First of all, let me say that I am amazed by Jack Finney's versatility. He can write great science fiction (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) outrageous comedy (Good Neighbor Sam) and a little of both combined with history (Marion's Wall). This is a book that piqued my interest in the 1920s and the culture of that era. I think that people had the most fun in the 20s and that it was our most lighthearted funloving decade, and this book proves it. If you like a great and humorous story, or are interested in the 20s and/or silent films, read this book. Also recommended for fans of this book: "Topper", and "Topper Takes a Trip." Both have the same funloving ghost themes as Marion's Wall.

Marion's Wall is a Jack Finney jewel.

If you are a silent movie buff, you'll love it. If you are not, you will most likely gain a new appreciation for them. If you enjoy a good mystery it's there too. You like adventure, humor, ghost stories? It's all there between the covers of Marion's Wall.

One of Jack Finney's many talents as a writer was character development. Characters become so real that you find yourself thinking about them long after you have finished reading the story and this one is no different.

Finney's stories create such clear mental images, so innovative in thier plots, it's no wonder most of his books became movies.

Why, oh why, did this one go out of print? To deny new genrations of his wonderful legacy is an insult to his memory.

If you can find a copy -- buy it and hang on to it. This is one you will want to read over and over.

Although I take exception with labeling bachelors under 45 as "pre-married", is objectively well researched and written work. Despite the religious not-so-right and others' condemnation of increased singles and divorce, most would agree that remaining single has always been the appropriate lifestyle for many people.

Women who want to understand the messages from our culture that effect the way men view women and marriage will love this book

This book provides a fun way to help students recognize patterns, relationships and how to organize information that is necessary for building their math and critical thinking skills. It is a great boost to the child that is spatially oriented and will help enhance this orientation in those who need to improve this skill. I have used this in my 4th grade class for many years and it has been enjoyed by all. Some students went so far as to create their own patterns. What a great brain teaser!

Marion Walter is actually my aunt, and she wrote most of her books with us nieces in mind. I can tell you from personal experience that as a child they were great books to learn from and fun to play with. Her aim has always to make education fun, and she certainly achieves this in her books. All the mirror books teach you about symmetry in a really creative way, and teach children to think for themselves. The books are also illustrated in a colourful fun way, other books which run along this line are no where near as clever.

I found this book at a book fair at my sons daycare and got it for myself as a Mothers Day gift. The words are very heart warming, and the pictures are wonderfully done. This book also came with a card which I found so moving that I have framed it. I would highly recommend it to any mother(or father) to read for their children, or just to keep for themselves as a little 'pick me up' when parenting gets tough.

This book is terrific coming from a child to his/her mom. It teaches and at the same time shows appreciation. If you want to give a gift to a mother, this is the best and is worth more than I could say ..

I really liked this book. It's good for sixth graders who have Nicaragua as a project. It was this book that got my grade up. I would give this book ***** and the author ***** stars.

I really liked this book. It's good for sixth graders who have Nicaragua as a project. It was this book that got my grade up. I would give this book ***** and the author ***** stars.

Peter Pan was always a childhood favorite of mine. Now, having read Ann Yeoman's "Now and Neverland. Peter Pan on the Myth of Eternal Youth", I will approach the story and its characters with a new and, dare I say it, "grown-up" (sorry Peter) perspective.

Ms. Yeoman's writing style is clear and a pleasure to read. She presents unique and interesting insight into the hero, Peter Pan in an easy to follow manner and hence facilitates an "deeper" understanding of the myth and how it relates to us all.

I highly recommend it!

I've just finished reading Ann Yeoman's stunning Jungian book, Now or Neverland Inner City Books, 1998, ISBN 0-919123-83-X. 191 pp.) I'm going to read it again quite soon, as it is so packed with new information and living ideas a single reading can't do it justice. I picked it up because I'm interested in the Divine Child and the Puer Aeternus archetypes, which I believe are very closely related, and I thought Peter Pan might have something to say on the matter. He does, but it's backward -- he is a strangely subversive and disruptive figure, refusing to settle into any one role -- hovering at the window of Barrie's England (its stuffy ideals still very much a part of our own social history and psyche), but equally uncomfortable in the Neverland to which he always escapes, no matter how much he crows and manipulates an enthralled Wendy, her brothers and the Lost Boys and the rest of Neverland. He is, this Peter Pan, an enigmatic, often dark figure, related to gods like Mercurius, Pan, Dionysus, and an astonishing lot of others (Icarus, Prometheus, Lucifer and Narcissus are mentioned, I think quite correctly).

