Fiction Literature Books

I use this book every year in my preschool art classes. The images are just wonderful. The kids always love to figure out what the "snowthings" are made out of. It's a little bit of hide and seek before they get to working on wonderful art of their own. The story is simple and a quick read, but the pictures can be captivating.

I'm a preschool teacher and this book has become a regular part of our classroom curriculum--we had to replace our old copy as it had become ragged with use. We use it during the winter months to begin conversations about the season, but we also love the way it elicits discussion about creativity, part and whole, different uses for everyday objects and even family. It's a beautiful book.

My grandaugther who is two, just loved me reading this book to her. The pictures really kept her attention, they are so bright! Great book!!

Lois Ehlert has created a great winter book for children. Good story and art and the kids have a great time searching for the items that were used to create the snow family.

Children's books seem like they are a dime a dozen. I paid no attention to children's books in the past, but with my two little girls, I notice them more than before, and one thing I have quickly discovered is that, in many instances, there is very little to distinguish one from the other. This is why I am ever so grateful when I discover a book that has something unique to offer. And Snowballs is certainly one such book; offering illustrations and dialogue that sets it apart from other children's books.

Many things about this book make it worthwhile and one of the things I like is the creative dialogue. There aren't a large number of words, no. But I like the way the author starts out talking about birds and how they are often very scarce when snow starts to fall. This may not seem like a big deal, but it shows that this author wanted to make the book a little more creative than the usual children's book.

The words in this book are kept to a minimum, like they are in most children's books, but they are still effective and they state just enough to hold the attention of most youngsters. However, the best aspect of this book isn't the words- it's the drawings. What makes the illustrations so different from other children's books isn't necessarily the colorfulness of the illustrations, although the colors are memorable. What makes the pictures stand out in a crowd is the fact that they combine real pictures with drawings. For example, in the opening pages when the book is talking about birds, it is depicting pieces of popcorn, peanuts, bird seed, etc., in actual photos- not just drawings. These are superimposed on top of drawings of the snow family. Even the snow family shows actual items, like scarves, bows, leaves, twigs, and other things, giving the pictures a very realistic appearance.

Overall, Snowballs is a very good children's book about snowfall and family. We won't be seeing any of the white, fluffy flakes falling from the sky in my neck of the woods (Gulf Coast). But we will be enjoying books like Snowballs- books that enthrall children with their well- illustrated pages and their emphasis on family.

I love Karen Kingsbury and this book is no exception. It was hard for me to put it down!!

Karen Kingsbury has done it again. I could hardly put Between Sundays down. This uplifting story tackles modern issues from the foster care system to the impact that famous sports figures have on society. If you like Christian fiction, this is a must read!

A GREAT BOOK.......I GOT IT WHEN I WAS TOLD I WOULD AND AMAZON HAS ALWAYS BEEN GREAT WITH ALL ORDERS I HAVE RECIEVED.

I couldn't put this book down! It was a great read over the holidays. Definitely one of my favorite Karen Kingsbury books. I highly recommend it!

Like Karen's other books, you won't be able to put it down. I got this from a friend for Christmas and as soon as my company left, I sat down and read the whole book. It is such a heart warming story. god has blessed karen with amazing talent. Once you read this, you will surely want to read all her others!

A true classic of adventure with real name places for authenticity. Only one place on earth, Iceland, can be the beginning point for such a fanastic venture. Even the early versions on screen added Hollywood schlock to ruin this fantastic story. Read this book, have an atlas handy, and escape. For more fun, become familiar wih the "Hollow Earth Theory".

Go get the music CD "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" by Rick Wakeman right after you read this great little book by Jules Verne. You won't be sorry.

I'm a dissapointed ten year old rating this book. Up until the end it
Was probably one of the best books I've ever read. It was full of adventure and excitement, but then I got to the end. The book did not live up to it's name. It would be more appropriately called "Journey Almost to the Centre of the Earth. I recommend this book only to people who like major dissapointments.

