Fiction Literature Books

The story begins with the very unlikable Kitty Fane. She is selfish, vain, and is bored with her husband. After an adulterous affair, Kitty travels with her husband to an area stricken by cholera.

Kitty begins to work in the nearby convent while the nuns nurse those stricken with the disease. During this time, Kitty attempts to repair her broken marriage. Just when she begins to make amends, tragedy strikes. Kitty is left alone to face her demons.

I enjoyed watching Kitty's character evolve throughout the story. I first noticed the change when she began embracing the orphans in her care instead of being repulsed by them. She begins to understand that, in the face of so much suffering, her problems are very small. Kitty begins to empathize with others and make better choices. In the end, Kitty is stronger than she realizes and her tragedy is really the beginning of a new life.

I was captivated from the first page to the last.

The Painted Veil pits amiable but unscrupulous fools against tormented souls, has a duly sarcastic starting-point, and is set in far-away, warlord-era China; in short, it has the ingredients for vintage Maugham.

The book begins in Hong Kong, with an adultery scene. Kitty Fane is beautiful, shallow, and calculating. She soon finds her match in Charles Townsend, a vain and cynical but popular colonial official - and in her own husband, the lover's very photo-negative, who drags her through plague-ridden country in revenge. The story is that of her spiritual transformation. It can even be read to show women's superior ability for moral elevation.

The Painted Veil is full of Maugham's innumerable human insights, and it is filled with danger, physical and psychological. This is an easy to read, absorbing novel. Readers expecting lush visions of warlord-era China to jump from the page, though, will need to look in another place. The "native" country is distant, dream-like and morbid, seen through the eyes of the heroine, whose preoccupations are elsewhere. It is only peered at from the height of a curtained palanquin. Indeed, the novel paints the superficial and self-centred expatriate community of Hong-Kong much more than it does labouring China; as such, it probably remained true to life until very recent times.

'The Painted Veil' is certainly a deceptive literary masterpiece. From a 30,000 ft view the story sounds a bit boring: spoiled British woman, circa 1920, hastily marries a total bore, moves to Hong Kong and gets into a bit of hanky-panky with married self-centered turd, then is hijacked to the boonies by hubby to help the misfortunate Chinese cope with a cholera epidemic. Yawn. And indeed the first third of 'The Painted Veil', while certainly quality literature, is hardly enthralling.

Thankfully the author is simply WONDERFUL in capturing raw human emotion and how the human spirit can change. Our bratty, slutty leading lady goes through hell and is eventually transformed in remarkable, and believable ways. No, she doesn't become a saint. But her maturation is remarkable. I am left in *total awe* at how the author got away with producing a real corker of a novel in so few pages with relatively little in the way of action.


Bottom line: a little known masterpiece. Brilliant.

After her husband discovers her adulterous affair, Kitty is forced to accompany him to a cholera-infested city of mainland China. Surrounded by death, Kitty recognizes her own poor character and undergoes a personal transformation. As her husband works to eradicate the cholera epidemic from dawn to dusk every day, Kitty is left with plenty of time for self-reflection. Eventually, she learns the benefits of hard work and comes to terms with her marriage. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. The story was quick-paced, and I connected with the strong female protagonist, especially after she gained insight into her prior shallowness. I can see why some consider this book to be a feminist work. I also enjoyed the complex relationship between Kitty and her husband. I only wish Maugham had used his exotic settings (Hong Kong and then mainland China) to more effect. Interestingly, this novel has been adapted for the screen three times (in 1934, 1957, and 2006). Read this one.

I saw the movie first and loved it, then went out bought the book and read it. Hated the book!!!! It was nothing like the movie, relationships that you thought would be described better in the book did not even exist! If you have seen the movie and love it don't read the book it will ruin your experience. However, if you have not yet seen the movie then you will probablly enjoy the book.

Love the book! Great for kids. My son thinks the story is so funny!!

