I am an admitted fan of Nigella Lawson's cookbooks. I bought this one on ... months ago, and it has since become a faithful friend in the kitchen. While I cannot say that I use it as much as HOw To Eat, which is a virtual cooking bible, it has some fantastic recipes that have become instant classics, such as the seared mustard coated salmon, which is light, flavorful and so easy it makes you almost feel guilty to accept all of the compliments - or the figs for a thousand and one nights that is almost effortless, but so full of flavor, with rosewater, cinnamon, butter, orange and mascarpone. YOu just have to trust me on how good this tastes. This book is full of creative and flavorful salads and soup that borrow from a few different cultures (the beet and dill salad is very Russian). There are some very nice Asian style fish dishes, as well as plenty of meat recipes, on the grill and off. The book finishes with plenty of summery old fashioned ice cream recipes, shortbreads, etc. and the last chapter is full of fun cocktails, mostly fruit based, both classic and new. The fare in this book tends to be a little bit lighter (summer!) and there seem to be even more easy to prepare recipes (that do not sacrifice flavor!) This book will be a happy addition to your cookbook collection. :)

Like the previous reviewer said, you probably already know if you like Nigella, or find her aggravating. I think she's marvelous--and one of the best cooking writers today. What this means is that this book is more than just a collection of delicious recipes: it is also full of Nigella's thoughts on memorable meals, the values of simplicity and canned broth, and suggestions for menus. Lawson has the ability to write about food in a way that makes you almost taste it. The recipes in this book are easy, many taking next to no time to cook and very few ingredients. There is plenty of ethnic cuisine (Moroccan, Mediterranean, Indian, Thai) as well as a scrumptious recipe for honey semifreddo (no ice cream maker required!) This would make a wonderful hostess or housewarming gift, but buy 2 copies since you'll want one as well. Mine arrived 7 days ago and has already got grease spots from use. With scores of cookbooks available, Nigella can be relied upon to write a book that is worth the cover price, and will get heavy use!

My only criticism of Nigella Lawson's other cookbooks (a term that seems inadequate to describe her work) is that many of the recipes included are heavy in starch and not the greatest for low-carb eaters.

This book is a lot different. Whether it's because of the fact that most people eat "lighter" foods in summer or because she wanted a lower-carb addition to her impressive lineup of books, this book is GREAT. Lots of great salads, light desserts, fish/meat for grilling. As always, the pictures and overall production quality of the book are great as well.

This one is not as narrative as previous books she's released, but a must-have for Nigella fans and anyone who just wants to make some relatively simple but elegant meals in the summer.

For more traditional work/recipes try "How to Eat" and for the ultimate dessert manual, "How To Be a Domestic Goddess" ..

My son recently wrote the following:

The Time Warp Trio books contain amazing pictures by Lane Smith and humorous stories by Jon Scieszka (of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales fame). Time Warp Trio books are entertaining and easy to read and were probably written to encourage kids who don't usually read much to read more. For example, in Summer Reading Is Killing Me, Joe, Fred, and Sam are sucked through The Book into "storyland," where "the Boss" (a big teddy bear) is disposing of all of the protagonists (the "heroes") in books and making the antagonists ("bad guys") the main characters; thus, Curious Mr. Twit, The Devil in the Willows, etc. So, just by reading this one simple book, kids who aren't as interested in reading may become more enthusiastic about even better books, like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Hobbit, The Twits, Aesop's Fables, Dracula, Bridge to Terabithia, and Lord of the Flies, to name a few.

I like this book because it combines many characters and stories into a funny book.Fred, Joe and Sam accidentally put there Summer reading list into the book and get whisked into there latest adventure. Will the bad guy destroy all the good characters? Or will Fred,Sam and joe save the day? Find out in the latest book in the Time Warp Trio series! I think that if you are between the ages of 7 and 11 and like funny books,this is for you!