I bought this book for my 9 year old son and he really liked it.

If you are looking for a English translation of JTTCOTE that is faithful to Verne's French one, this one (and a couple others) has been recommended to me by members of the North American Jules Verne Society ([...]). Verne has been poorly translated since the novels were first published and he has received unfair reviews based on those poor translations. I think we owe it to this brilliant man to at least read his books the way he intended them!

This is a wonderfully sophisticated, intelligent book with sharp commentary on multiple social issues of her time.(and ours in certain aspects) All of the characters are wonderfully imperfect, restrained and original and are caught in the intriguing webs of dilemmas but their behviors are very coherent with their characters and subcultures. This author truly deserves our utmost respect.

My comments are related only to the electronic version/aspect of this edition of Middlemarch rather than on the classic story. While this edition is readable it's a huge disappointment. There are so many typos that the reader is easily and regularly disturbed by trying to sort out misspellings, missing periods, or mangled sentences and paragraphs. Very unprofessional of Amazon to offer books that haven't been thoroughly edited. Kindle is a wonderful device - why not make sure the books are perfect? Why should a customer expect less in an e-versions than one does in hard copy?

Masterpiece? Greatest English novel? Well, I don't know about that -- it's very good, but it's not perfect. But it is funny, and it's a page-turner. Our heroine, Dorothea, is an intellectual stuck in a very provincial town, and she just wants someone she can have an intelligent conversation with, and whom she can help do some kind of serious work. A very marriageble but not especially bright gentleman courts her, and brings her a puppy as a present. Dorothea doesn't _mean_ to be rude, but she speaks her mind, that she doesn't approve of having pets just to pet them -- she thinks dogs are happiest when they have some serious work to do. I laughed out loud at this point, as at so many others. I know just how she feels! And I also understand the sighs that her friends sighed as they rolled their eyes. That's our Dorothea! The gentleman caller eventually marries Dorothea's sister, and they (and the puppy) live happily ever after. Dorothea lives happily ever after, too, but only after being very, very serious about things for several hundred pages. You'll love her, and you'll laugh all the way.

Middlemarch is a challenging book to read for several reasons. One, it is too long. Two, the author has a tendency to go off on philosophical tangents. Three, the author will sometimes spend several paragraphs on the inner workings of the mind of a very minor character who is hardly pertinent to the story. These flaws aside, I will say that I enjoyed Middlemarch very much. It is easy to get caught up in the lives of Dorthea, Will, Fred, Mary, Dr.Lydgate and Rosamond and many others. George Eliot wrote wonderful dialogue in this book--the conversations between characters are very interesting. I thought Dr. Lydgate was the most compelling person in the book. He had such high hopes and was a good and honorable man. Yet, he let himself be ensnared in a silly marriage and here the author is very insightful in portraying Dr.Lydgates trapped, disappointed existence with Rosamond. What he wants in a wife and marriage and what she wants in a husband and marriage are miles apart and so, in the end, they resign themselves to one another. I also liked the character of Mary. She's a strong woman who knows what she wants. Although Dorthea can be irritating at times, with her insistence that everyone see things the way she does, she is good and goodness is appealing in a central character. Her relationship with Will Ladislaw is portrayed well. Their love for one another was truly believable. While reading Middlemarch, there were a few times in which I felt as if I were slogging through, but there were many more times when I didn't want to put it down. So, all in all, a good read and worth the effort.

I love this book (I have read it before) and thought I would get it on Kindle since it is one of my favorites. Unfortunately the Kindle version must have been slapped quickly into digital format via optical character reader or something similar, with no quality check done on it. It is full of typos that would have been easily caught with a simple spellcheck, for example instead of the word "call" it said "cal:" There are numerous examples of this and it is very distracting.

