This novel takes real history and blends it almost seamlessly with creative fiction, treating the family with fairness and respect in the process. Some of the non-historical premises are not terribly believable if you know the real facts involved, and the story sometimes sinks into overdrama, but that doesn't detract from the fun. Reality aside, the story works.

If you consider yourself in love with Nicholas II's family, you'll probably very much enjoy it. If you like historical fantasy, you may enjoy it. If you are wedded to reality at all costs, you will probably be bothered.

The KITCHEN BOY is rather like those movies based on novels. If you've read the book and the movie is too faithful to the novel, the movie version is usually a disappointment. If you've read Robert K. Massie's THE ROMANOVS, THE FINAL CHAPTER, you're already familiar with what happened in the basement of the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg where the Bolsheviks riddled the family with bullets, so that part of the story is anticlimactic.
The story picks up speed afterwards, however. Romanov fanatics disagree on what happened when Yurovsky and his cohorts set off to bury the bodies. Yurovsky said he burned two of the bodies, but forensic scientists maintain it would have been impossible for him to build a fire hot enough to destroy all of the bones. Over seventy years later, when what was left of the bodies was found, Maria and Alexei (The Heir) are missing. Did they survive? Author Robert Alexander uses this mystery to full effect.
Alexander (Mystery writer R.D. Zimmerman) has spent nearly thirty years in Russia. He knows the language and is able to liberally sprinkle the text with realistic dialogue. He has chosen as his narrator, Mikhail Semyonov, a millionaire living in Lake Forest, Illinois, who is making a tape for his granddaughter Kate, telling her about those final days in the Ipatiev house, where he worked as a kitchen boy. The Bolsheviks had murdered the seven Romanovs, their doctor, their maid, the cook, and the footman, even Jimmy, the little dog, but they let Leonka, the kitchen boy, go just hours before the slaughter. He ostensibly follows the truck as it heads for the Four Brothers Mine where Yurovsky planned to bury his victims. It's raining out and the road is muddy; two bodies fall off of the truck and now we have some suspense. Most accounts of the execution in the basement maintain that bullets bounced off of the jewels the girls had secreted in their corsets and the girls were hard to kill. With the smoke and the confusion it would have been possible for one of the girls to survive. That's how Anna Anderson was able to pass herself off as Anastasia all those years.
Alexander (Zimmerman) switches gears toward the end, after the grandfather's death, when he has the Kate go to Russia, to present the jewels her father smuggled out of Russia to the Hermitage Museum. Kate becomes the viewpoint character and she's a lot smarter than her grandfather gave her credit for being. This is where Alexander pulls off a twist that makes the story well worth reading. Hint, Kate's son is a hemophiliac.

Reviewer: Deborah Kaplan from Copenhagen Denmark
I loved this book. It combines the best of the historical novel, non-fiction and the suspense story - I couldn't put it down. Alexander clearly has a masterful grasp of Russian history, and he is able to make the reader care about the destiny of the last Tsar and his family, without in any way apologizing for the grave mistakes they made. This is one of those books that broadens your horizons and that you think about for a long time after finishing it.

Santa Paws, a book for middle school kids about a puppy who is kinder and more caring than many humans. My then 7 year old enjoyed it, and I enjoyed reading it to him because there was a message included.

This dog, abandoned and homeless itself, goes out of its way to help people in need. The story is engaging enough to be a family read, which to us means a chapter or two a night, for several evenings.

Santa Paws would risk his life to save people?s lives. He jumps through fire to save a family on Christmas night, and he barked because he found an injured lady. The ambulance came. He also saved a drowning boy. He finally gets a home, and the boy named him Nick after Saint Nicholas. I really think you should read this book.

Santa Paws is about a dog who was a street dog with his family. But then, his family got taken by the pound so he's on his own. It's Christmas time and numerous people who see him try to take him home but, he's scared so he runs away. I like this book because it's so simple. He walks around all day... sometimes to the park... sometimes to the back of the pizza parlor to get a drink.... he's in a small town and you get the small town feeling you get when you watch "Gremlins". He saves about six or seven people's lives and ends up getting an owner. to find out who the owner is, read the book.

