I read this book while on vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine, so it seemed appropriate for the time. Coughlin's writing style is a bit pedestrian...as if he hasn't had much experience writing. However, the story is fun to follow. Brian Kelly is a modern day hero, mixing compassion, humor, and an f-you attitude into a engaging character. The first half of the book is better than the second and the love scenes are awkward, at best, but it leaves you dying to read the sequel. If you're looking for great literature, this isn't it. But if you're looking for a good story to read while on vacation, go for it.

Since I live here in York County (just up the road from Brian Kelly) I really loved this book. The locations are all real and it is such fun to read the names of the local establishments in a novel. Some have changed since the setting of the story but most are still as described. The characters are very appealing and I cared about what happened to them. Am anxious to read the sequel.

I really enjoyed the book. It covers stories with wonderful details. The book allows for extra detail, but at times there are some irrelevant stories.

This was a great book which I read over and over again, loving it even more every time.

"Best Little Stories From WWII" is somewhat of a misleading title. While the layout of the text is admirable...numerous short stories that can be read at leisure...the content of the majority of the stories is bland and unmoving. While a few of the stories are worthy of great praise, I found too many boring stories about the world's naval forces during the time period. After reading such great books from authors like Cornelius Ryan, Stephen Ambrose and Charles Marshall, I find that overall this book is missing much by comparison. The only reedeming quality this book has for me is that of a coffee table decoration.

This book was really fun to read -- the stories seem to flow pretty well one to another. They are arranged chronologically, and paint a vivid picture of the whole war for us who weren't there. Since each story has a different perspective and author, you get a well rounded taste of the heroes and horrors that came from the great clash of the 20th century. Best Little Stories of World War II is a wonderful choice for anyone interested in history or in WWII.

This is a collection of 101 obscure stories (vignettes) from World War II, mostly anecdotal, human interest stories combed from a variety of sources. They cover the full gamut of the war -- all theaters, all mediums. One lesson to be drawn is that people will be people no matter what their circumstances. An easy, entertaining read. With each story standing alone, it's an excellent book for casual reading.

This book is more geared towards general database design than data warehousing.

introduction of as40

Behind David Lean's directorial masterpiece 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962) lay a series of attempts to film T. E. Lawrence's life, most of them centred around the abridged version of 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom', known as 'Revolt in the Desert.' Chief amongst the filmmakers eager to produce this epic was the great Alexander Korda, who bought the rights to both books and also to several biographies that contained their material. Korda was asked by Lawrence himself not to make the film while he was alive. Five months later, Lawrence was killed in a motorbike accident and Korda began his preparations. Locations were scouted, scripts were drafted, and several actors were tested to play the lead. Walter Hudd (who had played the Lawrence-based character Private Meek in 'Too True to be Good') and Leslie Howard were the favourites, although Cary Grant and Laurence Olivier were also considered. The Foreign Office thwarted Korda at every turn, protesting that it would be ill advised to show the Turks in an unfavourable light with the ongoing political unrest in the East. After a dozen attempts to make the film, Korda let it slide. This book is tripartite: part one sketches a brief history of the attempts to film 'Lawrence of Arabia' and includes pictures of all the key players. The second part is an interview given by Leslie Howard on how he would play Lawrence; and thirdly, the final script (1938) of the Korda epic is reproduced. While it is a laudable piece of work, the book fails to hang together and emerges as two articles and a film script that are linked by the same subject, but have no cohesion. Part One is far too brief for the reader to gain an understanding of the forces arrayed against Korda and his project, and it would benefit from more research and more expansion on the views of the various directors and actors engaged for the film in its different stages. Part Two is simply the Howard interview with no editorial comment offered. Part Three, the script, also has no analysis. This is surprising, as it is rich in allusion and with peculiar sequences that (to modern eyes) detract from the overall pacing of the film. It relies heavily on 'Seven Pillars' for dialogue and description, with little or no modification. To those who are acquainted with the Robert Bolt script of the Lean film, the Korda Lawrence is but a pale shadow: eloquent passivity rather than "nothing is written" man of action; cold detachment rather than anger and angst in crucial scenes (Tafileh, the Turkish hospital); the smug imperialist rather than the tortured anti-imperialist. Korda's Lawrence was intended to be heroic, a ( ) puff-piece with a serious bite, but looking at the script today, he seems shallow, self-important and obnoxious. The real Lawrence evaded any attempt to capture him by constant shifts in personality, presenting a different face to each person he met. It would appear that the celluloid Lawrence of Korda's vision was the same; and, as such, defeated him wholly.

Even when the anecdotes were interesting, the writing style was poor (re-stating something several times won't make it more interesting). A compilation is supposed to make the anecdotes more interesting and slickly written, but I found that in the cases where I had read the source of his information, the source was better. The book was a gift, so I read the whole thing, but only out of duty.

Poorly written. Simply putting an exclamation point after a sentence doesn't make it astounding! Or Exciting! And the overuse of quotation marks gives this "book" an odd feel. Poorly written and poorly researched. Stay away...or better yet, buy my copy from me. It's too small for the birdcage.