Karen and Andrew Brewer get parts in a stage adaption of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Andrew gets to be Tiny Tim. Karen, however, lands the role of Ignorance, one of the raggamuffins under Christmas Present's robe. Even worse, Karen's best enemy, Pamela Harding, plays Want, the other ragamuffin. Somehow, Karen controls her emotions and learns the true meaning of Christmas. I reccomend this book to everyone.

This book has a very cute storyline that appeals to my toddler and is a great way to learn some words for food and eating. The illustrations are beautiful and the hardcover is great quality. I highly recommend this book as well as the others in this series.

Highly recommended for those who loves classic literature. George Elliot beautifully captured the lives of the people in rural English country in the late 18th century and early 19th century. I guarantee you'll fall in love with all the 4 main characters ie. Adam Bede, Hetty Sorrel, Lord Arthur and Dinah Morris before you finish the book. The courting scenes involving Adam Bede and Dinah are both very romantic and honest. George Elliot had a great understanding of human nature which makes the story very believable although it's fiction. ADAM BEDE's a hero in my heart, and this book's a must read for all literature fans.

I just finished reading this book for my Victorian Lit class, and I am incredibly inpressed with it. In the book, George Eliot tells about the lives of the residence of Hayslope, a farming community around 1800. The book has a riveting plot that includes romance, betrayal, and murder. More importantly, however, the book has a strong moral; it is sure to leave an impression in the mind of even the most cynical reader. Eliot, herself, summed the book up best in asking, "Shall I ever write another book as true as 'Adam Bede'?"

George Eliot weaves a simple story of love, suffering, and goodness. While the plot is hardly complex (boy loves girl, another boy gets girl, unhappiness abounds - also reused in Mill on the Floss), the manner in which Eliot develops her characters and their emotions and actions ring as true and resoundingly as a bell. It's so clear, so obvious, but also moving and textured. You feel Adam's absolute love for vain little Hetty, Dinah's calming grace, Arthur's good intentions, Lisbeth's fretting nature. Eliot draws you in with her honest observations of life in a country town, without the background becoming a dominant factor. The near idyllic life the characters lead is a healthy contrast to the town's emotional upheaval.

Adam is an upright, genuine character, and not as perfect as he seems. If his love for Hetty seems unfounded at times, it only serves to highlight how dangerous delusions can be. All the "sinners" are ultimately redeemed by truth - true love, true friends, true promises, and true acceptance. Religion plays a significant part in the novel, but don't let that deter you. It's so much more than that - Adam Bede is truly one of the few works that encompass a world of humanity between two covers.

AB reminded me of Tess of the D'Ubervilles a bit, but there is no villain here, just flawed, honest people in search of unattainable dreams. In the process of trying to get a bit of happiness, they stumble and bleed, but ultimately find something truly worth having. Bittersweetness is Eliot's trademark for good reason.

George Eliot's first full novel is obviously a bit less polished than her later works, but you see the wonderful command she has over language and expression. The book, the people, the story all come alive with her touch. A rare read that has something to say and says it beautifully.

I agree that part of the book is useful for newcomers: essays of Brechts own, and key papers in Brecht studies. But the third part can be improved upon. Here the criteria for selection take a nose dive: geological distribution becomes priority number 1 and the editors only strive to keep a balance regardless of the quality of the paper. Martin's essay is especially ill informed and hopelessly outdated. Why not use something by Antony Tatlow, the leading authority?

Readers should also be aware that the selection here seems to be limited to articles that appeared in past TDR. Translate: you will only get a partial view of the Brecht Studies through a North American lense. The third part just fails to balance this "prejudice" out.

For me, like many in the "mainstream," my first taste of Brecht was "The Threepenny Opera." I was lucky enough to be in a theatre class taught by a very sharp and open-minded professor who allowed me to gain a better understanding of the work by writing (and "casting") a film script based on it, instead of the usual critical paper.

But the complexities of Brecht have remained difficult for me to crack, and I was delighted to find this Sourcebook. Martin and Bial, the editors, have compiled a powerful selection of criticism, including translations of a couple of Brecht's own essays.

Sartre's piece on looking beyond bourgeouis theatre found its mark for me and opened my eyes about conventions and assumptions. Kurt Weill on musical theatre provided me with new understanding on his intentions in parting ways with easy tradition.

