I bought this book, not for myself, but for a friend who is going to be a mother for the first time. I read the book before wrapping it in a pretty package, and wow...it made me want to be a mother! Roni Jay has captured all the qualities that you would want to bestow on your child, and makes motherhood into the beautiful gift it should be. Her meditations inspire you to be, not only the best parent you can be, but the best person you can be. It comes with a CD to play while relaxing or meditating on the text.

Jay Abraham has had a 25 year career in marketing. You can't be in a field that long and not know what is going on and how to be successful. In this book, Abraham shares all of what he has learned. Reading this book offers a golden opportunity to take advantage of an expert's advice.

His book is full of ideas and information about how you can be more successful in your business. He gives examples of big businesses that increased their profit margins and how they did it, and how you can do the same thing and get the same results as the big boys.

If you have a small business, however, or are just building your business, you can put Abraham's ideas and methods to work starting today. None of the advice is "Pie-in-the-sky" or difficult. The ideas are proven winners.

Abraham's approach is consumer oriented--his theory is if you have happy customers, you will have more business. This shouldn't be anything new or suprising, but in today's rough and tumble busines world, it seems the customer is the last person many businesses think of, yet there is where your profits are.

Each chapter ends with an "Action Steps" segment. These are assignments for you to do, and taking the time to do them will be worthwhile. The book is easy to understand; it comes through with what it promises and suggests ways you can go over what ou already have in assests and opportunities and make more of what you've got.

When I started reading "Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got," I immediately recognized the material as Jay's usual "nothing held back, full value" directional advice. I had become too focused on several projects. After reading the book, I realized how poorly I was planning one project and that another didn't make sense for the "Multiply Your Maximum" strategies described in detail in the book. Talk about cutting the learning curve, this book just saved us thousands of dollars, and months of work.

The single most dramatic change in my business life came from this books recommendations. When I identified my personal and business "unique selling proposition I immediately began to focus on my value centered objectives and profits soared!" As I read the book, I realized that the fundamentals always remain the same but the positioning and strategies need to constantly change. The excitement and energy is flowing through me. I am discovering so much opportunity that I had overlooked just by revisiting the fundamentals that are shared in the book.

I could go on forever. I will say that although I have used the strategy outlined in chapter ten about host-beneficiary relationships, I had only stumbled upon the concept. After reading the chapter I can see that a few simple changes in my current strategy will pay big dividends. I expect to double my business in the next 12 months on this principle alone.

Actually, this is a two-books-in-one volume: an insightful explanation of how to increase personal as well as professional development, and, an uncommonly useful book on marketing. Rating either, I would give it Four Stars. Ranking the combination, I rate it higher. Abraham promises to provide "21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition." He delivers on that promise. If fully understood and properly applied, the 21 "ways" (actually strategies) will help almost everyone to become a better person as well as to increase the value of what they produce; perhaps indirectly but significantly, their business associates as well as family members can also be among the beneficiaries.

Abraham organizes his material within 21 chapters. Correctly, he first addresses the need for a plan ("Where You're Headed -- an Overview of Your Journey") and then the need for the proper attitude to ensure the success of that plan ("You Can Become Unbeatable"). By the final chapter, he has prepared his reader to understand what he calls a "unique definition of success." Specifically, "something I call optimum personal, business, and career strategy. What's this mean? It means that you must refuse to get less out of an effort, less out of an opportunity, less out of a day, less out of a dollar, less out of a relationship, than the maximum that activity or action has the capacity to give. It means that you don't do things just to be doing them. That you insist on playing life to the fullest. But playing it based on your sense of value."...You [first] have to figure out who you are and what it is you want."

Obviously, Abraham cannot figure out who you are but the 21 "ways" he shares can help you to make that determination. He cannot tell you what it is you want but the same 21 "ways" can help you to make that determination, also. Who will derive the greatest benefit from this book? One candidate would be the recent graduate for whom this would be an especially valuable holiday gift. Also, your less-experienced business associates who seem to lack a sense of purpose and/or direction in their lives, jobs, and careers. Finally, just about anyone else for whom most of what Abraham suggests seems "obvious" but would benefit from the human equivalent of a vehicle's 60,000-mile check-up. Abraham knows a lot. He has street smarts. Also passion, conviction, and a remarkable amount of empathy.

