While not as well written as the Anna Pigeon series, Rachel Porter more than makes up for it with her bizarre friends. Her landlord the gay ex-wrestler, gourmet cook Vinnie, her transvestite doggie yamulke designing friend are only two of a cast of way out characters. In this novel Rachel stumbles onto an illegal paddlefish roe business, run by an overweight Russian mafiosi who thinks he's Elvis. But this is only a side line for him, his real business is the white slave trade.

This is an entertaining and highly unrealistic novel. Good for an escape and alot of fun.

In case you are a fan of Nevada Barr (like me) it may be helpful to know that I also enjoy this author. The main character is a bit pluckier than Anna Pigeon and the writing style is lighter and more humorous. Overall, I agree with Barr's quote. Speart breathes a different kind of life into environmental themed mysteries. Another good environmental mystery writer to check out is Skye Katherine Moody.

As the author of a mystery novel in its initial release, I find the works of Jessica Speart most enjoyable. In this fresh Rachel Porter mystery, Ms. Speart has her lovely and wild protagonist transferred to Elvis Country, where her superiors expect her to stay out of trouble because no trouble ever happens along this Tennessee/Kentucky portion of the Delta. Oops, that transfer proves to be a mistake. Rachel discovers a poaching operation backed by the Russian Mafia. Her discovery leads to murder, and we all know who plans to solve the murder. In BLACK DELTA NIGHT, Rachel is in top form, as is Jessica Speart's writing. We have a terrific book here.

I really enjoyed reading this book. The descriptions of the boat and are so vivid I felt I could see the rooms. The writing is funny and clever and I look forward to finding out what happens next.

An informative and simply captivating new novel! I didn't want the story to end! Please, Charles, send us more of the Delta Queen!!

This book arrived on a day when I really needed a little cheering up -- and boy, it did the trick. Thank you! Thank you!

Ooooooh......this is one of those juicy summer reads that is so hard to put down. Diapers dragged the floor, salmonella dripped off thawing chicken breasts onto the counter and the phone rang out its throat as I eagerly read page after page of this middle-brow novel.
Joan Crawford is reponsible for me hunting this book down in Amazon.com's used book shop. I've seen the film of the same title many times, but it wasn't until my last viewing during a local Crawfordthon that I developed the itch the read the novel that inspired the movie. To my surprise, I loved the novel. The film was much campier (what movie with Ms. Crawford isn't?) than the novel, therefore less irritating to read than the movie is to watch. For one thing, Hollywood's presentation of the women in the film is much less rounded and tediously more condescending than in the novel. The "girls" in the movie dither and drivel and snivel far more than Jaffe wrote them doing.
What was eerie about the novel was the contemporary feel of the characters' difficulties in their lives. Remove some of the dated descriptions of New York, business tools, and sundry material goods, many of Jaffe's depictions of women entering adulthood in a male-oriented world of more than forty years ago could easily be written today. Sadly, many of the demoralizing situations that Jaffe's five women stumbled into are, with slight alterations, still perpetuated and experienced in these more enlightened times. I think this relevancy along with Jaffe's engrossing writing style are what make "The Best of Everything" such an enjoyable read. It is definitely worth the trouble it takes to get your hands on a copy.

Rona Jaffe excels with her story of five women who live and work in New York in the 1950.s. She relates their career and love pursuits with uncanny insight. She writes about the loss of innocence, about a love that turns obsessive, about betrayal and abortion. Bold for its time and still relevant today the book is well worth a read. Jaffe's "Class Reunion" is also excellent and comes highly recommended.

I believe this is Jaffe's very first novel and, to my mind, also the best. Great literature? No...but character-driven, engrossing, emotionally involving and very, very juicy. Quite dated (takes place in the early 50s) but still a steamy and believably accurate account of what transpired for women venturing out on their own at the time...the brilliant, driven, heartbroken college grad; the sweet hayseed who loses her innocence; the "bad girl" who pursues an acting career only to lose everything over a cruel mentor; a single mom who exudes quiet strength & dignity and an absolutely provincial chick from the Bronx who smugly pursues her housewife destiny and is none the worse for it. They all surface at a large, glitzy publishing house for a time and live with the rampant, blatant sexism that was typical for the times but seems horrifying today. An ultra-enjoyable read with memorable, fully fleshed-out characters.

