You will find out about Nazism, but the book is about courage. FULL of documents...chilling.

By the time I got to page three, I knew I would be up all night, every night, till I read this book to the end. An arresting plot twists around characters so real you fight to catch your breath with them on a rollercoaster ride of conspiracy, betrayal, and murder. These are real people with ideals, hopes, nightmares, and regrets which are tried by fire in the crucible that is White Flame. No one, not even the reader, is left unchanged by the end. Jim Grady's insider knowledge of Washington politics lends a chilling reality to it all. This story is so plausible, you almost expect to read about it in your morning paper. I won't give away any of the plot; you must experience that for yourself. If you like John Grisham, Tom Clancy, or any other writers in the genre, you'll LOVE White Flame. I read one of Grady's previous books, Thunder, when it was first released. If that was thunder, this is lightning!

When the Olympic torch was making its way around the Olympic Stadium in Salt Lake City this month it was not surprising that at one point Bonnie Blair was one of the former Olympians to carry the torch. After all, Blair is the winningest U.S. athlete in Winter Olympic history and the winner of more gold medals than any other female U.S. Olympian as a speed skater. "A Winning Edge" was written by Blair for children, with whom she shares the sacrifices and victories that made her famous and her belief that the best motivation for speed skating or any other endeavor is doing it for love.

"A Winning Edge" tells the story of the Blair family, where Bonnie was the youngest of six kids. In fact, her father dropped off her mom at the hospital for Bonnie's birth and then took the rest of the family to a skating race. The book is filled with pictures from the Blair family album and illustrations by Doug Keith depicting Bonnie's key moments in Bonnie's life and skating career. Bonnie tells about how she joined her racing family on the ice, how she developed her training regimen, and how the police department in her hometown of Champaign, Illinois helped raise money for her to train in Europe. The results were Bonnie's success at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, the 1988 games in Calgary, the Albertville games in 1992, and the Lillehammer games in 1994. Bonnie provides not only memories about her races, but those of her longtime friend Dan Jansen.

This book is like reading a family photo album or scrapbook with Bonnie pointing out to you what everything means and how it was important in her life. Young readers dreaming of being an athlete will be inspired by her emphasis on the four key words that made Bonnie's own dreams come true: dedication, balance, risk and love. Older readers will enjoy finding out more about the young woman with the great smile we watched win all those gold medals on the ice all over the world.

In The Wisconsin Traveler's Companion, author and Wisconsin native Jerry Apps brings to life and carefully explains the sights of rural Wisconsin: its landscape, farmsteads, crops, rural buildings, roadside animals, birds and flowers, planting and harvesting cycles, and more. Readers will learn the differences between Jersey and Brown Swiss diary cattle, Finnish and Swedish style barns, and wild flowers from the columbine to the geranium. Whether day tripping, vacationing, or simply traveling the state, The Wisconsin Traveler's Companion is an invaluable resource enhanced throughout with beautiful illustrations by Julie Sutter-Blair.

This reprint of the 1970 classic provides a very accessible introduction into the intellectual background and writings of the venerable Bede. It is based on the written history of Bede and his times and mentions but does not rely on archealogical evidence to support its description of this early flowering of enlightenment in a dark time.

The text has held up well in the past 30 years and it provides great insight into the history of the English as Bede knew it, Bede's intellectual environment in which he wrote his works on various topics, and, of course, on the history of the church in England.

It reads as a tour guide book to the physical and mental territory in which Bede lived and wrote. Not too hagiographic - but it does assume at least a passing familiarity with Bede's more famous works.

This is the book for singers, speakers, teachers and anyone else who uses his/her voice. The explanations of the vocal mechanism and its proper use are clear and concise. Diagrams and exercises steer the reader toward successful use of their voice. The writing is never stuffy and prompts the reader to become more conscious of their vocal production.

Easing tension and relieving symptoms of vocal polyps are by-products of the McClosky method. Having studied for several years with Barbara McClosky, I can attest to the endurance of a voice using the McClosky method. The relaxation of the muscles and related structures preserves them in situations where the voice is used for extended periods.

Students of the McClosky method include John F. Kennedy, on his campaign tour, and Dr. An Wang of Wang Laboratories after throat surgery. They, along with legions of other students, can attest to the validity and superiority of this method. I could not recommend it more highly! Truly EXCELLENT!

Yuletide Hearth: Christmas In An 1806 Pennsylvania Farmhouse by writer and photographer Katharine Z. Okie is warm, gentle book illustrated with her full-color photographs, about showcasing the celebration of Christmas as it was practiced in a simple country farmhouse nearly 200 years ago. Christmas carols and recreations of how people celebrated this joyous holiday make Yuletide Hearth a seasonal remembrance of love and an American heritage history to be treasured.

