I waited a long time for this to be republished in England. It begins just as the other two did, 'once upon a time', but Bella is actually speaking the words. I was looking forward to this book, not only for the story and the wrapping up of Alice's and Megan's tales, but also to discover Bella's mind.
Bella is the most flamboyant and rebellious of the trio: she is constantly compared to Carmen throughout the trilogy, a nod to the allure she has for men and her troubles with them, and she is the one who keeps up with popular culture. However, although Bella loves Elvis and other rock'n'roll singers, she is deeply touched by the world of jazz and the blues. And this is a perfect example of her character: though she can seem shallow, arrogant and irritating, inside Bella is actually quite thoughtful. The agony of the blues and jazz touches her because she has had sadness in her life, the dynamics of the original fairytale being unchanged. As before, the stepmother, whom Bella wanted to love, despises her beauty and does everything she can to stifle her spirit. Therefore, Bella is, in fact, probably the most isolated of the trio, because she seems the most invulnerable. Geras brilliantly reveals the insecurities behind Bella's façade: her doubts about love, just as real as Alice's and Megan's; her distress about what happened to Alice (she was the one, after all, who decided to protect her that first night); and most of all, is Marjorie really as hostile as Bella thinks she is, or is she really being 'melodramatic' as everyone else says?
The sense of doom that permanently hovered over 'Watching the Roses' is subtly changed here into a creeping suspicion, as Geras brilliantly mimicks what happened to Snow-Drop in the original fairytale, even managing to get the bit about Bella's colouring. Bella adores to sing jazz and blues, to get rid of her agony, and even the title of the story comes from a song in the story which is about chasing the blues away. The meeting of her 'prince' in Paris, on a holiday after her A-levels, is incredibly romantic, but typically the course of true love does not run smooth and he disappears, leaving Bella vulnerable.
As both Megan and Alice's tales reach their end, Bella feels left out, remarking that 'it would never, never be only the three of us ever again'. Where is her happy ending? And why does she keep seeing a white cat every time something strange happens...?
This story is powerful, but also sensitive as it probes Bella's mind, her defiance of the adult world and rules as personified by her stepmother, her refusal to pity herself, but also her longing for love, the one who is protected instead of the one who protects. However, it does make you wonder what it was like for Megan alone on holiday with Dorothy, and what Alice did in France. And what is Bella going to do after the end of the story? Marjorie is especially well-detailed: her jealousy of Bella is increasingly sinister, but Geras also ridicules it, and gives the reader the satisfaction of a kind of show-down between the two. Bella herself emerges as a fully rounded character, and the story ends in a very romantic, upbeat way, typical of her. Yes, there is sex, but as before it is dealt with as a fact of life, something that girls on the verge of womanhood would obviously think about. 'Pictures of the Night' will not disappoint fans of the series.

The third and final installment of the Egerton Hall series, _Pictures of the Night_, is a retelling of the Snow White story. Our heroine this time is Bella, the most flamboyant, rebellious, and wild of the three girls. This is the only one of the books not told in a diary format, which I found to be an excellent touch, since I could never see Bella sitting down long enough to write a journal.

Wanting to get away from her jealous stepmother, who is upset because her hairdresser thinks Bella is prettier, Bella crashes at the house of a band, the Magnificent Seven, with whom she sometimes sings. They get a gig in Paris, and Bella runs off with them for the summer, telling her father and stepmother that she's staying with a friend's aunt. She finds ecstasy on stage, and two very different kinds of love, but always there is a whiff of fear in the air. For Bella is constantly meeting strange women, women who remind her of her stepmother, who rave of her beauty and then give her gifts which always somehow result in Bella becoming ill. Then she returns to Egerton for the fall term, and she and her friends discuss their future plans, and Bella does a lot of soul-searching. And the band is getting ready to play one last big show--and this time her stepmother will be in the audience.

Bella can be obnoxious, shallow, and callous, but I accept that, because making her "sweetness and light" wouldn't be true to the Bella we saw in the first two books. My only gripe is that Miss van der Leyden does not appear in this book. Dear Ms. Geras: Please write a book about everyone's favorite housemother. There must be a story there.

