Fiction Literature Books

My son, at 8, LOVES the Capt. Underpants series, and was so excited when the book arrived. Arrived promptly, mint condition, and service was great.

I bought my nephew this book as his first chapter book and he absolutly loved it, he sat down and read it in one day, and he just turned six. I am not bothered by the misspelled words. After all these books are supposed to be written by 2nd graders, and at that young an age teachers should not be correcting spelling, they should be encouraging children to sound out a word, and then make an educated guess as to how it is spelled. It's about recognizing letter sounds, and letter combinations, not exact spelling. That comes later. I plan on getting the entire series for my nephew for christmas.

We bought these and other Captain Underpants for our 7 year old grandson. They are his favorite books and prefers the softcover to hardcover so that he can take them anywhere to continue reading!

My son has enjoyed listening to Dav Pilkey books for years. We would read them to him as an infant, toddler and now he loves to read them himself. He has read the books Dav Pilkey wrote for school age children, all of them. The "Book O' Fun" books, he really has appreciated the activities included in the fun pack books, based on "The Captain Underpants Series." He is especially fond of the step by step examples given for drawing the different characters. We would recommend any of Dav Pilkey books. Your child can grow with the wide range of creative books Dav Pilkey has published. I suggest parents browse Dav Pilkey's various book collection and maybe even give him a try.

At first my seven year-old son, a devout Captain Underpants fan, was doubtful as to whether or not to get this book. He saw the so-so ratings on Amazon and didn't think he was going to enjoy it. But upon purchasing a used version of the book, he found he loved all the activities included.

Inside he found stickers, crossword puzzles, word finds, jokes, a comic: "The Bride of Harry Potty," and step-by-step instructions on how to draw the Captain Underpants characters. It runs about 96 pages, but it's chock full of fun.

Now, don't buy this expecting another Captain Underpants adventure; it's an activity book. If your child is looking for something to ease the wait for the next Captain Underpants book, give this a try.

If this book was a staple of high schools, the world would be a better place. If you like logic and critical thinking (and economics) this books is a treatise on capitalism and the disaster that ensues when its gutted. A preachy ending spoiled the punch, but otherwise highly recommended!

Well, after reading this book, I don't have much to say. I like it, but not that much. I consider The Fountainhead a much better work. Here is my review. I agree with must of the theory behind the story. Government must not intervene with the economy. We don't need a degree to see that every time the leaders try to fix the economy, it just get worse. I agree that none have the right to impose their believe into others. I agree that incompetence must not be rewarded, that a job belongs to the better person, that is almost a crime to give a position to someone for any reason besides his qualifications, and I agree laws need to be more objective to avoid stuff we decry later on, and I can keep writing a few of the things that I agree. Like the quote "the only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's right which means: to protect him from physical violence" Or "there's no such things as a lousy job, only lousy men who don't care to do it", and one of my favorites "the foulest man on earth, more contemptible than a criminal, is the employer who rejects men for being too good".
But, the book turns a little bit boring. The main characters are a little bit unbelievable at times. Yes, we need to be ourselves, but every time one of the main characters is thinking or talking, you can't stop to think of someone anti-social. Let me explain. Yes, you have to be strong in defending your principles. And yes, we need to raise our voices when people are talking plain crap. Yes, we need to be more active and try to stop evil. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem. The problem is that the message that come across must of the time is "you don't need anybody, you can be successful by yourself, the world is just there to supply you with the materials you need, etc" The problem is, that is not so. If you go with that attitude that you are superior to the rest of the world, you will never do anything, since everybody needs something from somebody. Want to build a house? Unless you have tons of money, you need a bank. Unless you have a lot of tress, you need to buy wood. Unless you own mines to find the metals, you need a store to buy the pipes, and everything else. Unless you own a piece of land, you'll need to buy one, and even if you own everything I wrote, you need permits to build. So, to tell people that they are individuals in the sense that come across in the book is a lie. Act like you don't need the bank and you won't get the loan. But, if what Mrs. Rand meant was to be yourself, and never letting anyone to alter your goal, then yes, I agree.
The book is not for dummies. Now, you don't need a degree either. You need to be a free thinker to understand it. But the John Galt speech...really? In real life, after 5 minutes half the people would turn off the radio. By the first hour of it, no one would be listening.
All in all, is a good read, but not a great one. Like I said, The Fountainhead is a far better book.

