I don't know what book the reader from Wilmington, De., was reading, but it doesn't sound like the same book that I read! Seeds of Fire is a fast moving, engrossing story that goes places I would never have expected to be taken. It's peopled with three dimensional characters -- intelligent women with wit and heart -- who must deal with their own weaknesses as well as injustices fate and villains have dealt them. Like her other stories, Seeds of Fire plays with magical elements in thoughtful, interesting, and often touching ways. I've read all the books that Karin Kallmaker has written under the Adams pen name and think they are some of the best lesbian fantasy stories around! Adams creates worlds just slightly different from our "ordinary every day" and in addition to entertaining, she often prompts me to think about things like the nature of time, the soul, good and evil, reincarnation and the power of the love. I can't wait for the third book in the Tunnel of Light trilogy!

A strong warning to would-be readers: begin with the first book
of the sequence: Sleight of Hand.

This wonderful book continues the story of a dozen women,
who are introduced as we go along, and prove to be pivotal
along the way. Two of the most identifiable characters are
the richly portrayed Ursula, and the mischievous and lusty
Hilea, who are respectively reincarnations of St Ursula, and
Abbess Hildegard of Bingen. [If you like Hildegard, this is
probably a trilogy you shouldn't miss.]

The idea of a set of present-day individuals re-treading paths
they have tread in the past is not new. However, Karin
Kallmaker raises the device to attain new heights of poetic
power. The constant theme of the story is the tension between
the conflicting desires of the women, and their transforming
love for each other, and the focus of their existence, Ursula,
which is sometimes a battle, but at othertimes in blissful alignment.

The mythic tone of the narrative comes from the fact that the
women remember their numerous previous encounters only
imperfectly. They sometimes seek someone or something they
only know vaguely, from dreams. So their discovery of each
other is alway new, and ever more poignant. And sometimes they
proceed on a path despite painful intuitions about its futility.

In places, though, the author is juggling up to three
time layers at once, with the action in each affecting the
outcomes in the others, and we lose sight of the cause-and-
effect factor, the motivation, the triggers. Should Kelly
pull, or push? Why? Why should A shoot at B? (Was I too
sleepy when I read that page? ;) In once sense, their
motivations leak between the layers. On the other hand, some
of them are more aware of the other layers than others, making
it nearly impossible for the reader to make sense of the action
except that it was horribly and tragically necessary.

In spite of its minor weaknesses, I can honestly say I enjoyed
the two books very much, and I pulled out my Canticles of
Ecstasy (since I do not have 11,000 virgins) and wallowed in the
wonderful feeling of exaltation both the book and the music
Of Hildegard Von Bingen evoke.

There is a scene in book one, when the women are together, that
sets a mood of great innocent delight. It is like the kiss of
an angel, and I keep reading in the hope that such bliss will
be found again, perhaps in the final book of the trilogy!

Arch

It's almost always true that second books or trilogies are never as good as the first or third, but Laura Adams has broken that rule -- along with a bunch of others in writing this "lesbian" fantasy story.

Where are the weakly-developed characters, the vanilla plots, the good and true goddess loving women who overcome everything by the power of love? Or who solve all their problems by being wizards of technology and science? Not in this book!

The Tunnel of Light Triology features women who are strongly developed, deeply flawed, plagued by their darker impulses and not at all sure that love will help them overcome an evil that has hunted them for 1500 years. As they live out the patterns of pursuers and pursued, of lovers and enemies and seekers and finders, they lose memories of their past knowledge and awareness of where their moral lines must be drawn to survive.

This is a great series with a full range of human emotion -- not just what lesbians are "supposed" to feel. These women can hate each other, and hurt each other, and love each other -- sometimes in ways so erotic that this easily qualifies as romance.

If you like fantasy, lesbian, gay, straight or otherwise, you will like this triology and this middle book. Laura Adams (an alter ego of Karin Kallmaker) must be doing something right -- unlike book 1, this middle book has been nominated for a Lammy Award. Like the rest of her readers, I am on the edge of my seat for book 3.