To help you understand what kind of a person i am and to find if you can relate to me... I was recently called obscure. I prefer to call myself unique.
I absolutely loved this book. I would have to say it is one of my top 5 favorites. I've read it over and over again, I have 2 copies... one is always in my purse (just in case I need something to read!) and I have lended the other to many friends and they have loved it as well.
I love it because it has a story to fit every mood. Hope you love it too!

I can't heap enough praise on 80 percent of the stories in this collection. They were variously beautiful, touching, haunting, riveting, warming...it makes me run out of adjectives. They covered me in short story love.

The next 15 percent were excellently written but didn't enchant.

Only 5 percent made me raise my eyebrows and mutter.

Read this book. You'll feel wiser to the human condition, when you throw a party beautiful people will start conversations with you when they see it on your bookshelf, and most importantly, you'll feel wiser to the human condition.

This is one of the best collections of contemporary American fiction. Every story is top-notch, and Wolff included a few authors I'd never heard of before (such as Braverman and Dybek, two writers whose short stories I've since sought out). I was also surprised at how this collection didn't sag at all--it was strong right to the end.

The bottom line: Wolff knows how to choose a great story. This book is a keeper.

Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie

"The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories" speaks with the intensity of liquor and fists. It lets loose on the gut of America.

Tobias Wolff, one of America's hardest hitting fiction writers, ("The Night in Question: Stories" and "In the Garden of North American Martyrs") has hammered together one of the best collections of modern fiction--far better than any individual "Best of..." collection.

If you are drawn, like me, to the intensity and disillusionment present in American literature at the turn of the century (i.e. Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald) this book may be what you have been looking for in contemporary writers. Including such staples of the contemporary cannon as Raymond Carver, Andre Dubuse, Amy Tan, Joyce Carol Oates this book packs in the best of modern short fiction and restores the genre to its former revered status.

Tobias Wollf, himself an excellent practitioner of the short story, does not include a work of his own in this wonderful collection (save a very thoughtful introduction). This is one of the most well edited collections of contemporary short stories on the market. It may be a few years old by now, but most of the "must read" writers, as well as surprisingly good lesser-knowns are included. Raymond Carver and Andre Dubus, sadly no longer contemporary in the strict sense, live on within these pages alongside excellent new voices. Two stories that really stand out for me are John L'Heureux's "Departures," a very deep and moving narrative, and Ralph Lombreglia's "Men Under Water," a beautiful alchemy of the dreams and realities of contemporary life. The selections written by Jamaica Kincaid, Joyce Carol Oates, Tim O'Brien, and Denis Johnson are so well picked, they seem to capture a bit of the authors themselves, as well as a portion of their writing. Because of these atttributes, I think the Vintage Book of Contempory Short Stories is both valuable for personal collections and for use in the classroom. It does the job that all compilations are supposed to, but seldom do, accomplish. It exemplifies the current breadth and depth of this contemporary artform.

This book has remained one of my favorites since reading it in high school ~5 years ago. I have re-read it multiple times, seen it live & as a movie, and never seem to tire of Wilde's excellent knack for satire.

It is a quick & fun read full of irony and hilariously awkward situations. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys play-format comedies with strong irony.

I bought this script because I have so enjoyed the movie based on it. The English humor is brilliant and it is delightful to get to read it in probably less than an hour. This was pure enjoyment for me for no other reason than not missing a syllable of the dialogue (sometimes in the movie the actors speak a little too fast, so in order to savor the humor behind the lines having them in print allows you to enjoy them at your own pace)

I still smile when I think about this play. It was my first sampling of Oscar Wilde, and I found it pretty enjoyable. It's also been my only sampling of Oscar Wilde. I've been meaning to get into some more of his work, I really have. It's a tale of mistaken identity, of love, of three volume novels, of "Bunburyists" and of fashion. Everyone claims to be Earnest, but they're all rather trivial about it. It's pretty funny too, with a lot of wit and the like through it.

This particular edition is particularly cheap, and it seems like its worth a look.