My advise is to stay away from this paperback edition. I purchased the book new through Amazon. The pages are improperly clipped and ragged on the edges and some of the pages are diagonal. The paper also appears to be the acid type or at least low quality.

This is a poor excuse for a bound paperback Centennial edition of such a great author.

This is a book with the power to change the way you view the world. You may love it or hate it, but you will not be the same. A must read.

I first read Atlas Shrugged almost 30 years ago on the advice of a friend, who described it as the best book he had ever read. I also found it to be in that class. It had a profound effect on me. I was moved by it toward a (even more) conservative view of politics and econimics, to the extent of becoming a little too "mean-spirited" and maybe a little paranoid.

I realize now that Ms. Rand is considered by some, accurately in my estimation, to have been an extremist . . . in the extreme. She was also an atheist, which viewpoint leaves one without hope outside of this world. Notwithstanding, her message regarding the liberal, anti-business, free lunch crowd rings through with refreshing clarity and plainly spoken truth. There is much wisdom in her "objectivist" philosophy and as a bonus, this story wraps it in an epic, hard-to-put-down novel.

This is one of the great books of the 20th century. Recommended.

After reading this story of children having autonomy to create a world with what they had around them outdoors, my 7 year old son and 5 year old daughter, on their own initiative, went outside and started creating Roxaboxen in our backyard on a strip of dirt that seemed unusable. They spent about 4 hours creating their own Roxaboxen without fighting and really enjoyed themselves. They expanded it to suit their own interests and renamed it Roxaland. I borrowed this book from a library and now I'm going to buy it for sure. A real keeper that spurs on the imagination.

A celebration of the imagination! If you are building your home library, add to it with this treasure of a book! I cannot say enough about this book! We read and reread this one often! My youngest son is fascinated with it. He sometimes just sits on the couch gazing at the illustrations. We LOVE this one!
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One thing that is really special and unique is that the events in this book really truly happened---to the author's mother! AND the illustrator, Barbara Cooney, actually made two trips to Arizona where Roxaboxen really existed. It was her toughest assignment yet---constructing a magical world out of something that wasnt there. She found a small tan hill dotted with stones and rocks, dessert plants and lots of broken glass. The spirit of Roxaboxen began to emerge!
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Just last week, my boys had an idea-to go outside into our backyard and create our very own Roxaboxen! I created my home out of pinecones. My younger son began creating his home out of logs from the woodpile. My older son decided he wanted to outline his home with rocks! I say all this in hopes that it may inspire you to create a Roxaboxen with your children!
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This book is a favorite at our house. It has inspired variations on outdoor pretend games. Barbara Cooney's illustrations are lovely. The kids love that it is based on a true story. It is a great example of kids who don't suffer from "nature deficit disorder".

I have loved this book since I was a little girl and I cannot wait to use it in my classroom! It really sparks children's imaginations!

This book was absolutely fantastic. I read it to my 5 and 2 year old children, and they each sat through the entire story. In fact, once it was over they grabbed it from me to look at the pictures.

There was one thing I didn't like about the book, and it's only because it provokes a lot of questions from my 5 year old(has to do with the lizard). So, if your child has a tendency to ask lots of questions, you can skip that page. Otherwise, this is an excellent choice, and I'll read it again.

