This is an interesting collection of Short Stories from O'Connor, and is rather humorous and entertaining for a while, till of course it becomes a tad repetitive and the reader interest flags a bit. Humor comes in the form of mostly asinine stuff, and the reader can often find nuggets of his or her own childhood in the fanciful narratives his tales tell. Good to kill some time on a lazy day, when you don't quite feel like digging into some Proust ;)

This shining collection of short stories is not only an excellent introduction to a neglected master, Frank O'Connor, but it also dramatically illustrates that the short story should be tuned to the human voice, not literary fireworks.

This is a great read aloud collection and my wife and I took turns reading these to one another through a long car trek. My favorite was the title story, perfectly pitched and wholly creditable.

This collection makes me want to find "My Father's Son" and maybe his biography of Michael Collins, "Big Fellow". Read this collection, preferably before a fire, at night, aloud, to someone else, and you won't be disappointed.

The only reason this collection didn't get five stars is because it was a little too Irish for my Irish-American sensibility. Not O'Connor's fault.

Frank O Connor is just a genius. His stories need to be read by everybody. I don't think this collection includes his most famous work, First Confession, but the title story is also quite famous. Each story is there to be enjoyed and appreciated.

As the intelligence office for the Black Sheep Squadron, author Frank Walton had access to their daily combat reports. He himself had written them. From these records and his later interviews with the surviving members of the group, he penned this history. Written primarily to dispel the myth created by the TV production, he most certainly shows the men in a more realistic light. The false presentation of these men by the writers of that series as "brawling bums" and "fugitives from courts-martial" does not stand in the light he casts upon them, their character and their record. In the second half of the book, Walton introduces each man as he was when the book was written in 1986. By and large, most became very successful.

But the drama of their fighting over the Solomons falls flat in the telling. Their aerial exploits read with all the excitement and anticipation of the menu at the corner hamburger joint. The men of the Black Sheep fought together for only 12 weeks and amassed the best kill record in the South Pacific: 94 kills in only 84 days. Pappy Boyington accounted for 26 (or 28, if he is to be believed). Unfortunately, these moments of high achievement are told in the driest of voices.

Perhaps the biggest fault in the book is Walton's almost non-telling of Boyington's troubled life. He originally left the Marine Aviators days before they would have put him out for unbecoming conduct and he left the Flying Tigers for much the same reason. This highly skilled combat pilot and gifted leader of men was deeply troubled and it manifested itself in his drinking and unpredictable fighting. Playing it down adds nothing to Walton's attempt to "set the record straight" for the rest of the squadron.

Given the resources at his command, his personal friendship with all 51 original members of the group and his intimate friendship with Boyington, one would have expected a better result. Walton's stated purpose was to clear the record for the men, to present them as the men of ability, honor and skill that they were. In this regard, he does succeed.

I was a bit leary of this book when I started it. The claim of the author to be one of the Black Sheep, even though he was not one of the pilots seemed a bit odd. Well, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is a very easy read and contains a good deal about the day to day life of a pilot in the South Pacific.

It also gives a terrific look into the people behind the personas of the Black Sheep, especially Pappy Boyington. The writer does a good job of relating the respect that his men had for him as well as about the team of pilots the Black Sheep were.

A very good read for a very good price.

The Black Sheep legend, as retold through the eyes of the survivors. The first half of the book is the squadron history of VMF 214, from the time of its resurrection under the command of Major Gregory Boyington, until the squadron was disbanded, and the squadron number reassigned to another outfit, after Boyington went missing in action (and was presumed dead), near the end of their second tour under his command. The last half of the book is a personal history from each of the survivors, as to what the experience was like, how it has affected their lives, what they did in post Black Sheep life. An assortment of interesting characters, molded under the guidance of Boyington, in to "the terrors of the South Pacific". Very interesting, although it does vary some from the version told by Boyington himself in his autobiography "Baa Baa Black Sheep". As is only human, each man sees 'the truth' from his own perspective, so it is interesting to see the whole thing through the eyes of someone other than Boyington himself. This book shows that the Black Sheep were more than Boyington. They were a well rounded team, molded and hardened under the realities of aerial combat. It comes across quite clearly however, that regardless of what they thought of Boyington as a person (they didn't all look up to him like a bunch of starry eyed boys, as depicted in the TV show...some in fact were older than Boyington), they definitely respected him as "a warrior, a fighter & a leader", and one pilot recalls thinking of Boyington as "Jesus Christ himself", upon first being introduced. Originally published in 1986 (before Boyington's death), it is surprisingly frank in it's assessment, some might even say it's condemnation, of the leader of the Black Sheep, not so much in his days as the commanding officer of the 214, but in his postwar life. Many of them felt betrayed by Boyington, after his role as 'technical advisor' on the TV series. Overall it makes for an interesting read. Well worth it. Dave White

Considering the calibre of the writers from whom Marilyn Sewell requested memories, the low quality of both the writing and "storytelling" in this book is abysmal. Most of the memories had little substance, and the tone of many essays was so poor that I had the impression the authors had scribbled them on cocktail napkins in a rush.