As a writer and a creator of children's stories, Dr. Seuss was absolutely brilliant; there is no doubt about that. But his childish view of of the Cold War, at his age, is unforgivable. Likening the difference between freedom and Communism to the difference between the location of butter on bread is frustrating, and demonstrates once again how our American celebrities are unbelievably idealistic and out of touch with the realities of the world.

This is what my 8 year old son got out of reading The Butter Battle Book and that you should always accept peoples differences. It is one of his favorite books and it is timeless.

Dr Seuss reaks of fun. I have never read a Dr Seuss book I didn't like!!

This is not appropriate book for young children. It's a bit violent with too much political undercurrents. The rhythm and rhyme are off as well. Choose another Seuss book.

This is a well written book on how to write your characters. I found it really helpful when it comes to making my characters fuller.

This is one of the best books in the series of Elements of Fiction Writing. Besides all the good information it provides, it inspired me to write more than I have while reading other books. This is a good one.

A well written, easy to read tool. Wish I had the use of it years ago.

Orson Scott Card is a master story teller, so it's great to learn from him. It's one of the basic books for learning how to construct your characters. You'll need others though, like The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines (Paperback)
by Tami D. Cowden

One of the best books on writing I've found so far. Detailed, clear, encouraging. Other reviewers complain that it is too "formula." It's not- it's usable. Big difference.

I say that it take a certain kind of genius to breakdown intuitive concepts into usable parts. Character is intuitive, it's all about understanding human beings and there is nothing simple about that.

Buy it. You'll be nodding you head the whole time in agreement. And you'll also be kicking yourself that you needed so much help with something so familiar to you- people. Worth every penny.

I'm a college student that has read plenty of classic American novels and when a teacher gave Kokoro to the class. I was kinda intrigued but the first 50 pages made me feel like i was wasting my life away and i convinced my friend to read me a couple pages so i wouldn't have to look at it. I read the book in four days and I'm ready to torch it because i could sell it back to the bookstore for $3 but I don't want anyone to suffer like i did.

This is an absolute classic in Japanese literature & full of truth and wisdom. This is a bible.

this book is a classic in japan, how eer i think its kind of dull, I had to read this book for a history class, it gives a good perspective of japan during the 1900's.

A young student befriends an older man in Tokyo. The older one's intellectual abilities, and his sophistication gains him the title of 'Sensei' - roughly approximating 'teacher' or 'master' - from the younger one.

Though he likes him well enough, Sensei does nothing to encourage the young man's growing attachment to him. This only increases the student's interest in Sensei's life, who responds finally to his overtures of friendship and respect thus: 'I do not want your admiration now, because I do not want your insults in the future. I bear with my loneliness now in order to avoid greater loneliness in the years ahead. You see, loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves'.

The novel is structured in three parts. The first two are narrated by the student, and the third is a 'testament' in letter form by Sensei, outlining the story of his life, and explaining why he has for so long withdrawn from the outside world.

Sensei's testament is a profound self-examination and self-criticism, mostly revolving around his selfish and manipulative actions, in his own student days, when he and his friend (a fellow student) were both in love with the same girl (now Sensei's wife). This behaviour leads, in the end, to catastrophic results for his friend. From that period on, though Sensei has appeared outwardly normal and happy, his life has been completely blighted.

What makes the novel such a significant work for Western readers (other than its literary excellence) is the distinctly Japanese point of view it brings to an old story. This new perspective brings up a large number of worrying (because unanswerable) questions. How much, for instance, does Sensei's failure to forgive himself for his earlier mistakes arise from his culture's sense of 'honour', and how much from human nature?

Kokoro translates as 'the heart of things', a perfect title for a book that delicately, subtly and finally disturbingly, probes the mystery that is the core of human life.

By using his experiences living in the late Meiji period of Japan, Natsume Soseki wrote an insightful novel entitled "Kokoro," which was translated in English language by Edwin McClellan. The book is broken into three sections, "Sensei and I," "My Parents and I," and "Sensei and His Testament." The first section reveals the first interaction between the Student and Sensei at the beach, their conversations, and the college graduation of the Student. The second section deals with the life of the Student's home in the countryside of Japan, his father's illness, and the receiving of Sensei's last letter. And the last part of the novel is a letter from Sensei to the Student in which he discusses his dark past and why he decided to meet his end. From reading "Kokoro," one can get an understanding of how modern social transformation influenced Japanese life.