I love this play. I love Oscar Wilde. The wit and humor of this play is astounding, and yet at the same time, it is so intelligent. I love it.

I have not listened to this audio CD version. I purchased it and returned it without listening to it. I opened the case and realized that this is an abridged radio play version on one CD. The play itself is delightful. I don't care for abridged versions of most material, certainly not a play that takes less than 90 minutes in its entirety. I urge Amazon to update the catalog entry to indicate that this is abridged. An unabridged version is available from other vendors. Thank-you.

I received the item fast, the book is in great condition. Exactly what I needed as I ordered the book for a seminar. I haven't read it yet but will soon.

He is a freak and that is why I like his writing.
What a life this guy led.

As one of the introductory authors mentioned "that those who read know of Sade, but very few ever actually read Sade." I was this person until I finally read this book. My one complaint is that prior to this I had never read Sade, so reading the introduction was a bit daunting. I didn't fully understand their references, those from his literature or historical. So if this is actually your first book of Sade's, or any of the others from this publisher, skip the introduction and read it at the end. The introductory essays seem to be written from the perspective of someone that expects their readers to be fairly well versed in Sade, a terrible thing if you never read Sade until now. So read them at the end and it won't ruin anything for you, rather they will enhance the work for you upon reading them in the end.

I will say this about the introductory material though, the section with the historical time-line was superb. I found it very interesting as well as useful. I have a couple other editions of De Sade's works and this one appears to be the best by far, aside from the fact it's not very friendly from a portable stand-point, but the writing/translations seem better than some others I've come across.

I would still say Sade is quite the controversial author and I've been getting into books of that nature as of late. As I am also currently reading Mein Kampf as I write this. I think a vast amount of people have opinions on these kinds of authors, but have never read their works. De Sade, for example, I think is typically unjustly demonized by a great many people. Hitler is a little more justified in being demonized, but I still think people should read his book before they start to exult some opinion on the person in detail. Sade, on the other hand, is little more complex and less obvious. His main problem is that he wrote Justine and in 18th century thinking, that is a grave enough sin in itself. Not so in the 20th century, though I don't think sadistic pleasure has fully outdone Sade yet, because he set a pretty strong precedent. Though, if he was going around doing the things he wrote about to women in "Justine," his demonization would be far more justified. As it is, he was involved with one girl, that was apparently willing at first, but changed her mind later. However, what was done is nothing compared to what he writes about or what is done to people nowadays, of course in that era, it was probably seen as far worse and shocking.

Either way, the French government went through lengths to try and destroy his works, but thankfully for those astute readers they are here for us to enjoy, or be reviled by, as it is up to the reader to decide. I stress that it is up to the reader, opinions on works not being read are useless in my point of view, all you can merely say at that point is that "it is not something that interests me," but one should not delve into a conversation about the work in question!

The first text is "Philsophy in the Bedroom," and what an interesting work that is. It is a mixture of philosophy, politics, and gratuitous sex. I will admit the homosexuality brought up in the writing caught me off guard at first, for it was unexpected. I typically do not go after that sort of writing, but the philosophical aspect is what kept me turning the pages. Though I must admit my own general deviancy, because some of the scenes were quite well done when the characters were not philsophizing. The part I struggled with though were the political discussions, I'm not an avid follower of politics in the 20th & 21st century, so I know quite a bit less about historical politics, unfortunately. I think a lot of the political discussions taking place between the characters focused on politics of that era (and are very specific to France), so any student of historical politics will likely find this vastly fascinating. The discusions on philosophy, such as the philosophy of crime leading to true freedom is quite a bit more interesting to me as I am more interested in philosophy in general. (Not that Sade has truly convinced me to go out and commit criminal acts by any means.) It shows that Sade was very well thought out in his writings because he makes fairly convincing arguments, though in terms of liberation, I believe it is up to the person. If you choose to live by such societal restrictions and your inner inhibitions coincide with the populace then you are free by your own point of view. If you find these things extremely limiting, then you are not free. I suspect Sade found societal normalcy a trapping that he sought to escape, thus he had a far different view on criminal acts.

