If you like a cook book to read, and not just to get recipes from, then this book is for you. It shows all the different aspects of a restauranteur's life right down to the way the ducks are killed - it's not for the squeamish, but deals with it very matter-of-factly. If you happen to be a Lancashire ex-patriot deprived of dishes such as Black Pudding, or Pig's Trotter (foot) stuffed with Ham-hock and Sage then you'll be drooling.

Consider this. A Gateau of Black Pudding, Onions and Cabbage. If that gets the juices going, then buy this book without hesitation!

Please ask Sandra Jobson to email me about another Australian adventure happening in America in June 2000. BEV

Paul Kariya truly rocks and this book proves it, too. This book is really cool and what is cooler is it's all about Paul Kariya, the greatest hockey player EVER!

Even in this age of 2700+ grandmasters, the games of Paul Keres retain their excitement and freshness. John Nunn has done a wonderful job of adding additional analysis to Keres's original comments, as well as giving us the later games Keres had not included in his Chess autobiography. 37 years in the Top 10 of Chess, four-time second-place winner in Candidates' Tournaments (yes, it's heart-rending) - there can be no doubt that Paul Keres was one of the giants of the game. Any chess player from, say, 1500 to GM cannot fail to benefit from this book. Why only 9? I would have liked photos! My only caveat, and a niggling one at that.

This is an efficient and careful monograph that succeeds on many levels. Grohmann was Klee's biographer and longtime friend. He is respectful without being sycophantic, and thorough but never plodding. He uses a variety of source materials, including Klee's own writings (diaries and letters). Grohmann establishes Klee's lasting importance to art and to painting by asserting, "It is as though he were still among us, to be consulted on every problem of life and art." Grohmann's generous(40 pages, 58 illustrations) and lively essay on Klee is also charming and personal. It combines biography, criticism, a wealth of references, and thought-provoking appreciation. It's generously illustrated with photographs of Klee and his studio, plus ink, tusche, chalk, and pencil drawings, collage, watercolor, tempera, and oil paintings, a woodcut study, and etchings.

The text that accompanies the following forty color plates (a selection of paintings) is the calm, clear art criticism that Grohmann is so good at. The plates' reproduced colors are good but not great. What's best is that Grohmann is such an able teacher. He describes each painting straightforwardly, and then asks intelligent questions, suggests answers that seem well-thought-out, and inspires one to further thought and research. His friendship with Klee gave him some additional understanding of his friend's work and lifelong passions and motives.

A very worthwhile book on a great artist.

I recently discovered the work of Paul Klee and have already decided that he is my favorite 20th century artist. Looking for other books about Klee I found this Art for Children Series book by Ernest Lloyd Raboff. This is very much an art appreciation book, with Raboff explaining the specifics of the various paintings, prints, or drawings. Young readers will learn about the symbols used by the artist and some of the possible interpretations as to the meaning of some of these works. There are over a dozen full-color reproductions of Klee's works along with a like number of smaller drawings and designs.

I had commented earlier that Klee's work would be especially interesting to youngsters because a lot of what he did would be the sort of things kids would be doing in their art classes, combining water colors and pen work, for example. Raboff makes Klee's works even more accessible by writing the text in different color markers, giving the book the feel of a school project. By the time young readers finish this book they will understand Klee's belief that an artist must "learn how to look beyond the surface and get to the roots of things." That particular point is evidenced by Klee's entire body of work.

I have been reading all of the volumes in the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series that I can find and as a general rule I have found them informative and entertaining introductions for young readers to the lives and works of Botticelli, Goya, Picasso and many others. But in reading Mike Venezia's volume on Paul Klee I think I may well have discovered my favorite artist of the 20th century (a separate issue from favorite illustrator, which would be Barry Windsor-Smith). I must have seen a work or two by Klee at some point in my sojourn through life, but I was quite impressed by the dozen or so examples of his work found here. Venezia explains at one point that many of Klee's greatest paintings are just colors and shapes, using "Fire at Evening" as the only example, which is fine with me because that was pretty much the only painting in the volume I would not mind having on a wall somewhere in the house.

It is not like Klee does the same thing over and over again. "The Goldfish" is quite different from "Around the Fish" (see cover), although I clearly a preference for watercolor and pen artwork, such as "Carnival in the Mountains" and "Twittering Machine." My favorite is "Magic Garden" and I think the great attraction of Klee for young readers is that his artwork is pretty much something they can do in their own art classes or at home. As always, this book is illustrated with not only works by Klee, but by some of his closest contemporaries (which only helps to prove his superiority) as well as Venezia's cartoons, which emphasize key events or aspects of Klee's life (e.g., tracing patterns he saw in marble table tops at his Uncle Ernst's restaurant). I look forward to other volumes in this series about abstract artists, but I am pretty sure I am not going to change my mind about liking Klee best. Sorry guys.

I recently discovered the work of Paul Klee and have already decided that he is my favorite 20th century artist. Looking for other books about Klee I found this Art for Children Series book by Ernest Lloyd Raboff. This is very much an art appreciation book, with Raboff explaining the specifics of the various paintings, prints, or drawings. Young readers will learn about the symbols used by the artist and some of the possible interpretations as to the meaning of some of these works. There are over a dozen full-color reproductions of Klee's works along with a like number of smaller drawings and designs.

I had commented earlier that Klee's work would be especially interesting to youngsters because a lot of what he did would be the sort of things kids would be doing in their art classes, combining water colors and pen work, for example. Raboff makes Klee's works even more accessible by writing the text in different color markers, giving the book the feel of a school project. By the time young readers finish this book they will understand Klee's belief that an artist must "learn how to look beyond the surface and get to the roots of things." That particular point is evidenced by Klee's entire body of work.

This hardback was issued by the museum when the Klee show toured the USA. It was a spectacular show that captured the essence of this 20th century artistic genius and I was fortunate enough to see the show and buy the book. Paul Klee explored just about every art style there was in his quest to develop modern art and his seemingly simplest paintings were usually his best. Klee lived an often traumatic life as well and when you are exposed to all of his works, you can easily see that quality in his paintings. I found the most eloquent ones were the ones he did as he approached his own painful death. The book does a tour de force job of covering the paintings which were in the show, which is the way the show now lives on.

This book is the best book ever written! God I love this book I have read it oh I dont know like at least 100 times I love it that much not much of a science fiction fan but this book tells a story with out little green aliens everywhere it has people with life living within the pages I just bought the 2 others in the series I cant wait great book MUST READ and this means you!