Stephen Minta weaves a modern journey in the footsteps of Byron into an evocation of byron's romantic nature and in the process, creates a useful and idiosyncratic view of the poet. Much as he did in his previous book, "Aguirre", Minta quietly traces his subject's antique journey through the echoes of his own modern one. While not simply a travel book nor yet a biography of Byron, this history is an inventive and skillfull combination of the two, and a useful addition to the already strining bookshelves of admirers of the romantics.

This is many books in one and packed with information but easily digestible - a fascinating combination of Greek history, biography of Byron, and description of the author's own travels through Northern Greece, the Ionian Islands, and Albania. It's helpful in explaining the complexities of the Greek struggle for independence (or ethnic cleansing or civil war) when they spent half their time fighting each other and where neither side was blameless. Byron's character was almost equally complex and interesting. In addition you get for your money an excellent guide to parts of Greece and some insight into the complex and interesting character of Stephen Minto.

While contemporary British society is tautosemus with conservatism and the British state carries the tradition of an imperialist empire, many a British scholar shall honour his country by giving it its fair place as a lamplighter of humanity. Many an English scholar shall be a freethinker and a truth-seeker and a creator and admirer of true beauty. Such was Byron and such, it appears is Stephen Minta. Though not perfectly factually accurate as he might attempt and desire to be, Stephen Minta achieves with precision an intuition into the nature of Byron that most his predecessors have failed to see or altogether denied. Geniuses like Byron do not conform to the average human standard of behaviour, and are so often misinterpreted and misrepresented. Scholars have denied their understanding to Byron's fascination not with the dead classical Greece but with the surviving Greek spirit. It is notable that the current compilation of Byron's "complete" works does not include few final poems that he did write in Greece and that offer closure to the Giaour, Childe Harold and the Isles of Greece. And beyond his intellectual inheritance to Britain and the world, Byron, the lover of freedom and nations, has most amazingly affected the life of Greece and was finally politically successful even despite himself, even beyond his grave and century. The interpretation of Byron presented in this book by Stephen Minta is chasing away shadows of bogusness and don-quixotism that have been tainting Byron's portrayal. A true pleasure to read and a work for which the times are ripe.

I found this book to be a good read. A pre-arranged marriage is something I find difficult to comprehend. . .I did enjoy the book. If you want to read a book that goes straight to your heart, read Stolen Moments by Barbara Jeanne Fisher. . .It is a beautiful story of unrequited love. . .for certain the love story of the nineties...

Merry, Baroness Winters, is an orphan who yearns for the one thing she has never had: a family of her own. Unfortunately, her cold reception at her come-out years ago was a harsh reality check, and she knows no one will ever marry her. She is content now to be the comic relief of the party, the one men come to for advice on other women, the socialite everyone calls Merry--for surely, Lorelei is a ludicrous name for such a large and "well-endowed" woman.

Adrian Rutland doesn't think so. Viscount Dane, new to the ton and to the shores of England, spots her in the crowd. He is immediately entralled with Lorelei, and doesn't understand society's opinion of her at all. She is intelligent, witty, independent, and Adrian finds her beautiful. Perplexingly, the more this immensely attractive man pursues her, the more Lorelei backs away.

Events lead to a marriage of convenience, but that alone will not surmount Lorelei's negative self-image or her deep fear of rejection. And just as Adrian begins to make some headway, circumstances will force him to abandon his new wife, shattering her vulnerable heart all over again...

I thought this romance was a great hommage to large ladies everywhere. I felt the pain and isolation Merry was hiding behind her self-deprecating persona, and I understood the strong instinct of self-preservation that made her reject Dane. I loved Adrian for his patience in trying to get her to see herself as he did, and for nurturing her confidence. I appreciated that Byron did not make Adrian perfect, either, but gave him a few foibles, which included a boyish desire to be seen as a swashbuckling manly hero by his lady even though he wears glasses and can be a little awkward. The scene where he decides to dramatically sweep her up in his arms is hilarious...and realistic.

You will have to look for this book in used book stores or online, but it's worth it if you're looking for a heroine whose dimensions are more like the average woman's.

Over a decade has passed since Baroness Loreli Wildwood scandalized society in 1802. By 1812, Loreli knows that she must have a respectable spouse if she is ever to bring back the honor her name and title deserves. Loreli also craves having a loving family of her own.

American Adrian Rutland arrives in London as an English nobleman, who feels like a lonely rustic colonialist when he appears among the sophisticated Ton. However, he finds himself feeling a lot better when he meets Loreli. Though the couple plan a marriage of convenience, sparks fly and ultimately they fall in love with each other. However war between their native lands is imminent and their new found love could be destroyed as a result of their divided loyalties.