Years ago, Woody Allen once suggested that 80% of success is "showing up." For many people, Abraham suggests the other 20%: Knowing who you are and then being that person...knowing what you want and then pursuing it with energy and integrity. His use of the "journey" metaphor is apt. All successful journeys begin with the right "map" and resources, applied with precision and determination. If you are both willing and eager to begin your own "journey", I highly recommend Abraham as a companion.

This book has everything: history, adventure, espionage, even a dash of romance. It's a page turner, with not a wasted word, and is unbelievably gripping. Definitely worth staying up all night and losing sleep for. It's also thought-provoking. How do you cope with sheer horror on a day-to-day basis without losing your sanity and humanity? Set in the concentration camps of WWII, it answers (in its way) the question of why Hitler never used his stockpile of poisonous gas. Get this book NOW and spread the word!

this was the first book about WWII i read and i must admit that i was a bit timid when i started, but the first line teased my curiosity and i felt compelled to read more. the characters: the angry Jewish terrorist, the american pacifist, the desperate Jewish mother, and the nurse employed by the Nazis were wonderfully and honestly written, which is truly the treasure of this novel. the last 100 pages held me at the edge of my seat as if i were on a rollercoaster and Iles conducted the story like a true master of fiction.

Greg Iles is a terrific writer. I have read his later books, which are gripping contemporary suspense stories. His career got jump started with this book and the previous "Spandau Phoenix" (which I haven't read yet, but am planning on starting soon).
"Black Cross" is an involving, complex story of trust, greed, love, evil, heroism, and change. As always, Iles' characters are superb, and not black and white stereotypes.
Join Mark McConnell, the pacifist, who joins in a suicide mission only to help defend, and finds himself in the position of having to risk the lives of innocent people to achieve a goal to save the invading Allied troups; Josh Stern, a daredevil Jew, whose bravery and macho charm, are equal to his selfishness and innate brutality; Anna Kaas, an undercover nurse, who has faced the horrors of the concentration camp and who realizes that she too must act to save more than the prisoners; Rachel Jansen, an incredibly brave, level-headed prisoner who watches both her husband father in law murdered, and then desperately tries to save her two children; and Wolfgang Schorner, the head of the camp who falls for Rachel and wants to help her, but who is still a murdering, consciously Nazi.
All of these leading characters are devastatingly real; but the supporting characters are stunning, too: Ariel Weisz, the "weasel" Jew who helps the Nazis; Frau Hagan, the burly woman who befriends Rachel and teaches her the tricks of the prison; Sergeant Strum, a heartless, mindless killing machine; Duff Smith, the arrogant general who recruits McConnell and Stern to do the bidding, lying to them in the process; Avram Stern, the shoemaker who also has another secret; and Ian McShane, the burly Scotsman who trains McConnell and Stern in how to get the gas bomb to the camp.
What a stunning book this is. At first, I thought I wouldn't get involved as I am not a fan of blending historic characters into fictional plots. (We have Churchill and Eisenhower here). But Iles is a genius. This is a great read and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

" 'Norwegian Wood' is still the one Murakami book that 'everyone' in Japan has read," says Jay Rubin in his Translator's Note of this simple, straightforward, semi-autobiographical story. Toru Watanabe as narrator of this 1960s period piece reminds me of Nick Carraway in Fitzgerald's "Gatsby"; Watanabe seems one step removed from the action even while he is part of it, and his commentary shapes a critique of contemporary Japanese society. So "Norwegian Wood" is a love story set against a larger theme of questioning the Establishment. Another theme is the characters' insouciance about lovemaking. Letterwriting and love letters are part of Murakami's (Watanabe's) narrative strategy, which lend this novel a heightened sense of intimacy. Near the end, Watanabe says, "Letters are just pieces of paper . . . Burn them, and what stays in your heart will stay; keep them and what vanishes will vanish." Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood" stays in the heart; it is his enchanting letter from the '60s, with love.