I have sometimes wondered what I am. I am of course me, but sometimes it seems there is no "we" that quite fits the "me". I am hardly alone in this and there are probably many Americans that feel this way.
Albion's Seed is a grand overview of where America comes from. Where our values and habits were born.
The author traces the history of four intertwining British cultures that he says are the foundation of America. These to put it roughly would be the Yankees, the Phillys, The Southern Gentry, and the Scots-Irish "Rednecks". He gives them all a more or less sympathetic protrayal showing strengths and weaknesses from each culture.
As an Oregonian I am probably more Yankee in blood then anything else. Or at least I would like to think I am a sharp New England son of the cold North Sea though my home state's cultural outlook really seems rather "Philly" by the description of the book. Which is perhaps as well as the "Philly" culture while least congenial to my imagination(though not unattractive even there)is most likely to leave me alone. But in any case I can see elements of all four in my habitual outlook. Some of the customs described I recognize as a relation to the way I was brought up. My Church, for instance, is governed in a New England sort of way with regular "town meetings" of the congregation, to choose deacons and review policy matters. I also recognize the Southern idea that citizenship is a badge of pride(this was corrupted by the way into a justification for slavery; Southerners were not being hypocritical in denying freedom to others-they thought one of the points of freedom was that it was a posession you could brag about), and the glorifying of honor(despite the distastefulness of some aspects of the old honor code). I can also appreciate the famed scots-irish orneryness a little even though I could never manage to live with it. And I very much admire the "Philly" ideal of liberty for all. It is probably an accident of geography but it is wholly fitting that America's first capital was Philadelphia.
Albion's Seed details the customs of the four strands with their complex adaptation to life. It shows how they confronted the day to day challenges and opportunities. It gives description of the reaction of each group to a series of categories of facets of life that the author believes every culture deals with.
It gives some space to the influence of non-british minorities, though that is not it's main concern. The subject of the book is British folkways after all.
Perhaps the main fault is that it is a little to deterministic. That is an easy fault and many fall into the opposite errors of assuming people are monolithic members of a group and assuming them to be atomistic individuals. A better way to describe life is that we are all who we are but our nature and nurture is part of us and we are part of it. And a way to appreciate yourself and others is to appreciate the background people come from. And when I read this book I can appreciate what it means, not only to be an American but to be an Oregonian and a son of New England's kin.

My daughter was very impressed by Albion's Seed when she read it as part of her undergrad studies in history. Several years after her graduation, I finally got around to reading it. I love scholarly books on history. Before Albion's Seed, I'd read Karen Armstrong's A History of God and Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror. I didn't find Fischer's strength to be his writing (actually, there were several times when I became annoyed with him for his lack of footnotes, which would have especially worthwhile to explain some of the obscurities he passed over), but Fischer's strength is analysis--especially in tying the English colonists folkways to geographic behaviors and trends of today. Albion's Way is a wonderful seminal work on American culture. As long as it took me to finish this book (it was a long slog for me), it was incredibly worthwhile. Highly recommended!

but I am a student of history and I have found this book fascinating. I read it like a novel. It is easy to understand and is full of little known cultural information that makes it educational, as well. I do not fancy myself a scholar, by any stretch, but I do like a good read and this is one of the best non-fiction books I have read in a long time.

Yawn. I just finished reading David Hackett Fischer's "Albion's Seed", and boy are my arms tired. You just try holding a 1,000-page paperback up in your bed without cracking a finger or the book's spine.

Was it worth it? Well, it was Fischer, one of my favorite authors, on the subject of American history, at which he is the best. The subject is the four cultures that made up the fabric of American society before the Revolution, and Fischer lays out his case in a clear, compelling way.

1. The Puritans - Misrepresented somewhat by modern historians but stern killjoys just the same, they settled the New England region and argued over such matters as whether it was moral to rescue a man trapped in a well on the Sabbath.

2. The Cavaliers - Wannabe aristocrats who congregated along the southern coast. Think "Gone With The Wind" without so much backtalk from the slaves. "...especially strong in Virginia, where it was reinforced by the values of an English culture that tended to be profoundly conservative in every sense - elitist, hierarchical, and strenuously hostile to social change."

3. The Quakers - Moral, high-toned, and as dry as those oats which bear their name. Believed in the inner light that led them to God, and hold up best to modern eyes despite a strenuous adversity to sex that led to the lowest birthrates and best furniture in the Americas. Founded Pennsylvania.

4. Backcountry "crackers" - See "Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel". Hard drinkers, borderline rapists, and Andrew Jackson. Cavaliers only tormented geese for laughs. The Crackers did the same to each other: "Bloodsports have existed in many cultures, but this was one of the few that made an entertainment of blinding, maiming, and castration."

Reading "Albion's Seed" made me feel more enlightened, yes, but it was hardly invigorating in the same way as Fischer's "Washington's Crossing" or "Paul Revere's Ride." It's a different kind of book, yes. You can't expect as many active verbs reading about sociology as you would with combat. But it feels more than a touch pat and stereotyped.

