I like this book a whole lot. My favortie part was the Mothers Day tea party because it was so sweet the way she couldn't decide to bring Mimi or her father. What I don't like is how they don't tell you how her mother died.
(that's something very small)
It was a great book. For those who liked this book, I recomend:
Mystery5 MaryAnne and the Secret in the Attic
Kristy's Portrait Collection
Abby's Portrait Collection
They're all great books! Thank you Ann Martin!

This was an interesting story. It helps you get to know her father more and see that he really cares about her. I thought that Mary Anne's grandmother was rude to keep putting him down to her and to criticize Mary Anne and make her upset. Mary Anne tells her off and runs out the door and hides in the cornfields. Then she comes back and says sorry. SORRY FOR WHAT? That part irritated me. It was her Grandma who needed to say sorry. It was her doing.

Very tender sweet, moving story on growing up, and mother loss. Mary Anne's search for a female figure in her life is touching, especially her attachment to Mimi. Her dad tries to fill in, but there's no one in a girl's life like a mother. I was also glad to meet Mary Anne's grandmother along with Mary Anne. I was so happy for Mary Anne and Verna, especially when Mary Anne found out about her mother, Alma. I like Verna and would like to see more of her in future BSC books. I could see Verna had been through a lot and was also working through her grief of losing a husband AND a daughter. It was really too bad that Richard and Verna hadn't grown up yet back when Mary Anne was a toddler and fought over her. It's great that now Richard and Verna are putting their feelings aside for Mary Anne's sake.

This terrific new book from two of the world's best-known and respected marketers - Stan Rapp and Chuck Martin - contains a powerful surprise for the reader. The title suggests that it might be about the authors' special take on e-marketing -- it turns out to be that, and much more.

The authors actually tackle a full range of enterprise issues from integrating IT and marketing functions to strategic partnerships to email marketing. Their points are substantiated with dozens of examples and numerous case studies. The effect is a convincing and eye-opening presentation of the extent to which marketing does, and should, pervade every aspect of business today.

The thread that that pulls the authors' observations together is the customer-centric philosophy pioneered by co-author Stan Rapp in his and Tom Collin's book, "MaxiMarketing," published in 1986. The result is a well-organized unfolding of ideas and solutions that help the reader understand how new technologies, such as the wireless Internet, might be used to build customer relationships while simultaneously improving a firm's operating efficiency.

Obviously, the authors are high-level thinkers. Many of their ideas stimulated new ideas for my own business, which is the whole point of a book like this. For example, their discussion of how to turn products into "offerings" by surrounding them with value-added services was especially interesting and helpful.

Perhaps the greatest value of the book is that its seven "imperatives" provide the basis for a sound strategic direction. Follow them and there's little doubt the book will live up to its promise of "dominating" the competition. That's especially helpful these days when change is so rapid and so much is new and untested.

Read this book and be prepared for some very powerful ideas and new directions not just for marketing, but for the entire business.

Commit the Seven Imperatives to memory, but not as a mere mantra. This an essential tool bag ready to go to work. 'Max-e-Marketing in the Net Future: The Seven Imperatives for Outsmarting the Competition in the Net Economy' are seven elegantly crafted and clarifying doses of excellent advice that will de-fuzz the out-of-focus business models of many dot.coms, and for that matter, help any company struggling to straddle and merge the old ways of doing business with e-business. Concise examples from over 200 companies from American Express to zoho.com are cited and explained. Real-world case studies and real-world top executives exclusively interviewed, coupled with Martin and Rapp's own considerable depth and breadth of experience, make this juicy reading. Their perspective is bulls-eye. Once begun, I didn't put it down. Using Martin and Rapp's premises for avoiding pitfalls and grasping opportunities, our dot-com has redefined and refined our own business model so completely that we now have a clear path to profitability. We even take the author's message to the Fortune companies we now call on. 'Max-e-marketing In The Net Future' is all about really getting really real.

