Times Book Review

The Point of the Deal

2008-03-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

The Point of the Deal: How to Negotiate When Yes Is Not Enough (Hardcover)
by Danny Ertel (Author), Mark Gordon (Author)

Why do so many business deals that look good on paper end up in tatters once they’re put into action? Because deal makers often treat the signed contract as the final destination in their bargaining journey—instead of the start of a cooperative venture. In The Point of the Deal, Danny Ertel and Mark Gordon show what negotiation looks like when the players involved strive to make the deal work in practice—not just on paper.

Book Description
In this book, you’ll discover how to make the transition from concentrating on getting the deal done to focusing on what it takes to achieve value after the ink has dried. With a wealth of examples from multiple industries, countries, and functions, the authors illustrate how their approach to crafting an implementation mind-set works in all kinds of familiar business contexts—including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, alliances, outsourcing arrangements, and customer and supplier relationships.

The Miles Davis Reader

2008-03-18T05:33:00.000-07:00

The Miles Davis Reader: Interviews and Features from DownBeat Magazine (Downbeat Hall of Fame) (Hardcover)
by Frank Alkyer (Editor)

Book Description
DownBeat magazine (est. 1939), the bible of "jazz, blues, and beyond," proudly launches the first book in its DownBeatHall of Fame Series. DownBeathas documented Miles Davis's career like no other journal in the world. From Davis's first DownBeatinterview in 1950 to his death in 1991, the magazine captured each nuance and phase of his career through cover stories, features, news items, and reviews. This book is a long-overdue compilation of everything DownBeatmagazine has written about Miles Davis, a book packed with glimpses into the artist's career as it happened - from the polite young trumpeter making a name for himself, to the bombastic innovator, to the near mythic legend. It's a must-read for anyone interested in perhaps the most enigmatic and enduring star in jazz history.

Getting in TTouch with Your Puppy

2008-03-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

Getting in TTouch with Your Puppy: A Gentle Approach to Training and Influencing Behavior (Getting in TTouch With...)(Paperback)
by Linda Tellington-Jones (Author)

Book Description
Offering a positive, nonforceful approach to training, this instructional guidebook explains how to apply the TTouch Method—a training function based on circular movements of the fingers and hands—to raising happy, healthy puppies. Used by dog owners, trainers, breeders, and veterinarians, as well as in animal shelters around the world, the TTouch Method aids puppy owners in solving common behavioral problems and in training their pet in a stress-free manner. With exercises designed around overcoming obstacles, this guide provides the resources for improving a puppy’s mental and physical health while creating a lasting bond between owner and companion.

About the Author
Linda Tellington-Jones is the coauthor of Getting in TTouch: Understand and Influence Your Horse’s Personality, Improve Your Horse’s Well-Being, The Tellington-Jones Equine Awareness Method, The Tellington TTouch, and
The Ultimate Horse Behavior and Training Book. She lives in Kailua Kona, Hawaii.

New Love Poem by Jalal Ghavami

2008-03-11T04:29:00.000-07:00

Poetry
Title: NEW LOVE POEM
Author: Jalal Ghavami
Rating: Good!
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Web Page: outskirtspress.com
Reviewed by: John Lehman

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These twenty-three pieces succeed in projecting the energy, movement and dramatic contrasts essential to poetry. By definition, a poem expresses what language cannot—whether that’s hope, failure, alienation or even love. But a poem must also be something another can experience as his or her own, not just understand or empathize with. In this I feel Jalal Ghavami is less successful—at least on the written page. As I read ”New Love Poem” I wished I was hearing the poet perform his work in person. Seeing only the words is a little like reading lyrics without being familiar with a song.

Some of the images are memorable--the pollution smoking Brick City (Newark, New Jersey) morphs into a “smoking” Bob Marley; and rants against “when we build a pyramid / we hated / when we were in plantation / we hated” are emotionally moving. One of the most accessible pieces, “Money,” concludes “money is evil / all right / let’s have some evil / & / spend it / righteously.” And I entirely agree with his call to action: “”Write some verses / feel it, let’s do something / let’s do right // let / it / be / poetry // feel it / rhyme / lyric /poetry / melody / & / pain // from Rumi / to / Papa / from BRICK TO BRICK / feel it / LOVE.”

Unfortunately the written form these poems take is dated (stringing words out on a page, idiosyncratic punctuation/capitalization and cryptic minimalism—went out with e. e. cummings (though we still find vestiges of it in small press pubs). “New Love Poem ” is probably dynamite performance art, but in terms of hard copy my advice is to learn from contemporary poets who face the same challenges but are better in touch with larger audiences through the written word. Even Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes (who are both referenced) had to find their own way to be both individualistic yet accessible. Maybe that’s what becoming the “New star / in ol New York” is all about. May your star shine bright, Daddy, believe me, we are all counting on you.

Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas

2008-03-11T04:20:00.000-07:00

Romance
Title: Twisted Creek
Author: Jodi Thomas
Rating: Very Good!
Publisher: Berkley
Reviewed by: Harriet Klausner

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The Texas attorney sends a registered letter informing Allie Daniels that her Uncle Jefferson recently died and she inherited his estate. Although confused since has no Uncle Jefferson, Allie sees this as a good luck opportunity to start anew taking her beloved Nana with her.