The Time Warp Trio set out on their best adventure yet, when Fred leaves their school's summer reading list stuck inside the pages of their time travel vehicle, "The Book". Now, the three are stuck in literature, where the bad and evil characters are out to get all the good ones and take over the stories. This is a wonderfully written, witty, funny story that will have your kids laughing out loud. Perfect for third through sixth graders, kids will recognize characters from stories they've read and some that parents and teachers have read to them. A page turner to the end, this is the perfect book to read once the school year has ended. The only negative thing I can say about Summer Reading is Killing Me, is that it's over way too soon.

One of the best books I've read in a long time--gay or straight. This is a sweet, thoughtful, yet often painful story that makes the reader think hard about love and life. The characters are sharply drawn, the language lovely. When is Jane Summer's NEXT book coming out?

I love this book. It is spectacular: funny and sweet, a nice read with a happy ending. It's an intriguing coming of age story that gives you a glimpse of the 60s. Altogether a great book. I highly recommend it. :)

Jane Summer has keenly captured a very specific moment in place and time in her story of Paige's growing up in Hell in the 70's: the music, the rhythm of daily life in the 'burbs, and of course the cars! At the same time, the interior story of Paige's sexual and romantic coming of age is in the best sense timeless.

The book took me back; the book moved me. Long live Paige, may she flourish!

This book is really good. It showed all the problems and hardships people have when they're away from home. So this book had a lot of action to it, was fun, and had a lot of humor. Good job you're doing, Ms.Martin, and keep up the good work!

This summer, the Baby-sitters and a whole bunch of the kids they sit for are goingg to Camp Mohawk! With the girls as counselors-in-training, and the kids as campers, it'll be just like baby-sitting-in the woods!

The Baby-Sitters soon discover that camp isn't just nature walks and making lanyards. Dawn gets lost in the wilderness overnight. kristy learns how to use mascara, and Mary Anne gets caught sneaking over to the boys' side of the camp. Stacey spends the two weeks with poison ivy... and Claudia falls in love with a boy CIT.

This is one summer vacation the Baby-sitters will never forget!

I thought this book was about the best super special ever. The Baby-sitters go to camp Mohawk. The Baby-Sitters go as Cits and Jessi and Mallory go as Junior Cits. All the baby-sitters (except Mall and Jessi) end up making new friends because there in different cabins.The other Cits Mary Anne meets don't believe she has a boyfriend so she sneaks around the lake to the boys side to deliver a letter to Logan. Dawn gets lost while overnight camping trip with her cabin. The other Cits in Krist's cabin cabin decide she needs a makeover.Stacey gets poison Ivy and has to spend most of her trip in the infirmary. Claudia meets the boy of her dreams. Mallory and Jessi have to put together a play for the parents on the last day of camp.None of the girls can wait for the CIT dance. Does Stacet have Lyme disease,will Claudia meet the boy of her dreams,will Logan dump mmmary Anne, will Dawn find her way back,will Jessi and Mallory have the play ready for the parents,will Kristy refuse to go to the dance and will the Baby-sitters ever hear from there new friend again after camp. Read the book,I know you will absolutely LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEE it.

I liked this book. Kristy should have told the campers to leave her alone about makeup. Claudia likes a boy named Will, Mary Anne's campers try to perice her ears(Gross), Stacey gets poisen ivy, Dawn gets lost in the woods, and Jessi and Mallory can't do anything right. There's even two chapters about... Logan! Neat!

This book should be required reading for all field grade colonels on up. In meticulous detail it details the failing of military strategy in Vietnam because clear goals were not identified and political support obtained for same. It correctly identifies the limitations of military power, which cannot "win hearts and minds" but only bury them. The best tribute to this book is that every Americal military leader fighting a war after this book was published has followed the the letter and tenor of the recommendations set forth in the book. Summers should have recieved numerous decorations for the contributions to military strategy this book contains. Instead he was shunned by the military establishment who nevertheless reads and follows his book, because he had the ordacity in his book to name names and criticize those in power who failed to follow even the most basic military tenets in conducting the Vietnam War. However, long after those leaders are long forgotten, this book will still be required reading for American Military Leaders who do not wish to repeat the mistakes made in the Vietnam War.

Summers recounts an exchange between himself and a former NVA officer some years after the war. It went something like this Summers: "You never defeated us in the field." NVA Officer: "That is true. It is also irrelevant."