Max-E Marketing is a book that I read in an evening, put to work in a day, and will be absorbing for some time to come while evaluating and implementing the seven imperatives in my own business environment. I found the pairing of co-authors Stan Rapp and Chuck Martin to be a master stroke. The combined power of their marketing savvy, e-business vision, and journalistic discipline yields a clarity of thought and usefulness of principle that should help any business executive who is determined to outsmart the competition in the Net Economy. But what really sets this book apart is the rich mix of real-world examples. They represent a range of companies and industries so broad that every reader will find a way to relate to every major point. The seven imperatives each reflect straightforward click-and-mortar business strategy, yet they are presented here as marketing strategy. Lest a reader miss the point of that, the authors deliver the message one more time in imperative number seven: "Make business responsible for marketing and marketing responsible for business."

What a shame this little gem of a book hasn't received the large promotion it does to get it out into the mainstream! Expecting a dry little book about mans obsession with time, I was extremely surprised to find a compelling and overwhelmingly fascinating book which tells a tale of mankind's efforts to find out how old the Earth is. The story is very character driven, dipping into the fascinating (if opressed) lives of men of science and religion, driven over the last 400 years to work out exactly how old is the Earth. Of course, initially, the results are hopelessly tangled in religious boundaries but gradually, the questing minds of scientists eventually begin to push back the religious boundaries.

Gorst has written an absolutely magical book here - worth reading whether even if only looking to kill a few hours - because it is so well written, so easy to read and so interesting! Its been a long time since I read such a great work of non-fiction and would recommend this book to anyone with the slightest hint of curiosity or interest in history!

Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time written by Martin Gorst is a real jewel as he writes about man's obsession to find out when time or when did the universe began. This is a well written book of character driven narrative, making interesting reading as the cast of characters tell a well-crafted story.

I'm sure that at least once in your life time you wanted to know when the universe started. Well, that very question lies at the crosshairs of religion and science, nd for four hundred years philosophers, astronomers, geologists, physicists and mathematicians all tried to figure out the answer to this most vexing question.

Poor Bishop James Ussher who came up with an answer of 4004 BC at 6:00PM on a Suturday, October 22 noless was really off by billions of years, but he only had the bible for reference... no wonder he made such an inaccurate calculation.. if only he opened he eyes and mind to see the expanse of time in eons. Aristotle had it better pegged when he said, "Time is infinite and the universe eternal," and that was the fourth century B.C. Plato had his magnus annus a span of 36,000 years.

I found this book to be very interesting as the author writes in an easily read style making you well aware of the history involved in this age old question of chasing rainbows and expanded horizons... the moment that time began. And as science slowly put the pieces together via Darwinism, thermodynamics, radioactivily and most recently the astronomers with the Hubble space telescope, we begin to see what deep time means... 13.4 billion years give or take a billion. Thus, making time almost incomprehensible nevertheless, plausible.

You'll enjoy reading the history involved with calculating when time began and how each thought that they were on the right track, later to be found that they too were not thinking billions of years. There are some very eccentic characters in this book... knowing that they were serious when they took on the caluclation of time, but later we see the error in their thinking.

The beauty of this book is that you don't have to know anything about science to be mesmerized by it. Its reads as though a grand wizard of storytelling is telling you an especially wonderful story. Briefly, this book tells the story of how we as human beings came to question the world around us, and eventually the universe. The style of writing is plain, simple english, like a good documentary. Gorst explains the science in examples that don't interfere with the narrative. The search for the beginning of time involved countless scientists, and Gorst seamlessly blends each person's contribution, smoothly moving from one person or era to another. The book is lively and engaging and would make a great present for just about anyone; it's a nice change from the usual bestseller that leaves you with nothing when you're done.

Back when Fashion photogs shot 8x10 and retouching was done by hand. These prints are fantastic. Every shot is a work of art - unlike the fashion created today. This is Composed, settled, undefinable beauty.

I have been a fan of Mr. Sokolsky for quite some time. His work is always fresh and inventive. Whether the photos are 20 years old or were shot yesterday, they are timeless. He is so much more than a fashion photographer. He is the eye of an artist. He sees a world of emotion and beauty, he captures the essence of the spirit. When I look at one of his photos I am drawn into a world that only he knows. His pictures move me into a place of pure pleasure. Mr. Sokolsky's love for women and his appreciation of beauty that is real, not perfect but real beauty is what distinguishes him from any other photographer. I only hope that he will publish another book soon. I wish he would photograph me the way he did Ali Mcgraw or Mia Farrow. Such a beautiful, soft, and sensual tribute to his models. Wow! The man is truly a GENIUS!

