As with many other countries, Lonely Planet has a very good guide for Ireland. Every city, town, and village are covered in this book. No matter where we were, we could always find something on the location. The index is wonderfully useful for that purpose. There are also some suggested itineraries. My only criticism is that LP seems to have missed many of the excellent guesthouses in Ireland. I would think this should be LP's speciality, so found this aspect disappointing. Still, I would not leave home without LP, on this trip or any other for that matter. Even if you don't want to go the budget route --something many associate with LP -- you will gain from the descriptions of places, restaurant and pub recommendations, maps, history, and more. And despite its reputation, LP does list high-end hotels, castles, and the like. I haven't found a single excellent guide for Ireland, so I suggest doing some internet research before leaving and taking LP and at least one other guide (I like the Blue Guide series).

Bon voyage!!

I just returned from a three month bike tour of Ireland. I had no tour guide; I brought only myself, my bicycle, clothes (of course), and four guide books on Ireland. The one book that I used over and over again, leaving all others tucked abandoned within my pack, was the Lonely Planet guide. The LP guide has detailed chapters on anything and everthing in Ireland, including phone numbers, prices, hours, city maps, hostels, B&B's, hotels etc... It also includes history and facts so that when you do arrive in Ireland and see a castle or a dolmen or the Burren, you will know the story behind it. I can't say enough good things about this guide. If you are going to travel in Ireland, this book is a must!

The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want.

I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe and spring 2000 in ireland. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you.

It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all.

The same experience is true for my trip this last spring to Ireland. Lonely Planet Ireland is as good as Western Europe, but more detailed.The Lonely Planet guide book series is by far the best set of books I have found for travel. Let's Go, Rough Guide, Frommer's, etc do not live up to these books. LP offers a great blend of interesting facts (history, etc) with the travel information that we all really want.

I am a student who spent the summer of 1999 traveling through Europe - poor, but free. I did read a number of other books before and durring the trip, and will always buy Lonely Planet as they have impressed me as being the best, hands down. If you want to go on a drunken tour, buy Let's Go and end up in the same run down American hostels and American bars as the rest of the American students, but take my word, you will have enough ability to do that with LP, but you will not be forced to either. LP will help you to actually experience the culture, and take in a more European version of Europe than Let's Go, and still give you the opportunity to party like a rock star when you want - its up to you.

It is the most complete and most versitile book I have found. It will cater to budget and intermediate travelers of all ages and groups. I will buy the same series even when I can afford nice resturants and hotels, because LP tells it all.

This was my first time reading a Heather Graham book and I really enjoyed this one! This book is a great mystery that keeps you guessing until the very last pages, but also a wonderful, steamy romance book! I liked the idea of two high school sweathearts reuniting after years apart. I think it reminds us all of our first love or the huge crush you had on someone in high school and you always wondered "what if". All in all, this was a really fun read, the kind of book you pass along to all your friends. I look forward to spending many more late nights reading Heather Graham!

A mystery you just can't figure out! Everybody looks guilty. I kept refering back in the book thinking, well, this one's here and this one's there. They couldn't have done it. But, as I soon learned, you can convict them all and you can clear them all. You just have to get to the end, the very end, to find out. My husband says, one more of Heather Graham's books and I'm fired!!

Heather did a great job. I thought I knew who the killer was; when suddenly someone would do or say something and I'd have to rethink my logic. The book kept me on my toes and wide awake until 2am. First time to read a book by this author, but not my last.

I love Eileen Gouge's style and characters. In my opinion, and I have read them all, this is the best book Eileen has published. I couldn't put it down. It was not entirely predictable. There were interesting twists and turns, tangled families, certainly more mystery and excitement than usual. I could relate to the people; they were "real." I loved this book. I recommend it to anyone who loves Eileen's style, and to anyone who likes a mystery that is not gory or violent, spiced with love and romance. This is a five for sure. Eileen this is sure to be your best selling work.

