The texts of many Eighteenth Century books are full of interpolations by printers and may contain thousands of edits by the author, too. What Dr. Brack has done is to identify and evaluate EVERY variant to assemble a DEFINITIVE TEXT. He's spent a lifetime tracking down what Smollett actually wrote. If you want to know what Smollet wrote, and not his printer, read an edition that Dr. Brack has collated. These volumes are triumphs of scholarship as well as a service to readers.

I read this book for the first time over 20 years ago, and I must admit it shaped my life. When I have kids (twin boys preferably) I will see to it that Machiavelli's Prince, and Smollet's Fathom are mandatory reading.

As you are lead through the life and adventures of FCF, you realize just how villanous a handsone dandy can be. Whistling as he makes love to your daughter so as not to let on that he is picking the lock on your safe with a toothpick between his toes definately displays a sense of arrogance that one must admire!

To do is to be. Socrates
To be is to do. Plato
Do be do be do. Sinatra
Regardless of be versus do, do read works by Jeanie Marshall. You'll be richer for it. Jeanie has a way of enabling presence through solid choice of language and thought structure which enables wholeness. Her work allows individual presence and/or development dependent upon the reader. She opens doors for how each of us can be in the world in productive, loving, and enriching ways. The impact of working with her Affirmations day by day is that I use by own energy better, as well as the energy put to use around me and my intuition sharpens through practice. Yes to Affirmations is No to helplessness.

This book is a treasure chest of wisdom that will challenge you to look at your old beliefs that cause pain, hurt and suffering and will empower you to easily make a different decision that creates hope and joy. Each month there is a new theme including hope, trust, joy etc.By the daily study of these inspirations, your soul will become liberated and you will know how to find the contentment within yourself that you've always been looking for outside of yourself. ***This book is especially useful for people going through a life crisis. It was a lifeline for me during a major cross-country move and taught me how to not be a victim!!

Jeanie has written a breakthrough book for personal transformation. The affirmations are deeply meaningful and seem fresh every day. I have used them for nearly two years; they're an integral and important part of my personal growth and change process. Jeanie also offers free daily and weekly affirmations via email or by visiting her web site. You can find all the information at http://www.mhmail.com.

Derek Millard for The changeXchange
http://www.changeXchange.com

I really have enjoyed this book. It gives you an insight into African cooking and the beautiful scenery. I had the pleasure of meeting Josie Stow at Tswalu and sampled some of the recipes in the book. They are incredible. Most of the items are easy to prepare and the photos will make you want to go there!

The book is simply stunning, I was most impressed with the food and images. I reccomend the termite mound pizza, although with all the termites it isn't really a veggie dish, you can always pick them off....(he he ha ha)

Really enjoyed it. inpsired me to go to Africa

As a South African and having spent time in the USA, I tried to think of ingredients etc that one would need if you were living outside of Africa, most seem easy to obtain. It's a beautiful book both in recipes and photos.Being a professional photographer it's a fun book to look at for the photos as well as different style of cooking. Most recipe books are static and don't motivate me into purchasing it, but this one caught me. It has a great African feel. Worth buying.

It'll never look the same again. We visited the Texas State Aquarium, in Corpus Christi- which happens to have a special exhibit of Jim Toomey's cartoons, with original drawings, used to raise awareness of marine conservation in kids. Fun for adults, too!

Who couldn't want marine conservation after becoming familiar with the inhabitants of Kapupu Lagoon? Sherman is a shark with, let's say, not too much in the way of brains; his mate, Megan, is much smarter - but has her weaknesses. Hawthorne is an irritable and irritating hermit crab, who wears a beer can rather than a shell. Hawthorne has a rather elaborate crab hole- Persian carpets, golf putting range - and is always dreaming up schemes to make more money. Fillmore is an endangered turtle, who can't find a mate, possibly because of the extremely bad poetry he writes. Other characters we see regularly include a polar bear who visits the Lagoon every year instead of hibernating; a computer-savvy fish who swims around with a laptop and hacks into important systems; a giant squid who always keeps his appointments; an orca formerly in a sea-entertainment complex, who can't quite cope with life in the wild; and the occasional herd of vegetarian piranha. There's also a couple of human characters once in a while- a fishing boat captain trying to catch Sherman and/or his friends, to use on the menu at his seafood restaurant; the people who run glass-bottom boat tours; and of course the hairless beach apes whom Sherman tries to lure into the water for lunch.