I could begin by highly recommending this photography book with all the superlatives that it certainly deserves, but this still would not describe these photos adequately or do this publication true justice. For as the saying goes a picture is worth a thousand words and all the brilliant photos in this book one would need thousands upon thousands of words and even then one could never say enough about this extraordinary collection of photograph. I will say this much, rather than having called this book 'Seeing Fashion' --- 'Seeing' would have been enough and a far more appropriate title. For it is about seeing and seeing in a way (or fashion to play on words) that is unique, inventive and an utterly original in the sense that no one takes and took (because much of these photos were taken more than 30 years - a point I will return to a bit later) picture then or now quite like Sokolsky. Photos that first reveal in spite of the fact that were for the most part taken to illustrate the haute couture fashion of the day for Harper's Bazaar, that they are photographs that stand alone for their technical virtuosity but more than this they are work of great inventiveness and a truly personal sense of composition and use of space. They are unique works of art that transcend their time and in turn are timeless in their vision. A vision that still influences photographers in general and the fashion photographers of today. One need only look at today's magazine to see the repetition of his original 'flying' pictures, the use of lighting and also the physical way models pose -- before Sokolsky models simply repeated the poses that had become so common, and yes even boring, from the fashion house's runway. Sokolsky changed all that by posing them in graceful angular articulation that represented a contemporary idiom that could be called sensual cubism, that is a cubism combined with a highly charged sexual aura permeated by the psychological impact of freedoms from social and spiritual oppression and conformities which in its way anticipated the women's lib movement that followed. And again as I looked at these photographs it was difficult to realize that they were taken more than 30 years ago and were indeed taken to illustrate fashion, for these photographs,that also include many portrait of celebreties as well as unknowns and assorted photographic studies, stand on their own merit as extraordinary works of photographic genius and art.

Also another point that I will not elaborate on, besides this publication being long overdue, some elements about this book will make it a collectors items one day.

Pablo Neruda's "Memoirs" is not a comprehensive autobiographical document. It is a personal memoir, recounted as if the author was sitting around a table, with good friends and a bottle of excellent Chilean wine, telling tales of the people, anecdotes and incidents that were so important in his life. "Confieso Que He Vivido," means I confess that I have lived. And Sr. Neruda certainly did that...with zest, zeal and so much talent. The translation by Hardie St. Martin is a good one, but it does not do justice to Neruda's beautiful skill with the Spanish language. He romances the language, like no other, even with his prose.

Neruda was born, the son of a railroad worker, in the then frontier wilderness of Southern Chile in 1904. He led a bohemian lifestyle, dressing in black "like the true poets of the last century," during his university years in Santiago. His shyness, the "kink in the soul,"...especially of women, took him a while to overcome. He describes the people and places of that period with great 'carino' (love). His political ideology began to form at that time also, and politics became an integral part of his writing. The Student Federation, student demonstrations and the subsequent repression, had a great impact on the young intellectual.

Neruda led a rich and fascinating life. World traveled throughout his life, he served as Chilean consul in Burma, Ceylon, and Java. He was the consul in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and during this time "Nine Love Poems" from "Veinte Poemas de Amor y Una Cancion Desesperada" was published. It was at this time also, that his friend Federico Garcia Lorca was killed. Neruda was present in Paris to organize a worldwide anti-Facist congress of writers that would be held in Madrid. His writing about Spain during the war is heartbreaking. Returning to Chile in 1938, he found a burgeoning Fascist movement in his own beloved land.

I particularly enjoyed his account of the time he spent in Mexico, as consul. He tells of his encounters with the great Mexican painters there.

After returning home, Neruda ran for political office and was elected to Chile's Senate in 1945. He was later removed from his Senate seat after joining the Communist Party.