With few exceptions (Thomas Merton's section, for example), the recollections were boring and lacked any sort of bite. Neither humorous, nostalgic, nor thought-provoking, the tales would leave one constantly turning the pages, hoping some substance would follow. The quest for the Holy Grail would be less futile than that for any wit or charm in this book.

The promise of the title undoubtedly would prompt people to order this book as a gift for a Catholic friend or a hope of memories for oneself. I strongly suggest that potential readers at least take a glimpse at a copy on a library shelf first.

Anyone who has ever sinned or wondered about the nature of religious feeling should read this book. It is funny and heartbreaking by turns, and amid all these memories we see how children interpret ideas of spirituality passed down to them. They may not always understand, but their experiences are illuminating.

"A collection for Catholics, former Catholics, and Catholics by association, "Resurrecting Grace" is redolent with the images, sounds, smells, and deep heart experiences that are so much a part of a Catholic upbringing . . . . It is an encounter with this complex community of faith that sustains and exasperates those who have been touched by it." (from the jacket cover) These personal recollections are from some of our finest contemporary writers: Frank McCourt, Tobias Wolff, Anna Quindlen, Michael Patrick Macdonald, Brian Doyle, Sandra Cisneros, Rosemary Bray, and Patricia Hampl, among others. The collection contains pieces from writers of various races and ethnicities, and the reader is led to see the One True Church in all its colors and forms, all of its follies, and all of its profundities. The volume is rich with humor, but takes no cheap shots. These writers have reflected deeply upon their early religious experience: they have written to learn what they did not know, and they have grown deeper roots in the process.

I think this book would be good by itself in picking up algebraic theories and methods. Each section is well explained and the sample problems take you through the process step-by-step.

The only problem I have with the book is that not all the supplementary exercises (to test your understanding) have the answers. Some have an answer, some have a partial answer, some have a hint, and some have nothing. This is a little aggravating, but it does not take away from the book.

I am an undergrad student in Computer Science. The content in this book is terse and very cohesive. And its cohesiveness is what I like most. Each successive chapter is developed rigorously upon previous chapters. A lot of proofs of most important theorems have been supplemented. These proofs I have been reading in awe, are real eye-openers. Mathematics had never been this entertaining.

I strongly recommend this book, especially if you don't know what Abstract Algebra is all about. I had no idea when I ordered...

I purchased this book as a supplement to my text for my Abstract Algebra course. I highly recommend any of the Schaum's Outlines whenever you want a clear and concise summary of ideas with valuable problems (both solved and unsolved). The solved problems in this book take you step by step through several key ideas without spoon feeding the entire subject.

Here are some caveats though. In case you are trying to purchase this book for a junior high or high school algebra class, let me warn you, This is NOT the same thing! Pick up the Elementary Algebra outline instead. Trust me.

Next, my class concentrated more on groups than this particular outline did. I found the Group Theory outline to be a useful "co-supplement" for my particular class. Since different teachers accentuate different things, I recommend talking to the teacher and asking what they would suggest.

Finally, I think that this book would have been served by including a few geometric arguments for groups including isometry groups in 2D. The lack thereof does not truly detract from the book but I feel the extra clarification would have been helpful.

As I will be starting undergra engineering this fall(sept 00), I bought this book because I thought it would be a good supplement to my regular upper level calculus book from my senior year and thought it would be of some use in university. I really found this book to be a dissapointment(as well as shaums 3000 solved problems in calculus). The way the material is presented is not clear at all. The problem solutions are hardly presented in a way in which the reader can understand and learn from them. They just confuse the reader even more. As I have found with all Schaum's outlines and solved problems books, they are of poor quality and of no real use to anyone. Try Harcourt Brace Jovonovich calculus (search HBJ Calculus). It is much better

This is a great book for anyone who wants to learn or supplement his or her knowledge of the subject. I have used this book for my first year of college calculus and thanks to it I received an A, because of that I will continue to use it, it helps you understand the problems, but you actually have to think about them, you have to find out how equations are related and/or used, that is calculus, Calculus involves thinking if it didn't then anyone could be a physicist.

