When you read the jacket of any book, it gives you a brief description of the book. In my opinion the jacket or back cover for Hot Snakes Nights give you exactly what this book is, nothing more.

Cole Riley writes a simple story of Frank and Mary Boles life in the Delta. While poor and uneducated Mary tries to raise 6 chillren,each with its own issue: 1 mentally challenged, 1 a born liar and a daughter experimenting with sex.

The Boles family coined the phrase "If it wasn't for bad luck I would have no luck". Everytime you think this family will get it together something jumps up and snatches them right back where they were.

In my opinion this book left me wanting more. I especially would like to know why its titled "Hot Snake Eyes".

Hot Snake Nights is not your typical read, but it is a good one. First of all, it takes you back to a simpler time and I have a predilection for novels that give some insight into what my parents and grandparents had to endure. I have read several Cole Riley novels and the first thing that struck me was his ability to capture not the dialect and surroundings of a time period, but also his ability to entwine that with historical facts.

Frank is a man's man who feels that his wife should be the proverbial "barefoot and in the kitchen." They have at least eight or nine kids when the novel starts out and Frank barely lifts a finger to help out with them. Once one of their daughters drowns because of poor parental supervision, Frank snaps and can't deal with it at all. Thus, he flees and ends up in the arms of a bisexual female whose jealous female lover will stop at nothing to get Frank out of the picture; even physical violence.

Back at home, Frank's wife has become involved with a playboy who spends his time sparingly between his two women. The kids do not like their mother's new love interest and yearn for Frank to come home. Add to that, the fact that Little Frank is mentally-challenged to the point where he exhibits violent tendencies toward his siblings. Whenever Frank does make a pit stop, his wife tries to convince him that Little Frank will sooner or later snap all together. Frank will have no parts of that theory and thinks it is all in his wife's imagination, even though he is missing in action the majority of the time. Eventually, the unimaginable does happen and they are faced with the most difficult decision of all.

If you are looking for something different, I highly recommend Hot Snake Nights.

This is one of the most exciting books I have read this year.
Banks centers her story around the conflict between a hamster's desire for freedom and his master's desire to keep him in captivity.
Houdini is a self-educated hamster who loves to be free. But unfortunatly he is owned by a family of three boys, and their father and mother who wish to keep him in a cage. Houdini is constantly escaping,leading to his many adventures like getting trapped under the kitchen floor next to a hot water pipe, flooding the house, chewing everything in sight, and hiding from an angry father who wants to kill him.
Houdini yearns to be outside, but when he finally finds himself there he realizes how much more dangerous it is outside than inside. When he is caught in a fire,gets trapped under a trashcan lid,is used as a play toy for a cat,and sees a mouse devoured by an owl;Houdini decides to make a difficult decision: to live a long life in captivity or to be free and die at any minute.
I like this book because it is interesting to see things
from a hamster's point of view. I also like how Houdini is always having adventures. I really enjoyed the end;I never expected it to end the way it did.

As anyone who has owned a golden hamster will tell, the creatures are built for escape. Golden hamsters are also by nature solitary, so one ends up with a constantly escaping loner....
"I Houdini" makes it all seem like really good adventure, and is pretty sympathetic to the humans, as well. My 10-yr-old daughter (a very good reader) enjoyed it twice, and my 8 yr-old (not such a good reader) loves it enough for me to go on-line for another copy (the one we have is someone else's). The language is slightly Dickensian--great for the kids' improving diction-- and the action well-paced. One for the home library, for sure.

The Confused Stork by Eugenia Riley

Emma Fairchild awakens in her hospital room sore, tired and confused. The last thing she remembers about being in the delivery room is excruciating pain, drifting and out of consciousness, and the fluttering of...stork wings? Soon, a messenger appears with a note explaining that her child has been mistakenly delivered to Victorian England by a confused stork in his dotage. Along with the distressing news, she is given a "ticket" to the past, which she uses with desperate haste so she can reclaim her child. She finds more than motherly love when she arrives in the past, she also finds Matthew Weymouth, a man who could use a little magic in his life himself.

Ms. Riley delivers an interesting tale. Everyone who loves regency loves a reformed rogue, and that is what Matthew Weymouth becomes. Emma is a little silly, in my opinion, but she does deliver some nice one-liners!

Blame it on the Baby by Jennifer Archer

How many of you who have been pregnant wished that, just for awhile, that your partner could experience it first hand? That would show him.

In this story, Tory Beecham-Todd is fed up with being taken for granted. When will she have the time to accomplish her goals and live her dreams? It seems her husband Dillon has it easy. He gets to have one job--managing a restaurant--while she is a college student, part-time law clerk and full time wife and mother to their daughter with another child on the way. Now, his desire to buy into the restaurant business threatens her desire to enter law school. How could he even consider this without realizing what she needs is a little help? She wished Dillon could realize what it was like for her...

She gets her wish when by a quirk of fate, she and Dillon switch places! He realizes what she deals with day to day, but Tory also comes to realize that Dillon's life isn't all she thought it was either.

