I love Catherine Coulter books. I always have. Until I read this book. I wanted to throw it in the fireplace when I read parts like where Graelim is sleeping with a servant, rapes his wife, yells at her when she miscarries his baby (she dosen't even know she was pregnant- She is tring to please him), then accuses her of adultery, then is mad when she finally leaves him!

If I had known how bad this book was I never, ever, whould have bought it!!

This is a story that you cannot put down until you finish. The hero, Graelam, was introduced in a preceding novel by Catherine Coulter called Chandra. I read Chandra before Fire Song and read about the way Graelam ruthlessly raped a young woman who was a virgin. He did it out of some sort of power trip, and it made me thououghly disgusted with his character. After reading that, I could not see him in any sort of heroic light and it sort of ruined fire song for me. A man who commits any kind of rape, is no hero and I don't like how the author makes him out to be one in this novel. I believe it gives the message that rape is okay and it makes me sick. I do not care what century this book takes place in, rape is wrong.

I bought Fire Song because I read Warriors' Song first and had to find out what happened to Graelan de Moreton. He such a bad boy that you can't help but be intrigued by him. I spent most of my time waiting for Kassia to hit him over the head and knock some sense into him. Don't misunderstand me, Kassia was a fighter and she had a way of putting him in his place but it was done gradually and effectively. I enjoyed this book and read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. Ms Coulter is a great writer!

I'm new to XML. My knowledge is fairly limited. And yet in the first 70 pages, I found at least 7 errors. (And bear in mind, each two pages presents one concept; therefore that averages out to one error per new idea.) Some were "screen typos," as in, the text would say "Type a question mark," but the little line to the screen image points to an asterisk. Other times, though, the information is flat-out wrong.

I'd hate to think what would have happened if I new nothing at all about XML, and just accepted these mistakes as gospel.

Suffice to say, I'm going to try to get my money back for this book.

As with all of the visual blueprint book, this is a good reference for those new to XML. I found it easy to reference with. However if you need more explanation, then pick Microsoft step by step or SAMS 24 hours book.

This is one of the best books on XML. I bought the book 5 months ago with zero knowledge on XML, now, I'm an XML wizzard, got a raise of 7,000 over the last 3 months for my expertise with XML. This is a all-in-one XML book. It tells you step by step about XML, and it's all XML beginners need. A second best book on XML would be XML Bible, which is 1,300 pages. Would recommend reading the visual book first, then proceed to XML Bible to do some fancy stuff.

Many adults seem to enjoy the book. Well, why not?? it resembles a soap opera. Being a high school student, i'm not very interested in that type of literature. However i must agree, it does contain ideas that will last centuries. Basic human flaws and sins (like pride and revenge) are represented in the novel. Overall, its a decent book, but specially for a mature audience.

To say Wuthering Heights is dull and boring, is to deplete your own humanity. Bronte's novel is an incredible depiction of life and the relationships in it. Love is a contradiction; Love is difficult and Love is kind. Each of these characteristics jump out of the text with the turn of each page. Heathcliff and Catherine are either in denial of their love or overtly showing it. I would highly reccomend the book to anyone who wants to further their education with a worthwhile experience.

Readers: I feel Wuthering Heights related to my life and easily to many others. Thr characterization between Catherine and Heathcliff was most interesting to me. I loved the finesse between the two of them. Their love was eternal because "whatever their souls were made of, his and hers were the same..."(73). When I read the each chapter it seemed a mystery because you never knew if the two would show their love or hide it. Another element of the book that made it interesting was Heathcliff's revenge against Edgar Linton and or actually the entire Linton family. The hatred he felt was produced by Hindley his father. In return, Heathcliff treated his own family meaness of a bear for his sufferings from the past. Heathcliff displays a tendency of resentment sympathising "with all his feelings, having felt them myself"(201). Emily Bronte showcases relationship Hareton and Heathcliff to Hindley and Heathcliff to show the viscous circle through generations. Emily Bronte perceives the minds of her readers and reveals how life can go in circles unless someone breaks the chains. To anyone who receives Wuthering Heights, I really do think the novl is worth reading. I, myself am not big reader but this book can catch your attention and keep you on your toes because there is a mystery in every chapter. Nicole

I am enjoying other DES books, but "The English Air" deals directly with politics and the start of WWII. It is impossible to mix the pleasant "hammock book" world of DES with discussions of concentration camps, Nazi war preparations etc. DES' world is one where the characters are already nostalgic for the good old days, and her Scotland is vaguely like LLBean's "Maine"- fun but probably remote from the place ordinary people inhabit. It is not a world of politics and military action. Once these things are brought together, I found myself facing up to the hidden politics of all the rest of DES' world: i.e. her manly young British heroes go off to various parts of the Empire to fight "bandits." Some of these bandits may have been nationalist freedom fighters- but the point is, no one reads DES to get into these issues. "The English Air" makes them unavoidable.