Hedda Gabler is a wonderful story of a woman desperately trying to have control over her life. Married to a husband she doesn't love and pregnant with a child she doesn't want, Hedda seeks comfort in an old friend. There are enough surprizes in this play to keep it interesting throughout. Ibsen uses his brilliant writing style to capture the very essence of Hedda. I highly recommend Hedda Gabler as well as other works by Henrik Ibsen.

Hedda Gabler lives in an absolute prison. Her idylic residence is a prison, her marriage to a hopeful "ilustrious intellectual" is a prison, but above all, she lives imprisoned by herself, trapped by the social parameters that demand her to live the way she does. Hedda just can't figure out how to get out of that tedious state. She's intelligent, cold, severe; Gabler has an almost prodigious capacity to obtain all the information she inquires about the people around her; she manipulates them, she seems to get involved, but she simply tries to take advantage of the situation. Apparently, she doesn't feel much, but in reality, Hedda is in constant turmoil - her involvement has to do, almost exclusively, with what she just cannot allow herself to do.

For this woman, being able to have some sort of "power" over someone becomes the most exciting of all experiences, however - there's a point when she no longer will be able to manipulate the situation on her favor, she will realize how many forces have power over her; therefore, she will simply do the most congruent and coherent of things, as unexpected and shocking as the outcome of this play could possibly be.

Hedda Gabler is a play filled with tensions and the theme of power play. Personally, I feel that Hedda Gabler is a reflection of a woman trapped in the wrong time. She is one who wants power but is denied of it due to her gender and also her status in the society and all that she needs is to just sit at home and recieve visitors. She has no aims to look forward to and I believe that it is suffocating for this woman. If she had been born in this time of the century, I believe that she would not land up in that patathic end.

This is without a doubt the greatest book on orchestration in my opinion; not only does it give you an insight on Rimsky-Korsakov's style, but also helps perfectly balance any mixture of instruments, and gives you almost all information on any instrument (that he had at the time) that you'll ever need. It is not only a book on orchestration, but a course on it.

One of the few Orchestration books that not only discusses the technique of the art, but also the emotional and psychological effect of instrumentation. The translation of the original text is well done. I always keep this book close by.

Rimsky-Korsakov worked upon this work for over 30 years.The examples are from his own works.He originally planned to include examples from Glinka,Tschaikovsky, Borodin,and Glazounov.He did not to avoid notational and stylistic peculiarities.This is not primarily a notational work.It deals more with subjects such as resonance,timbre,register,and instrumental combinations and their various effects.He died before the work was published and many of the examples were chosen from his works by the editor Max Steinberg.The Principles,however,listed prior to example,remain untouched...and still do barring instrumental developments.These Principles could have just as easily been exemplified by the above four or many others.This book is a classic on "Principles Of Orchestration" and most certainly not obsessed with "Examples Of Orchestration".The laws are laid out in the former case.To any serious composer that is as it ought be!

You will see reviews here rated one and five stars - it depends upon who you are. The book is not tremendously written, stylistically, though not bad (redundant in places). If you know the place(s) written about - Mt. Washington and near peaks it will surely be a thrilling and fascinating read. If not - tedium. I know a bit of the area, so it was just ok - a three star book I would only recommend to White Mountain fans.

i just returned from a trip to the white mountains where I came across this book. i was very much interested in the history of the presidential mountain range and this book gave me quite a bit of insight as to the history of the mountain range and mount washington. this book is a wonderful read - i enjoyed it immensely. the book covers the tragedies that have befallen the mountain range and in such detail, i could visualize being there. hats off to nicholas howe! thanks for the insight!