His friends included: Garcia Lorca, Ehrenburg, Picasso, Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, Octavio Paz, Miguel Angel Asturias, Gandhi, Nehru, Mao, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and most sadly, Salvador Allende.

Pablo Neruda's death, just weeks after the brutal murder of Chile's President Allende, is something I will never forget. I was living in Colombia at that time, and remember where I was and what I was doing when I learned of Allende's death, and later heard of Neruda's passing. It called to mind, then and now, my recollections, as a young girl, when President Kennedy's assassination was announced. I always thought Neruda died of a broken heart.

This is an exceptionally good memoir, told with great charm, in a series of vignettes. I highly recommend it, especially to anyone who has read and enjoyed Pablo Neruda's poetry - to my mind some of the most beautiful in the world. It also gives us a glimpse of the politics of the left from the point of view of a Latin American - not the usual perspective, and well worth while.

Although not a fan of autobiographies, Neurda's Memoirs is a must. Memoirs traces his life and adventures from rural Chile to such places as India and pre-world war two Europe. Not only did he visit such wonderful places, but his timing and the role he plays in events is absolutly amazing. Moreover, one gets to see such events through the eye of a poet making Memoirs a rich and stirring read. Reading this not only gives perspective on where Neurda's passion for life came from, but his values and his poetry.

Neruda is one of the best poets ever. Besides, such a marvelous human being, generous, romantic and lovely person. After visiting one of his houses in Santiago, Chile with my boyfriend, I could have a better feeling on how he behaved in is everyday life. This made me admire Neruda much more. Don't you think a Neruda's book is the perfect Valentine's gift? I do!

This is a straight reprint of the original...they actually photographed the pages instead of having it re-typeset, thank god...and all the David Stone Martin illustrations are intact.

This is THE classic on jazz music and writing. Crazy stories, crazy times, with the unbelievable spinner of tales Jelly Roll holding the floor. Lomax could have just printed Jelly's comments verbatim and this would've been great, but he went to the trouble of tracking down a bunch of people who knew Jelly or were otherwise around New Orleans in the early daze, and this added detail spices the pot considerably. Alan Lomax's own commentary and observations are witty, charming, and spot on.

This edition is made definitive by a scholarly afterword bringing the reader fully up-to-date on modern Jelly Roll research. Quite a few pertinent details are now known that weren't when Lomax was writing this.

Up there with Mezz Mezzrow's "Really the Blues" as essential an text in the American music pantheon.

This is one of the rare books for it can be enjoyed by just about anyone who picks it up. Its the amazing account of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, one of the best jazz pianists of all time. Though a braggart and troubled man, he created some of the very best pieces of jazz. The book goes into his life from his childhood and his time working at Storyville to the very troubled end in the early forties. You learn about his family, his troubled relationships with Anita and Mabel and how he went from being wildly successful to dying virtually forgotten. Voodoo, New Orleans, jazz and Creole culture, its all here.

Written with flair and never boring, Mr. Jelly Roll is a book that you will read more than once. Its a look at a legend and a glimpse into a world we can only know of through books and music. Get this if you want a good read and a look at Mr. Morton's life. A true classic.

Alan Lomax interviewed Jelly Roll while doing an extensive set of recordings shortly before Morton's death. He followed up with a number of interviews with people who knew Jelly Roll. Lomax did a fabulous job of keeping himself out of the way while letting the often colorful information from the interviews tell the story of Jelly's part in the birth of jazz, a story with triumphs, massive ego and ultimate decline. I read a library copy and am buying a copy for a present.

We've been cooking the pork dishes with the salsas and chutneys. Easy to do several at a time and have nice summer food without reheating the kitchen. An even better collection than I first thought.

As a former Miamian now living in Virginia, reading this wonderful new book was like taking a trip to my hometown. It has many delicious recipes that seem to me to capture the true essence of tropical cuisine. Try making the Hot and Tangy Black Bean Dip for an easy (and low fat) snack that will wake up your taste buds.I prepared the Calabazas and Sweet Potato Soup for company and received raves reviews from my guests.It's really simple to make and everyone will think you worked all day cooking it.Mmmmiami also offers the reade an interesting history of the growth of So. Florida and the influence that the influx of Latin tourists, businesspeople and immigrants have had on the culture.The book's witty and clever text explains why tropical cuisine is now the hottest food trend sweeping the country.I think this wonderful book should be a staple (like black beans and rice)in the house of any serious cook. I recommend Mmmmiami highly.