Just finished reading this great book, and want to reccommend it to everyone. Eileen Goudge has the ability to involve all her readers in her interesting plots and unique characters. Caring about what happens to each person, and hoping that things will work out well, you will find yourself rapidly turning pages well into the night. Love, family relationships and family quarrels, as well as long-ago deaths of significantly important townspeople of Burns Lake will involve the reader from the very beginning.All the "townies", from the youngest Emma to the oldest Doris, become people you want to know. Even the villians are worthy! Read and enjoy this and all of Goudge's books- they are among the best

It amazes me how 10 people can read the same book and either love it or hate it. This is the first book by Goudge that I have read; I went into it cold and did not read the reviews until I finished it. Not being an avid reader of romance books, it was a surprise to see that it was combined with my favorite genre: mystery-thriller. You can get the details from other reviewers if that is what you are looking for but I say, read it and judge it for yourself. True, it may sound like a soap opera but aren't our lives the basis for those soaps?Every body has to make decisions that ultimately affect the lives of others and your decisions will have great impact that you never in your life could imagine. In this story, decisons made 4 generations ago lead to a terror-riden climax with a beautiful ending. See if you can identify with the different characters in your own family's generations. I did and saw a lot of "what if"s as we all do. Enjoy the book just to get away from all the stress and obscentities of today's pressures.At least you can put the book down but you can't put your own life on hold!!

Once again, I felt that the true Jonathan Kellerman, mystery writer extra-ordinaire, was somehow absent as this book progressed. The whole plot revolved around a topic that I feel could have been used as a ho-hum side-story in a different text. The idea of "Good Twin vs. Bad Twin" didn't strike me as a well-developed plot here, although the book was, all-in-all, a very quick and interesting read.

This mystery is easy to get into, but hard to get out of! Kellerman keeps digging this mystery hole... you feel that you'll never find the ending with all the twists and turns and new information that Alex uncovers! Great book... completely engrossing! Another winner in Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels! This mystery gets a bit strange in parts (reminds me of Twin Peaks)... but it doesn't get too strange! (you will no doubt read the book with great haste!) As always, I was 'chomping at the bit' to discover how it resolves!

This is another very strong entry in his Delaware series. Reading them in order, i now find myself liking this book and Over the Edge, my previous favourite, equally. The plot is interesting and complex (sometimes a bit too complex...) and In my opinion this is one of the best books written about conflicting twins that i have ever come across. Alex Delaware is a consumate professional and a likeable protagonist, but I fear that if i were to read this entire series over a relatively short space of time, i would get rather tired of him. So i shant...i shall space the reading over these books out over time.

The characters are well drawn and realistic, and the plot is developed well and is very unpredictable. As well as the main mystery of events, there is another, equally engaging mystery within this book. And that is the character of Sharon Ransom. Why she is how she is, who she really is, why she acts as she does and who helped cause it, is as interesting as the main plot.

However, sometimes Kellerman's characters seem rather run of the mill, as does his writing style. Even though it is incredibly readable, it lacks anything really indivudal about it, and hsi tone sometimes seems far too detached. You never feel quite as emotionally connected to his characters as you would, say, in a book by James Lee Burke or Michael Connelly. But still, this is a good mystery, with a great sting in its tail.

This is one of Diane Mott Davidson's series of culinary mysteries with Goldy the caterer. This one deals with the murder of the valedictorian of the prep school. Goldy discovers him when she is packing up the catering van after a college information night/event. The story focus is on the pressure of getting into the "right" college. The pressure is on the students, their parents and the administrators and teachers. The question is, who will sink to any level to achieve what they believe they deserve. While the storyline was a bit stark for me, the recipes were excellent. The Chinese Beef stir fry, the Biscotti, Red n Whites, and the Galaxy Doughnuts were just a few of the excellent choices. Some of her other books that I really enjoyed were, Main Corpse and Prime Cut, and then Tough Cookie.

I am more of a sci-fi/fantasy fan but I do enjoy a good mystery now and again. I spotted this one in the grocery store and decided to give it a try.

This book, while not great literature....is a fun and entertaining book which doesnt take itself too seriously. Goldy Bear is a caterer who, as in "murder she wrote" seems to have a penchant for getting into trouble. She is also the single mom of a teenaged boy and a survivor of domestic abuse.

In this book, while catering a party at her son's prep school,( her x hubby pays for this extravegance, though he doesnt pay his child support) she finds the body of the class valedictorian. Being the caterer for most of the school's functions, and many of the students parents, she finds herself quickly embroiled in a mystery which seems to be hitting a bit closer to home than she would like.

The book is peppered throughout with actual recipes, punctuating her catering functions. Personally I think it is really neat to have the recipes, and while not being a chef, it has actually gotten me interested in cooking :-)

I am off to buy the rest of her books and next time I am going to save them to pamper myself with. I am going to look up one of the recipes and bake it before i sit down to read and decadently read and munch lol.
what a great way to spend some quality mommy time. (Treat yourself, why not?)

