This study Bible has 3-4 excellently worded questions at the begining of each page and 3-4 short, insightful comments at the end of each page and a wide margin for you to write notes as you prayerfully reflect on each page of the Bible

The daughter of a Hungarian-born father and Milwaukee-native mother, Edna Ferber spent much of her childhood years in small midwestern towns. Her family, while not observant, always closed their store for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, never missing a Passover seder. Ferber felt that being Jewish was to be subjected to anti-Semitism. In 1917 she wrote Fanny Herself, based largely on the experiences she had while growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin and later in Chicago, Illinois. Her's is a tale of a young Jewish girl trying to become a successful businesswoman in early twentieth century America without denying her Jewish roots or subverting her social conscience. This newly abridged, four cassette, six hour audiobook edition (wonderfully narrated by Suzanne Toren) will introduce a whole new generation of listeners to a remarkable literary talent and an engaging, personal, affirming biography.

Plowing New Turf on the Net by Gary Schneider Associate Dean, College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources University of Tennessee, Knoxville

From its title, you would correctly assume that this publication is directed primarily toward farmers and rural residents. The Farmer's Guide to the Internet is intended both for farmers who don't own a computer yet and want to learn about the Internet and for those who are seeking Internet access or new Internet sites.

However, almost anyone could profit from this easy-to-read book. Although many of the Internet sites listed are agriculturally based, many would also interest a larger audience. The sites Include topics as varied as arts and science, business and finance, computer resources, health, history, home and garden, law, sports and recreation, and tax information, to name but a few.

The first section of the book lays the foundation for using the Internet. In a non-intimidating way, it guides the reader through an explanation of the Internet and the way it works. It then explains the five basic Internet services that most people use: e-mail, mailing lists, news groups, chat rooms, and the World Wide Web.

For Beginners, this guide covers everything from purchasing the computer and modem to securing telephone connections and obtaining the appropriate Internet software. It offers helpful tips along the way, such as which electrical surge protectors to choose, how to deal with noisy telephone lines, and how to keep long-distance charges to a minimum.

The second part of the book lists more than 2,000 Internet addresses. These are indexed by subject, such as crop resources--covering everything from fruits to nuts to vegetables--and livestock resources, encompassing beef, dairy, goats, poultry, sheep and swine.

The guide also lists agricultural companies, magazines, organizations, and news groups, as well as land grant universities in every state. Readers can find information on agricultural markets and prices, pesticides, precision farming, and soil and water. The book also lists sites for accessing current weather conditions. Having all of these topics in one handy text saves a great deal of time and allows the reader to bookmark favorite sites.

The final section of the text contains material on Internet service providers, rural Internet access, PCs and Macs, and Internet software for Windows 3.1, 95, and 98.

If you are looking for one book that will help you get started on the Internet with the least possible pain, choose The Farmer's Guide to the Internet. If you are already an Internet user but would like to get a quick update on new Internet addresses, look no further than this manual. It will serve you well.

I am not a sportsman; I do not ride, hunt, fish, or shoot. However, I loved this book because the stories are universal; they illustrate life and human nature. I laughed and learned at the same time. Everyone will like this book, even if you do not engage in any of the sporting activities around which the stories take place. I also like the fact that you can start reading at any point in the book--you do not have to read the entire book in sequence, although you will want to read it again and again.

John Keats (5934-0, $19.95) adds to the research guides in the 'Major Poets' series, blending a biography with extracts of major critical essays examining the poet's works. New to the Major Short Story Writers series ($19.95 each) is D. H. Lawrence (5947-2) and Henry James (5943-X), which use similar approaches to examine the major themes and ideas of each writer. All are recommended as basic library acquisitions.

Henry James (1843-1916) was nicknamed The Master by admiring fellow-authors towards the end of his life. He is truly a noble, gifted, psychological author depicting a by-gone era but including timeless insights about human beings and their general and mental situations in his writings. He is a master of lengthy prose (too lengthy for some!) These Library of America editions of James's writings are wonderful, high-quality, unabridged books with expert editing (notes) at the back of the volume. They have a knack for selecting the best editions of the author's writings where more than one version was published in the author's lifetime. The short stories of this volume are from the mature period but before James' final developed style of fictional writing. There are a large number of stories including many wonderful gems such as "Owen Wingrave," "The Coxon Fund" and "In the Cage." To be fair, most of the stories were written quickly for magazines, and a few ("Glasses" comes to mind) just aren't good stories at all, in my opinion. However, most of the stories do succeed quite well. "Owen Wingrave" (criticized by Bernard Shaw as being too deterministic and neglecting free will) is actually a penetrating tale about military culture, military values, and the role of the military in the nineteenth-century world. "The Coxon Fund" is about a brilliant lecturer supported by the fund but whose life and the lives of his supporters are full of pitfalls outside of the Fund's influence. The story shows how the successes and failures of the Fund (and the Lecturer) have subtle and not-so-subtle ramifications for each of the characters. With "In the Cage", the author steps outside of his accustomed higher-class and higher-educated mix of characters to present the plight of a penetrating lower-class telegram processor and her insights on life and her suitor. I found it a nice rendition of late-nineteenth century London. I encourage readers to explore this and other Library of America editions of James' writings.