The next two sections were relatively short, especially the discussion between a Priest and a Dying Man, which is essentially a satirical work. It clearly shows the lack of love Sade has for the church. Since I essentially agree with this sentiment, I had no problems with this, but those people out there who are religious may have an issue with this. However, I can't see the devoutly religious enjoying Sade's work and sexual vulgarity in the least to begin with. Next we have "Marie du Franval", also known as "Incest" from another publisher. This story is quite different than some of his other works, it's not nearly as explicit, but it does cross one of the more extreme taboo lines between father and daughter. Interestingly it does have a fairly unhappy ending for his main character who ends up losing what he loves most. A curious ending for Sade, since Sade preaches full liberty in most of his stories (regardless of who it would hurt). Perhaps this was merely written creatively to switch up his usual works, a break from the norm and to show, as an author, he can work outside of his comfort zone (so to speak).

The final part of this collection is the great apex of Sade's works. This is one of his most well known works and flows in conjunction, to a degree, with "Juliette." Here we have "Justine" the work that was Sade's undoing and got him put in prison, but made his works live on in infamy. This was, personally, my favorite tale in this entire collected works. That opinion, of course, may change as I read more, but so far I am summarily impressed. Justine has the greatest story and best blend of demented sex and philosophy in all the book. I can see why they saved this until the end. Justine is a lost child who seeks to guard her virtue above all other things. However, she is thrust through a sequence of very unfortunate circumstances and is debauched in some of the worst ways imaginable. However, all of her captors seem to be more than just a lout who is merely exacting pleasure for no reason. No, these characters a typically well educated, some are wealthy, and think about the philosophy and motivations of their particular desires. Not only do they think about their internal motivations, they are also happy to expound on this at length to their captives! The pinnacle of this is by far when she is taken captive by the monks, and I won't ruin it for anyone, but I'm sure this particular section is what did Sade in. Justine can never seem to "get saved" but rather goes from clutches to clutches of various captors, when all she wants is to live a wholesome life that she can be proud of. This will never be the case for her, and she is very disillusioned with life by the end. In the end the reader feels it is a very tragic tale over all. However, we'll see a wholly different perspective with her sister Juliette.

A lot of people see the sadism and the lascivous sex as the trademark of Sade's work, others walk away having a different perspective on life in general. I feel I am one of the latter, because I had never particularly thought of the philosophy of commiting crimes. While some of the sexual deviancy is very strong, I felt I could stomach them better because they were written (of course doing a lot of this stuff in real life is very illegal, and some would likely kill a person), but if you are particularly weak hearted then this may be a text to avoid. All some people want to read are the sex scenes and they want to skip the philosophy, this is probably a lot easier to pull off. I would say the works are typically about half and half in terms of philosophy versus sex, and I found the mixture is really what kept me turning the pages. I always wanted to find out what the next antogonist of vices had in store for me next, and how would Justine react to that particular philosopher! All in all, I would recommend this great work, but I realize that this is surely not a work for everyone, so if what I've said appeals to you, read it, if not, don't read it.

After having seen the film "Quivers" about de Sade with Geoffrey Rush, I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the writer by reading his writing. The guy is obsessed with sodomy--it gets tiresome. His writing, though intelligently presented, is eclipsed by his incredibly juvenile and obsessive sensibilities. Not a favourite tome.

While it is interesting how the Marquis works in his philosophy (about 30 pages of orgy, around the same length of the most well-endowed man reading aloud from a political pamphlet one of them just happended to pick up on the way, followed about 30 more pages of orgy and so on), the desired effects are accomplished: the reader is left satisfied on the intellectual, philosophical, and yes, sexual levels.

As for Justine, one can definitely feel for the main character and itch to read Juliette, a wonderful companion which is also available here at Amazon. Some of Sade's descriptions are not for the weak at heart though, but that's part of life and the risk you take in leafing through a book like this.