More problematically, it reads awfully slow, as Fischer painstakingly revisits the same subject areas with each of the four groups in turn. Long footnotes read like narrative, while narrative sections read like footnotes. Fischer walks each culture back to its English roots, drawing upon similarities that certainly resonate but hardly seem to matter. That Puritans wore the same clothes as their East Anglican forebears doesn't seem so important considering the lack of interest Puritans took in clothes in the first place.

Most frustrating is a final section where Fischer examines the impact of these four cultural groups on every U.S. Presidential election, right up to the one the year before the book was published in 1989. Fischer makes a point of saying all but two of the first 41 presidents had roots in one of the four groups, though that's less of a surprise given the dominance of English Protestants in American society than the fact Martin Van Buren slipped through. Fischer also seems to ignore the larger evidence that his four cultures have mutated quite out of recognition. Just try finding a Puritan in Boston today.

What's solid about the book is Fischer's way with a point, his ability to move quickly between subjects with his deft erudition and writerly flair, and most especially the enthusiasm he brings to dissecting the American WASP. But after a couple hundred pages the eyes glaze over, after 500 you are re-reading pages like a punch-drunk fighter in the 15th round. Save this for the shelf, but you'll enjoy it more in smaller doses on items of immediate interest.

How lucky I feel to have come across and finished one of those rare books that not only provides critical historical information, but also indelibly transforms the way I view the world.

The massive tome is about four discrete immigrant movements from Britain to the U.S. and their critical influence on modern regional cultures here. The migrations covered in the book start around 1630 with the East Anglian Puritans, and conclude with Ulster Scots-Irish and Anglo-Scots whose journey from impoverished regions of Britain into the backwoods areas of the Appalachians ended around 1775. His scholarship on the regional British cultures that defined the nucleus of each of the migrations is extremely impressive, and it gives him loads of ways to compare the original culture with its transplanted descendant in America. Incidentally, I never knew much about the history or geography of Britain up until I read this book, but after finishing it I found myself fascinated by just how much regional variation there was and was inspired to learn more.

One conclusion well-developed throughout Fischer's opus is that ethnic culture can remain strikingly uniform even after being transplanted to an entirely new geography and passing through many generations there (Kurds in Germany or Jews in ancient Babylon come to mind). He also argues that it was the values of the elites (mercantile and industrious in New England, humble and humanistic in New Jersey and east Pennsylvania, aristocratic and labor-averse in Virginia) that led to differences in the development of the economy.

Take the example of slavery, which was fundamental to antebellum southern states but less popular in the north. Fischer contends that slave ownership in southern colonies was more extensive due to the political hegemony of country squires (aka Cavaliers) originally from the Wessex region in SW England, particularly in the colony of Virgina. These privileged colonials believed that only landholding was an acceptable source of income for their sort, while physical labor and mercantilism were seen as contemptible, suitable only for those of low station. So while fertile lands farther north were being worked in small plots by yeoman farmer types with few or no slaves, the colony of Virginia became dominated by large plantations and manor houses that mirrored Saxon aristocracy. But since the region was semi-tropical and malarial, they chose African slaves over the white servants/serfs that were so essential to the manors of their ancestors. In other words, an imported British culture created the plantation system, not Virginian geography.

The final portion of the book deals with the pervasiveness of these original cultures throughout our national history. Fischer considers them as regionally dominant even now, despite the arrival of throngs of non-British immigrants over the centuries. Just like English has maintained itself as our national language even though less than 20% of our nation is of British descent, the prejudices of British immigrants 200-300 years ago still persist in a much more ethnically varied peoplescape.

There's much to learn AND to enjoy. Despite its 900+ pages Fischer is a lucid and focused writer, and he sprinkles the dry facts and figures with compelling anecdotes. This is essentially a polemical work, and he does jam a few squarish pegs into round holes (there are NYC Jewish gun-nuts, New Jersey Italian mobsters, and Alabama Scots-Irish peaceniks out there), but the overall evidence is so compelling that I feel this should be a standard text in high school American History courses. The belief structures of the four migrations (two really, since the Virginian/backcountry worldviews loosely align, as does that of the Puritans with the Quakers) are organized by Fischer around four distinct definitions of "freedom". Regional political conflicts are made understandable once the reader grasps these four separate outlooks.