Every strip is funny; the messages about marine conservation, about cable lines under the ocean and other human incursions affecting sea life sneak in at you without detracting from the humor at all.

This book is again a phantastic collection of funny
and often very curious fish cartoon stories. Even the 4th
book is as good as the first one. The author projects
ordinary (and not so ordinary ;-)) everyday situations on
a couple of fishs around sherman the shark living in a
little lagoon at Kapupu Island. It is one of the best
cartoons and I think the best fish cartoon available.
For fans it's a wonderful reunion with Sherman, Megan,
Fillmore, Capt. Quigly, and all the others.

Have Fun!

Karl

Sherman's back. Still eating most everything in sight. Still failing Megan in the romance department. Still losing his fights with the giant squid. And still hilariously goofy in the process. Weird, wonderful, and hard to describe, I suggest you check out some of the strips online (you'll have to search for them, Amazon won't let me include the URL) and, if you laugh hard, buy this book. If you laugh a little read a few more until you do laugh hard, then buy this book. If you have no idea why anyone would laugh at this stuff, better stick to Family Circus!

It is unfortunate indeed that such a fine volume boasts just two prior reviews.

One needs only to read an essay or two of those collected here to see that Mr. Mitchell was a well-educated, fully informed individual. But his ability to write in a voice that transcended his obviously cultured status, to make his points accessible to people of all backgrounds in a thoughtful, mannerly, and humorous -- always humorous -- style, is an ability his modern-day contemporaries would be smart to emulate. (Are you listening, Maureen Dowd?? Oh, forgive me -- why would we expect you to start now?)

Still, Mitchell's discretion could give way to much stronger sounding of his opinion, and flat-out satire that was without peer. Even when it did, Mitchell managed to maintain the tone of rationality and etiquette which was the underpinning of all his work, and which is sadly lacking on today's op-ed pages. This indefinable quality -- and the sheer quality of the writing itself -- sets Mitchell's work apart.

I love this book. Mitchell is unfortunately dead, but when alive he could write like an angel. A random example:

"No man is a hero while brushing his teeth or clipping hair out of his ears. He needs some kind of warning that this is the moment to act."

He shares himself (a locution he might mock)as he observes the passing world. If you enjoy E.B. White or Russell Baker, buy this book.

Beloved of all long-time Washington Post readers, Henry Mitchell covered everything from his hound to the Mapplethorpe exhibit with wisdom, humor, and profound insight. This is a selection of some of the best of his Any Day columns. Never preaching, but always with a point, Mitchell's writing is so personal that thousands who never met him felt his death as the loss of a wise and compassionate friend. You will laugh, cry, and rejoice that you have met him here. The Christmas Eve battle between the Altar Guild and the Ushers is by itself worth the price of the book. This, and the two collections of his Earthman (gardening) columns, are books to read and re-read.

After a college professor read a short segment out of this collection of short stories, I wanted to own it. However I had to search to find a copy in decent condition being the book is out of print. But it was more than well worth the hunt. I find myself constantly lending my book to others, and then checking it out from the library while they are reading it. I encourage everyone to read this, each story just gives you a new perspective on life. It's great.!

Julio Cortazar at his most relaxed and free. Combining
essays and fiction and poetry plus excellent visual imagery
(without ever labeling anything), this book is one I keep
on hand for thumbing through, any time. Cortazar's jazz
writing is some of the best ever, preceding by years Lester
Bangs' justly celebrated impressionistic music writing.
Cortazar reveals himself to be a "jazz writer" on a more
profound level than any of the Americans who wrote the
way they thought jazz sounded. His metaphysical approach
puts him in the company of Robert Musil, Clarice Lispector,
and Emily Dickinson, not to mention Charlie Parker, too.
Cortazar's whole approach to writing comes through in this
volume, and it's a great antidote to any outbreak of aesthetic
fussiness you might be experiencing.

