I was happily surprised by this book. I have only heard of Irving's ghost stories, which are great and why I purchased it. As I was reading the other stories, I was surprised to be reading of distant lands and historical sites as well. Normally, that would not interest me, but Irving's imagination is profound. He can turn a run down liabrary into a living soul who speaks and interacts with us humans. He can turn an ancient palace into a love story. The only thing I had a problem with was the old school language. It did make reading a little more difficult, however I plan on reading this book again, so I'm sure the second time around will be easier and I will be able to come back and turn the 4 stars into 5.

The Sketch Book by Washington Irving is a collection of short stories from the 19th century. Many people today only know Irving as the author of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Irving wrote a variety of stories. He has a number of different themes covered in this book, such as romance, tragedy, and traditions of the Europeans versus Americans, and terrifying, suspenseful stories like "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Irving also wrote travel pieces, works about European traditions, and romance stories. Irving uses 19th century language, so it's hard to read at times, but if you enjoy this style of writing you will enjoy this book.
Irving has some of his greatest short stories in this book such as "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", "The Specter Bridegroom", and The Christmas Quintet. These stories show different themes along with a different style of writing. The different structure of the stories helped the book move along and not be boring.
Irving varied the themes of his stories, making it more enjoyable. Each story usually had a different theme, I liked this because it wasn't the same theme over and over again, and most authors tend to do this making the book boring. Also, Irving used different structures to his stories, not all of his stories were the same length. There were also some really long stories and really short stories. Varying the structure is a key thing in my view to making a collection of short stories good. I find it easier and better to read when all the stories are different lengths. I would also highly recommend this book to anyone who has read 19th century writings and enjoyed them. This book is a great source to further understand European traditions versus American traditions. If you are interested in sociological shifts then you will enjoy this book. If you're not into 19th century readings and European traditions then this book is not for you.

There's more to Washington Irving than "Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle". Irving's life was an enthralling tale of world travel, high society, and other, bookish diversions. He would have been, judging from the biography provided at the front of the edition I read, one of the most fascinating tale tellers of his day. That comes across in the Sketchbook; but we also get an idea of the wicked, roguish sense of humor, that impeccable feeling for satire that Irving could deploy even upon those people he loved most.

The Sketchbook was written largely in England, at first as Irving was inheriting the family law business from his infirm brother. Rankling under the confines of business that can seem insufferable to the creative mind, Irving turned his full energy to writing. These sketches reflect a man passionate about many things, but who is always doctoring his reminiscences with timeless satire: Literature (The Art of Book Making and the Mutability of Literature, with, respectively, the writers of the new school being assaulted by the old favorites of western lit, and the talking book created in illustration of the fact of history's unkindness to many authors and receptivity to a few)is an abiding love to Irving, with every sketch preceded by a poem from antiquity to the works of Irving's coevals, and the stories themselves can make one believe Irving to have been downright pedantic. For what other reason would he break the flow of innumerable stories with lengthy and often only tangentially relevant allusions. Other stories,such as the delightful Christmas cycle and the numerous sketches with Shakespeare addenda, juxtapose Irving's love and ridicule of the English, especially the rural English, with their antediluvian customs (which Irving commends), and their increasing acquiescence to modern fashion (which he abhors). Ironically, the very people whom he often ridiculed as pretentious, bombastic, destructive, prejudiced, and insensitive, loved him, perhaps because, at the same time, he lauded them for their refinement and their characters so analagous to those of the American people, whom he proclaims a young people, while the British should be something like elder statesmen, big brothers if you will.

The Sketchbook is delightful reading, if you can get past the author's bookishness and often archaic language.

I had so much looked forward to reading this book that when it arrived I was disappointed. The text was rather disorganised in places and so it was hard to follow the points the author was making about the early life and various influences upon Miriam Haskell. Most of the book was focused on one designer and most of the pictures, although they are very nice pictures, came from the same few sources. I was hoping for a carefully researched piece which told me a lot more about Haskell and gave a much wider assortment of the pieces she designed. The book left you asking more questions than it answered and wanting more variety then it presented.

Miriam Haskell is recognized as an important American costume jewelry designer in this wonderful coffee table book. She had a penchant for the unusual with her ostentatious accessories. She was born in 1899 in Tell City, Indiana to immigrant parents (a Russian father and a Prussian mother).

