I love handbags and I love to knit. To me, this book looked like the perfect combination of both. Then, I started kitting the chunky tote on page 29. A half-dozen (wasted) hours later, I realized that there was no way, geometrically, that the bag shown in the photograph could be created by following the pattern.

In addition, the resources list at the back of the book is all but useless. It contains merely a list of suppliers by name, but it does not categorize them as to what they supply, nor does it provide email or website information. The resource listings contain only postal addresses. In rare cases phone numbers are provided, if only for suppliers based in the UK. It's the 21st Century, for pete's sake! Who has time to send a letter through the mail to Judi & Co. in NY, requesting a catalog from which to order the black handles required for the chunky tote on pg. 29? Very few would bother, I'm afraid. And who could blame them?

As a new knitter, I rely heavily on patterns in books and, perhaps naively, take for granted that they are correct. I realize that mistakes happen and that errors in proofing can occur. However, putting a good, usable book together involves more than selecting a great binding or including flashy photos on a glossy stock. It's helpful if someone actually TESTS the instructions AFTER they are written. It's called usability testing. It happens in software, why not knitwear?

This small book has projects for all tastes. 27 bags and backpacks to knit and have fun. Has a picture for every item.
I know it can be difficult to get the right yarns and accesories if you live abroad or if you don't want to spend lots of money, but with little imagination, you can adjust this ideas and use other yarn and another kind of handles for a bag. Just check gauge and you're done!! great buy for teens or young adults who want to start knitting their own bags or for a mother or grandma who wants to spoil her children

Since I am a purse nut, I love this book. Normally I do not knit but because of the beautiful patterns I am learning so that I can make some of the bags. I look forward to more patterns from Vogue.

One cannot help but wonder why people who call themselves socialist distribute this book. Malcolm X is no radical, he is rather a third world nationalist. As some on the left may not yet realize, simply being anti-imperialist is not the touchstone of all that is progressive. Malcolm X is a fascinating figure and one eminently worth reading, but I have to register my objection to the tone of the other reviews and to the fact that this book continues to be distributed by supposedly radical socialist bookstores and socialist booksales on the street. One cannot help but believe that there is something disingenuous in the predominantly white socialist attempt to recruit Malcolm X to there cause so as to facilitate interest within "the black community." One cannot address race meaningfully in this country while failing to address the disastruous effects that black nationalist politics, inspired in large measure by Malcolm X, have had in fracturing and dispersing radical energies.

In re-reading Malcolm X Speaks, I'm struck by how well he understood the viciousness of the U.S. system of oppression and how clearly he expressed the need for all-out, uncompromising struggle against it. The capitalist class lashed out at Malcolm X for these speeches, not just because he criticized their system, but because he dared to awaken the oppressed to their unconquerable human potential. Fighters from all over the world have studied this book, members of Sinn Fein in Ireland, farmers fighting foreclosure, opponents of police brutality, and supporters of the embattled Palestinians. Sharing the lessons of this book will advance our struggle!

This book of Malcolm X's Speeches was begun while Malcolm was alive with the publisher and the editor that Malcolm selected, and speeches he wanted in the book. This begins the series of books by Malcolm X published by Pathfinder Press in collaboration with his family as more speeches, interviews, and talks by Malcolm X have been discovered. The aim here is to put Malcolm X's words first. Read them for yourself. Find out why Malcolm was a reasoned, passionate, but uncompromising opponent of US imperialism's wars against oppressed peoples, in Africa, in Vietnam, in the Mid-East. Malcolm can really inspire you about the fights we need.

Vogue Knitting American Collection ($) will appeal to knitters with its collection of handknit patterns from top designers. Over forty garments are presented ranging from casual to dressy, each including color photos of finished products, a stitch overview, and step-by-step instructions perfect for those without prior knitting experience.

Even if you're a relatively inexperienced knitter, you should buy this book. While it is true that most of the projects are for more advanced knitters, you need something to work toward, to look forward to. As is true for all of Vogue Knitting's books, the pattern instructions are clearly written, and the photographs are dynamite. At some point, you will want to try something more challenging, and when you're ready, you'll have this book. Even so, I think several of these designs could be attempted after you have done a couple of more simple sweaters. Just go slow at first, and don't be afraid to ask for help.

In addition to the beautiful designs in this book, there is a profile of each designer. This is a great feature. Each of the designers started out as beginners, just like us. It's interesting to see how each of them got their start. You might even be inspired to design something on your own.