Allie and Nana relocate to the Texas lake community of Jefferson’s Crossing. She quickly falls in love with her new home; however, she lives in fear that she will be exposed as a hoax and unceremoniously run out of town. Her biggest fear is her attraction to Luke a drifter whom she believes will be the one to learn the truth about her. Luke is attracted to the newcomer, but his prime mission is to uncover who is using the nearby abandoned cabins as a meth lab.

TWISTED CREEK is a fine contemporary romance starring two likable lead characters, a wonderful Nana, and several eccentric Texans. Interestingly the warmer relationship is between the grandma and granddaughter even with the growing love shared by Allie and Luke which is fun to follow as he tries to hide his mission from the two newcomers. Although the suspense comes very late, fans will enjoy this Texas two step romance.

Scared to Live by Stephen Booth

2008-03-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

Mystery
Title: Scared to Live
Author: Stephen Booth
Rating: Very Good!
Publisher: Bantam
Reviewed by: Harriet Klausner

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In the Peak District, Devonshire Detective Sergeant Diane Fry leads the investigation into a deadly fire. She knows that the majority of these infernos are caused by faulty wiring, but whenever a death like this occurs, CID checks into it. In this case, Lindsay Mullen died in her room apparently confused as to how to escape, and two of her young children Liam and Jack died in their beds while the family patriarch Brian got out with minor burns and smoke inhalation as he was trying to get into the house having not been there when the fire began; he is in Edendale General. A third child, an eighteen months old daughter is missing.

At the same time that Fry wishes Detective Constable Ben Cooper had the case as he understands children better than anyone at the precinct, he investigates the apparent sniper death of cloistered Rose Shepherd in her home during the early hours of the morning. Postman Bernie Wilding had stopped to deliver a package, but she failed to answer. His case is going nowhere as no one saw or heard anything. Unbeknownst to Cooper, a witness fails to come forward as Darren Turnbull was sneaking out of the neighbor’s house and saw a big black car, probably Japanese stop and take off. Fry’s inquiries also seem to go nowhere, but soon her investigation and that of Cooper connect.

Although the link between the Mullen fiery deaths and the Shepherd assassination is a stretch wider than the Atlantic, English police procedural fans will enjoy this fast-paced thriller that rotates investigations until they tie together leading to a fabulous final twist. The cast is strong especially the lead cops and their immediate police support teams. However, it is the cases that grip the audience as suspense mounts while the DS and the DC struggle with difficult investigations in their latest Peak District tale (see THE DEAD PLACE and ONE LAST BREATH).

The Questory of Root Karbunkulus by Kamilla Reid

2008-03-11T03:53:00.000-07:00

Children's Books
Title: The Questory of Root Karbunkulus: Item One: Miist
Author: Kamilla Reid
Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: Booksurge
Web Page: booksurge.com
Reviewed by: Rod Clark

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BOOK REVIEW THE QUESTORY OF ROOT KARBUNKULUS By Kamilla Reid REVIEWER: Rod Clark This fantasy tale by first time author Kamilla Reid is full of fun and promise. Certainly it is refreshing to see a fantasy novel for young people that does not talk down to its readers, and is intelligent enough to appeal to appeal to readers of all ages. The story follows the adventures of a young girl by the name of Root Karbunkulus. Root is a “foundling” from the magical world of Dr้ Amm who was found in the woods and has been raised by two selfish elderly sisters who pretend to be relatives (Aunt Octavia and Aunt Carlotta), and force her to work for them as a maid/slave in their half puce, half orange house while living in an upper room that has a huge hole in the roof. But the Land of Dr้ Amm does not forget its children, especially when it has need of them, and one day Root hears the ring of a magical telephone that the evil sisters had found with her in the woods and have been hiding from her. With some difficulty, she finds the hidden telephone, finds her way to Dr้ Amm—and then her adventures begin in earnest. The structure of the story is a traditional one, following the common “quest” structure of many fantasy tales such as The Hobbit or The Wizard of Oz. On this particular “The Yellow Brick Road” there is a predictably noble quest, in this instance, a competitive quest between teams of children from Dr้ Amm to find a magical healing elixir called the Miist of Kalliope. All the other traditional elements are in place. Here is the group of loyal companions who accompany Root on her journey: the brave but brash Dwyn Puffler, and the timid, but intelligent Lian Blick (the son of a powerful official in Dr้ Amm. ) Here also is the worthy and wise guide Jorab, and all the assorted new friends and formidable foes that, since the days of J. R. Tolkien, one expects to encounter on such a journey. Around this standard plot cast with all the usual suspects, however, Ms. Reid weaves a tale that transcends its conventional trappings. Her adult character sketches remind one of writers like Terry Pratchett, and her child characters remind you of the work of J.K. Rowling. Her imaginary creatures, both good and bad are ones we have not seen before, and her landscapes and physical descriptions reveal a world that we would like to visit. Ms. Reid’s extensive theater background (she has produced many musicals) have clearly given her a visual and dramatic style of storytelling that serves her well here. The colorful depth of her characters and the particular attention she pays to the bright little corners of her fantasy worlds create a tapestry that hangs in your mind long after the book is closed. The text reveals that this is to be one of six quests to be taken by Root and her companions in the land of Dr้ Amm. Sounds like a series worth following to me. Ms. Reid is off to an excellent start on this continuing adventure.

