I picked up a copy of this book when I saw it marked down in price. I did not have to read very far before I discovered why the bookstore was unable to unload the large stock they still have on hand. The writing is simply atrocious.

On every page there are non-sequiturs or convoluted sentence that are impossible to understand, even after reading them two or three times. The fault is not in the translation, which seems to be faithful to the original, but in the publisher who clearly made no attempt to edit the text properly.

How ironic that a work about one of the greatest writers of modern literature should be presented in such a careless, clumsy way.

Having heard much about Marcel Proust and his role in 20th century literature, several years ago I began the odyssey of reading a standard English translation of "A la recherche". There is something unsettling about reading Proust for the first time: the extravagantly-long sentences, the concentration on emotion and aesthetic experience, the depth of perception he invests in his characters, and the extended attention he pays to their everyday conversations and experiences. He can frustrate easily, but if you are able to abandon your habits from reading typical American best sellers, and allow Proust's unique approach to literature to grab hold, the rewards are enormous. There are few if any novelists like him, and you wonder as you are enveloped more and more into his world, how much of Proust's real life intruded into the life of his characters.

Jean-Yves Tadie's biography "Marcel Proust - a Life" provides the answer. So much of Proust's personal experience, and that of his acquaintances in French high society, are to be found in "A la recherche" that you cannot fully understand Proust's work without understanding Proust's life. And an everyday biography chronicling where Proust went, what he did, and who he met, would not be sufficient. What is required is a biography which explains how Proust developed his philosophy; why the aesethic experience was so vital, and sometimes so overwhelming for him; what is was that drew him to associate with the French nobility; and most importantly, what role love played in his life. Proust, after all, is the 20th century's pre-eminent chronicler of love's passion, and its destruction through jealousy.

Tadie's biography satisfies these requirements, in a way that perhaps only a French author could do. The biography traces Proust's academic career and the philosophical influences which found their way into his novels. It is well-laced with selections from Proust's letters to his mother and father, as well as to those he loved and to his friends. It provides considerable information, and occasional speculation, on the connection to the people in Proust's life with the characters in his novels. So thoroughly immersed is Tadie in Proust's life and his writings, that his biography has occasional passages which read as if Proust wrote them himself.

It is surprising to learn how well-placed Proust was in the intellectual and artistic developments of turn-of-the-century France. He knew well, or at least met, most of the famous French authors, composers, actors, and critics, and certainly did not spend his time exclusively at high-society functions. Tadie's biography illuminates these links between Proust and such famous figures as Robert de Montesquiou, Gustave Moreau, James Whistler, Camille Saint-Saens, Stephane Mallarme, Daniel Halevy, Sarah Bernhardt, Jean Cocteau, and Gabriel Faure. Yet the biography is also filled with references to hundreds of individuals unfamiliar to American readers. Some reviewers have suggested that this is a weakness; that Tadie's biography is too detailed and Franco-centric to be of value to those who don't speak French or have a solid grounding in the France of Proust's time. But if this is true of Tadie's book, it is certainly true of Proust's novels. Proust's world is so all-encompassing, and his style is so poetic and distinctive, that he creates a desire in the reader to learn French just to savor his creativity in its original power, and to visit France to see first-hand the places which excited his extraordinary descriptions.

Tadie's biography satisfyingly entwines Proust's imaginary world with Proust's real existence. He understands Proust in a way few other biographers have. His biography will be the indispensible source for anyone wishing to travel behind the characters and experiences in "A la recherche", to the life of Proust himself.

This huge biography of Proust might also be termed the background to "A la recherche du temps perdu", as Tadie links Proust and his masterpiece so inextricably. As Tadie puts it of Proust's writing "...nothing that has been experienced is wasted or lost; everything has been disseminated throughout the novel."

This, then, is a biography for those who have read "A la recherche du temps perdu" rather than for those seeking a path to it via a Proust biography. It's an immensely detailed account in which the author attempts to enter Proust's mind, to answer the questions of how Proust interpreted the world around him and then turned his experiences into his fiction.

Proust's homosexuality, his physical frailty, and his social milieu are all documented by Tadie. But Tadie is disarmingly honest in stating the limitations of his research and therefore of this biography - so much of the detail of Proust's life, especially his early formative years is simply not available, and cannot be recontructed with any real confidence.