How should I start. I first read this book 7 years ago in its Chinese translation. But after reading this newly published version it all came back to me. All the sad feelings and the helplessness. This book is just too wonderful it's beyond description. And I can't help falling into the roles in the story while listening to the Beatles' "Norwegian Wood". You have to get your hand on this book (preferably the Biritish versionto feel it for yourself. I agree with one of the reviews here this book do feel like J.D. Salinger "Catcher in the Rye". Murakami sort of admitted it himself by writing a line mentioning the book. But "Norwegian Wood" is so powerful in its own way bewteen life and dead; love and hate. This book is a lot more than its protracted images of a love story of a Tokyo college student, although it's more of a guy's romance. Its odd sex patterns and almost frequent suicides mark the authenticity of Japanese culture while strongly persevere the usual influence of American literature and culture in Murakami's works. Maybe it has something to do with Murakami being born in Kobe, a wide-open trading port where Western cultures were available in the early 1900s. Anyway, the reason I am writing this review (at 3:30 a.m.) is that I just can't fall asleep after reading it, even it's the second time in 7 years.

norwegian wood is my favorite beatles song. i picked up this book for that reason. it was the first murakami book i read, and different than the ones i have read since.

like the song, norwegian wood is sweet and simple and sad. i enjoyed the story of a young man's journey through an extraordinarily emotional terrain. it has been a while since i have read this book, and i only hope that i can be fair in my review. when i read it, i could not put it down. i didn't want to. i wanted to stay with him, through his love and pain and heartache. i wanted to hold him through it. to take care of him ... this is the best kind of book, where you feel like you can step into the pages and take the hand of the characters - bring them through the pain.

when they talk about norwegian wood, the song, a simple melody, a memory, i know what they mean. i understand. because i love that song. it is a memory to me. a journey and an understanding.

norwegian wood sings, 'i once had a girl, or should i say, she once had me?' that is this book. this story. this love. she has him. he thinks, maybe, he has her, but it is a fleeting grip. a touch. she has him the entire time. and she doesn't let go.

i reccommend this book to anyone who has ever felt the loss of a first love. to anyone who has ever loved at all.

it may not be like the rest of murakami's books. there are no unicorn skulls or wind-up birds, but it doesn't matter. this is a gentle look at a young man realizing what it is truly like to BE a man. and all the hurt and glory that goes along with it.

Do you ever wonder why you do self destructive or illogical things? Why it is so hard to resist fatty foods, drugs or running up credit card debt? Mean Genes shows that behavior that is bad for humans in today's society of plenty, is the same behavior, refined through tens of thousands of years of evolution, which allowed our ancestors to survive and flourish as hunter-gatherers.

This book is filled with interesting and amusing studies done with animals, primitive cultures and modern humans that demonstrate that people haven't evolved much in the past 5000 years. But all is not lost. Burnham and Phelan point out that humans, unlike other species, have a capacity for self-control, and more importantly the intelligence to combat our destructive instincts and biology. And while they don't place much hope in an individual's will power, the authors offer creative ways to restrain our genetic desires.

Mean Genes is an intelligent, fast reading and totally enjoyable book that makes us look at ourselves as the product of the 'survival of the fittest', and helps us deal with that in today's world.

I am 34-year old attorney and have probably read over 2000 books in my life. Hands down, Mean Genes tops the list. This book is written for me, you, virtually everyone. The most remarkable aspect of this book is that it gives you rock solid, meticulously researched data on a range of topics that will help you become a more knowledgeable member of our fascinating world. For instance, I was in Hollywood the other day and read the "homosexuality" section; I was on an LA freeway and read "road rage" when I got home; I was craving a hot Indian curry dish and I read "jalapeno peppers" in the thrill-seeking chapter. Each reading was a revelation--and goddam is it well-written, with massive dollops of humor and sassiness. At its heart, Mean Genes is a deeply responsible book. The more we understand and control our own behavior, the better we understand and can predict others' behavior. The revolutionary ideas and advice in Mean Genes will make the world a better, healthier, happier place. The authors, Jay and Terry, are perfectly qualified to write such a landmark book--dedicated, highly educated, endlessly curious, and enormously likeable. May they live long and well. Make it a point to catch them at a media event--the Mean Genes website has details.