I didin't really know a thing about actual libertinage before I read this book, but that certainly isn't the case now! I had only expected to be enlightened on a half-way intellectual level; I bought this book without considering the possibilites of the content suggested by the title.

Sade's refreshing view of sex and world-view (which ranges from indifferent to - surprise - "sadistic" in every sense of the word) was indeed way ahead of his time. While you probably won't agree whole-heartedly with him, he definitely gives the reader something to think about as far as the darker side of the human mind is concerned. Enjoy!

I used this book with a K & 1st grade class & it really held their interest. The pictures are incredible!

I love this book. I am an Elementary Education student at ECU; when I take this book into the classrooms, the children go crazy! They think the book is hilarious and I agree.

The pics were cute and my kids got a kick out of them, but the book was a flimsy paperback.

I love this author's books and have Food For Thought already. This How Are You Peeling? book is a step beyond the former because it goes beyond simply labeling and illustrating emotions. In elementary poetic rhyme, it asks questions of the reader and gives simple hypothetical scenarios to which the child can respond. (This author's books are fun to take to the grocery store with your young child. My child enjoyed matching the fruits and vegetables on the shelves to those photographed in the book.)

Love this book! Its hilarious, and discusses feelings in a way that doesn't intimidate most kids by being too serious. Reccomended.

Set primarily in Harlem in 1926, when jazz was bursting forth from the traditions of gospel and blues, this 1992 novel is one of Morrison's most experimental and least accessible. Written from multiple points of view, it uses the patterns of jazz itself for its structure. A series of overarching themes connects the work, but these are seen in individual characterizations and episodes which flash backward and forward, twisting and turning as they connect, misconnect, change, and ultimately create a unique world larger than the sum of its individual parts.

Focusing primarily on middle-aged Violet Trace, her fifty-year-old husband Joseph, and Dorcas Manfred, his teenage lover, whom he believes shares his passion, Morrison explores issues of love and fear, sex and obsession, violence and passivity, and strength and dependence, in addition to her big issues of color and gender. At the outset of the novel, Joseph has murdered Dorcas, fearing that his love for her will never be as great as it is at the moment just before her death. His wife Violet, distraught, is forcibly removed from Dorcas's wake, and though she believes herself to be strong and indestructible, she shows her own vulnerability, sometimes seeing "that other Violet" who inhabits her soul.

Gradually, the individual stories of Violet, Joe, their families, and Dorcas and her family, some members of whom go back even into the 1800s, flesh out the characterizations upon which this novel depends. For much of the novel, however, the reader must be patient, not sure exactly how all these characters are connected to each other, like the most experimental improvisations in jazz. Gradually, they do connect, and gradually the theme of redemption emerges triumphant.

Brilliant in its construction and thematic development, the novel requires the reader to make many connections which other authors (and Morrison in most of her other novels) make or suggest as a matter of course. Her complex, spiraling structure (which Faulkner also often employs) in Beloved, Song of Solomon, and even an early novel like Sula, for example, seems more effective in these, perhaps because these novels have smaller casts of characters, and the importance of particular episodes and the relationships of many characters are clearer. For me, this was a novel to appreciate, rather than to love. n Mary Whipple

Sula
Beloved
Song of Solomon
Tar Baby (Contemporary Fiction, Plume)
Conversations with Toni Morrison (Literary Conversations Series)

Jazz was a very interesting novel to read. its theme of violence makes the story very interesting. Morrisons interweaves allusions to racial violence into her story with a neitral tone that lets the historical facts speak for themselves. her descriptions of scenes are often filled with violence as she discusses buildings which a cut but a razorlike line of sunlight. even her narrative is violently constructed, but it keeps you interested in whats going to happen next. Toni morrison tells us what is is to be a woman so that we may know what is to be a man. I love the theme of jealousy, murder, passion, and sex. I suggest further readings- Love, Beloved

Jazz is an interesting novel, and in some ways the characters ring truer than in her most acclaimed work, Beloved. The story unfolds in a totally brilliant way, we see the key event in the narrative from multiple points of view, and the character's perspective from many points in time. The narration is also deliberately self-conscious and at times humorous, though I was annoyed by her stream of consciousness at the book's end. Still, Morrison does an excellent job weaving character, moral ambiguity, violence, race, and sociology in a vivid mosaic of Harlem life.

