Wow! I can't believe I purchased this book--knowingly and willingly! Had I known it was a guide on how to turn just about every family event into "fun and games with the Bible and Christianity", I certainly wouldn't have. Yikes!!! It's jam-packed with references to Christianity, including Bible quotes, and preaches that everyone's neighbors should be Christian! If not, Ellis urges the reader to organize a family proselytizing event so the neighbors can discover the error of their ways! Does Ellis have any clue that there are other religions, not to mention atheists and agnostics in the world? I think not! She actually opens her family holiday chapter with "Is there a man, woman, boy, or girl alive who does not love Christmas?"!! This is more than offensive! I do, however, give the book one star on behalf of any fundamentalist Christian readers that want help designing every aspect of their family's life around Christianity.

It gives lots of ideas where you can go with your family but not what you can do as a family inside of your own home. It also has great tips such as planning and writing stuff down on a calendar or in a notebook. What I didn't like about this book was there was some infomation that wasn't even related to family fun.

I first got Big Book of Family Fun at the library, and soon had to get a copy for myself. Granted, the title is a little misleading in that it is not a book of nothing but fun ideas for family togetherness, however, the ideas that are in it are invaluable. Most of the time, we lack the time for "family fun" because we're too busy doing housework, but her suggestions for managing the house are very doable. The best idea was how to "collect" intangibles, like collecting waterfalls, that do more for making memories than any present you buy the kids. A good, solid resource to have in the home.

Ok,ok, ok! This story in my opinion is lacking in all aspects of a romance novel. The lost love storyline is what caught my eye because I love those type of stories, but as the story inveils itself, it was not much of a love story. But I am glad I read the story for myself to see just how the book was all about. Many a person had told me that it was not all that good, always be your own judge! I must say they were right, but I'll let you see for yourself!!

"Destined" is a sweet and touching story about a young couple who ran away to get married, desperate to be together forever. But Leah Givens's (the heroine) father is totally against his daughter's marriage and hunted her down to bring her back home all the while plotting a scheme to keep her away from her husband. After 13 years of separation and no contact with her husband, nothing short of a miracle brings them back together--for Leah's long-lost husband is "taking up shop" right next-door to her catering business. And even though they'd been apart for 13 long years, they realize that the love they shared the years before was still going strong and that they were "Destined" to be together.

i liked this romance novel even though it was different from the usual romance novel, i liked the clean romatic scenes in the books, and especially the part when Bill reminisce about his and leah's teenage dating period.

If you like depressing books, here's one for you. I should've stopped reading after a few chapters, but I kept expecting it to get better. It didn't. The main character's scarcasm and pessism may seem clever to some; I found her totally unappealing.

As in her "The Inn at the Edge of the World" Ms. Ellis gives us a group of unlikeable people who dislike each other. They are a household of aristocrats living on an estate in a Welsh seaside village. Despite the hostility that exists among them they are allied against the working class who are in ascendance, and whom they view as upstarts. They also barely tolerate the summer tourists. The narrative is unified by anticipation of a patriarch's death and by an annual cricket match that has become an "us vs. them" event. Rose, who marries into the family is especially well-drawn. Her casual cruelty in word and deed is often breathtaking. For example, she serves fat-laden meals, redolent of cream and butter--killing with kindness. The final tragedy is unexpected yet the logical outcome of the cruelty and weakness that have gone on before.

My problem with the novel is that there seems to be no right way to behave according to Ellis. The sister-in-law who speaks charitably of the working class comes off as condescending. The household staff are drunk and sly. The patriarch is portrayed as amoral and domineering. As fine a word-weaver as she is, surely a writer of such intelligence could do more than expose the weaknesses of every character she creates.

A long way from "Under Milk Wood." These people are rather like the Anglo-Irish except that they have to be superior not only to the native Welsh but to hordes of vulgar English tourists. As far as I could gather nothing happens. A group of brothers and sisters have come to visit the mansion where their father is ill. They talk,often about religion, and there are a few witty lines (someone thinks Hesiod was an old Welsh poet) and a certain amount of deadpan sick humor. Food is described in great detail, but we do not get told what anyone does for a living or how much anything costs. She has an irritating habit of adding adverbs after the word "said". Something like Aldous Huxley's Chrome Yellow, but not as clever. A touch of Thomas Love Peacock. Long speeches are put into the mouth of Rose that that contain clever observations but do not fit narurally into dialog.

I realize that anyone who writes a book about editing is practically drawing a bull's-eye on his or her back. (Yes, I know some people disapprove of "his or her" as a way to avoid pronoun disagreement; deal with it.) That said, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that "a cold-eyed genius of a managing editor" would have his name spelled Carr Van Anda instead of "Carl." Not as bad as misspelling, say, "Webster." Or "AP." But honestly.