Wow. This book made me laugh, was extremely informative, and has already changed my life.

I've always battled with my weight. Now I realize that my urge for chocolate or a second helping comes from deep within my evolutionary history, not some innate weakness of character. Now when I consider that hot-fudge sundae, I know I want it not because I'm bad or weak, but becuase once upon a time it paid to indulge when I could, in an environment where food was scarce.

Somehow the knowledge of where these and other urges come from makes it easier for me to resist them. When I feel weak, I don't beat myself up. I make changes in my environment to achieve my goals, instead of just trying to "outwill" my mean genes. I feel more powerful because I have a better understanding what it is that I'm fighting.

It's not often that a book can be this informative and obviously well-researched, and so hard to put down. Best of all, Mean Genes offers practical advice on how to gain control over our lives and achieve the goals we set for ourselves. Worth every penny.

I recently finished reading Murakami's 'Wind-up Bird Chorincle' and frankly I felt a little empty as I put the book on my shelf. Not that the writing was bad or the book wasn't thematically rich, it's just that well . . . the third part of the book is too loose.

I'll refrain from a full plot summary here as there are many good ones already posted. In the third part (or book) the main character is supposed to become even more lost and confused. Murakami reflects this by having him fade out of the narrative most of the time allowing letters, others life stories, or dreams to fill the pages. While I don't doubt this is in interesting, and occassionally successful technique (the war stories are impeccable), it leaves the text too fragmented and without a satisfying resolution (Kano sisters?).

As a proponent of the book I'm certain you'll respond "That's the point!" Okay perhaps. I understand cool cynicism and often engage in it myself. Here is something to keep in mind though, I have read that this translation Vinatage International publishes is severely cut and this probably leads to my dissatisfaction with the text. I can see the outline of what Murakami wants to do but the execution is flawed. Since I am a fan of Murakami's other work I'll say this is a result of the cuts. Unfortunately I cannot read Japanese well enough to see if I am correct here. If you are truly a fan of Murakami please write to Vintage and tell them to restore the book to Rubin's complete translation.

I am not putting this book down completely - bare in mind I gave it four stars. The first two parts are very well done, almost reminiscent of the great book Paul Auster is incapable of writing. Even if I do consider the third part somewhat of a failure, it is an interesting one, not quite Tolstoi's view of Hamlet but as close as you'll get here.

Note: Those new to Murakami read his short stories, Norweigan Wood or the Wild Sheep Chase first to see what he can do.

Wow. Just...wow. I finished this novel about 10 minutes ago and I'm only now able to put it down and enter the real world again. This is one of the best novels, if not THE best, I have ever had the pleasure to read. Many people here say it, and they are all right: Murakami is a genius. Everything about this work was perfect or near perfect. It has amazing insights into the problems of existance that are as profound as any philosophical text, yet it doesn't (as so many so-called Postmodern novels do) sacrafice plot to do this. Rather, The Wind-up Bird Chronicle has, quite possibly, the best plot in any contemporary novel. No one except a psychic schizophrenic could predict what will happen next. And yet is all fits together beautifully. It reads as a literary representaion of the chaotic order of current philosophical thought. Amazing, amazing book. I haven't encountered an author who shocked me this much since Nabokov and Lolita. I know I'm rambling right now, but I can't help it. READ THIS BOOK. It will change every perspective you have on life. I know it did mine.

