I was a little confused by what Berryman was trying to do in this book. Like "Love and Fame," "Carp on the Fly" shows a different Berryman from the one we meet in "The Dream Songs." Here the emphasis seems to be on man's relationship with nature, both outer and inner, and the predatory nature of our connections with that larger world. The use of fish imagery also, perhaps, suggests the pre-birth, womb-nestled state which haunts Berryman's work and, I imagine, haunted his life as well -- in the anti-poetic society in which he lived, he was truly a fish out of water. Berryman's complicated attitude toward Christianity is reflected in the image of the fisherman, whose bright hooks draw fish upwards toward the surface, where they meet a kind of death that is also a transcendence, a shudder of pure, mortal joy.

I can finally come out of the closet! Yes, I fish for Carp. Initially with bait but now with a fly rod. This book is a super introduction to the freshwater Bonefish. Carpfishing on the Fly has all you need to get started. Whether it's tackle, tactics or fly patterns you're looking for it's in this book. Of course, there is a great section on why to fish for carp as well as sections on the life cycle and biology of the Golden Salmon. Chances are good you'll find carp near where you live. Grab this book and your fly rod and head for the water.

This book is great for any carp angler even if you don't fly fish. It talks about in debth the behavore of a feeding and non feeding carp. I give it 15 thumbs up

A black scout, stupid most of the time and was smart enough only once to rescue a guy, with limited knowledge of scouting and some experience in shooting; Graham, a somewhat tough and stubborn wagon master; a girl called Aggie; an old plainsman with a sidekick Kid; a lot of Camaches and butchering killings assembled together this going-no-where and aimless story. Lot of flash-backs trying to give the readers some unnecessary backgrounds of these vague characters during a close-circuit fighting at a crossing only ruined the whole scenario with too many digressions. What's the symbol of being gelding the private part of Moses? This story is just like one of the mass productions out of Hollywood in black-and-white Camanches attacking wagon train lousy movies. A total failure of Clay Reynolds if compared to his latest more mature and almost perfect novel, "PLAYERS". Readers given this book a "10" should at first to finish "LONESOME DOVE" and "BRULES" , and then might tell the difference of goo

This book was actually spell binding. I found the author had me completely caught up in the characters lives. The book was hard to put down. I think that there was enough material to make two books and the characters certainly could have gone on for quite a while, those that lived. Moses Franklin was exactly as I would think a black man in those times and circumstances would feel and act. He was very believable. It floundered somewhat in the ending but I didn't mind it was a very good read.

Each of the aspiring pioneers in this book suffers, none are quite whole. While one character's mental anguish may not precisely match that of another, the pain is still real, the dream still unfulfilled.

These men and women are moving out west in the desperate hope that they will find what they desire, whether it is worldly success, relief from a horrible situation, or just a sense of internal peace.

That, of course, does not happen. Instead, they become trapped in a claustrophobic pecan grove, surrounded by brutal Indians. There, in Franklin's Crossing, each person's weakness becomes even more apparent, pronounced, whether it is greed, selfishness, or cowardice; and so, when it is vital for everyone to work together, most fall completely apart.

What I liked best about the book is that it is a woman who directly faces the nearly impossible challenges, a woman who survives and adapts and continues to fight back against ridiculous odds.

And, while little joy surfaces throughout the tale, the final feeling is that there is always hope, that the possibility of a better life exists for those who take the necessary risks

Yahoo! Jean is back! Yes, the fiesty, funny star of the Alex Reynold's series returns for another set of wacky and wild adventures centered around rescuing her apparently totally helpless son Alex (and his equally helpless husband, Peter). If you loved Jean in GOVERNMENT GAY, you get twice as much of her in FEDERAL FAG. And what's not to love? Of course, if for some reason you were hoping book two of the Alex Reynold's series might center more on Alex and Peter (they even LIVE with Mom), might have a little more spice and less sugar, might develop and expand what is a sorta interesting plot...uh,keep hoping. Hunter seems set on playing to every stereotype of a gay man. He goes for straight laughs (pun intended) and doesn't bother breaking it up with any tension or excitement. I like a good joke as much as the next guy, but this one is wearing thin. THE ADVENTURES OF ME MUM is not what I was looking for when I opened this book. Give Jean her own series, Fred!