I enjoyed this collection of Dilbert cartoons, as I do all of Scott Adams' compendiums. I can see some of Dilbert in me, and some of me in Dilbert (especially the bent tie), and easily recognize parallels between Dilbert's workplace and mine. I at least have an office and don't have to live with the cubicle dwellers and my boss is somewhat brighter than Dilbert's, but it's still scary how realistic Dilbert's world is.

I would have given this book 5 stars except all of these cartoons appear, in sequence, in my 2001 Dilbert desk calendar, so I've already read many of them and I have no reason now to flip to the next day on my calendar. That's almost Dilbert-esque, in a way.

You have to like Scott Adam's work to appreciate this book, but I don't know many people who don't. I think anyone who has ever been to work or had a boss will enjoy this book.

"Don't Step In The Leadership" is a collection of Dilbert comic strips from 1998. Scott Adams has accurately captured the idiocracy of life that is called work. Whether it's the pointy-haired boss trying (and failing) to manage his employees or Catbert: Evil H.R. Director prescribing an anti-depressant drug for Alice, you will be amazed at how much this art imitates your life.

I read the Hitchhikers guide many years before I read this book, so my expectations are colored by the fact that I loved the Hitchhikers guide. Thus this review is mostly a comparison between the two.

I give the book a fairly high score, 4 of 5, but it is not quite as good as the Hitchhikers guide, which I would give a 6 of 5 if I could. The style of writing is the same, but where the Hitchhikers guide made me laugh out loud on several occations, this book just made me smile a little. It is also very easy to get thruogh, it is not the kind of book you need to devote an entire weekend to read, it can be completed in a few evenings. If you like Adams style of writing, then you will probably like this book as well, but don't expect it to be as good as the Hitchhikers guide.

Put a fire in the fireplace, turn down the lights (except the small reading lamp), put on Ravel's "Bolero," grab a sixpack of Guinness Draft in bottles, lie back in your Laz-Y-Boy recliner, open the book, and immerse yourself in an alternate reality, become engulfed in mystery, experience the reading of Colerige as you've never experienced it before, learn from an electric monk, weep for the extinct dodo, consider applications of quantum mechanics even the physicists didn't think of, and pity a living-challenged (i.e., dead) poor soul for whom his demise was not a release but yet another challenge to deal with. And, try to do all this with a straight face, as this is the funniest ghost/time travel/alien/love/historical story you have ever come across. Learn where Bach really got his music. Find out why there's an Albatross in "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and not the asteroid Colerige had obviously intended. Discover why Colerige never finished "Kubla Kahn." Find out who was responsible for the dodos' demise. Learn why it's easier to get face powder from the Pleides than from the drugstore. Find out why shooting off is a bad idea. Discover how telephones with big red pushbuttons are integral to solving murders. Douglas Adams is as irreplacible as Heinlein.

Then, read the sequel and never look at your refrigerator the same way again.

I would venture to say that these two books are better than the more famous Hitchhikers guide. Not only are these books funny, odd, and a genuinely fine read, I would say they are in many ways great examples of truly postmodern literature (and I have an A on a graduate level paper to back me up). Adams was not only a creative genius, but he saw how society was moving in a positive direction and was able to emphasize and poke fun at society's foibles. As a contrast to Sherlock Holmes these books point to how we truly are living in a different, and more fun, era. They are certainly silly, but very, very intelligent, and should not be passed up. (...)

#16 of a series of Dilbert Books; this 224 page paperback book contains all the Sunday comics strips from 1995 to 1999. All the comics in this book are in color. If you want all the Dilbert Sunday comics in one book, this is it. Nice compilation.

This book has five years worth of Sunday comics, bursting with wildly funny office humor. In my opinion, the Dilbert Sunday comics may be the best of Scott Adams's work. From Dogbert and Wally's sarcasm to the boss's stupidity, it all balances out with perfectly hysterical comics.