I shall certainly never read PETER PAN the same way again -- forget Mary Martin or that Disney fraud. Forget Robin Williams too.

I wanted to read this book because Ann Yeoman is combining a career at New College, University of Toronto, where she is Dean of Students with teaching Jung and literature courses and a small practice as a Jungian analyst. What I hadn't expected was her brilliant concluding chapter, in which she compares Neverland and the Internet. She is certainly the first Jungian analyst I've found who is addressing the kinds of problems that have been concerning me for the past five years. So we may find out something about Peter Pan's dilemma from cyberspace -- I have certainly met lost boys (and lost girls) floating around, scarcely remembering where home is, and heard more than one ticking crocodile. There's more to come from this Peter Pan -- we have not heard the last word from him or from Ann Yeoman.

From the concluding chapter - "Peter Pan provides a metaphor for the unknown new - rootless consciousness is the dis-ease of contemporary society as it faces an uncertain future. The radical uncertainty of our future finds its own metaphor in our rapidly evolving electronic technology. In many ways, the elusive promise embodied in Peter Pan is the promise also of cyberspace. The new electronic era invites us to enter an indeterminate virtual realm where, it seems, everything and anything is possible, where we may create ourselves as we desire, where freedom and creativity know no bounds. Yet the very metaphors we use to describe this virtual zone are ambiguous. Netscape, Web, Internet, Windows, Paths -- images of boundless potential, but also metaphors for entrapment and delusion. On the one hand, Internet users access a seemingly unlimited network of information; on the other, the value and structure of that same information must be questioned, if one is not to run the risk of having one's mind made up for one, as an unwitting adherent of, to quote Derrick de Kerckhove, a 'collective, techno-cultural morality' which generates an 'average and averaging psychology.' Who are we when flying in the Neverland of cyberspace?" (pp. 175-6)

Sir James Barrie (who gave us both play and novel) and his creation Peter Pan are both a bit uncanny, unsettling. What message do they bring us today, as we fly toward the sill of the new Millennium?

Quick Tips For Caregivers packs in details for home caregivers which cover the most basic levels of home health care; from how to position a patient in bed and how to give a bed bath and protect your back to preparing for a hospital discharge and hiring help. An exceptional guide for caregivers, especially those just starting out.

Quick Tips For Caregivers provides the non-specialist general reader with a thorough and completely accessible course of instruction in basic caregiving procedures and techniques. The reader is presented a compendium of cogent, practical, experienced advice on methods for improving safety in the home as well as applicable suggestions for ways to reduce inevitable caregiver stress and obtain needed outside support. All aspects of home give provision are covered including medication management, nutrition, wheelchair concerns, fall prevention, fire safety, elder neglect and abuse. "Must" reading for anyone charged with homecare responsibility for an elderly or infirm family member, Quick Tips For Caregivers has a thoroughly "user friendly" text that is enhanced with forty-seven illustration (many of which describe care events that occur every day in home situations) as well as resources for caregiver support, hiring in-home help, communication, incontinence, glossary, a detailed index, and more.

I actually got this book at a sale at the local library for a dime. The first story really does make the entire thing worth it. I found myself wishing I could be in the heroine's shoes. It's a lovely book for those of us who want to believe in fairy tales. Who wouldn't want to be swept off her feet by a charming prince (or king in one case)?

Royal Weddings consist of King's Ransom by Diana Palmer, A Prince Of A Guy by Kathleen Korbel & Every Night At Eight by Marion Smith Collins.

I got my copy of Royal Weddings thanks to Amazon's out-of-print service.