Tarkovksy's films are not for everyone. He is the Russian equivalent of Kubrick or Kurasawa or Welles, and he is as different from them as they are from each other. If you're expecting a conventional structure and pacing, you'll be dissapointed. Rublev requires patience.

Most people consider the film long and slow. The trick is to stop waiting for the narrative to develop and just experience the sequences as self-contained ideas. After a couple of hours you'll see it working up to something you hadn't thought possible at first. And by the two-hundred minute mark, it evolves into a complete emotional and cinematic experience.

I'm serious. It's amazing. *This* is Tarkovsky's gift.

By his own admission he was always more fascinated with the "poetry" of images than their immediate narrative value. As a result his films deliver an experience which is unique to every viewer. This is no mean feat; today directors strive to make the global audience feel "happy" or "sad" according to a pre-defined and market-oriented narrative structure. It's a cheap manipulation (like "Titanic" and the damn theme music).

Tarkovksy doesn't go there at all. He shows you something and lets you feel whatever you want. This isn't a cheap cop-out from an inept director, it's *your* experience. And a dangerous approach in a world where audiences expect to be cued when and how to react. Have you ever noticed how upset people get when left to their own emotional devices?

Tarkovsky has mastered the long-take, mise-en-scene, and the wide-screen (2.35) frame, and the Critereon transfer does it's best to present this. There are technical problems with the transfer, but having seen Rublev on a pan-and-scan VHS, the extra bucks are still worth it. And the additional resolution of DVD gives the image more texture and detail.

Side Note:

One of the tragedies (now being slowly rectified thanks to DVD) of modern cinema is the pan-and-scan VHS. Many lesser works can survive it ("Titanic" again!), but it has ruined almost every one of Tarkovsky's films. He composes very deliberate frames, balanced in a way that only wide-screen can accomodate ("The Sacrifice" was the exception, shot 1.66 I believe). The VHS transfers are claustrophobic and uncomfortable (showing only 60% of the image), but in their true aspect ratio his shots are spacious and carefully composed.

The accompanying materials (intervews and commentary) are interesting, but dryly presented by academics. A shame, since this is the type of film that Martin Scorcese could do a fantastic commentary for.

And be warned, there are moments of horrific violence and cruelty.

Since the Reagan administration came to power, the west has lost track of Eastern European cinema. It had (has) a style and direction as unique as the Japanese or British. Tarkovsky is one of it's gems, and no one who considers themselves a conoseur of film can go without a Tarkorvsky viewing.

My personal favourites are "Stalker", "My Name Is Ivan", and "The Sacrifice", and of course "Solaris" -- unfortunately the only one I've seen in it's Wide Aspect is "Sacrifice". But Tarkovsky is one of the greatest directors in history, and "Andrei Rublev" is still an amazing film.

Bye the way,

If you're not quite ready for the plunge into Tarkovsky, try the documentary "Andrei Tarkovsky Directs", which is an action packed account of the making of "The Sacrifice".

I believe Andrei Rublev will be seen as one of the greatest films of all time, if it is not already. It is not easy to sit through its 3hrs 25mins length, because it follows no sequential plot -- a-la-Hollywood blockbuster! It passes rather through several apparently unlinked episodes in Rublev's journey that ultimately gel both for us and him as he finds his proper role in life -- to uplift through painting of churches and icons.
From the outset there is a picture of medieval life in Russia -- though it could have been true of many European countries at that time (1400-1412) -- that is so realistic, so convincing and so shocking that one's grasp of that era is immediate and forever. One sees the stabilizing role then of religion, the horror of unchecked oppression, the miserable condition of the peasant, and also the humanity that emerges from total degradation and hopelesness. I couldn't help thinking how lucky we are today and how we really ought to better value and defend the good institutions and the many contributors to our modern societies. Much of what we see in Andrei Rublev is surely not unfamiliar to what people in many Third World countries have to bear in our own era.
Andrei Rublev is clearly a film so vast in its life view and so uncommercially put together that Hollywood could not conceive of it were it not already in existence. It would be pointless and immoral to copy such a real work of art. The realism of the characters, the story on every face, the fine acting that is beyond acting are not part of Hollywood's cinematic tool box. Directing this film must have been both a self-destructive and also uplifting experience on a par with Andrei Rublev's own artistic burdens. And I can only describe the exceptional camera work by saying that if the film were stopped at any moment, each image would be a masterpiece of still photography. The lighting, the contrast, the shapes and structures leave one breathless.
Need I add that I approve of this film and am grateful to Tarkosvky for putting it together under such unlikely Soviet circumstances. I first saw it 30 years ago and now again just last Friday. It has lost nothing of its impact and value to us all.

