I haven't and won't be buying this or the companion book (Anderson). It's nice to have all the stories together agreed but not if they are scrambled about in the wrong order. As I've heard from other people on this site, the pages are thin and cheapy and illustrations are few. It's plain to me that this woman is just ripping off the Grimm's name. Not doing justice to the stories at all. Until a definitive Grimm's book becomes available pick up a classic copy from ebay or a second hand bookstore..I just bought one for 10 dollars..published in 1945. It's in excellent condition too. It only has 55 stories but all the favourites are there and the drawings are great! You get a much more "old world" feeling when reading the stories when it's an old copy too..the smell of old paper..it just makes it more special.

This collection of "classics" certainly is a departure from the Disney versions. As a native German with recollection of "The Grimm Brother's magic story telling", I do not remember traditional storytime this GRIMM. - The tales are mostly very dark and pessimistic. Somehow the center of each story is some poor person's affliction, either with extreme poverty, a physical or mental handicap or some other "evil" thing that sets them apart form society's norm.

The writing style exhibited here is sophomoric; at times the reader feels asthough a 15 year old "slapped" these stories together for a boring class project (in which case I would grade this work a C-). Much of the plot seems absurd and far fetched, often leading to an utterly unsatisfactory conclusion. There are very few "gems" amidst this mish mash of oscure garble.

If THIS is classic German (or any other kind of) story telling, I would suggest a quick switch to the Cartoon Channel instead of reading this drivel to any more generations of unsuspecting kids who simply deserve MUCH better. Put this one back on the shelf and forget it!**

Not all the stories in this book are winners, and you can take a LONG time reading all of them. For the longest time I'd been hearing that Disney's version of these Grimm classics are much cleaner. No kidding. But being a hardcore fantasy reader, I like all the violence and dark senses of humor that the Grimm brothers have. Generally, for every 10 stories you read, you might find two that you like and one that you REALLY like. As for the actual book, the pages are apparently NOT acid-free, which means that it was cheaply made. It is still hardback, though. I'm not a HUGE Grimm fan, but there were enough illustrations for my taste. Along the same lines, I don't care if the works are out of order--what matters is that they're translated decently. I still hold that there is--somewhere--a better Grimm's book to be found--hence the 3 stars. Apart from all that, this is a good bargain bin book--which is where I found it. My favorite stories--so far--are The Frog Prince, Cinderella, The Three White Snakes, and The Youth Who Could Not Shiver and Shake.

A few good poems and stories, the rest just mediocre. Bought for the name, I am unhappy and will not even pass it on to a friend.

There are some lovely stories in here by Amy Bloom and others. Very touching, lightly sexy, and a good read.

The book was amazing. Sexual, sensual, a piece of the ordinary world lightly laced with an edge of erotica that it lets the reader peek into their own dreams, feelings, fantasies; i loved this book. Reading it feels like an art form in itself.

Mostly touchy feely pointless antedotes. At most one page of useful information.

I found that this book would have been helpful for pond plants or if I needed a recipe to cook something I had raised in a pond, but I wanted information on keeping fish in a pond. Specifically I was interested in catfish, and silly me, I 'judged the book by its cover.' This book provides very little helpful infomation on raising pond fish as a hobby. If you're interested in spending several thousand dollars to commercially raise fish such as trout, then this book has something to offer. Otherwise don't bother.

This is a beautifully written book! It contains many whimsical anecdotes on the process of building a pond, also much practical information on plants, fish, frogs, turtles, and ducks. Having just built a pond, I found this book just the ticket. It doesn't have much about the actual digging and construction--that information is best obtained from your local Soil and Water Conservation Office. But I highly recommend this book if you're building a "real" pond (not one of those plastic pool things).

At the risk of giving away all of the plot of this novel yet again (see the rest of the reviews section), the book is written as the confession of Felix de Vandenesse. Felix recounts his love for the married Madame de Mortsauf, and how his infatuation with the English Lady Dudley destroys the former.

It's essentially a tragedy, but with no new themes for those who've read their Stendahl and Flaubert: love and death; young beau's obsession with an attractive older married woman; a woman trapped in a disasterous marriage; the social norms and legal framework of the day working to disempower women (also, compare with the Brontes); and so on.

Perhaps one could defend Balzac to a certain extent as he was writing before most of those other authors, but still the familiarity of the issues raised in the novel meant that I needed something to make it stand out. That I'm afraid, I didn't get. I found it heavy going in places - it's frequently too melodramatic, but, more pertinently, Balzac's writing becomes becalmed for large sections of the novel. Descriptions seem to go on for ever, as do some of the characters' speeches. As I'm reading more of Balzac I'm finding that he's sometimes prone to that fault (see "Le Medecin de Campagne"), and it marrs this novel, making it lose pace.