At the dawn of the Roaring Twenties, she moved to New York City with $500 in her pocket, opening a small boutique. Named Le Bijou de L'Heure, there she sold costume jewelry that she designed. In the early 1920's, Haskell advertised that "colored glass necklaces, one for each outfit, are considered a necessity this year."

Not only was Haskell riding the wave of the Roaring Twenties, she was creating a wave of her own. The Twenties were the years that all of the fashion rules were broken. Haskell's unbounded creativity met with enormous popularity. The prices for her costume jewelry were much lower than the cost of precious metals and stones, so anyone could afford to look fashionable.

The popularity of her costume jewelry continued, even after the stock market crash. Her sales did not drop significantly until 1931. Another difficulty Haskell encountered was the lack of material available for jewelry during WWII when glass from Bohemia and white metal was scarce.

Haskell never registered her designs, although she began to sign her pieces in 1950. The Miriam Haskell trademark was not received until 1988, 64 years after she began designing. Because there were no marks to identify her work prior to 1950, it took a great deal of research on author Cera's part to verify pieces of costume jewelry as Haskell's. Cera relied upon advertisements in magazines and newspapers, and photographs of movie stars shown wearing jewelry attributed to Haskell.

Haskell drew inspiration for her designs from many cultures - South America, China, Greece and the US southwest Indian designs. Her designs mimicked or consisted of any and all materials, including flotsam, stones, seeds, berries and beans.

For the collector of costume jewelry, this book is a keeper.

She is definately a QUEEN when it comes to costume jewelry. If you are a fan of her Jewels, you won't be sorry buying this book. (Amazon is the best place too!)

At first, the book's premise is interesting: women banding together to do in errant spouses. However, it quickly becomes boring as the plot seems to meander and the same type of wit is used over and over. The characters are too one-dimensional to be of much interest.

The Widow's Club itself is a very interesting and unique plot idea. The most interesting part of the book was learning about how the Widow's Club worked, the exact arrangements, etc. The rest of the book was fairly slow and I found myself skimming and just plain skipping a lot of it that was repetitive. I hated the frequenty Ellie whining about "what if Ben finds out" -- when it comes to Ben she is so wimpy and illogical and it is plain boring and disappointing to read those parts.

Does Agatha Christy bore you to tears? Do British Mysteries make you constipated? Well, drop what you're doing and if you like clever witty mystery's mixed with British wit and humor, you'll love this book! You will hopefully never encounter a grief support group anything like the "Sisters in Sorrow" but you may find amusement in considering the possibilities! Especially if your spouse gets on your nerves a bit.

This, the book that started the Ellie Haskel series is highly recommended by this reader and like me you will no doubt crave to read more of Ms. Cannell. I recommend that you buy this paperback and at least the next two in the series as you won't be able to wait for the postman to bring the next one once you've finished this one.

I was very disappointed upon receiving this book. Once skimming through the pages I noticed that most of the recipes were quite high in caloric intake. Example: a recipe for wantons EACH wanton is over 100 calories, if you have 3 that is as much as a meal and not quite as fulfilling. Some entrees had as many as 700 calories a serving!

Many of the ingredients are not only high in calories but also high in fat. Rosie makes an effort to create a mock sour cream with non-fat yogurt, yet many recipes call for low-fat sour cream (not exactly healthy). Then there is the butter. In one section of the book you read that one of the authors does not have any butter in their refrigerator at home. They go on to lecture about the sins of butter. Upon reading that I figured ther would be no butter in the recipes. I was wrong. A number of desserts call for butter. Where is the consistency?

To be quite honest, my own cooking is much healthier than anything Dr. Weil and Rosie have suggested. What a waste.

OVERVIEW: This book is not only about healthy and delicious recipes. Intermixed is also basic nutritional information, tips about shopping and stocking your kitchen, food preparation techniques, a menu-planning guide, and the introduction of foods and ingredients not commonly used.

I believe this book is intended for a typical American consumer who: 1) wants to eat more healthy but doesn't know how or where to start, 2) is confused about what nutritional information is important and what isn't, 3) is unaware of food alternatives (such as olive oil or nut milk), or 4) wants to add healthy and delicious recipes to their repertoire (try the muesli for breakfast!).

FLAWS: As some reviewers have noted, additional editing would have caught some the errors and discrepancies in the recipes. A time estimate could also have been included for the recipe preparation. However, the errors are at most an annoyance (you are still be able to make the food), and I believe there is good number of quick and simple recipes, along with some that are more elaborate.

