This is a clever little book that is essential reading for the golf junkie in your family. The book contains 445 trivia items from how much your feet perspire during a round of golf to who has the highest single round score in the history of the British Open. Read this compilation today and have many interesting facts to share with your friends.

lenwallace@worldnet.att.net

P.S. For full disclosure, I am biased a little in that the author is my neice. Way to go Karyn!

"Oh Kay" is amazing not only for the number of classic standards it introduced (including "Someone to Watch Over Me", "Do Do Do" and "Clap Yo' Hands"), but also for the greatness of it's less well known numbers (such as the bouncy "Oh Me Oh My!"). The songs are pure 1920's fun, and have a lot of syncopated beats that may be difficult to play unless you've heard the songs first. The sheet music is standard Broadway stuff, and is playable at the intermediate/advanced level. The piano accompaniment basically follows the vocal line, which is helpful as well. This comes highly recommended, and buy the "Oh Kay" CD while you're at it -- it's great as well.

George Alcock greeted me with a warm knowing smile at the International Workshop of Cometary Astronomy at Cambridge, England in 1999. I was there because I had discovered a comet. He was there because he had discovered 5 comets and had become a great legend among astronomers not only for his work in astronomy but because of his Michaelangelo like adeptness in the arts, education and other sciences. People obtain knowledge in many ways but mostly they learn by example from their teachers and from books. Here is a book about the finest English Gentleman and scholar who by the example of him that is portrayed in this book will inspire and show the way for the discoverers and educators of today and tomrrow.

I really enjoyed the book, at first it was a little confusing and hard to understand, but as the pages started turning I fell in love with the book. The whole idea that Bobo and Amy Lourie met and fell in love in the Catskills with so many things against them intrigues me. His friendship with Avrum was weird but made the story more interesting. My favorite part of the book was when Amy and Bobo meet each other 40 years later and still are in love. This is my 1st Terry Kay book and I loved it, I hope to read another one of his books soon.

I won't repeat what everyone else said who liked this book - but would just add that I liked the measured pace that allowed the story to fully explore all its elements. I didn't find it repetitive - rather, there was musicality in the way motifs were revisited throughout the story. Finally, as nobody seems to be mentioning the "a" word - adultery - is this the last taboo, that people haven't come out of the closet about? - it was a joy to read a book with a mature and realistic outlook on that subject. It's about time! Similarly, religion. I wish I could find more books like this that reflect and illuminate the world I really live in.

Once I got into this story, it had me captivated by the eccentricity of the primary characters. Flip-flopping between then and now, 1955 and 199? was an effective technique for this book. The antics the teenage characters pull remind me of the days when I was their age. As the characters show themselves as adults, it is obvious how a true love really impacts us, regardless of time or age. Terry Kay had me going from laughing out loud to crying tears near the end. I am sure my children thought I, too, was as off the wall as Avrum was thought to be. A friend loaned me the book, now I am buying a copy for myself to re-read!

Disregard the "star" rating: An author can't, and shouldn't, presume to rate his own work. That said, I'm happy, overall, with this book. I've done companion books on Michael Jordan, on censorship, on Stephen King, on Anne Rice -- and not on Vaughn Bode, as BOOKLIST erroneously stated. (The Bode book was an art index with the artist.) ... This 300-page companion book was by necessity cut: half the text and around 200 photos were intended for the original edition, scheduled for publication by Renaissance Books; the book was subsequently re-edited, and rewritten, by me for this edition from St. Martin's Minotaur. ... Info on Cornwell is difficult to find: I used virtually nothing from Cornwell's website (despite what BOOKLIST asserted) and I drew heavily on resources at the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, at Davidson College (an archive of published material exists on her and her work) and resources in Richmond, Virginia (notably the local newspaper), where she has spent most of her writing life. The book itself pulls together a lot of information that took me years to find--don't kid yourself: You can't find all of this on the Internet, despite what some people want to believe. I believe Cornwell should tell her own story, hence my biographical information in this book is short; I've reprinted some litte-seen but illuminating interviews with Cornwell; I've pulled together quotes gleaned from dozens of hard-to-find sources; I've provided a chronology to her life and work, a book-by-book look with reprinted reviews, an "A to Z" of her life (real people, places and things), and a detailed appendices. Had the book included the original text, it would have been 600 pages long ... and I still had hundreds of pages of additional research material on hand that nobody has ever seen. In other words, this is a general overview to Cornwell and her work -- the first, and only, book of its kind on her. (Cornwell, it should be noted, declined to participate; I have used my own resources for research and I alone am responsible for any errors herein.) ... The reason I wanted to write this book is simple: After reading about her life, I felt there was much to celebrate -- her life is, in fact, as interesting as her fiction. The theme in all of my books is that we can overcome adversity by believing in ourselves and pushing ourselves to our limits; Cornwell has done this spectacularly well, and this book celebrates not only her life but her body of work. This book is not a hagiography; I call them as I see them. So, in the end, let me call it a literary celebration and leave it at that. I hope you like it.