A wonderful book if I still lived in Miami. The availability of some of the products might be limited to Florida and major metropolitan areas. I would love Carole to publish something from her early cooking classes. I rely on those recipes on a regular basis.

Last summer I went to Boston to visit the historical sites and the Constitution (ship not paper). Visiting the Constitution piked my interest in that fine ship, so I ended up picking up this book. The author took alot of time doing research on the ship through the ages and I'm glad he did because now we have this little gem. This book gives a little insight to the tenuous hold the United States had at the beginning and it also gives some insight into why the United States needs a military. It also shows the value of portraying historic treasures (like the Constitution) because they help people remember their past and thus get a better direction on their future.

The U.S.S. Constitution is the oldest ship still in service in the U.S. Navy. This book is a well-written with excerpts of the ship's logs and excellent illustrations. I am amazed at how much history of the United States I did not learn in high school! If you enjoyed watching Horatio Hornblower on A&E, you'll enjoy this book for sure.

I grew up in Massachusetts, and I can remember those field trips to Boston to see all the history, and the Constitution. I wish I could have appreciated it then as I do now. Oh well, at least I like it now.

This is a great book. What a fun read that is hard to put down. It's not dry history with lots of dates, numbers, and charts. There is a real story here, about a ship, the men who served her, and the history behind her.

There are a few other books on the market about the Constitution, some sold at the museum in Charlestown, but this is the one to read. Front to back, it's very entertaining. The author sites journals, letters, stories, legends, and even the ship's log to gather information to form the story of a ship that never lost an engagement, although almost the victim apathy. The decks are once again alive with activity and danger. The wind fills the sails, and the ocean sprays into the air.

If you like the sea and sailing, read this book. If you like ships and sailing, read this book. But if you like well told history, then definitely read this book.

Farjeon is a remarkable writer with a wonderful imagination. She uses the tone and the style of British fairy tales to create her own stories with great skill and charm. It just occurred to me that she should be required reading for scriptwriters of TV evening soaps, with her ability to tell stand-alone short stories within an encompassing, ongoing narrative.

Like the other reviewers, I read this book and its companion, "Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field," when I was a child, probably pre-teen. They were my mother's books, and I discovered them in the cellar. Happy day!

The stories in this book are for older children, and probably would appeal more to girls. They're sophisticated enough for adults, however, and stay in the memory. I think they'd be wonderful read aloud to 10 to 12-year-olds.

Like the rest of the reviewers, I wish this book and "...Daisy Field" were still in print. I'd buy multiple copies and distribute them far & wide.

I agree with the other two reviewers. I too read this book and 'Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field' when I was a teenager. The stories are unlike any others--there is an amusing one about a little pig who ends up getting the magic gift of forever staying thin(and therefore ummarketable!)In a totally different vein, there is a beautifully crafted story about a woman who appears good and lovely on the surface but has evil in her soul--not very original, you say? Ah, but the way she is ultimately saved by the man who is strong enough to literally root out the blackness is very different. The descriptions of the West Country in England have made me long to go there--maybe one day I will.

I am a Japanese woman and I read this book again and again since when I was around 10. The auther's other books which are mentioned in the previous review are all still well selling here in Japan. You can find her books in almost every libraries.

Ever since I was fascinated by the exoticism of the Farjeon's good old British atmosphare, I've been longing to read these books in the original text.

I was very disappointed to find out that most of her books are out of print even in her own country. It is a shame. There are gems of short stories which gives very good influence to the children's fantasy. It is also ideal for the story telling text.

Thanks to the Amazon.com, I could find 'The little book room" but Martin pippin series...

Please do reprint, it's a very charming magical book.