I recently saw this bumper sticker on a Vietnam veteran's car: "I don't know what happened. When I left we were winning." To find out what happened, read this book. Summers gives an insightful critique of the strategic failure using the Nine Principles of War and the doctrine of Clausewitz.

I read this book a few years before the Gulf War, and as I watched that war unfold, I kept "On Strategy's" teachings in mind. It seemed to me at the time that those charged with the conduct of the Gulf War effort were applying "On Strategy's" doctrine chapter and verse. Read the book and review the Gulf War effort, and see if you don't agree.

One of the enduring ironies of military history--and the history of military thought--is that the most profound analysis, clearest insights, and most enduring illumination of the principles and practice of warfare has been accomplished by military professionals of relatively modest rank.

To the distinguished list of Colonel Clausewitz, Captain Mahan, and Captain Hart, add Colonel Harry Summers.

ON STRATEGY is certainly the most important book on military theory to appear since WWII and is perhaps the most important work of this century. Potential purchasers need have no fear that this book will be out-of-print for the foreseeable future; the presses will keep running because ON STRATEGY will be required reading in every military academy in the world for many decades.

ON STRATEGY is "about" the Vietnam War in much the same way that Clausewitz is "about" the Napoloenic Wars or that Mahan is "about" 18th-century naval struggles between France and England. That is, Summers uses the Vietnam War as a vehicle for analysis and illustration of principles of war that apply universally.

Aside from the clarity of his thought, Summers' most remarkable achievement is his writing style: For all of its subtlety, this book is accessible and valuable for readers who may have little background in military affairs.

At the end of WW II, the United States created special five-star ranks to honor it most senior commanders for their contributions to victory.

A book review is a poor substitute for a richly-deserved star to reward extraordinary service to the nation. But for his brilliant analysis and articulate writing, pin Five Stars on Harry Summars' collar.

- - - - - - - - -

The reviewer is a former military intelligence analyst.

I read this book when I was a young girl, and fell in love with it. I thought it was so sweet and emotional. I've been looking for it to share with my daughter because I believe it was from a time when life was simple and less threatening. More young people should read it. I also saw the movie, a long time ago and think it's a terric story!

The poignant story of one boy's coming of age during the first American summer of World War II. The drugstore scene alone is worth the read. If you want to understand how 15 year old boys think, read this book.

This is a great book that was a bestseller when it was first published in the early seventies. It was made into a beautifully evocative movie starring a cast of then newcomers including Jennifer O'Neill, Gary Grimes, Jerry Houser and Oliver Conant. It is a story of coming of age in America's first summer of WW II.

The "Terrible Trio" are three fifteen year olds from a Brooklyn neighborhood who spend the "summer of '42" on an island off the coast of Maine. It is about their yearnings, their misadventures, their fumblings with the fairer sex and their own newly discovered physical desires. The three are Hermie, Oscy and Benjie. When you read the book, it is obvious that Hermie is the author, Herman Raucher.

While the setting makes the story dated by today's standards, the story line itself is timeless and universal for the simple reason that this is a tale about coming of age. It is the story of Hermie's experiencing that rite of passage that all of us go through at one time or another.

But Hermie doesn't experience this summer in a vacuum; along for the ride are Oscy (his best friend) and his next to best friend, Benjie. With the three friends at book's center, Raucher tells hilarious tales of what the boys do to while away the empty hours of summer days in coastal New England.

There is the scene where Benjie reveals that he has discovered a "sex manual" and then warns his two buddies not to paw the book because "his mother might check for fingerprints." There is another well written scene where the three desperadoes attempt to pick up dates at the entrance to the local movie theater. Once inside, Hermie tries to "get some" and well......Let's just say the scene is funny in a poignant way.

