I originally picked this book up second-hand as 'just something to pass the time', and ended up looking forward to each chance I'd get to read a few pages. Hughes has managed to take the timeworn 'castaway colony' premise and create an enjoyable story around it. I would call this a better than average sci-fi purchase. There are a few down points to the book, though: Hughes amplifies the stereotypical 'differences between the sexes' as a method of illustrating how the colonists have reverted to a more savage mode, and this tends to strip depth from her characters ('Me Tarzan, you Jane', etc.) Her characters are strongly polarized, but tend to shift quickly between the poles at a moment's notice. My biggest complaint about the novel would be that the author simplifies her characters' society to the point of claustrophobia; reading the book is like watching a stage play with a painfully limited scope and cast. I still look forward to the next book, though, in which (according to the hints sprinkled throughout Initiation) it appears the colony will turn outward and begin to explore some of the mysteries of their immediate surroundings. Don't let the down points deter you - I still recommend this book for a quick read.

I feel the author did a very good job on developing a complex and interesting society. The way the characters interacted made me feel involved. I have been waitng and waiting for a sequel!

I started the book in the morning and finished it in one read (day). The author has created characters and a situation that is both believeable and complete. Reading this story one can visualize as if the story was on a movie screen. This is a story telling feat only a few authors can achieve, David Weber comes to mind, but I am biased. If the publisher is up to his usual tricks there is another book in the queue. Hidden in the story are clues for two more books and I will be there for them.

Miss Julia again comes through for her friends when they need her.Most of us ladies realize that our maids are our best friends and we don't want them mistreated. And what Miss Julia goes through to defend the underdog! And her friends rise to the occasion or should I say ride. It's a whole new experience for the intrepid lady and those she takes along. Another breathtaking ending, and I think I see a love story coming as the sequal because Sam is smitten !

This book is WONDERFUL! Miss Julia and her escapdes keep getting funnier by the book. I have purchased this series for
my mother and numerous friends, and don't know anyone who doesn't love this series.
My sister in law is even reading them to her husband!
This book is the funniest of the series, so far.
One can just imagine this starchy lady hanging on the back of a
motorcycle with torn leather pants, borrowed from Hazel Marie.
I read books of all kinds, but these are my favorites.
Do yourself a favor and read them all!

When I first read the jacket blurb, I had doubts about Miss Julia and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. It just seemed like too much of a stretch. But I enjoyed reading this book from start to finish. It's every bit as delightful as the first book in the series, much funnier than #3. Frequently I had to stop reading just to laugh out loud. The bike ride is certainly wild, but I think my favorite moments in the book include when Hazel Marie yanks the hairpiece off her rival Tammi's head and when Miss Julia gets so mad at Pastor Ledbetter that she deliberately talks his wife into defying him.

If you are interested in the connections between Egyptian and South American pyramids, this points out some interesting clues.

The first half of the book has too many descriptions of the personal travel routes and transportation methods of the author and partner but Part IV is worth keeping this book on the shelf. It gives references to worldwide examples of the Noah's Ark and other other common legends from pre-history that speak of an ancient advanced civilization before our recorded history.

Antartica land mass was mapped before the ice formed there. This map was in Italy long before Columbus claimed to have discovered America. Very interesting and informative reading. One big mistake --- I believe the book is more then 96 pages as stated, more like 396. A grave error.

Fascinating and factual look at our planet and human roots.

This book is one big pack of lies, influenced by the CIA. The mission was a success. The Golf sub was broken into several pieces and recovered as planned. The story that 'the entire sub could be sliced apart by divers while suspended below the moon pool' is ridiculous. And the rated lift capacity of the Explorer was less than that needed to lift the dry-weight of the entire sub.

This book was spellbinding! Cotton Collier & Roy Varner make this "far-out" story come to life before your eyes. Throw in a little Howard Hughes and you get a killer story. Those Reds thought they could just sneak up and spy on us- forget it! Must read for CIA fans! I could not put the book down! My thanks for my friend good pal W.C. for turning me onto this mind numbing tale.

The definitive (published) account of the Glomar Explorer project to raise a sunken Soviet nuclear missile sub. Another book covering the same events, "The Jennifer Project" has little of the detail or drama of this book.

I had never read any of Hughes work, but as a translation of Greek text, it was dificult to place it in an ancient time. The captivating: It was a fast, and entertaining read, with a few lines I enjoyed. The mediocre: If you can handle words like "atoms" and "nelson hold" in your Greek translations, then go for it. I am not sorry I read it, but it could have been better. It is a tale of struggle in life, love, and death... so take what you can learn fom and shrug the rest off.

Ted Hughes'translation of Alcestis continues on a path he pursued for most of his later years: to resurrect "classic" poetry in a modern form. The translation flows eloquently, with the typical Hughes clipped verse. He seems desparate to make the text "speak" to modern readers, and (I think) especially to modern poets.