I read this book whilst travelling in Africa and I vividly remember me sitting late into the night under my mosquito net breathlessly chasing the protagonist ever further into his surrealist labyrinth. The unusual character of the setting - a European reading a book in Western Africa by a Japanese author - simply added to the powerful sense of disorientation. What sticks to my mind two years after reading this book is Murakami's uncanny ability to conjure up images of great physical power. His prose is suggestive to a degree that it literally spills over into the other senses: I cherish the memory of a number of strong aural, visual and tactile impulses related to various episodes in the book. The centrepiece, for me, is Lieutenant Mamiya's epic narrative of his war-time experiences in Manchuria and Mongolia: a dark metaphysical fable where beauty and death mingle in a deeply poignant way.
I have since read no other of Murakami's books. Glossing over some of their back covers I can't escape the impression that settings, moods and plots seem to vary only a little from book to book. I'd rather stick to the Wind-up Bird Chronicle, then. It'll give me re-reading pleasure for the years to come.

I initially approached this book with a great deal of trepidation. I had never read Dostoyevsky, and was concerned that I would get bogged down in some lengthy, mind-numbingly boring, nineteenth-century treatise on the bestial nature of man or something. I am happy to report this is not the case. Instead, and to my delight, it is a smoothly flowing and fascinating story of a young man who succumbs to the most base desire, and the impact this has both psychologically and otherwise on himself and those around him.

To be sure, the book seems wordy in places, but I suspect this has to do with the translation. And what translator in his right mind would be bold enough to edit the great Dostoyevsky? But this is a very minor problem.

What we get with Dostoyevsky is dramatic tension, detailed and believable human characters, and brilliant insight into human nature. Early in the novel our hero meets and has a lengthy conversation with Marmeladov, a drunkard. This conversation is never uninteresting and ultimately becomes pathetic and heartbreaking, but I kept wondering why so much time was spent on it. As I got deeper into the book, I understood why this conversation was so important, and realized that I was in the hands of a master storyteller. This is also indicative of the way in which the story reveals itself. Nothing is hurried. These people speak the way we actually speak to one another in real life, and more importantly, Dostoyevsky is able to flesh out his characters into whole, three-dimensional human beings.

And what a diverse group of characters! Each is fleshed out, each is marvelously complex. Razujmikhin, the talkative, gregarious, good-hearted, insecure and destitute student; Sonia, the tragic child-prostitute, with a sense of rightness in the world; Petrovich, the self-important, self-made man, completely out of touch with his own humanity; Dunia, the honorable, wronged sister: we feel like we know these people because we've met people like them. They fit within our understanding of the way human beings are.

Dostoyevsky also displays great insight into human nature. Svidrigailov, for example, talks of his wife as liking to be offended. "We all like to be offended," he says, "but she in particular loved to be offended." It suddenly struck me how true this is. It gives us a chance to act indignantly, to lash out at our enemies, to gain favor with our allies. I don't believe I've ever seen this thought expressed in literature before. In fact, it never occurred to me in real life! Petrovich, Dunia's suitor, not only expects to be loved, but because of his money, and her destitution, he expects to be adored! To be worshipped! He intentionally sought out a woman from whome he expected to get this, and is comletely flummoxed when she rejects him. His is an unusual character, but completely realized.

There is so much more to talk about: the character of Raskolnikov, which is meticulously and carefully revealed; the sense of isolation which descends on him after committing his crime; the cat and mouse game played on him by the police detective. I could go on and on. I haven't even mentioned the historical and social context in which this takes place. Suffice to say this is a very rich book.

Do not expect it to be a rip-roaring page turner. Sit down, relax, take your time, and savor it. It will be a very rewarding experience. And thank you SL, for recommending it.

Like many writers of his era, Dostoyevsky uses a lot of prose and little dialogue, which makes reading the book a bit of a plodding chore.

However, the story is anything but boring: Raskilnov, a poor student, comes up with the philosophy that killing an old female pawnbroker will actually be good for the world because she cheats people and is otherwise useless. It's premeditated --- he even counts exactly how many steps it takes from his place to her door.

The book also recounts the following few days when Raskilnov's mother and sister come to visit and he has to play his 'family role' i.e. "I'm a good son and brother when I'm not killing old women." In addition, he is involved with a family consisting of a dying mother, a father, 3 young sons and an 18-year-old daughter who must go into prostitution to support them.