I was surprised that Balzac regarded "The Lily of the Valley" as one of his best works. I think he did far better than this.

Of all of Balzac's 93 odd novels this one was his personal favorite. This is the sixth book of his I've read and I think it's probably one of the worst. That's not saying it's bad, it just doesn't compare to the brilliance of Eugenie Grandet, Ursule Mirouet, Pere Goriot or Cesar Birroteau.

The plot centers around Felix, a young man who has had a difficult time growing up. One night at a prestigious ball he falls in love with Madame de Morstauf or Henriette. He then goes up to her house in Toraine in a beautiful valley and spends great lengths of time with her.

Her husband is a tyrannical type of guy, prone to violent fits but Henriette is determined to stick with the marriage. Felix and her develop an odd kind of relationship, almost like brother and sister. Felix then falls in love with an Englishwoman realizing he has no chance with Henriette. Henriette dies of jealousy.

That is a very sketchy plot outline.

The book is too long and a bit boring for Balzac. His lead male charcters are always variations on the same thing and he spends far too much time dealing with atmosphere and surroundings.

As usual Balzac uses words like "ardent", "ardour" and several others far too much and in each of his novels I've noticed that all of his characters mention at one point that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for their lovers. Of course they never do.

There are many wonderful parts to this book, especially a cutting letter describing the differences between French and English women.

A very good book, but for Balzac, my favorite, this is one of the weaker ones.

Lily Courtland came to America looking for her brother. She ends up meeting Harte Delaney, the man she's dreamed of all her life. She agrees to help Harte with the war effort. In exchange, he agrees to help her look for her brother. What Lily doesn't know is that her brother is helping the opposition and that Harte is using her to lure her brother into a trap. White Lily has interesting characters and does a good job of preparing the reader for sequels. Lily was a lovely, innocent character, and as the author says, she's hard not to love. I thought Harte was unforgiving and a hypocrite. He wasn't detestable though. Overall, White Lily is a good book.

but it may be because I read "white Rose" first and really enjoyed it. It's a hard act to follow. The white lily story line is about a heroine who is clairvoyant and although it is set in the civil war era and her "gift" is used to help the war effort, I don't esp enjoy clairvoyance as a storyline. The hero was wonderful and the writing as always was excellent and in all fairness, the story line got stronger as it went along.. You may enjoy it more than I did but if not, search out "white Rose". .

I took this book to read on the plane. Lucky for the author I was a captive audience with nothing else to do. There was nothing inspiring, thought provoking or even mildly interesting. The method of story telling jumped around and added some hint of mystery which is the only reason I finished it. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't capture the significance of the main characters journey or how/why she was so influenced to undertake the journey

I read this book three times, then I gave it to my husband to read. Not surprisingly, we both came to different conclusions as to the ending! It's a jewel that changes according to the light you hold it up to. It inspired me and uplifted me and most of all, caused me to THINK which is what I think the author had in mind. I will keep this book always and reread it every year. I highly recommend it to everyone.

Lily Braun is today one of the most know German suffragets. Her Fraunefrage (Woman question) is an monumental work and her another works brought her in her time great popularity. An army general daughter who abandoned her family and bakame a member of a socialist party, a suffragette, pro-choice activist, pacifist, was disowned by family, lived luxury but all her life paid her fathers debts. This book comes with critical analysis of her works and show how their ideas were changing during Brauns life under different social pressure. From and radical feminist, suffragette and later socialist after her exlusion from party to devoted mother and later pro war activist.The author also shows that we cannot take everything Braun wrote as a face value beacause in her works is mixed reality and fiction (Dichtung und Warheit) What is missing, but a few pages at the biginning of the book, is a context in which she was living her life.

It all starts with the delivery of a box of delicious oranges from Lily's Grandma in California. From there, we spend a year with Lily in her Maine home and watch as she and her garden grow and change month-by-month. The delightful journey also contains a narrative comparison between Lily's Maine garden and Grandma's California growing season (which never ends!). Lily's Garden is beautifully illustrated and has lovely asides providing anecdotal information on the things Lily is doing in and for her garden (a short history of oranges, how to make maple syrup, vegetables in Lily's Garden, Grandma's Blueberry Pancake recipe, etc.). The joys of the seasons and the excitement of gardening are nicely captured in this fun book.