The early parts of this book are therefore a patchy affair, necessarily so, but it makes for uneven reading. I found that the book got better as it went along, as more material became available to Tadie, and he had more to interpret, more to work upon as it were.

In the end, there emerges a picture of a deeply sensitive man, exasperating at times, yet consistently capable of great kindness and, above all, a great writer.

G Rodgers

I love reading Stella Cameron present day novels, but frankly am disappointed in her historicals. The dialogue is obscure, the characters slightly stilted. Stick with her books such as "Pure Delights" and "Sheer Bliss".

I always enjoy it when the man is the one being forced to marry -- but I didn't particularly care for Cameron's propensity to include explicit scenes between characters who are NOT the hero and heroine. In spite of that, I'd buy it again - which is my personal standard for romance novels.

Cameron's novels tend to be hit and miss for me. This particular one was a miss. I simply couldn't get interested in either the plot or the characters. To be honest, I found the villains a bit more interesting! I'd advise skipping this one and heading for another Cameron instead.

I won't go over the plot as other reviewers already have. As for the rating if possible I would have given this a 2 and a half star because the story line had potential. What bogs the story down and is at times confusing is the dialog. It is so stiff and stilted reading it becomes the same as watching bad actors reading their lines. The book from dialog to plot was too static for me. Ms Cameron never developes a flow.
Also somewhat alarming is the lack of communication between the main protagonists. Sebastion falls back to the 1980s romantic hero where sex is used to work through any problem. Bliss, a woman we are suppose to believe stood up to her domineering parents,but when dealing with Sebation she just melts, or runs and then melts, or says no but doesn't mean it and melts, or......I hope you see a pattern here.
Finally, the apparently savy Sebastion has no clue as to the rather sexually deviant people around him. I found this aspect overdone and rather gratuitous. I think I'll take back that 1/2 star.

"True Bliss" is a modern romance with scalding love scenes and a delicious hero. I fell in love with Sebastian after the first page, as well as the author's straightforward writing style. There are so few well-written modern romances, but I'd have to say that Stella Cameron does them well. The only parts I disliked was the plot and secondary characters, some of which I found were unnecessary and very contrived. The romance part, on the other hand, was absoloutly stunning and flawless. With exception of the plot (which another viewer has said as "disjointed," and I agree), it's a very worthwhile read. Some of the scenes in there will have you fanning yourself for air, and I found that skipping over the irrelevant parts don't really matter in the end anway.

I'd definetly recommend this book to romance readers. Downside: A bad plot. Upside: An outstanding romance. If you don't mind skipping parts, I can promise you'll enjoy most of the book.

I've just recently discovered Stella Cameron and I intend to read some of her historical romances as well. I found this book entertaining with it's main characters having once lost their love, and then regaining it again after so many years. Some of the characters living around Bliss sounded really weird but those kinds of people really do exist. I did enjoy the mystery that was weaved into the story, it added greatly to the story. One of the characters, Polly Crow has her story continued in "Guilty Pleasures" which in turn also came from "Sheer Pleasures". I liked those two better, but I did enjoy this one . If you enjoy Stella Cameron, I recommend you read this one too.

This book I though would give me inside out of the C#. However, half of the book is filled with excerpts of the full source code that is available on the CD. I tried an example code in Chapter 5 that creates a TCPClient, it did not work. The website [website] where the member area is located, doesn't contain any usefull links rather update your profile. While registering, the website gave a SQL Server ODBC error that it could not save the record. However strangely I received confirmation e-mail even after the ODBC error occured. Overall, I am not satisfied with this book. Its just waste of money.

This text is meant as a general overview of the .net framework but it also delves into source code to provide more detailed examples. Unfortunately, this only serves to confuse the reader as many of the examples are not cohesive or clearly explained. There is little benefit in smearing examples over half the textbook if you are not going to take the time to explain them properly. It seems as this was a rush to market product where the examples only serve to make the book thicker. The authors should have made up their minds initially if the text was meant to be an overview or a detailed "how-to" book.

For topics that I am not familiar with I feel that a lot of details are missing. As such I read the new topic's chapter up to 4 times to ultimately feel that I need another source. As such I consider this book to be a good reference book.

On a more positive note the examples that the book gives are abundant and could serve as a starting point for your own development.