D. E. Stevenson has written a wonderful book about a young, half-German man who comes to visit his English relations and falls in love with an English girl. This is set just before WWII. He comes prepared to dislike the English, yet, in the course of his visit, makes many friends. All of us have incorrect, pre-conceived ideas about other peoples and cultures and this story helps us learn the importance of giving people who are different than us a chance. We may not only find that we like them, but we may even be able to learn something from them.

This book was such a quick read I absolutely loved it. I would recemend this book to anyone who wants to read it.

I love Lynn Kurland's books but this one left me feeling disappointed. I honestly think this was a waste of my money and time. Her short story "The Icing on the Cake" was, by far, the weakest in the group. The characters were flat and the situation unbelievable---even for this reader who likes time travel romance ! Sydney and Sam just didn't seem the type to fall in love, and the character of Sam (and her life story) was especially far-fetched.

The other short stories were mildly entertaining but certainly the whole book was waste of time. I can only hope that future story anthologies, like this, will be better.

Although all four stories would be considered more "fluff" tan "stuff", they were at least entertaining fluff!

"The Icing on the Cake" had the male as the homemaker-type and the female as Grizzly Adams. The interactions between them were fun since it was the male who got mad at such things as his cakes being eaten too soon, etc. The plot itself was pretty weak and there were all kinds of asides that were merely distracting and totally unecessary. But it got laugh or two.

"Short Hot Summer" was nice to read as the weather gets colder since the description of the heat was believable. Unfortunately the story wasn't -- believable, that is. Can a high-power business man who actually schedules every minute really decide in a week that he'll live in an un-air conditioned hotel in the middle of nowhere and do nothing? Even for love? Hmmmmmm.

"Pride and Prejudice" was the story I liked best. It was funny and I learned a lot about dog shows. Although I can't see the pampered heroines -- both girl and dog -- moving to a sheep ranch, the dialog and interactions were lively and the parts where the dogs got to have their say were great!

"The Princess and the Adventurer" was the worst of the lot. A very typical "indiana jones" type plot -- girl looking for someone/thing gets into trouble and the tough-guy has to bail her out. Neither charactor had anything new or even interesting to recommend them. Boring.

All in all, not a bad read but nothing too deep or memorable.

The novella compilation is a difficult genre for an author. The story has to develop the characters and romance enough that they're believable in a much shorter length of time.

While a reader could accuse "Opposites Attract" of being "too light" and perhaps a bit unbelievable, this is a charming and entertaining collection by authors that all handle the novella genre well.

Kurland's "Icing" is probably the weakest story in the bunch, despite the fact that Kurland is the headlining author here. The characters are very appealing, and I really enjoyed the role reversal, but I didn't find their romance particularly believable.

I didn't find the romance in Bevarly's "Summer" believable, either, but as usual Bevarly's humorous, distinctive stream-of-consciousness writing style and incredibly charming characters make up for the lack of a deep romantic development.

Carmichael's "Pride" was the best of the bunch. The characters were believable, as was their romance, and the dogs definitely rounded out the whole thing. Carmichael has a real gift for adding in appealing secondary characters, be they ghosts ("A Ghost for Maggie") or dogs ("Finding Mr. Right").

Minger's "Princess" is also good, with some pathos and humor thrown into the mix, along with believable characters and a nice adventure plot.

"Opposites Attract" is not deep lasting literature, but it -is- fun and entertaining, and, in the end, I think that's what we ask of romantic novella anthologies.

Haven't finished the book yet; but thought it might be of interest to those that read the book and enjoy Emily Carmichael's work -- Just stayed for the second time in the mansion and visited with some of the "characters" which might resemble (or might not) those in the book. While the book may have its flaws; the ambience is only enchanced by staying in Jerome. If truly there was a place for an eccentric ghost, this may be it.

Look forward to finishing this book.

A Ghost for Maggie takes place at a bed and breakfast run by a young woman named Maggie and her stepsister Catherine. As they set up for their Grand opening in a small Arizona town outside of Sedona, strange things begin to happen. Both Maggie and Catherine begin talking with a ghost who turns out to be Maggie's great, great grandmother named Roberta 'Robin' Rowe. While questioning their own sanity, they come to learn that Robin Rowe is on a mission to ensure that Maggie, as her only surviving descendant, gets fixed up with a guy for good. Though this may seem a simple task for a woman who was 'the hottest madam in the Wild West' a century ago, it turns out to be quite a pursuit. In the past, Maggie has had trouble with men including the candidate for president Jack Kilbourne, who ruined her by making her out to be a bimbo, in a press scandal. Therefore, she now finds all men, especially the press, hard to trust. Ironically, she falls for Colby Drake, a reporter doing a story on her. Multiple times she vows never to talk to him again, but with a little push from an alluring and tactful ghost Maggie is able to find and keep her true love. Overall, the book was ok. If u r looking for a nice simple read, read it because it is good enough to keep u interested, but don't expect to be surprised with the ending.