Sometimes these reviews are based more upon context (what else you recently read) rather than upon the reader's own tastes. I will try to avoid allowing this review from being tainted from the magic presented by other recently read novels.

For inexplicable reasons, I read this book within weeks of reading other African American great novels: "Their Eyes are Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston; "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker; and, "Go Tell it on the Mountain" by James Baldwin. This book, quite simply, is not in their league. It does not offer a love story equal to "Their Eyes." It does not offer a historical perspective of the tortured characters like "Go Tell" and does not deliver dialogue like "Their God" or "Color Purple."

But, then again - what book does rival the three mentioned above? The other three are universally acclaimed novels which many critics list not only among the greatest African American novels, not only the greatest American novels, but among the greatest novels of any culture ever written. So, my context may well be unfortunately biased.

But, this novel has highlights - like the beginning of the second chapter - where her prose is so lush and precise and exquisite that she reminds me of Adrienne Rich - a prose writing poet. Morrison, in certain passages of this book, is a poet. Throughout this book, she is an extremely talented novelist.

I will eventually read her other classics, "Beloved" and "Song of Solomon." And, as I have been told they surpass this book - which is quite an achievement - I can never wonder why she won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Without a doubt, I know when I pick up a Morrison novel that I will be reading a deep and complexly woven story that forces you to think about life, all the while enjoying the storyline for what it is. Jazz is no exception.

Using recursive narration, we are able to let the tale unfold one chapter at a time. As we learn more about a character we move onto another, yet must look back a ways into their past to understand who and where they come from (recursive narration), before we can rejoin the story. This style of writing is my favorite style, something Faulkner uses heavily, and I can never get enough of it.

Seeing Violet become something, seemingly, not who she is and then letting it wrap full around into a mature and complex character is amazing. Seeing Joe fall in love three times, one to someone not his wife, and yet still be able to see what made him move, what made him tick ("there is only one apple") creates a balanced person, one who is neither perfect nor flawed, but one that is real and human.

Morrison does this time and again, using her recursive approach to shed light onto real and human characters, utilizing her writing to make a novel that the reader can not only enjoy and feel, but one that makes the reader respect what has been created. Five stars for Morrison as well as for Jazz, a most definite recommend to any potential readers.

We own Pyramid, Castle and now Underground. They provide hours and hours of entertainment and are for all age levels. I'm wondering what Mr. Macauly will come up with next. He is an extraordinary illustrator.

this the best book i have found to explain to eit's (engineering in training) just what civil engineering is all about.
it may be a childern's book, but it is the best on the subject of undeground utilities and transportation.

This was a purchase for grandchildren living in a very rural area. They will have their curiosity heightened upon visiting the next largest city. It was easy to follow and understand. The illustrations are nicely done and hold one's attention.

I bought this book for work because its subject matter is relevant to what I do. It really helps to keep things in perspective and not have them remain abstract concepts.

Macaulay uses his amazing talents to turn the world upside down in this unique book. Children (and even adults) will learn all kinds of things about what's beneath a modern city. I enjoyed showing my son the illustrations and explaining what it all means. Do beware, however, that this is a pretty abstract topic and that it can be difficult for younger kids to fully comprehend exactly what's going on. After all, thinking about what a city would like like with all the soil and rock removed and from many feet below street level is not a simple idea. So this one is probably best for older kids, as opposed to earlier works by Macaulay such as Cathedral or Castle that are much more tangible and easy for kids to comprehend.