A book comprised of short stories from various authors.

Some were so intriguing while others were like WHAT????

Some should have been eliminated because they were too short and you couldn't grasp the purpose.

Some of these would make excellent stories if the authors worked on them a lot more.

this book was a good collection of short stories. Some were to short, they left you hangin on the edge. This is a perfect book for people who cant sit thru long novel.

I read this book in one day.

This book consisted of short stories that were off the hook.

If you are looking for a fast read, then this is the book for you.

Beware! This is a palm size book, not the large coffee table book you had found elsewhere. Now I have to get the larger book I thought I had orderd! A cute book though, it would be a nice addition to a gift basket!

I can see this book going into your pocket for a walk in the park or keeping it somewhere handy to pull out to look for a little bit of insperation. I have nocied that the cover picture is on another book, so pay attention to the demention size, this is a MINITURE book.

The dementia of this book are entirely appropriate. One minor criticism: Ms. Shannon neglected to include an excerpt from the works of the often-overlooked Irish pugilist-poet Fighty McDrunkahan. His cycle of travellers' poems -- "Jaysus, What's This in Me Shoe?" -- is a classic of vernacular Irish literature.

This book had no real mystery. The book was boring. It was ok at the end. I am 10 years old and everyone in my book club (11 girls) rated this book poor.

Shannon is an Irish girl starting school in San Francisco in 1880. But her friend Betsy is now going off with her other friends, the Fabulous Four. And then one day, their kind young teacher is replaced by a mean substitute. Where did their nice teacher go? Shannon must find out.

Shannon is starting school in San Francisco (1880). But since she is Irish and just moved here things are diffucult for her. Her neighbor Betsy who has been Shannon's friend all summer long went off with her group of friends. Or as they prefer to be called the Fabulous Four. Which include cruel Margaret, bookworm Rebecca, Betsy, and just in the middle Jeanette. But the girls seem to be so nice to Margaret, even how mean she is. And another thing is troubling her. Mi Ling is Chinese and can't go to the school. But where is Mi Ling in the day? Why is Margaret so mean but has friends? Where did Miss Kennedy go when they had the mean subsitute? Shannon must find out.

This book is beautifully presented, however I felt that it lacked much substance. It gives a one sentence description - at most(with photo) of some female HARLEY riders with the exception of one woman on a Volkswagon trike. Being a Honda rider myself, I felt a little excluded. I thought the book could have given a better cross-section of women riders. I guess I expected more...

I loved the book. It captures the spirit of the female rider. It is wonderfully designed and beautifully produced. The quotes from the women represent the spirit and dreams of all female riders. I ride a BMW and am inspired by the individual freedoms and dreams of the women of the road.

I loved the book. I think it represents the spirit of the female rider. It was wonderfully designed and beautifully produced. The quotes from the women capture the their individualism and dreams. I ride a BMW and still am captivated by the spirt of both the book and the riders.

An enigmatic and convoluted (snakelike, one might say) book, but eerily relevant and oneirogenic. Cyril Prothero and Polly Peptide join forces (and other things) when their respective lovers turn up missing. They encounter the mysterious Doctor Wu, Maxwell's Demon, Sophia, snake cults, voodoo, information theory, DNA, kinky sex, designer drugs, rock-and-roll, crytography, cyber-immortality, imperialism, gnosticism, bagism, fagism....all coiled up in this slithy tome like a slippery Joycean dragon. The cover art alone is worth the price of intromission. All I am saying is give this book a chance, because if you don't know by now, it ain't the meat it's the motion. (Hey, hey Paul, I can hear your heartbeat for a thousand miles!)

An immensely entertaining book. A test of cultural literacy (if you have to flip to the endnotes you failed). Lacks the depth and sophistication, especially when dealing with historical matters, of Pynchon. Reminds me more of Madison Smartt-Bell or Robert Anton Wilson than Pynchon. Good enough to buy a copy for a friend.

The general theme of information saturation, and the characters Di Filippo constructs to deal with it work very well. You'd be hard pressed to find a more frenetic paranoid book than this, and Di Filippo seems to work better in a novel than in his short stories.