Want a "best-of" collection from the top American knitwear designers, even if you'll never manage to complete half the patterns? This book is for you.

Each chapter begins with a two-page profile of the designer and then features four or five of the most memorable patterns she ever did for the magazine. In total there are more than 40 garments from Pam Allen, Lily Chin, Nicky Epstein, Nora Gaughan, Kristin Nicholas, Debora Newton, Mari Lynn Patrick, Michele Rose, Elizabeth Zimmerman, and Mag Swansen.

As you'd expect from Vogue Knitting, the layout is exceptionally clear and well illustrated, and the patterns are easy to read. The book has just a few Very Easy Very Vogue patterns. The rest are definitely for intermediate to expert knitters.

Godwin's book is, among other things, a collection of fine art depictions of angels through history. That may be reason enough to own it. But if you have any previous knowledge of Judeo-Christian history you may find the text unbearable. He begins by throwing together every tradition and account, Pagan and otherwise, over a period of several thousand years and then calls the result self-contradictory because of the inevitable disagreements. Without disclosing his methods he alters historical documents to his own taste (apparently expecting his audience to be ignorant of them), and he subjects all of it to analysis by the standards of 20th century materialist psychology. There is so much false information and confusion in a single paragraph one could write a whole chapter refuting each one. For example, he calls the God of the Bible "radical evil" and, tossing out the collective conclusions of the whole of Western Civilization, asserts that any intelligent reader would agree with him. Buy it if you must, ... You'll thank me.

This book is insightful and informative. An excellent choice to buy.

Malcolm Godwin's "Angels: An Endangered Species" is a guided tour through all the lore about these heavenly beings from ancient times to the present. This is a book that begins with lyrics from the Eurythmics and ends with a Renaissance painting of the Enunciation that is being restored. Godwin takes pains to catalogue the various types of angels, each in its own "wing": Heavenly Hierarchy looks at the Seraphim, Cherubim, and other choirs of angels; Hell's Angels covers the various versions of Satan along with his minions; Heaven's Above and Earth's Below deals with the structure of Heaven and Hell; and The Heresy deals with those Angels that were cast out of Heaven. The Second Part of the book deals with eyewitness accounts from ancient times to the present. Consequently, Godwin deals with theological debates, psychological interpretations, extra terrestrials and New Age channeling to explain our fascination with Angels. Virtually every page in this book is illustrated with excellent reproductions of paintings, engravings and tapestries. For me, the first part of "Angels: An Endangered Species" is the book's strong point, providing a comprehensive catalogue of heavenly beings. The second part, of course, barely scratches the surface of all the stories about Angels. What will probably stick out in your mind are the beautiful pictures. Whatever your interest in Angels might happen to be, this book will satisfy your needs.

i read these books when i was in fourth grade. they were my absoulute favorites because the had the girls as the heroes in a world full of magic. these books are great for young readers because the plots aren't to complicated but are advanced enough that they won't feel that it's too little kid.it does have a few complicated words so it will help with reading skills.

I loved Princess Emily's friend, Arabell, because she reminds me of my imaginary friend. I recommend this book because it is full of adventure and excitement. I liked when Arabell cured Sweet William. I read this book in one evening.

This is a wonderful book.I like to read books in the Jewel Kingdom series,this book is about the brave princess Emily and her new fairy friend, princess Arabell.My best friend loves Jewel Kingdom books as well,in fact she is mad about them.I sugest you read The Ruby princess sees a ghost, its even better.

"The Examination" by Malcolm Bosse has its good points along with its bad. This is a historical fiction book set in the medieval China, the Ming dynasty to be exact. He tells the tale of Lao Chen, and expiring scholar and young prodigy, who traverses the empire to take the strenuous civil service examinations. Chen is accompanied by his young brother Hong, his complete opposite. Chen is the smart type and Hong is more into adventure and military. If you are really into Chinese culture, this would be a good book for you. It explains very well the atmosphere there and how amazingly hard the Examinations are. The author is really detailed in his writing. In the beginning I found it was very interesting but by the time I made it to the middle I started to get bored. But stick with it the author comes out with a good ending and did a good job of summing up the book. To rate this book out of from 1 to 10, I would give it a 7. I thought this book was very interesting but I thought it was really missing some things to hold my interests.

Okay, so I'm only 11. So what? I have a high reading level, and can read about anything. I am also very picky about books, LOL, so this book will hold you attention. Its about two brothers, each with their own personality. One, who is Chen, is a high-classed scholar, and the other, who is Hong, is a spy for a group called the White Lotus. The brothers face many difficulties, such as starvation and river pirates. At the end, Chen goes off and serves China, while Hong continues to be a part of the White Lotus. This book is a page-turner! For those kids in AR (Acelerated Reader), this books' reading level is 7.7 and the points are 17. Belive me, you'll love this book!

