The cover of this beautifully hardbound book features a slot to add your child's photograph. The interior lined pages are perfect for recording your little one's dreams, jokes, tall tales and epiphanies on the world you both share.

With ample space for written descriptions, the journal offers provocative questions that will inspire a veritable biography. Thought-provoking questions include: What's the best thing about you? Is there anything that you used to be afraid of but you're not anymore? If you could have anyone in the world as a friend, who would it be? What's the hardest thing about raising children? Are you hard or easy to raise? If you were to take a spaceship to the moon, what 3 things from home would you make sure to bring with you?

"The World According To" is the perfect means for preserving your child's unique thoughts and feelings on life, throughout her life. This book would make a thoughtful gift for new parents and grandparents. Completed journals serve as cherished mementos to be presented at graduations, weddings, and first baby showers. This is guaranteed to remain a treasured keepsake for generations to come.

--Reviewed by Deborah Shelton, author of The Five Minute Parent: Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones

Thanks to Ed Roman, et al for the most comprehensive book about EJB technology. I would strongly recommend this book to the community.

P.S. Don't forget to download the source code from TheServerSide.com and enjoy testing what you have learnt!

This is a "HARDCORE" book on EJB's, it goes into the deepest details regarding EJB design like Clustering and Transaction issues while avoiding the pitfall of detailing a certain Application Server.It also has great introductory tutorials on other EJB issues like JNDI and CORBA-IIOP, where other books seem to fall short.

The other subject I found especially helpful was the best practices section, this shows that the authors have "on-hands" knowledge of builing EJB Systems, and gives you some incite on difficult to grasp concepts.

All in all, this book is centered on "the issues", not the hype or Application Server.

The book covers not only the core EJB features (EJBs, transactions, security, deployment/environment), but also has chapters on clustering, best practices, how to choose an app. server, and how to organize an EJB project team. None of these additional chapters goes deep into the subject, but each provides an excellent overview and introduction. Since these topics are often barely mentioned, the 100+ pages devoted to these subjects is a welcome addition.

The easy reading plus the breadth of coverage for related subjects makes this the BEST book for someone new or relatively new to EJBs.

Even if you have experience with EJBs, this book is still useful. The addtional subjects, particularly the best practices, can teach an old dog some new tricks. The clear explanations in the book even helped me to explain the subject better to my students.

The entire play takes place in Illyria. In the main plot, Orsino is in love with Olivia, who unfortunately does not return his feelings. Viola is shipwrecked on the Illyrian coast, and dressed as a boy, comes to serve in Orsino's court, where she of course falls in love with Orsino. Meanwhile, in Olivia's court, some of her courtiers plan a cruel--but funny--practical joke against her pompous steward Malvolio. There is also a third plot later on involving Viola's twin brother Sebastian, who has been shipwrecked likewise. Naturally things get quite confusing, but, true to Shakespeare's comedic style, everything gets worked out in the end.

This is an enjoyable book to read, and the notes are very helpful. However, it is still better as a performance.

All of this sounds interesting and it is to a point. The problem with the book is that it is TOO comprensive to be a truly good read. Bridges spends a couple of hundred pages painstakingly recounting every aspect of the dealmaking that took place, far more than will hold the attention of most readers. Only in the book's last hundred pages does he finally get to the Edward DeBartolo riverboat deal which was ultimately Governor Edwards' downfall. Bridges provides a good perspective of the state's long history with gambling, but his insistance of recounting the entire life history of just about every player slows his story down. Interestingly, he give the least amount of space to his least compelling argument; that of the people who become addicted to gambling. He recounts the stories of a few working class and middle class people who blew their life savings either on the poker machines or in the casinos. He lets stand without comment one woman's ridiculous assertion that state of Louisina is to blame for her losing $100,000 on $2 video poker bets. Excuse me lady, but no one put a gun to your head and forced you to make those bets.

Overall, "Bad Bet on the Bayou" is a story that needed to be told as a warning to other municipalities enamored with the potential financial windfall of legalized gambling. Unfortunately, the book's narrative is not as good as its subject.

Most of the pieces are short, so it's a good book for readers with limited attention spans. The book also has a magazinelike format: the pages are bordered, and there are insets and decorative separators between chunks of text.

I was delighted to learn that two columnists I admire, Miss Manners (Judith Martin) and Edith Lank, who writes about real estate and appears in our local house-and-garden section every Sunday, are big fans. That explains why I like them.

There's quite a lot of information in this book in spite of its "light" look, and it's entertaining, but if you prefer sustained discussion and development, you'll want to choose another book.

Anne Tyler mines the lives of an ordinary, middle-class Baltimore family and achieves extraordinary effects in Saint Maybe, arguably her best novel.

