this. I do wish, however, that O'Brien had spent more time on "Reflections On The Revolution in France," but he feels that since it is so readily available to the reader there is no need. Finally we see an Edmund Burke as he really was and not the "old reactionary" that is so often depicted. We come to understand that Burke always believed that "the people are the true legislator," that Burke did not want to see Americans in Parliament who were slave holders, that he was a life-long opponent of increased powers for the Crown and the corruption such power entailed, that he was one of the few who consistently fought against injustice toward the American colonials, that he found all authoritaianism abhorrent, and that he opposed commercial monopolies and the abuse of power in all its forms. But, because he opposed the overturning of society and its reengineering on the basis of "metaphysical abstractions," he was often portrayed as a reactionary by later pundits. Lewis Namier and his followers are particularly taken to task by O'Brien for this tendency. In the end we see a Burke who always supported basic human rights, but remained constantly aware that real life circumstances must make social and political change possible if such change is not to lead to chaos and violence. Burke's fear of radicalism based upon abstract theory was real and the destructiveness of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and the Nazi bio-racial religion more than sufficiently proves his point. A reading of O'Brien's fine book can only lead the intelligent reader to a renewed respect for a great man, a decent and liberal minded man, and a man of immense vision.

Everyone knows Edmund Burke's most famous quote: "for evil to triumph, it is only necessary for good men to do nothing". As a former lecturer in political science, I was mainly familiar with Burke as the founder of Anglo-conservatism (infinitely more nuanced and modern than his equivalent in Franco-conservatism, the Count Joseph de Maistre). I had also read an early work, namely "An Enquiry into the nature of the Beautiful and the Sublime", which I thought a brilliant little jewel. But there's much more about Burke than that.

O'Brien, the great man of Irish diplomacy, shows in this extraordinary book that Burke, whom recently history has shown as a fawning servant to the political leaders of his time (Rockingham and Pitt), was at the heart of the great fight between George III's royal absolutism and the emerging English democracy. Burke was on the right side of virtually all the fights he picked. He advocated equality before the law for the Irish subjects of the king, first tolerance and then freedom for the American colonies, the end of the colonialist abuses of the East India company, and a quarantine on the infectious ideas of the French Revolution. The later one is still a contentious affair. Zhou En Lai famously opined that it was still too early (in the 1970s) to judge the French Revolution. Burke would have had none of that. As early as 1790, in the "benign" initial phase of the revolution, he foresaw the Terror, the execution of the Royal Family, the Consulate and the Empire, and the French banner covering all of the Europe, in the name of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity".

O'Brien shows the extraordinary situation of an Irish Protestant (always accused of crypto-Catholicism) having great informal influence on the politics of Great Britain, while holding menial offices or representing various "rotten boroughs" in Parliament (this is no aspersion on Burke's memory- that's how politics was done at the time, and anything that gave Burke a pulpit couldn't have been all bad). The "Great Melody" of the title provides the underlying themes around which O'Brien organizes the public part of Burke's life. Far from tiresome, this is a useful device that provides unity and coherence to Burke's thoughts and actions. O'Brien's attacks on mid-century historiography are perfectly adequate, given that much of what was written as that period was designed to regress Burke into irrelevancy, as a sycophant and a lackey. He never was that. He was a good and a great man, and O'Brien does him justice in his book. Perhaps the only fault that I could find in it is a tendency to assume the reader's prior knowledge of the arcanes of Irish history. But these are quibbles. If you can stomach a history of ideas, full of events and studded with memorable characters, this is the book for you.

I'll save you some time. Read the Sept 30th post from a Reader from Zurich. I couldn't have said it any better. This book was shallow and a disappointment.

If you want to plan a great trip with a minimum of hassle, this book won't steer you wrong. This is a great guide to use if you don't have the time or energy to sift through a dense 600-plus page book. We used it on a recent one-week trip to Ireland and thought the hotel & restaurant recommendations were great, and the sightseeing info was all very helpful and accurate. We also liked the worksheets that help you sketch out a budget and itineraries.