Bosse doesn't always say in his book exactly how his characters are feeling. At first, this gives the novel, although entertaining, a slightly historical feel. However, as you travel with the brothers, (I felt like I'd been all over China at the close of the book!), you come to really see inside of them, and the contrasts, similarities, and interaction between the two brothers really pulls you in. You come to care for each of them through the other's eyes, so that when they separate, you know what each of them is feeling-- because you are feeling it yourself. More impressive than Bosse's research were his plot twists and the flow and freshness of the brothers' experiences on their journey. And its reality. The thing I like about this book is that it's not just about a young man taking a test, it's about ambition, it's about pirates and secret societies, it's about love and friendship and loss and fear, missing home and finding home, conflicts of ethics and religion, and uncertainty about the future. Three cheers for Bosse! I hope he keeps writing :)

This book was one of a pair I received recently that dealt with gun issues. The other was a poorly-written rabidly paranoid tract called Guns Save Lives. Malcolm's book, while not great, is a vast improvement over the other one.

In this book, Malcolm traces the history of the use of firearms in England and how they related to crime rates. Her thesis is that gun ownership has little if any negative effect on crime and in fact may make things safer. She compares and contrasts the policies and crime rates of England and the United States and finds the U.S. policies more effective.

As a history, this book is pretty good, but Malcolm fluctuates between objective history and subjective opinion piece. As a result, it often seems that she is fitting her history to support a specific conclusion. While she is reasonably objective overall, there are places where she uses gaps in historical information (particularly in medieval times) to draw certain inferences that fit with her ideas and either ignores or glosses over other interpretations.

The final part of her book, the England/America comparison is the most opinionated. Unfortunately, as she herself illustrates, the crime statistics of the two countries are like apples and oranges, which limits (although does not completely eliminate) the effectiveness of her arguments.

Overall, this book probably rates three-and-a-half stars: it is not great, but not bad either. If you find this subject interesting as history, it may be a good read as long as you understand that it has a definite slant that you may or may not agree with. On the other hand, if you are looking for a book on the subject of gun rights/gun control, this book may also be good; even though some of the arguments Malcolm raises are on the weak side, she does raise some thought-provoking issues.

This book was recommended to me by Chris Bird, author of The Concealed Handgun Manual. Malcolm's contribution is a highly readable history of violence in Great Britain and it's nearly inverse association with firearm availability. It is worth the read just for the history and fascinating details like what generated the cliche "read the Riot Act" and why English police have historically not carried firearms. This book nicely complements the works of John Lott, Jr in demonstrating why gun control makes great rhetoric and political demagoguery but lousy, counterproductive policy. I wish it were available in electronic format so I could load it into my pocket PC for immediate availability when I have occasion to debate liberals and their unfortunate, misguided victims.

Joyce Lee Malcolm has put together an excellent, very readable study that should cause many to rethink the claims that Britain has a lower homicide rate because they have so many gun control regulations. What Malcolm shows is that British murder rates were declining for centuries before gun control was started and had reached very low rates by the turn of the last century. It is only once gun control was implemented that the crime rate began to slowly rise. Malcolm's findings should be a warning to those who rely on simple cross-sectional comparisons, without taking into account that crime rates can vary for many different reasons. Any one interested in history generally or in the gun debate in particular will find this very interesting reading.

John R. Lott, Jr.

In the story of Puss In Boots, a miller dies and leaves one of his sons nothing but the cat. This cat turns out to be quite clever and earns the favor of the King for his master. The cat also obtains land and a castle for his master and gives him the title of the Marquis of Carabas. The King becomes so impressed by the Marquis that he offers his daughter's hand in marriage, and the simple miller's son becomes a prince. The use of clever illustration makes this book an effective piece of folk lore. "Narrative Expectations: The Folklore Connection" discusses the basic pattern of a folktale. The article states that every folktale begins with the main character of the story being no different from or more special than any other character. Then, out of nowhere, the character is boosted into a "supernatural world" and all of a sudden he is moved up to higher society and viewed as a hero (67). This resembles the plot pattern of Puss In Boots, with the Marquis being the average character who becomes a hero. This jump to a higher level of society out of luck is strangely enough realistic in the twenty-first century. With things like inheritance, lotteries, and the stock market, a person of today could easily go from the poor miller's son to a "prince." However, this is not a common occurrence. The article also states that folklore "functions in part as an informal system for learning the daily logic and worldview of the people around us (71)." The author chooses not to use human characters to represent Master Slyboots and the rich ogre. He could have done this easily with illustration by making Master Slyboots a servant boy and the ogre a Marquis. Instead, he uses an informal style, placing animal characters in the book. This represents a higher level: Using animals in contrast to humans in order to show the differences in people as a whole.