Past fans of Julia Cameron's work should not be surprised at the subject of her latest book. An artist who has a gift for articulating the spiritual side of writing and the creative process, Cameron tackles the subject head on in this wonderful volume. She approaches her subject not with irreverence, but with an open mind and a playfulness that characterizes her writing style. The book contains a collection of short essays on a number of subjects whose common thread is exploring and experiencing personal spirituality. Experiential learning is very big with Cameron, and throughout the book she posts various experiments and exercises that challenge and inspire readers to think and do things for themselves. This is a very well-written, fun and insightful book. I recommend it to anyone who is moving on their own journey toward spirituality and seeking to feed their soul.

"God is No Laughting Matter' is Julia Cameron's best book to date. Its tongue-in-cheek title invites readers to consider the humour and paradox in spirituality.

Cameron casts her humorous and intelligent eye over the spiritual search while flexing its muscles and exercising its smiles. This approach is clever because the tone of Cameron's book is a fine example of her premise: that spirituality can be fun without detracting from its deep nature.

The book is structured into short essays on various topics and can be read individually without losing the book's thread. Topics that Cameron explores include the least talked about aspect of spirituality: the possible pitfalls and inflations of the spiritual journey.

Among other topics, Cameron's explores Spirtual Correctness, Parent Bashing, Budda Pests, Spiritual Vampires. Cameron explores these topics without being cynical.

I'm grateful that Cameron did not ignore the less palatable aspects of our spiritually hungry age. By discussing these aspects she recognises that spirituality, like any other aspect of life, is subject to misuse and misinterpretation, and that it's essential to be aware of these. I was buoyed rather than jaded by Cameron's honest exploration.

Cameron has come of age, as a writer, with this book. A gusty, heartfelt book about spirituality, it's definitely worth reading. A book to be enjoyed many times over.

Finally, someone has put into words what I've always felt about God...and until now, felt secretely ashamed. Ms. Cameron reminds us that God can't be all that Very Serious (if you look at the octopus and the "baboons, with their bright red butts.") Her irreverent but sincere take on spirituality is a breath of fresh air that I really needed. So what if we don't pray the exactly correct words and couldn't win an open-book game of bible trivial pursuit? Do we believe what we believe because we truly believe it, or because that's what Sister Very Nasty drilled into us in school? Ms. Cameron urges us to let our religious hair down and stop berating ourselves for not being "spiritual" enough. Her message is clear; one's relationship with his/her creator should be warm, accessible, comforting and a two-way street...rather than one based in fear, guilt and overly-solemn discipline.

This book is the choppiest, most boring and confusing book of Stella Cameron's I have ever read. Sometimes books take a while to catch your attention. I kept waiting and waiting to get excited about something; the plot, the characters etc. To me the most interesting character was the dog and that's not saying much! Too many things in this book lead up to an explanation and you never get one. Example: Aiden asks Olivia if she is 'protected' against pregnancy. Yes, she takes the pill, starts to stammer and ultimately starts crying about it. WHY??? Does she have female problems or what? Can't she have children?What is implied? Later on they talk about having kids but her previous outburst is never explained. A murder in her house. Who did it? One of the Laurel and Hardy characters/"bad guys"? I simply didn't care anymore. The only redeeming thing about this book is the capacity for Olivia's forgiveness, although she is a bit unbelievable at times. Maybe some of the unanswered questions are leading to a sequel? We can only hope not.

The hero in this book, Aiden Flynn, made his first appearance (along with his killer collectible cars) in "Key West". This book is a fast-paced and believable tale of Aiden's rescue of the heroine, chases across country by the villans, a reappearance of the hero and heroine of "Key West". Both Aiden and Olivia are enjoyable characters. The book is not as good as some of Ms. Cameron's earlier contemporaries, but is well worth reading. I buy very few romances in hardback -- Stella Cameron, Jayne Krentz and Linda Howard being the exception. This book is worth every penny!

All I could think of while reading this book was: gosh, I hope nobody knocks on the door! Aiden Flynn, from Key West, is the featured hero in this romantic suspense novel and Olivia FitzDurham the flighty British heroine. The premise of the story is that Aiden accidentally manages to view an untrustworthy colleague's e-mail inbox, and intercepts some troubled messages from Olivia, who thinks she is writing to an online friend, "Sam" for help. The problem? There is no Sam. Convinced that his fellow cop is up to no good and that an innocent woman is about to be dragged into danger, Aiden displays some of his white knight characteristics and tries to rescue her by posing as the fictitious "sam." The two soon find themselves up to their necks in bumbling thieves, murderers and villians.