I must admit this book disappointed me. Elizabeth Shannon interviewed several women in Northern Ireland and the only conclusion she seems to draw from them is that the armed struggle waged by the IRA is ethically wrong and completely useless. The author does not even try to analyze reasons for violence in Northern Ireland, she only stresses again and again that violence is wrong and there must be a peaceful solution to centuries old grievances and hatred. Plus, she seems to accept and reinforce British propaganda about Irish Republicans as thugs, sociopaths and racketeers, who are only in it for power, money and excitement. She thinks that hundreds of young lads, generation after generation, have willingly suffered through life on the run, torture, imprisonment, and ultimately death only to prove their masculinity. Some of her comments are simply ludicrous: introducing an Unionist woman politician (and a former Mayor of Derry, mind you)she underlines that Ireland would be a better place if there were more people like her. In the interview the same enlightened politician advocates the return to hanging to do away with all Republican "terrorists". Yes, Elizabeth, you are right, this is what Ireland really needs, that's the way forward for sure! And by the way, is this kind of violence justified in your peace-loving mind? The interviews are interesting though, biased comments and questions notwithstanding. In the end, I recommend this book only to people who already have some knowledge of Irish history and politics. This is definitely not the book to start with if you want to understand the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Over the past few years, I've been fortunate to learn about "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland. One of the first things I learned is that very few sources of information are unbiased. Elizabeth Shannon defies that tenet with "I am of Ireland."

While her husband served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Shannon took the opportunity to explore women's roles, or the lack thereof, in the political spectrum in Northern Ireland. She did this by interviewing women from all walks of life in the North, from paramilitary members to politicians' wives. These interviews culminated in Shannon's superb study.

In "I am of Ireland," Shannon shows the reader there is no cut and dried solution to bring an equitable and just peace to Northern Ireland. She accomplishes this through the interviews. No matter religion, economical stature, or political stance, the women Shannon interviewed all had valid concerns regarding their circumstances.

Through these women's voices, Shannon respectfully reveals the human price all the citizens of Northern Ireland have paid: anguish over lost loved ones, pain from their own injuries, constant terror, apathy to the terror.

This book came highly recommended to me, and I can't recommend it highly enough to others who wish to gain an even insight into the human side of "The Troubles."

Every year, I purchase New Stories from the South, but I always buy last year's, in paperback, then I might take another few months to read it. So I've just finished the 2000 issue and will start on 2001 one of these days (I have it in my pile of books somewhere). I never regret having purchased or read these anthologies. They always include good writers, both new and familiar, and the stories are an interesting combination of themes, locales and styles. The South is a part, sometimes subtle, but always there, and the characters are seldom sterotypical, their stories never trite. Pick up any of these issues. The stories are timeless.

One wonders a bit at the subtitle: The Year's Best, 2000, and then one remembers this collection, the latest in a long line of such anthologies stretching back to the 1980's, was edited by Algonquin Books' Shannon Ravenel, and she knows more about these things probably than anybody else.

Nevertheless, I would call this a mixed bag of Southern storytelling. Allan Gurganus's "He's at the Office" has a clever premise, one familiar to anyone from a close-knit, aging family, and once again showcases Gurganus's sharp eye for detail and razzmatazz prose style, but the ending is silly and the story collapses because of it. R.H.W. Dillard's "Forgetting the End of the World" seems much ado about nothing and strains for a significance it most certainly does not achieve. These are two of the weaker links in the chain. Among the stronger ones are "Mr. Puniverse", a marvelous comedy of unrequited passion, Romulus Linney's "The Widow", which has the rhythm and cadence of a good Appalachian folk ballad, Melanie Sumner's "Good Hearted Woman", the book's longest piece and most obvious crowd pleaser, about a young woman's confrontations with work, love, and family, and Margie Rabb's "How to Tell a Story," my own favorite of the bunch, and an incisive, very moving, and all-too-true look at the dog eat dog world of university creative writing programs and one young writer's determination to tell stories despite what happens to her and the stories she tells.

This is an attractively designed paperback. Each story ends with an author biography, with the writer revealing why he/she wrote that particular story.

Penelope Harwood has spent six years putting up walls around her emotions. After having been jilted by a lover in her youth, she has resigned herself to the role of dutiful daughter, protective sister & spinster. She always knows what's best for her younger sisters--much to their dismay. She certainly doesn't want to see Celia, her flightier sister, with one of the rascal Winslow brothers.

Lord Nevin, a half-gyspy upstart, travels to Harwood in hopes of putting aside the bad blood between his family and the Harwoods. He comes with a business proposition--one that surely won't fail. (The Harwood father has a knack for picking bad business ventures). Nevin and his cousin, Bryn Dawes (who always quotes poetry), find themselves caught up in the lives of the Harwood sisters.

Many elements of this book made it quite enjoyable. Nevin was very alluring. He was a quiet, handsome, renegade type. The secondary characters were very well-developed, and I was just as intrigued by them as I was the leads. There were several twists in the novel, which made it enjoyable the whole way through. Bryn was an endearing character as well, and provided the means for an interesting secondary romance.