I really love Hunter's Alex Reynolds books because they are so entirely unique. They blow-apart stereotypes and everything we've come to expect in the gay-mystery sub-genre: the leading character, Alex Reynolds and his partner Peter, are deeply in love and committed, and Alex's mother is a wonderful and inspired addition. It's a relief to read a series in which the characters are not constantly whining about the plight of being gay, and where the stories don't necessarily revolve around gay issues, even though that does enter into it a bit. Unlike many gay mystery series, you get the feeling that these guys have lives outside their sexuality.

Federal Fag is a welcome addition to the series, as Alex and his family try to discover who killed a porn star-former friend of Alex's. I found myself laughing out loud over and over again (especially when Alex's mother shows up for the first time). Hunter hits just the right balance between the humor, which is first rate, and the mystery, which is a well-thought-out, constant source of surprise.

If you like more than a little humor with your mystery, you'll love it. This is a wonderful book!

This quick-paced book is filled with action ... a very enjoyable and worthwhile read.

"Men of Steel" basically presents a sympathetic summary of unit actions of the 1st and 12th SS Divisions during the late war. In fact, the author acknowledges his reliance upon German unit histories and how impressed he is with their excellence. You won't find balanced viewpoints or much in the way of supporting details from other sources in this book.

Perhaps due to his background as a British soldier, the author openly admires the professional expertise of these SS elite military units. Unfortunately, he lets his admiration of SS military prowess taint his presentation of events.

I got the feeling that Mr. Reynolds was overly driven by a need to state his opinions, rather than present information and analyses that lead the reader to his own conclusions. The book is crammed with footnotes that don't illuminate the text. The author has lots of strong opinions about the motiviations of battle particpants and what must have happened, but the footnoted sources don't particularly support them.

There is also little objective analysis or information regarding US actions to put the actions of the SS divisions in perspective. Here you will find "fleeing" GI's racing to the rear during the early days of the Battle of the Bulge. No mention is made that most of these were support units ordered to the rear from the front lines, which was a sensible precaution at the time. The author equates initial confusion on the US side to uncontrolled fear or cowardice, where other books document the record of US individual and unit bravery against great odds along a 60-mile front from Monshau to Echternach.

The author brings up the subject of SS atrocities, but then largely dismisses them as an unfortunate by-product of all armies. The SS murders of unarmed civilians and US prisioners at Malmedy, Ligneuville, Stavelot, and Honsfeld are mentioned only in passing with the casual observation that Allied units killed prisoners too.

The difference between the random acts of US soldiers (who were violating official US military policy) and SS soldiers who were following official Nazi policy (and receiving awards for doing so) is never explored. This is odd since the author does explain how these SS units were originally formed to carry out official Nazi doctrine, which included killing people who did not fit into government and military plans. These SS units had already demonstrated their dedication to implementing such Nazi policies on the eastern front.

Mr. Reynolds even laments the murder of SS soldiers caught by partisans as a shameful act upon professional soldiers. One wonders how he would react if his family and friends had been under Nazi occupation enforced by SS brutality for 4 years. Wartime atrocities are horrible on all sides, but the SS certainly reaped what it sowed on both the eastern and western fronts. This typed of one-sided viewpoint makes the reader question the author's ability to fairly analyze the events covered by his book.

Finally, this book is pretty boring to read. It has the same slow pace as scholarly fact-based books, yet is filled with enough suppositions and personal opinions to make Stephen Ambrose blush. Controversial opinions are fair game in a book, but dull reading should at least yield more solid information.

"Men of Steel" is okay if you simply want quick background on these SS divisions during the late war. But be sure to read the books of professional historians such as Charles MacDonald and Hugh Cole to get some balance on what really occurred during the timeframe covered. Not only are they cheaper and more informative, they are a much better reading experience.

