Everyone who is a serious Anne collector should definitely buy this book. It gives "Anne" a whole new perspective. Untill I read it I had no idea how many biblical and literary allusions L.M. Montgomery had used. I found out wonderful things about the book's background, such as who Montgomery modeled Anne after. I also got the chance to read some of the poems that Anne read or recited. The Annotated Anne is a worthwile investment for people who truly love Anne Shirley.

I just received this book for Christmas. I have been an "Anne" fan since I was 10 years old, and my love of all things L.M. Montgomery has only increased as I grew older. This new edition simply amazed me with all its informative footnotes. The best part for me was the inclusion at the back of the book of many of the poems and songs mentioned in the novel but not written out. Three cheers to the editors of this book! You've outdone yourselves!

This book is a must for all "Anne" fans. Includes a LM Montgomery biography, timeline, pictures from the original and other vintage "Anne" books, as well as references and explanations to the text itself. This even includes lyrics to the songs that are mentioned in the story, as well as the poetry Anne loves. Highly reccommended.

I love charming towns and quirkey people and Thrush Green is full of them. The writing style is lovely and I felt like a bird flying from home to home getting to know the characters in the book while I was reading it. It is refreshing and in my opinion, it is much better than the Mitford series by Jan Karon. I am eager to buy all of the books in this series.

I found Miss Read through an avid reader friend (PLB) as we were comparing notes about Jan Karon's writing style. She informed me Jan Karon was partially inspired by Miss Read. From the moment I read this book, my first Miss Read, I was hooked! These books (all 20+) need to be put back into print! I wish I could live in this fictional Cotswold village. The characters are charming and entertaining. Treat yourself to a pleasant diversion into another life, another time... of course, along with a cuppa!

I remember reading and rereading Miss Read's delightful books when I was younger - rather shabby looking books from the library, found after a lot of scrounging through shelves. I remember what a delight they were, and how they warmed my heart. But gradually they slipped out of my mind, and I forgot about them until I read Jan Karon's interview with amazon.com, where she mentions them. I am so glad to have them again to read and nestle into. My two favorites were "Thrush Green", and "Winter at Thrush Green". Quaint, delicious, comforting - delightful books. They make you feel happy.

The complex politics of the Irish revolt against the English is brought into a new light by Robert Kee. Kee manages to describe the failures and successes of Irish nationalism over the centuries in an exceedingly readable book. The Green Flag consists of three volumes ending in 1973 and so does not cover the recent conflict. It is still one of the best books ever written on Irish history.

As an environmental history, this book rates five stars because the author so skillfully and comprehensively weaves together the many different threads that form the actual experience of environmental protection. At the most basic level, the book is a history of pollution in Philadelphia, a surprisingly good choice since it was an important colonial city, a major manufacturing center during the industrial revolution, and a typical troubled post-industrial metropolis of the 20th century. At the same time the book is a history of environmental management and ecomomics. And it discusses the trajectories of pollution-control technologies and the politics of pollution as well. Able to quote authoritatively from environmental regulations and quantitative risk assessments in one chapter, and from philosophers like Isiah Berlin and Lewis Mumford in others, the author provides readers with as detailed, comprehensive, and engaging a story as one can find in the literature on environmental history.

Dr. Raufer introduces the reader to the multifaceted environmental history of one of America's most unique urban environments. From the early privies to modern waste facilities, Raufer chronicles the city's solutions to problems and the problems that resulted. Following the history is an in-depth and informative section on current environmental regulations and how they came about. I highly recommend this for anybody interested in environmental issues or even Philadelphia history. I actually found the book hard to put down at times.

In Anne of the Islnad, the character that I have grown to love and become familiar with, grows up and moves on to college. With college, comes new friends and new romances too. The only part that continued to annoy me was how Anne was rejecting everybody who asked her to marry. However, Anne learns through her failures and to my contentment, ended up with the one person whose heart truly belongs to her.

If you loved the first novel in the series, Anne of Green Gables, you won't be disappointed with it's sequel, Anne of Avonlea. Continuing where Anne of Green Gables left off, we meet up again with our kindred, bosom friend Anne, as she has graduated from Queens, and begins her teaching position in Avonlea. Living at home with Marilla at beautiful Green Gables, Anne & Marilla find themselves the caretakers of six year old twins, Davey & Dora. As Anne embarks on a classroom full of new students, and life at home helping to care for the twins, L.M. Montgomery provides us with more delightful stories and hijinks with our favorite characters of Avonlea. Mrs. Rachel Lynde is still up to her old ways, Diana remains Anne's dearest bosom friend, and we meet some new characters too. What does the future have in store for Anne & Gilbert Blythe? Anne of Avonlea is full of the magic and charm that one can expect from L.M. Montgomery. The ending will leave you yearning for the next in the series~

Maud's "Anne" series has captured my heart since I was a young girl. I can relate to Anne because we share a lot of the same characteristics. We are both hopeless dramatists and romantics. Anne is as hilarious as she is touching. I know I will share this beautiful story with my own daughter some day. A MUST READ!!