Despite the obvious (and poignant) parallels of the storyline to Hughes' own life, I did not find his translation of Alcestis as arresting as his Oresteia trilogy (especially the moving "Agamemnon"). The main characters in Alcestis all come across as somewhat cold, and there is a distance between the major themes (sacrifice, renunciation, regret) and the language used. The famous (but somewhat enlarged in Hughes' version) sequence of a drunken Heracles seems discordant given the sparce tone of the rest of the translation.

A fine (and uniquely personal) version, but one to be read along with older, more full treatments.

I really enjoyed this. This is the first play I've read that made me what to drop what I'm doing, rush out and get together a troupe of players to stage it. The translation into modern language works very well, a couple of modern words jar, but then isn't drama supposed to provoke us? Some critics of the language of this translation are more comfortable with Victorian English but that's not what the Greeks spoke either. Hughes ensures that the humour as well as the tragedy comes through. I would have appreciated an editorial introduction with a few words about Euripides, Greek Drama, and Ted Hughes; especially given the price and the brevity of the work.

Jane Paulson has no clue of the real meaning of Christmas! This is a load of hogwash. A better name for
the book would be The Commercial Side of Christmas!

DO NOT BUY!

This was a huge disappointment ... It is a flimsy pocket book sized paperback (i.e., more like a mystery or romance novel), written as a hodgepodge of ideas/tips/sentiments, with 1-3 short blurbs on each page -- and no rhyme or reason to the sequence. (The concept might have worked very well had the author taken the time to marshal her thoughts, rather than flitting from subject to subject w/o really acknowledging any of them.) I resented reading about how much she loves making and serving glogg, snickerdoodles, etc., with no hint of her recipes. People who don't own Susan Branch's Christmas cookbook won't be too thrilled to learn that the waffles and pots de creme from there are a staple in the author's home, but at least I can look those up. I still might have liked the book if it had provided more information/details, such as the actual letter that appeared in the "Sun" ("Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus") -- but, just mentioning it in a sentence seemed like little more than a waste of time. The whole book was in that context -- just short, fleeting references, usually a short sentence or two long (yet comprising an entire page), and barely describing anything sufficiently to make it meaningful. Don't waste your money.

Last year I put The Joy of Christmas out in my living room because I loved the title and the cover. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, I found myself picking it up more and more often. I found it irrestible. It was fun to read. It kept me in the Christmas spirit. It helped me keep the Christmas season in the right perspective. It made me think of Christmases past. As the title suggests, this book is pure joy!

Being orginally from the Baltimore Md. area and having lived during those times referred to I really enjoyed the book. At lot of the articles I was familiar with but did not have the in depth knowledge of them. I especially enjoyed the chapters on Mary Avara, who I knew personally,loved and admired, and " Soft Shoes" a legend in his own time along with Harry Agro and Tom Ward. Hopefully the author will do another perhaps on the polictical lives of the aforemented with more insight on some of the great political characters of the area and times.Keep up the good work.

I found this book very interesting, since I lived in Maryland for some time. I particulary enjoyed the articles on the politicians, such as: Gov. William Donald Schafer, Rep. Helen Bentely, Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., State Senator Harry "Soft Shoes" McGuirk, and former Rep. Parren J. Mitchell, one of the great heroes of the African-American community.

For a time, I also lived in the Middle East. I found Mr. Hughes' article on the "Agony of Lebanon" very insightful and ringing with the truth. And, although, I am not of the Catholic faith, his defense of Pope Pius XII from his Christian-bashing critics was very compelling for me. Also, appreciated the accurate account of the U.S.S. Liberty, which the U.S. government is covering up.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this book to anyone, expecially those of you that have lived in Maryland. This author has a great love of this state and first hand experience with many of the great people that have made Maryland what it is today.
Carolyn Johnson
Florida

In addition to the variety of interesting issues the book covers, I particularly appreciated the comments on the agony of Lebanon as a result of Israel's ferocious and devastating invasion of this peaceful and beautiful country in 1982, which resulted in the killing of more than 18000 people in less than 6 months, most of them civilians.

There is also a brave and well founded indictment of the US Government cover up of Israel's deliberate attack against the SS Liberty which caused so many innocent American victims many of whom or their surviving relatives are still crying for justice 35 years after what happened to them or to their dear ones.

Howard Hughes died when I was only 12 so I knew next to nothing about him prior to the "recluse" years and I found this book extremely interesting. History has dealt somewhat harshly with HH but this book managed to shed some sympathetic light on the mysteries surrounding him. His strange relationship with his mother, his drive to control and collect, his grand scale successes and equally grand failures touched a chord with me. How sad to have so much but ultimately be so unfulfilled and lonely. Whether you find him an eccentric genius or a man tortured by mental illness, you must agree he left behind a significant legacy.

The only minor complaint I have with this book is chronologically it was occasionally hard to follow since a chapter regarding business deals would then be followed by a chapter on personal affairs that were conducted during the same period of time. It was easy to get confused regarding timeframes.

We can call him a womanizer, low life, skirt chaser or many other names. The fact remains the person was a genius and has opened many doors for the traveler of today. Hughes was a very self centered individual and had feeling only for his self gratification. I found this book difficult to put down, even though I could not like the main character.