This book was actually assigned reading for a modern Spanish literature class I took in college; I liked it so much I have re-read it twice since. The story alternates between two narratives of the protagonist Lucia: the memoir Lucia is writing about the week before the premiere of the first movie she directed, and the journal she is writing 30 years later as she lies in the hospital with an undiagnosed illness. The way it is written, however, both narratives feel like present day stories. Montero's conversational writing style makes her very easy to read, even with the switches in narrative and with Lucia's philosophical commentaries on love, relationships, and death. It is both entertaining and mildly thought-provoking. Enjoy!

This book is a rare find in that it manages to evoke laughter and heartache. It can be read as a light romp, but upon reflection, the reader will almost certainly recognize and perhaps confront some of the human condition's recurring quandries in Montero's characters. Readers will connect with the self- discovery and evolution of the main character, regardless of gender. Prepare to laugh out loud and weep with this one.

I had to read this book for school so I naturally was scheptical at the beginning. But within the first page they had already started the planning to ambush 6 people fishing in their pond. Being an adolecent, that's all that it took. From then on out it was a great story about two tribes in eastern nigeria fighting with both phisical and spiritual weapons. One of the most intreaging aspects of this whole book is how these people zealously these african people belive in the gods. This is a great book about the a culture completely different than ours. It is a learning experience. But the reason that I gave it 4 stars is that I found the end to be dissapointing but with deeper meaning. All in all it is a great book.

If you want African literature without the modernist slant; a story that deals with African traditional living from an *African perspective*, then this is it.

Elechi Amadi weaves a tale that had me glued to my seat from start to finish.

A very interesting book. I enjoyed it. It is for all people who like Navy SEAL's

Gary Smith tells about his five tours of duty as a Navy Seal in Vietnam through three different books: Death in the Jungle, Death in the Delta and Master Chief. All of these well written books are exceptional in that they not only tell the story of terror filled seconds during battle, but Smith also talks about the sheer boredom and mundane tasked that must be done. His stories about killing VC - VC ants that is, while waiting on ambushes are funny in otherwise near death incounters. Smith is able to talk about the inhumane acts that occur in war just as he is able to talk about the fun times. I was brought to tears while reading about the mother and baby killed during an ambush of a Junk and equally shed tears of laughter when he cooked "Venison" that barked!

Smith does an exceptional job interspersing Vietnamese words and phrases in all three books which gives the read a sense that Smith was a professional that took the time to increase his advantage by learning their language. The one criticism I can point out is that he listed too many of the overnight ambushes. It became hard to distinguish one from another after awhile. I also get the feeling that there is much more to tell about his tour with the PRU but that it might bring up too many unpleasant memories.

Finally, Smith makes a one sentence statement that Captain Gormly was one of the best COs he ever served under which speaks volumes about both warriors. A Very good set of books and I recommend these to anyone interested in getting a birds eye view of war from a Seal's perspective.

It is a very well written book that takes a good look at the SEALs in Vietnam. It is very detailed and makes you think you were really in these situations.

About 7 years ago, I purchased this book when it was originally published in a hardback version. I still can't put it down. I was very interested in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., as far as its public service projects and positive examples of sisterhood. Now that I've been a member for 6 years, I always reflect back on the reasons why I joined the Sorority (with this book). Several of my relatives were actively involved during their collegiate (undergraduate) days, and I have continued my membership after graduating from college. Anyone who is interested in learning more about the goals and principles of the Delta Founders should get this book.