While all cartoons are entertaining, a select few reach the level of psychiatric therapy. Dilbert is an example of such a strip, providing us with comic relief as we face our troubles. Some situations are so absurdly impossible that the only possible coping mechanism is to laugh at the situation.
The modern business culture is a complex entity, often dysfunctional and operating at breakneck speed. Many of these dysfunctional traits are parodied in this strip, exaggerated for emphasis, but not by much. This collection of strips is a laugh/cry dichotomy where all of us will recognize some of the situations as events in our working lives.
Humor is one of the most powerful forces in the human psyche, sometimes it is the only antidote to the poisons of life. If you are looking for one of the larger does of this effective medicine, read this book.

This volume is the second of a projected four volume anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry in the Library of America series. American poetry richly deserves this extensive treatment, and this series may serve to introduce America's poets to a growing number of readers.

This volume begins with E.E.Cummings (born 1894) and concludes with May Swenson (born 1913) The volume has almost an embarrassment of riches. By my count there are 122 separate poets included. The book includes a brief biography of each writer included which is invaluable for reading the book.

As with any anthology of this nature,the selection is a compromise between inclusiveness and quality. Readers may quarrel with the relative weight given to various poets in terms of number of pages, and with the inclusion or exclusion of writers. (I was disappointed that a poet I admire, Horace Gregory, gets only two pages, for example). Overall, it is a wonderful volume and includes some greatpoetry.

There are favorites and familiar names here and names that will be familiar to few. A joy of a book such as this is to see favorites and to learn about poets one hasn't read before.

A major feature of this volume is its emphasis on diversity -- much more so than in volume 1 or in the Library of America's 19th century poetry anthologies. There are many Jewish poets (including Reznikoff, a favorite ofmine, Zukofsky, Alter Brody, Rose Drachler, George Oppen, Karl Shapiro, and others) and even more African-American Poets (Lanston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Richard Wright, Waring Cuney, Sterling Brown, Arna Bontemps, Robert Hayden and many more.) There are also selections from blues and popular songs which to me is overdone.

Of the poets unknown to me, I enjoyed particularly Lorine Niedecker, Laura Riding, and Janet Lewis -- women are well represented in this volume.

I have taken the title of this review from the Cape Hatteras section of "The Bridge" by Hart Crane.(page 229) Crane has more pages devoted to him than any other writer in the volume and deservedly so. "The Bridge" and "Voyages" are presented complete together with some of the shorter poems. This tragic, tormented and gifted writer tried in The Bridge to present a vision of America mystical in character, celebratory of the merican experience, and inclusive in its diversity. The poem is a worthy successor to the poetry of Whitman who is celebrated in it. The title of the review,I think, captures both Crane's poem as well as the goal of the volume as a whole in capturing something of the diversity of experience reflected in 20th Century American Verse.

Although not widely read and appreciated, American poetry underwent a renaissance in the Twentieth Century. At some point, readers will look back at our Twentieth Century poetry as a benchmark of literature and a guide to the thoughts, feelings, and events of our difficult century.

In this, the first of four projected volumes covering the Twentieth Century, the Library of America gives access to a treausre of reading, moving, elevating, and disturbing. The book consists of readings from 85 (by my count) poets. The poets, are arranged chronologically by the poet's birthday. The earliest writer in the volume is Henry Adams (born 1838) and the concluding writer is Dorothy Parker (born 1893). Some writers that flourished later in life, such as Wallace Stevens, thus appear in the volume before works of their peers, such as Pound and Elliot, who became famous earlier.

For me, the major poets in the volume are (not surprising choices here), Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, W.C. Williams, Ezra Pound, T.S. Elliot, Marianne Moore. They are represented by generous selections,including Elliot's Waste Land, Steven's Notes Towards a Supreme Fiction, and several Pound Canto's given in their entirety.

It is the mark of a great literary period that there are many writers almost equally meriting attention together with the great names. There are many outstanding writers here, some known, some unknown. To name only a few, I would includeE.A Robinson, James Weldon Johnson, Adelaide Crapsey, Vachel Lindsay, Sara Teasdale, H.D. Robinson Jeffers, John Crowe Ransom, Conrad Aiken, Samuel Greenberg. It would be easy to go on.