Asturias writes like no one I have ever read before, but what irked me was the constant dependency on the back of the book for keys as to what anything meant. Much of it comes from the legends of the Mayan culture which I'm sure most people don't know concisely enough to know parts of the Mayan "bible." For the more patient reader, it is an amazing set of tales, but without the critical edition, I think one might become devoured by the profundity it entails, and comprehend only the title. From what I read however, I realized that we are dealing with an unorthodox writer, a shaman with words, and the predecessor of Marquez.

The book is a excelent review of investigation about "Men of maize". I'd apreciate if you could send me the address (email, phone, city etc.) of Gerald Martin. I want to contact him because I'like to send him a article about Asturias book. Sincerly yours Dr. Oscar Vinueza.

Men of Maize is an incredible tale of Indian life in Latin America during the early twentieth century, woven poetically by Asturias. In six parts he simultaneously creates and re-tells history, blurring the distinctions between reality and myth. He interweaves the past, present and future, giving the background tale, then continuing on to show how that tale would become the folklore of the future.

In Maize, there is a strong undercurrent of the clash of cultures that fuels the fires of conflict between the Ladinos, Mestizos and Indians. The Indians see themselves as made of maize, and to have their flesh and blood grown by foreigners for profit is abhorrent to them. As they are evermore forced off their land to clear fields for the commercial maizegrowers they begin to rebel. It is here that Asturias starts his novel, with an attack on Indian Chief Gaspar Ilóm led by soldiers and maizegrowers. The death of Ilóm, one of the magical firefly wizards, wreaks a cycle of revenge that affects all who were involved. A series of battles ensue, and tensions rise, giving way to permanent distrust and dislike between the two groups. Asturias then takes the reader farther through time, showing how the past discords (and the legends that arose from it) give hope and motivation to the generations of the future, as they struggle against the same forces their ancestors struggled with. He creates the tales of many different players in different periods of time, such as the great Chief Ilóm, the Indian postman, and Goyo Yic, the blind Indian beggar. Asturias connects these seemingly unrelated lives with a common theme: each man is gradually alienated from a "progressing" society through losing his land, his woman, and eventually his own self. By this Asturias describes the reality for an indigenous person living in an ever-fluctuating post-colonial Latin America.

Crucial to understanding this clash of cultures is understanding the Indian way of life. For the indigenous of Latin America, the answer to everything lay in the every day activities and choices of the people. The Maya are a highly ritualized culture, even the smallest activity, such as eating or drinking, is governed by unwritten rules. The clothes, the huipil, the essential food, maize, and the petate mat on which they sleep, each play their part in appeasing a higher power (by now syncretized into a Christian God). Asturias makes hundreds of references to these daily activities and the beliefs they represent. Of central importance is the maize, the crop of the Maya, their sustenance, and the basis for their existence. To interfere with the growing of the maize is to interfere with the very core of a Maya, himself being made of maize. Another recurring theme in this book is the importance of the nahual, or "soul double" that each person is assigned at birth. The nahuales take the form of animals, and those animals serve as a connection for each person to the animal world, as aides and companions.

In a loose sense the novel does progress linearly through the years of the early 1900's, though the reader immediately feels a more cyclical motion of time. Often unsure of how much time has passed between stories, and whether the events being described are in "real" time or dream time, the reader is swirled into the reality of the tale. However, by the end of the book the reader, almost surprised, finds each story tied to another in some form, with the final revelation of the identity of the betrayess, María Tecún, completing all cycles.

Asturias' ability to write from the native perspective is amazing. He has succeeded in making this novel a mystical and magical experience for the reader. Through his poetic language Asturias places the reader right in the heart of the forest, with magical fireflies swarming about and rain pelting down on the dusty paths. He has masterfully recreated in writing the lack of acknowledgement of time that is pervasive throughout Latin America. It is no easy feat to put in writing la magia de lo real, or, the magic of reality, and Asturias has done it well. He has shared with the reader an existence contrary to "Western" consciousness, where no thing is governed by "Western" rules, yet this existence found itself trying to reconcile itself with the ever-"Westernizing" world. Through fiction Asturias painst the picture of reality - the cruelty and tragedy of the idigenous struggle to survive in post-colonial Latin America.