British poet Christopher Logue continues his decades-long rewriting of Homer's tale of war with this slim volume, which comprises books five and six of the Iliad. Since these books feature the first battles in the Iliad, this book is action-packed from first page to last. An online reviewer compared this book to the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan," and that's a very apt comparison. Like those twenty minutes of film, the fifty pages that make up All Day Permanent Red are a hectic, heart-pounding melee of bloodshed.

More importantly, this book marks the first appearance in action of my favorite character in the Iliad, Diomedes. Though here he is called Diomed, or the Child, as Logue occasionally refers to him. Diomedes is like a replacement Achilles; while that famous hero sulks in his ship, Diomedes takes up the mantle of "wartime hero" and destroys every Trojan in his path. Logue's handling of the character is excellent, especially in the way he is introduced. As Odysseus witnesses his Achaean fellows being slaughtered on the battlefield, he prays to the god Athena for help. What follows is the best line in the book:

Setting down her topaz saucer heaped with nectarine jelly,
Emptying her blood-red mouth, set in her ice-white face,
Teenaged Athena jumped up and shrieked:
"Kill! Kill for me!
Better to die than live without killing!"
Who says prayer does no good?

As you can see from this quote, Logue's is not a standard translation of the Iliad. As any reader of his earlier collection "War Music" knows, Logue re-writes and changes the Iliad to suit his tastes. In fact, the man can't even read Greek. But his version of the book is adored by Homer-ophiles. If you asked me, I'd rather read Logue's cinematic bursts of action-packed, freestyle verse over any of the more noted, straight-up translators, such as Fagles, Lattimore, and Fitzgerald.

This book is highly recommended to anyone who's read the Iliad, and wants to see a master writer at work. The only problem is that it's so short, and I fear that Logue won't be able to finish the whole of the Iliad itself. We can only hope.

I've always been wary of people "reimaging" -- to use Hollywood's latest buzzword -- the classics but it's next to impossible to condemn Christopher Logue's work in reinterpreting Homer's Illiad. In All Day Permanent Red, Logue rewrites the first battles in the Illiad and the result is a fantastic updating of books 5 and 6. Mixing ancient and modern metaphors in his poetry, Logue brings home the juxtaposition in war both as horror and joy. I'm a traditionalist, I don't much care for people messing about with the books I love, but I have nothing but applause for Logue.

This book is written to keep you on the edge of your seat and then relaxing back. Steve's writing is an unexpecting turn of events when the reader believes they have figured it out the mystery and romance. The book is very hard to put down and leaves you wanting more.

A wonderful novel! I was very surprised. I loved the romance
scenes. I really loved this book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery/romance novel. I can't wait to read the next book by this author!

Great writing, great story. Benoit's amazing debut novel says something important about the ways that every family lives and dies and keeps living, how people are remembered and forgotten, and how love (and hate, and callous indifference) work into this. The style, mixing English with Cajun French, gives a sense of immediacy that allows the reader to inhabit the tense world of Maringouin. The hopes characters have pinned on gambles such as bush-track horseracing and oil rigs are heartbreaking even as the details are unerring and fascinating. The texture created by the multiple points of view gives a full, round portrait of the Gidot and Bueche families, and offers a welcome counterpoint to outsiders' misguided notions of what life in Cajun southern Louisiana has really been like: here it is, honestly, with all its bad health and poverty and real tragedy. Best book I've read in years.

All Saints' Day is a moving story of people in south Louisiana--their lives, their loves, their hopes, and misfortunes. Although there is a common thread, each chapter is a self-contained tale. The descriptions of the people are poignant--there is a girl who, by the side of the road, cradles the head of a dead dog in her lap. It is thought provoking--the story of a man who can only be considered schizophrenic as he fears that man others around him are machine men (robots). And many other characters that are both strange and familiar, yet all are caught in the nexus of just trying to survive in a poor area.

The realism of All Saints' Day should be expected. The book was written by an author who grew up near Baton Rouge, within sight of the Mississippi River. His eye for detail insures that this book remains a favorite of readers for Southern literature.

A delightful and rollicking ABC, this picture-book will be appreciated by anyone who loves good food, celebration, Thanksgiving --- and maybe most of all, anyone who does all these things and is ALSO a vegetarian. Not that there's a vegetarian agenda --- the book is not at all evangelical --- but it happens that at this Thanksgiving feast, Turkey is a guest, not an entree, Trucking in Turnips (just as Bear Brought Banana Bread, Biscuits & Butter and Cat Carried Cherry Compote and Cranberry Cobbler). We read ALLIGATOR aloud before every Thanksgiving at our home, and it makes all of us, of all ages, giggle, cheer, and happily dig in. A true celebration of a book, and delicious.