To show as an example: when a person lives through two different eras, it can alter his feelings and his sense of living in the Japanese society. In a sense, the transformation can alter one's sense of identification with his country. In Kokoro, the character Sensei has a lack of identification with Japan in terms of where he fits in the society, which partly leads to his deep loneliness. Since the fall of Tokugawa Japan and the Samurai class, there may have been number of people who refused to change their ways or move on toward the new Japanese society, which was the Meiji era.

But, toward the end of the Meiji period, the new change called the "modern era" was approaching, which created an effect on people who were already born in the Meiji era. As a man filled with guilt, fear, and loneliness, Sensei felt that he should leave the world physically due to the fact that he had no place in the new modern Japan. One example in the novel which best explains loneliness as a result of the modern transformation is when Sensei expressed his insight to the Student: "loneliness is the price we have to pay for being born in this modern age, so full of freedom, independence, and our own egotistical selves," which was a comment that made the Student stood speechless and kept silence (p. 30).

The novelist Natsume Soseki wrote an insightful work, with a clear read as translated by Mr. McClellan. With a humble opinion, this book is given as five stars and to be recommended.

For me at first the novel started pretty good, and was quite one of the best I ever read, but from the half part of the book on after the french invasion of Russia, I was shocked to see so much historicals inaccuracies, and descriptions that seemed more and more propagandistic. For example his description of Napoleon, as a tiny egocentric man, that believes his own lies, and this is the secret from his victory, obviuosly seem more of Russian propaganda than anything else. And besides the Battle of Borodino, WAS A FRENCH VICTORY, and a Russian one, like Tolstoy try to makes us think....... Perhaps this is because of the time were he lived..... In summary buy it if you want to hear a great story about human nature. But take it as a fiction, as hardly anything Tolstoy says may be actually considered truth in a historical sense.

I'm suprised not to see anyone mention Rosemary Edmonds' translation of this masterful work. Her translation, published by Penguin Classics, is really quite good, and reads smoothly, and it seems accurate to what Tolstoy would have considered his message. I highly recommend this translation of War and Peace.

Leo Tolstoy combines philosophy and history for one of the best fictional stories about a historical event that I have read. The plot is captivating from the beginning. A glimpse at the high society of Russia in the early 1800's followed by the story of the lives of the families at that gathering. The story of the Rostov's captures all the human emotions. The excitement of Nikolay at his first battle, only to be overcome by cowardice. The maturing of Nikolay into a courageous soldier. To see the same cycle beginning in his brother Petya. The life and death experiences of Prince Andrey and Pierre that shed light into the character of men. But throughout this story, Tolstoy inserts his cynical view of historians and government. Tolstoy does not love Napolean or think of him as a great commander, nor does Tolstoy give him credit for leading the French army to victories. Additionally, he criticizes the actions of government officials and military leaders for their brutality to their citizens and soldiers. I can only begin to describe the plot and the multiple story lines in War and Peace, but I assure you this novel will captivate you. The brilliance of Tolstoy is demonstrated in this novel and I highly recommend it.

This review is broken down into two segments, a Descriptive Summary and two Evaluative Summaries, one each for the Garnett and Dunnigan translations. If you're already very familiar with the story of "War and Peace," you may wish to skip directly to the latter facets of my review which are essentially the critique of both the Constance Garnett and Ann Dunnigan translations. Since Amazon does not differentiate between the two translations, I've had to post both reviews at this single site.