There are different ways to read an anthology such as this. One way is to browse reading poems as they catch the reader's eye. Another way is to read favorite poems the reader already knows.

I would suggest making the effort to read the volume through from cover to cover. Before beginning the paricular poet, I would suggest reading the biographical summary at the end of the volume. These are short but excellent and illuminate the authors and the poetry. The notes are sparse, but foreign terms in Pound and Elliot's poetry are translated, and we have selections from Elliot's and Marianne Moore's own notes.

By reading the volume through,one gets a sense of continuity and context. Then, the reader can devote attention to individual poems. Some twentieth century works, such as those by Pound, Elliott,Moore Stevens are notoriously difficult. Read the works through,if you are coming to them for the first time, and return to them later.

I was familiar with many of the poems in the book before reading the anthology but much was new to me. I learned a great deal. My favorite poet remains Wallace Stevens, partly because he comibined the life of a man of affairs, as an attorney and insurance executive, with deep art. This remains an ideal for me. It is true as well for W.C. Williams, although I am less fond of his poetry.

The title to this review is taken from "Libretto" by Ezra Pound,
(page 371). It is the best single sentence summation I can think of for the contents of this volume.

The real job of the anthologist is not, of course, to assemble anthologies but to anger and annoy readers. Only census takers have more doors slammed in their innocent faces. That said, a few words in defense of this excellent volume. Yes, there's plenty of second-tier or third-tier verse here, and those in search of pure poetry (no rocks, no soda, shaken not stirred) should probably save their pennies and buy the LOA volumes devoted to Frost, Stevens, etc etc. But a book like this one does give a splendid sense of cultural context. Sometimes the giants loom only larger when they're stuck in a line-up with their diminutive peers. And some of those lesser lights are actually quite talented, too. So unless you're truly fixated on iambic quality control, you should find much to love, and even more to like, in the capacious and paper-thin pages of APTTCV1.

Considered literary non-fiction, this is the account of the 1959
season of bullfighting in Spain and the intense competition between
two competing matadors for the glory of that season. It is his last
major work at age 60; he killed himself the following year.

In an
introduction by James Mitchner, it is explained that this piece was
commissioned by Life Magazine. The assignment was for Hemmingway to
revisit the bullfights he had written about in his classic novel
"Death in the Afternoon" published in 1940. Hemingway was
supposed to write 10,000 words for the article. Instead, he submitted
120,000 words. It was edited down to 70,000 words and ran in three
installments.

This book I read, however, was only about 45,000 words
and focuses specifically on the particular contests between two
competing matadors who happened to be brothers in law. Hemingway had
a personal relationship with both of them and brings the reader to the
dinners and the parties as well as to the infirmary after a goring,
the painful healing process in Spanish hospitals that do not
administer painkillers, the long rides on bad roads between bullfights
and the dirt and heat and fatigue and glory.

I have not read much of
Hemingway and knew nothing at all about bullfighting when I started
reading. Yet, by the end of the book a portrait of the author emerges
as well as an understanding of the history, tradition choreographed
performance of skill that occurs in the bull ring. Somehow, I was
able to move beyond my personal feelings about the slaughter of the
bull, and get into the mindset of Hemingway and the people of Spain,
where bullfighting is a national passion.

It has to do with courage.
And it has to do with facing death.

Hemmingway said it all it better
than I ever could:

"This was Antonio's regular appointment with
death that we had to face every day. Any man can face death but to be
committed to bring it as close as possible while performing certain
classic movements and do this again and again and again and then deal
it out yourself with a sword to an animal weighing half a ton which
you love is more complicated than facing death."

Lacking the crisp focus of Death in the Afternoon this work still has many wonderful parts and should be read by anyone with an interest in Hemingway or bullfighting. Written near the end of his life the book rambles at points but still treats the principal subject, the competition between two legendary Spanish Matadors, with the studied Hemingway eye. His descriptions of Franco's Spain provides an interesting overall context for this account.