The most provocative part of the book, in my opinion, is Fischer's scholarship and speculation about the basis of Borderer culture. "Borderers" came from southern Scotland and northern England and primarily settled and dominated the hillier, more forested regions in the Appalachians. They are often called Scots-Irish, but Fischer shows that most spoke English rather than Gaelic and had no immediate Irish blood or background. These were the people who even at that time might be called "crackers" or "rednecks" (terms that came from Britain). Centuries of cross-border warfare, raiding, and exploitative absentee lords left them with little belief in the ability of governments to promote justice and peace, and a sense that one must always be ready to defend oneself with violence. These values prepared them for the dangers of settling first the Appalachian frontier and then the Wild West, but left their descendants with a predilection toward violent conflict, as well as valuing physical prowess and robust sexuality over education and economic prosperity. We don't have any Hatfield-McCoy clan feuds in this day and age, as far as I know, but many of the fundamental belief structures of the ancient Borderers still exist through large portions of country. To my mind they bedevil us, even as they define our "average Joe" better than any other culture. People like Sen. Jim Webb and author Joe Bageant exemplify both the value and pitfalls of Borderer beliefs; they exemplify mental talent and fierce will but also carry the gloomy, suspicious, violence-prone outlook of their forebears.

Not only that, but Fischer's throw-aside supposition that long-term political instability tends to promote Borderer-style worldviews does a lot to help people from more cooperative areas understand aggressive clannish peoples, such as Somalis, Albanians, Tuaregs, and the Kurds of SE Turkey.

There's a large mental gap between someone raised in a home that trusts in guns over government and someone raised in a home with a focus on kindness, cooperation, and non-violent conflict resolution. The former sees the latter as childish and naive, while the latter sees the former as needlessly aggressive and paranoid. Both may be "correct" about the other, especially within the conditions of their region, but for any human it is difficult to imagine the effect of growing up in a culture with such fundamentally different assumptions. It's much easier to simply label one another as "wrong".

So I see this book as a Rosetta Stone, an incomplete primer into how to speak another person's internal language when that person has a different understanding of the nature of "freedom" in society as compared to you. It's straight-up BRILLIANT.

I waiver between liking this book (I'm only a few pages from the end, so I must like it enough to keep reading) and wishing I'd never bought it.

The plot meanders all over the place. There is no one distinct story. There are several places it could have ended.

My wish is that this was a series rather than a single book. With over 300,000 words there's plenty here for three books.

I'm amazed that Clarke managed to find an agent, much less a publisher. But, I see all those different editions and so many reviews, it must be okay.

Being a writer and knowing a lot of writers, we'd like to know what spell Clarke used to get this first "novel" published. It couldn't be the process the rest of us are going through.

I can't believe I bought this for a dollar! Great book, especially if you only paid a dollar. My copy is not for sale, sorry.

Illustrations by Portia Rosenberg

This book I found purely at random as I walked through the fiction section at my local public library in search of reading material (one cannot go home empty-handed from a place where books are being given away!), starting at the front of the alphabet, hence the author's name beginning with C. Surprisingly, this book has many similarities to Pynchon's Mason & Dixon: A Novel, which I had just finished, in its massive size (700+ pages, surely a determining factor in discovering Clarke's book in a random shelf scan), its purported historicity, its seamless and matter-of-fact incorporation of fantastic elements in historical settings, its depiction of the relationship of two men who are both friends and co-workers in fast public projects, and in their gentle ironic humor.

Clarke's writing style is not so raucous as Pynchon's, but the fantastical nature perhaps elevated. Mr. Norrell is famed as the only "practical magician" in England, an honor he has diligently sought and brought upon himself by purchasing all the books on practical magic he can find (except one who will make his appearance later!) and by discouraging all others from practicing (sometimes with the help of lawyers). Norrell is a retiring, gloomy, private man, not given to public spectacles of magic, but desiring to use his magic for the national cause. He becomes his own federal bureaucracy as it were, working with the British government to help defeat the French on the continent.

Jonathan Strange is a young, vivacious man (Norrell's polar opposite) in pursuit of a woman he hopes to marry who has no notion of becoming a magician, practical or theoretical, until he meets with the character I introduced above who reads off a philosophy that Jonathan Strange will become the second great magician of the age. Drawn to Norrell in London, the two become master and pupil as Strange learns his craft, and partners in public works as Strange joins the British Army effort against the French.

