As an African American quilter, I had mixed feelings about this book. While I felt that the quilt projects were beautiful and the book itself interesting, I felt a little cheated when I realized that the authors were not of African heritage themselves. I know that shouldn't make a difference, that Africa was their inspiration and inspiration is neither inclusive nor exclusive, but I was still disappointed. There is a rich African and African American quilting tradition out there. Please look to those books for inspiration as well.

Quilt Inspirations from Africa is a fitting tribute to the beautiful tradition of designing and creating the complex yet simple quilt designs of Africa.

The book itself is an incredible design. It warms your hands and delights your eyes as you behold the colors of African sand, sky and clay in the colors used on the cover. The graphics are clear and rich and provide a wonderful level of detail of the designs that are covered.

The use of diagrams and symbols was well executed and I was especially pleased to learn the meaning of the listed Adinkra symbols and their story. They reminded me of the symbols in the book 1000 Symbols ' What shapes mean in art and myth ' written by Rowena and Rupert Shepard.

As Mary has done so ably in past books, she takes us into the lives and communal folkways of the quilters, whose work she is representing to the world. And she goes one important step further ' she gives us the tools and instructions needed to help perpetuate and preserve these traditions by teaching us how to design, layout and stitch them for ourselves.

Great job on an incredible book.

Philip House
Atlanta, Georgia

This book provides excellent examples of how to adapt images and ideas from other cultures to contemporary, Western objects. The reasarch is highly credible and the applications inspired and easy to follow. It is a must have for anyone who quilts or who is interested in adapting motifs form other cultures and eras to any art form, including beading and other forms of embroidery.

I love both of these women and their place in history, but Plowden's work leaves me cold. This could have been a fascinating, gripping, dynamic fiction tale of love, ambition, politics, history and royalty such as Susan Kay's "Legacy". Despite the alluring title, it's not. Not worth buying.

Ms Plowden does a great job of keeping to the facts and keeping your attention. A must have for anyone interested in or required to learn about English and European history.

I read this book for a British History class and loved it. Plowden makes the history of the relationship between Elizabeth and Mary come alive with many anecdotes. She describes in such detail the way the two lived and the era that the reader can almost visualize it.

Wonderufl read - not just for a class but for pleasure-reading as well!

This book was enormously funny. It is more of a humor book than a self-help book, although much of the advice could be taken seriously. I commend the idea that women should ask for what they want, and say "I don't think so" when they aren't being treated right.

I read this right after my engagement broke off. It had the immense effect of cheering me up and made me look forward to the life ahead of me.

As a thirtysomething woman who grew up with a drive for (and assumption of) success, but without prescribed rules of behavior on how to achieve it, I found the advice in this book invaluable. It's not about artificial constructs or the use of manipulation, but about how honesty and humor are the tools to make jobs and relationships really work. I've given it to more than a handful of friends and relatives, female and male.

When a friend gave this book to me, I thought it was mostly just going to be a humorous book to read. I was more than pleasantly surprised. It is humorous, but it also is one great book. For anyone that struggles with being a people pleaser and doormat this is the book to read. It has some practical and relatively simple advice on how to get rid of the neon flashing doormat sign above your head. I loved it and I'm trying out some of the techniques. Being a counselor, I've read many books about this subject and I must say that I find this one to be of great value- humorous and practical all at once!!

The characters were well defined but not believeable. It did win me over in the end but it was hard getting there. Especially the 9 year old daughter. Her dialogue was not like any other 9 year old I have ever heard.

Although I enjoyed reading this book, the plot was a littleunbelievable. How typical would it be for a woman to instantly sleepwith a man who she had not seen in fourteen years, and who had abandoned her and their son? Otherwise, the story was a little on the sad side, and I felt bad for the characters at the end. It was also a quick book to get through.

Let's face it. It's not your usual everyday occurrence. A married woman, with two children from this marriage and a teen-age son from a very early liaison, does not, as a rule, take up with the teen-ager's father whom she had not seen since he had abandoned them when the child was an infant. Not only that, but the woman's husband, who at first is thunderstruck and rather radically over-reacts, ends up by accommodating said terminally ill lover in the couple's home. Strange - But - it works. EVERY DAY by Elizabeth Richards, is a beautifully written book. If you can suspend your disbelief somewhat you will be rewarded by a story of living, breathing three-dimensional characters who think and feel and suffer and eventually come out better and more human than when they began. If at times you want to shake the protagonist, Leigh, out of her self-absorption which is so monumental that she permits family and friends to condemn her without so much as a peep of self-protection, by the end of the book, most all is forgiven by the reader, at least, as this flawed family somehow picks up the pieces and moves on.