The stories, or rather just my favourite story alone--King's Ransom, makes it well worth its price.

In King's Ransom,Brianna Scott, your ordinary girl-next-door, absolutely detests "foreign dignitary" Ahmed Bin Rashid. She threw a paper weight at him.

Unknown to Brianna, this overbearing "dignitary" is actually a King. One whom terrorists are after.

Sparks flew, Diana Palmer style, when His Royal Majesty is forced to live with Brianna for the duration till the terrorists are caught.

I absolutely adore the culture shock HRM encounters. Especially when it comes to food.

"Tell her to stop shoving oblong containers of suspicious meat wrapped in buns at me!"

"Hotdogs..."

Diana's characterisation is absolutely wonderful. One couldn't help but wish to be in Brianna's shoes...

A great story not to be missed. Enjoy,...that is, if you can get a copy!!

I find A Prince Of A Guy a bit like the story of The Prince & The Pauper. Casey Phillips from Brooklyn bears a remarkable resemblance to the kidnapped Princess Cassandra...

When Prince Eric von Lieberhaven, a real dishy kind of guy, asks Casey to stand in temporary for the real Princess,...things start to get interesting.

I enjoy the changes that Casey made whilst being a temporary princess. Casey's gleeful anticipation of the real Princess Cassandra's surprise/shock upon her return to the palace is a joy to read. It left me grinning.

In contrast, Every Night At Eight seems a bit tame. Not much of ups and downs. Selena Mastron, a sophisticated woman from an ancient family was deemed to be a suitable bride for Nicholas Sabre, King turned President.

A country in transition, they need to make both the country's democracy and their marriage work. But how to balance demanding state "careers" and a marriage ? Why, by making an appointment, of course. Every Night At Eight!!

Absorbing, illuminating: Lehmann and Faber's biography of Rudolf Serkin is a remarkable achievement - it's also a great read.

The book is a lively combination of narrative and interview. The first half of the book tells the story of Serkin's life (his time in Europe and his move to America), and the second half, based on interviews, examines Serkin's career as a pianist.

What most impressed me was the authors' deep understanding of Serkin, his place in the world of music and the world in which he lived. The authors share with the reader their rich knowledge of piano repertoire and 20th Century performance, but without resorting to the sort of technical language that can exclude all but the professionally trained musician. Crucially, Lehmann and Faber help the reader to understand what was at stake for Serkin. Through a thorough examination of Serkin's life and choices, this biography, like all great biographies, ends up being about the big issues. Ultimately, this is a book that invites you to examine your own life.

Intelligently designed (for example, photographs are next to the relevant passages) and beautifully produced (the CD of previously unreleased performances is exquisite).

In short: a great book.

He is my favourite piano player of all. To mark the centenary of his birth here is what I would call a brilliant illuminating and very readable account of his life, character and service to music. As well as the book we get a CD of previously unreleased live performances of Bach's 4th French suite, six Mendelssohn numbers and Chopin's op25 etudes.

What a pleasure it is to read an account of a major executant musician, in this age of groupies and supporters' associations, that is actually intelligent. You will not find here any attempts to rank Serkin, nor any talk of expressiveness or inevitable organic unity in his or anyone else's playing. What the authors have done is to provide first a brief sketch of his life. He was born in the Sudetenland to an ethnically Jewish but atheistical father and a mother whom he overheard telling a neighbour that he was an unwanted pregnancy. His talent was recognised early as being not just outstanding but as of an unusual type. He was particularly lucky in attracting the notice of Adolf Busch, reform-minded as a musician and vehemently anti-nazi, and also, in a very different way, in being taught by Schoenberg. Throughout his life Serkin remembered Schoenberg with affection as well as reverence, but he disliked his music and said so once he had safely got Schoenberg's commendation. Schoenberg never forgave this apostasy, but the bellicose and revolutionary imagery that Schoenberg used ('you must decide which side of the barricades you are on' and so forth) clearly displeased Serkin and helped cool any early revolutionary ideas he might have acquired from his father, Karl Popper and others. It looks as if he was always on the liberal side of the political argument, e.g. he fund-raised for Stevenson against Eisenhower, but he knew he was a textbook example of the American self-view as a land of opportunity. Oddly, the puritanical exclusiveness that he objected to in Schoenberg was a striking characteristic of his own. On the one hand he was indifferent to the sexual peccadilloes of his friends: on the other he could break friends completely with someone who gave an unworthy performance of Mozart, Beethoven etc, and he reacted with spinsterish horror when someone told him (rightly I would say) that the end of Beethoven's 5th symphony is naff.