This new translation of the "fairy" story first presented by Charles Perrault (1628-1703) in his Tales of Mother Goose in 1697 was illustrated by Fred Marcellino and translated by Malcolm Arthur. It was a 1991 Caldecott Honor book (that is, a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children. The youngest son of a recently deceased miller receives a cat as his inheritance. He feels that he will soon die of starvation (after he has eaten the cat) since he has no other possessions. But, the cat convinces him to get him boots. The cat proceeds to find a fortune and a position for his young master.

I regularly visit school classrooms and read aloud to children from Kindergarten through eighth grade. Finding books that appeal to more than one grade level is a challenge.

I have found that the pictures in this version of 'Puss' appeal immensely to kindergartners through third graders. (Fourth and Fifth grade children also like it, but are often embarassed to say so in a classroom setting!). Children who often have a hard time sitting still for a story have sat transfixed as I read this book, holding the pictures in front of them all the time and giving them lots of opportunities to check out the wonderful use of light and color. The illustrator uses a lot of wonderful yellow that is very appealing to young children and seems to draw them into the book. I love reading this book out loud both to see children's reaction and also because I love the detail and color in the pictures.

Reading this book aloud has also sparked some beautiful art work from young children.

Douglas Botting makes a fairly good job of Durrell's biography. Lavishly illustrated with rare photographs, with numerous quotations from Durrell's personal notebooks thrown in for good measure,this book sheds a new light on the life of one of the most amazing men of the 20th century. However, this book is recommended for Durrell fans, and not for the plain inquisitive who want to bone up on the life and times of Gerald Durrell.They would do better to stick to the Gerald Durrell accounts .The author has a tendency of repeating parts of the Durrell accounts in his own words,and relying too much on the Durrell works as his guide( but then again it is difficult to pick up the thread of people and events as many as 50 years later, with a world war inbetween ). All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable 600-pager that Durrell fans will devour in no time at all. Judging by this one,the Gavin Maxwell biography should be well worth reading ..

This must be one of the best biographies I have read about anyone. Douglas Botting is to be congratulated on his meticulous research and unbiased approach. He gives us a wonderful insight into this complex man's extraordinary life. All 607 pages are highly readable and I found it hard to put the book down. I particularly enjoyed the account of Durrell's happy go lucky, unconventional childhood in Greece surrounded by his mad mad family. As Gerald Durrell would have wanted, there is a lively quality about the telling of his story. There were so many facets to this man's character and Botting has been at pains to dig deep to bring these to the fore. Having read Durrell's books many years ago I found myself enjoying the adventures of his life all over again, but in a different way, now that I understand more about the man and his background. I feel this is a 'must' read for anyone who has enjoyed Gerald Durrell's books

I always thought of Gerry Durrell as my own secret discovery, and gave copies of his books to all my friends. Also visited the Jersey Trust twice....well worth it. This book reads like the diary of an old and dear friend, sharing much and explaining a lot. He was ahead of us all in his love for the endangered earth and its living creatures.

This book is a very good introduction to the history of Macedonia (which, by the way, has nothing to do with the so-called Slavic country of FYROM "Macedonia" today) I found the reading enjoyable. This book is a great buy!

This is a very scholarly and wonderful book about the history of Macedonia. For those interested in Phillip II and his son Alexander the Great, this book gives a general history of the period and of the people involved.

M Errington's review is both accurate and timely, given the attempts by countries that are Greece's neighbors to usurp the name and the history of this most influential northern Greek kingdom. It is, perhaps along with U Wilckens' and N Hammond's the most fact-based. I have read it twice along with Borza's "In the Shadows of Olympus" and find it the most objective. Readers can see for themselves. Errington clearly illuminates the political
-that is what they were-differences between the Macedonians and the other Greeks. But most importantly he underscores Phillip's skillful political manoeuvres by which he outwitted the Southern Greeks and finally divided and conquered them. (The Anglo-Saxons certainly have learned from him as can be seen in the last 150 years).

Dr. Nick Papanikolaou