This movie has everything. The dialogue is intelligent, philosophical and even funny at times. The structure of the narrative is very interesting and original. Tarkvosky uses the camera to create beautiful shot compositions and ingenious camera movements.

Also this film presents a very interesting method of presenting a "biography". The viewer is never really shown any of the title character's art until the very end of the film. The viewer is told 'how' Andrei Rublev became a historically significant icon painter rather than presenting his life 'after' his success began.

If you don't enjoy this film you have no appreciation for cinema. That's sounds dramatic but it's true. Within the first half an hour this film hypnotizes you and every few minutes Tarkovsky does something that takes your breath away. Whether it's a line of clever dialogue or his beautiful photography of nature something will jump out at you.

If any film deserves five stars it's this one.

I very much enjoyed this book because it was full of pure fun reading. Some books drag from the very beginning, but this children's story didn't. There were surprises from the start. This book is an all original example of using your imagination. Lewis Carrol was gifted enough to let his imagination go wild, and to write it down on paper. This book inspires me to write any sort of crazy thing that is worth writing. This book is about Alices adventures from the time she saw the peculiar White Rabbit with a waistcoat and watch. She meets thrilling but very arguementive creatures and charectors such as the caterpiller who smokes, the Duchess and her baby which turns into a pig, a Mock Turtle, a gryphon, and the most famous the Chesire cat and the Queen of Hearts. This book is a bit different than the Disney movie. There are other charecters in the book that are not mentioned in the animated movie. and I think the book is more bizarre.

I, like almost every other kid I know, grew up with the Disney movie. Although a rather accurate depiction of Wonderland, it cannot compare to the book (plus it muddled things together, mixing Alice in Wonderland with things originally in Through the Looking Glass). I never really took much attention to this very strange movie, but one day decided to read the book.

Enter Wonderland.

Absolutely no plot, no direction, no point. Lot's of silly nonsense but in spite of, or maybe because of this, it is very enjoyable. You literally never know what's going to happen next. After reading this book, I realized just how much my own dreams... Unforgettable characters, who can ever forget the cheshire cat or the caterpillar, jokes, interesting supplementary drawings, and puns keep you on your toes.

This is really not for kiddies. Sure they can read it and maybe even enjoy it, but cannot fully appreciate it. A masterpiece, a classic, but more importantly, an enjoyable experience.

Don't forget to read Through the Looking Glass! Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum, the Walrus and the Carpenter, and "Jabberwocky" don't pop up in Alice in Wonderland but Through the Looking Glass. Although "Jabberwocky" didn't appear in the movie, it's still a classic. Finally, an explanation of this ever-puzzling poem! And of course, "I am the Walrus" is one of my favorite all-time songs...

One of those books that you can read over and over again and find something new each time. Definitely an essential. The most fun I have ever had with a book. If you've ever been cursed enough to watch the movie but never read the book, PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! (and for those of you who have read it, READ IT AGAIN! )

When I was assigned Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to read for my Victorian Literature class, I was excited. Even though I had heard Alice's Adventures in Wonderland referred to countless times throughout my youth, I had never read the story or seen the movie. I had never heard of Through the Looking Glass, but while reading, I realized that many people who think they are talking about AAIW are actually referring to TTLG. The two texts seem to be conflated in a way that makes them indistinguishable from each other. It is for this reason that I enjoyed reading this edition of the texts. There is only a page separating the two stories, which allows the reader to easily make the transition between them. This small separation also allows the reader to recognize the undeniable connection between the texts and to understand why many people combine them in their minds.
AAIW is about a young girl named Alice whose boring day with her sister is interrupted when a white rabbit runs by her saying, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice's curiosity is aroused, but surprisingly not to a great degree. This is the first hint to the reader that Alice is not an average child, as she seems to believe that a talking rabbit is quite normal. She does become intrigued, though, when the rabbit produces a clock from his pocket, so she follows it down its hole and enters a world of wonder. I loved the story from this point on. It is filled with such unbelievable creatures and situations, but Carroll's writing style made me want to believe in a world that could be filled with so much magic and splendor. There was never a dull moment in the story, and each page was filled with more excitement. I will offer a warning, though. This story is not for those who like a neatly packaged plotline. It is written in a somewhat discontinuous nature and seems to follow some sort of dream logic where there are no rules. However, I enjoyed the nonsensical pattern. Without it, a dimension of the story would be lost. It offers some insight into the mind of a young, adventurous, fearless girl, and Carroll seems to be challenging his readers to be more like Alice.
The second text in this book, TTLG, is again a story about Alice. In this adventure, Alice travels through a wondrous world on the other side of her looking glass. As in AAIW, Alice again encounters absurd creatures, such as live chess pieces and talking flowers. The land she travels through is an oversized chessboard, which gives this story a more structured plot than AAIW. The chess theme provides Alice with sense of what she must accomplish in the looking- glass world, and it provides the reader with a sense of direction throughout the story. Alice's goal is to become a chess queen, so the reader knows that when she becomes queen, the story will be over. However, just because the story has some structure does not mean that it is not just as wild and marvelous as its predecessor. I enjoyed all of the characters. They seem to have an endless supply of advice that people in the 21st century can still learn from. My favorite example is when the Red Queen says, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" Maybe what Carroll is suggesting is that if we read more nonsensical, unbelievable stories like his, we won't be so afraid to be adventurous and fearless like Alice; so that the next time a white rabbit runs by us, we might just see where it leads us.