This book is an expanded telling of the story Mr. Howe wrote for Yankee. I climbed Mt. Washington shortly after the original story. I went better prepared for the weather, thanks to Mr. Howe, and was able to assist a member of our climbing party to the "lake of the clouds" AMC hut (with the help of the hut staff and a cell phone). The fog seemed more like a dark blanket that shrunk the world to a few yards. A mile seemed like hundreds stopping every few feet while a fellow with a heart problem stopped to rest. After reading the original article I never considered leaving the man behind. I only wondered if he would be added to the list of those who died. I awaited this book for a few years. I met Mr. Howe at the Capitol City Dinner in Concord, NH after reading the Yankee article. Thank you sir for a great read. Thank you also for the stories that convinced me to better prepare for Mt. Washington. You may have saved a life perhaps two.

The great surprise with this book is that it contains the original French text on the left hand pages with the English translation on the right. This added enormous value to the book that was not apparent from its description. The poetry itself is magnificent at times and hard to follow at others. It is obvious that Rimbaud was a great talent - too bad he abandoned writing after age 19! The included biographical information and text of his letters provide an interesting backdrop to evaluate the poems and show the absolute waste of his life after his literary exploits

Wallace Fowlie's translation of Rimbaud's complete poeticworks, together with a selection of Rimbaud's letters, provides themost complete and reliable English translation of Rimbaud's poetry and a useful companion to the many books on Rimbaud's life. While Fowlie's translations are workmanlike and somewhat unimaginative, they are generally faithful to the original French text. Moreover, because the original French version and the English translation are on facing pages, the reader can easily compare Fowlie's translation with the reader's own understanding and interpretation of the French text. In this respect, the book is particularly useful if you have some French fluency.

All translations are, by their nature, inauthentic since there is never a perfect correspondence between the resonant images and meanings of the original language and the new language into which a text is translated. Translation is, as one critic has said, "like kissing someone through a veil"; the sensations (meanings) of the original are occluded by the translative process. Recognizing this inevitable deficiency, all that a reader can ask is that a translation approximate, as closely as possible, the linguistic meaning of the original. Fowlie has achieved this, more so than many other translators of Rimbaud, who have corrupted the integrity of Rimbaud's original meanings by their own creative and symbolistic interpretive renderings.

Fowlie also has provided solid translations of Rimbaud's important letters, particularly the letters of May, 1871, to George Izambard and Paul Demeny which articulate Rimbaud's precocious and iconoclastic aesthetic view of the role of the poet. If the book has any real shortcoming, it is the truncated and relatively unintersting biographical section and a lack of detailed notes. However, those failings can be excused by the fact that Wylie's book achieves its main objective--bringing a complete text of Rimbaud's poems to the English speaking world. If you are studying Rimbaud and the biographical details of his early life, and you cannot read the original French, Wylie's collection is indispensable

I ... found Fowlie's over-literal translations ugly and lame. But I think this may be deliberate. The unbeautifulness of the translations forces you back to the exquisite French original. It's a joy to have these poems as Rimbaud wrote them, and a bilingual edition is a must for the non-French-reader. If you want a beautiful English translation, I recommend reading Paul Schmidt's in conjunction with this one.

Regush has done the chronic disease communities a great favor. His chronicle--and expose--ought to lead to burgeoning research into HHV-6 and AIDS, as well as other mysterious ilnesses/syndromes. I read his book in one sitting, finding it fascinating. I remain unconvinced about HHV-6 as a dangerous epidemic despite my own chronic illness; however, there is much excellent research presented that HHV-6 is potentially dangerous for certain people. It is a strength of this book that Regush presents such excellent scientific research while simultaneously provoking the reader to question the manner in which such science is conducted in the United States because of professional competition, time constraints for broadening research, funding priorities, political leanings, and academe's limitations. I found the style of writing to be overly idiomatic--"hit the roof,", "bombed"--and felt concerned as I read that this media style might detract from the importance of the book's message in the minds of some readers. I highly reommend the book, nevertheless, and hope that the scientific community is paying attention.