But it was particularly the section on Brecht interpreted abroad that enlightened me to his enormous influence as a writer and director. Tadashi Uchino skillfully gets at how a theatrical culture as drastically different as Japan's can adopt and adapt external viewpoints to expand its own horizons; and editor Carol Martin brings great insight to Brecht's early revolutionary views on alienation in Chinese theatre as they relate to feminism.

I don't pretend to be an authority on Brecht after reading this sourcebook (though I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night). But those looking to understand his work and his views better, particularly those who already have respect for his work and his lasting influence, will find the book quite useful.

This book brings together Brecht's aesthetic theories, the practice of his theories, and the various ways he has been intrepreted abroad. The essays are readable and are by Brecht, practitioners, and scholars.

The title is quite clever, although a little misleading. There isn't a lot of Christmas involved -- of course, with Holmes, there wouldn't be. Some stories are, as usual, better than others. Some are downright bad. A few have the distressing tendency that some Holmes "fans" have to glorify, or at least "redeem" Watson. Let's face it, true Holmes fans don't read the stories to hear about Watson! Despite a few clinkers, this is a pretty good book -- but I wish it had been available in paperback!

My comments are organized by author, rather than in order of appearance. For some of the best stories, I haven't said much, since they're hard to praise without giving away pieces of the plot.

Two of the stories tackle the same theme: the person who inherited the firm of Scrooge & Marley begins having ghostly visitations and consults Holmes. (A priori, they're not ghosts but something else, so that Holmes works out how the trick was done.) Crider's version of the story strikes me as being the stronger of the two.

Breen, Jon L. "The Adventure of the Canine Ventriloquist" - A VERY long-winded client (a professional writer customarily paid by the word) is the victim of either supernatural events, or a tortuous scheme of persecution. Unfortunately, the client blathers on SO long when engaging Holmes that I lost interest, despite Watson's (unspoken and derogatory) opinions of professional vs. amateur writers.

Crider, Bill "The Adventure of the Christmas Ghosts" - One of two variations on a theme; this one seems the stronger of the two. Franklin Scrooge, who inherited the firm of Scrooge & Marley, has begun having experiences like those of his uncle 40 years before. His description of Scrooge's meeting with Marley for the skeptic Holmes and Watson deliberately mimics Dickens' setting of the early scene. S: "Marley was dead. There can be no doubt about that." H: "And how did he die?" (Interesting line of thought, that.) There is a continuity error - Scrooge's great-nephew, as his *sister's* grandson, would not have the same surname - but other than that, the story is well-handled.

DeAndrea, William L. "The Adventure of the Christmas Tree" - Why did someone steal, then return, the tree being shipped from the Duke's Scottish estate while in transit? (The client isn't the Duke, but his forester, who can't rest until the matter is cleared up.)

Douglas, Carole Nelson "The Thief of Twelfth Night" - I recommend this to any fan of Douglas' Irene Adler novels.

Estleman, Loren D. "The Adventure of the Three Ghosts" - Lord Chislehurst (born "Tiny" Tim Cratchit) acquired Scrooge's old firm a decade ago, when Scrooge's generosity brought it to the brink of ruin. (His business acumen grew as Scrooge's declined, buying him into the Peerage.) Now ghostly visitations have begun appearing to *him*. Weaker than Crider's version; the characters, for one thing, seem less realistic.

Hill, Reginald "The Italian Sherlock Holmes" - At the conclusion of a case in Italy, Holmes suffers a nervous collapse, which keeps him and Watson in Rome over Christmas. A would-be imitator, scraping acquaintance with him, is taught a lesson.

Hoch, Edward D. "The Christmas Client" - Charles Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll) is being blackmailed by a fellow mathematics professor - one James Moriarty. Enough to interest Holmes even on Christmas Day...

Linscott, Gillian "A Scandal in Winter" - The only story not narrated by Watson. After a sudden death at the ski resort the previous year, rumor condemned the widow of murder - one Irene MacAvoy. Upon her defiant reappearance this year, two older gentlemen at the resort seek to find out what really happened, by questioning the only witness - the narrator, a child. Stylistically, of course, it isn't like the Holmes canon, but if one doesn't insist on that, it's a rather good story.

Moffat, Gwen "The Adventure in Border Country" Clement Daw's neighbour, Mrs. Aubrey, seeks Holmes' help in discovering what happened to her husband, who went out to the stables on a snowy night and hasn't been seen since. Some of Watson's commentary regarding Mrs. Aubrey's family may seem rather disturbing, incidentally.