A knit-book junkie, I recently picked up a copy of this little number for my collection. I enjoyed the really interesting mix of projects for beginning and intermediate knitters. I consider myself to be a seasoned knitter who can handle projects with varying difficulties, but I appreciated that the easier patterns weren't just pot-holders and long scarves. I confess that all of the projects didn't jump right out at me, but let's face it, what knitting book can claim that? Besides, there is something more to appreciate about Lily's book than first meets the eye: the incredible attention to detail that goes into every pattern.

I selected the men's raglan sweater to knit up -- chose a cool silk yarn. The pattern itself was easy enough, but what was completely impressive were the way the pieces fit together perfectly, right down to the matching seams. Of note, Lily added this fabulous decrease "tuck" at the shoulder that really made it look professional and downright cool. If you're from the Elizabeth Zimmerman school of knitting, this sort of pattern detail is lost on you (don't get me wrong, Lizzie's my idol). On the other hand, if your idea of a perfect evening is s flawless seam or a perfectly graduated arm, don't overlook this book.

This is a wonderful book aimed at young,fashion conscious knitters. There are 20 projects in the book. I am 40 & have been knitting since 1968 but found plenty of designs I'd like to make--the unisex garter-striped diagonal vest, the cardijacket and the evening cardijacket preeminent among them. I can't imagine wanting to knit shoes or a sports bra, but it's nice to have patterns available should I change my mind. She has designs for garments, socks, household items, stoles, and purses. The designs vary widely in skill required and there is something for everyone, including men. There is a short article about the knitters for whom Chin created the items,with accompanying photograph. And I hope the low price of the book sets a trend!

I loved this book! I'm fairly new at knitting, and having a book like this helped a lot. The interviews with young knitters were cool. I especially like the explanation of what went into each of the projects. I feel that this book makes me believe I can really do these projects. Spend a little time with it and even the more knowledgeable knitter can gain something. My big sister in college did. If not, I guess you're just not hip and young and urban enough

I have read all of Kingsley's previous books and enjoyed them, but this one was just dreadful. Both of the characters were unpleasant and unattractive. There was too much back story between when they were presented as children in a previous book and their subsequent meeting in Egypt. Moreover, the circumstances behind their second meeting in Upper Egypt were absolutely preposterous. Kingsley's presentation of Egypt was incorrect in many aspects. Instead of researching the country, she appears to have simply read a number of the (very good) Elizabeth Peters Amelia Peabody books.
It's a shame that when an author becomes successful, her editors don't feel the need to continue doing their work and pointing out flaws.

I was extremely saddened by the complete lack of anything appealing in this book. I truly enjoyed Kingsley's earlier books, especially "The Sound of Snow", "Call Down the Moon", and "In the Wake of the Wind". I was disappointed by "In the Presence of Angels" but I was more than willing to give Kingsley another chances as I had enjoyed her earlier books so much. This book (Lilies on the Lake) almost seems like it was written by a different person, it's truly awful. The main character, Pip, is a selfish, spoiled, arrogant, and manipulative liar. And those are her good points. Other than that she's basically a complete bore. She doesn't get much better by the end of the book, and even though she was supposed to have gone through this "change" to realize her love for John Henry, I must admit that by then I neither cared nor believed that such a truly loathsome person (I had no empathy for her at all) had changed. Mentioning John Henry; I love romance novels, and I must say I usually like men with dashing names and interesting personalities. John Henry has neither. He's cold, chauvinistic, and he seems to constantly want to control Pip. He thinks it's her fault that she's not in love with him and he's spent his entire life trying to change her mind to the point of an almost unhealthy obsession. I don't find him attractive in any way. This is no Mr. Knightly of Jane Austen's "Emma", I wish that John Henry had even an ounce of Mr. Knightly's charm and compassion. Also, dangit, I wish he would pick "John" or "Henry" or even "Jack" for goodness sakes! When I think I John Henry I keep imagining some anal editor or a puritan. Bad form, Ms. Kingsley. Please come up with something more enjoyable and believable next time, your fans miss your talent.

Much of the excitement of a romance novel is based on the tension and conflict between the characters, right? Well, John Henry deceives, manipulates, and self-protectively shuts out Pip. For her part, Pip treats John Henry badly once when she's a foolish 18, and then, 9 years later, shuts him out, sometimes rudely. All this-and the tortured feelings of the two as they can't come together-makes for a powerful emotional chemistry, which kept this book interesting most of the time. However, what bothered me was the unusual resolution of conflict: that Pip should discover how flawed her character is, obey John Henry, and apologize. Once or twice, John Henry briefly apologizes, but only after Pip confesses and apologizes repentantly first. Never mind that John Henry's deception caused many of their problems. Worse still, in the book's final happily-ever-after scenes, John Henry admonishes Pip to "behave" for the sake of their future. What an uneven and unfair resolution! I've never read so chauvinistic a book.