Passage (The Sharing Knife) by Lois McMaster Bujold

2008-03-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

Fantasy
Title: The Sharing Knife, Volume Three: Passage (The Sharing Knife)
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: Eos
Reviewed by: Harriet Klausner

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Having his family exile him for marrying outside his community, former Lakewalker captain Dag and his beloved wife, the farmer's daughter Fawn head to her home, Bluefield Farm. His dream of an understanding between farmers, riverfolk and Lakewalkers shattered as each distrusts the others even as they need each other to survive. However, all three groups question the need of change since a millennium of doing things in the old ways has kept the peace and restrained the deadly malices through Lakewalker control of “ground energy”.

Dag and Fawn lease a houseboat from a riverfolk, but the owner and others and their boats mysteriously vanish soon after. Dag begins to investigate even as he begins to explore his expanding powers now that he ahs broken out of the Lakewalker limits. His ground-sense warns him a new deadly danger to the world order is coming as farmers settle into new lands and riverfolk extend their water world while Lakewalkers remain stagnantly static.

The third cerebral Sharing Knife fantasy (see LEGACY and BEGUILEMENT) continues to explore the negative impact of prejudice on people. Each of the three prime groups has vivid pictures of how they see the other two races and cannot get past those beliefs. This causes stagnation limiting development by stifling potential in order to force fit the

norm. Thus Dag and Fawn by breaking out of the prejudicial beliefs they cherished grow while others stagnate and their metamorphosis propelled by their love make them the only hope to save a world suddenly in trouble due to expansion into forbidden lands. Well written and extremely exciting, Lois McMaster Bujold will have her audience pondering the wisdom of the PASSAGE.

The Songs of Angels by G.A. Weston

2008-03-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

Fiction - Spirituality
Title: The Songs of Angels
Author: G.A. Weston
Rating: Must Read!
Publisher: Trafford publishing
Web Page: www.trafford.com
Reviewed by: John Lehman

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Everything is going to hell! Lucifer can't stand the overcrowding and God's not all that pleased either. So this time He's sending the devil to be incarnated as man (since His son's earlier efforts have led to disappointing results). At times there's a smugness to the conceit of this book but mostly it is fresh, lively, very well written and thought provoking. I loved it.

It is genuinely amusing. Since man is made in God's image the angels, who used to scoot around heaven looking like bacteria, moss, fish and trees, now not only imitate men in appearance but operate in board rooms of Trump-like complexes with telephones, faxes and e-mails. Meanwhile here on earth, David Brookes, aka Lucifer, stripped of any extraordinary powers, when asked by angel Gabriel if he has a plan, muses: "Unfortunately, I do not. It was fine for God, two thousand years ago. Mankind wanted a God or a prophet…now man is more interested in profit than prophet." It's then he falls in love and takes a job as a TV news broadcaster. Shortly after he finds himself held as a prisoner in Columbia of a renegade band of rebels, after which he becomes a non-religious healer who attracts the attention of the FBI (who may or may not be getting orders from the Lord).

But this is not just satire. There is gritty drama, a tense climax and an emotionally satisfying ending. The central character says of the book he eventually writes, "I do not mind if you don't believe it all. But if one sentence registers in your mind, and makes you a better person, then I will have achieved something." This seems to be G.A. Weston's goal too. And he know his Bible. Weston tells us that; Genesis was not even a Hebrew belief, it was added much later and appears to be based on the Babylonian creation myth. And it was a Greek mistranslation of the Hebrew that changed, "a young woman shall be with child" to "a virgin shall be with child."

However the genius of "The Songs of Angels" is how its thinking-outside-of-the-box approach gets us to find fresh depth in whatever religious beliefs we have, and does this within the context of a strong narrative in which we genuinely care what happens to the characters. It starts slowly and some of the dialogue between Gabriel and the now-human Lucifer seem a heavy handed way to focus the reader, but these are small quibbles compared to the originality of this very readable book. It may not be for everyone (some would count it 'blasphemous'), but for people who want a fresh take on good/evil, angels, God and our human condition, this is a gift of nearly Biblical proportions.

Death in a Prairie House by William R. Drennan

2008-03-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

Biographies and Memoirs - True Crime
Title: Death in a Prairie House
Author: William R. Drennan
Rating: Must Read!
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Web Page: http://www.wisc.edu/wisconsinpress
Publisher's E-mail: uwiscpress@uwpress.wisc.edu
Reviewed by: Les Chappell

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My first exposure to Frank Lloyd Wright came in fall of 2003, when I took a tour of his Spring Green estate Taliesin. I was pulled in by the beauty of the landscape and the design, but also by the story that it had been rebuilt twice – the first time as a result of a servant who burned half the house and murdered seven people, Wright’s mistress among them. A gruesome story, and yet one that garnered no questions on the tour and got as much time as the design of the drafting room.

