This true story of the downing of a US surveillance plane satisfies with technical details, suspense, and appropriate humor, but most importantly through the demonstration of the character of Shane Osborn and his crew. Although co-written, like most books of this type, his voice shines through with an excellently balanced acount of his life and experiences as well as the story of the headline news incident itself. This book should be required reading at all military academies.

I like the book because it was about planes and the heroic story of downed U.S. Navy piolt Lt. Shane Osborn. I liked the book because it is a true story Shane Osborn and his crew. I also liked it because of the heroic chapter 18 plot of when Shane and his crew were going down in an aircaft. Also because it is just an all around good book about the Navy. The best part in the book is when Shane and his crew pulled up from the nose dive. The settings were great. The characters were real people and it was about a kid who accomplished his goal. The settings were good because of the real truth of where the settings take place. Shane is a young kid that has always wanted to fly and he finally accomplished his lifetime goal.

This is a great story about the downed pilot from the US Navy! Michael French has done a great job on this book. Michale French is an excetional author!This is a great book for young people. I would recommend this book for the juvenile audience.

76 of the 123 pages are menu translations, French to English, and the vice versa so you can ask for what you want or translate what they have; all this very helpful and in a light, compact easy to carry book that makes it worth taking. The "Ten Simple Rules of Dining in Paris" in the begining along with the introduction comments are very good, they will serve you well to help make eating in Paris less stress free. The 25 pages of eating place recommendations is of less use, considering how many there are in Paris this is a very small sample. Near the Sacre-Coeur their recommeded cafe turned out to be a shabby affair with curious looking characters hunched over their rundown tables, which sat directly accross from a more relaxed less rundown place that we felt more comfortable eating at, which had fine food. You have to decide for yourself.
The book is worth taking with you. Paris is thick with places to eat, making it easier to just duck in anywhere with this wonderful little guide to manners and translation. Don't rely too much on the recommendations as the only places to eat at. It would have been nice if they had included a few paragraphs about the different types of wine.

This is the third time that I used this book while on vacation in Paris. I actually used the previous edition on my last two trips in 2000, and used this edition for my most recent trip in September 2001. The book is worth the money!

When I got to Paris, I made my way to some of my favorite restaurants and obviously started using the menus. This time, it was much easier to understand the selections. I remembered the definitions of a lot of the menu items from the previous two trips (using the book) and so understanding the menus and ordering the food was relatively painless this time. Yes, I actually improved my French vocabulary by using the book during my last two visits! The book is not exhaustive; however, I would say that at least 75% to 80% of the words on most restaurant menus are listed and defined.

I was so happy about my success with the menus that I decided to give some of the restaurant tips in the front of the book a try (pages 19-51). Now you have to understand that I never visit restaurants listed in guidebooks - EVER! I think that we tried three of the restaurants that were listed in the book and we really liked them. There weren't a lot of tourists in these restaurants and the food was pretty good.

I would like to make a comment about the best restaurants in Paris (page 29). Yes, it is very difficult to get a dinner reservation at these places -- I usually call about one month in advance. However, I almost always can get a lunch reservation at one of these restaurants without much difficulty. If you are dying to have dinner at a specific restaurant and you can't get a reservation, then try to have lunch there instead. I planned our last trip at the last minute and so I was not able to call restaurants ahead of time from the USA. When I arrived in Paris, I tried to call for dinner reservations and got the usual "complets" (full) on the other end of the line. Then I called and got a lunch reservation at L'Ambroisie with no problem! We waltzed in at about 1:00 pm, sat at a great table in a beautiful room and had a wonderful three-hour French lunch. The restaurant said that the lunch and dinner menus were the same (on that day) and so I did not feel that we had a lesser dining experience. This was confirmed when we were presented with the $300 check for lunch for two at the current exchange rate of 7FF/$1!

I highly recommend the book. It will save you a lot of time and trouble while using French menus. Also, you can try the restaurant recommendations and still feel as if you had an authentic French dining experience! I would also recommend their guidebook for Spanish-speaking countries.

I got this book as a gift. It has tips on restaurants, bistros and wine bars in Paris. The largest part of this book is a menu reader that explains what you are ordering on a menu in France. What a tough job these authors had! Exploring food markets and restaurants must be hard work. But seriously, this guide sends you to restaurants with good food and reasonable prices.

When I started reading the book, I could not put it down until I finished it. I recommend it to everyone with spasmodic dysphonia because a person with spasmodic dysphonia can relate to some of the problems experienced by the author.

This is a straight-forward easy to read book. It's approach is more directly applicable to Dystonia and Spasmodic Dysphonia than the book written by Diane Rehm. Diane devotes too much of the book to the personal problems in her life BEFORE getting Spasmodic Dysphonia.

Must reading for Spasmodic Dysphonia patients and their families.

This book should be read by everyone who suffers with this condition. I give it my highest recommendation!