I was always interested in becoming a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. I bought the book about 3 years ago and never got past the first page. Clearly I was not aware of the total life change of becoming a member of this beloved sisterhood. I picked the book back up about a year ago and I couldn't put it down. I was in total amazement. The level of service that these strong women provide to our community is unparalleled. Thank you Ms. Giddings for writing such a powerful piece of history for those of us interested in DST sisterhood.

In Search of Sisterhood is an excellent tool to use for young ladies interested in becoming members of any black greek letter organization. It gives the full history of Delta Sigma Theta and its purpose up to 1988. It will not tell you what will happen or what to do if you would like to become a Delta, but it does give you invaluable historical information to assist you in choosing a sorority.

When mini-atomic bombs go missing in Germany, it's up to Richard Marchinko's SEAL team to get 'em back. Enlisting the help of a hush-hush German counter-terrorist team, both groups go up against ultranationalist businessman Lothar Beck, who wants to create his own Reich. The book read like a personal memoir than your typical action-adventure book. All told from Marchinko's POV. Some peaks and valleys in the story. I did enjoy the insider information on SEAL missions and Marchinko's rather nitty-gritty thoughts on the current state of the U.S. military and the people in the White House. Very, VERY *ahem* colorful expressions used. Very good drama when the ol' Rogue & co. infiltrate Beck's HQ. The final assault on the Beck castle was great! Especially the big, bloody brawl between Marchinko & a former GSG-9 commando turned Beck stooge. One problem I had was sometimes Marchinko's reflections interrupted the flow of some of the action scenes. Still, overall, a pretty decent book.

Option:Delta has every thing that Marcinko's fans have come to expect from his novels. Fast paced, gritty action, accurate details of specwar techniques, well researched locations, and a general feeling of fun and comraderie between Marcinko and his team of shooters. Although the plot of Dick meets Billonaire, Dick threatens Billionare, Dick kills Billionare is getting old, the book is still an enjoyable read from cover to cover. Keep up the good work, Dick. HOO-YAH!!

Just when you thought Richard Marcinko couldn't do better than SEAL FORCE ALPHA, he blows you out of the water again! OPTION DELTA takes you along as the Rogue Warrior and his merry maruaders team up with a clandestine German SpecOps unit as they track down missing US tactical nuclear weapons to a ruthless man-Lothar Beck, who pursues his own sinister agenda. The action gets a little slow in spots, but Marcinko doesn't leave you hanging for long. Overall, a great story; can't wait for the next one!

This book is Col. Charlie Beckwith's account of the formation of the Army's elite counter-terrorist unit, the Delta Force. Do not read this book to gain much of an understanding of how the unit exists today. I doubt there is such a book, since Delta operates under the strictest secrecy.
Nevertheless, Delta Force is an interesting account of one man's struggle to bring his idea to fruition in the midst of gigantic army bureaucracy and red tape.
Col. Beckwith also discusses his experiences serving with British SAS units, whom he held in the highest regard. He also talks about his years in Vietnam. These accounts are really interesting. The rest of the book deals with Operation Eagle Claw, the ambitious attempt to rescue Americans held hostage in Iran during 1979. After reading Col. Beckwith's account, I made a special trip to Arlington cemetary to pay tribute to the 8 Americans killed in that heroic, but unsuccessful effort.
After September 11th, we as Americans owe much of our safety and security to the heroes in Delta. That alone is a good reason to read this book.

Sadly, the new and current generation fail to appreciate the difficulties that Colonel Beckwith had to overcome in order to found Delta in a U.S. military where egos/roles are often intertwined. Even more sadly, the whole point of Delta was to have a specially trained and ready force to respond to terrorist incidents and NOT resort to ad hocery-which is throwing together unqualified units together---which is EXACTLY what was forced on Delta when higher authorities insisted unsuitable marine pilots and navy MINESWEEPING helicopters be used to attempt the Iran rescue mission. This book should be read in conjunction with Colonel Jim Kyle's "The Guts to Try" to get an accurate picture of the "desert one" disappointment which was caused by the failings of another service which postures as a quasi-911 force when its barely able to handle "411" directory assistance calls to evacuate U.S. citizens when the enemy permits this in order to get us out of their way of killing/rebellion. When the enemy does the opposite we need REAL hostage rescue forces from SFOD-D and ST 6 not "extremis" posturers.