The actions of the murderer Julian Carlton and their impact on Wright now have the necessary coverage though, thanks to William R. Drennan’s “Death in a Prairie House.” Drennan, professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County, has written a solid book that gives novices a picture of the famous architect and scholars a new look at his lowest point.

Drennan starts with the blueprints of Wright’s life, showing how his family’s Unitarian roots and his own Emersonian free spirit contributed to his architectural maturation. After years chafing under suburban comfort he entered into an affair with feminist thinker Mamah Borthwick Cheney, constructing Taliesin as their love nest. This piece was shattered by Carlton’s hatchet and gasoline, and Wright’s style – artistically and personally – was never the same afterwards.

Drennan’s research is exhaustive, going over interviews, newspaper articles, memoirs and even decades-old gossip to piece together the full picture of Wright. He shows the opposition of Spring Green’s moral residents to Wright’s “sinful” ideals, how racism played a part in Carlton’s motivations and suggests the killings were what removed the “prairie house” community design from his homes. The book is always reasoned, never committing to a single viewpoint until he finds historical support for it and disproved all other alternatives.

What I really appreciated about the book was its writing style: not the dry academic voice of most conventional histories but discursive, almost conversational. Drennan frequently inserts random facts or anecdotes in the middle of his sentences, and describes the crime with phrases such as “the unhappy calculus of body count.” Though occasionally distracting, they remind the reader of facts that are easily forgotten next to Wright’s personal drama.

“Death in a Prairie House” is an excellent work of both journalism and history, well-written and well-researched. I already plan to make a return trip to Taliesin as a result, and the tour is sure to be more interesting with a picture of the mind that built it and the blood that stains it.

Secrets from the Sofa by Dr. Kenneth Herman

2008-03-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

Self Help - Relationships - Psychology
Title: Secrets from the Sofa
Author: Dr. Kenneth Herman
Rating: Must Read!
Publisher: iUniverse
Web Page: www.iuniverse.com
Reviewed by: John Lehman

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I confess. When I first started reading this superb book I thought it might be better suited to someone with more immediate problems. I began thinking of those other people, then of my children and finally I took a better look at myself. Dr. Herman uses clear exposition and dramatized case studies (as I recall a persuasive approach employed by Sigmund Freud himself). But the author is of the cognitive school that rationally espouses: 1) identifying what formed a problematic attitude, 2) noting how it has affected you, 3) working through your anger, sadness and grief, 4) and, as an adult, now engaging in a healthier mode of behavior.
It was about a third of the way through that I realized this book was applying a bit of psychology to me, its reader. The author examines defense mechanisms in a very non-threatening way and then asks us to do some self-assessment now that we were aware of the methods we use for denial. How could anyone who up to this point has agreed to his common sense approach decline? The result—utilizing worksheets on eleven "life areas" and an extensive array of positive and negative characteristics of self-image—is a useful plan of action identifying problems, visions, short-, medium- and long-term goals. I found this incredibly helpful.

But, he is not done. The book identifies avoidance strategies people use, describes what someone who wants to change can expect when confronting his or her emotions and even presses us to clarify what we mean by success. One intriguing aspect Herman mentions is that emotions may not be what they seem (for some it is easier to feel anger than admit to hurt feelings that leave them vulnerable). But in my opinion his best advice concerns relationships: "Pick your relationships carefully and re-evaluate them often. Only maintain those relationships that make you feel good about yourself. The people with whom you associate should give you something of value in return. It can be trust, laughter, or simply some effective communication; but it should be something beautiful, relevant and meaningful to both parties." That's also great description of this book. It is beautiful, relevant and meaningful. Do yourself and those you love a favor. Buy it!

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

2008-03-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

Hard Science - Speculative Fiction
Title: The World Without Us
Author: Alan Weisman
Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Publisher's E-mail: ThomasDunneBooks@stmartins.com
Reviewed by: Liam Brennan

What if the unimaginable occurred and Earth was suddenly devoid of human beings? What would happen to everything mankind has worked so hard to sustain? And what effects will our existence have had on the environment? After extensive research and consultation with expert scientists, Alan Weisman, an award-winning environmental sciences author, provides an astounding look at what the world was like prior to humanity, and prophesizes about what it might be like long after we are gone.

Weisman begins at home in New York, explaining how a common household would breakdown beginning with water seepage around the chimney. Rodents, squirrels, birds, lizards, and numerous other animals would quickly chew their way through the drywall and outer exterior. Rain and snow would eventually make their way into the house, rotting the wood, and causing mold buildup. 50 to 100 years later, the roof collapses in on itself as the trusses begin to bend.

As nature eventually reclaims the remaining scrap piles, the New York City Subway system is rapidly falling apart. With no maintenance workers to unclog drains during a thundershower, water builds up in the train tunnels. Soon enough, streets begin to crater as steel columns corrode and “Lexington Avenue caves in, becoming a river.” Nature is taking over where humans left off, attempting to return to its former state.

From there, Weisman travels around the globe to discover the inevitable future of humanities creations. Abandoned hotels in formerly troubled Cyprus, the Korean demilitarized zone, and even Chernobyl act as prime examples of what will happen when humans are gone and nature is left to thrive. Though the concept may seem complicated at first, readers will soon find their imaginations enthralled by Weisman’s bold predictions and the evidence used to back them up.