I read Jane Eyre for my AP Lit. Class in the 12th grade. I figured, oh just another boring book. WOW! was I completely mistaken. ALthough long, Jane Eyre could have been 1,000 pages and I still would have read every page, with joy. The growth Jane Eyre, the novels main character and Protagonist, goes through throughout the novel is amazing. Born into an unloving world, with rejection and anger at every corner, Jane is forced to keep herself company and therefore, her only friend is herself. Adopted by her uncle, who soon dies, Jane is forced to live with her aunt Reed. I dont want to summarize about all this stuff, I am going to get down to the nitty-gritty. The novel mainly centers around Jane and her love for Rochester. When Jane becomes eighteen, she is hired to govern at the mansion of Rochesters, and to guide and teach his daughter, Adele. The marvelous love story between Jane and Rochester is as intense as anything you will ever read. At times while reading the novel, I would have to put the novel down and take in what I was reading. The passion and heart exhibited by these two characters was at times unbearable. If you want to read a true novel, full of power and emotion, read Jane Eyre- the best novel ever written. :-)

When I first read Jane Eyre, I (and I think many others) was taken in by the odd combination of romance and ominous overtones that makes Jane Eyre such a unique book. Of course, the Victorian-era writing and social commentary also made an impression.

But upon reflection, underneath all of this is a story of people with difficult lives learning to find and accept each other and hopefully coming to peace and happiness despite long odds. Maybe my second reading just comes from a twenty-first century mind reading things into a nineteenth century book that just aren't there. But to me, the book does have the feel of a modern story of hardship as well as a Victorian story of people trying to overcome their backgrounds to find love.

Jane Eyre tells the life story of an orphaned girl sent away to a harsh boarding school by a cruel aunt. Despite the harsh nature of the school, Jane thrived at the school since she is finally out from her aunt's crushing dislike for her. She graduated and took a job as a governess for a girl in the care of a mysterious man who spent much of his time traveling abroad, Mr. Rochester.

At first, the two do not like each other. This is compounded by the fact that Jane thinks she is plain looking and not worthy of his company. But the two develop a peculiar friendship, and there are many signs that their feelings are deeper. But Mr. Rochester is busy courting other ladies at the time. Mr. Rochester also seems to have a secret that he will not divulge to Jane but may have serious consequences for her.

Jane's job as a governess and the friendship that develops make it seem that the book will quickly become a Jane Austen book (which of course, would not have been a bad thing) in which the man and woman from different classes find love with one another, but from the point of the friendship blooming, Jane Eyre takes a few remarkable twists and turns that I had not expected and that make for real page-turning.

But it is as much the quiet desperation of both Jane and Mr. Rochester and their struggle to find each other despite this that makes Jane Eyre a book truly worth reading and treasuring.

I read this book in junior high school and, like so many other girls, fell head over heels in love with Mr. Rochester; after all this time, the book is still a terrific read. The first part is classic Cinderella with an interesting twist. Jane is an orphan who is abused and mistreated by her rich and evil stepmother and her nasty cousins; unlike Cinderella, Jane stands up age age 10 and fights back. She is promptly shunted off to a school for girls from poor families, where she spends the next eight years. Needing a change of scene and environment, she answers an advertisement for a governess and enters the household of Mr. Rochester. Rochester, however, is no Prince Charming; he's 17 or 18 years older than Jane, hard, bitter, cynical, selfish, and, unknown to all but a few, encumbered with a wife who is the prototype of the "mad wife in the attic". Rochester is a romantic at heart, however; he is captivated by Jane's innocence and simplicity. We all know how the book comes out so there is no sense in rehashing the plot; suffice to say that Bronte is a marvelous storyteller. The one problem I have with Jane Eyre is the same that arises in Bronte's other books, and that is her stifling insularity; she seems unable to find value in anything that outside her own narrow, English Protestant frame of reference. However, this is a small caveat in this book. "Jane Eyre" is a classic romantic novel that has entranced generations of readers and looks good for generations to come.