As somebody who has multiple sclerosis and active HHV6, finally a book that shows the truth about HHV6 and its implications in disease, present and future. For too long research into our disease has veered in the wrong direction, concentrating on a rodent model that serves us the SUFFERERS of MS, no good at all. Regush finally gives the lowdown on the the findings of a group of researchers brave enough to seek the truth and not afraid to say it! This book to me answered many questions and made me somewhat sceptical of the agendas of the organizations meant to serve us as they are more willing to fund the rodent than human disease. Public awareness of HHV6 needs to be increased, Regush has written an excellent book which I hope will do just that. Sometimes it takes an honest man, and in Drs Knox and Carrigan we find just that - people who seek the truth. Regush has written a compelling account of a virus that threatens us all, whose implications in human disease is brutal yet we are better for the knowledge of that brutality. Let us hope that with this book and the knowledge the public gain from it, finally the truth will out about HHV6 and finally us with MS, CFS and other related conditions will see our donations to our so called charities finally reach genuine research for a cure and not administrative costs. Terrific book! For ME the millenium started here!

Recently finished reading "The Virus Within: A Coming Epidemic" by Nichalus Regush and published by Dutton. I recommend this book to everybody. It points out the strong coverup in research in the strong possibility of the role of HHV6 (Human Herpes Virus 6) in AIDS. The established experts are doing everything within their power to squash Nick Regush and his book. Regush is a supurb writer and is the medical reporter for ABC News with 30 years of experience. The book is important and needs to be read. Regush raises many questions that I sure would like some answers to. The book cites detailed references and reads somewhat like the book "And the Band Played On." This book should be required reading for all health care providers and AIDS researchers.

This is the hardest kind of review to write, I find. The first of the Dudley Pope "Ramage" series is not bad as an adventure-at-sea novel, but it is not great either. It is fun, but not amazingly exciting. Pope is knowledgable, but heavy-handed. So the book rates 3 stars.

First some background. I have read the Horatio Hornblower & Aubrey/Maturin series, as well as a couple books by Kent, "Two Years Before the Mast", and scattered other bits of nautical lore and adventure. I enjoy the genre as a whole. Thus at a friend's suggestion I picked up "Ramage".

The action in this book can get pretty heavy, but often to the point of strained credulity. As this is a historical novel, I don't really expect to see sections that strike me as "What an AMAZING bit of luck!" every 20-30 pages, but that does happen here. Ramage begins his career (at least as far as the book is concerned) by coming back to consciousness after being knocked about by an explosion. Luckily he has not noticable concussion... He is the only officer left on board his ship. Luckily he can find the captain's secret orders... Luckily they directly involve skills he has... And somehow he is able to convince his heavily battered crew that he is NOT abandoning them by leaving the ship in the ship's boats. This is only the opening sequence, so I am not giving much away here.

His adventures take a much more believable turn on land and the pace really picks up; unfortunately things drag later during a courtmartial scene. I want to get involved with the adventures and the excitement, but I keep thinking, "How much blind luck can one fellow have?"

Another disappointing aspect of the book revolves around the nautical lore. It is always tricky as to how much to include in a given book and how to present it. Patrick O'Brian was the great master of being able to spoon bits of knowledge of sailing vessels to his audience without making it seem like a long lecture. Unfortunately Pope is much more heavy-handed in his approach. When he wants to explain something about the management of ships, he very obviously places a non-naval person in the scene and then proceeds to have Ramage give a mini-lecture. This is not only clunky in execution, it becomes woefully predictable. The only time this didn't happen, Ramage thought all the steps out in his head, sort of like a Shakespearean soliloquy on naval maneuvers.

Ramage himself is a rather nice character, with some little quirks, an interesting background, and rather too much luck. Gianna, his lady love, is a standard head strong young woman who comes to love the hero. Jackson, Ramage's American sidekick, is also rather nice, but a little too Johnny-on-the-spot, as if all he is at times is an extension of Ramage's luck.