With the world becoming increasingly more aware of greenhouse gases and global warming, this book provides a fantastically detailed and thought provoking glimpse at the precise effect humans are having on the Earth. By presenting environmental science in a straightforward and user-friendly approach, this book allows readers to clearly understand the perils facing the planet today and the opportunity to go green in their own lives. And while we cannot know for certain what will happen in our absence, Weisman believes that “the only real prediction you can make is that life will go on. And that it will be interesting.”

credit : bookreview.com

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

2008-03-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

Business - Current Events - Psychology - Self Help
Title: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Author: Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Rating: Must Read!
Publisher: Random House
Reviewed by: Moses B. Altsech, Ph.D.

Here's the short version: Buy this book. Don't borrow it, don't browse through it--just get your own copy (because you'll want to own it), and get it soon!

Here's the long version: I shudder at the very thought of just how cumbersome, boring, confused, and plain unbearable a book about " ideas" can be... It's the perfect topic for long-winded authors who aspire to write into existence a prescription sleep aid of a book. But Chip and Dan Heath's "Made to Stick" is none of that: It's a tour de force; powerful, compelling, and reader-friendly! You'll be astonished at how many portions of this book you'll think one of your family members, friends, coworkers (superiors and subordinates alike) would be well-advised to read, and fast! What makes some ideas triumph and others die an ugly death is not just a matter of curiosity; it's actually something you can use on both a personal and professional level.

The ingredients that make ideas thrive are intuitive, but their combination masterful and their presentation irresistible: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional Stories are at the core of successful ideas. After all, we're all story tellers; we all try to influence those around us; we all strive to have creative ideas that will make our life more successful, more meaningful, more enjoyable. Surely we've all encountered people whose stories were about as interesting and inspirational as the instructions on a tax form, and others whose stories conveyed ideas that excited us and fed our thought and imagination alike! There's clearly a vast divide, and not all ideas are good. Worse yet, good ideas can crash and burn when presented in a manner that keeps them from soaring. So what's the most important thing you need to convey and how can you communicate it concisely? How can you grab people's attention, and what does it take to keep it? What kind of examples can people relate to, and why? How can you make details convincing without making them overbearing? How can you make people care, and how can you translate that empathy into action? These are all points that "Made to Stick" presents in a manner so straightforward, interesting and convincing that it's obvious the authors have followed their own recipe to the letter. Forget books about ideas that read like the next cheap self-help knock-off or another endless dissertation so obscure it might as well be written in Sanscrit: This one has examples so poignant and relevant that they teach and impress in a single stroke. Take the case of James Grant, the former UNICEF director, who, instead of trying to establish the value of life-saving Oral Rehydration Therapy to leaders of developing countries with heavy scientific facts or statistics, carried with him a small packet with teaspoons of salt and sugar in it (the main ingredients of ORT): He'd show this simple prop, and tell heads of State that the tiny packet costing less than a cup of tea could save hundreds of thousands of lives. How can you forget this example, and how can you not see the genius in the idea? Moreover, "Made to Stick" points out exactly why the prop was more powerful than the science facts, making the idea ultimately effective.

If candy were good for you, it'd be a lot like this book: If you've ever had an idea, plan on having one, or have to listen to others' ideas, pick up a copy today!

credit : bookreview.com

Super Stitches Knitting by Karen Hemingway

2008-03-06T09:33:00.000-08:00

Textile Art - Reference
Title: Super Stitches Knitting
Author: Karen Hemingway
Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: Watson-Guptill Publications
Reviewed by: Jeni

Super Stitches Knitting is a handy knitting reference book with basic techniques and a dictionary of stitch patterns. The first forty pages of this little book contain very helpful basic knitting instructions and tips from the basic knit and purl to how to care for your creations after you’ve spent so much time creating them. The rest of the book contains the Stitch Library: a collection of 300 different stitch patterns for use in socks, sweaters, scarves, whatever your imagination can wrap them around. These patterns include cabling, lace, Fair Isle and more. Each entry has a beautifully photographed sample.

I have only been knitting for a year, so I still have great need for helpers, tips and reference guides. I have found that the instructions are easy to read and the graphics describing the techniques are easy to follow. The technique guide includes sections that I didn’t realize I was missing, such as a graph of “Care Instruction Symbols” and adding beads and sequins.

If you are a knitter already I highly recommend this book. The beautiful stitch pictures makes it coffee table ready and at the same time very useful. If you are a beginning knitter this will be a good book to inspire you to learn those more complicated patterns and get excited about your projects.