Funny and fun but a little predictable. No matter. Highly recommend.

I just finished reading this book and came on here to read some reviews to see if maybe someone got something I didn't...Well, I am glad I bought the book at the dollar store but I still want my dollar back..plus some money for the time I wasted reading it. I felt like I was reading a diary of a schizophrenic teenager...which would have been fine but the intro made it seem like it would be more than that...if the character wasn't constantly spewing lunacy throughout maybe I could have felt something for her...but I honestly was waiting for the part where she was hospitalized and put on meds and wakes up more aware and in touch with reality...I know some may want to say they seen this or that and you have to be truly "aware" to understand the metaphors,etc..(i.e. that society especially older women in society suck the life blood out of the young girls with envy and the desire to steal their youth by recapturing their own.) That would have been okay but the book was an overdose of metaphors...it could have been good if the author tried less to impress and more time telling the story without using the "butterflies" to tell it for her.
I have heard that one of the Beatles hits..Lucy in the sky with diamonds is actually refering to a trip on LSD! Could that be the case here..but in reverse? Writing while on a trip? I mean used tampons in place of tea bags Sorry but this authors attempt to be an offspring of Stephen King..is a joke. If you are looking for a good psychological thriller stick to Stephen King..if you are interested in novels with stories about what teenage girls feel and think..read Judy Blume. ..."it isn't what is real but what is true"..don't waste your time or money..you will be greatly disappointed...and that is the real truth!

This book is one of the worst that I've ever read in life. It doesn't have any person that you want to learn more about, in fact, by the end of this novel, you'll be glad Beckett finally shut-up. The novel seems to be writen in some horrible attempt at poetry at points and lacks a plot. In fact, it is not until near the end of the novel do we learn anything about the storyline. For a book that seemed to gain praise from many, it makes me sad that the trees, that were used to make this book died in vien. Do yourself a favor and stay away from this book. I'm just glad I only paid a doller for it.

As a fan of the author's first, widely (mis-)read book, I was so looking forward to her next effort, hoping she would take her lyrical imagination and gifts for lucid prose to new heights. I have never been more shocked. Rather than soaring even higher than Amelia, this book plumbs a kind of literary depth that you won't often find outside Dante. If Amelia was a dream, this one's a nightmare. If Stephen King and Virginia Woolf mated, the result would be this wild, wonderful, brilliant book.

I admit, I was put off by some of the negative reviews (oh me of little faith) that the back-biting, presumably jealous journalism types have doled out to this dark little gem, but what gets me is that no one seems to be reading the book on its own terms - as allegory - as fable - as metaphor. Beckett herself (the narrator, a wonderful, sassy, smart girl, and how glad I am that my own girls will grow up with such a heroine, as I did with Holden Caulfield) tells us, again and again - it doesn't matter if something is real. What matters is if it's true. Well this book is like a brace of cold truth on all of our faces - about youth, about the culture, about the country - and it's also as entertaining as can be. Bravo, Mendelsohn! You've done it again....and once again, the people seem to be missing it (although I've actually read quite a few great reviews around the country on line - maybe the New Yorkers are simply too jealous of your first book's success to know how to read this book for the allegory it is - but that doesn't excuse my fellow Amazonians, who usually read with such distinction....)

Before writing this, I went back and reread my own review of I Was Amelia Earhart, and everything I said there is even truer of Inocence: Mendelsohn's writing remains positively entrancing, "a compelling hybrid of Hemingway, Garcia Marquez, and Virgina Woolf." And as with Amelia, I'm suprised by how few "picked up on the book's exquisite irony, its dry wit, its utterly deadpan sense of humor." My final comment may need some amending: I wrote that "I have a feeling that her next book will more clearly establish Mendelsohn for what she is -- the writer of her generation." Well, Innocence definitely confirms that in my mind, but if the reviewers, professional and otherwise, continue their campaign of idiocy, we may have to wait for her next book for the rest of the country to catch up with the plain unvarnished truth: she's the best we have, a heavyweight like very few others writing today.

As the title suggests I found this book a non event and for something that was presumably written by English masters etc a waste of time and effort. I enjoy fantasy and sci fi but this was really wimpy.I was told not to waste my time by a friend and she was right!

I found the stories intriguing. Let's face it, these people are not Stephen King, but they sure have a unique perspective and imaginations that are inspired. I have no doubt that they will one day all be well-known.