The Dangerous Summer is truely a consuming work of Hemingways. Drawing you in a not letting go until he decides to let you go. Very colorful and descriptive the only draw back being the bias created by the friendship of Hemingway and Ordonez. This is a must read.

If, even after the display of courage of the Solidarity labor movement during the 1980s and the world leadership of Pope John Paul II, some people still cling to the tired stereotype of the dumb, ignorant Pole, they should be made to read "The Polish Way". Adam Zamoyski makes the point very clear of what an impressive and complex nation the Poles have forged despite animosity from neighboring countries (for example, Prussia/Germany, Austria, and Russia/U.S.S.R.) and the indifference from the Western democracies to their plight. And what a wonderful culture Poland has created; rich in art, architecture, literature, music, and mature political thinking. Being Polish from my father's side, I now feel a special pride towards my ancestors' accomplishments after reading this book which I highly recommend.

This is one of the better history books I have read. The author clearly explains the history of Poland without too much clutter. The book is easy to read and flows well. This is an excellent book for those wishing to begin to study the history of Poland. The maps and photos inside the book shows the dynamic borders of Poland through the centuries and the author demostrates that Poland like the rest of Europe wasn't an island nation but part of a bigger Europe.

Zamoyski's detailed history can be ponderous at times. His choice of phrases and sentence structure can make for some slow going. The book's major weakness, in terms of what I'd like to know more about, is it's lack of discussion about the daily lives of Polish people of various classes throughout history. It tends, like most histories, to focus on the lives and activities of the "movers and shakers," the aristocrats who shaped Polish history until the 20th century. It is long on fact, somewhat short on color and soul. But... having said that, it is an excellent work of history. The detail is rich, and it opens many windows on the Polish nation. It is, on balance, and excellent work, if not always an easy read. There may be more that can be known about Poland than this book presents, but once the reader has digested this volume, his knowledge will indeed be comprehensive. Highly recommended.

This book teaches a lot abou morals. Just becuase someone is alittle different from everyone else, doesn't mean they should be treated badly. Everyone is different in their own seperate way. Some people just show and others hide their feelings. People have differences, and no one is the same. Some of us just have to learn to accept it. And some have to realize we all are the same in some ways to.

The ugly duckling is a duck who is the same as everyone else, yet is also different. He just wants to be accepted. He doesn't know how to make people like him. People were not accepting him becuase he was not good enough. Everyone seems to be 'not good enough' at one time or another. Yet other people do not realize this.

I like this book because it explains how life goes. Some people aren't accepted because of their looks, other epople jsut need to learn to accept people for who they are. Not what they are not. You need to learn to look past the "bad" qualities and see the good qualities.

I just wanted to let everyone know that this CHILDREN'S book just won a Caldecott honor. As I scrolled down to read the reviews, I was shocked to hear of romance, mystery, etc. Then I realized that the reviews were intended for a different book entitled "The Ugly Duckling." I don't know why it happened, but don't let the reviews fool you! The new version of Hans Christian Anderson's The Ugly Duckling, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney is excellent and worthy of being a new Caldecott honor book!

Like most parents, you want your child's home library to include standard fairy tales. Jerry Pinkney's "The Ugly Duckling" combines incredibly detailed ilustrations with a nice balance of both strong and muted colors AND a wonderful re-telling of the generations-old standard tale. In this verson, however, people are woven into the story in a way that I haven't seen before, and I like that very much. It's easy to see why this book was selected as a 1999 Caldecott Honor Book. Pinkney's a very gifted illustrator, and he really has to be given credit for his well-constructed text as well as the gorgeous pictures. Authors who write and then illustrate their own stories are somewhat rare, and as an adult, I appreciate the incredible mix of talent and hard work this represents. My children, of course, just love the pictures; they'll grow to appreciate good writing as they get older.