Goldy finds herself in a war in Arch's school. The struggle between parents is over whose senior is the smartest, the most talented and the most well rounded. Many of Goldy's catering assignments in this book end in disaster! Goldy never knows what she is going to find this time around. Will it be a fight, will she be scolded or will there be a dead body?

In "The Cereal Murders" Diane Mott Davidson serves up a hearty meal of murder, jealousy, petty thievery, angst and pranks (which end up getting a few people hurt)! You will be entertained with the activity of many twists and turns in this mystery. As always, Goldy herself is sassy and stubborn.

There are treats involved. A side dish consists of some romance and a marriage proposal that is repeated again and again. How sweet!

D. M. Davidson provides us with 11 very delicious looking recipes in this book. Enjoy!

Bringing forth information on the benefits of glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin sulfate and the negative aspects of NSAIDs is probably the greatest strength of this book. The use of the word "cure" in the title is irresponsible, however, and an obvious ploy by either the authors or the publisher to pump up sales. It's a shame since it's actually one of the better books on dealing with osteoarthritis. The authors are rather vague about "improving biomechanics" and in their mentioning of professionals who can improve biomechanics, they totally neglect physical therapists, the professionals who have some of the best training in biomechanics. They recommend "osteopathic manual therapists" which actually don't exist. There are osteopaths who perform manipulative therapy and there are orthopaedic manual therapists who are physical therapists with specialty training but no such thing as "osteopathic manual therapists". Neuromuscular therapists have such minimal formal academic training that to include them in this category constitutes professional irresponsibility. It's also interesting that a more natural "cure" is proposed for arthritis but the treatment for depression is still the same old ineffectual regimen. It's interesting that one of the authors has written about DLPA but nothing about a more natural biochemical or holistic approach to depression is included such as has been written about by James Gordon, MD. Contrary to the author's opinion, about 5% of the rheumatoid arthritis population responds very positively to a night shade free diet. Also, contrary to his discussion of "fad diets", there is compelling research for the use of therapeutic fasting followed by implementation of a healthy vegetarian diet. Some of this research has been done at Karolinska Institute, THE finest research institution in the world in the area of physiology. The exercise portion of the book is also surprisingly deficient and does not focus adequately on the many crucial aspects of movement quality nor even on non-traditional forms of exercise such as Tai Chi (which has been found by research to have combined physiological and psychological benefits exceeding those of most, if not all other forms of exercise, especially for an elderly, sedentary, or selectively handicapped population). He also doesn't focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the various forms of glucosamine and chondroitin (i.e. sodium content, absorption rates, etc.) nor on "cycling" your intake nor on cheaper alternatives. It's also interesting that the forward is written by a surgeon who has only been using these substances for 2 years - where's he been!! There are numerous other minor flaws and irritations in this book but overall, the book is a good starting place for someone with osteoarthritis (especially the average uninformed layperson) and a better book than most of the others out there on the same subject. However, it is lacking in the thoroughness, detail, and precision to become a truly valuable classic on the subject. It'll succeed in the way its publisher intended, however, by generating large sales. It's also prompted me to start writing my own book on the subject focusing on the deficiencies of this one. bgmpt@up.net

I found this book an excellent presentation on glucosamine, chondroitin, the various surgical options, advice about exercise and diet (the importance of weight loss, etc). For me it seems to be working as advertised. I have osteoarthritus of the hip and knee and am seeing noticeable improvements. I have a friend that is a physical therapist and she has been using glucosamine/chondroitin and has noticed significant improvements in the use of her ankle and her ability to walk. Certainly glucosamine/chondroitin are not replacements for everthing as diet/weight loss are also extremely important. I recommend this book highly.

After reading this book by Dr. Theodosakis, I recommended it tomy grandmother and 35 year-old girlfriend, both of whom haveosteoarthritis. Not only has it lessened grandma's pain, but also her depression has largely lifted. My friend, who is a fellow registered nurse, was thrilled that she was able to stop taking acetaminophen following her second month of taking glucosamine and chondroitin. She believes the dietary changes she made after reading the book were also helpful toward making her body more supple, like a slinky. I was indeed surprised to find some negative comments written by readers. Perhaps they were victims of the many fraudulent products our there with insufficient quantities of glucosamine and chondroitin in them. I found Dr. Theo's website to be very helpful in learning more about specific good and bad products. I will continue to recommend this book to anyone and everyone who tells me that they suffer from arthritis. There is hope! END

I like books that make me laugh out loud, though they're way too few and far between. This one had me laughing throughout, and for that reason alone it is well worth the read. And no, I don't think you'd have to be a guy to enjoy this one.