Pope knows the period very well. He knows the sea, the commanders, the action, and the politics. As this was his freshman effort I have every hope that the later books become less heavy-handed. In the end "Ramage" is not a bad book, but it is not a great book of the genre either.

This was Pope's first novel (of ultimately nearly 20) about Lord Ramage, a character who seems based [like O'Brien's Lucky Jack Aubrey] somewhat on the real Lord Cochran. It gets off to a hurtling start as Ramage comes to in the midst of total chaos, on a sinking ship littered with dead and wounded, and is told he's in command. He completes the mission his sunk ship was on, to rescue some Italian nobles, and meets the Great Love of his life, the georgeous Gianna. Back at the base, he's court-martialled and it looks grim... but the novel switches from courtroom drama to another rousing naval operation as Ramage rescues the officers and crew of a wrecked British Navy ship. If you entered Age-of-Sail fiction by way of O'Brien, this will be pretty thin gruel, but it is pretty much up to the Forester/Kent/Woodman/ Lambdin mark, and quite enjoyable. I was certainly motivated by reading it to eventually read the other novels in the Ramage series.

.

*************************************************

Review of the Ramage series of novels:

This is first of a series of nine books. All of these are fictional novels based on British Admiralty records of the Napoleonic era. Written in the best tradition of Forester and O'Brien, these books will capture our imagination. And if you haven't read the Hornblower series by Forester, or the Aubrey/Maturin series by O'Brien, try them also. All of these are excellent books that you will treasure and reread. I particularly like these books by Pope. I recommend that you buy them all at once and read them in order. You will be glad you did.

If you enjoy reading accurate descriptions of naval maneuvers in the age of sail, or simply a good adventure yarn, Dudley Pope delivers. Pope conveys how the best of the best, handle emergency situations. He portrays these situations with realism and authenticity.

Review of this book:

In this novel, Ramage awakes after receiving an injury in battle to find himself in command of the rapidly sinking Sibella. The pace is fast and furious as he struggles to complete the Sibella's mission and save his crew. As any Captain who has lost his ship, this book concludes with Ramage facing a daunting courts martial board with the deck stacked against him.

*************************************************

Conrad B. Senior

I have now read all of the novels in Dorothy Dunnett's Niccolo series, and like all of the others To Lie with Lions is a great read. I read it over a long weekend, and even with its 626 pages, I had to keep reading until I completed the book as I became more and more interested in what would be the conclusion to the long struggle in which Niccolo and his wife were engaging. But the problem I have is with the apparent conclusion to this relationship. The section is rushed and does not appear to follow logically from all that has been presented before; the motivations and rationalizations of the characters seem incomplete and somewhat illogical. I could present specific details, but I do not want to give away too much of what happens. Dorothy Dunnett is an excellent writer; her set-piece scenes, some of which were mentioned in the Kirkus review, are as well-written as anything I have ever read. The problem is in the psycholgy presented in this closing section. I hope she clarifies the internal and external relationships of her characters in the book to be published later this year. Even with these criticisms, the book is still very much worth reading and savoring. It could just have been one of her very best, worthy of the best of the genre and possibly even surpassing it.

This is an amazing series. At times I think the history is the best part of it - you must stop to check up on Trebizond, or Cyprus, try to untangle what Brugges is, figure out the connection between James III of Scotland and the later Jameses - the 15th century springs to life in Dunnett's hands. And besides the history, Dunnett creates incredible characters, with Nicholas at the center, complex genius that he is. (In what guise does Nicholas live today?) Kathi Sersanders, the lively spirit who best understands him, represents the best of us, admiring and loving, and his son Jodi seems as familiar as all of our own children. Dr Tobias, the doubting and brilliant foil of Nicholas, is a magnificent creation, (and another way to represent the reader at his/her best). Okay, so it's a (long long long) soap opera, but you just can't go wrong: at the end you have Nicholas and his loyal band to dream of, and nearly a whole century of history that you never knew existed. Sign me up for the Dorothy Dunnett tour of the world!