This is a great book that is the last of the trilogy. Bella is a wonderful lead character and this is my favorite book of the three. It follows Bella, a hip British schoolgirl in the early sixties, and her escapades with her seven bandmates, her falling in love with someone she saw once and was then wisked away from, oh, and her evil stepmother trying to kill her. Sound familiar? Bella's story is Snow White's, of course. This is a very good read, especially when read with "The Tower Room" and "Watching the Roses," the first two books in the series. Enjoy!

The book is well-crafted, its characters -- both previously established characters and newly created ones -- well-developed and for the most part plausible, the exception being the "villain" of the piece, whose motivations are too cardboard and trite to be plausible. The dialogue works, and the plot, while it starts somewhat slowly, becomes compelling as the story moves along. Unfortunately, the ending is somewhat unsatisfactory; the story is, essentially, a detective murder mystery in Star Trek's clothing, and I do not feel that the answer to "whodunnit" had been adequately foreshadowed in the earlier storyline. In retrospect, there WAS some attempt at foreshadowing, but it simply didn't ring true when the actual would-be murderer was revealed.

Definitely a good read, but just as definitely flawed.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Reunion written by Michael Jan Friedman is a Captain Jean-Luc Picard who-done-it mystery with flashbacks to his U.S.S. Stargazer days.

The author does a really good job at blending in the Stargazer part of the book to the general theme of the book. Long before Captain Jean-Luc Picard was Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise he was the Captain of the legendary deep space exploration vessel the U.S.S. Stargazer. For an incredible twenty-two years the Stargazer was on an exploration mission. "Reunion" is an excellent adjunct for the for the author's Stargazer series of books ("The Valiant, Double Helix #6, Gauntlet, and Progenitor").

Friedman works his storytelling magic with Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander Rike, and Lt.Commander Data with the rest of the Enterprise crew together with the Stargazer to join forces to solve a murder. I found the book full of action-adventure and the prose moved with a fast-paced style. The character development is well-thought out and so is the plot. The ending is typical for a Freidman novel... that's all I'm going to say so I won't spoil it.

Past and present come together in this book and I'd recommend reading this book along with the others I mentioned above giving the reader a more rounded experience with the U.S.S. Stargazer characters. This is an excellent read and I would recommend it.

Reunion was the first look in novel form at Captain Picard's past, intermixed with his current life aboard the Enterprise. While I'm not especially into murder mysteries, the author does a wonderful job. We see here, many of the characters aboard the USS Stargazer that he continues to use in later works. The characters, in keeping with the authors style, are all very well thought out. In minor agreement with other reviewer's, I would have to say that the villain's motivations were not really well detailed. The story does move along very well and it has an excellent ending to it. Overall a very good book and I would suggest reading this one prior to reading the other Stargazer books. Thank you to the author for a very good read.

Generally an excellent book with many worked examples. Unfortunately there seem to be a few irritating errors. One error concerns section 13.3.1. The cost function in this example is set for a bandwidth of 1Hz. This is also indicated in Figure 13.70. However, the parameters a,b given in Figure 13.71 (and those found by the search algorithm) are correct for a bandwidth value of 10Hz. Incidentally, the third edition (student edition) of the book seems to be made of thinner paper than the second edition. I feel the book makes rather too much of quantisation effects and sample rate selection. It might be better to replace these chapters with a new chapter on model predictive control.

This book excellent for anyone interested in the Digital Control of Dynamic Systems. This book is Reccomended as a tool for Matlab implementation of control Systems. Very good book!

I have been a long distant tour rider for years, just purchased a Mt Bike 11/21/01 purchased this book for some insite as to this type of riding, upon receiving it read all of it in one setting enjoyed it very much, rendered much help.
Elzie Speir

I read through this book and the author gives some really good insights to mountain biking. The book is based a how-to-have-fun basis.

Although the authors seemed to know what they were talking about (even if they come across somewhat "preachy" by telling us what was good, what was bad, and why John Barry should have won an award for each film), I was very disappointed by...

THE GLARING ERROR!

The book states that Ernst Stavro Blofeld was last seen in Diamonds Are Forever. When I read this, I quickly turned to the section on For Your Eyes Only. John Hollis is credited with appearing as the "bald villain confined to a wheelchair." I can't believe that the authors completely missed the importance of James Bond visiting his wife's grave and then killing the man responsible for her murder!