ONLY IN MY DREAMS is a fun to read Regency romance that will thrill fans of the sub-genre and any reader who enjoys a marriage of convenience story line. Eve Byron shows her abundance of talent by freshening up the typical tale with insight from both sides on the pending Anglo-Atlantic War. The intrepid but scarred lead characters add much to the conflict, further turning this historical romance into must reading. Ms. Byron is quickly rising to the elite class of Regency authors.

Harriet Klausner

I have tasted the recipes I useded in the book.They came out fine without having to be extreamly fussy with details. That I think is important. Because some recipes can be real hard to duplicate. And you never know what your going to get or expect. It could be a flop. Substitution of ingreadients for less coslier and heathful ones is good to be included. Since no one person has same taste or wants when it comes to food and preperation. I cannot give it top ranking even if it deserved it. So this is truly a great mark without plain old inflation. Buy the book see for yourself. Its intertaining.

My husband is a really picky eater. Everything that I have made from this cookbook, he has raved about. The recipes are easy and really fast. I have not been able to get all of the ingredients from my local grocery store, but the cookbook includes substitutions for the harder to get items. Definitely a good buy if you want to make fast & easy Mediterranean-style food. Be aware though that not all recipes are 100% authentic -- many of them are healthier interpretations by the author.

I checked this book out of the library and now I'm ordering it for myself because every recipe I tried was easy, nutricious and different. The ingredients required weren't hard to find and the dishes were quick to make. The book is very well designed and easy to follow with interesting ancedotes for each recipe. It s inspired me to cook more often!

Byron Rogers is a highly regarded British Press writer, much like the Human Interest editors of all the major newspapers in the USA. He writes in a succinct, informed, yet chatty way that endears him to British readers and now with the appearance of AN AUDIENCE WITH AN ELEPHANT, a collection of his previously published observations, the American readers can delight in his gifts. This small book is a perfect companion of light reading at the bedside or as an endlessly interesting collection for brightening moments during travels. His topics vary widely - from the tortoise captured at Gallipoli, to a teenage elephant that toured the Bristish Isles as an honored guest at festivities, to the problems with being single and coping with Singles Bars. Though some my see this collection as a variation on Ripley's Believe It Or Not, it is nonetheless continuously humorous and tender. Rogers eccentricites have a way of putting the world in which we struggle into comic relief and allows us to laugh at our own foibles. Good medicine, this!

An Audience With An Elephant blends travel and nature in the finest of methods and traditions, probing the variety and comedy of encounters with animals around the world and lending a chatty, adventure-filled tone which should particularly appeal to fans of Eric Newby. Both a travelogue and a nature title, An Audience With An Elephant covers encounters with both.

This is a book that the kids will have you reading again and again. I read it so many times to my three that I still have it memorized and my youngest is 15!!!!!

I have known this book since I was a child and when my younger sisters came along (5 of them) I can remember our Mom reading it over & over & over again! Sometimes I would read it when Mom was busy. Two years ago I was blessed with a neice! I bought a copy for her and she absoultly LOVED it. I have read it to her countless times! This is a book that can span generations!
I highly recomend this book!

This is a fabulous collection representing the beginning of Gothic fiction. Otronto is the very first such work, and is a perfect illustration of the basic themes and plotlines predominant in Gothic. Although not the most polished work of fiction, it's often so bad it's funny, and definitely worth reading. The other stories are much more professional, albeit a bit drier reading. I'm especially fond of Vathek, as it more clearly represents fear fiction as it was to become. Dr. Polidori's piece is particularly intersting as he was a physician and present at the famous ghost-story-telling session(s) of Byron and the Shelley couple.

On the whole, this collection is the ideal glimpse into the genre at its rudimentary level.