credit : bookreview.com

Best Sellers , Week of March 9th, 2008

2008-03-03T06:57:00.000-08:00

New York Times® Best Sellers: Hardcover Fiction

New York Times® Best Sellers: Mass Market Paperback Fiction

New York Times® Best Sellers: Hardcover Nonfiction

New York Times® Best Sellers: Paperback Nonfiction

Best Sellers , Week of March 2nd, 2008

2008-02-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

New York Times® Best Sellers: Hardcover Fiction
Week of March 2nd, 2008

1.	Title : The Appeal (Hardcover) by John Grisham (Author) 150 Reviews Amazon.com As the author of twenty bestselling books, John Grisham has set the standard for legal thrillers since the debut of The Firm in 1991. Enjoy this Q&A--as well as a personal note to Amazon readers--from John Grisham... more
2.	Title : 7th Heaven (Women's Murder Club) (Hardcover) by James Patterson (Author), Maxine Paetro (Author) 26 Reviews From Publishers Weekly At the start of the gripping seventh Women's Murder Club thriller from bestseller Patterson and Paetro (after 2007's The 6th Target), San Francisco is still haunted by the disappearance of Michael Campion... more
3.	Title : Duma Key: A Novel (Hardcover) by Stephen King (Author) 169 Reviews Amazon.com Amazon Significant Seven, January 2008: It would be impossible to convey the wonder and the horror of Stephen King's latest novel in just a few words. Suffice it to say that Duma Key, the story of Edgar Freemantle and ... more

Sex and Isolation by Bruce Benderson

2008-02-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

Biographies and Memoirs - Sex and Sexuality
Title: Sex and Isolation: And Other Essays
Author: Bruce Benderson
Reviewed by: Les Chappell

There aren't a lot of writers left who can hold the titles of bohemian and iconoclast, but Bruce Benderson is still one of them. Well known for his novels "The Romanian" and "User," Benderson thrived in the darker days of Times Square when it was a home to pimps, drug dealers and hustlers, a rabble William S. Burroughs once called "hipster-bebop junkies." more

Into the Mist by Elizabeth Sinclair

2008-02-27T09:51:00.000-08:00

Romance - Fantasy
Title: Into the Mist
Author: Elizabeth Sinclair
Reviewed by: Harriet Klausner

The blizzard is crippling as the woman struggles to survive it while she wanders aimlessly the streets of Tarrytown, New York until some strangers tell her that her name is Carrie and she needs to come with them. With no place to go and a chance to get out of cold, she accompanies them to the misty village of Renaissance where they insist her memory will return. more

Fortune's Kiss by Lisa Manuel

2008-02-27T09:43:00.000-08:00

Title: Fortune's Kiss
Author: Lisa Manuel
Review By Rod Clark

Her beloved stepfather Everett Foster always promised Moira Hughes and her mom (his widow) that he has insured they will be provided for in the event of his death. Moira understands that the brunt of the estate must by law go to his heir. However to her chagrin the codicil to his will, if it was ever written, is missing not filed with the will in the Prerogative Court in Canterbury; soon afterward the solicitor Mr. Smythe of Smythe and Davis, Legal Consultants is dead. more

The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII by Richard Friar

2008-02-27T09:31:00.000-08:00

The Keepers: Part 1: WWIII [UNABRIDGED] (Paperback)
by Richard Friar (Author)
Review By Rod Clark

Richard Friar’s new book, The Keepers is an eerie, monumental (650 page) novel portraying the rise of a fourth Reich in Germany and the start of WWIII beginning in the 2030s, the third decade of the 21st century: a mere 22 years away. The new Hitler, Geiseric, seeks to transform earth into a highly controlled master utopia modeled on Aristotle’s great classic Plato’s Republic. His new society is based on Isaiaism, a pseudo religion of which he is the Messiah. more

Atrocity Within by Adriene Allen

2008-02-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

Atrocity Within (Hardcover)
by Adriene Allen (Author)
Review By John Lehman

This is a slick, freewheeling novel about a hot, Korean-American using sex to get whatever she wants. It’s a modern “Tom Jones” for readers wondering what life would be like without restraints that keep us in check. In this particular case the fantasy fulfillment is a bit disappointing because (despite the author’s efforts) there isn’t much dramatic tension. Or maybe we just don’t care enough about the characters to wonder how it will turn out. more

De Niro's Game: A Novel by Rawi Hage

2008-02-24T06:40:00.000-08:00

De Niro's Game (Hardcover)
by Rawi Hage (Author)
Review By James Sallis

FLAT affect. The face evidences little of worlds without or within, reflects nothing of the crushing weights thrust upon it externally, nothing of the maelstrom of thought and emotion swirling beneath. It is what one sees in the deeply troubled, in the disconnected and institutionalized, in the psychopath -- and in those who have endured the mass uprootings and siege wars that seem the very imprint of human history.

Among the many things that fiction can be, it is a corrective to history, turning away from the clash of ignorant armies, from all those grand ideas that make us so unhappy, to the realities of ordinary people carrying on lives as best they can beneath the many shadows cast over them. Fiction reminds us that history is every bit as much a lie as are novels and short stories. Fiction helps us remember that it is not the great events or ideas that matter, but those faces, those lives.

In both its story line and its language -- at its very heart -- "De Niro's Game" bears the flat affect of the broken and desolate. This first novel by Lebanon-born Rawi Hage tracks a friendship forged in the fires of Lebanon's 15-year-long civil war. Bassam sinks into crime, though always as a means simply to survive, "to reach other shores and leave this place." George takes a separate route, that of the military, steadily consolidating power as he destroys all that might have been good within him.