Keillor's writing, besides being very funny, is very literate and clever. Many of the stories come across in much the same way his radio skits and monologues do. But - I wouldn't say that he's quite mastered the written short story genre just yet. Quite a few of the stories have endings that read like Keillor just decided that the story had gone on long enough, so let's see if we can wrap it up in the next 20 words or so. They kind of leave you hanging.

However, stylistic demerits aside, this is one very funny book!

Garrison Keillor is an excellent storyteller. I have loved my visits to Lake Wobegon, both through his books and his radio broadcast.

"The Book of Guys" is the kind of funny, well-crafted storytelling you would expect from Keillor. However, he is not at his best here.

These short stories tend to explore some areas that Keillor does not seem to be as comfortable in. They seem, at times, to be an exercise in which G.K. stretched his own limitations, experimenting with different types of characters and situations.

It's a very good book -- very funny, and very well-written. But if you haven't read Keiller before, I would recommend "Lake Wobegon Days" first.

Yet, even Keillor at his absolute worst (and "Book of Guys" is certainly not this!) would probably be worth reading. The man is simply a great storyteller!

Fans of Garrison Keillor's radio shows and his Lake Woebegon stories will appreciate this dark departure from the all-smiles characters he usually talks about. The lonesome cowboy who can't decide whether to rope cattle or to collect china -- or -- when Dionysius the wine god turns 50. The stories are more 'way involved than I expected, and I'm thinking of buying several copies for Xmas gifts. If you've ever wondered about your relationship and whether anyone else feels like 'guys can't win,' this spells it all out. Gawd, it's funny!

Being an avid Heather Graham fan and a passionate American Civil War historian, I found 'Rebel' slightly disappointing. The opening definitely displays the typical Heather Graham style of writing, the character reflecting past occurrences leading up to the present. I find it difficult to accept that the two characters, Ian and Alaina, could have fallen in love due to the fact that they were seldom together. Due to Ian's commission with the Union and Alaina's devotion to the Confederacy, the two clashed each time they were together but were cold and distant even during their most intimate moments. But Ian's strong and protective character appealed to me; while I found it difficult to relate or share the passion that Alaina felt for her cause and actions. But she did love Ian and had enough sense to fear being heartbroken. And she was brave, stupid at times, but brave all the same. 'Rebel' does not include the intrique, the passion, nor the mystery that the more recent contribution to the saga contains. 'Surrender', the more recent of the saga, is far more exiciting! Rebel rates in my opinion a disappointing 3 1/2 stars but one worth once starting, eventually finishing.

Ian McKenzie arrives home for a short visit from fighting on the Union side during the Civil War. At the beginning of his visit with his family he finds himself in a compromising position with a friend of the family's daughter, Alaina McMann, and to save her reputation and embarrassment to the 2 families he carries her off to be married. There is definitely attraction there and could grow to be a strong love but their strong opposing views of the war get in the way. Ian goes off to serve the Union side while Alaina begins participating in a smuggling ring for the Confederacy- and they clash each time they come together. Ian is handsome, strong and protective of Alaina while serving his devotion to the Union cause. He meets his match when he discovers that the Confederate spy he is working at capturing is non-only his own Alaina (this is revealed to the reader at the beginning of the book). The reader learns how Ian gets Alaina out of such a mess. Is their new love strong enough to survive such a test? And will Ian beable to save Alaina from the rope? They hang spies, you know! I enjoyed it. Great read!

I had read COME THE MORNING, under her penname of Shannon Drake, and thought it trite and empty. but REBEL was different. vibrant and full of electricity between the two heroes, it drew my attention and warmed my heart.

Alaina McMann, the vivacious, fiercely Southern daughter of a botantist in Civil War era Florida, is caught in a compromising situation with Ian McKenzie, a union sympathizer. They wed hastily and the marriage progressed smoothly ewnough from there, Alaina the reluctant young bride and ian the determined husband. But what could be a glorius union of hearts is threatened by their strong, opposing views. ian goes to fight for the Union, and Alaina begins participating in a covert smuggling ring for the Confederacy under the name of Mocassin. but when ian finds out, can he hang his wife, the spy? We all yearn for the answer! Read this wonderful romance and find out. The characters are believable (although ian is definitely one of the randiest heros I've encountered) and the circumstances are understandable, too. Enjoy!