Hucksters of prophecies usually make their sales by scaring what wits their customers still have entirely out of them. So, this book stands out from the rest by stroking the terrified reader with reassurances that all is not so bad as it might seem. Of course, this is the usual thing with the Biblical and other religious crowds, who all hope to make it past the fiery Millenium, but freaked out New Agers may want to hear some good tidings, too.
A bonus is the book's inclusion of several, not just one, traditions of hocus-pocus. So several word-of-mouth and late-night-television groups may be drawn to this title.
I'd recommend it for the paranormal collection in high schools, public libraries or podunk colleges, where stuff like this gets checked out permanently or ripped off all the time and the staff need to keep something on the shelf.

Having never read any of Elizabeth's books before, and being relatively aware of St Germaine and his wondrous work on this planet, this book jumped out at me. Yes, I agree with the other reviewees, that it is a helpful book to enable us to 'relax' somewhat and know that all is indeed not doom and gloom. Power to the people could never be as important at this time that we are presently in. However, there is a group of chapters which I would have to whole heartedly disagree with and if I didn't know any better, they appear to have an agenda behind them.The Child's Perspective and a few of the following chapters from this one I personally found quite alarming in their content. There is no greater truth than your own, so take care when reading some of this, because at the end of the day it is only an opinion. Don't be afraid to feel and if all of her words ring true for you fantastic, but if they don't this is because this is Elizabeth's truth and not your own.

This is a very well-written and well-researched book, but most importantly, it gives us a very profound sense of hope by saying that prophecy is just a warning, it's not intended to panick people and make them buy tons of supply and just wait for the world to crumble down, but we actually can overcome it and make our destiny what we want it to be.

The cover description of this novel grabbed my interest when I saw it in the bookstore, so I decided to give it a try. It's the first book I have struggled with in a while. And it's not because it's hard to read; far from it. The characters are, simply put, not interesting. I didn't care for a single one of them, not even the "detective" of the story, Robert Audley, or the "enchanting" and "mysterious" heroine herself, Lady Audley. There was some good bits of suspense, and a few bits of mystery, but because of the flat characters this really did little to compensate.

This novel tells the story of a beautiful woman whose secret becomes her undoing.
She uses her beauty, helplessness, and coquettish manner to achieve her end desires, but behind the innocent facade is a woman who is clever, manipulative and ruthless.
Lucy's secret and her extreme desire to keep it ruins the lives of the people around her (as most closely guarded secrets do).
I can't say anymore without giving the plot away.
The secret may be obvious, but the actual path to its discovery, its revelation, and aftermath shape the novel.
I could hardly put this book down and will certainly re-read it to see if I missed something the first time. A marvelous read - you will enjoy it if you like Victorian novels.

...I was suprised at how much I liked this book. I am not one for Victorian "sensationalists" preferring swashbuckling but Miss Braddon (as she was then called) is a great writer who gives explainations for her character's wild behavior. Considered quite a trashy novelist in her day, her stories are much tamer than what is on network television.

Read, enjoy this escapist novel

Well, I must say that I really did enjoy this book. My first pirate novel. How lucky for me it was a good one.
The fact that it was historically based enhanced the experience, and I wish we had more information on Mary and Anne.
Mary was a wonderful character. Warm, wise, calm, caring. She was someone I'd want to know. A real rock. Anne on the other hand was spoilt, impetuous and immature, and continued to grate on my nerves throughout, along with the disgustingly spineless Calico Jack, who I came to despise even a little more than Anne. It's a shame that a book with such a strong sense of plot, such a clever play with time only had a few likeable characters. I mean look, I know characters can't always be likeable. You have to have anti-heroes. But Garrett just can't carry them off somehow. It really is a great shame, and is the main reason I've taken two stars off, along with the fact that the book had a tendency to drag a little.
Otherwise a fascinating, rich and complex work about fascinating and complex people. A worthwhile read.

