I found Dr. Edinger's Mysterium Lectures an invaluable help in my second reading of Mysterium Coniunctionis. His lucid style brings in much additional material and helps make one of Jung's best works more accessible to the layman.

There are many baby name books on the market and this one is similar to the others, a listing of baby names in alphabetical order. This one has it's own unique flavor however, in that it has boys names at one end of the book and then you flip it over for girls names at the other end. It is presented in pretty pastel colors with cute drawings of "baby" things through out. The listing gives over 3000 names and their origins and meanings. The font used is a kind of "kids" handprinting script, a nice touch.

A great gift for any parent to be!

Joan Perucho, the unique author from the Catalan area of Spain writes in a moving yet dynamic manner. After reading this novel you can almost believe that a vampire could exist as well as probably feeling comfortable with one. It is very sad that none of his other prose or poetry have been published by Knopf (the publisher of "Natural History") or any other publisher. This articulate, insiteful author deserves to be published in English many more times.

This book tells its stories mostly through pictures of the types of people you are likely to encounter in the city of Baltimore. Being a recent convert to the charm of Baltimore, I really enjoyed the photographs and appreciated the way they conveyed the sense of community that you can find in the inner city if you look for it.

This is a great book for young children about drugs, risk-taking and peer pressure. Slippery Slick is "cat" who appears again and again to Clever Kitten, offering all sorts of temptations, from pills from the medicine cabinet to hypodermic needles. But Clever Kitten knows how to answer him every time. The refrain ("No way, Slippery Slick! No Way!"), is very catchy, and children will quickly catch on and join in. The illustrations are colourful and eye-catching. A fun way to touch on a serious topic.

As a spirited but naive young woman, the author endured a brief and frustrating marriage to Jack Kerouac. This is a memoir of that time in her life, written when she was a middle aged woman struggling with terminal cancer. Joan Haverty wanted more out of life than women were expected to have: ideas, adventures, answers to the Big Questions. Her marriage to Kerouac was a misguided attempt to find those things through a relationship with a man who appeared to have them all. Appearances, she quickly learned, were not to be trusted.

She left Kerouac (and his mother) sadder, wiser, and pregnant with a daughter whom he refused to acknowledge.

I am not a fan of Kerouac, and don't really understand why he - or his writing - has been so admired. However, I read this book to find out more about the real man behind the legend. I did learn a little about Kerouac, but I was more moved by the story of Hagerty's struggle to retain her independence of mind.

I wish she had lived to write more books.

Joan and Wright Langley have amassed a fine collection of antique stereoviews of Key West, Florida. Each pair of photos, both taken from slightly different angles, will "pop" into one image and stand out in three dimensions before your eyes. The photographic reproductions of actual stereoviews in this book can be viewed "as is", or looked at through a handy little plastic viewer provided free with the book (easier to handle than an antique stereoscope, and a good way for children to learn about stereoviews). The quality of the reproductions is good (for a 15-year-old book), and the special binding makes the lightweight book easy to handle. If you want to preserve vacation memories, or if you're an avid collector of stereoviews, you'll find "Old Key West" a fun bargain. Highlights include abolitionist Frederick Douglass, hardy fishermen displaying enormous turtles (a local industry for decades), and sailboats harbored at sun-dappled fishing docks. The final view, of small children waving as a steam engine crosses a trestle over water, is worth the price of the entire book. When it "pops" into 3-D, you'll be gently transported back to a balmy afternoon in 1912, on a breezy beach in Key West.

An 8X9 paperback with selected BL&WH photos to accompany personal tributes to Sir Laurence. Among the most well-known, especially to American audiences are, of course, Joan Plowright; Maggie Smith, Jeremy Brett, Michael Caine, Alan Bates. Shows Sir Laurence at work as director, actor and some casual shots. Also pictured are Derek Jacobi, Michael Blakemore, Peter Hall. Loved especially the number of photos with Joan Plowright as a younger stage actress. This book is done with professionalism and dignity. A good supplement to Olivier's autobiographies.

On Camera gives kids a good overview of what it is like to be a child actor. It is written simply enough so that young kids can read it on their own and know that another kid somewhere is experiencing the same things they are. A great little gift for the child actor in your life.

My kids were interested and entertained by this book. They loved the illustrations and it gave them a great introduction to the art of Claude Monet.