Laurence Gardner is a remarkable antiquarian, historian, theologian and etymologist as well as expert on ancient languages (Hebrew for example). Gardner has written a trilogy, each seperate in covering material, but unified in their relation to the Holy Grail as a symbol for the family bloodline of Jesus. For those who have read "Bloodline Of The Holy Grail", we are familiar with his theories on Jesus, his marriage to Mary Magdalene and his descendants becoming priests and European royalty. Like that book, Garnder discovered hidden meanings behind the text in the Gospels, taking the literal translation of the words in the text from their Jewish source and how they were applied at the time of their writng. He does this again with the first book in the Bible, Genesis.

Gardner explains how Genesis, which means "beginning, genetic origins- ("Gene- sis- Gene-tics") is about the evolution and progress of the Hebrew people, the unknown tradition of the Messiah and at last, the real faces behind the biblical characters of Adam and Eve, Abraham and Moses. Adam and Eve, quite contrary to the fundamentalist dogma, were not the first man and woman, but merely the first of their kind. They had greater thinking power, and they were ancestors to the early Jews. Abraham, of course, is portrayed as a wondering sheperd called to be the father of a great race. Gardner does not deter from this ancestral patriarch's importance, but provides a clear picture of who he really was. The same applies to Moses and his own link in the great chain. The talk of Star Fire and Phoenix, Philosopher's Stone may take on mystic, obscure and confusing forms, but I understand it to be simply more additions to the beliefs of earlier non-fundamentalists- such as the Gnostics, the Freemasons, the Templar Knights, each with a profound knowledge of worthy notice.

This book is outstanding. Lush illustrations, accurate history and rational criticism, as well as mystic, spiritual enlightenment. Gardner has fascinated me and grabbed my attention from the very beginning. Genesis is what you want to make of it. It is always good to open your mind and your heart to the happy possibilities.

In my studies of history through the years, I could never understand why the royalty of Europe felt they had the "divine right" to rule. Gardner's book connects the white powder of gold of alchemy, the Sumerian story of the creation of man by the Annanaki, and the historical Jesus that has been so elusive for some many historians, together into a totally believable story of our history. While many dispute the conclusions about Jesus and his lineage, it is apparent that he was the Son of God because he was of the Dragon Lineage, a descendant of Enki and the Pharoahs of Egypt. While a conspiracy may exist to suppress this information, this explains so much of the historical Jesus by tying it to the Sumerian Annanaki, and a Illuminated ruling class. The identity of the Mount of the Testimony as a giant foundry for producing the white powder of gold was fascinating, as it explains the building of the great stone structures of the ancient world through the weightlessness properties of the "manna". This book brings together my favorite topics as truth, although one has to be careful to accept everything someone has written. I believe that it has a ring of truth, but I continue to search for the rest of the truth.

I bought this book, and put it away for 2 weeks, before I could bring myself to read it. Not because I didn't think this would be a great piece of work, I have read gardner's first book, but because of my upbringing, I didn't know if I could handle any more "truth" at the moment. I had also recently just finished Zecharia Sitchin's books, and the writings from the Sumarians, are obviously more than the myth that scientists would like us to believe. Too many questions, and not enough answers. I agree with the reviewer before me, that Gardner's book was not long enough, and gave us just a "taste" of what was coming to sell his next book. The only problem that I have with the book, is Gardner seems to be leading us down the path, that with the Anunnaki, and the DNA experiments in the making of the lulu, is that this made AD.AM, is a protected bloodline from the beginning. I have no problem in believing that we as humans were "helped" along with our DNA in hurrying our evolution, but we were created as slaves. To listen to Gardner, is to believe that because the AD.AM was created from the "GOD" Enkil, with his own seed, and protected down the generations, that we should now look at that bloodline as our KING line. Why? Because an alien race with a greater advanced civilization came to earth, and was able to move our evolution in WARP time that we should look to them now? I am sorry, I don't see that. In the near future, I can see our race doing the exact thing, and although it makes me ill to think that we would have a lesser race call us GODS, I have to be honest, and with what I see of our race in todays times, yes, we would let that happen. I am waiting for the next book to have all this explained, and I truly hope that this is not the suggestion that Gardner is making, because personally, they will not be my God or King.