Reynolds' wrote Men of Steel by distilling German histories of the I SS Panzer Corps, US Army AAR's, other published sources, and a few personal interviews and trips. In other words, it's more a compilation of what's out there than a book shedding light on unknown corners of WW2 (a la David Glantz's books). In any event, its an interesting book, because you can follow things through the German perspective.

There are three problems with the book. The larger problem is that Reynolds implies the SS atrocities were no big deal. He mentions many times where the LAH murdered surrendered US soldiers and Belgian civilians, but gives a few US examples. I think, after "Citizen Soldiers" and "Saving Private Ryan", we all understand not every German trying to surrender made it to a POW camp. However, Reynolds' examples include the shooting of a German prisoner trying to escape, the death of a tanker bailing out his tank in the middle of a battle, and the mistaken grenading of Belgian civilians by a green US soldier (and the survivors were all immediately given medical attention). These "c'est la guerre" examples don't come close to the organized murder of prisoners at Malmady (which Reynolds treats strangely as well). The other problem is that US formations smaller than a regiment and Soviet formations smaller than a division are typically not named in the text, and a footnote identifies the unit. This is just annoying. Lastly, there are many cases where the US AARs and German histories don't match up. Sometimes Reynolds presents all sources and says "decide". Sometime Reynolds copies the US AAR but says "this is definitely wrong". If a source is wrong, it's better for him to omit it, and write what his research and analysis say was the actual course of events.

With those caveats, it's an interesting book, and a good counterpoint to the US-centered WW2 histories we're used to reading.

I am very glad I gave this a chance, because I have not read any of Michael Reynold's previous works, and from the outside, this appeared to be pretty dry reading. Not so.

This is an excellent overview of the ISS PK and their operations during the latest stages of the war. Michael Reynold's is extremely objective in this, letting the reader form his own opinions and even encouraging creative thought if the the details of a given battle arent fully recorded. It is extremely well researched, and an absolutely indispensable tool for learning about the the 1 and 12SS Panzer Divisions.

Men of Steel gradually shows how the two panzer divisions became intertwined and eventually fought less as a Corps, and more as a single division they worked so closely.

I really cant wait to pick up Reynold's other works. And wish I had read the first book in the history of the 1SS Panzer Corps in Normandy before this... Definetly pick it up and enjoy.

i just love this series its a great book after reading the previous books its funny how josh and beth fall in love and what the rest of the gang has in store. I recommend this book

this book is great!!! its easy to read and is fun too!! i love all the books in this series for they are funny and well written and this book is just as good!!!

READ IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I loved this book. It is always a laugh to check up on the Malloys and the Hatfords. If you need to laugh then I recommend this hole sires. I won't give away the book but there is a little twist in this book!

Maybe most biographies break down into 2 categories: analysis & gossip. Probably the good ones have a good balance of both. I was looking for at least as much analysis (of who Hemingway was, what made him tick, how his mind worked, how others perceived him, how his style developed) as gossip. This book teases one with promises of analytical clues, but mostly one gets family gossip, redundantly. This is not to say that there are not excellent insights, particularly of the fact that Hemingway hardly used the events, locales or participants of his early youth in his writing. There is a large dose of what I felt were overly mean-spirited moral judgements of the young Hemingway regarding his service in the Red Cross ambulance corps. I lost track of how many times & ways the author portrayed young H. as a braggart & liar & phony hero, to a point where the author's agenda became questionable to me (& his writing tedious).

There are over 70 Hemingway biographies out there. You want to read one, a good one. How do you choose? You flip through the pages of a few at your local bookstore and then, relying on your intuition and luck, you pick one. Hopefully it will be the one written by Michael Reynolds. The Young Hemingway is the first in a 5 volume set. The other books in the set are The Paris Years, The Homecoming, The 1930s and The Final Years. (I ended up reading all 5. While reading this first book, it is important to keep in mind that it is only a part of a bigger story.)

This is a well-researched and well-written book (as are the other 4 in the series). Reynolds, to put everything into perspective, gives background information on the society, politics, art, culture and trends of the times. He tells us which songs are popular and which books are on the best-seller lists. All of the important events that take place in the US and in the world are mentioned. Reynolds does not miss anything that might have helped shape Hemingway or that might help us understand him and his works better. When a day is significant in Hem's life, you can be sure that Reynolds will also tell you the headlines of European and American papers' headlines of that day.