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY:

In 1805, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Austria to expand his European empire. Russia, being an ally of Austria, stood with their brethren against the infamous Emperor. Napoleon prevailed and a treaty was ultimately signed at Tilsit. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, again in an effort to expand his empire. The end result of this tragic war was that Napoleon's army of about 600,000 soldiers was reduced to roughly 60,000 men as the defamed Emperor raced from Moscow (which he had taken), back across the frozen Russian tundra in his carriage (leaving his troops behind to fend for themselves) for Paris. That encapsulizes the military aspect of this work.

But the more intricate story involves both the activities and the peccadillos of, primarily, three Russian families of nobility: The Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Bezukhovs. The continual thorn of "The Antichrist," Napoleon, really just provides the wallpaper for this story of romance, riches, desolation, love, jealousy, hatred, retribution, joy, naïveté, stupidity, hubris, and so much more.

Tolstoy has woven an incredibly intricate web that interconnects these noble families, the wars, and the common Russian people to a degree that would seem incomprehensible to achieve - but Tolstoy perseveres with superb clarity and great insight to the human psyche. His characters are timeless and the reader who has any social experience whatever will immediately connect with them all.

"War and Peace" is a fictional, lengthy novel, based upon historical fact.

In his double Epilogue, Tolstoy yields us a shrewd dissertation on the behavior of large organizations, much of it by way of analogy. It's actually an oblique, often sarcastic, commentary on the lunacy of government activities and the madness of their wars.


EVALUATIVE SUMMARY (Garnett):

The Garnett translation has probably come under more fire than any of the others, purportedly for inaccuracies of what Tolstoy supposedly actually said. This is possibly true, but as I do not speak Russian, I can neither confirm nor deny this allegation. But I will point out that there are two types of translations -- the one is rigid and runs word for word correctly, and the second type focuses more upon manifesting the essence of a story... The Big Picture, so to speak. The Garnett translation falls into the latter category.

I can make one particular and certain observation regarding this volume: Garnett's handling of the more poetic and epic events in the novel is masterful. Even if her translation is not word-for-word correct, I'm sure that she was very plugged into the vision which Tolstoy was trying to convey. You'll see this actuality blossom in the following places, for instance: "Petya's dream"; the view of Moscow on the morning of Napoleon's approach; the "mirror-scrying" episode between Natasha and Sonya; the wolf hunt... and so on. I think it's "The Woman's Touch," coming through, which is a good thing.

Constance Garnett published her version of "War and Peace" in 1904, so this was one of the early ones. Other translations into English include:

Clara Bell (from a French version) 1885-86
W. H. Dole 1889
Leo Wiener 1904
Louise and Aylmer Maude (1922-3)
Princess Alexandra Kropotkin (abridged, 1949)
Manuel Komroff (abridged, 1956)
Rosemary Edmonds (1957, revised 1978)
Ann Dunnigan (1968)
Anthony Briggs (2005)
Andrew Bromfield (2007), (translation of an early draft, approx. 400 pages shorter than other English translations)
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2007)

Wikipedia cites this information about Garnett [edited]:

"She was initially educated at Brighton and Hove High School. Afterwards she studied Latin and Greek at Newnham College, Cambridge on a government scholarship, where she also learned Russian (partly from émigré Russian friends such as Felix Volkonsky [Rubenstein]), and worked briefly as a school teacher.

In 1893, shortly after a visit to Moscow, Petersburg and Yasnaya Polyana where she met Leo Tolstoy, she was inspired to start translating Russian literature, which became her life's passion and resulted in English-language versions of dozens of volumes by Tolstoy, Gogol, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Turgenev, Ostrovsky and Chekhov. The Russian anarchist Sergei Stepniakpartly assisted her, also in revision some of her early works.

By the late 1920s, Garnett was frail, white-haired, and half-blind. She retired from translating after the publication in 1934 of Three Plays by Turgenev. After her husband's death in 1937, she became quite reclusive. She developed a heart condition, with attendant breathlessness, and in her final period had to walk with crutches."

In summary, if you happen to end up with a Garnett translation for your first reading of "War and Peace," I would say that you have been lucky. Some English translations yield the French entries (2% of the book) as Tolstoy entered them, with the English translation of the French following in footnotes. Garnett translated the entire work, with a very few minor exceptions, as a direct read in English, so it's easy to read.