Es un libro excelente, que presenta en cada capítulo, una breve introducción teórica con los puntos más resaltantes y una cantidad de problemas resueltos de buen nivel de dificultad. Recomiendo a aquellas personas que se inician en el estudio del Calculo Infinitesimal

Terrible. The guy is in love with his "beach buggy", which to everyone else translates as big trucks like 4 X 4 Ford Broncos, GM Suburbans, and the like, and certainly not the more aptly suitable dune buggy-like vehicles, given it's about fishing on the Cape. Tells of his beloved "beach buggies" take a significant part of his book.

The author keeps complaining over and over, from beach regulations against RVs and trucks, err... "beach buggies" to fishing regulations, and he makes it clear very early that he's aiming at making surfcasting a profitable business.

If, to you, surfcasting is a sport, if surfcasting means a unique opportunity to be closer to Nature, having the sea before you, dunes behind, over a sunset mean a lot to you, or if you're looking simply for fishing stories, or tricks of the trade, or funny or humorous tales (as it happens to almost anyone!), or if you were looking for a book which would remind of your own fishing trips, you won't find that in this book.

The author relates his "surfcasting" experience from the '60s to the late '80s, those golden years of surfcasting, before fish stocks collapsed.

I was on the Cape back then, and recalling my own surfcasting experience, I can testify that anyone who had his first 30-pounder bluefish on a 12-pound test line could tell you in vivid colours his experience to land that fish.

The title and the photo on the cover lead you believe that is what you'll find in his book.

What I've found is an angry man, his trucks, $$$ and that he couldn't care less about Cape Cod natural beauty, or... the joy of surfcasting.

Reading this book for the first time or the twentieth time, is like being on the beach with a vibrant bass in the suds. You can almost feel the brine burning the line cuts in your hands. An extremly well written book by one of the absolute masters of surf casting. A must read for anyone who wants to know what it was like in the original glory days of striped bass fishing. I am one of the fortunate ones to own a signed copy of this book.

This is one of my favorite fishing books. I'm reading it now for the third time. It's about a lifestyle that would make most of us jealous. If you enjoy surf fishing, then this book is a must.

It is always hard to judge the end of a series. They have their ups and downs but in the end the characters are what keeps me wanting more. After an abscence of several years, we meet Cheftu and Chloe again as disaster strikes in ancient Israel. I found it disappointing that the problems alluded to in the prologue were not explored. All we know is that the marriage is infertile and Chloe was not happy as she thought she would be. Her abrupt death and subsequent journey to Ur left many questions unanswered. Once there, I found the character in whose body Chloe exits interesting and wanted to spend more time with her. Alas that was not to be. Chloe takes over and settles into a comfortable life as a refugee in the house of a justice who falls in love with her. In her time in Ur, she inadvertently revolutionize writing and introduced co-ed schools. While this is interesting, we didn't hear from her voice but from that of other minor characters. This scattering of narration made the book fragmentary.
It wasn't until Cheftu shows up in a new body that the action starts with a breathless rapidity that leaves the problems in the relationship between the main characters unexplored. Wouldn't it be great that everytime you had a problem you can start off anew in another time and place. After their exodus from Ur with a contingent of citizens to settle a new city. The novel shifts to a travelog of cities in the Mesopetamia. This let the actually founding of Babylon become a footnote at the last chapter and a lot of interesting possible actions were untouched. It made me wonder if the author changed the focus of the novel as she wrote and at the end was unready to let the characters go.
I did enjoy meeting Cheftu and Chloe again, but they didn't spend enough of the book together. Nor were they dealing with problems that we were told of in the prologue but seperation and reunion seemed to cure all. While I'm a fan of external actions driving a novel I wanted to know more of what has happended since the last book. It is like meeting old friends and not being able to ask how they have been for the past years.

Twentieth century time traveling Texan Chloe Kingsley and her soulmate nineteenth century Cheftu are in Jerusalem (see SUNRISE ON THE MEDITERRANEAN) when a fire leaves the former American near dead. Cheftu rushes Chloe to the Ark of the Covenant, but she is transported into another time, place, and body. Chloe finds herself occupying the body of a woman in Ancient Sumeria as a flood devastates the land.

With her usual aplomb Chloe journeys to Ur where justice is blind for men only and education is for boys. Applying her twentieth century values, Chloe challenges the patriarch society and opens up a fast food restaurant even while Cheftu arrives as a high priest in search of her.

