Having read A better Class of Person, of course I had to buy Almost a Gentleman. This picks up the story of John Osborne's life from 1955 and continues through 1966. The book was written a couple of years before Osborne's death in 1993, and he may or may not have planned to write a concluding volume. The writing is very good, although the subject matter may pall at times for someone who wasn't in England during the "Ban the Bomb" years. Osborne's love life is a different story, and gives the lie to all the tales of the sexually repressed Englishman. He flits from one wife to another with no satisfactory explanation other than "things weren't going too well": evidently he was sexually attracted to the next one and simply dumped the previous one. As Dr. Johnson said, "a triumph of hope over experience". He has little bad to say about his former wives, other than some amusing sarcasm for Penelope Gilliat, until we reach a postscript. This consists of some of the richest vituperation in literature, directed at Jill Bennett. It's the work of a cad, of course, as it was written on the occasion of Ms. Bennett's death, but it's nonetheless a gem.

John Osborne was among the first of the generation of "angry young men" to reach fame as a playwright in the 1950's. The title of the first part of his autobiography reflects the petty snobbery and attitudes prevalent of England before and after the second world war. This is a thoroughly readable book about a highly intelligent young man growing up in a dysfunctional, working-class family. There are many gems of descriptive writing, such as his description of his boyhood friend, Mickey Walls and the excerpt from his book about Max Miller. There is also a vivid evocation of life on tour with seedy theatrical companies and staying in "digs". The references to characters mentioned earlier become confusing after a while, but the book rarely palls.

This is a great Christie story and the final Poirot tale (despite the fact that it obviously takes place before "Curtain" it was published afterward). Despite the fact that it was originally a play and is therefore limited in location (most of it takes place in one room), it still comes across as good. The major complaint I have is that the murderer is revealed in the first cassette by telling what they do. On the stage as this was originally intended to be presented, the action would have been subtle amongst the other things happening on stage at the time and most folks probably would have missed it, but presented as this audiobook the action is trumpeted loudly and the rest of the time you're just waiting for the ending to come. The cat and mouse game Poirot plays with the killer is good and I can just imagine the theatre-goers holding their breath at that final exchange, but the rest of the book just doesn't cut it. Still, if you keep in mind that it was originally intended for the stage (and I think Ms. Christie would have omitted that telling detail if SHE had written it as a book) you can see where it would have been a smash hit.

As my title says, this is indeed a nice collection of Stoker's lesser known works. It also includes "Dracula's Guest" which was cut from the original masterpiece of Victorian terror. This short story being perhaps the best in the volume. The stories range from the excellent to the hum-drum. I took away one star for that reason.

Either way, I'd recommend this book....if you can find a copy.

The Osborne was the first real portable computer - only slightly less "luggable" than a sewing machine. This book is for the Osborne hobbyest who would like some programs to enter into the durable device. It contains the actual source code for dozens of programs such as interest calculations.

If you're playing with an Osborne, this book may save you hours of time!

This book presents a comprehensive look at the career development, assessment and counseling work of Donald E. Super. It includes the career development theory he developed over 50 years, a presentation of the tests that are used to apply the theory to career counseling, and specific examples of how to use the theory and tests to do career counseling with male and female high school students, college students, community clients, African-American and Mexican-American clients.

I bought this book for my 12 year old to prepare for a computer literacy test he took to 'test out' of a required middle school course. While he uses computers a lot and I have for years, the illustrations helped both of us to better understand how computers work. I've suggested that our school purchase a set for the computer lab.

I really enjoyed the fascinating combination of literature and erotica in these stories! I most enjoyed the story about the black magic sorcerer, who while he grows young and kinder, cannot escape justice for his past evils. This is a spellbinding collection, I just wish it had been a longer read!

As I stood in the cafeteria line behind a Malaysian exchange student at Campbell University in North Carolina, I was so glad that I had read my Essential Malaysia. Remembering its warnings on the effects of pork on the digestive tracks of native Malaysians, I was able to bridge the great cultural divide that separates that pacific gem from rustic Buies Creek. When asked by the local food service preparation worker what my Malaysian cohort had said about the ribs she had served him, I gladly replied, "I think he said, 'The ribs make me juicy.'" Thus, a potentially sticky incident was defused.

This book was very helpful to me. I bought the Final Doom game a month ago and i've been looking all around for a book on it to help me. It has a clear description of the maps and has good detail on everything on where to go and find the keys to get into the locked doors. I beat this game in one night. And I will still play this game over and over as long as I have this book.