I don't think it's fair to compare this book to a Rough Guide, as other reviewers have -- it's like complaining that your pocket Webster's doesn't have as many words as the OED. If you're looking for a totally comprehensive tome that covers every little detail in every corner of the country this isn't the book for you, but you probably guessed that from the title. There is more than enough information here for a one or two week trip to see the highlights of Ireland (both the Republic and Northern Ireland). The lively, humorous tone the book takes is refreshing, and makes the book actually fun to read. There's lots of general travel information that's helpful and reassuring if you don't travel overseas frequently, and lots of resources for anyone who wants to hunt down Irish ancestors.

I traveled to Ireland right after college. Of course this meant that I had little to no money. I looked through everything I could find online and bought a few books and this book by far was the most helpful. It told what were the "must sees" in Ireland that allowed me to get a healthy overview of the country and a memorable trip in only a week.
I agree with some other reviews that it doesn't go into too much depth, but it was my first time in Ireland and I had 7 days, so depth was not an option.
The most appreciated part of this book was the detailed directions to all sites. Trust me, when you're used to street signs, Ireland roads can be tricky to navigate.
Unless you're spending a month on the Isle, I say buy this book.

A fascinating look at the complex relationship between two brothers, one of whom fought in Vietnam, Northern Lights also examines other issues. I enjoyed this book a lot, but O'Brien's other works are better. After all, this *was* his first published novel. In fact, O'Brien himself has said that he wishes he should have made intense revisions to this book. Regardless, read Northern Lights only after you have read O'Brien's other books. I am a true O'Brien fan who has read ALL of his books, and I DID enjoy this book. But save it for after you have learned to appreciate O'Brien and his literary style.

Excellent debut novel, but Tim O'Brien only got better. All of his tension and emotion in present in this novel, but he still had yet to develope his style and language that has made him, in my opinion, one of America's best writers today.

It's a story about privacy. Private lives at home and secret romances of sorts and the return of a Vietnam vet who has a constant reminder of his time In Country, but he never tells the secret of how he received the injury to his ear.

It's an excellent debut novel, but don't be discouraged if this is the first Tim O'Brien novel you read, he only get's better. I give it my highest recommendation.

It's adventurous and tense when the brothers are lost in the woods. O'Brien paints an impressive picture of the Minnesota woods when these brothers travel at the feet of these enormous snow covered trees in awe and reverence of nature.

O'Brien presents the tension between brothers in layers beginning with the vitnam war. As the story unfolds, O'Brien challenges the reader to think about their pasts and pending futures. The book kept me thinking long after I put it down. Even as I write this reveiw, I am considering new implications to their realtionship. Nothern Lights is a very thoughtful and enjoyable read.

I usually enjoy this author's books, but this one leaves me unmoved. Perhaps it's because I find the characters uninteresting. Or the plot rather uninvolving. But overall, it took me a long time to finish this book. Something's missing. It lacks... zing.

When I borrowed this, I only saw the word 'knight' & expected to read a pure medieval romance. It turns out that this story reads more like a fantasy-magic-romance...with an Arthurian twist! (I know, I know--not another Camelot story.) But it is unique in that Lancelot is the main hero.

When Julie is transported into the magical world of Camelot, the author's vivid descriptions of this place definitely put to mind Robin Williams's 'heaven' in the movie "What Dreams May Come."

Overall, the story is unique & interesting but dragged at some points 'cuz there were moments I felt like I was wading through a fog. Another objection I have is that there is quite a lot of name-dropping made by the author. Most of these are allusions to American pop-culture whose meaning escapes me sometimes.