Ms. Archer tells a story with a strong moral, while giving us some laugh out loud reading! The unique style is one to look for in the future. At first I thought Dillon's reaction was a little hysterical, but upon reflection, I believe this is more than likely how a guy would react to the situation. The fantasy of having your mate fill your shoes and actually understand things from your point of view is wonderful! And wouldn't anyone love the chance to try to see what makes a man tick.

A Little Bit of Magic by Kimberly Raye

Samantha Skye is on the verge of obtaining the very thing she has worked so hard for--a promotion, the keys to the executive washroom, and perhaps her father's respect. The prototype for the new Miss Kiss doll ensures it. Only...her world is turned upside down when her Granny Gigi weaves a spell that turns the doll into a flesh and blood baby! A child is the last thing on Sam's list, if indeed it made it at all. She reluctantly turns to her neighbor, Jake, for help. Jake is willing to help, because he has his own plans for Sam. The one night of passion they had shared weeks earlier had ruined him for other women, and he intended to make Sam see the light one way or another.

Ms. Ray's story is magical and charming, not to mention steamy! The chemistry between Jake and Samantha keep the reader turning the pages. Granny Gigi is a loveable nut.

I don't usually read anthologies, but I read Body & Soul by Jennifer Archer and loved it, so when I found out that Tory and Dillon's story was going to be told in New Year's Babies, I had to read it! New Year's Babies is three stories in one book.

The Confused Stork by Eugenia Riley B

When Emma wakes up in the hospital after giving birth to her daughter she is shocked to find that her daughter is missing. All she remembers is mayhem in the delivery room and something about a stork... When she receives a note with a ticket back to Victorian London so she could go pick up her baby that a "confused stork" had "misdelivered", she doesn't believe it. But sure enough, Emma finds herself back in Victorian London on the doorstep of a handsome earl, who is also a rake. Everybody thinks that Matthew is the father of her baby and when his housekeeper demands that she stay, Matthew agrees to let Emma stay. Determined to marry her off, Matthew tries to find a husband for Emma. This proves to be hard when the handsome earl finds himself falling in love with the beautiful American mother who is from the future.

Blame it on the Baby by Jennifer Archer A

This was my favorite. If your'e an expectant mother, or are a mother, this is one to read. Tory Todd is feeling out of sorts, and at eight months pregnant she feels that her husband Dillon doesn't understand what she is going through. Almost by magic, after opening a fortune cookie, Tory and Dillon switch places, literally. Tory is now a man but Dillon is a woman who is pregnant! This book was so funny that I laughed out loud several times. (my husband had to ask what was so funny) Dillon goes through a baby shower, swollen feet, a doctor's visit, (complete exam!). Tory and Dillon find out that the only way they can find out what they need to do to change back is to reach out and find out what is really important in their marriage. If you read just one story in this book, this is it.

A Little Bit of Magic by Kimberly Raye A-

Samantha is happy with her life as it is. (although she has the hots for her handsome neighbor Jack whom she had a one night stand with six month earlier) Her 92 year old grandmother doesn't see it that way. Samantha needs to be married and have children. As a woman who has never wanted children, Samantha doesn't agree. AT ALL. Unfortunately the man she wants, Jack, wants a dozen children. Grandma Gigi uses her magic to bring the two together by turning a doll into a baby. Samantha must ask Jack for help to take care of the baby. I laughed through this one too, mostly because I was reminded so much of myself. I haven't diapered a baby IN YEARS! Nor have I hardly held one. Keep it away! Samantha finds that motherhood isn't too bad, and Jack is pretty great too. (assuming that twelve kid thing is re-considered)

Monte Irvin provides us with his experiences of playing in the Negro Leagues prior to joining the New York Giants. The part I enjoyed best was his relating his experience of playing with the Giants since I was a kid at that time. He seems to feel that Rickey's choice of Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier was the wrong choice that worked out well. Irvin feels he could have been the chosen player and handled it better due to his more noncombative nature. He also provides us with his opinions on present day baseball related matters. He liked Bowie Kuhn as a commissioner, but feels he erred in not being present at Aaron's record breaking home run. Irvin, as Kuhn's aid, substituted for him. He doesn't feel Pete Rose should be elected to the Hall of Fame due to his gambling. Irvin blows his own horn a few times in the book, but I found it to be enjoyable, but certainly not a classic.

This book tell a great recollect of Monte Irvin's hard and good times with baseball and life. It reached my heart and told me what it would have been like to live in America as an African American.

Can't excuse not discussing threading in this book. 3 STARS.

Java and OOP is a concept and practice which not many mainframe programmers have had much exposure to. The languages which I have utilized were: Machine Language, Assembler, Basic, Cobol, Fortran and Pascal. This book made the task of orienting myself with Java very effortless. The book is designed for the college classroom audience and is structured in a way which immediately exposes the reader to the concepts of OOP and UML. It gradually builds on past lessons so each section reinforces and reviews the prior ones. Other books jump from one topic to another which forces the reader to constantly flip the pages back to review the past lessons. This is an exceptional book which is definitely worth reviewing. After passing through the sections, Java is not intimidating at all. After all, if a PC programmer can handle this language, how hard can it really be?