The main object of Hermie's yearnings is a young war bride named Dorothy, whom Hermie sees on the beach one day. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. When I saw the movie in 1971 as a 17 year old college freshman and saw Jennifer O'Neill cast as Hermie's great love, I knew how Herman Raucher must have felt when he lived through his summer of '42. Raucher's description of Dorothy's beauty and innocence (set during a time when her young husband is a young Army Air Corps officer flying over Germany)is beautiful to read. After she meets Hermie and he continues to show up at odd (but somehow convenient) times, Raucher does a wonderful job of describing the budding relationship. There is a wonderful scene where Hermie runs into Dorothy at the market and offers to carry her grocery bags. What he doesn't realize is just how far he will have to carry them. He is a man on a mission but in a teenage boy's body. She is a young bride of 22 and he is smitten with someone too old for him and too married. But Hermie perseveres. Or does he?

Hermie's rite of passage comes when he least expects it and it is truly a case of being in the right place at the right time (or wrong place depending on your point of view). What happens is that Hermie finds himself and eventually is forced to realize that he is not the same person who woke up 24 hours before. Dorothy is his first love and the one he will never forget. The reader/viewer never will either.

As Hermie/Herman returns to the present (which was then 1970), he tells the reader, "life is made up of small comings and goings and for everything we take with us, there is something we must leave behind. Not an altogether brilliant or original concept, but a comforting one. In the summer of '42, we raided the Coast Guard station five times, had nine days of rain and in a very special way, I lost Hermie forever."

This book is one of those beautiful but rare novels that an entire generation discovers and stays with them a lifetime. It is also a timeless story of what it means to grow up, even if you have to do it a little before you planned.

Lengthy and well written, but a disappointment in theme. In the era that this book was originally published, the general theme may have been better received as a true pioneer in women's literature; however, I had a hard time sympathizing with a woman who seemed to take no joy in her life at all. Are we supposed to associate her manly ability to work and take joy in the cultivation of fields, her inability to forgive a mistake made by her husband, her inability to cope with her children or to deal with anything in the sphere of the periodic woman's world as virtue? I found what was described as a precocious child to grow into a selfish adult who shuns her responsibilities. "Judith" does not exhibit resourcefulness and by mid to end of the book wallows in her plight by acting out and against her family and neighbors. She is not a likeable character: she is self centered. I do not consider this a prototype of the Feminist novel, because I believe feminism is only defined by positive action toward the betterment of the woman's experience. Judith does nothing to better her earthly stead. She's a jerk.

This book was very moving to me as I thought back on my mother's role in my life growing up on a farm. Though not near as stark or hard as the main character's, Judith, it was fairly brutal at times. I love my mother more for having experienced this book.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Judy's story is told with humanity but without sentimentality. Never has life in rural Kentucky been more searingly told. Judy's transition from tomboy is real, and our own lives' disappointments and grinds seem frivilous next to the struggles these people live with daily. However toward the end of the book, one character tells what he loves about his life and where he lives, and the beauty of the area comes alive. The smells and sounds of rural living.

i really didnt like this book. i found the characters to be dull, unengaging and cliched and the plot to be standard.
the whole thing reminded me of one of those preteen point horror books i used to read when i was younger; shallow, unoriginal and patronising.
suffice to say i will not be buying any more of this author's books.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I loved the characters, the small-town setting, the era, everything about it. Norris Church Mailer has written a remarkable debut novel. The reader can't help but get caught up in the trials and tribulations of Cherry & her best friend, "Baby", as they come of age in the late 60's while the boys from town go off to war, Cherry experiences first love, the body of their friend is discovered and the murderer's identity remains a mystery. . . no wonder Cherry longs for the good old days when she and Baby's lives and friendship were uncomplicated and unthreatened. This is a very enjoyable read, and though summer in my part of the world has just ended I think this book would be the perfect choice to throw into that beach bag!

This well written novel brings to mind a time my generation will not forget. Vietnam, Height Ashbury, flower power and the coming of age, such powerful memories that time can't erase.

Cherry and Baby have been best friends since grade school. Secrets and dreams have been shared with both girls believing there is nothing they don't know about the other. How wrong they both are. When the body of an old classmate turns up in the river, the little town of Sweet Water Arkansas is no longer that quiet little place where nothing ever happens. The murder of Carlene Moore is the catalyst that raises suspicion among the towns people and brings back the killing memories of war to those who experienced Vietnam.