Anyone interested in the life and works of Patricia Cornwell will definitely want to buy and immediately read THE UNOFFICIAL PATRICIA CORNWELL COMPANION. The first section is a mini-biography on the author, highlighting the high points of her life. Two interesting sub-sections are "The Quotable Patricia Cornwell" and a reprint of an interview with the author.

Section II looks at the works of Patricia Cornwell with reviews of each book stating what the critical thought about each novel is. This is a treasure chest of information and shows that the author went two steps beyond a mini-synopsis to give the audience a feel for each novel. If there is one criticism of this novel, it is that there is no interview with the author specifically intended for this biography.

Harriet Klausner

Not since Beahm's Stephen King Companion has a book made a writer so accessible. Much like the earlier title, the Patricia Cornwell Companion is an equally fascinating read for folks just getting into Ms. Cornwell's work as well as for experts. Each chapter goes into depth about each book in Cornwell's canon, presenting a breakdown, listing each edition and awards won, reprinting reviews and interviews, and (my favorite) presenting an "A to Z" glossary of each book. The best feature of this book, though, are the Appendices, discussing the facts and details of the life of real-life forensic investigators.

A terrific book by a consistantly terrific writer, The Patricia Cornwell companion is a worthy addition to anyone's Cornwell collection.

-Kevin Quigley

This debate textbook covers the fundamentals for debaters and teachers alike. All of the major issues which you will encounter are addressed. The only deficiency is a lack depth in the actual affirmative and negative case chapters. These two chpaters could easily be entire books. But, debaters will actually learn more details by practicing - and this book will encourage debaters to give this activity a try. This book is worth having in your debate office. The updated edition is worth purchasing.

This is a wonderful book! Its not exactly a sequel to Riddle of the Wren, but set in the same universe, with the same hoary feel to it. Not one of his more well-known books, but I loved it as a kid and still do. Both are a definite must-read if you love old high fantasy.

Hughes' life of Eliot is solid, comprehensive, and given its dazzling subject, remarkably tedious. The book provides an ample chronicle of Eliot's documented life without ever bringing Marian Evans or her marvelous writings to life.

Hughes is much better at piling on the details of Victorian intellectual life than working her way inside the creative processes that created Middlemarch, Adam Bede, and Daniel Deronda. The first half of the book, covering Evans' family life and difficult early adulthood, reads well, the impressive accumulation of research making up for lack of narrative.

But when Evans creates Eliot and the first of her fictions, the book should snap to life. It instead deflates, dutifully cranking out novel synopses and recounting scandals without ever getting at why Eliot's fiction was so beloved in her day, and remains so today.

A novelist of uncanny power and tremendous influence, Eliot deserves a biography at the level of Peter Ackroyd's spectacular life of Dickens. We're still waiting...

I thought Hughes did a good job capturing the historical context in which George Eliot lived and wrote, and gave a sense of Eliot's personality, particularly Eliot's transformation emotionally and intellectually. However, I was distracted by what seemed like the author's tendency to jump around chronologically in attempts to pull out themes and conclusions about Eliot; at times it felt like she lost track of what she had discussed or didn't.

George Eliot: The Last Victorian is an intimate biography of noted author Mary Ann Evans, who is perhaps better known by the pen name of George Eliot (1819-1880). Some of Ms. Evans' most famous works include the novels Silas Marner, Middlemarch, and Adam Bede. This informative biography focuses quite closely on Evans' life, including her friendships with Dickens and Trollope, and the controversial scandal of her relationship to a married writer George Henry Lewes. Biographer Kathryn Hughes also scrutinizes the Victorian society that Mary Evans lived in and wrote so much about. Even Queen Victoria enjoyed books by George Eliot, but you don't need royal blood to enjoy this intriguing and meticulously presented biography.