EVALUATIVE SUMMARY (Dunnigan):

To date (7-'08), I have read the following translations of "War and Peace": Louise and Aylmer Maude (1922-23, which I've read twice), Pevear and Volokhonsky (2007), Briggs (2005), Garnett (1904), and now, Dunnigan (1968). I'll be reading the Dole translation (1889) next and then Edmonds (1957, revised 1978), Weiner (1904), and Bell (1885-86) after that. I'm going to read the two abridgements (Kropotkin, 1949; and, Komroff, 1956), as well as Bromfield's "alternative version" (2007, from an early Tolstoy draft), but I want to read all the standard English translations first.

Dunnigan's translation is particularly suited to Americans on the go. I call it the "doctor's office version" because the softcover binding and the size of the book (4" x 7" x 2 1/4") makes it convenient to take along wherever you go.

Ann Dunnigan was born in Hollywood, California and died in 1997 at the age of 87. In addition to Tolstoy books she also translated works by Chekhov and Dostoyevsky.

Dunnigan's work represents the only contemporary "American" English translation of "War and Peace". Thus the American reader will appreciate the straightforward slant on Tolstoy's writing, especially when they encounter phrases such as where a girl, "...plumped down" [on the floor].

American readers also seem to cringe a little when they encounter, in other translations, Russian soldiers calling each other "mate" (Briggs) and when a common response is "Eh?" (Maude and others). Also, with the character Denisov, who clearly suffered from being tongue-tied, Dunnigan gets it right by substituting a "w" where Denisov is trying to pronounce an "r". (Denisov liked to holler out at his fellow Hussar, Rostov... "Hey, Wostov!") In the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation, a "gh" is inserted in such instances which makes no phonetic sense at all.

If I have a problem with the Dunnigan translation at all, it's that I find that she is somewhat less poetic than either Garnett or the Maudes. One can pick up on this caveat at various scenes in the work: "Petya's Dream," "Napoleon looking at Moscow from Sparrow Hills," "Natasha's and Sonya's mirror-scrying episode," "The wolf hunt and the subsequent trip to 'Uncle's' home," "The mummer's episode," and so on. But, nonetheless, the overall story is still clearly and coherently conveyed to the reader.

Dunnigan dispensed with all but a very few historical footnotes. She also rendered almost the entire work in English (she retained just a few common French phrases), unlike some translations which maintain the French text and translate this into English via lengthy footnotes. This French text orginally made up about two percent of the Tolstoy manuscript (the period Russian nobility commonly spoke French as a second language, a carry-over practice of the policies of Catherine the Great.) Readers who wish to have the French language maintained within the regular text and who prefer access to plenty of historical footnotes should acquire the more academic Pevear/Volokhonsky translation. When and where it is important or relevant to know, Dunnigan apprises the reader that the original conveyance was in French.

There is a 16-page introduction to the Dunnigan work, written by Oxford Professor John Bayley, a British literary writer-critic and the husband of renowned fiction writer Iris Murdoch ("A Severed Head"). There is also a one-page "selected bibliography" at the conclusion of the text.

Unless you are reading "War and Peace" for academic purposes the Ann Dunnigan translation would be a great choice, especially for American readers and/or those who enjoy reading in bursts to fill dead time.

The Maudes translated WAR AND PEACE in Tolstoy's house, consulting with him. They did a nice, thorough and very readable job. Meanwhile Tolstoy deliberately wrote in a simple, easy way to reach more readers. So while the Pevear translation may be slightly better (scholars have examined this work for more than a century and picked up translation errors here and there) or slightly worse, you really can't go wrong with the Maudes.

I figured this would be a good introduction to the writings of Nietzsche. While I believe it was, I was sorely disappointed in what I found.

In the first part of the book Nietzsche finds fault with every school of philosophy aside from his own. In this section, he raises several valid concerns about the direction and limitation of philosophy to date. In particular, he points out that philosphy has been tied to the tyrrany of words and word opposites (a favorite trap Plato falls into), and that it often is simply an exercise in edifying one's own pre-existing prejudices. He then acts as a guide to these traps by falling into them. Repeatedly.