Stories that stood out for me included "Stanley Thorton and the Three-Legged Dog," (reminded me of Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, but I don't know why) "Retropolis" (very much like a Bradbury story) and "Whatsoever You Do" (could Christopher Lee star in the film?). Some of the others that stood out were Olson's stories about her friends CeCe and Sue who fought for self-identity and love in a dark world of drug addiction and carnival folk.

I still don't know what 1111 means after reading this book. But that is part of the experience. I don't think that there are any answers.

Let me start by saying that reading this book was like walking in a fun house at a carnival. You never know what you'll get at every turn. There is definitely something for everyone in this book dedicated to the number 11. The four authors of this book...and by the way, MOJO comes from taking the first letter from each of their names...successfully put together a wonderful variety of stories. Where else can you read a book that can tell you a sweet story about a 3 legged dog. Then read a story about a town terrorized by a vicious vampire followed by a story about warm memories surrounding a car. Then turn a page and spend the next thirteen minutes reading about events that leave you breathless. I can't recommend this book enough to anyone looking for an eye opening experience, which simply surrounds the number 11 in some unique fashion. Don't be surprised if after you read this book you suddenly realize that every time you look at your watch it happens to be 11 minutes past or till the hour.

I thought this book was going to be eye-opening to things that I knew I would never try. Instead the author spent more time discussing (or boring us with) her opinion on the subject matters then actual time being involved in the events. If I had known that it was a book of opinions I would have never purchased it. Everyone has an opinion on these subjects, we wanted to know what it was like to experience them.

The strength of this book is its straightforward, conversational style; Jenkins demonstrates that even the simplest bodily rituals and practices (wearing makeup; using public locker rooms; sleeping) are tied into body fetishisms that mainstream culture casts as deviant (or at least daring, now that tattoos have hit the suburban mall).

Jenkins does not use abstract theoretical jargon (though as a PhD student at Columbia, she surely could); nevertheless her readings of popular culture (and her own place in it) are clearly influenced by a wide range of readings in gender theory and cultural studies. _Tongue First_ can therefore introduce the theoretical concepts of drag, performance, spectacle, and fetishism to an audience that would never pick up a book of theory.

Perhaps this makes the book less theoretically rigorous than, say, Judith Butler's _Gender Trouble_. But it sure is a lot more fun to read. To complain about its light tone (as some reviewers have) is to miss the point; _Tongue First_ does not aspire to being a philosophy textbook, but an engaged, humorous, and above all personal look at our cultural notions of the physical through the medium of Jenkins's own body.

In spirited, refreshing prose, this book allowed me to venture into and vicariously experience much of the current bodily culture scene. In places, Jenkins' astute sensitivity is touching and disturbing. I closed the last page bigger in awareness than when I opened the first.

Dickinson is a difficult poet, and one of the main purposes of this book of the life of her and critiques of her poems is to
try to clarify any and all points where the meaning would not be perfectly clear to a reader of reasonable intelligence.
Bill Arnold makes use of poem variants recorded in the Johnson editions which had not come to light. His pages are full, detailed, and extensive, and in addition offer full commentaries on all her love poem. He tells us that his aim was to create a new understanding for the general reader, which would bring these cryptic poems to readers both in America and abroad. He offered, "The untold story of Emily Dickinson's 'Secret Love' can now be told in its entirety. She disclosed their affair and his name via acrostics and anagrams in the tradition of the French court-love poets." It does that and more. As sometimes exasperatingly obscure poems hit you, Bill Arnold details exactly which code unravels the mystery of who was the Master in her life. The poems are preceded by interesting prose passages and the book is rounded out with a biography of the author. It's a compact easy to read book and pleasant to handle. Now, readers can know that her secret love was Sam Bowles, a publisher of the Springfield Daily Republican, and an intimate of her brother Austin. In a book of this nature the problem is always that of trying to strike a balance between giving the reader too much help or too little. Bill Arnold is a Dickinson scholar who has put sufficient details to prove why the scandalous relationship did not surface in Emily Dickinson's lifetime. As the author comments, "Thus, the reason Emily Dickinson remained unpublished in her lifetime becomes self-evident." The secret-love affair is not so shocking as revealing of what her poems mean, and her anagrams do "now make sense." Although Bill Arnold may have given some readers a bit more help than they need, on the whole he seems to have struck a nice balance, and most readers will probably find most of his notes and commentary to be both helpful and illuminating. It is an excellent introduction to those who know little of the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson.

I enjoy Emily Dickinson's poems. This book does justice to her love story. It is a wonderful book which I will share with my poetry friends. It beautifully captures her inspiring life. Now I know why she wrote from her heart.

This is great book for poetlovers. I got mine at amazon. It teels me all i need to know bout the poet. She has got so many good pomes. My but i don understn the nasty rightups some people write. Book makes good cents to me. i wsrite pomes to.