The rest of the book is reflexions on him by associates, and most illuminating they are. Behind all his interpersonal skills, astuteness, genuine humility and not infrequent deviousness, Serkin was a man possessed. If anyone ever embodied Stapledon's grim maxim 'find your calling...or be damned' it was Serkin. As a teacher he instilled a fierce work ethic but never taught by demonstration. As a performer he was wayward and vulnerable to nerves, a bit like Richter. I remember him starting Beethoven's op31/1 in a flurry of wrong notes. Technically the passage is dead easy, but to allow any music to be easy was anathema to him. His great sausages of fingers were odd in a man of medium height and slight build, but they can't have been more of an impediment than to big men like Rachmaninov and Richter, on whom huge hands were in proportion. He could turn out virtuosity equal to any, as some of the Mendelssohn and Chopin pieces on the disc attest. His tone gets some comment, as he is often said to be indifferent to tone-colour, at least in his prime, which is interesting as Serkin's tone-production is near-impossible to mistake, like Michelangeli's or Gould's in that respect if in no other. One contributor puts his finger on the point by saying that Serkin was not 'a smoothie'. He is not alone in that -- Horowitz and Cziffra were not smoothies either. The trouble set in with Michelangeli and Gould. They spawned, unintentionally, a whole generation of players for whom absolute evenness was a basic requirement like perfectly straightened teeth, and Michelangeli himself expressed disgust at this result. There is nobody quite like Serkin when his demon is in the right mood. His command of rhythm and timing surpasses anyone else's. His discography is far more varied than I had realised, and I have to get hold of his Liszt and Debussy performances. On the disc with this book is a complete set of the Chopin op25 etudes, and despite the recorded sound this is terrific Chopin-playing. It is not like Pollini (an admirer of his) nor Ashkenazy but very like Cziffra. Of his other Chopin readings the A flat polonaise does not seem to be on record (I bet he was memorable in that), but the Barcarolle is and I shall find it or die in the attempt.

'Serkin says "You do it like THIS"' was how he was described to me by a friend whom I introduced to his playing. Serkin's mighty Waldstein, the greatest I have ever heard, is not his studio recording but a live performance owned by the BBC. His Appassionata is in the same bracket -- but where do we go from there? Players can't go on doing it 'like this' forever, but attempts at novelty, however distinguished their perpetrators, strike me as travesties of Beethoven. It's a real problem. I can't solve it, but at least there a lot of his recordings I hadn't known of, and the photo on p145 of the figure I came to know so well and who taught me so much about music is one I would have bought this book for by itself.

This is a seemingly well-researched biography of one member of the famous expedition who didn't have any stories of his own to tell about it, since he was only 18 months old when his parents parted from Lewis and Clark. Certainly many have asked, "Whatever happened to "Pomp"? He seems to have been a loner; his parents allowed Captain Clark to become his mentor in St. Louis, where he was educated with other half-Indian boys. During his entire life he saw little of Sacagawea (who died when he was 8) or Toussaint Charbonneau, his father, who was a guide and trapper. In his travels, Jean Baptiste crossed paths with many of the famous explorers and shapers of the American West. I'm no longer a "young adult," but found the book very interesting.

A wonderful history lesson for young adults. This factual chronicle of the life of Sacajawea's son, Charbonneau, will dispel the myth that Clark (of Lewis & Clark) made good on his promise to his Indian guide, Sacajawea. He did provide an education and board and room, but little else. In spite of the prejudice this boy faced, he was able to succeed in life. The book is well-written, factual, and written without predjudice. I would recommend this for required reading in junior high school.