Quite a lot happens in what is, after all, a slim novel: gang wars, petty crimes, murder, the 1982 massacre of Palestinians by Israeli-supported right-wing Lebanese militias at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatilla -- sudden turns and surfacing of events that catch up in their coils the disorder and abruptions of Bassam's world. Similarly the language, restless, enervated, slides from blunt and colorless to the cadenced, figuring that world's endless cycle of revolution and despair: "Ten thousand bombs had split the winds, and my mother was still in the kitchen smoking her long, white cigarettes. . . . Ten thousand bombs had fallen and I was waiting for death to come and scoop its daily share from a bowl of limbs and blood."

At one point, Bassam begins reading Camus' "The Stranger," and he shares much with the character Meursault: his inability to summon emotion at his mother's funeral, the lack of any connection other than carnal with his girlfriend, a world that has not so much lost meaning as had its essential meaninglessness underscored by events. Two-thirds through this remarkable novel, fleeing from the military, Bassam is picked up by George. "Why do you drive in this direction?" Bassam asks. "The torture chambers are on the other side." "No, Bassam," George responds, "the torture chambers are inside us." As are they always. *

credit : James Sallis / calendarlive.com

Gentleman Jigger, A novel by Richard Bruce Nugent

2008-02-24T06:18:00.000-08:00

Gentleman Jigger: A Novel: A Novel (Paperback)
by Richard Bruce Nugent (Author), Arnold Rampersad (Foreword), Thomas H. Wirth (Editor)
Review By Alice Randall

RICHARD BRUCE NUGENT'S novel "Gentleman Jigger" is a strange cocktail of glamour and dirt that goes down easy, quickly intoxicates and leaves a pungent taste. It may just give you a hangover. But anyone who has ever lamented that he or she was born too late to spend an evening at Georgia Douglas Johnson's legendary Washington, D.C., salon frequented by black writers, artists and politicians, or to spend any hour at 267 W. 136th St. "when Harlem was in vogue," should rush to risk the head pounding.

Cracking "Gentleman Jigger," however, is a bit like opening a door to a party full of very interesting, sometimes dangerous, sometimes dazzling people who all know one another -- but don't know, and perhaps don't want to know, you. The experience is also akin to sitting beside a bold-living, wild-loving, deliciously indiscreet man of fine lineage willing to regale you with juicy gossip from the world of art and letters and tender but explicit favored incidents in his sexual history, all the while reeling off the names of dozens of books you might want to poke into and why, and pausing to provide a primer of social etiquette among certain elements of black bohemia before tutoring you on how to capture the un-capturable man.

Allow me to make a few introductions. Richard Bruce Nugent was born in Washington, D.C., to a prominent black family in 1906. At one of Johnson's "Saturday Nighters," Nugent met Langston Hughes, who eventually introduced him to Wallace Thurman, the dark-skinned genius who penned "The Blacker the Berry" (1929), a novel that explores color biases within the African American community.

Shortly after Nugent moved to New York, he and Thurman (who would die at 32, laid low by alcohol and finished off by tuberculosis) became roommates. Both were black, both were gay, both went on to write novels centered on the denizens of the building on West 136th Street, referred to by Harlem Renaissancers as Niggerati Manor. Thurman's "Infants of the Spring" was published in 1932. Nugent's novel, "Gentleman Jigger," probably written between 1928 and 1933, has only now seen publication -- 21 years after his death.

Thurman appears here as Henry Raymond Pelman: "So black! So handsome! So small and so brilliant!" Nugent appears in "Infants" as Paul Arbian -- an artist who creates "highly colored phalli." "Infants" ends with Paul's suicide. Nugent has the last laugh. "Gentleman Jigger" is by far the superior work.

The book begins in D.C., parsing the genealogy of the protagonist, Stuartt, who enjoys a socially privileged and economically precarious existence -- very much like Nugent's own. Young Stuartt recites Paul Laurence Dunbar's "Little Brown Baby" on demand but prefers to gorge himself on Nick Carter and Rabelais. The pale but black boy has a particular fondness for "Gargantua" and "The Decameron" and a peculiar loathing of dark-skinned people. "He could not bear the thought of having to face Miss Hussey every day . . . . For Miss Hussey was black, and Stuartt was prejudiced in the extreme. . . . He had never been allowed to play with dark children."

When it is discovered that instead of selling newspapers -- to help fill the family coffers -- Stuartt is robbing his piggybank, the school-age boy "took his thrashing, said he was ashamed, promised to really sell his papers in the future, and retired to dry his tears and meditate upon his sin in solitude like a little man. He took the volume of Boccaccio to the toilet with him." Stuartt is an odd and interesting boy who becomes a bold and more interesting man.

As Stuartt zigs and zags across the color line, the plot zigs and zags across a wide swath of America -- from black Washington to Mormon Utah, arriving in Harlem, heading off West again -- to gangster Chicago before bouncing back to Gotham by way of a Hollywood-on-the-East River version of Astoria, Queens.