For example, he generally mocks other philosophers by posing quotes and then asking what it says about the philosopher rather than the subject matter, but if we take this same process and apply it to Nietzsche's work, we get a sad picture of an antisemitic, misogynistic, power-hungry, racial purist who believes in modernism.

At the same time, having read just before this W. Guthrie's translation of Plato's Protagoran and Meno I found that Nietzsche seemed in my mind to be reinventing (perhaps intentionally) the arguments of the Greek Sophists but seemed vastly inferior in wisdom to Protagoras (interestingly the only philosopher he quotes and does not dismiss off-hand). I found Plato's arguments vastly more convincing than Nietzsche's despite the fact that I managed to identify many logical problems with the same arguments (most notably confusing words and concepts, which Plato seems to do quite frequently).

I suppose Nietzsche's great accomplishment was to essentially to badly re-invent the Greek Sophist traditions which lay to some extent at the origin of European philosophy.

At the same time, this *is* an influential work in the modern world and probably should be read for historical purposes.

Beyond Good and Evil clarifies much of what is left in the air in Thus Spoke Zarathustra and hinted at in the Gay Science. It helps to be familiar with TSZ, or at least the Gay Science coming into reading this text, given the subtlety of the allusions to his former writings and concepts, and the elaborateness of the traps the author lays for cursory readers. For newcomers, hopefully BGE will prove to be a catalyst to further interest in the man's thought; if that's the case you have much to look forward to. Happy hunting.

Nietzsche had issues...That's all I can say about him. The book itself is a pretty easy read. I don't believe this is a prelude though. All in all, a good book.

Abstract open ended type of book with Nietzsche's opinions and beliefs on good and evil. Opinions on 'slave morality', philosophy, the will to power with a little bit of history thrown in the mix.

There were some great quotes in here that I did agree with. Then we come towards the middle of the book that contains the maxims and interludes part and all goes wrong...

There were some things in here I extremely disagreed with... regarding women. Where he came up with this I have no idea but it was completely off base... I can see how many parts of this book could be misinterpreted and used in the wrong way.

He talks about individuality but the truth is this is for people who need to be told what to think. If you think like Nietzsche thinks- you are 'better'- he has the mentality of a nazi.

This book is not as dramatic as Zarathustra but it's close. I think he feels if he stresses his point enough maybe you will believe him. This book is the opposite of religion yet the same- on the other end of the spectrum.

The bottom line is these are HIS opinions and shouldn't be taken as truth or fact. It's not a completely bad book though I disagree with most and wouldn't take it too seriously- its a pretentious piece of work.

Beyond Good And Evil (1886) was German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzche's attempt to completely devalue all religon, science, and philosophy and replace it with a universal reality that allows man's true spirit, his "will to power", to be left unbridled by spirit draining, intellectual, and timid conventions. The human spirit must never be stifled! Let man's passions and desires be set free! Nietzsche rips into Voltaire:

Oh Voltaire! Oh humanity! Oh imbecility! There is some point to 'truth', to the search for truth; and if a human being goes about it too humanely - I wager he finds nothing!

Nietzsche will offend almost everyone who reads Beyond Good And Evil. Women, Christians, and Jews are all portrayed by Nietzsche as either inferior or misguided. He calls working people (and others) "herd-animals" who need a master, and he scorns France at every turn. You can't take everything here to heart. This was written in the 19th century by a very unconventional and passionate existentialist philosopher. Just the same, Nietzsche was a poetic and optimistic visionary of his day who had keen insights into human behavior:

To talk of oneself a great deal can also be a means of concealing oneself.

Who has not for the sake of his reputation - sacrificed himself?

One does not hate so long as one continues to rate low, but only when one has come to rate equal or higher.

Poets behave impudently towards their experiences: they exploit them.