Unlike Norrell, Strange hopes to spread the reach of British magic, and to learn more about its ancient past rooted in fairies and the "slave king" John Uskglass. In pursuit of this goal, Strange loses his wife, his sanity, his friendship with Norrell, and unlocks a chain of events that he can't control that ultimately ends up almost all for the good, and therein is the source of a 782-page novel.

Much like Pynchon, I find it hard to rate such a tree-killing effort as a classic, despite the quality and enjoyability of the results. Well worth reading as a potential classic, but that rating weighed against the commitment of time it requires drops it to the second level.

I can understand why many people didn't enjoy the book; it is long and wordy in the British sense. Personally, I enjoy this, however, I concede that there are those who do not. The novel is witty and understated in its grandeur, but it is grand, nonetheless. Also, if you do not have at least a passing grasp of British history, the novel will lose some of its efficacy. I definitely recommend the book, just know your personal tastes before you commit to reading it.

Picture an England during the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, very much like the historical England, recognizable in many ways to readers familiar with the period, except that this England has a magical past, a distant connection to medieval English magic which has dissipated and diminished for hundreds of years but is now starting to come alive again. This is the setting of Susanna Clarke's wonderful book, which conjures up a familiar alternate England which becomes progressively more strange and fascinating as the story unfolds.

The seminal figure of English magic was The Raven King, a mysterious figure who emerged fully formed in the 12th century, a human child raised in Faerie, to become the ruler of the entire north of England for the next three centuries with his capital in Newcastle, and additional demesnes in Faerie and on the far side of Hell. The last of the golden age magicians, Dr. Martin Pale, was nearly contemporaneous, and upon his death the decline of English magic became manifest until our story opens in the early 1800s, when the self-taught bookworm Gilbert Norrell emerges in Yorkshire as England's first practical magician in nearly 300 years.

Like J.K. Rowling, to whom her work has been compared, Clarke is adept at plotting and characterization. Clarke has said that her favorite character is Childermass, Norrell's loyal and highly competent servant; my favorite characters are the Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair (a powerful, volatile and amoral Otherlander) and Stephen Black, an admirable person who reminds me of a personal friend with a similar name. My favorite plot device is the hidden and indescribable double life of Lady Pole, which is as frightening as anything in Robert W. Chambers. Please believe that I have said nothing that will ruin the experience: you will enjoy this book. ***

Read all three back to back...best way to do it..can't wait for B*tch 4... :)

The book was a good follow up to the second, but we all knew that Deja King couldn't kill Supreme, he is what calmed Precious the hell down. And besides Precious wouldn't of been the same without Supreme, even thought I wouldn't of minded her getting together with her first. Nico will forever be apart of her life and it was obvious that he didn't have Supreme killed. A good book but nothing really to write home to Mama about.

Deja has outdone herself once again! Without giving out too many details, I had a feeling that her household wasn't right and it wasn't. I'm sure Deja isn't going to leave us wondering if Prescious meets her demise. It just betta be a part 4. EXCELLENT! Make sure you pick it up! It's well worth it!

Thug blood ran deep in Precious veins. Her looks made men do a double take and her deadly eyes dared them to touch. Precious had a cold heart although sometimes when it seemed to be melting, it never quite unthawed. As long as Precious got what she desired life was good, but if you tried to side track her you could wind up being the quietist person in the church.
There were a few editing issues, but I like this better than the first one. It contained a lot of suspense. Sometimes while reading I wondered why she took those crazy chances, but I guess it was the thug blood that ran through her veins.
Reviewed by Lois-C
The Realest Reviewers

This book was SO great. So many Twist and turn and a HUGH Twist @ the end lol It's great!! And Amazon go it 2 my house a day before expecter so that made it even better!!

Great selection, price and service. I will continue to purchase my books in this site.

Very interesting book if you are looking for Mexican-American diversity. It reads like a 'reality show' on TV; coming of age of an adolescent Mexican-American living in Chicago. If you live it, as a bicultural person, you would be bored...otherwise it is inciteful. This was a homework assignment for a university course, otherwise I would not have chosen it.