I just finished reading "A Peaceful Retirement". Just like her other books, it was excellent reading. I was sorry when the book ended because I wanted to read more. Few years ago I wrote Miss Read a letter stating I loved all her books. She was kind enough to write me a handwritten letter in reply. After a hetic day, I look forward to reading her books and revisit the loveable characters in the quiet town.

Miss Read's novels capture the best aspects of the small town provincial novel--the sense of connection, the wry Austenisms--while leaving the sentimentality and pollyanna-ism sometimes afflicting the genre to her lesser imitators. A Peaceful Retirement brings us another step--perhaps a final step--nearer to the end of this series. I recommend this series, and this book within the series, to anyone who wishes that a novel might have both a 20th C. awareness and a somewhat 19th C. sense of perspective....Most people have not discovered Miss Read, and one somehow wonders if "most people" really ought to. But I am certainly glad that I did....

I enjoyed this book just as much as I have all the other books written by Miss Read. The reason that I enjoyed this book so much was that it was like catching up with old friends and being transported back to the Village and all the surrounding scenery which captures my imagination. I recommend that you read not only this book but all those that Miss Read (Dora Saint) has written for anyone that enjoys people and a very descriptive story which includes the lovely countryside that one can only imagine. I will miss my friends very much. Thank You Dora Saint for giving me many hours of pleasure.

Welcome to the world of Anne Raver as seen through her garden. Here you will meet her loveable old dog Molly, "a twelve -year-old Saint Bernard squished into a setter's body with some collie thrown in," and Mr. Grey a long-haired feline acrobat that endears himself to both Molly and the author despite all their efforts to dislike him.

Here too you learn about Raver herself as she plots and plans her gardens, agonizes about a move to a new house, struggles with insects and pesticides, life in the city versus the pull of her country roots, and her conflicted if loving relationship with her parents. Raver's interests, even with gardening as a base, are eclectic and far ranging. In one essay she waxes eloquent, though tongue in cheek, about breaking the law by growing poppies. In another she tells how she came to discover that cricket manure is a great fertilizer. In a third she tells of her triumph over a paralyzing fear of climbing ladders. All in all it's a wonderful stroll through one woman's life with plenty of amusing observation and touching insight thrown in.

My one complaint was that the length of the essays (they are reprints of articles Raver wrote for The New York Times) often means that the reader is left wanting to know more, to hear how a story ended, how a problem was resolved, whether or not Raver ever finds a man she can co-habitat with, what finally happens to the old family homestead. While I realize this is a limitation of the genre, I am hoping that Raver will eventually sit down and write a non-stop tale of her rich and varied life. Otherwise this is a wonderful, uplifting read.

People who get the New York Times and read the garden section are probably totally familiar with Anne Raver's writing, but those in other parts of the country may not be. For many years she was the garden editor of the NY Times and although I don't think she holds this position any longer, I still do find her articles now and then in the Times.
I am a garden writer myself (Allergy-Free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden) and I read the work of as many different garden writers as I can. I especially try to read as much material as possible from writers who write for newspapers, since so often they are tuned in to the most current tastes in horticulture. Then too, as a writer I always appreciate extra quality work when I read it, work such as that of Ann Raver (who by the way, I don't know and have never met.)
Deep in the Green: An Exploration of Country Pleasures is a little book but it's packed with useful gardening tidbits and the writing is superb. Like some other reviewers of this book, I too would like to see another book from her, perhaps a sequel to Deep in the Green. I am always on the lookout for neat little books on gardening to give as presents to my friends who garden, and this one is always a hit. A collection of articles published first in the Times, each chapter here is lively, charming, often darn funny, and in the tradition of great garden writers (especially some of the great English writers), the material is based on true life garden adventures, and it is always close and personal. If you've never read any of Ann Raver's work, I suggest you give it a try. Almost anyone who loves to garden and read will enjoy this book.

I read this book for the first time in 1999 and I have returned to savor the pages each year since. I have bought 3 extra copies for gifts for my nature loving friends. I am hoping the "next generation" appears on the horizon soon!

Anne of Green Gables is about a skinny red haired girl who has both a short temper and a very colorful imagination. She really loves the little farmhouse but the Cuthberts might send her back to the orphanage because Matthew needed a boy about 11 or 12 to help him on the farm.

Sometimes her imagination gets her in trouble. For instance when Marilla asks her to get a pattern from Mrs. Barry she doesn't want to because she imagined the woods between the houses were haunted! The book tells about her life growing up in the 1930's. As she grows, she learns many lessons and meets many friends who help her to become Anne of Green Gables.

This book is wonderful. It is a great book for girls to read. I loved it because the character was funny, spunky, and could talk forever. She reminded me of my sister. Anne never gave up trying to reach her goals. She will keep you interested throughout the whole book!

This is one of the best books ever written and the credit goes to spirited Anne (make sure it's spelled with an "e"!) Shirley. It's not often you find such a charming heroine as Anne. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES is the first of a series on this lovable orphan, and it begins with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a respectable brother and sister, living at Green Gables. They are both growing old and need a boy to help out on the farm. But they got a talkative redhead girl instead. Before they can send her back to the orphanage, Anne has managed to win the hearts of Prince Edward Island with her wit and imagination. She seems to affect everyone around her - from busybody Mrs. Rachel Lynde to handsome Gilbert Blythe. And now, Green Gables will never be the same! . . .