I loved this story, for the often humorous characters and dialogue, though the plot got a little bit confusing at times. I personally thought it was much better than Key West. For newcomers to Stella, though, I wouldn't suggest her newer books, but any of her older ones, like Pure Delights or True Bliss (I think those are the right titles). Even her historical Rossmara series is wonderful. Happy hunting!

I thought this book was very good. The story plot was great and easy to follow. HOWEVER, why did the author leave out so many important subplots? If this book was meant to be a continuing story line (which I hope Stella Cameron does) then the transition is VERY VACANT. The ending is one of the most unsatisfying ends I have ever read. I was so confused by the ending that I went to the book store to see if I bought a "bad" copy that left out the last chapter.

The sad thing is I really thought the main characters, Reb and Marc, were really fun to read. The subcharacters, Cyrus and Martha, caught my interest but what the heck happened to them also?

I hope anyone that read COLD DAY IN JULY will not read any other books by Stella Cameron because she is very good. Just don't understand what happened with this book.

I usually love anything that Stella Cameron writes but this book was very strange. The book was fast paced, but the ending was so awful...I still don't have a clue to what happened to anyone. If this storyline is going to continue in another book - that should have been noted . . Even so she should have done an epilogue to give the readers a clue of what happened..

I read FRENCH QUARTER a couple of years ago and was introduced to Father Cyrus. He now pops up very prominently in COLD DAY IN JULY. He is in the middle of a murder mystery and it seems like he knows more than what he is saying to Marc, the hero. Marc thinks the victim is his sister, but first, they need to find the body to determine that. Reb is the girl that Marc was attracted to years ago and now that he is back, he intends to kindle a relationship.The relationship between the two is sizzling hot and finds them in unusual places in which they explore their attraction. :)


Stella Cameron knows how to weave a suspenseful tale with intriguing characters. It moved very fast, the story did. I must admit I sometimes had to catch up with who is who and what is going on, but it was an enjoyable story. I will also admit that the ending seemed rather abrupt. I would have liked an epilogue that would have tidied up some things. One of which I won't mention here, so as to not give away part of the plot. I am hoping Ms Cameron continues the story sometime soon to tidy up the ending of this.

All in all, I enjoyed reading it and look forward to her next book. If you like hot romantic suspense, then read COLD DAY IN JULY.

This book is formatted as a walk-through tour of the castle, with some discussion of major characters. I bought the first edition in 1988, and eagerly started reading it for its promised "revelations." Instead, I found it to be a HUGE disappointment. Anyone who is "into" Zelazny's Amber novels will cringe at the vast number of errors in this book and the insipid illustrations. Although Zelazny is listed as first author, he seems to have had next to nothing to do with the contents of this book, and he certainly didn't write the banal text. Errors run the gamut from maps that are at odds with the text in Zelazny's books, to listing as dead a character who isn't, to making ludicrous claims, such as non-royals going mad if they view the Pattern (an artifact central to the Amber novels). The illustrations disagree with the original text. There are major conceptual errors, such as describing part of Amber as "almost" an archetype, when it is by definition *the* archetype. The authors used a character from the novels as a tour guide, and then crudely mishandle her persona in their writing. The only good thing about this book is the encouragement it may offer would-be writers: if something this bad and sloppy can get published, then almost anything can. If you are interested in this book's topic, *The Complete Amber Sourcebook* is a much better choice, despite a few errors.

I got this book expecting to read about the secrets of Castle Amber, to put a "face" on the Pattern, and to see some COLOR pictures of the beautiful artwork described in the books. None of that happened. There was no color, only black and white floorplans of everyone's rooms. ZZZ. Worse, they made all the Amberites obsessed with Earth. They made it seem like they were all there all the time, with everyone having a decor drawn from Earth. And worst of all, the authors made no effort to give a picture of the Pattern. I always have a hard time trying to visualize it.

For nonfans, this book is filled with allusions to the other books, so it may pique your interest to read the others. For someone familair with "Corwin's story", it was very very tame.

Looking over the past reviews, one would surmise that this book is simply awful. Actually, quite to the contrary. Example: The illustrations are far from crude. In fact, they are well-drawn and very detailed. I think this is similar to the controversy surrounding the "Lord of the Rings" movies coming out. Many fans are crying "Heresy!" because the director's vision doesn't fit their notions of how the characters look and act. ....Read this one, and enjoy, it is rich!