Louise Erdrich is a fine, accomplished writer. Somehow, it seemed to me that this novel exhibited signs of subject exhaustion. I believe that _Love Medicine_ is proof that Erdrich should be held in high regard as a writer, as the talent is truly there. That work also served as a template for some of her later works, a fact which I am a bit disappointed by since I feel that none of them have achieved the same level of poetic impact. _Tales of Burning Love_ is well written, but I feel that the story drags in places, and can be tedious to sit through; it helped that I read the majority of it while riding the bus. I was sorry to see her using the same characters again. They are strong, worthy, and well-developed characters, but in the context of this particular story they seemed more contrived.

Louise Erdrich is a masterful novelist, capable of writing spellbinding prose and developing complex, wonderfully human characters. In *Tales of Burning Love*, all of these talents are apparent, and the novel is, if nothing else, a "good read." If some of her past works have tended toward a plodding pace and an ethereal kind of tone, this one is different in that it finds Ehrlich creating a veritable snowstorm of action and events. In fact, there are so many bizarre twists and turns, so many eerie occurrences laden with ironies and sly twists of fate that one suspects that Erdrich may here be trying to broaden her audience so as to make her work more commercially successful. It was this shift toward the tawdry, the sensational, and the lowest common denominator in terms of target audience that I found myself resenting by the end of the book.

The male protagonist, Jack Mauser, has few or no redeeming qualities, as far as I can discern. He's cruel, moody, unstable, and neither terribly bright nor sensitive. Yet one of the principal premises of the book is that this man is veritably irresistible to a variety of women, four of whom he marries. Perhaps this makes the book a "woman's book," inasmuch as some female readers might find some point of identity with these women in the way that they just can't help loving this jerk, despite their better judgment. But I found the whole swirl of affections and passions surrounding Jack Mauser annoying and unconvincing.

Even at her worst, Louise Erdrich is a terrific novelist, and this novel is well worth reading simply for the masterful way that Erdrich tells a story, makes transitions, and creates moods and visions. But this is not her best novel.

I read this my first Erdrich novel after a writer whose opinion I respect recommended her. This is the tale of Jack Mauser and his many wives-- maybe five altogether. The plot has as many twists and turns as a blizzard in North Dakota where much of the action occurs. Watch for what Ms. Erdrich does with the title near the end of the book. She's always ahead of us.

At times I thought that Jack isn't worth all the attention he gets from his women. He is after all a drunk, a womanizer and a cheater in business, truly one of the types that George and Tammy sang about. But his women often get the upper hand, sometimes quite literally. One of them in order to show Jack that "it hurts to be a girl," ties him up and plucks out most of his facial hair in what has to be one of the funniest scenes I've read in a long time.

The story, sometimes outlandish, probably wouldn't have worked with someone with less talent. But these characters with all their warts breathe. I never doubted for a moment their humanity. Erdrich is wonderful at describing a character with few words -- or with many if the occasion calls for it.

Finally, don't you have to love a writer who says that "no blue is ordinary. Blue is the stuff of the soul"?

I won't comment about the entire book because Ms. Klausner did a good job of it. What bothered were inconsistencies in the book. Passages that were obviosuly placed at the wrong place in the book. Some ideas were began but never fully developed and further pursued. At certain points I had to stop and go back and re-read. It is never explained why Melari never met Philip the night she was supposed to do so. Also, Melari never told Robert that Philip had come by while he was away from home. Parts of this were not very clear, although I did enjoy the story. It was not one of those "I hate you" sort of stories between hero and heroine which I absolutely despise. The lead chearacters have disagreements but this "hate" stuff turns me off. This book doesn't.

The ghost was a nice touch to this beautiful romance novel. The dialogue is very detailed. I felt like I really got to know the heroine. And, as another reviewer said, the descriptions of the land are enchanting. While the plot may have a few illogical turns, the book was a good read and fun. I recommend it. I cried at the end for the beauty of the story (and not many books can do this to me). My only complaint, a small one, is that I wish the love scenes, although fairly good, had the same detailed descriptions -- like Stephanie Laurens does. I plan to read all of Ms. Coffman's books. :)

Once again this author captures me with her delightful characters. One thing I like about Elaine Coffman's books is that she isn't afraid to tackle a big story with lots of characters. Her books don't follow the typical "I love you, I hate you" storyline. Her characters grow. The women are always strong but they are also believable. I can't imagine anyone putting this book down before they finish it. Like another reviewer said, "this book made me cry at the end and not many books can do that".