Paul, Barbara "The Sleuth of Christmas Past" At first, this story may remind the reader of 'The Solitary Cyclist': high praise, to sound like Doyle's original. The death of Amy Stoddard's father, a spice importer, has left her an heiress, in a modest way, but she hasn't come to Holmes about that; she's familiar with the business, having served as her father's transcriber due to his horrible handwriting. Now some of his old friends are behaving suspiciously, and her fiance may be no better. But who is lying to whom?

Perry, Anne "The Watch Night Bell" - This doesn't have the usual trappings that accompany Perry's Victorian-era detective stories; she's adapted her tone to fit Doyle's work. On this occasion, poor Holmes has to cope with the worst type of female client: a fluffbrained, pretty young woman who can't seem to think straight long enough to get to the point. She fears that her sister may be plotting to murder their father. Some very clever plot twists in this one.

Stroessel, John "The Yuletide Affair" - Lestrade and his merry men, seeking Watson's medical help while Holmes is out on another case, give him a chance to shine on his own. Holmes has only a bit part in this, at the end.

Wheat, Carolyn "The Adventure of the Angel's Trumpet" - A barrister who once persuaded a jury to disregard Holmes' evidence now seeks his help for a client on trial for poisoning her grandfather. Since Holmes appears so long after the event, there's a lot of "tell" as opposed to "show".

Williamson, J. N. "The Adventure of the Man Who Never Laughed" (Contains an entertaining digression about Holmes' proposed image of Father Christmas for the artist Thomas Nast, and another about Charles Fort.) The sister of the title character seeks Holmes' services to find out what's wrong.

Most of these pastiches range from good to very good. And I personally loved "The Yuletide Affair," which is a Watson case. Most of the others were enjoyable also. Unfortunately, two writers decided to incorporate "A Christmas Carol" into their stories which got redundant quickly. "A Scandal in Winter" was also a demerit to this book. If not for those three stories, I would have given five stars instead of four.

This book has a nice collection of ideas for Catholic feasts and customs celebrating within the family. The ideas are great, but I was a little disappointed in the confusing layout. If you are looking for ways to bring your family closer together through prayer, family traditions, this book can really help.

This book includes bios of Saints, recipes, activities for Church seasons and lots more. If you're trying to find a way to help your family live the Catholic faith, this is a great start. You may not use every idea listed, but you'll find more than enough to establish, or renew, family traditions.

Finally, a complete, comphrensive FIELD guide to the birds of India! Gone are the days of hauling 2 or 3 hardcover bird books to the subcontinent just to be able to identify relatively common species. The drawings in this book are excellent, the descriptions very detailed, and the range maps very helpful. My two criticisms are that birders familiar with the common names in Salim Ali's "The Book of Indian Birds" will be confused with the revised nomenclature in this guide (based on the Inskipp's Indian Checklist); some changes are relatively minor, while others are so dramatically different (and frankly puzzling) that cross-referencing is a chore. The second involves the seperation of many of the range maps from the plates and descriptions, sometimes by many pages. This was due to the large number of species featured on some plates- there just wasn't enough room for the maps also. A better strategy might have been to put them all in the back of the book. But the benefits of this book far outweigh the shortcomings- my next trip to India promises to be more rewarding and productive bird-wise (as well as easier on my back)due to this excellent and overdue field guide.

Michael Avallone has done a pretty good job with this novelization of the movie. Although there are some sequences here that are different from the movie, it is still a good reading. A group of unsuspecting teens decide to spend a weekend at a summer cottage on Crystal Lake. Little do they know that a killer awaits. One by one, they fall into his vengeful, bloodthirsty hands until only one of the teens is left. Alone in the cabin with no one to help, will she survive the night of terror? Although not quite as good as the Simon Hawke version, this novel is still a very good effort. Complete with stills from the movie, it's guaranteed to give you a chill.

After enjoying "Holmes for the Holidays", I was glad that the editors were putting out a second volume of Christmas stories involving Holmes and Watson. Some of the writings in this book were better than those in the first version, and some weren't that great. One of my favorites was "The Adventure of the Second Violet"--I thought it was very clever!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's acquired disdain for his own renowned detective creation is legendary, and 'tis said that when William Gillette wired him with the question, "May I marry Holmes?" (to a female character), Conan Doyle brusquely replied, "You may marry him or murder him or do what you like with him."

But one must draw the line somewhere. And notwithstanding Mollie Hardwick's excellent paean to the legend of Sherlock Holmes at the head of this collection of short stories, I wonder whether even Conan Doyle could have stomached some of these literary assaults upon it.