This story of 18th-century Caribbean pirates is entertaining and solid, though unmarked by any particular genius. It struck me as being better paced and plotted than at least one far more heavily touted recent nautical release. Historical research seems strong, and the characters, pirates Calico Jack, Anne Bonney and Mary Read, are distinct and appealing. Action rarely lags, and I found the book entertaining overall.

Detracting from the book's quality was a romance-novel undertone. It's not that there's too much romance per se, but it's graphically described and improbably good. And every single time Mary, who dresses as a man, reveals her gender to a man she's in love with, he joyously accepts her -- this didn't strike me as realistic. I agree with the reviewer who wanted a gritter portrayal of pirate life.

Another detraction comes from the writing style, which is workmanlike at best and occasionally, as in Mary's final moments, downright clumsy. Still, this is definitely a readable novel.

I'm a pirate fan, so as soon as I heard of this novel, I was interested right away.
It's not the greatest book I've read, but it's definitely worth a read.
My main problem: the wording sometimes got clumsy, especially with the phrases. Sometimes there were too many of those in one sentence, so reading got awkward at times.
And although it IS a romance novel, in a sense, I feel that the characters' appearances (especially Anne's and Jack's) were exaggerated so that they'd appear to be these extremely gorgeous people, when in reality they probably were not.
And I do disagree with the characterization of Jack. I don't believe Rackam was a coward; I lean toward a theory I heard somewhere that stated that Anne cheated on him with the rest of the crewmembers on his ship; thus he felt depressed and that was why he didn't bother to fight justice when it finally reached him, the way Anne and Mary did.
But I liked how the author described Anne and Mary's bonding, and she did a good job with both of their characters. I felt sorry for James Bonny when I read this.
And the ending was so sad. Really, I don't quite think that it should have ended the way it did.
But still, a good book. I think girls will enjoy it more than guys though, since it's mostly about female pirates, and problems that women deal with (i.e. pregnancy).

For as long as he can remember, fifteen year old Toby Chase's home has been the old car his mom is driving to yet another new life in a new city. Just when Toby gets settled, they pack up and move on. After settling in the remote Idaho community of Donner, Toby's mother promises him that it will be better than any place they have ever lived, and it is. Toby's happy and his mother is too. While doing research on the Internet for a school research project about the Vietnam War, Toby discovers the truth about his mother; she is a fugitive. Will Toby reveal his knowledge? Will he again have to move? Has his dream of a real home once again been shattered?

Ryan has written a suspenseful fast paced story. The characters are well developed which makes the reader care all the more about Toby, his mother and the friends they have made in Donner. Some tense moments lead up to the story's conclusion. A few minor flaws exist, but can be easily overlooked. An enjoyable work that teens will enjoy.

The book Alias started out really great, i just couldn't put it down, but then things started getting really boring, and it was almost as if i didn't want to read it at all. Near the middle of the book is where it just was horrible. the words, and contents sounded as if it was written by a 13 year old, i am dead serious. it sounded as if something i may write. ussually the books i get written by adults (which most are) they are wonderful, but this one, the words were dull, as well as the sentance structure. Ryan used dull, simple, plain sentences. example: the boy ran into the house. (you could've used) quickly, the tall, lean, tan boy charged into the red brick house. now, tell me, doesn't that sound much better?

Toby has always wondered what his mom was keeping from him. Whenever he asked questions she would respond by telling him not to ask but to do as she says. Since Toby could remember, he never stayed in one place for a long time. Instead, he was always moving from one place of the country to another whenever Bad News Fred showed up. Toby's mother changed her appearance whenever they moved to a new place. In one town she had long, blond hair, and then in another city she had short, brown hair. She changed her name as often as she changed her hairstyle. On their last move Toby, discovers why his mother is so secretive-- she is a fugitive who has been running from the FBI since the Vietnam War. The heat is on, and the FBI find out where Toby and his mother are located. Fred arrives to warn Toby's mom and she leaves Toby behind. Will Toby ever see his mother again? Will his mother escape? The book is very thrilling and very unpredictable. If you think you know how the book ends you could be wrong! This book is a great way to get your mind off things and I am sure you will not put the book down towards the end because I sure did not.