Some of the reviewers who gave low ratings appear to be "hard-core" nutritionalists, who complain about the use of some ingredients. These people have already researched their diet and eating habits and are not the typical consumer, yet I am sure they have picked up a few insights and recipes.

OVERALL: As Dr. Weil stated, "good nutrition is one of the most important influences on health". Most people can benefit from eating healthier, and this book serves as a great resource for both recipes and nutritional information. This book has a great chance to be a hit for people on your holiday shopping list.

I absolutely love this cookbook. My new year's resolution was to start cooking better. I got tired of walking around the grocery store with all of the sodium, preservative, fat and sugar laden products. Before I found this cookbook, I would rarely stumble on a healthy recipe from a magazine or cookbook that would actually taste good. It was really quite discouraging to learn to cook healthy.

There is not a single recipe in this cookbook that I do not like. Everything turns out perfect and the flavors are incredible. It's amazing to me that my husband, who lives for burgers, pizza and red meat, really loves the food from "the Santa Claus dude book" (referring to Dr. Weil).

Sure, it takes longer to shop for the ingredients and make the recipes. Instead of grumbling, I use the time to practice mindfulness -- using all of my senses (sight, taste, smell, etc.) to get lost in the process. It relaxes me at the end of a long day. The rewards are a wonderful meal and knowing that I did something positive by choosing to eat healthy.

It always get me mad when a author deciding to use a foreign language doesn't even bother to verify the spelling and grammar. The correct title should be Femmes Fatales for plural or Femme Fatale for singular

Not as good IMHO as the first three, this Ellie Haskell mystery is still a funny and enchanting diversion. With moments of warmth, hilarity and suspicion, this book has the same winning blend that makes Ms. Cannell so popular. When the Chitterton Falls women sign up to join a club that promises to bring the passion back into marriage, with its helpful counseling and incredibly funny handbook of hints, things don't go as well as they should. Not all husbands seem thrilled with the change in their wives. And sudden deaths halt the fun and games when murder makes its dramatic appearance. I must say that a character I had long found irritating and dislikable dies in this book and I wasn't a bit sorry (though I did experience a moment of terror when I feared the evil deed had in fact not gone through). Anyway, this book was entertaining and worth several laughs as well as some puzzled thought as to whom the murderer might be, and how many of the deaths were caused by him/her? A nice addition to the series.

I just wanted to point out to the reader who thought the title was misspelled, that I'm sure the publisher and the author are aware of the correct spelling. However, I think that the title is supposed to be a play on words. Therefore, the spelling of FATAL is a representation of murder, in order to create a more dramatic effect for the book. I enjoy all of Ms. Cannell's books. I particularly enjoy the humorous aspects. I hope that she continues to delight her readers. Keep up the good work!

P.S. Keep those originals titles coming! :-)

This is a cozy-style mystery: written about the happenings in a small village, with a lot of emphasis on the characters. It has a good deal of dry humor - sometimes so dry you almost miss it. I managed to slog thru the whole book, hoping it would get better, but it really didn't. The pacing of the story was very slow, and there was no real sense of suspense or building towards a climax. The high point was barely a bump in the road. There were just too many subplots and points that distracted my attention, most of which didn't have enough of a payoff in the end when the threads tried to come together (and many of them didn't link at all) I suppose some of the plotlines were intended to be red herrings, but it is overkill when you're completely distracted and bored by long tangents that have no satisfactory resolution.

I've read four books by this author, three of them about Ellie Haskell, resident of Chitterton Fells and member of the Library League. In some ways I thought this was the best of them all -- Mrs. Malloy is hysterical here and the premise revolving around romance fiction is funny as well. But there are also minor problems. The mystery itself is confusing -- lots of people die, but not necessarily of unnatural causes, and the tension never really builds; the depiction of the village's two librarians is lazy and stereotypical; and two of Cannell's best characters, Freddy and Jonas, are not here -- they are away on a camping trip!

Despite the problems this is a fun book. I would recommend it if you are a fan of the author, but not if you are mainly interested in reading a challenging mystery.

Dorothy has done it again! Even though my spouse looked at the book on nightstand and then promptly announced he'll be sleeping on the couch it was worthwhile! It permitted me to stay up late into the night reading like you will laughing out loud as Elie stumbles across a librarian mysteriously and meeting her demise in the city library, then finds herself vis-a-vis with "Karisma" the hunk of hunks from her favorite romance novels coming to town. Karisma becomes endangered by possibly the same entity that caused the librarian to have a meeting with the grim reaper and Elie finds her own life endangered unless she finds the mysterious presence of Chitterton Fells Library. Don't miss this especially if you're a Dorothy Cannell fan!