In "Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin", Dorothy Hughes presents us with a feminist Holmes and Watson who look forward to the day when women become doctors and scientists. Another swig of Women 100 Proof and Ms. Hughes would have had them lobbying from their 19th century perches for abortion on demand, free daycare, and a chocolate bar in the glove compartment of every SUV, a bottle of prozac in the pocket of every power suit.

And even THIS atrocity barely holds its own, as an atrocity, against the contemporary setting of Joyce Harrington's "The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction", in which a delicate hippie-type Watson plays second fiddle to a ferocious liberated female Holmes - not only as "her" assistant but as "her " lover. Indeed, the story winds up with a broad hint of a rendezvous in the bedroom, but I think that this Watson will couple with this Holmes about as successfully as Tchaikovsky did with Antonina Milyukova.

This book also has its share of short stories that do considerably more justice to the Sherlockian tradition, and the best of these are Barry Jones's "The Shadows on the Lawn", Edward D. Hoch's "The Return of the Speckled Band", and Stuart Kaminsky's "The Final Toast". The Jones story, in particular, is very chilling.

But John Lutz's "The Infernal Machine" also deserves credit for craft and subtlety. The threat of an international conflagration and the new concept of the "horseless carriage" are crucial to the resolution of this story, and there's a passage in it where a young inventor asserts that in ten years, everyone in England will drive a horseless carriage. "Everyone?" Watson asks. "Come now!"

Holmes laughs and says, "Not you, Watson, not you, I'd wager."

How many readers realize that Lutz is paying homage to the last story in the Conan Doyle concordance, "His Last Bow", set on the eve of the first World War, in which Watson does indeed drive an automobile, in the guise of a chauffeur? Not many, I'd wager.

It must have taken a lot of commendable restraint for Lutz to simply rely on his readers' perspicacity and to resist the sore temptation of finding a way to directly point to the Conan Doyle story.

For that matter, Malcom Bell, the villain in the Kaminsky story, may be based upon Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Conan Doyle's medical instructors, who is said to have been the chief inspiration for Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes.

Stephen King's contribution might be the cleverest, if not the best written. He apparently wrote his own Sherlock Holmes story in response to a challenge from the editors, but King's normal writing style doesn't quite click with the sober Watsonian chronicling presented by Conan Doyle.

And King is usually a good researcher, but this skill fails him on at least two occasions. He presents us with several images from the Victorian Era that Conan Doyle withheld from delicate sensibilities, including orphans losing all the teeth out of their jaws in sulphur factories by the age of ten and cruel boys in the East End teasing starving dogs with food held out of reach.

But the authentic Sherlock Holmes, having learned that Jory Hull was a painter and having deduced that he had no need of monetary support from his cruel father, would have further deduced - without asking Lestrade - that Jory probably gained his independence by painting professionally.

And the authentic Holmes, as Watson says in the Conan Doyle classic, "A Study in Scarlet", has a good practical knowledge of British law. Stephen King is surely wrong to have Holmes ask Lestrade what sort of treatment the murder suspects might expect to receive under it.

Still, we must be grateful to King for bringing to our attention the one case in the lexicon where Watson actually solves the mystery before Holmes does - and yes, it happens in a plausible manner. As Loren Estleman has pointed out, Holmes's brilliance wouldn't be appreciated by us as much if it were not for the buffer provided by the savvy but unremarkable earnestness of Watson's narrative. We admire Holmes, but we empathize more with his Boswell, and it's wonderful to learn of a case in which Watson has his moment in the sunlight.

This collection has its share of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain silly (Peter Lovesey's "The Curious Computer"). The reader is advised to judge each story on its own merits. Don't be too impressed with Dame Jean Conan Doyle's endorsement of the volume as a whole. But do ask, as another renowned English author once did, "What's in a name?"

"The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was like a breath of fresh air. Lately I have come across some anthologies which just aren't up to par as far as the quality of the plots. These stories I found to be entertaining and fun to read. Two which stood out for me were "Shadows on the Lawn" and "The Return of the Speckled Band". There's even a story in there for Watson lovers, "The Doctor's Case", penned by none other than Stephen King. Though there were a few which I didn't really care for, this is a worthwhile read.

I love anything about Holmes and Watson. These were well written stories that I truly enjoyed reading. It took me back to when I read all of Doyle's stories about Holmes and Watson. I recommend it highly.