So what happens to all of these characters in pre-Revolutionary Russia? What will be Raskilnov's punishment? Does he actually think he was right to kill? The answers unfold as you read this gem from the world of Russian literature -- so renown you feel like you really achieved something when you read it!

This novel stands out as one of the finest pieces of actual literature I have read. Top 5 at least.

First, let me pay tribute to "Everyman's Library Series". They make very handsome novels, complete with soft cream pages, and a built in fabric book mark. They all come in moroon, and add a certain pinache to any book collection. Best of all, they are well priced.

As for Crime and Punishment. I was very impressed. More often than not, I read the classics, and wonder how it is they have become classics. For Dostoevsky, there can be no doubt. And Crime and Punishment is his best known effort. Not his best though. C&P is the exploration of the world that it's hero/villain Raskolnikov occupies. He takes it apon himself to murder a particularly vile pawnbroker(thus making him a villain) under the guise of the highest moral resposibility. Well, no plan is perfect, and most of the book is an involved psycological examination of it's main character, the ways he tries to justify his crime to himself, and the people around him who have no idea what the hell is going on. Dostoevsky creates living breathing people that you care about in this tale. It's simple premise gives way to an incredibly complex story. The dialogues bewtween Raskolnikov, and Porfiry( the ever suspicious investigator) are wonderful. And then theres the clever and sneaky Svidrigailov, whom I found rather amusing at times. To me the book was very suspenseful. never knowing if or when young Raskolnikov would confess, or continue to hide in uncertainty due to the circumstancial evidence that linked him to the crime. SO many times I wanted to read to the end to find out. But I didn't, and neither should you. There's just so much depth to this book, I have no doubt it will recieve a return read. Perhaps in another 10 years I will read it, and get even more out of it. That's how all great books are. Highest recommendation.

That's probably the best recommendation I can give any book. The first time I was absolutely blown away by Mortal Fear. I could not stop reading and I still thought about it months afterward. There's only one other thriller I've ever read that did that to me (Downtick), so I can only thank Greg Iles for writing such an incredible book.

The characters are extremely well portrayed and have few "design" flaws. The bad guy is the most flawed, I must say, but that doesn't trip the story up much. Harper Cole's wife, Drewe, is worth reading the book all by herself. I can think of any number of other authors who would have had her split and run, but not Greg Iles.

I will certainly be reading more of his books and I suggest you try them too.

This is the best suspense novel I have read in ages. If you like psychological suspense and you're familiar with the Internet (of course you are; you're here, aren't you? ) you will eat this novel! Harper Cole runs EROS, an online sex chatroom service, and begins to suspect foul play when women customers begin to disappear from the service but haven't cancelled their expensive subscriptions. He discovers one of the women has been brutally murdered and suspects the killer is also an EROS client. The dialogue is excellent, the storyline makes it almost impossible to put down, and the characters are well defined. And some of his descriptions of emotions and human nature were enough to make me stop and marvel at how good this guy is. And this happened about every 10 pages. Greg Iles has two previous novels, Spandau Phoenix and Black Cross, both with Nazi Germany themes. They are definitely on my list now!

Its philosophical beginning turns suddenly into a heart-stopping race against time to find a psychopathic killer of great intelligence, one who selects victims through an online service. As Greg Iles spins the tale through Harper Cole's point of view, we get to experience Cole's life, his memories of his wife's haunting sister Erin, his determination to capture the real killer and clear his name--and his fear. Its philosophical beginning turns suddenly into a heart-stopping race against time to find a psychopathic killer of great intelligence, one who selects victims through an online service. As Greg Iles spins the tale through Harper Cole's point of view, we get to experience Cole's life, his memories of his wife's haunting sister Erin, his determination to capture the real killer and clear his name--and his fear. To lure the killer into showing himself, he must play the killer's game...a plan that places everything he has ever loved into the killer's embrace. For the woman he chooses will be one he has crossed paths with before, a woman with whom he once held a passion for, a woman so hauntingly tragic and beautiful that no man has ever denied the right to her body--his wife's sister.