If there is a fault to blame on Colonel Beckwith is that his plan itself was overly complex and reliant on rotary-wing aircraft for extreme long-range insertion/extraction when it should have been based on parachuting men from mechanically-sound fixed-wing aircraft to get the force into Iran, and then flying in the helicopters INSIDE fixed-wing aircraft to get them closer to the objective and then pull them out. This is now SOP these days with the 160th SOAR. Its too bad Colonel Arthur D. "Bull" Simons (see "THE RAID" by Benjamin Schemmer and "On Wings of Eagle" by Ken Follet) was not on active duty in a mentorship role to insure a simple plan was employed but the arrogance of youth mitigates against this. In a bitter irony, years after SFOD-D had created a string of impressive victories to erase the memories of Desert One, it was the now-deceased Beckwith who was reported not welcome at the very command he spilled his guts for to create! Lesson learned is to "with wise counsel make war", ask the veterans for advice, don't assume we can field a gadget plane (V-22) to make unsound concepts "fly". Read this book, and build a monument in honor of "Charging Charlie" with your life lived to the fullest by daring greatly like he did. Its too bad Hollywood hasn't gotten around to making Colonel Beckwith's life into a film yet---American culture is often best passed on by film and his values of fighting for a vision for the common good are worth remembering and emulating.

This book was very difficult to put down once I started reading it. Beckwith has a way with words that makes it seem like he's sitting next to you telling you a story. While reading the book, I felt like I knew Charlie Beckwith and his way of thinking--that's how much personality he put into this book.

1st Special Forces Operational Detachment--Delta (SFOD-D) is the military's formal name for Delta Force. Delta is perhaps America's foremost elite counterterrorist unit along with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) and Navy SEAL Team Six. Beckwith created Delta Force after spending a year with the British Special Air Service (SAS) and seeing how the US had a void that a unit like the SAS could fill. Thus, Delta was formed with the SAS in mind.

A word of caution to people who are considering reading this book. The book tells of how Delta Force was formed...from its beginnings as a US version of the British SAS to its failed first mission freeing the hostages in the Iran. If you're looking for something on what Delta Force currently does and how its operators are currently trained or selected, this isn't the book for you. Beckwith tells us how the first Delta operators were trained and selected, but that selection process has probably changed some by now. This book is more a detailed history on the formation of the Delta Force, and not a book on its current engagements and operations (which are most likely classified anyway).