Mary Barton is the first novel of Elizabeth Gaskell, a female writer who left her influence upon other English writers of the 19th century, like, for instance, Charles Dickens. The book is only an average view about Manchester life in the 19th century, focusing its attentions over the extreme poverty of the working class, the first labor conflicts in the pre-dawn of the Industrial Revolution, all this connected with a tender love story between the young Mary Barton and his old time friend Jem Wilson.
In fact, the murder of the young mill owner, Mr. Henry Carson - he too an admirer of Miss Barton - is not well developed and is not the central point of the novel because the reader knows all the time who is the real murderer. So, it's not a surprise at all the ending of the trial and the revelation of the real murderer in the last chapters.
Miss Gaskell has a simple and an almost näive vision of the social problems that harassed the working class in England when the Industrial Revolution started. Even though, we must recognize that she made a good work trying to denounce the insensibility of the English government about the problems of the workers and their families and the inflexibility of the mill owners and other high economic classes to negociate with their subordinates.
Mary Barton is a book that will hold the attencion of the readers, men or women, because Miss Gaskell has an elegant style and really knows how to tell a good story. Another great vintage of this novel are some great characters portrayed with flavour and undeniable charm, like the old and friendly Mr. Job Legh and the hard and anger John Barton, Mary's father.

Gaskell wrote one of the most vivid descriptions of the gap between rich and poor in this novel of the Manchester 'hungry forties'. The plot is driven by the device of a murder of young factory owner's son, but this story line is more an excuse to present the story as a novel (and to serve the demands and expectations of the novel form as it was understood at the time) than it really is the center of the book. The romance and the mystery (although still well-written) are cursory in comparison to the loving detail that Gaskell lavishes on Alice Wilson, the temptation of Esther and all the little points of life in deep poverty.

Worth reading, particularly if you're a fan of the novel (or history) of the period.

Actually I read this book in three days' time (it can be even faster if I don't have to go to school). Anyway, Mrs. Gaskell's depiction of the working class people in Manchester during the 19th century was so vivid that you can just *see* and *feel* how the rich and the poor's lives were like back then by turning the pages. I believe no one who had read this book will not to some extent feel pity for the tragic hero, John Barton, in the story. But aside from this formal social theme being presented in the novel, there is also a very strong sense of religious/moral theme in it (espeically near the end of the story), as well as some drama and romance in it. Definitely worth a read, especially to those who are interested in Victorian Literature.

Charles and Mary Lamb's classic book on Shakespeare retains too much of the archaic language of the actual works to interest grade school children. While the work might appeal to upper grades and high school students anxious to find an alternative to reading the actual plays, as an introduction to Shakespeare for young children, the book is a failure. It compares unfavorably with Ian Serralier's out-of-print classic THE TEMPEST AND OTHER TALES: STORIES FROM SHAKESPEARE, which uses modern language and glowing imagery to effectively communicate the universal appeal of Shakespeare to the very young. I can testify to this since it was Serralier's book, read in the third grade, that first interested me in the Bard. I stumbled upon Lamb's book later. If I had found Lamb's book first, I would have concluded that Shakespeare was something dry and dull for grownups, and it would have been forced down my throat in the upper grades. As things turned out, I have a lifelong love of the Bard thanks to Serralier's book. A publisher with any sense would reprint it

I love this book! I have always loved Shakespeare and wanted my children to enjoy the bard as well. I always read these stories to them before we watch a play on TV, video, or rarely, on stage. They are a step ahead in that they already know the plot and can then enjoy the language more fully. They are developing a love for Shakespeare, too!

I read this book as a child of eight (back in 1970). It was a gift from my scientist father (an avid Shakespeare fan) as an introduction to Shakespeare.

The book served its purpose very well and I have now given it to my sons aged 7 and 9 who have found it extremely enjoyable. The best part of this book is the way it weaves a rich tapestry in layman's language without the confusing and often ambiguous old English of the original transcripts.

Lamb's Tales makes an excellent primer for those going to see the plays in traditional old English. The book allows all the complex plot elements and characters to be understood and spotted in the live play. The prose format allows the reader to conjure up the images and situations more readily than if struggling with the poetry.

I heartily recommend this book to all ages.