Beyond Good And Evil is a short book of around 230 pages, and Nietzsche has divided his thoughts into 296 aphorisms, some as short as a sentence, and others several pages long.

While Beyond Good And Evil isn't as comprehensive or influential as his "Thus Spake Zarathustra", it does give the reader a basic overview of Nietzsche's philosophy. God has died. Will To Power. Science, religon and philosophy are misleading and glorify weakness and lack of courage. Live passionately, unabated by convention!

Nietzsche and his works aren't for everybody, but Beyond Good And Evil is an important work from one of the most influential and important existentialist philosophers in history. His works have been twisted and misinterpreted (Hitler was a major fan), and while I don't subscribe to his philosophy as a way of life, I admire his poetic spirit, passion, intelligence, and courage to explore unconventional ideas.

Beyond Good And Evil?

"That which is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil."

A great resource to use in math. Wonderful story to keep students fully engaged with calculating math problems throughout the book.

Great math problem for multiplication. Great for showing multiplication of factors.

This picture book is easy to read, and presents two math concepts: the first is counting to ten. The second is factorials: If there are three kingdoms in two countries on one island, then how many kingdoms are there altogether?

Imagining some of the silly scenes (there are how many cupboards in how many rooms?) is a delight.

This book -- or at least the last half of it -- is best for kids who have been introduced to at least basic multiplication facts, but younger kids will enjoy counting and looking at the pictures even if the rest of it is over their heads. It is, therefore, a great book to read to your middle/upper-elementary student while younger siblings are looking on.

A wonderful way to introduce the concept of Factorials. Book can be used year six onwards. A must for any teacher and at least a class set for the school. It will enhance English language learning and fire up kids imagination. Just a wonderful book! What else can I say. Get hold of it and enjoy! Rama

'Nuff said.

This was a pretty good book...That Dante is off the hook!!! And Princess is ruthless...Come on...blow up ur own brother??? All I can say is...I don't wanna be on there bad side...Cant wait for III!!!

I thought this was a great book..I really hated it to end.

I'm hoping for another Deadly Reign's book, real soon!!

I know nothing about this book. My teenage daughter had me to order it for her. At a glance it is not something I would be interested in. But, if it keeps her head in a book, I'll take it. Of course, we compromised. Now she has to read something that I choose.

Once I finished Deadly Reighs 1 I just had to have the sequel and I thought it would've picked up where part one left off. Boy was I wrong! This book lacked a LOT compared to part 1. I skipped half of the book. This book needed serious work!

The entire Reigns family is back in the second of the Trilogy "Deadly Reigns". The Reigns thought they were untouchable, but they seem to be down for the count in this fast paced thriller. When innocent family members are hit, all guns are out! Instead of Princess Reigns playing cat and mouse with her brothers Damian and Dante, they have united to fight an unknown enemy.
Contracts are being put out and the hit men a doing a fine job...the Reigns are dropping like flies!! But who exactly wants the Reigns out of the picture, El Jeffe, the FBI, or is it the commission??? Now, with all the powerful heads of the Reigns family out of the way for a hot minute, who is going to safe guard the family's multibillion dollar empire? Dajon Reigns steps to the forefront while still mourning his precious wife Daisalla. Can he walk in his siblings' powerful shoes or will his rookie disposition be the downfall of the Reigns Roman Empire?

If you've read the first Reigns book, no doubt you will find this second book intriguing, but I was a little disappointed. Grace the undercover FBI agent only had a small part in this book. Grace is one tough cookie and I would have like to have read more on her dodging the Reigns bullets...and less meetings with the commission and El Jeffe.
But with that said...

Terri Woods writes a very descriptive, intriguing novel that had me totally absorbed in each page, especially as ALL the characters have different interesting personalities. Each murder was different from the last one which had me wondering what could she possibly come up with to top the last one...and Terri never disappoints! I also loved the dynamics between Damian and each of his women. Personally I don't think there was enough sex but that's just my opinion.