Hughes was a man who accomplished most of what he did before my time, so I've only remembered him as a billionaire, eccentric, and recluse, before reading this book. During his time he was a go-getter who tried many adventurous things professionally and both personally and privately.

This book brings to light the details of of the younger Hughes' extraordinary personal life, which I found more interesting than the business side of it. He spent notable time in Southern California and Los Angeles. Many tales bring Old Hollywood and Los Angeles to light. His involvement in the movie business producing films, influenced in part, as an avenue to get to the ladies of the screen. Details of his relationships with the stars of the day are illuminated. Taking dates to the mounted cross atop one of the Hollywood Hills, overlooking the flatlands and lights of LA. He even crashed a plane into 3 houses in Beverly Hills.

His 3rd plane crash, occurred while performing a flying stunt during the shooting of a movie (the stunt pilots refused to do the stunt because they considered it too dangerous). As a result of that crash he was in the hospital with critical life-threatening injuries. This was when HH was introduced to Codeine for the severe pain, something he would become addicted to for most of the rest of his life.

The book later progresses in the latter years of Hughes. Today, it is apparent to contemporary psychologists that Hughes was likely suffering from a form of the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Nowadays, OCD is more understood and highly treatable with medication. In HH's time, it was not thought of in biological and physiological terms.

Hughes' first break came when he entered a screening room and stayed in it for 5 full months. He didn't bathe, watched the same movies 30 times over, and survived on a diet of candy bars. Hughes consciously and voluntarily turned over his business affairs to competent managers. These were employees, and were people who made prudent decisions and looked out for HH's best interests. During this time, other sharks started to gather. Such is the case when large amounts of money is involved. Bill Gay, one of Howard's chauffeur, made crafty and cunning political moves to ascend over the years. He got Howard's ear, and became more influential on him. Gay eventually took the reigns of control over Huges' wealth. He then deftly purged the other business managers who served Hughes with dedication and integrity. The former chauffeur and his fellow Mormon henchman took over Hughes and his affairs, isolated him, and squeezed out those who cared for Hughes and wanted the best for him.

It's sad, for during the latter decades of Hughes life it seemed that no one was really there for him, if he had wanted anyone to to be there.

In death, over one thousand--yes, 1000--people came out of the woodwork to lay claim to Howard Hughes wealth after his passing.

To this day, We're still not sure if his death was natural, self-induced, or the intentional doings of others....

Let's face it, kids can be cruel. Marvin Redpost goes to 3rd grade where kids are kids and adults sometimes don't investigate the situation completely.

While playing ball, Marvin is accused of picking his nose by the class bully. Like most bullies, he is just looking for something to taunt Marvin with and nose picking happens to be it. Of course, Marvin wasn't, and of course, it upsets him. He tries to stand up for himself, but everyone is so caught up in how funny-gross it is that no one is listening. The trouble starts with neither Marvito the wound. Very soon, Martin himself, now friendless, begins believing that he's a disgusting person. That is, until inspiration strikes and he finds out that we're really all very much alike (I'll not spoil the ending for you!!)

Sachar has done a tremendous job of taking the subject of bullying and elementary school obsession and putting it into a very readable form for young children. Bullies will bully and try to turn everyone against that one poor soul they don't care for at any chance they get. What often gives them more power, oddly enough, is the victim denying the bully's accusation; in this case, Marvin vehemently saying that he DOESN'T pick his nose. By Marvin constantly talking about it, he's actually feeding into the situation without knowing it. Better in these cases to ignore it and let it drop.

However, most elementary school children don't realize the power of ignoring mean comments like that or realize that the person doing the bullying will soon get bored with the whole thing if you don't respond. Though this tactic wasn't taken in "Why Pick on Me?", it's still a good suggestion for the "alternative solution" crowd who may use this in schools.

Sachar also treats the subject matter with tact, knowing that nose picking can reduce a class to screams of "eeeeew!" in a heartbeat. He doesn't add unnecessary details about the act, but nor does he shy away from it. Therefore this book is very likely to draw in even reluctant readers because they'll want to see what happens next!! In a world where we could all use a little more respect, Marvin shows us that we're all the same: human.

Marvin Redpost is a young 3rd grader who picks his nose. Everyone makes fun of him. I felt bad for him when they would call him names. My favorite part is when he comes up with the idea that he should write a survey for the class... Sure enough everyone said that they did pick their noses. I think that it is very brave of them to say yes. I like Marvin.

At the beginning of every school year, I read Marvin Redpost:Why Pick on Me? to my new 4th graders. Marvin has to deal with abully in his class who starts a rumor that Marvin is a nose-picker. Everyone believes the rumor is true, even Marvin's 2 best friends. Marvin's family supports him, and he resolves the problem in an interesting way that leaves the bully looking rather foolish. This is a funny book, a sad book, and an insightful book. I read it to my students to open up a discussion about bullying and teasing. There's a big lesson to be found in this little book.