The final tale in Suzanne Frank's time travel series, TWILIGHT IN BABYLON, is an exciting novel that for the most wraps up loose ends for readers of the previous books, but newcomers may struggle with connectivity. The story line is loaded with biblical era detail and some modern day anachronisms, but regardless moves rather quickly forward. The lead couple, as with the prequels, brings the plot to life though refreshingly yet surprisingly Chloe and Cheftu traverse separate subplots for much of the novel. Ms. Frank's provides a delightful conclusion that purists may dub more alternate history than historical.

Harriet Klausner

I was apprehensive about this one because I knew it was the last but-what a satisfying end to a long friendship! This last installment of the Chloe and Cheftu saga was one of those stay-up-all-night-and-read-till-your-eyes-hurt kind of books. Beginning with the fire it speeds along to plop down in the marsh then Cheftu appears and begins the search. (I always suspected Cheftu was a Sex God and here he actually was!) I have never read a story where beer was practically a character but it gave me a feel for a culture I know little about. By the end it all made sense to me- I know why she traveled and what all the trials were for. I know love can go on and on even without children and I know a sweet ending when I read one. I won't give it away here so go read it yourself!

So long Chloe and Cheftu, I will miss you but is has been a great ride!

Continuing in the style that made the "Now you See it, Now you don't" series of books so valuable for the reader, Bill discusses a series of platform tricks ( quite a few can't be done with ordinary objects i.e. the linking rings and the Chinese wands to name two ) with accompanying hand drawn illustrations by Frank Daniel. This is the system he used to such great effect with illustrator Barry Ross in his other books to show the intricacies of sleight of hand, the drawings were able to show details that would be covered up or obscured in photos. Unlike his other books, which were long on method and short on tricks, this book has a great many tricks often with little thought to the routining of them. And at only 101 tricks he seems at times to be reaching, and missing in the quest to include something useful. I can only recommend about half the book, but in that half is some great classics of magic explained in an easy to follow and understandable manner. The format of the book with its many drawings is useful for but a few tricks (most notably the linking rings). While with many of the others the illustration seem to only waste page space, but then we might have been treated to more tricks like "relit" which is simply the relighting of a just blown out candle by having the flame of a match travel down the smoke.

Continuing in the style that made the "Now you See it, Now you don't" series of books so valuable for the reader, Bill discusses a series of platform tricks with accompanying hand drawn illustrations by Frank Daniel. This is the system he used to such great effect with illustrator Barry Ross in his other books to show the intricacies of sleight of hand, the drawings were able to show details that would be covered up or obscured in photos. Unlike his other books, which were long on method and short on tricks, this book has a great many tricks often with little thought to the routining of them. And at only 101 tricks he seems at times to be reaching, and missing in the quest to include something useful. I can only recommend about half the book, but in that half is some great classics of magic explained in an easy to follow and understandable manner. The format of the book with its many drawings is useful for but a few tricks (most notably the linking rings). While with many of the others the illustration seem to only waste page space, but then we might have been treated to more tricks like "relit" which is simply the relighting of a just blown out candle by having the flame of a match travel down the smoke.

This is not Curved Air's best disc, but it certainly deserved more respect, and a better fate on the charts, when first released. The band went through various personnel changes--several fine musicians came and went--but, let's face it, most people who were, and are, Curved Air fans are people like me who enjoy the artistry and unique voice of Sonja Kristina !

There is something mystical and dream-like about her singing, and ( for me ) the outstanding tracks here, " Broken Lady", "Juno" and the epic " Moonshine " are a tribute to Sonja's vocal talent.
The bonus track here is "Baby Please Don't Go", the old blues standard that is fun, but not really suited to Curved Air--Them featuring Van Morrison had the last word on this one !
On the whole though, if you are unfamiliar with the band, this disc should not be your first choice--but if you are hooked on Curved Air, and Ms. Kristina, you will find much to enjoy.

Being slightly disappointed by "Lovechild" and "Second album", I wondered if I should buy another Curved Air record. Finally, I decided to get this one. Well, I have to say that this is a very good album, equally fine as their debut "Air conditioning". "Airborne" continues with the jazz-rock of "Midnight wire", but on a more melodic and less pretentious note. The playing of the band (once again featuring drummer Stewart Copeland who also co-wrote some songs) is tighter and more engaged. Without getting trite, the music flows like a well-oiled machine. The delicate pop song "Desiree" leaves you wallking on air for the rest of the day. Other standout tracks are "Kids to blame", "Hot and bothered", and "Baby please..", but everything here is good, even the 11-minute megawork "Moonshine". Unfortunately, this album failed to chart and Curved Air soon disbanded after its release.