Absolute nonsense. Takes a few sources of anecdotal evidence and tries to turn into something scientific. Pass.

This book takes a simple idea---that we all have slips of the tongue and you can learn what is on a person's mind from them---and turns it into a book which repeats it,over and over again,without any illumination.

Not only have I more readily noticed the subtle cues of others, I have reflected on previous events and laughed at myself for what I was really saying. I could go on and on with examples, but this book should be appreciated by the reader. I will say it was a unique, refreshing and insightful experience.

I loved the Thin Woman, and was excited to read this book, but never bothered finishing. I found Ellie irritating, not someone I liked very much. I read about 50 pages, and hadn't laughed once.

Ellie Haskell is back and pregnant. All she wants to do is stay in bed, eat and be pampered but a warning of danger gives her the push to go to America with her husband Bentley T. Haskell. Bentley wants to become a member of a select group of chefs along with several other unusual candidates. The selection of the one new member of the food society, takes place in a rural area in a strange house on an island. To make matters worse, the house is occupied by a woman who has written a bestseller book about her aging actress mother entitled Monster Mommie. And who shows up? None other than Monster Mommie herself.

Ellie is still an interesting character and the book does have some funny parts, but it was not nearly as good a read as the Thin Woman. I felt that the book had a lot of potential but failed to live up to it. I would not recommend Mum's the Word unless you are a die hard Ellie fan.

Oh to have Ellie's wit and narrative powers! Dorothy Cannell does a superb job with another Ellie Haskell mystery, this one every bit as fun as the ones before, if not more! It was delicious having Ellie visit the States and reading her reactions to its vastness and people. The clever little plot was devious and interesting, a mystery revolving around the expose of a famous actress in best-seller Monster Mommy. More delightful characters! I don't know how Mrs. Cannell does it, but her creations are an ongoing pleasure! I mean, here's a sample of who you'll meet (they're all contestants for some cookery Mange): Kid Prodigy named Bingo and his fashion-less mother, French countess and magician husband, goodhearted cooking witch who makes love potions, and a nice, warm housewife with a broody and paranoid husband. Then there are noncontestants, such as Valicia X, and the infamous, scandalous Theola Faith, and wretched daughter Mary. Then you've got the setting of a Gothic atrocity used in a movie called Melancholy Mansion (which, yes, had starred Theola Faith) and a narrow-minded town called Mud Creek with more eccentric characters, including a Diethologic reverend. This mystery is cunningly appropriate for a pregnant woman (Ellie) and is a successful farce. Do read it!

I strongly recomend this book for someone who wants a "Who's Who" of the American fine arts scene. I have spent many hours scanning the names and pictures, aborbing the exciting 50 years of American contempoary arts.

I cannot recommend this book as an especially well-written commentary on that scene, however. Some sentences contain refrences to handfulls of artists with little direction or explanation. Of course the authors were required to give fair coverage to thousands of artists who had their 15 minutes of fame in US art galleries. I follow this scene pretty closely professionally. I can report that I did not find any glaring ommissions from their collection of artists. As you might expect, regional artists received barely a nod and little is said about "outside" art.

If you are looking for a great explanation of "modern" art, try "The Shock of the New" by Robert Hughes, which Amazon indicates is still in print (and rated 5 stars, almost).

But if you are interested in the "Sears Catalog" of the fine arts in the past 50 years, this is the book you want.

I have never read a more difficult to understand text in my life. Even after having lecture and then looking over the chapter that the lecture was on, I STILL have no idea what this guy is talking about. I can't believe I had to waste 88 dollars of my hard earned money on this book. That sucks...

This book is a good start to learning to design logic gates and digital circuits. I would highly recommend both this book and course to anyone wanting to learn to design digital circuits.

This book introduces digital logic and 8086 processor architecture / assembly well. It primarily refers to CUPL for programming GAL chips and MASM for assembly level programs. Many hands on exercises requiring a level of understanding that this book gives beyond a basic leisure reader. Definitely not a book for people "just looking to get by"; as a hard-working student of Dr. Haskells, I rate it "a real educational value." Provides excellent reference too.