It's not often you find such a spirited and lovable heroine as Anne. Captivating and captivatED, Anne is full of enthusiasm and fun, which gets her into all sorts of scrapes. This book is one that you are guaranteed to laugh over, cry over, and never want to put down! It is an ideal novel that you won't want to pass up! (Even if you don't read the rest of the Anne books, read this!)

A few weeks ago, I got really sick of today's children's literature. I had read enough mysteries and trashy books about romance to last me a lifetime. So I wanted something else to read, something well-written with a good plot and lifelike characters. I had to look no further than the first book I picked up- Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery.

Anne of Green Gables is the first book in the Anne of Green Gables series. It takes place, as most of L. M. Montgomery's books do, on Prince Edward Island in Canada. This particular story takes place in the town of Avonlea. It follows young Anne Shirley, an orphan brought to Green Gables to help Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on their farm. Much to Anne's dismay, Marilla tells her that they wanted a boy to help around the farm, not a girl. However, Marilla changes her mind and decides to keep the dynamic young girl who would become Anne of Green Gables.

This novel is incredibly written, with well-developed characters and an intricate plot. I absolutely loved it. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great example of children's literature at its height.

"Singing in the Saddle" is a very nice book with a slightly different angle to to it's counterparts. There is information in this book that I have not found in other books about the singing cowboys. All in all the book is very well worth it's money for what it offers. What I do find disappointing however is the fact that the book does not quite live up to it's title.For example the book covers a lot of information about artistes who had nothing to do with 'singing in a saddle', such as radio and stage singers only, a good many of whom either died a long time ago and/or I have never heard of.

Personally, I would have liked the book to have covered only the movie singing cowboys, not enough was said about some of them, apart of course from Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Tex Ritter.

As a book that deals with the history of country and western music and the performers of such, then you are getting good value for money.

Singing In The Saddle: The History Of The Singing Cowboy by music historian and performer Douglas B. Green is an engaging and impressively informative presentation of the history of western music, films, and performers of America, both before and after World War II. Black-and-white photographs enhance this avidly detailed and lovingly written survey of an aspect of American Popular culture. Douglas B. Green ("Ranger Doug" from the Grammy Award-wining group Riders in the Sky) is to be commended for his expertise, his ability to write for the non-specialist general reader, and his ability to acquire anecdotal stories and recollections by some of the most experienced and influential members of the "singing cowboy" community.

Green's Singing in the Saddle provides an articulate wide-ranging history of the Singing Cowboy from its origins in western folk culture to the triumph of the B Westerns. He draws strong portraits of both primary stars and lesser known actors who contributed to the genre. An excellent introduction and a must for country music collections.

There is not a shred of historical authenticity to this book. The well-known bits and pieces of folklore in the book from the West Country that ARE authentic have nothing to do with any secret "witch" religion. I think that Rhiannon Ryall probably tossed them in to make the other information (that she clearly fabricated) seem more legitimate.

Her "old craft" invocations and ceremonies are extremely new-agey, cheesy, pink and fluffy. This is not from the Old West Country. Bad rhymes, lack of meter or structure, the same old tired "secrecy" oaths and ludicrous claims of a very large and organized underground craft-religion in England, and the OBVIOUS Gardnerian loan material all make this one of the least serious books I've ever seen on the craft.

Without a doubt, some of the recipes and such may be real, but old wives' recipes from Somerset and Devon are not a "secret witchcraft" that we need yet ANOTHER book about, making silly authenticity claims, to give itself a validity and marketability that it does not deserve.

I belong to a Traditional West Country Crafter group. I can promise you that not a single word of this so-called "pre-gardnerian" tradition that Ms. Ryall claims she was taught is from anywhere else but the West Country in her own imagination.

Some reviewers state West Country Wicca is fictional, some say it's true: There's actually no way of knowing what went on in the writers town. You can't prove one way or the other.

I liked the book, though. I think it could be useful for a lot of people who are tired of some of the overly cerimonial aspects of Wicca. This book contains simple and down to earth rituals and ideas. This book can offer something positive that people can constructivly use. Isn't that what matters?

I've only had this book for about 2 weeks and I've read it 4 times. Ryall gives a personal account on what the Old Religion was like before the tidal wave of neo-pagan books and traditions. She tells of a "tradition" that is simple, earthy and "tongue in cheek". Don't be thrown off by the word simple, the people of the old country were too busy with farming and community to worry with scholarly persuits and elaborate wiccan tools and ritual, this is still a very BEAUTIFULL way of celebrating the earth and the God and Goddess. I am basically a kitchen witch that follows the religion of witchcraft and have found no need for elaborate ceremonial magic, or supplies. So I was delighted to find information on common household herbs and spices to use in magick as well as folklore and many recipes and beautifully simplistic rituals.