One last note: How dare Stacia throw that bomb on Damian!!!!!!!!! She should have been shot immediately for keeping that secret from him for so long...
YES, I'm looking forward to the third book!

Locksie
ARC Book Club Inc.

My one year old son and I read every night. The colors and the simplicity of the idea makes it easy for him to understand and learn. So further emphasize the difference in quiet and loud, I use my voice, and he laughs.

I bought this book for my niece who is 16 months. She too can be a quiet and a loud baby at times. This is a great book for toddlers because of the bright colors and length of story.

Both our girls love this book. Our 4 yr old loves reading it to her 18 month old sister too.

My daughter loved the Yummy/Yucky book, and now enjoys the Quiet/Loud book as well (of course she likes the Loud better than the Quiet). Fun illustrations and simple concepts would be appreciated by almost any child.

A friend just bought this book for my son. It is the first book he has ever brought over to me to read. I read the quiet parts in a whisper and then read the loud parts...well, loud. He loves it. He also wants to go get my shoes when I read "Mommy's shoes are LOUD." It is pretty funny. Great book! Also would recommend Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

The Irish elk died out a few millenia ago. Its antlers spanned three meters making it impossible for an Irish Elk to enter a forest to eat or escape a predator. Unfortunately, big antlers were a real turn on for female Irish elks so that sexual selection favoured males with larger antlers, which then grew and grew generation after generation until they became such a burden they drove the Irish elk to extinction.

Kurt Vonnegut's tongue-in-cheek premise is that, from evolution's point of view, our big brains are as useless and dangerous to the human race as antlers were to the Irish elk.

Our big brains help us attract mates and earn a living but they are a expensive drain on our resources: a third of the oxygen we breathe and of the calories we burn are used by the grey matter within our skull. Further, big brains make us do really stupid things (again from the point of view of the human race) like inventing nuclear bombs and other ways of killing ourselves off. One million years from now, in the novel, the members of human race have smaller brains and according to Vonnegut are all the happier for it.

The premise and development are interesting and Vonnegut really gets what evolution is all about and he understands how random contingency has a deep effect on history.

I can't quite agree with Vonnegut's conclusion that we would be better off without our big brains. It's not that he missed something in his analysis of the disadvantages of big brains, but rather without these brains we wouldn't be humans. Our fictional descendants a million years from now may be "happier" than we are, but they aren't human anymore, so who cares?

A fascinating read and an excellent illustration of how contingency and randomness shape history.

Vincent Poirier, Tokyo

This was the first Vonnegut book I've ever read.

The story is told from a very strangle angle, which sort of releases bits of plot information in passing, slowly, like pieces of a puzzle until the whole picture comes into focus. I must admit, for the first 150 pages or so, I couldn't stand this style. It just seemed very unnatural and awkward.

However, Vonnegut's biting social commentary and obvious metaphors were like nuggets of gold sprinkled throughout.

When the story was complete, I was impressed by his ability to construct it in such a complex manner. The ending left a bit to be desired and seemed disorganized.

3/5, but I will certainly read more Vonnegut books from this point forward.

it's very well written, and pretty interesting
but it is an odd plot
i liked it, but i wouldn't read it twice

It was a challenge to stay interested. the first two thirds of the book were all over the place. one chapter he would build on characters/plot and the next he would talk about something completely irrelevant to the story. i've read many of his other books and they all were amazing. this one didn't feel like a story to me.

When reading Vonnegut, I find myself rethinking subjects I pass over in day-to-day life without a second thought. It makes me feel enlightened, like I have some unique perspective on the world. In reality, the only credit I deserve is for my choice of reading material. Vonnegut so effectively carries his reader to a different point from which to view the world that you barely notice that you didn't get there yourself. What could be a greater testament to an author than that?

All of Vonnegut's novels accomplish the same feat, but this one does it more, or better. As this book wound down, I became sad - not because I didn't want the story to end, but because I didn't want the feeling of seeing the world from a unique place to end. Fortunately, once you put the book down, a lot of that new perspective stays with you.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to see the world in ways they haven't before. Very highly recommended.