It's amazing that the author was able to create an essay on 20th century abstract art in 1834. But this story is much more than that. It is a commentary on the parallels between art and human psychology, and the unreality of both... also, a character study, a mystery, an allegorical tale... all within 40 pages. In keeping with its theme, The Unknown Masterpiece is, on the other hand, none of those things. In keeping with its title... at least in this country.

I dig Balzac telling us about his views of art through the stories of a painter ("The Unknown Masterpiece") and a musician ("Gambara"). You can't go wrong with this one. Terrific translation; I wish I read French well enough to dig the original.

This is such a strange short story by Balzac. The premise is simple: An aging Parisian artist is obsessed over a single painting which he has been working on for years. When his friends finally get to see the work, they see nothing. This is the riddle of the story: what's in the painting? Also, what is this story about? Is it a parable of art or beauty or obsession? It's interesting painters and artists were taken by this story. It speaks of the heart of darkness that is modern art. Kudos for NYRB on this new translation by Richard Howard. The question remains whether we'll be seeing new or revised translations of Balzac's other works.

Flags of Our Fathers is a grand book by James Bradley. It is about the small island of Iwo Jima is in the pacific region. It is a Japanese controlled airstrip close to the country of Japan. The Americans wanted to take control of this very small island because it is a prime place to re-fuel and land aircraft on, the island before they go to attack Japan. This book is about six men and the rest of the Marines and Navy that all go to the island to take control of it.

Those six men fought on that island and they raised the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. They started the famous image taken by Mr. Rosenthal.

This in my view is the greatest book in world. It is a very touching and emotional book. It was sad and really spoke to me. It is hard to believe that these men were just doing their duty.
I recommend this splendid book to anybody that wants to read a very touching book about the heros of Iwo Jima.

This book was the complete package! It gave a backround of each man on Iowa Gima that raised the flag. Then went into each mans way of getting to Mount Sirabachi. Then in the end of the book went into what each one did when they came back from the war. Couldn't put it down and have read it three times since I recieved it. You will not regret buying this book.

This is an awesome book. It had me glued from page one. If you don't read any other book this year, make sure that this is the one. I can only hope that a movie will follow for these amazing men and all of the other people that fought and died for our country. We owe them and this book is a fitting tribute to them. I only wish that this would have been written earlier. KUDO's to you.

I have a "Trillion" cookbooks, and this one and her other cookbook, "Beat That", are my fabulous favorites. The recipes are sooooo good, and I have fun making her recipes to see if my family and friends agree. I had stumbled on, "Beat This", at our local library, and loved it. I wanted my own copy, but they must have been out of print. The library wouldn't let me buy it, so I accidently lost it, OOPS!! Then I got my wish, and bought it. A few months later, it came back in with fabulous new covers. I will be ordering these to give as Christmas gifts . These are alot of fun - buy them - and enjoy!

I am so, so pleased to find that Beat This! is back in print - and, even better news - that it now has a sibling - Beat That!. Beat This! might be the only cookbook I've ever read purely for pleasure. Ann Hodgman is the honest "voice of mom" you've always wanted to hear, and her sprightly commentary on family traditions ("My new husband actually played a record on Christmas night. A record! When (according to my family's traditions) you're supposed to pretend electricity doesn't exist at Christmastime! And he wanted lights on the tree...."), candy thermometers and all sorts of other things actually make me laugh out loud.

And the recipes are superb. So wonderful, in some cases, that I've found myself passing them off to guests as old family secrets rather than reveal my source. (Of course, I always told myself I was saving my guests the pain of finding out that this book was out of print...) Included are staples such as chocolate cake, fried chicken, and meat loaf, but there are other fun surprises, too. Did you even know you wanted the best Kimchi recepe? Or the best Artichoke and Mushroom Salad? How about the best Presto Torta? But trust me - you do and you will, once you buy this book, wonder how you ever did without them.

Taking the best of the best, Hodgman compiles a delectable collection of recipes aimed to please the most discriminating palate. Ok, it's not gourmet or even low-cal, but this is the best of the best and creative...who cares about the waistline!!!

Buy it, cook it and let your friends think you're the most amazing cook who ever walked the planet! Then go out and buy her "Beat That!" cookbook and continue the magic.

You will laugh, cry and be confused when you read this book. This book can teach you that what you think is good is not always good.

There is a boy named Peter Pan. He sprinkles fairy dust in Wendy and her two brothers. Then he shows them how to fly. He takes them to Neverland and shows them to the Lost Boys who live there. Wendy becomes their mother. She makes up rules, like any other mother would do. The boys have to follow these rules. Everything was fine until Captain Hook came with his crew to where the boys and Wendy were. While Wendy and the boys were at the lagoon, where they go every day after dinner, they see a girl named Tiger Lily, princess of her tribe. She was captured by Smee, one of Captain Hook's men. Then Peter saved her. A few days later Wendy and the boys were on their way to Wendy's house when they too were all captured by Captain Hook. Then Peter saves them. Then the lost boys, Wendy and her brothers go home. All except for Peter.