Julio Cortazar was named after Jules Verne who he read as a child and thus the title of the book. The book is full of photographs, drawings, engravings but most importantly Julio's words. Not really a book to read from cover to cover more like a book to sift through now and then.
If you are a Cortazar fan then you know of his other books:
Bestiario(1951) later published as End of the Game or Blow-up.
Rayuela(1963) later published as Hopscotch.
Todos los fuegos el fuego(1966) later published as All Fires the Fire. (This collection contains my favorite Cortazar story, "The Southern Thruway".) & many other books.
This book will appeal to both longtime fans and also those who want to get to know Cortazar for the first time.
I was lucky enough to find a hard cover in a used book shop and that is a nice way to own this because it is a book which will be picked up and put down often. On the cover is a wonderful painting by Paul Delvaux The Nightwatchman.
I love Julio's stories and highly recommend them to anyone. His novels I think are for a more select group of readers, those who have a lot of patience for long experiments. I like Cortazars short experiments best and this book has,well, at least eighty.
You get some of his fiction but also you get his essays on Poe(he translated the works of Poe into Spanish), Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk and Marcel Duchamp, Jose Lezama Lima.... which should give you some idea of what kind of things occupied Julios always curious mind. This more than any other of Julio Cortazars books is a collage-book.
This book is perhaps my favorite Cortazar because it is so varied in its subject matter that I never tire of it or feel like I have uncovered all its secrets.

Attack on Pearl Harbor: The True Story of The Day America Entered World War II
By Shelly Tanaka & David Craig

Would you like to have lived in the time of Pearl Harbor? Almost everything was on fire in the harbor. The first attack was at 7:55 am and 183 planes attacked. The second attack was at 10:00 am and 170 planes attacked. It was a horrifying experience for those who lived through it.

I liked this book because it told me about history and the famous Pearl Harbor. The paintings are beautiful. The paintings help the reader to picture the story and to show how people felt.

If you like history and sad stories this is the book for you. The author tries to tell you to always be ready. We are no longer enemies with the Japanese, but will America stop other attacks?

I know of Peter Nottage, and I was present in Hawaii when the attack took place. His recollections have brought back to me the drama of the times. Although I was not as old as he was, Mr. Nottage's descriptions match what I recall. Iunderstand he lived in Kanohe, and at that time I lived on the other side not far from Kaimuki, so we did not get the brunt of the attack as he did. A first rate work. I have grandchildren for whom I will purchase this fine book.

Shelley Tanaka presents Pearl Harbor in a somewhat different perspective. Pearl Harbor becomes more than Tora! Tora! Toar! and a picture of the sinking Arizona. The eye witness reports form all sides: Japan Military, US Military and civilians and kids. Good book!

Although I Havent read alot of books this is definetly the best book i have ever read. I enjoy how the author talks about his times growing up with him because there is a lot of stuff I have never heard about. I definetly recommend you read this book if you are a big Pac fan or if your just interested in reading about someone who has changed lives everywhere.

Tupac Shakur has always been interesting to me. A fellow book club member read, reviewed and praised this book, so immediately I was intrigued. Throughout the years I have read snippets of Tupac's life that also piqued my curiosity. Much of what was written and portrayed prior to his death was the life of a thug rapper and little was written about his intelligence, his mind and his childhood. Darrin Bastfield's book, Back In the Day: My Life and Times With Tupac Shakur is the book to read if you want a fresh perspective on Tupac, the child and the man he became.

Bastfield does an excellent job of portraying his life with Tupac and other friends during their days at the Baltimore School for the Performing Arts. Through his portrayal we see a child raised in poverty literally; a child raised by a mother both weak and strong and a child forced to become a man much too soon. Bastfield is mesmerized by Tupac's intelligence and his excellent skill at acting and so was I. He is surprised at Tupac's love of Shakespeare and so was I.