For us, the San Antonians, the book was nostalgic and chewy, full of life, delicious, and bitter-sweet. So was the same for many other Mexican-Americans who live in Texas. The book presented an honest reflections, life and souls of an important slice of American population; and more importantly, peoples of our own town. The voice, the blocks of words full of local idiom, and Mexican proverbs were exhilarating. The plot was a story of the awful grandmother but more so mini tales of individual characters who appeared in the novel. The group agreed that the book was a great and pleasant read; here are some delightful passages:
Sweet sweeter, colors brighter, the bitter more bitter.
Tin sugar spoon and how surprised the hand feels because it's so light.
If you leave your father's house without a husband you are worse than a dog.
Only people you love drive you to hate.
The book also reflects upon the transformation of the city and appearance of a new milieu.

This is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. It is all about family and weaving together and clashing of two cultures. You will love it.

Caramelo is a lovely story set over four generations of a Spanish (maybe), then Mexican, then Mexican-American family. It's an intriguing, expansive novel that tackles family relationships, love, and human nature.There's not much trivial or frivilous in this story. Despite this, I didn't find "Caramelo" repressively serious.
I was struck by how closely Mexico and America's history and culture are woven together. It gives one a sense of how arbitrary borders are. There's some Spanish interspersed in the text, which apparently has bothered some readers. I didn't mind it, but then I understood most of it. I think without it,the story wouldn't be true to the Mexican-American culture it portrays. Though I feel "Caramelo" lacks some of the emotional depth that one gets from novels like "One Hundred Years of Solitude" or "Las Maravillas", I recommend it.

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK. IT HAD A LOT OF INTERESTING HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE ABOUT THE LOT OF WOMEN IN THIS TIME PERIOD. STRONG WOMAN AND GREAT STORY AND ROMANCE.

I really love this Guhrke book. The story of a feisty spinster secretary who works for a wonderfully handsome marriage-shy boss is formulaic, but I thought Guhrke made it work. The chemistry between prim Emma and gorgeous Harry is steamy. I have this book on my keeper shelf.

That being said, I would like to caution other romance addicts that Guhrke is a really strange author. It's almost like she has multiple personalities when she writes. Some of her books, like this one, are really first-rate. But some, like The Marriage Bed (Avon Romantic Treasure) and She's No Princess (Avon Romantic Treasure) are just terrible -- I really couldn't believe that the same author penned them.

My advice is to always take a good look at the reader comments of any Guhrke title -- and don't just pre-order figuring that you will get a good product. She's really erratic.

I read this book a while back so I don't recall all the details, but I do remember finding the heroine extremely annoying. I don't think it was just her self-esteem issues (since that's realistic enough), but moreso some of the decisions she made and some of the stuff she said. She also made me think "doormat" on several occasions. I also did not really find the hero sigh-worthy. Did not find the dialogue or the writing witty like many of the other readers did. Maybe my hopes for this was too high going in . . .

I truly enjoyed reading this book. I will admit that the beginning was tirelessly slow and left me hanging as to when these two would actually get together. But after page 138, things started to get MUCH better.
The characters were well conceived and the plot was pretty imaginative. Overall, a great story. I recommend this one!

After reading the reviews for this I was eager to read it. It has a slow start - I would say the last few chapters are worthy of a higher rating, but the beginning was just to slow for me and I found myself being forced to finish it. I just wanted more.

In Someone Knows My Name, Lawrence Hill pens a breathtakingly beautiful work. While simple to read, its pages evince vitality and imagery known to only the best authors. Aminata, a free African girl, kidnapped by slave traders on the dawn of her "womanhood," records her journey from her homeland to foreign soil across the waters. It is the story of her struggle to not only preserve her identity and heritage, but a daily fight for her life, her family, and ultimately, her freedom. Although her tale is a fictional representation of the African diaspora, Hill's documentation of the movement, slave-trading, Revolutionary War, British loyalists and abolitionists remains quite intact.

This is the first review I have ever written. But I feel this book warrants a short comment. I can't add to the descriptions already posted above. But I can say that this was one of the best books I have ever read. It grabbed me from the first page and held me until the end. What an amazing heroine Lawrence Hill created. This is a book that should not be missed.

Simply put, This is a novel that reads you. Lawrence Hill's Someone Knows My Name is the first book that I purchased on my Kindle- a Father's Day gift. I couldn't put this book down! The Kindle with its built in dictionary allows you to surf the net while you are reading and learn more about the historical characters and places deepening your understanding (few people other than historians and scholars are aware of the Black Loyalists for example) .