This is the sixth book of the Niccolo series. Here, the plot centers on the center of Europe: The Duke of Burgundy and the King of France and the King of Scotland: Nicholas serves them all to achieve success for his grand plan.

The competition between Gelis and Nicholas continues, only this time she lives with Nicholas in Scotland and their son, Jodi. Living together does not mean the race is over, only that it intensifies. The outcome will soon be revealed!

In this chapter, the author continues her description of Scotland, but also of Greenland and the great market for Cod that exists between this country and the great Hanse Merchants of Germany. Once again, Nicholas is able to beat his competitors and gain more wealth.

More descriptions of new places, new people and customs and all told with incredible with and knowledge.

I can't wait to read the seventh chapter....

It's hard to know if my reaction to this biography is due to the subject himself or is the fault of the biographer. Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" is long, well-researched, & has the full cooperation of Chatwin's family. Yet, all throughout the book, I never really got a sense of who Chatwin was, & why his family & friends (even casual aquaintances) viewed him so adoringly despite his cavalier treatment of them.

Admittedly, this may be due to Chatwin himself. An ambiguous, intensely guarded man, it's hard to tell even from his writings such as "In Patagonia" exactly what he thinks about a place or person. Personally although "The Songlines" is one of my favorite books, I never have cared for the other Chatwin's I have read ("In Patagonia", "On the Black Hill", "What Am I Doing Here"). Reading "Bruce Chatwin" has even made me lose some of my admiration for "The Songlines" as it turns out to be fiction, not the well-researched ethnological treatise I had believed it to be! However, this review should be of the biography, not the subject's writings, so among faults I found in Nicholas Shakespeare's "Bruce Chatwin" are:

1)The author assumes knowledge the reader may not have; if a quote is in French he offers no translation. If discussing Malvert or Osip Mandelstam, no explanation of their work or significance is given.

2)Although we are told Chatwin's wife Elizabeth was the instigator of this book & cooperated fully, her presence in the book is that of a shadowy background figure. Her feelings, reactions, methods of dealing with Chatwin's neglect of her, all are ignored or glossed over. Another interviewee mentions they once saw great tenderness between the Chatwin's yet Elizabeth herself never gives any indication this was more than a one-way relationship. There is not even a clear photo of her in the book!

3)Names are mentioned, travels listed, yet there is never a feeling of connectedness to Chatwin. When we are told so-and-so thinks this about that, we don't know how close they were to Chatwin, when they met, why this person is even being quoted about this particular subject. The author mentions "That October & November Bruce & Elizabeth went to the Himalayas" but that's the end of journey. No further information is given as to why they went, what happened while there etc.

In sum, I ended up as frustrated after reading this biography as I did after reading "In Patagonia" & I still don't know if it's Chatwin's fault, Nicholas Shakespeare's fault, or if I'm just not intelligent (or is that pretentious?) enough to grasp Chatwin's writing. Unless you live & breathe Chatwinia, this book is probably a waste of time!

Before I started the book, I'd read a great deal about it, and heard Nicholas Shakespeare on the radio. I had great expectations, and they were fulfilled.

It is interesting how little one can learn of Bruce Chatwin from reading his books, but Shakespeare fleshes out his subject wonderfully well. You get the feeling, "So this is what Bruce Chatwin was really like.", and, "So this is what Bruce Chatwin really meant."

But what impressed me most was how occasionally I would be stopped cold and forced to think, not about Bruce Chatwin, but about my own (albeit far less spectacular) life. Shakespeare not only knows Bruce Chatwin well, he also knows something of the human condition.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Shakespeare has constructed the finest biography I have ever read. At times, it even seems that Chatwin's merely a supporting cast member to Shakespeare's storytelling. I found mself limiting how many pages I could read a day so that I could drag it out as long as possible. It's not just for Chatwin fans either. I went into the bio with no knowledge of him.