from the reviews ofHENRY JAMES AND HOMO-EROTIC DESIREEdited by John R. BradleyBradley declares at the outset that the contributors to Henry James and Homo-Erotic Desire make no attempt to identify James as a gay novelist, much less claim him as a gay icon for our time. Rather, they attempt to explore homo-eroticism in both his life and works as a legitimate area of inquiry, one that has not yet been sufficiently examined by Jamesean critics . . . . Certainly the book appears at a time when the image of James as a repressed, asexual author living only for his art seems untenable, and a new image is taking its place . . . . These essays mark an important paradigm shift in James studies and reveal a rich dimension to James¹s life and writing that has too long been ignored.Mark Eaton, THE BOSTON BOOK REVIEW (12/98)Until recently, Henry James's homo-eroticism was regarded as mainly a fantasy ideal ­ nothing nastily physical to disturb the dignity of literature. In reaction, queer critics have tended to presume the obverse of that: James was tormented and therefore secretive about a love which he couldn¹t properly express, in his life or his writing. John R. Bradley, introducing Henry James and Homo-Erotic Desire, proposes a third account: James loved boys sexually and sometimes physically, but, like any conservative Victorian gentleman, believed it was not the kind of thing one talked about. . . . For Bradley, this amounts to a welcome opportunity to retrieve James¹s self-composure, together with scholarship and common sense. For myself, I¹ve always found James¹s fastidious prose hard to get on with: this book makes him more approachable and engaging.Alan Sinfield, GAY TIMES (4/99)Bradley is right to sacrifice consistency to variety, to allow each argument to stand or fall on the merits . . . . The contributors to Henry James and Homo-Erotic Desireopt . . . for conservative methods, relying on biography, homosexual codes and common good sense to substantiate James¹s same-sex yearnings.Wendy Graham, THE HENRY JAMES REVIEW (3/99)Few writers have put the closet to better literary uses than Henry James. . . . The contributors to the volume agree that James¹s writing is premised on the rejection of compulsory heterosexuality. They observe that James also attempts to define lesbianism and male homosexuality as minority sexual identities ­ a process ongoing through the course of his career.Richard Dellamora, 19TH-CENTURY LITERATURE (3/99)

Eleven Jamesian scholars offer interpretations of his shorter works. Their efforts are perhaps best introduced by direct quotes:
Ian F.A. Bell on "Daisy Miller": "Daisy as reflex may join the tale's furniture for speculative mediation that organizes its historical sense, a sense designed to register the effects of history rather than its documentable forces".
Geoff Ward on The Altar of the Dead": "Impediments to the spiritual journey are frequently imagined as stone, as in Mallarme's "tombeau" poems, while women and animals resembling statuary (and the Sphinx, who combines the two) are particularly common: 'Je suis belle, o mortels, comme un reve de pierre!" is intoned by Baudelaire's "La Beaute'"...
These essays are of undoubted usefulness to the James specialist, and will be inflicted on generations of perspiring college students, but the curious general reader will find greater pleasure in reading the master himself, without scholarly mediation.
(The numerical rating above is an ineradicable featrure of the site. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

I have always loved the novels of Henry James, particularly Portrait of a Lady and my real favourite, The Turn of the Screw. When I saw this book I thought it would be very hard going, but I soon realised that Flannery's book was clearly written but also sophisticated and at times surprising. Its a pity there isn't more coverage in it of the Turn of the Screw but Flannery's discussion of The Portrait of a Lady and stories by James like The Aspern Papers and The Figure in the Carpet more than make up for this. This book is written with real grace and sometimes wit, e.g. the chapter on the Tragic Muse and the books discussion of sexuality and aesthetics in the last chapter on The Golden Bowl. Flannery looks with cool and sympathetic eyes at other critics on James. You feel that he really loves James and is not just using him as an opportunity to demonstrate his own powers as critic and egotist, as I find with many literary critics. This book is informative whilst being non-judgemental. Anyone interested in James would, I am sure, find this book extremely helpful as insight and discovery. I also feel that it is driven by a sense of the complexities of James and the complexities of the real world.
I look forward to discovering more works by this author. A great read!

The Library of America has published 5 volumes of Henry Jame stories, covering 1864 - 1910, and I'm hooked. Henry James has to be read slowly; every word he writes seems to matter to the story. He is a master craftman of the English language, and can say so much without being explicit.

James wrote most of these 19 short stories while living in London and visiting the continent. This volume of his stories starts with "Professor Fargo" and ends with "The Author of 'Beltraffio'". But, perhaps the most famous of the stories included here is "Daisy Miller: A Study." Few, if any, of these stories will disappoint a 20th century reader.

Unlike some fortunate reviewers, who have had careers as librarians or who have degrees in English Literatue, I started reading authors like Henry James on my own. I approach a author just for the pleasure of reading his/her work. I started reading Henry James with these short stories and have graduated to his novels. At first his writing seemed slow and stiff. But, once I settled into the cadence of his writing, I concluded that this suited the formality of the upper classes he wrote about. Now, I can't seem to put down one of his stories until the end.

James wrote so much during his life that it seems impossible to read all that he wrote, but I think I'll try.