Every person of African descent should place this on their must read list (Science says that includes you- regardless of your race or nationality). From the moment you flip the first pages, or push the toggle bar, this historical novel challenges you to consider anew ones understanding of humanity, identity, and faith as you follow-or more accurately "journey with"- Aminata Diallo, an African girl sold into slavery.

From the home of her loving parents and her small village to the waiting slave ships and the middle passage to a different world, "we" journey with her coming to know the horrors of the slave trade in a profound way. Yet, Someone Knows My Name is also a story of liberation, of abiding faith, and of courage and survival. The themes of Exodus and migration are present throughout reminding us that life and faith are a journey. In the words of one of the novel's characters, Daddy Moses, "It doesn't matter what we call your soul....What matters is where it travels and who it lifts up". Someone Knows My Name will continue to travel with you long after you read its final lines and it will indeed lift your soul.

You may want to purchase this book as a hard copy so that you can pass it on to others that you care about.

Historical novels, such as "Someone Knows My Name" and "Ama: the Story of the Transatlantic Slave Trade" by Manu Herbstein, are perhaps the least appreciated genre in literature. Once you pause to read Someone Knows My Name you will find yourself searching for more.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. From the first page I was captivated by the lives of the characters. This book challenged my thinking beyond belief and pushed me to wonder what I would have done in many given situations. It shows the amazingness of human resiliency and the disgustingness of those who have lost all humanity along with those in between. In researching the details of the book it very historically accurate which adds to the allure of this book. For anyone who wants to challenge their mind and soul...this is a must read.

Usually when I read historical fiction I find that the history is interesting, but the writing is poor; or the reverse. In this case, I found both the writing and history to be superb. It's the first time in years I've read a story so well told that is based on so much research. I can't wait for the paperback to come out so that I can buy it for friends.

It was good to see that the author was still working on continuing the outstanding Aubrey - Maturin series. We're all disappointed that the series has ended. 21 was interesting both from the story and procedure viewpoints.

It took me a year, but I couldn't put down a single copy of the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. This literary masterpiece tells a wonderful story, with every character brought to life. The writing is so visual, one actually feels that they have been on the very ship he writes about. I do recommend that readers obtain "A Sea of Words", which is basically a glossary of all the nautical terms used in the novels. Universities should devote a literature course to these novels, since they are so well written. O'Brian's mastery of the writing craft is unsurpassed, in my opinion.

As others have noted, the book goes only three chapters into the story. I want to add that these chapters are far from complete. It jumps so quickly from one scene to the next, something like those half-hour television westerns from the sixties. Stephen advises Jack to have a look from the top, and in the very next sentence, there he is, in the top. The Ringle crosses the Atlantic twice, but leaves little sense of time passage.

Do not expect any closure here. The value is seeing how the author developed a story. Presumably he would have gone over these pages again many times, enriching them with detailed descriptions and dialog. Those who have been through the series will appreciate the chance to have one more look. It would not likely interest anyone else.

Here is one more thing that interests me. The jacket artwork is by Geoff Hunt, who also did illustrations for the entire series. This one has considerably less detail than the others. Could that be an allusion to the unfinished state of the book?

Boy, talk about resting on your laurels! Three chapters and some after-dinner scraps of writing and that's it? O'Brian's got a lot of explaining to do if you ask me.

As far as I can tell Aubrey makes admiral but still has to put up with the blow-hard antics of an even higher officer and Maturin, getting soft in his old age, DOESN'T kill some impetuous officer in a duel. And what's with Maturin's homicidal fascination with honor and dueling? Small manly parts, methinks.

"Captain, the surgeon and doctor of our ship is about to engage in a duel over some mispronunciation of a word and if he loses, your ship will be without its medical staff, resulting in disease and death during its voyage."

"Duel? Maturin? Well, let him go ahead and fight to the death. Better that than the welfare of my sailors. Ha Ha Ha."

I hope that O'Brian can pull himself away from whatever he's doing to write a longer 22nd novel. Maybe he'll even take the time to give it a real title.

The book is a must have for this series fans, it gives you the chance to finally see Jack with his flag.

Difficult to read the author's handwriting at the end, a pitty not having the complete text, I will keep trying.

Also a good hard cover finish.