Saint Maybe traces the subtle, yet complete transformation of Ian Bedloe, a genial 17-year-old paralyzed with guilt after he plays a role in the "accidental" death of his older brother. Searching for relief, Ian discovers the Church of the Second Chance, a new purpose for his life, and eventual redemption.

Like many of Tyler's previous works, including The Accidental Tourist and the Pulitzer-Prize winning Breathing Lessons, Saint Maybe examines how unpredictable events jolt even the most mundane lives. In the aftermath of domestic tragedy, the Bedloe family declines and rallies in ways that are occasionally shocking, yet completely logical. The depiction of Ian's evolution is especially masterful; while his transformation is both radical and extraordinary, never once does it seem unrealistic or strained.

The joy of reading Saint Maybe lies largely in its endearing, familiar characters: as in other Tyler novels, they are sometimes foolish, frequently eccentric, and always thoroughly human. Even minor players get their turn in the spotlight: the awkward foreign graduate students who live near the Bedloes; the overeager yet supportive parishioners at the Church of the Second Chance. In this novel, every character, however bumbling or marginal, has important lessons to deliver.

Therein lies Tyler's greatest strength: the compassion and humor with which she examines both her characters and the mundane world in which they live. She finds lyricism and meaning everywhere: in her capable hands, musty linen closets, spiritless summer camp, and even a late night trip to the grocery store become imbued with significance. Saint Maybe is both luminous and sublime: a beautiful tribute to the drama of the commonplace.

Jordan --heard recently on the syndicated talk show STRICTLY BOOKS hosted by Dan Vojir on the TALKAMERICA Radio Networks-- is clear, concise and detailed as well as entertaining on his subject and engages the reader to eat heartily into the amazing history of the world's favorite madcap Aunt.

Rarely do I sit with a book and read it directly through... well, actually, I did have to sleep, as I picked the book up at 11:00 pm and found myself not able to pry myself away. When the clock chimed 3:00 am, I had to climb into bed, not starving, but still hungering to feast from Richard Tyler Jordan's chronicle.

Upon waking, I devoured the rest of the novel and was reminded once more why I --and millions of others-- have fallen in love with this incredible woman. From when my mom --who in her youth bore a striking resemblence to Rosalind Russell-- first gave me the book to read in my teens to recently sharing the movie --again-- with family and friends, Auntie Mame has been an endearing and treasured member of my family.

Richard Tyler Jordan illuminates this luminescent creature further and fills our appetites at this smorgasboard of Mame Dennis Burnside's history and it is highly recommended to anyone who has been captured by the charm, grace and whackiness of this truly elegant and lovely lady. Pick up a copy and keep yourself from starving from a deficiency of Mame in your literary diet... and in her immortal words, "Live!"

Michael Ward aka MiklBear@aol.com

The hardcover is easily stained, and the black center easily rubs off and gets everywhere, not to mention it makes the book look incredibly beat up. (if you think the paperback is a solution, don't. A paperback of this size shouldn't even be touched.) I've only had mine for a year and it already looks like I've owned it for twenty. It isn't like I trashed it either - I always take very good care of my books.

I'm rather ambivalent about the quality of the translation. On the one hand, having read Waley's translation, Seidenstickers seems to be the one that is truer to Murasaki's original - he adds no extra language to what she was trying to say - however I have come across a few sentences that are obviously faulted, as they make absolutely no sense. Being very few in number, it hardly presents a problem, but never the less, it can cause some minor confusion.

Now, the story itself. The Tale of Genji is over 1000 years old. I must say it is simply fascinating just to own a copy of a piece of history. The Tale of Genji is incredibly captivating and haunting, beautiful and at times difficult to follow - but that makes it all the more enjoyable. You almost have to study it if you wish to fully understand it - and I'm a scholarly type, so I at least find that enjoyable.

All I would really say in warning is that you should have at least a bit of an understanding of Japanese and ancient Japanese culture - because the behavior of the characters, particularly the men, might rub the average westerner the wrong way.

The poor durability of the cover and the few sentence flawes forced me to take off a star. At least the sentences don't make any real difference, or it would be horrid. I myself plan to own all the translations of the Tale of Genji, so this is a must. And even if you are not, it is not a bad buy at all. Just make sure you take extra, extra care of it. :)

Many people might be surprised that although Genji was written by a woman, it focuses almost exclusively on men--first Genji, then his two "sons" (one natural, one adopted). However, look closely at the characters of Murasaki and the Akashi lady, as well as Genji's stepmother and several other ladies throughout the course of the novel. They indirectly control the course of the lives of the men around them.

The Tale of Genji should be read by every serious student of literature, as it is the first novel. However, that distinction is the least of the book's numerous merits.