As a kindergarten teacher I am always on the lookout for alphabet books that portray letters and sounds in a different way than I read just the day before, while keeping to the same concepts. We really enjoyed the illustrations here. Several of my students noticed that this illustrator drew the ducks in the book we used on our first day of school because the pictures are simple, clear, and not too ornate. We enjoyed this work, and heartily recommend you stop by to have lunch or dinner with these folks while learning the a, b, c's.

This book is fun to read. Do not try to read this book as proof of anything, but as a book to help you imagine what the setting for the Book of Mormon *might* have been like. While it does offer evidence and support of the Book of Mormon's authenticity, it doesn't try to prove anything, but to educate and inspire imagination. I found by reading this book that many of my own assumptions about the Book of Mormon setting were probably wrong, and that they were just that- my own assumptions. For instance, many people assume that the Lehi party landed on a basically deserted continent. But really that isn't implied anywhere in the Book of Mormon. In fact, it mentions several times about others in the land around them; nevertheless the fact that the scripture is more concerned with their immediate group than other tribes causes many, myself included, to assume that they were basically alone. This book made me rethink a lot of these types of assumptions, and helped me to associate the characters, traditions, customs and geography of the Book of Mormon with realistic models to better understand what they were all about.

This book really prompted me to think about and reconceptualize many of the assumptions I held about Book of Mormon geography and study. It was inspiring to develop a deeper understanding of the people in the Book of Mormon, and answered many questions. It's well researched and doesn't pretend to be decisive in its conclusions. Definitely the most authoritive book on the subject of Book of Mormon geography and a must read for all interested in the subject.

This book is heartwarming. It is a book of everyday living. It is humorous and touching. The author of this book really gets down to basics and looks at life in a refreshing way. This journal-type book is an easy read and will be a book that you want to read and read again. I would recommend it to anyone who feels life is just going too fast. Slow down a bit with Betty Jean Robb and take a look at small town life in Nebraska.

It's a very heartwarming book. There's something in it for everyone. It will make you laugh, cry, and, most of all, make you appreciate life. It's also a very realistic book; I should know, because I'm the author's daughter, and every word is just as she lived it! :)

"a wonderful way to reflect on my deepest most intimate soul desires and experiences."

This is a wonder book and day journal, you have words to guide you and thoughts to think about for each week, you journalize the day and your night and what you would like to be better and i found myself working through some of my problems this way, i did this for a year, but lots of the verses i reread and it helps for reread your year after the year is done and see how things are, There is an angel for each season, I highly recommend this book/journal

Stella finds a golden retriever who's been hit by a truck on her way to school. She sees that where he got killed there is a big bend in the road where people can't see too well, and that can cause many more animals their lives. Will Stella be able to get the bend in the road fixed before it's too late?

This book shows the maximum that a young girlm can feel about any topic. Miss Costello wonderfuly shows the rush, tense feeling of a vetranary room. She draws in the reader with her supenceful words and exciting, seamingly, real life, drama of a young girl whos love for animals (of any kind) over thrwo anything and everything else in her life whether it be school, time or any thing else.

I'm afraid I'm one of those people who's always been "afraid" of poetry. This book has made feel that there's nothing to be afraid of, that poetry can be simple and meaningful at the same time; that it can it can touch something inside without my realizing why or how. It's a lovely book.

On the sixth day of the biblical creation story, God created humans as distinct from animals. Modern readers regard humans as part of the animal kingdom. The title epitomizes Laura Fargas's gift for synthesis in imagery. Subtle phrasing of rhythm and voice combine with her images to make An Animal of the Sixth Day an experience rather than simple reading. I highly recommend it.

This book is to be read each time you visit the battle site. There is much honor in the author's efforts.

If you have only one book on Antietam on your shelf, this might be the one to have. Frassanito explodes old myths, brings the farmers residing on the battlefield alive, and painstakingly dissects photos that seem routine. His greatest flair is bringing out the details, such as identifying the hardtack lid grave markers of the freshly dead, but unknown soldiers, and weaving a story around the single picture. Brilliant book, enjoyable for anyone with even a passing interest in the Civil War.