This volume is an excellent introduction to four
works of the Gothic mindset, which hit England at
the end of the 1700s and lasted on into the early
Romantic period, all the way up to the late decadence
of the 1890s, winding up in Robert Louis Stevenson's
THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886),
Oscar Wilde's THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1891), and
Bram Stoker's DRACULA (1897).
These are four of the earliest of this Gothic genre.
The volume includes Horace Walpole's THE CASTLE OF
OTRANTO (Christmas Eve, 1764); William Beckford's
VATHEK (1786); John Polidori's VAMPYRE (1819); and
a Vampire Fragment by Lord Byron (1819), "which was
published at the end of MAZEPPA in 1819."
The list of Gothic NOVELS (rather than stories)
in chronological order which make the grade are:
Horace Walpole's CASTLE OF OTRANTO (1764), Clara
Reeve's THE CHAMPION OF VIRTUE (1777), William
Beckford's VATHEK (1786), Ann Radcliffe's THE
MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO (1794), Matthew Gregory Lewis's
THE MONK (1795), Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN (1818),
John Polidori's VAMPYRE (1819), Charles R. Maturin's
MELMOTH THE WANDERER (1820).
There are excellent introductions to each of the
writers and their works at the beginning of the book.
In speaking of THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO, Bleiler says:
"This novel has been called one of the half-dozen
historically most important novels in English. The
founder of a school of fiction, the so-called Gothic
novel, it served as the direct model for an enormous
quantity of novels written up through the first
quarter of the 19th century.... It was probably
the most important source for enthusiasm for the
Middle Ages that suddenly swept Europe in the later
18th century, and many of the trappings of the early
19th century Romantic movement have been traced to
it. It embodied the spirit of an age."
There is included a series of impressive "Notes"
to the novel VATHEK: An Arabian Tale. The novel
begins in an interesting fashion: "Vathek, ninth
caliph of the race of the Abassides, was the son
of Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid.
From an early accession to the throne, and the talents
he possessed to adorn it, his subjects were induced to
expect that his reign would be long and happy. His
figure was pleasing and majestic: but when he was
angry, one of his eyes became so terrible, that no
person could bear to behold it; and the wretch upon
whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and
sometimes expired. For fear, however, of depopulating
his dominions and making his palace desolate, he but
rarely gave way to his anger."
And here is a sample bite from John Polidori's
VAMPYRE: "There was no colour upon her cheek, not
even upon her lip; yet there was a stillness about
her face that seemed almost as attaching as the life
that once dwelt there: --upon her neck and breast
was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth
having opened the vein: -- to this the men pointed,
crying, simultaneously struck with horror, "A
Vampyre! a Vampyre!"

I have just recently discovered Eve Byron and I think she is great! In Deceive Me Not she displays passion, humor, and love everlasting that overcomes all the obstacles she puts forth in front of the characters. I am totally drawn with Eve Byron and am on my way to getting her whole collection.

This is one of the best series I've ever read. The characters are so real and so different from each other; many series basically use the same characters from the first story, but give them different names. Bruce's and Melissa's story is so beautiful and it's a perfect ending to a wonderful trilogy. Byron revisits the characters from the first two novels in the series without detracting attention away from Bruce's and Melissa's story. Eve Byron is a very gifted writer, and I hope to enjoy more of her wonderful books.

Mystery of Melissa's First Date was very predictible. Although the author did manage to crasp the lingo of the teenagers, the storyline has been told and retold many times in the form of vampires. This foe did not suck the blood from his victims but did take vital parts from "pretty young girls".
I enjoyed the humor and detective skills on the Oriental teenager and can see her being a big part of the next book in the series.

Three of my friends, two are 11, one is 12 and I am 12, play out the characters in this book. We enjoy becoming May or Melissa and pretending to go through the day "in character." It is lots of fun. But we are disappointed that the second installment of this series has not yet been published. The four of us immensely enjoyed this book and think that other girls our ages will also. It is a fun and scary book. I also think it should be in the cinema.

One of the things I liked about The Mystery of Melissa's First Date is that it is realistic as far as the real aspects of the story go. I am a 14 year old girl and I can relate to the things that were spoken in this book. I can see girls saying and doing the things that these characters do. The story keeps you guessing right up to the end about what is going to happen to Melissa. I read a lot and have told several of my friends about it. They are going to order it too. I think this story would make a great movie. I'd love to go see it - maybe on my first date!

I read these books when I was in fifth and sixth grade. They are all kind of formulaic and predictable to anyone 13 years of age and older but they are great for younger children. I recommend these books for child that you want to start reading more. They are easy reads and teach great lessons like team work, accepting differences in people and sportsmanship. They can really boost a child's confidence.

This book really showed the predijice that could happen to anyone. Terry was a black kid who was being excluded from his baseball team and peers. One friend Mick showed understanding and excepted him for who he was. In the end everyone came around but it took awhile. This was one of my favorite books and I hope you read it as well. So when your at the library pick this up.

The book I read was NO ARM IN LEFT FIELD. It was a book about a kid who could not throw. One of his friends dad tought him how to throw better. (...) I hope I havn't giving out to much information about the book. I think you should read it because i really liked it and if you like sports books you would like it too.