This is an excellent book for people of my age, and tells the story of the relationship between a teenage girl and old Lady. The book is beautifully illustrated by Anthony Browne and a pleasure to read, it intrigued me from start to finish. I would definately recommend it and hope to read more of Janni Howker's books in the future. -Miss Jamie Lake, 13.

It seems to be fairly easy for certain groups of men to feel that they have a natural monopoly on killing people. It usually isn't obvious to such groups how much the rest of the world might disagree. This short work on ancient Greek drama by a French educator attempts to examine a few other angles, and it manages to produce a broader perspective on such things by examining elements of ancient art which resonate about like "Oedipus has forced open the door that Jocasta had carefully closed on herself, and now everyone can see the woman hanging, `caught in the noose that swings'." (p. 17). The details of the book are about the poetic aspects of characters like Evadne in "Suppliant Women" by Euripides, who ends it all with the cry, "Here I am on this rock, like a bird, above the pyre of Capaneus, I rise lightly, upward on a deadly swing." (p. 18). The end of this book is actually a cast of characters, listed alphabetically, so the final place of honor goes to Theseus, on whom it reports, "King of Athens, husband of Phaedra, and father of Hippolytus, whom he wrongly cursed. See Euripides, `Hippolytus'." (p. 95).

This is an interesting collection of fairy tale poetry. In the introduction, we are told that Strauss and Browne met at a conference and discovered both were interpreting fairy tales through their individual muses--she through words and he with images. This book is the result of their work. The interpretations are wise and insightful from both artists. This book came after Wolfgang Mieder's "Disenchantments," otherwise I am sure several of these poems would have been included in his anthology. I highly recommend this book for any one who enjoys fairy tales and poetry. It is also interesting for its artistic interpretations of tales that will not be found in picture books.

Equestrian training books present a special challenge because of the range of types of riding that exists within the sport. What is interesting to a beginner rider has absolutely no draw to the advanced rider. Anthony Paalman has managed to communicate his tremendous knowledge and experience into an understandable text that serves the purposes of both beginning riders and professional riders. In reading this book, the beginning rider will have the initial information necessary to understand the complexity of the sport, while the professional will gain insight and information on often used but little understood training techniques and equipment. There are also jumping exercises described in the book that are invaluable for all riders to begin to understand standard measurements and design of jumping courses and fences. When so many equestrian books limit themselves to the "heels down" manna that serves no purpose after the first week of riding, this book stands out in its insight on training horses.

This book nudges up to all kinds of scary issues: pornography, images of violence, censorship, freedom of expression. The brilliant lawyer Anthony Julius takes as his occasion the ways in which modern art since the mid nineteenth century has taken as part of its mission to challenge (and raise into public consciousness) the moral and cultural norms of a society. When is a work of art pornographic? When does it portray and comment upon a work of such savage violence that we are violated by being challenged to even look at it? What role does satire play in massaging transgressive images and their ideas for general consumption? From Manet's "Olympia" to Serrano's "Piss Christ," Julius assembles the evidence in this broadly and wonderfully written account of a modern phenomenon. Highly recommended.

---- TRICK QUESTION Tony Dunbar Putnam, Jan 1997, $22.95, 230 pp.

Trollope. Gender. Victorian era. Magazines. See how Mark W. Turner masterfully meshes all of the above in a brilliantly cohesive discourse.

Trouble No More is filled with quiet drama and is a real troublesome delight to read. For those who were too deep into the forest in the sixties to see all the trees, Mr. Grooms' short stories provide an ariel view of the times. His characters are familiar, funny, and sometimes sad, but always compelling. For me, the true test of a good is read is my own emotional and intellectual reaction. Trouble No More made me laugh, cry and get angry and gave me plenty to think about.

Every now and then you find a book, you read it,
and it truly changes you. Such a book is Anthony
Bukoski's collection of stories, Twelve Below
Zero. The strange characters living in its pages
touch the reader and stick in the memory: Augie
Benner, who smelled so bad the local townspeople
made him wear a bell so they knew he was coming;
Luanna, receiving the last sacraments and lament-
ing her sins; Syl Magda lying in her bed in the
cold, dying. The settings of the stories also
remain in your mind long afterward: the spit and
herring scales on the floor of the End-of-the-Line
Cafe; Harry's pulley and basket mail delivery in-
vention at the Armitage Hotel; the incredible
cold outside the House of the Blue Rondo near
Lake Superior.

Bukoski has an amazing gift for storytelling and
his stories move, delight and disturb the reader.
Some, such as "Great Sea Battles" and "The Kissing
Booth," are howlingly humorous, whereas others,
"Ice Days" and Twelve BElow Zero" come to mind,
carry with them a sense of local, yet universal
tragedy. Many of the stories are set among the
cold lonliness of northern Wisconsin's winter;
Bukoski was born and raised and now teaches and
writes there. If you want an unusual treat,
something which will remain with you long after
you put the book down, something refreshing and
unique and mysteriously wonderful, find a copy
of Anthony Bukoski's Twelve Below Zero.

This is one of those books that will probably appeal to only the serious historian for it covers an extremely narrow compass. However, if your interest is in the Portuguese spice trade of 17th century India, this is your book.

Rarely have I seen a book that uses and documents primary sources better than 'Twilight of the Pepper Empire'. The author makes use of 400 year old shipping manifests to compile a month by month account of the Portuguese spice exports from the Malabar coast. Every fortress and trading post the Portuguese built is documented in a level of detail I would not have thought possible given the obscurity of the primary source material. Even the secondary sources, usually more readily available to the general public, are such that I have spent two unsuccessful years trying to locate personal copies. Simply stated, this book is a testament to what a serious historian can produce.

This is not 'Nathaniel's Nutmeg'. If you want a book to read by the fireplace this is not it. But as an historical text 'Twilight of the Pepper Empire' is top notch.