I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Wuthering Heights is a disturbingly dark book about love, obsession and revenge. It is a romantic novel full of twists and turns that nearly requires the reader to keep a running dictionary of characters, especially since names have a tendency to pop up in different places and on different people throughout the novel. I read this novel for a class assignment in Victorian Literature but it is helpful to know that the book employs many themes of the Romantic literary genre as well. Victorian ideas of social class are brought up as well as the fantasies of adolescence. Some of the Romantic ideas found in the novels include the idea of the tragic landscape. The landscape of the novel is foreboding and isolated, borrowed most likely from the gothic novel. The characters are extreme in their varying passions and the concept of the dream is used in a type of ghostly communication. One of the story's narrators has a dream of being visited by the ghost of Catherine, which causes a startling and dramatic reaction in Heathcliff. The belief that the reader cannot fully hate Heathcliff because of how he was mistreated as a child is also a Romantic ideal.
The story contains a great deal of darkness and some cruelty, which may turn readers away. Love is often extreme to the point of violence in the novel while the romances themselves are nearly incestuous in tone. Cousins marry and adopted siblings hold lifelong affections and obsessions for each other. The novel also illustrates an element of cruelty that can be slightly disturbing at times. Heathcliff, the novel's antagonist, goes as far as to string up the beloved dog of the young woman he courts after Catherine rejects him.
The main focus of the story is the rather twisted love story element that develops between Catherine and Heathcliff. Heathcliff is adopted into Catherine's family at a young age and the pair become close, though Catherine rejects him because he is poor and instead marries a rich neighbor. Though throughout the novel, other romances develop between the two highly inbred families, they are side stories in comparison to the main romance.
The love of Catherine and Heathcliff eventually develops into an obsession that lasts, and in fact becomes even stronger with the eventual death of Catherine. Her spirit seems to haunt Heathcliff and further fire his obsession. Even before Catherine's death this obsessive love broadens to include an equally obsessive drive to ruin the lives of all the people who mistreated him and stood between him and Catherine, including her husband and older brother.
These obsessions eventually lead to the last of the major themes of the novel, revenge. A good part of the book is spent upon Heathcliff's attempts to destroy the lives of anyone and everyone who mistreated him or got in the way of his relationship with Catherine. His need for revenge does not lessen as the book moves on and Heathcliff continues to take his revenge even upon the next generation, including Catherine's daughter and his own son. Whether or not Heathcliff succeeds in his attempts I leave to the reader.
Personally, I enjoyed this book a great deal, if for no other reason than the simple fact that it was quite different from the usual school assigned reading. I was pleasantly surprised by how well woven and engaging the book was. The calculating lengths that Heathcliff goes to in order fulfill his quest for revenge are nearly reason enough to read the book. The old style language of the book, which I expected to be a hindrance, was hardly noticeable. In short, if you can handle (or enjoy) the book's darker aspects, then I highly recommend this classic to you. (And I'm not just saying that because I have to! ;))Enjoy!

Perhaps it's the winsome imagery, perhaps the profoundly real characters one switches between loving and hating, or maybe even the dry humor that is the style of the British, but Wuthering Heights is my all time favorite book. How can words possibly do it justice...the only way to surely judge it is by reading it. Never before have I been so moved by a story; it might be Heathcliff's overflowing love for Catherine that drives him mad yet, ingenious in his revenge, or Cathy's shallow duty to society that denies her the power to be true to herself (I believe the main point of this novel is to not deny your feelings; go with what you feel rather than what should be), but I always find myself reading it on days I need to be cheered up or am really lusting after a good book. If one's not paying attention, you know, one of those days where you just read to take your mind off of something, it can get rather dull and confusing (the diction isn't as simple as say...Ethan Frome), but if you're concentrating, Bronte's words are so amazingly beautiful, it's hard to put it down. When read aloud it sounds like Shakespeare, and I like Emily's work a lot more than Charlotte's, for some reason. Gothic literature is so peculiar and wonderful: a class of it's own, and she really masters it. At the same time she avoids stereotypes and entertaining happenings (the spectre that appears to the somewhat insecure Lockwood early on foretells the chilling story, while at the same time hinting there is something deeply wrong about Wuthering Heights that needs to be corrected), actually writing the book with a purpose behind it. All the characters have very cool qualities about them; all have the potential to be irritating, but hey, we're all human. By imperfecting her people she has perfected the novel, and I'm so thankful I've had the privilege to read such a piece of art. This book forever remains with me; it's a part of me.

I read what the self-proclaimed "immature" reader wrote, and I beg to differ. I love this book not because I'm supposed to, but because I just do. The austerity of the language, which you term "dull", is what sets the whole tone for such a troubling work. I doubt that Bronte set out to write a classic romance; I believe she was denouncing the sins of her characters. This novel is multi-faceted with its never-ending parallels: two houses (Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange), two love stories, two heroes, two heroines, two narrators, etc. The inexplicable love that two heartless people like Heathcliff and Catherine share is fascinating to say the least. When Catherine cries out, "Nelly, I AM Heathcliff," I'm sure many a girl's heart has thudded in her chest. This book sweeps you away to a place and time far removed from us and gives us a view into a harsh and distant world. You don't have to like the book. But don't be so dumb or immature as to assume that no else does either. The longer you study literature, the more you'll see that some books have passed the test of time, because, well, they're just that damn good.