This is a fantastic book on creating a wide variety of great collage projects. It covers numerous collage techniques including using paper, mixed-media, fabric, decoupage, photomontage, computer art, found and three-dimensional objects. The beautiful galleries after each collage type are sure to inspire you.

In addition to the collage techniques you also get the basics of papermaking, papier mache, marbling and batik as well as painting and dyeing fabric. There are step-by-step instructions accompanied by demonstrating photos for all the techniques and projects. Don't expect to make exact replicas of the projects since your sources and materials will vary. Rather, the author expects you will follow her assembling directions to create a unique masterpiece of your own.

Some of the sixteen projects include a gorgeous butterfly lampshade, a painted paper fruit bowl collage, a clock decorated with magazine scraps and nature objects, and a sewn fabric book cover. Another great project is an easy to make yet sophisticated looking Japanese box covered with scraps of yuzen or chiyogami papers.

This book filled with fresh and interesting ideas is sure to help you create gorgeous collage artwork.

I wanted to explore collage as an aspect of other paper crafts I'm trying to learn. I picked this one first and I really like it. Many other collage books are meant for people narrowly focused on collage who see beauty in their collages ..... that is truly not obvious to other people - so esoteric it appeals to a very narrow audience. The Crafter's Complete Guide to Collage is different. It's visually attractive. The samples of collages have much broader appeal. The excellent how-to photographs are tremendously helpful and NOT intimidating. It opened my mind up to more than paper possibilities - it discusses collages of paper, found objects, mixed media, fabric, multi-dimensional, decoupage, photomontage, even computer collage. Its a treat - I think you'd enjoy this book!

This is my favorite opera guide and general reference. It contains brief biographies of the composers, detailed but not overly long synopsis of the plot, given act by act, a brief overview of the performance history, a critical appraisal of the opera itself, and a very thoughtful discography demonstrating excellent musical taste. The work is presented alphabetically by composer, and chronologically by work for each composer. The writing style is clear, advanced but not pedantic, and should be accessible to beginners as well as to opera buffs. As if this weren't enough, there are historic photographs of key performances throughout the years.

The vision of opera is open-minded and broad. Porgy and Bess is here. So is Gilbert and Sullivan. When an opera exists in different manuscript versions, such as Verdi's Don Carlo or Simon Boccanegra, all variations are discussed.

Since opera is somewhat expensive to collect, listeners will want to have some guidance as to which recordings to purchase. Here the Viking Guide is particularly good. Many of the suggested recordings are selected by Alan Blyth, author of Opera on Record and Opera on CD (both very highly recommended, by the way), as well as long time reviewer for Gramophone magazine. I don't always rank recordings exactly as Blyth does, but I find his taste to be the most reliable of any of the critics whom I follow.

This volume was originally published in 1993, but is now very hard to find. The publishers have printed an abridged version under the Penguin Guide series. I understand they are also coming out with a CD-ROM version of the full Viking Guide. I can safely recommend both these alternative versions as well as my trusty hardcover version.

There are other valuable opera guides. The series published by Norton of the Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera and to Opera Plots is excellent. But for a single volume reference work, nothing surpasses the Viking Guide. Amanda Holden and her team have done a splendid job.

Very highly recommended.

Amazon sent me this by mistake. What I really wanted was the NEW Penguin Opera Guide, which is vastly superior with twice as many pages and higher quality paper with lots of B&W photographs. It also weighs a ton compared to this lightweight. Make sure you get the new edition, unless you want something lightweight to take with you to the opera. What is here, however, is fine, just not nearly as complete as the new edition.

Let's put it simple. If it is not in Viking, you have to do quite specialized research to find it.

I found this an interesting debut collection of short stories but was disappointed that some of Davis's writing was spoiled by sloppiness and inattention to detail. In one story, she changes a character's name midway through from Angela to Andrea; in other stories she trips on awkward phrasing and gives us important details too late into the story. Despite these flaws, her work is original and fresh, and many of her characters are compelling, though a bit adolescent and melodramatic.

I found this book in a friend's pile, pulled it out, and didn't surface for hours. I can't believe it took me this long to get to it. It's diabolically funny, seeringly honest, and remarkably well-written. This is a must read.

Davis is an eagle-eyed tourguide to the lives and souls of young people who feel 'more stuck than they ever had before' (to paraphrase the author). The stories are by turns melancholy and mordant, exciting and nuanced. Her unblinking gaze and velvety prose makes for an arresting map of 'stuck souls' and the often bizarre routes they take to see clearly or change their lives.

When I read a book, I really like to be drawn into the lives of the characters and although the psychological components in this book were really good, I felt let down because I just felt like I was reading a bizarre story and that was it. Faith Duckle is a girl who, at fifteen, has already experienced the worst life has to offer, she is gang-raped by a bunch of boys at a Homecoming dance, she is institutionalized because of a suicide attempt.

I loved how the author let us know that Faith was an extremely dammaged girl by introducing us to Fat Girl. I believe Faith had to compartmentalize her life in order to survive.

My first reaction while reading was anger towards Faith's mother. She has her own addiction, is afraid of her daughter and even though it is some seven months later and Faith is back from the institution, her mother still doesn't seem to cope very well. Faith is sent to a psychologist to no avail. She feels different from everybody else and after one more terrible event Faith decides to run away and join the circus?!?! I don't know if that's the place for someone to go who is seeing people and hearing voices that aren't really there, but whatever.

Once Faith leaves home, she has some interesting experiences and while she's with the Circus, she goes through a sort of metamorphasis and finally starts to feel like she belongs somewhere. But at the Circus? The ending of this book was very disappointing. I wanted something more. And I'm still left thinking...How does the Circus and mental illness fit together? I think Ms. Davis wanted to tell the story of a young,troubled girl in a different way, but the Circus theme was a little to far-fetched for me.

In this brave and honest novel, Amanda Davis exposes the underbelly of the all-American obsession with popularity. Faith Buckle, overweight and lacking in high-school popularity, pays a horrible price for that crime; this will eventually land her in the circus. In less sure hands, this material could devolve into the land of 'just another American girl interrupted story.' But that's not what happens here. Ms. Davis's work is so consistently sensitive, funny, sad and occasionally horrifying - always nailing the appropriate emotional mark - that readers will read this book rooting for its unusual heroine, while at the same time rooting for the author to write more books.

I am astonished at the quality of Amanda Davis's prose. I'm overwhelmed by the at once harrowing and compelling story. I'm so excited that I found this young writer at the beginning of what is destined to be a remarkable career.
You can read the PW excerpt for the plot summary. What I want to tell you is that you must buy this book.

If you are looking for children's books on the solar system, there are many other better ones. It is obvious that the author and editors have not done thorough research. For example, a sidebar says that the planets are named after Roman gods. But some are named after Greek gods. (By the way, "gods" should probably not be capitalized in this sense.) Another misleading fact comes in a caption. It says that the Sun is a giant star. Actually, the Sun is average by star standards. Also, the photos are disappointing. If this were an older book, I would understand the bland photos. But we now have access to many more beautiful images of the planets. For young readers to be engaged, they need a much more engaging book than this.