I just finished reading this book and was very disappointed with it over all. The quality was not equal to the first two books in the Triliogy. I feel like there was an entire book missing. At the end of Rising Storm we were in Paraguay and "little Sister" Alissa had found the Conners. Suddenly in this book we are in Alaska and absolutely no mention of her as if she never existed. Feel it was written in a hurry to get it released at the same time as the movie.

...The first two books in this series were great!, this one was not! I was very disapointed with it. I felt the author didnt have is heart into this book and it heavily lacked in imagination and it was apparent that the writer was rushed through writing this book to get it published within a deadline.

Many of the character building plots were weak, underdeveloped, and worst of all, completely irrelevant to the story. This book really should have been broken down into a couple of books because the first 3/4 of this book cover a 6 month span of events then all at once you are left hanging at a major event at the end of a chapter and then next chapter the author sling shots you 3 to 7 years from that point of the story. It leaves you desperately trying to figure out what the heck happened. This book is very difficult to follow and I found myself having to re-read several areas of the book to figure out the details of what happend and why. Also I found the events of Judgement Day to be totally ridiculous. It was obvious that the author knows little to nothing about computer technology and I found it laughable that computers are taking over cars, tractors, and lawnmowers are driving themselves wildly in attempts to mow people down. Come on, the time line for Judgement Day is our present time. I feel that a more plausable set of events could be developed. This was primarily where I felt imagination was misplaced and not well thought out.

Other problems that bugged me: The book never explained why the Terminators are cloned after Dieter. I felt Sarah was too super human and larger than life. I expected her character to die in battle. Also I expected Dieter to be captured and cloned and his clones used to infiltrait the resistance like they did in the previous books. Its almost like a completely different author wrote this book without reading the first two books in the series. There were so many holes in this story line that it left me completely irratated after finishing the book.

However if you have read the first two books, you must read it just to go along for the ride. I hope the last Movie will make up for it.

I picked this up on Monday morning and finished it later that evening. This is a must for a terminator collector and fills in a lot of the gaps of the movie series. This goes over the major engagements and events of the future war and it is quite impressive to read.

There are parts in this novelization that are a little slow, but it gets made up for toward the end. I enjoyed reading about judgment day itself and it was an interesting thing to read about. I like how, in parts, this section seemed both humerous yet still frightening. I also enjoyed reading the final battle in the time displacement lab, it was quite enjoyable.

I also like the way this ties up a lot of the mysteries of the movies and the other novels in this series. The novel itself is a wonderful addition to the terminator mythos and I hope that the new movie is just as good as this novel series has been.

What I liked the most had to be seeing humanity come together to rise against the machines. This was, perhaps, the moral of the story: That we need to come together as people and the continuing narration on the triumpth of the human spirit. I enjoyed how well this was captured.

I gave it 4 stars out of 5 because there are a few parts to it that are unnecessary. It does repeat itself at some points but it is still a great read. I recommend this book and the others of the series. This is a great prequel, in my opinion, to Rise of the Machines, and a sequel to Terminator 2 as it was intended to be. Be warned though, some of it is only understood if you read the previous two novels but they're just as good as this one.

I can not believe a book like this was allowed to be printed with such smut in it. VERY DISAPPOINTED and I want a refund!

A completely forgetable book. I was so disappointed! Pass on this one. I'm going back to Nora a writer I can count on to deliver 'Time and Again!'

In an era of torrid romance, this story is a cool throw-back to the style of the 1950's. Lots of drama. Lots of trama. Emotionally scarred characters from early childhood and youth events try to cope as adults. However, by today's standards, divorce, infidelity, betrayal, and guilt are old stuff. Even our main character, Carolee, has an old-fashioned name. She is dramatically guilty because she loves her successful career and business travels and is often away from home. Her husband claims to be neglected and divorces her, keeps the child and gets support from Carolee. Not news in 2003. You get the feeling this book was updated from one of Stella's earlier manuscripts. This book is nothing like Glass Houses which was overstuffed with mystery, suspense, murder, and romance on two continents. Tell Me Why is much more provincial.

I still recommend this book as a light read on a summer afternoon when you just want to relax and not think about it. Yes, it is inconsistent (was his name Tom or Ted?) but it's okay, he is not one of the main characters anyway. Not much sex, but lots of longing. Mostly, it is about characters in their 30s dealing with growing up and trying to become responsible adults. Alas, all are not successful.