Some aspects of the novel left me a little crabby, however. Celia seemed a bit silly for her age (my age as well), and her ongoing relationship with Theo Winslow was rather annoying. At times, Penelope seemed a bit TOO cold and TOO reserved. I really wanted her to open up (which she finally did--5 pages until the novel's end!) Also, the book seemed to be a bit longer than necessary.

But don't get me wrong, it is good. More than likely, you'll enjoy it the whole way through. Shannon Donnelly should be commended on a solid effort. One can only hope the youngest sister, Sylvain (the shy, animal lover) will be featured in her own romantic tale!

The recipe for a successful romance is, of course, chemistry between the hero and heroine...and this book aced its chemistry test!

Penelope is at her wits end. Her father means well and his business ventures are meant to benefit the family, but, instead, he has brought them to the brinks of finacial ruin and is about to plunge them into poverty with his latest scheme. He has no head for business, but instead of learning from his mistakes, he takes risk after risk, trying to restore the family fortune. Penelope does not mind so much being poor, but she knows she must convince her father to give up his mad schemes for the sake of her invalid mother and two younger sisters.

To further complicate Penelope's life, her father has just spent a fortune on a horse with good bloodlines and a dangerous wild streak, her sister fancies herself in love with a well-known rogue, and the relatives of the man who tricked her father into his first investment have come to make amends...with a new investment that could not fail.

Penelope is determined not to trust the new Lord Nevin and is trying her hardest to keep her father from investing with the rogue. But then her father cuts up her peace by inviting the lord and his cousin to stay, so that Lord Nevin can work with the untamed stallion. It would not be so bad if Nevin was not so dashed handsome, so blasted charming, and so confounded intent on becoming her friend. She is drawn to him, but how can she give her heart to a man she fears to trust? Penelope is familiar with the pain of a broken heart, and she knows better than to make the same mistake twice...doesn't she?

The plot is good, but it's the conversations and tension between the main couple that makes the story worth five stars. A secondary romance in the book made it all the more charming. Be sure to check out A Much Compromised Lady, which is the story of Lord Nevin's sister, Glynis.

I share the name of this book's protagonist; and that's primarily why I bought the book (out of curiosity). People are always telling me I have a "cowboy name", and I guess Mr. Friend's use of it (my name) underscores that feeling. I have also been told I look like I am, or should be, a cowboy on more occasions than I can recount. THEREFORE, if this book is ever made into a movie, wouldn't it be only fitting that I play the lead role (Clay Shannon as Clay Shannon)?

No mistakening it, this is another excellent story by Charles E. Friend as he sets out to show that justice prevails when he is wearing the badge. I love the stories that Mr. Friend presents on paper for us to read. He is an excellent storyteller whose writing is strong and keeps one turning the pages. This is a five star book.

First of all, the books in this series are among the few children's books that feature a gifted child as one of the characters, and Gilligan is to be applauded for that. I think, however, that potential readers of this book should be aware that it takes major liberties with the real layout of the Boston Museum of Science, where it takes place. A comparison of the map of the Museum in the book with a real map of the Museum shows this clearly. In fact, even the title of the book is a piece of artistic license; there is no Brontosaurus Room at the Boston Museum of Science. I was also shocked by how much the Secret Gang charged for their services as detectives; I forget exactly how much it was, but I think it was a few dollars. This is a far cry from Encyclopedia Brown's fee of 25 cents a day plus expenses. (Come to think of it, Encyclopedia must have been a gifted child, but I don't think Donald Sobol ever explicitly said so.) Nevertheless, this is a highly entertaining and educational book.

First of all, the books in this series are among the few children's books that feature a gifted child as one of the characters, and Gilligan is to be applauded for that. I think, however, that potential readers of this book should be aware that it takes major liberties with the real layout of the Boston Museum of Science, where it takes place. A comparison of the map of the Museum in the book with a real map of the Museum shows this clearly. In fact, even the title of the book is a piece of artistic licence: there is no Brontosaurus Room at the Boston Museum of Science. I was also shocked by how much the Secret Gang charged for their services as detectives; I forget exactly how much it was, but I think it was a few dollars. This is a far cry from Encyclopedia Brown's fee of 25 cents a day plus expenses. (Come to think of it, Encyclopedia must have been a gifted child, but I don't think Donald Sobol ever explicitly said so.) Nevertheless, this is a highly entertaining and educational book.