It is a very smooth flowing, easy to read book and when you are finished you know that you can't just have one, you have to read all five.

A note to the reviewer who found excessive family info (or gossip) in the first book: I think the first book, The Young Hemingway, is concentrating on the family to give us a solid background of the man, of where he is coming from. It is important to keep in mind that this is only one fifth of the whole study. The family falls to the background in following books and other "shapers" come to the foreground. It is a work that needs to be reviewed as a whole.

Mr. Reynolds has done a first rate job on Hemingway's early years. The research is excellent, the writing is always interesting. Reynolds does a fine job of portraying Oak Park(EH's home town) at the turn of the century(1900). Hemingway's war experience is well presented. His life in Illinois and up in Michigan are well documented and portrayed in a lively manner. The personalities of his mother and father are presented in a manner that anticipates Hemingway's later problems and preoccuapations. Overall, a first rate job. One minor objection- Hemingway was a bs artist like lots of young men, and Mr. Reynolds is repetitious in his demonstration of Hemingway's falsehoods. He is a bit harsh on young Ernie. But the book deserves a top notch recommendation.

For most of my gaming experience (1E, 2E, 3E and soon 3.5E), if my
character encountered a ghost, then my character had a good chance
of becoming "toast". This book introduces the concept of a ghost
that is not an insanely evil undead, but rather merely an incorporeal being, who is not ready to venture into the Afterlife.
It is too soon to tell if this book will become part of our ongoing
campaign but it provides interesting options.

Half of this writing team has reinvented D&D over the past four years, so much that Monte Cook went on to found Malhavoc press (to an even greater success) and produce superior supplemental rulebooks for all aspects of the game. His contribution to this campaign setting acheives no less. The feats, spells, setting, and character concepts are unique and hitherto unseen in the game of D&D. Adventuring in the afterlife world of Ghostwalk redefines what it means to live and die in D&D.

Who hasn't felt the sting of pain when a favorite character dies? What to do? Do you make a new character or spend the agonizing hours trying to rebuild the character that just died after suffering the level loss? No more, I say! Just pick up your corpse and keep adventuring. Ghostwalk allows characters to do just that, and in addition provides a well fleshed out setting and ethos for the adventure. I heartily endorse it.

This workbook is only helpful in trying to gain a better understanding of the story at the beginning of the chapters. To have more practice in writing and understanding the language, which is the purpose of a workbook, I would recommend "Advanced Spanish Grammar," ISBN: 0471134481.

This excellent textbook brought Spanish "home" for me -- it seemed to link together all the Spanish I'd learned in the past. I highly recommend it!

I used this text in Mexico for the highest levels taught at the Centro Mexicano Internacional in Morelia, Michoacán. I speak French (five years) and a little German, have taken high school Latin and college-level Greek. I have had LOTS of delightful experiences with languages, including trying to speak Japanese in Japan!

This book is, in my opinion, the best, most comprehensive and best-organized language text I've ever used.

It's not for dabblers, however. To this serious student, it was like a long, long drink of cool water to a thirsty man: constantly delicious and satisfying. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Según mi maestra favorita, ¡una Mexicana! fue el mejor también, nuestro "libro favorito."

Here's a heads up! This book contains pictures of men dressed as women which is not clearly explained in the information about the book. All of the pictures (on each food type divider and cover) are of men dressed as women.

I got this after I happened upon it and realized that everytime i tried to de-clutter I ran into tons of cut out and computer printed recipes all over.

It helps to have somewhere to put all of these things. I *would* like it to be bigger and have more space for recipes of differnt types. That said, its pretty adorable and functional.

For the cost, it was a good purchase and can sit on the book shelf with the rest of my cook books. I can imagine this as a good gift for a bridal/engagement shower, a person moving into an apartment for the first time or a child going off to school. Filling it with some of your favorites would be an extra nice touch.

Heads up, I am the photographer and I can vouch for it, these are women, dressed as women.