I still gave the book two stars. The sections on each film seem to be complete with most of the women, vehicles and gadgets that were used in each. Also, the photos are excellent.

If you're a James Bond fan, you'll enjoy the book. Fortunately, it doesn't include the lame Die Another Day. The last film presented is The World is Not Enough.

The Essential Bond: the Authorized Guide to the World of 007 is one of the best 007 books ever. If you want a 007 book that's filled with exciting and rare photgraphs and a book with interesting information about James Bond, then this is the book for you. One day I went to a book store and saw this book, i expected it to be filled with the same dull pictures that every 007 book has, but this was different. Want to see what Ursula Andress was really wearing in the radiation scene in Dr. No? Want to see Pussy Galore's Flying Cicrcus girls showing off a plane? Care to see behind-the-scene pictures for every Bond movie, this is the book for you.

The book begins with a tribute to the father of the Bond Movies, Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli. Learn how he took over the series in 1976 and how finally died in 1996. The book then moves in chronological order discussing ever Bond movie from Dr. No to The World is Not Enough. Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again are also included. For every film a list of cast and crew is present as are a section on the assignment, women, villains, allies, vehicles, gadgets, music, marketing, box-office, sevreal rare phots and small captions about certain parts of the movie. every film has exclusive pictures like Luciana Paluzzi and Terence young clowning for cameras on the set of Thunderball. Take a peek at home items and toys that were released for every film by several companies. Find out all about the talented group of people such as Shirley Bassey and Duran Duran who performed the stunning title songs. After the film sections are finished, a section called The Literary 007 follows. this ection tells all about Ian Fleming and his 14 novels that formed the basis for many films. The James Bond Family comes next. Learn about Cubby, Dana and Barbara Broccoli and her step-brother Michael G. wilson and how they create the wonderful Bond movies. Harry Saltzman, Terence Young, Louis Gilbert, John Glen, Guy Hamilton, Peter Hunt, Michael Apted, Roger Spottiswood and Martin Campbell are all included. Writers, Cameramen, stuntmen, production designers, special effects and some very talented men that created the main-title sequences are in this section. The book includeds a part on Popular culture and other James Bonds and finally closes with a picture of Harry Saltzman, Ian Fleming and Albert Broccoli with a fitting sentence that describes their view of the world of 007.

An excellent book that covers a great amount of information and enhanced with magnificent photgraphs and pictures. A must-have for all Bond fans!

This book got me hooked on the James Bond phenomenon. It goes into great detail about 007's villains, allies, gadgets, vehicles and of course, the women. It is witty and informative and looks at every film from Dr. No to Tomorrow Never Dies. The only criticisms are that the book omits minor characters and at times, the authors include too many of their own opinions which does not allow the reader to make their own mind up about the films. In summary, an excellent book worth the money with loads of colour pictures (some never seen before).

This book covers everything from card and plastic structures, to wood and plaster craftsman kits and metal castings. It does not cover it evenly however. Only 14 of the 222 tips deal with plastic kits and kitbashing, while there's a full 3 pages on applying roofing shingles to craftsman kits! Although there are many useful tips - and a couple of gems, I would only reccomend this book to a modeler just starting on craftsman kits. That's really the books focus. If you're not building craftsman kits, or you've built several already, this book won't be very relevant.

I own several how-to books on model railroading and this one in particular does a great job of explaining how to build and incorporate structures on layouts. It also has great diagrams and pictures to help the reader with projects they may want to try. I highly recommend this book to model railroaders that may want some new ideas or tips on how to improve current skills.

Does this book exist in your store? If it does how much is it, and the shipping cost, and the location just in case I want to send a check

This book offers a good introduction to Java, discussing object-oriented concepts, Java applets and their uses, then goes into program structure, variables and classes, operators, and so forth. There's also chapters on Applet programming techniques, the Java API, security issues, and Java's future.

I'm not sure if this book is still in print, but if not find a used copy. It offers a wonderful overview of Java.

I tried many java books but could not complete five chapters until i tried this. The author has translated what used to be challenging and soporific topics to me into concise, interesting and unstandable subject.