This book does an adequate job of generally presenting information in non-technical fashion for planners, policy makers, and citizens as related to stream restoration in cities. It is simplistic and fairly straight-forward reading for the layman interested in this topic.

On page 128, there is a diagram showing "factors influencing stream erosion and sedimentation" which appears to be attributed to Mr. E W Lane in an American Society of Civil Engineers professional journal dated 1955. However, a closer inspection of this particular journal article by interested readers should reveal to them that the figure shown in Riley's book in reality doesn't actually appear in the journal itself; although the diagram's concepts themselves are given in the journal article. So the question remains, WHO ACTUALLY DREW THE DIAGRAM in Riley's book and WHY WEREN'T THEY PROPERLY RECOGNIZED IN IT?

And HOW MANY OTHER MIS-LEADING OVERSIGHTS are possibly contained in the book?

From a hydraulic and hydrologic technical and design stand-point, this book appears weak and I feel that citation problems like I previously mentioned are inexcusable and not acceptable for a published book.

Thus my average rating of it.

This unique book is a comprehensive and detailed guide to how to go about restoring streams that have been degraded by channelization, excessive erosion or sedimentation, and undergrounding into storm drains. It covers everything from how to form Friends groups and develop public support through engineering and design choices. As an educated citizen without specialized training in engineering, I found it highly readable; the concepts are presented thoroughly but without excessive jargon. The author is a cofounder of the Urban Creeks Council of California and the Coalition to Rescue Urban Waters.

William F. Freidman was perhaps the greatest cryptological mind the world has ever produced. The Riverbank Publications were his textbooks when he was teaching american servicemen cryptanalysis in 1917. It was early in his career, and these books dealt mainly with nomenclators, "trench codes" and classical cryptographic systems such as the Playfair cipher and the Vigenere cipher, and "running key" or "book" systems.

Friedman broke new cryptanalytic ground with all of these systems, coming up with new attacks and utterly demolishing the Vigenere, which was at that time considered "unbreakable". He hadn't yet developed the science to the level he brought it to by World War II later in his career, but this is a valuable insight on the way his mind worked, and some of the earliest writing on the subject that he did.

In the first run, the works were printed in 8 small volumes -- but since the material was highly classified at that time, the printing run was only 400 issues.

After the army used them in their cryptanalysis course, they ascended into the heights of "rare-book heaven", and collectors and dealers trying to lay hands on one would move heaven and earth to get it.

I was very pleased to see that someone finally managed to get permission to reprint these volumes -- albeit in a different format and in only 3 volumes. Now at last I can own copies of this piece of cryptological history.

William F. Freidman was perhaps the greatest cryptological mind the world has ever produced. The Riverbank Publications were his textbooks when he was teaching american servicemen cryptanalysis in 1917. It was early in his career, and these books dealt mainly with nomenclators, "trench codes" and classical cryptographic systems such as the Playfair cipher and the Vigenere cipher, and "running key" or "book" systems.

Friedman broke new cryptanalytic ground with all of these systems, coming up with new attacks and utterly demolishing the Vigenere, which was at that time considered "unbreakable". He hadn't yet developed the science to the level he brought it to by World War II later in his career, but this is a valuable insight on the way his mind worked, and some of the earliest writing on the subject that he did.

In the first run, the works were printed in 8 small volumes -- but since the material was highly classified at that time, the printing run was only 400 issues.

After the army used them in their cryptanalysis course, they ascended into the heights of "rare-book heaven", and collectors and dealers trying to lay hands on one would move heaven and earth to get it.

I was very pleased to see that someone finally managed to get permission to reprint these volumes -- albeit in a different format and in only 3 volumes. Now at last I can own copies of this piece of cryptological history.

Throughout this book Riley does an excellent job of grappling with the idea of 'women' as a category that has been socially constructed. This book takes a historical look at how this socially constructed category of 'women' has shifted. In this compelling piece Riley disects the relationship between 'women' and feminism. "Am I That Name?" addresses how feminism is a battle ground for the unstable category of 'women'.

Riley Dunlap and Angela Mertig have gathered an excellent sample of essays that cover the evolution of the Environmental Movement in America. This work focuses on the period of 1970 to 1990, during which time the movement established itself as a lasting social force.

While obviously supportive of the Environmental Movement the essays provide a fairly evenhanded overview of the issues and forces that shaped the movement. This work is a must for anyone wanting a basic overview of American Environmentalism.

The layout of this "First Biographies" series is suitable for children in first to third grade, or for people just learning to read. The information presented on Franklin (and the other famous historical Americans) is fairly slim, but that's to be expected in book for first-timers. The information is simple and accurate, and easy to understand for those new students.