It is mostly about what the people in the book think is right with childhood. The kids in the book think that if you grow up it is bad, but in our case it is actually good.

Peter Pan is a violent book not really made for children under the age of 10 but people 10 and up can read it. It is violent because of the language that is spoken and the idea that killing could be fun. Also, the vocabulary is very difficult for children under 10 to understand. Even if you're older it is difficult to understand.

Overall, it is a good book but watch out for the violent ideas if you are reading it to little children.

This is an utterly charming work. It has been retold myriad times, but nobody else has done it as well as the original teller, J. M. Barrie.

It's difficult to know what to say about a book like this... everybody knows the story. But I guess that unless you've read this book (not just seen a movie or read a retelling), you don't really know the character Peter Pan, and without knowing the character, you don't really know the story. So read it.

By the way, if you enjoy this, you probably would also like "Sentimental Tommy" and its sequel "Tommy and Grizel", both by Barrie. There are differences (for one thing they're not fantasy), but there are also compelling similarities. Anybody who found Peter Pan a deep and slightly bittersweet book would be sure to enjoy them.

-Stephen

Driving with young children in the car quickly convinced me that it was unsafe to not give them something to listen to. After ten years I have collected a large (30+) bag of books-on-tape. I have also loaned them to others and asked for opinions. Peter Pan (read by Wendy Craig) is not only my favorite, but also the favorite of my wife and most of my friends. It is excellent for all ages (4 to 80) and even most hardened teenagers. Humour, presentation, ... a prefect 10.

I love this book! I especially enjoyed all of the "philosophy" on cooking, eating and enjoying life.

The world needs more cookbooks like this: ones that emphasize quality and simplicity. Thank you Michael Roberts for suggesting that we all try to cook only simple meals during the week!

NEW YOUR TIMES SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW JUNE 6, 1999

The new rush-to-the-stoves book is Parisian Home Cooking: Conversations, Recipes and Tips From the Cooks and Food Merchants of Paris......a collection of recipes lovingly and cannily collected from Parisians young and old-- a concierge, a hip friend and his mother, a fellow American in Paris, the butcher at the street market and many other garrulous vendors. Roberts, a longtime Los Angeles restaurant chef and (with Barbara Kafka) one of the country's few truly original thinkers about cooking, returned to Paris 20 years after receiving his culinary schooling there, armed with a student's enthusiasm, an anthropologist's curiosity, a born schmoozer's way of eliciting cooking secrets and a sensational sense of taste. He rediscovers techniques born of Parisian practicality in the face of minimal burners and unreliable ovens: duck cooked and defatted in a pressure cooker before being finished in the oven, chicken roasted in a closely covered casserole, steak seared in a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Techniques and recipes like this will make cooks who cut their teeth on Julia Child and then moved on to Italy fall in love with French cooking all over again.

...everything I make from this book is truly delicious and , may I add, nutritious. Parisian Home Cooking teaches us that the value of fresh and diverse ingredients, simply prepared is the core of true health; dishes that yearn to be enjoyed amoung friends and actually leave you energy to enjoy their company! I just love the woman who refuses to spend more than fifteen minutes at her stove yet serves up divine dinners; the butcher's timeless admonition that for the body to work it must have some fat - how avant; the tips that coax real flavor from simple foods - to "sweeten" the vinegar for the perfect vinaigrette by adding a splash of wine (just one tip of many). As the diet gurus duke it out for your dollars, look at the slim, healthy Parisians in the photographs, read what they eat at home, and you will toss out the crazed American diet fads with relief. This book will feed you. It's also a good read. Move over Dr. Ornish and Monsieur Pepin - the secret is out!

I purchased this for an upcoming visit to France and think it will be very useful, esp. for someone who has limited French and loves food. I tested it out using menu information from my French Michelin guide. It does not list everything, but it contains a lot of terms and descriptions.

Eating & Drinking in France has been updated! Search amazon.com for the new Eating & Drinking in Paris. The new edition has the most comprehensive French menu reader available and lists more than 100 great places to eat and drink in Paris. You'll also find information on food markets, food stores, wine stores, wine bars and tips on budget dining.

I've used this book on two trips to France (May and November of 2000) and I think the book is incredible!

I'm at the advanced level in French, however the menus at the restaurants in France still always confounded me until I bought this book. I would say that 80% to 90% of the food items on any menu are listed in the book. Other French guide books or dictionaries do not have anywhere near the number of entries that this book contains. I've used the book at a number of restaurants in France with great success. Also, the book is so small that you can easily fit it into a small bag (or purse), so it is very easy to carry it and use it in any restaurant. You don't have to be afraid to order the Andouillette any more!