MORTAL FEAR is more than just a heart-stopping account of a man trying to save those he cared, more than just one of my favorite books--it was heartrending too, a no-holds-barred narrative of one man's life, his loves, his stakes in a dangerous game of "being bait"....and most of all, his fear, motivating him to match wits with a killer, to protect those he loved. Greg Iles created the ultimate humanifestation ever in Harper Cole.

MORTAL FEAR is, without a doubt, great reading.

The Amityville Horror is the unnerving tale of 28 days spent in a house either haunted or possessed by some sort of evil spirit. What makes the book even more disturbing is its subtitle - A True Story. Whether or not the tale is actually true or a simple hoax to generate attention and cash (not to mention aid in Ron DeFeo's temporary insanity plea - "The house made me do it!") is still in debate after nearly thirty years. All true/false quibbles aside it must be said that Jay Anson has crafted a fairly decent haunted house yarn...My only quibble is that Anson embraces sensationalism in relating the spooky events. Everything that is the slightest bit unnerving, or perceived as mysterious, is stated with an exclamation point (!) which is the literary equivalent of shouting. Presenting the events in a quieter narrative tone would have, in my opinion, made them more realistic sounding and less like someone trying to convince me it is. Nonetheless the tale is now a legend and the book worthwhile reading, despite all of its narrative shortcomings.

...some think that this is a true story and others, think that this isn't. Is it? Who know, but this is a pretty good read. Some parts were pretty scary, for example, the figure at the top of the stairs. Other parts seemed to drag a small bit. Sometimes that parts that dragged for me was in the way the author told the story. Perhaps an experienced author could have given more atmosphere to the story.

This is the story of the Lutzs and their experience in the haunted house the bought. Then 28 days later, they fled in terror, leaving most of their possessions. In this book, the reader will find out what made the Lutz's flee.

It all started when the priest went to bless the house and a voice said "GET OUT!" From that point time, the Lutz's lived in terror and nobody in that house was safe. Even the Priest that helped them was victim to the demonic forces that infested the house. The Lutz's went through a lot of horrific events before they left the house. Much more than I would have put up with. Even when the moved, the demonic forces followed them for a while.

The only problem I had with this book is the end. I wont' way what happened, but the way it ended....didnt' seem like a fit ending. There was more to tell and the author didn't tell it. I don't want to say the end was a let down, because it wasn't. However from the way it ended, it just wasn't a good place to end the story.

If you like true life ghost stories, then you need to read this book. Is it true? Who know, but it's a good story. If you start it, I don't think you'll be sorry.

So I finally read the Amityville Horror for the first time. I heard the story before on one of those tv shows about the paranormal, but I soon forgot about it. I never saw the movie but the image of the house with the "eye-like" windows stayed in my mind. Even though I heard that the story is a hoax, not a true story as it says on the cover (sorry to disappoint those who didn't know), I still found the book frightening and very interesting.

Tropic of Cancer is often described as an 'erotic masterpiece.' Reading it now, it doesn't seem that erotic to me ' that's not the point. Yeah, there's sex in it, and plenty of 'dirty' words, but the descriptions don't get that graphic. If you read Sexus, there's a lot more of that going on ' if that's what you are interested in. I suppose that Tropic got its reputation for being the first of its kind and the thing that stood out in most people's minds was the sex. Reading it in today's overly-saturated-with-sex culture, the things that stands out the most to me are the bedbugs, lice, feces, etc.

Miller is trying to do something radically different in this book ' to create a new art form. It isn't even a book, according to him; it is 'a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art'' It is ultimately a song, he says. There is no plot, no linear story'there aren't even chapters ' just anecdotes and opinions of Miller's life in Paris ejaculated all over the pages. He wants to give priority to all the things that other novels pretend don't exist: sex, going to the bathroom, uncleanness ' watching a whore use a bidet before sex. To Miller, these carnal aspects of life are the realities and should be the subject of art ' not love, romance, or war. He tries to give an accurate portrait of what it was like to be a peasant in Paris in the early 20th century ' the cold reality of the fantasy of Moulin Rouge!