Sorry, but I just did not find this helpful either for its headline advice or its copy-editing insight. Nothing new."When Words Collide" is much more useful.

First: I bow to the professional opinions of earlier reviewers, copy-editors all, I suspect. They found fault (of course; it's what their profession does) with Dr. Ellis' book. I didn't. As a magazine journalist who has frequently struggled to tell a story well, I found her book useful, intelligent, and surprisingly entertaining. Her advice on how to pick a "hot quote" or how to end a hard news story are worth the price of admission.

This book is better than most of the books out there, but that isn't saying a whole lot. Virtues: 1) The book isn't too dogmatic. It recognizes that different copy desks have different policies. The most important style rule of all is that, "If your boss has a rule that's different from the AP rule, your boss is right." 2) Ellis talks a fair amount about the politics of editing. 3) Many of the revised examples are better than the originals. My experience with other copy editing books is that the edited versions tend to be as bad as the originals. Gripe: The book just isn't detailed enough to answer the questions you actually have when it's you against encroaching barbarism. The book is better than books like the Strunk and White book that focus solely on what literate people already know, but it doesn't, for example, discuss the word "like" the way I just used like. Yes, Winston cigarettes should taste good, *as* good cigarettes should, but is it really OK in semi-formal English to write "books like the Strunk and White book," or do I have to write "such as" in place of like? Another example is the hyphens in compound modifiers. Why does the Wall Street Journal hyphenate "real estate" and AP not hyphenate it, even though AP is the one promoting the use of hyphens in compound modifiers? What do you do about those horrible companies that capitalize their entire names, or insist on starting their names with strange symbols? I guess the lack of detail isn't really Ellis's fault. She's only one person and can only do so much. The problem is that doing a guide that answers all the questions needs to be a team effort. In theory, of course, the AP style book is supposed to be the bible, but the version available to the public is miserably incomplete. In a perfect world, the AP style committee would get together with all the other major style organizations, hire some top editors, linguists, etc., and come up with a really good style and usage encyclopedia. But, of course, they're all up against that encroaching barbarism problem, so I guess this is never going to happen.

The story is rather shallow and not intruiging at all. Although I`m very interested in medieval mystery storys I found this one particularly boring. There is no ambiente in this story, I never felt anything or smelled what it would be like to be in Wales in the 12th century. Much worse are the charakters. They are very poorly made and mere onedimensional. Also, like in an early Western one is to tell good from bad in a second. The good (or noble) people are blonde, tall, muscular, intelligent, blue-eyed and strong willed. The bad ones are dark, small, fat or skinny, dumb and dark-eyed. This, pardon me if it is not so, looks to me (a concerned Austrian)like Nazi- ideology and some kind of Übermensch- fantasy. It reminds me of the ideal Aryan: blonde, blue-eyed, tall and muscular. That is a subliminial message I couldn`t stand. Stay with Paul Harding (P.C.Doherty) or C.L.Grace instead for fun and charakters.

This is a good story which Peters populates with memorable characters, but Cadfael is merely a passenger, albeit an insightful one, in this effort.

It is not the summer of his discontent, washed by the sun of Yorke; however, it is the season for another Cadfael adventure and mystery! And Ellis Peters, in her usual intriguing way, presents us with her 18th Brother Cadfael episode in "The Summer of the Danes."

The year is 1144--the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud still rages on--and Brother Cadfael is called upon to be an interpreter to the Welsh village of Saint Asaph. Cadfael is Welsh born and he welcomes the journey to his homeland as a pleasant break from his duties as a brother at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury.

As it turns out--and naturally, as this is an Ellis Peters mystery!--a Danish fleet is sighted along the coast of Wales, a real menace, indeed. Then a young girl goes missing. Then a body is found. And Cadfael is off and running.

So is the reader! Having read all the Brother Cadfael series, I found this to be one of my favorites. Peters wastes no time in developing her story and does not hesitate to flavor her plot with plenty of Welsh history and lore. Will the Danes invade? Will the murderer be brought to justice? Cadfael's expertise, once again, proves to be essential in the resolution of the crimes.

Cadfael is the former crusader now turned monk who, while not solving murder cases, works as the Abbey's herbalist and is known throughout the area for his skills in medicine. The "Sunday Express" writes: "Cadfael...springs to life in her books, which are novels with depth. He is a man of warmth, humanity and engaging nosiness."

Do not be misled by the British TV series of the Cadfael stories. While on the surface they are quite adequate (Derek Jacobi is an ideal Cadfael), the 50-minute recounting of any of Peters' books does not do justice to the novel, which is a pity, for there are great gaps of (mis)understanding that simply cannot be supplied in such short time. Stay with the books! They are well-worth the read. Cadfael is a character worth knowing!