There is one additional book written about Tupac Shakur by a writer that I highly respect but Back In the Day is the beginning and is necessary because it sets the stage for all others to come. Who better to write about Tupac's childhood than a childhood friend? One more note: this brother can write!

Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
...

"Back in the Day" is a must read for friend or foe of Tupac. Prior to my reading the first page Tupac held a special place in my heart I reserve for celebrities. Upon turning the last page and digesting Darrin Keith Bastfields' words, Tupac Amaru Shakur became my friend and brother. A loss that was magnified ten times after finishing the book.

The author takes us on a trip down memory lane of his school days and neighborhood times in Baltimore with Tupac, with mentions of Jada Pinkett now Jada Pinkett Smith and Dana M. Smith a.ka. Mouse the human beatbox. In the prologue Darrin Keith Bastfield says "And it is my intention that all of you have this firsthand experience, and be duly affected by it." I can attest that I have been affected and will remain so for a long time.

I want to thank the author for validating my thoughts regarding Tupacs' personality. Behind his eyes I knew lived a beautiful genius who purred like a cat, but the media promoted him as a untamed bear. We miss you Tupac and again thank you Mr. Bastfield.

Reviewed by Missy
APOOO Bookclub

Barefoot Gen: The Day After is volume two of a four part series. It tells the story of the day after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima as seen through the eyes of seven year old Gen Nakaoka. Based on the real-life experiences of the author, Gen, his mother, and his newborn sister face the horrors of the day after the bomb. They have no food or shelter and are surrounded by the dead and dying. Even the soldiers sent in to gather and burn the dead bodies are succumbing to the radiation sickness and dying. No one understands what is happening and there is no one to turn to. Gen goes in search of food for his mother whose breast milk has dried up from malnutrition. Alone he faces the horror of the devastation and the destitution of the people of Hiroshima. This the hardest of the four books to read because the carnage of the day after the bomb is almost beyond belief. Gen's compassion, humanity, and determination makes this an inspiring book about the strength of the human spirit. Although the graphic scenes may turn some people off, this is still an important book for its message on the dangers of nuclear war.

The work has been wonderfully translated from the Japanese original: Hadashi no Gen. It was originally published in serial form in 1972 and 1973 in Shukan Shonen Jampu, the largest weekly comic magazine in Japan, with a circulation of over two million. The drawings are all in black and white. This US edition was published as part of a movement to translate the book into other languages and spread its message. It is a wonderful testimony to the strength of the human spirit and the horrors of nuclear war. There are a few introductory essays at the front of the book that help to put this book into perspective. It is a powerful and tragic story that I highly recommend for anyone interested in the topic.

I stumbled across this graphic novel in a used bookstore, not having any idea the impression it would make on me. This is an incredibly powerful story, very effectively told through the medium of comic art. It is an affirmation of the power of visual media, and an example of how comics can be used for much more than funnies and fantasies. It is also probably the most effective anti-nuclear material I have ever come across.

Yes, they can. This is the tale of Gen, a young boy, and his family during the bombing of Hiroshima. The tale begins with his day to day life, and then through the bombings. The illustrations of his brother and pregnant mother dying and in pain are upsetting and fully illustrate the horrors of war.

This book brings back memories and is sure to make kids relate to thier school picture day! A sure hit with kids and teachers too!

This story is so funny! Just when you think the worst has happened to Bertie, something else happens. Bertie doesn't let anything get him down, and he makes the best of his troubles, at that. Everyone who has had messy hair or a missing tooth on "Picture Day" will relate to Bertie's experience and cheer his indomitable spirit.

Bertie is one of my favorite characters. I loved him in HOT FUDGE HERO and I'm thrilled to see him back in BERTIE'S PICTURE DAY. He knows how to take those unexpected setbacks and turn them into a positive outcome. A great message for kids!