Julie Gaffney touches a suit of armor at a sleasy restaurant and is transported into the magical world of Camleot. Mistaken as Lancelot's squire George she first gets a glimpse of Lancelot through the eyes of a boy. Lancelot is strong, pure at heart, and very very handsome. When he comes to realize her true identity he begins to fall for her, and their romance begins. But in the midst of this all, Merlin is keeping close tabs on the two would-be lovers, hoping it will keep Lancelot far away from Guinevere's passionate arms, and to keep Camelot falling to it's knees when King Arthur is broken hearted at his knight's betrayal. Meanwhile Malvern has other plans, and steals Excalibur and hides it in Lancelot's room, hoping to pit both King Arthur and Lancelot against each other. Julie finds it and thinking it is Lancelot's sword she brings it to him, and one touch transports her, Lancelot and Malvern into her world, New York City. From the moment they arrive, Lancelot slowly begins growing weaker and weaker, the magic of his world slowly dying away and him with it. It's a beautiful story, but I don't want to ruin the end for you. Enjoy!

At first glance, one might be quick to discount this book...we're all so used to slick pages, color photos and other facades created to imply "worth" in a book...so much so that often we do judge a book by it's cover and not it's content. So, putting first impressions aside, there truly is a diamond in the rough here in this book. Once you take the basic techniques and buff away the messages only relevant to the specific clients and times, you have a brilliant advertising method appropriate for putting to use in any advertising situation...honesty...honesty without gimmicks and computer generated imagery...in your fact honesty. Of course, in today's ultra-politically-correct environment, some of the headlines used probably wouldn't be tolerated, but honesty, no matter how it's delivered should always be expected.

I challenge any reader to REALLY READ this book, read the body copy to the ads...the real story after the "shake 'em up" headline...and you'll see there's nothing but honesty, free and clear of any modern-day techniques to wow us with computer wizardry.

It's an interesting thought now isn't it...honest in advertising. And to think, some of us out there are actually buying shampoo because of a women's orgasmic cry of "yes! yes!" while she's washing her hair...all in the cozy space of a bathroom on an airplace. Pu-leeeeeze....

I'll take honesty in advertising any day. Read it for yourself.

When you a read a book about advertising you can't help but think of all the times you saw really bad advertising. The truth about the art of advertising permeates this book. It's the simple truths about the medium that holds most of the weight. Stan does an excellent job at showing us the bare truth and how powerful it can be. Honesty in advertising is rare. This guy has made a life's work of it. I was fortunate to interview the author on my radio show. We talk about marketing and Stan made a great guest. All he did was speak the truth. Anyone interested in a career in advertising or marketing should read this book first. Anyone interested in having a more successful business ad campaign should read this book before you spend any more money. Anyone interested in an ad campaign with balls should talk with and perhaps hire Stan Cotton.

The Book "Anybody Can Be In Advertising..it beats working for a living" is excellent. It is full with the honest truth contrairy to what is said in the negative review. The examples support the ideas which are very also interesting.I would reccomend this book to anyone...Not only people who are involved in Advertising. Stan Cotton, is a perfessional man with alot of experience and should be rewarded with his wonderful book and skills that he has cogetated on for years.....Way to go Stan!!!

You deserve only the best in the futur!

After repeatedly falling asleep trying to read this book, I have come to the conclusion this is some sort of communist device used to force college students to commit suicide from boredom. If you have to read this book drop the class. It's like reading grass, and moves at the same pace. Dull is to exciting of a word for this book. The word that best describes this book is dgtreed. What does it mean? I don't know! I'm still trying to find meaning!! But it's pointless!!

I bought this book preparatory to a month in Ireland, as a mental/political exercise (aware of former banning). I couldn't put it down, and got three hours or less sleep for three nights in a row. I foisted it on my mom with warnings not to begin it on a weeknight, she got hooked on a Tuesday and went downhill too. We talked for days about how tightly written it was, how clean, spare, descriptive, full of foreshadowing, and painful to any woman who knows what it is to be centally disappointed by a man. Yet the book never whines, it never pushes itself sobbing on your shoulder. It sits in dignity with sadness.

Very quietly and methodically tragic, in the Irish way that says you do not whine about tragedy, you do not make fuss of it, you just simply pray a bit and go on. What makes the book so very valuable and unusual is that it applies the Irish knack for storytelling and forthright 'un-tragic' tragedy to women's lives and women's stories. It is both an Irish book full of water and woodsmoke, and a women's book in all its painful honesty and revelatory grace.