It is in the Harlem sections that "Jigger" recalls Claude McKay's "Home to Harlem" (1928), Carl Van Vechten's "Nigger Heaven" (1926) and the comparatively staid and scolding "Infants." What elevates Nugent's effort is his ability to construct a character, Stuartt, who moves through a series of erotic adventures and love affairs to bloom into a gorgeous original: writer and painter, hyper-intellectual and hyper-sexual, friend of black intellectuals, lover of Italian gangsters, fiancé of Lake Shore Drive debutante, rising star of stage and film, dance partner of gangster moll, brother of brilliant poet (white), brother of brilliant dancer (black), son of elegant mother content to allow her sons to pass beyond her reach if they place themselves high -- as unforgettable as he is improbable.

Ultimately the best comparisons may be Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (1925), Nella Larsen's "Passing" (1929) and André Gide's "The Immoralist" (1902) and "The Counterfeiters" (1926). Tramping in from the Hamptons to Harlem, "Gentleman Jigger" expands our understanding of the Jazz Age by exploring the sexual attraction of gangsters and the eroticism of dirty money. And the humiliation, vulnerability and alienation inherent in masking one's identity in "Passing" takes on new resonance when juxtaposed here with the exuberance of stripping and the confident performance of nakedness. Placing his book alongside the Gide, we appreciate first Nugent's idiosyncratic constructions and meta-text references but arrive at an awareness that Gide, though he gives much insight into why some white men desire some dark men, left much unsaid about why some dark men desire white men exclusively. Nugent has much to say on that subject.

The climax of "Gentleman Jigger" occurs in a swank nightclub. Somewhere Prince Orloff is chatting about something; somewhere else someone else is talking about the Scottsboro boys. A Chicago gangster/former lover of Stuartt's is at one table. A New York gangster/former lover of Stuartt's is at another. Jungle chorus numbers thrill as the show moves toward the star attraction. In the midst of all this, Stuartt is outed as black. The night is half-saved when the dancer Rhythm, the star of the headlining Sepia Steppers, announces that Stuartt is his brother.

Accompanied by his brother, mother, gang boss-lovers, bodyguards and dance partner, Stuartt leads a proud and peculiar parade out of the club. The next day Stuartt makes his studio bosses, still stunned by the apparent transformation of their Fred Astaire into Bojangles, pay him more not to be in the movies than they were going to pay him to be in them. And so the novel that begins with a little boy taking money for services he did not provide ends with a story of a man receiving money for services he will not provide.

Gossipy, irreverent, partisan, indiscreet, exaggerated, erudite, perhaps borrowed, perhaps pillaged (in "Jigger," Stuartt and Raymond are both writing novels; but it is Raymond, the Thurman character, who steals scenes and lines from Stuartt, the Nugent character), at times frustratingly obscure -- "Gentleman Jigger" is also shamelessly erotic, helpfully romantic, presciently modern in its contemplation of the cult of celebrity and largely autobiographical.

Passing on the up-high is far more complicated than just passing, or passing on the down-low. Pretending to be white while pretending to be straight is tricky business. "Gentleman Jigger" knows all the tricks. Nugent reveals them with zeal.

credit : Alice Randall / calendarlive.com

Fidel Castro: My Life by Fidel Castro and Ignacio Ramonet

2008-02-24T05:19:00.000-08:00

My Life (Hardcover)
by Fidel Castro (Author), Ignacio Ramonet (Editor), Andrew Hurley (Translator)
Review By William Podmore

This inspiring book is the result of conversations held in 2003-05. It is an autobiography à deux, `an oral summing-up of Fidel Castro's life by Fidel himself'.

Chapters cover his childhood and youth, his meeting Che Guevara, the 1959 Cuban revolution, the failed US attack at the Bay of Pigs, the 47-year US blockade, the incessant media attacks on Cuba, the US state's terrorist attacks on Cuba which have killed 3,500 people, the October 1962 crisis, Che's death, the collapse of the Soviet Union, globalisation, Cuba's relations with Spain, France and Latin America, and Cuba today.

Fidel is rightly proud of Cuba's magnificent achievements in education and health. Cuba's primary school children are first in the world in languages and maths. Cuba is first in the world in teachers per person and has the smallest class sizes. Cuba is educating thousands of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America, without charging a cent. Cuba provides government-sponsored scholarships to nearly 30,000 students from 121 countries currently enrolled in Cuba's universities, some 23,000 of whom are being trained as doctors.

Cuba is first in the world in doctors per person and is the largest educator of doctors in the world, ten times more than the USA. Cuba sends thousands of doctors to Africa, with its 30 million AIDS patients, while the whole EU cannot send even a hundred doctors there, instead stealing Africa's doctors and nurses. 37,000 Cuban health workers, including 18,000 doctors, are providing services in 79 countries. Since 2004, Cuba's Operation Miracle has restored sight to 1,000,000 patients from 32 countries.

Fidel has much to contribute to the debate on globalisation. He points out that the total debt owed by the countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America is $2.5 trillion, and that they get $53 billion a year aid, while paying interest of $350 billion a year. He notes that 500 monopolies control 80% of the world's economy, profiting from poverty-level wages.

Fidel points out that capitalism undermines all reforms and that one can't build socialism by capitalist methods. He attaches great importance to ethics, ideas, knowledge, values, and culture. As José Marti, another of Cuba's heroes, said, "Being cultured is the only way to be free."

credit : William Podmore / amazon.com