Billyjhobbs@tyler.net

I'm a third-year graduate student, and this book was just too difficult to read. It assumes a massive amount of prior knowledge of SLA. The theories and concepts are hard to grasp, and it includes so many summaries of previous studies that you've forgotten the point before you finish. Not to mention that no clear views are stated. Every section of theory, and this book is VERY theoretically oriented, concludes with the statement that there are no clear answers and that the debate continues. Most likely, you already know everything the author is willing to take a firm stand on: Positive attitudes and motivation are conducive to learning a second language; different learning strategies work for different people; and second language learning should start at an early age. Save your time and money, and choose another book, if at all possible.

"Understanding Second Language Acquisition" is an ideal companion for students taking an initial course in applied linguistics, or for teachers who want to improve their understanding of how learners learn a second language. This book seeks to help teachers make their theory of language learning explicit by examining language-learner language and the processes that produce it. Despite being written as long ago as the mid-eighties, it is still reasonably up-to-date. It covers all the major areas of SLA that one would expect; the role of the first language, variability in interlanguage, individual differences, input, interaction, learner strategies, the Universal Hypothesis, and the role of formal instruction. I enjoyed this book partly because it was written simply, descriptively and scientifically, and partly because the author was my professor when I was a grad student. That will be of no consequence to you, of course, but his thoroughness and clear style is something that I believe all of us can benefit from.

Although the book contains a lot of valuable data for trainee teachers, the author's opinions are not stated.

Peter Beresford Ellis's book gives the initial impression of a scholarly and thorough treatment of his subject, but its unpleasant political undertones eventually become clear.

He claims that the Anglo-Saxons waged a war of extermination against the people of Britain after the fall of the Roman Empire. He attributes a unity and aggressive purpose to a haphazard series of Germanic migrations, that is simply not borne out by the evidence presented. Indeed, his accusations against the English people border on racism. He misses the point that the British imperial drive has its roots in Norman, not Saxon history; the record of the Normans in the Mediterranean and the Holy Land are evidence enough of this. It is a shame that such a potentially important book should be ruined by predjudice.

A gritty, covincing history lesson on what really went down all those years ago. A scene setting eye opener that lays it all out in place and time. von Eschenbach, de Troyes, Charlotte Guest, Monmouth et al wrote some ripping yarns, but Peter Berresford Ellis is the bloke for me - now all it's going to take is finding a long lost replacement for a piece that's now out of of print

Emily Brooks, a widow, with a teen aged son, was living in the family home. She had constant contact with her siblings. All of their lives are at a standstill when they look for their mother's will. They are sure the will would describe specifically what is to be done with the family home. It is during this time, Emily decides to branch out and expand her typing business in conjunction with a cooking business. However, Emily needs capital. If the house is left to Emily, who has lived in the home with her parents the longest, then the security would be available for the business. However, the will is lost and the mystery of the disappearing will has everyone puzzled.

During this time, David Walker, an author, comes to town. David is doing research on farm land disappearing from African Americans and hopes to use the information in a new book. David comes to Emily to type the pages of his research work. The two of them become attracted to each other and a relationship develops. At first, the relationship gets off to a slow start. Emily is reluctant to go out with David, but eventually realizes that she is attracted to him. Emily's son, Peter, also likes David and wants his mother to be happy.

"Change of Heart" was a good book, but it seemed to be missing a chapter or so. Although, there were 23 chapters, the ending was not detailed. It left the reader hanging. There are questions that needed to be answered. I know the book was about Emily, but it would have been nice to know the outcome of David's research work or even what happened with Emily's business adventure.

Ms. Reeves has crafted what is technically referred to as a "sweet romance".There are no imperiled heroines dangling from danger's trembling precipice. There are no urban swashbucklers. There is very little heat, and even less of the kind of passion one usually expects in a romance.

But, on the VERY positive side, there is earned and shared respect between men and women. There is a credibly comfortable, down-home atmosphere that allows us to experience another shade of people of color. There is also the chance to see two mature and cautious people working to build a REAL relationship. This was also an opportunity for this writer to make a few moral statements, and she took full advantage of it.

This reviewer does agree that there were a number of loose ends left dangling, but on a whole, this one does make for quick and pleasant summer reading.

A comprehensive collection of color photographs of RC models, makes a lovely cofee table item - but the value stops at that. The text is filled with inaccuracies that render the book worthless as a guide to the hobby, so much that I wondered if the author had actual hands on experience with the subject matter.

I just received my copy of the recently published book and anticipated learning something about radio controlled models. What a disapointment! There is absolutely no advise of any value, except an admonishment to start with a manufacturers kit. The rest of the book is an advertisement and promotion of those kits. Very disapointing. Don't waste your money.