Please read.

i heard an interview with edna o'brien on npr's FRESH AIR and was impressed with her style. i read the trilogy because of the interview, not because of the Ireland component. this book is poignant, funny, sincere, a page-turner, and honest. i keep looking at the copyright date and not believing that it was written years ago. this book is a definite breath of fresh air!

My dad was born there in the 1950's and i was named after it. not a bad place, not much to do but nice to visit. the book is informal but informative.

. . . on Aran as everywhere else. I have had the privilege of spending two weeks on Inish Mor, one 4 years ago and one in the summer of 2001. The difference between the two visits was enormous . . . where on the first visit I saw perhaps 5-6 cars a day on the little roads, now there are minibuses beetling along everywhere. The pony carts are strictly for the tourists. I missed the women setting up kiosks on the road, selling their beautifully made sweaters. At the same time, throughout the summer, the young people put on a nightly concert featuring traditional Irish music and dance -- and it is fantastic! So wonderful to see the beauty of the old traditions taking hold in the hearts of the young men and women.

BUT ... what is quaint to the tourist translates into abject poverty for the native. Reading Synge gives one a sense of what WAS, and how hard it has been (and still is) for families to make a go of it on Aran.

Read it with respect, and remember . . . all things are changing.

"The Aran Islands" is a delightful rendition of the experiences of J. M. Synge during his visits to the Aran Islands just over a century ago. Synge's journey had been encouraged by William Butler Yeats. "Go to the Aran Islands. Live there as one of the people themselves; express a life that has never found expression." Here Synge gained an insight into the Irish character which would enrich his later works.

The Aran Islands are a chain of islands off the coasts of Connemara and Clare. Isolated by the sea, the Arans, like the Galapagos in the natural world, preserve the language and customs of traditional Ireland.

The book is a narrative of what Synge saw and the stories he heard during his stays in the Arans, told by a master storyteller in the finest Irish tradition. The language is delightful, the stories are entertaining and the insight into the Irish soul is profound. A must read for any lover of the Irish.

Though not as good as his later works, definitely worth buying, though 'Dave Barry's Guide To Life' is also availiable on Amazon.com and contains this and three other works of similiar quality and length by the same author, while being slightly cheaper than this edition alone.
Recommended.

If you've made it to that chapter (Chapter 4) without laughing so hard you have beverages coming out of your nose, please check your pulse. You may already be dead.

Anyone who has ever read a Dave Barry article can appreciate his incredibly dry wit and hilarious sense of humor. Barry always seems to capture subjects that are serious, but manages to put a funny twist on them. Not only does he nail the concept of marriage AND/OR sex in this book, but the illustrations by Jerry O'Brien are the perfect compliment. The outrageous diagrams on "How to French Kiss" remind me of my life just last week, er, I mean high school.

This book is loaded with helpful tips for both men and women. For instance, Barry feels that the best bet for a new bride on how to get along with her mother-in-law is drugs. If only more people could read this book!

This book has something in it for everyone. If you are about to get married, the chapter entitled "How to Have a Perfect Wedding No Matter What" will definately come in handy. Of course, those of you already married, chapters "How to Argue Like a Veteran Married Couple" and "Children: Big Mistake or Bad Idea?" will, most definately, be of interest.

Barry's book is a fairly quick read, and would make a nice addition to anyone's book collection, if not for the mere fact that it is a great conversation piece. Any fan of Dave Barry will love it, and if you live on another planet, and have never heard of him, this is a great book to start with. You can't help but laugh!

Barry continues being one of my favorite. His approach to human marriage relationships is no doubt almost a law (a little bit exagerated,maybe). Chapters 6 7 8 and were my favorites. I've just married and it was sort of an x-ray of my situation, except by the fact that have always believed in what he precisely satirizes: we don't need to spend a fortune in a full-of-critics-and-unpleasant people-that will not help you solve your infinite problem-night. His statements I think are of an almost universal reality. The only inconvenient for us latin american readers are perhaps the local jokes He is very serious (I'm not kidding)in telling us: Life is very simple and worth enjoying! Why screwing it up?