In the end, Miller's works are a triumph of style over substance. For him, the style IS the substance. It's difficult for me to remember anything that actually HAPPENED in the book ' what I remember is the 'piece of lead with wings on it.'

40 years before Henry Miller had "Tropic of Cancer" published, Knut Hamsun wrote "Hunger" and "Mysteries", where the stream of consciousness was first on display in novels - with the outsider on the edge of life and death, where the blood is whispering and bone-pipes praying. Henry Miller, an open-minded American intellectual went to Paris in the pursuit of - - life - - wanting to feel alive, and to tell the whole world about it. He ended up in the gutter of that very alive city, occasionally coming up to breathe in what was upper class or only bourgeois. At the same time he found comfort in the books of authors like Dostoevsky, Strindberg and Hamsun, whom he compared to Mozart, and about "Mysteries" he later said: "No book stands closer to me. It prevented me from killing myself." (He read it a dozen times.) Parallels can be drawn between classics like "Mysteries" - "Ulysses" - "Tropic of Cancer" - even to "Catcher in the Rye". Displays of genuine feelings, dry wit, rage and disillusionment and then sudden lyrical beauty. "Tropic of Cancer" portrays dirt and lowlife, primitive lust and diseases, the diseases of the individual and of mankind, but at the same time Miller never totally loses a sense of beauty. This is a book packed with incredible descriptions of his life in the 1930s Paris, and even when delirium turns into surrealistic joyrides he is still nothing less than brilliant. This is quite a different Paris from that of Fitzgerald's and Hemingway's. They might also have had their struggles, but their experiences were still different from that of Henry Miller's lice, bedbugs, cockroaches and tapeworms. And still Henry Miller could find comfort in the struggling idols before him. One place in the book he describes how he went to see where and how Strindberg lived during his time in the same city, just to show himself that it was possible to sink even deeper... The prose in parts of the book is astonishing, and despite all who have loathed the book, most of all because of the direct and coarse language with descriptions that can make a wharfie blush, it has been praised by the likes of T.S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, John dos Passos, Ezra Pound, Samuel Beckett and George Orwell. Orwell wrote a brilliant essay on "Tropic of Cancer" called "Inside the Whale", a very thorough critical review of the book, given by the author who himself wrote "Down and Out in Paris and London".

"Tropic of Cancer" is indeed a very good book that any prudish heart, with a sense for good literature, should allow him/herself to be impressed by. It stands alone in its own place in literature, where nobody (including Henry Miller) has been since.

I know of no other writer who makes words truly live like Henry Miller does. "Cancer" is his best (although the neglected "Colossus of Maroussi" runs a close second), full of enthusiasm, rampant lust-driven adventures, a man living though it rain crocodiles, a visionary portrait of a person determined to live in this cracked and dying earth that will drag you down and suffocate you if you let it. Living has nothing to do with money. It has nothing to do with prestige, nothing to do with a career, with laws or codes or good sense. It has everything to do with sex, with art and inspiration, with creativity and the fire at our heels, the hunger that gnaws us from the inside out. My friends and I had a joke: "What happened in the bidet?" "Read the book!" Unfortunately I think they only knew because I told them. I carried this book around, and his others, for months, enraptured, exhuasted, tormented, joyous, breathless, during a very bleak period of my life. He kept my imagination alive. The first time I tried to read it, just after the 1990 film "Henry & June" I didn't get it. About a year or so later I tried again, and ate it up. It was like I had a tropic of cancer-sized hole in my head and I'd finally found the missing piece. No other book, except maybe "Naked Lunch," has made me realize that literature IS life, that my heart could be enlarged by one, that reading and writing weren't just hobbies or exercises--they were raw and painful necessities, as vital as breath, as flesh, as rousing and invigorating as sex at 3am that lasts til dawn. I love all kinds of writers, but I have to admit, I'm kind of a snob. To me, the real writer is one like Henry Miller, like Rimbaud, like Poe, the ones who live at the fringes of madness, who in poverty and tatters show us that it's life, and life only.