Each chapter pulls together bits and pieces of the story of Windchill Summer, culminating in an ending that is hard to forget. This is not only a love story but one filled with mystery and suspense. Unforgettable characters that stayed with me long after the last page made this a 5 Star book and one I would highly recommend.

Lacking the crisp focus of Death in the Afternoon this work still has many wonderful parts and should be read by anyone with an interest in Hemingway or bullfighting. Written near the end of his life the book rambles at points but still treats the principal subject, the competition between two legendary Spanish Matadors, with the studied Hemingway eye. His descriptions of Franco's Spain provides an interesting overall context for this account.

Considered literary non-fiction, this is the account of the 1959
season of bullfighting in Spain and the intense competition between
two competing matadors for the glory of that season. It is his last
major work at age 60; he killed himself the following year.

In an
introduction by James Mitchner, it is explained that this piece was
commissioned by Life Magazine. The assignment was for Hemmingway to
revisit the bullfights he had written about in his classic novel
"Death in the Afternoon" published in 1940. Hemingway was
supposed to write 10,000 words for the article. Instead, he submitted
120,000 words. It was edited down to 70,000 words and ran in three
installments.

This book I read, however, was only about 45,000 words
and focuses specifically on the particular contests between two
competing matadors who happened to be brothers in law. Hemingway had
a personal relationship with both of them and brings the reader to the
dinners and the parties as well as to the infirmary after a goring,
the painful healing process in Spanish hospitals that do not
administer painkillers, the long rides on bad roads between bullfights
and the dirt and heat and fatigue and glory.

I have not read much of
Hemingway and knew nothing at all about bullfighting when I started
reading. Yet, by the end of the book a portrait of the author emerges
as well as an understanding of the history, tradition choreographed
performance of skill that occurs in the bull ring. Somehow, I was
able to move beyond my personal feelings about the slaughter of the
bull, and get into the mindset of Hemingway and the people of Spain,
where bullfighting is a national passion.

It has to do with courage.
And it has to do with facing death.

Hemmingway said it all it better
than I ever could:

"This was Antonio's regular appointment with
death that we had to face every day. Any man can face death but to be
committed to bring it as close as possible while performing certain
classic movements and do this again and again and again and then deal
it out yourself with a sword to an animal weighing half a ton which
you love is more complicated than facing death."

The Dangerous Summer is truely a consuming work of Hemingways. Drawing you in a not letting go until he decides to let you go. Very colorful and descriptive the only draw back being the bias created by the friendship of Hemingway and Ordonez. This is a must read.

As a fan of Love Stories, I look forward to each book. This one is a little different than those standard ones. It's great, and romantic, but it just isn't real life. I can understand how it is that Sara becomes obssessed with Josh, to the point of lying and claming her friend Tim is her boyfriend. Of course, we all know the ending... Sara and Tim live happily ever after. It's getting there that's the problem. After Sara basically lies her way through life and uses Tim's friendship to her advantage, Tim has to have a bashed ego. But when Sara says that she loves him, all is forgotten and they hug and kiss and yadda, yadda, yadda. Had it been a little more realistic, don't you think Tim's anger should have lasted more than one page? Other than that, the book is great. Kudos to the author! :)

This is an awesome book. I read some of the other Love Stories books and was thinking maybe i shouldn't read this one. I did and it is my favorite. I could hardly put it down. If u want a good book to read this one.

Don't listen to the people who say this book stinks, because it's THE BEST! This girl, Sara, has a short relastionship with a cute boy from camp during summer. Then, her mother shocks her when she tells her she's going to live with her dad for a year in Florida(while her mom goes to Tokyo!) which "happens" to be the state Josh (the boy from camp) lives in! So then, she's ecstatic when she sees Josh in the halls of her school, but she's devasted to find out Josh has a girlfriend, and does what any self-respecting female would do-told Josh she had a boyfriend.

Tim (Sara's "boyfriend") is so good at being a "boyfriend" Sara wonders if Josh is still *all that*. But when a huge disaster happens at a party, Sara knows that Josh just won't cut it.