No one in the world (and I state that with full confidence) knows more about Chartres Cathedral than Malcolm Miller. What more needs to be said?

No visit to Chartres is complete without taking the tour of the Cathedral's walking encyclopedia Malcolm Miller. Miller's books are fantastic and give a tremendous insight into the history of Chartres and its Cathedral.

Malcolm Miller is the foremost English authority on the cathedral of Chartres. He divides his time between the town of Chartres, where he personally conducts tours, and the rest of the world where he lectures and makes films and videos of the subject. He opens his tours and lectures by commenting that the cathedral is like a library--and we don't just say, "We're going to go to the library today and read all the books". Each tour or lecture consists of a general introduction and focuses on a small part of the stained glass and statuary. The core of the book is a review of the iconography of a selection of the windows and sculpture. In this manner, you learn how to "read the books" in the cathedral, and gain an understanding of the world that produced them. Once you have toured Chartres, either in person or through that other medieval miracle, printing, you will want to return again and again.

The true stories told by the authors in their latest book about miracles are an inspiration for the reader. I looked forward to this latest book in their series on miracles and was not disappointed. After reading it, I bought several more copies to give as gifts.

My co-authors and I have now had a total of five miracle books published, but this last book in the series has been an emotional one for us. Just when we agreed to do our last book on the mysterious and wonderful things that happen when our loved ones die, and how the bonds of love,the feeling of closeness, and the communication can continue, Laura was re-diagnosed with breast cancer. The entire time we worked on these stories, we knoew Laura was dying, and it gave us tremendous comfort to read story after story of the miracle of endless love. Laura herself was deeply comforted, and secure in the knowledge that she was headed towards a wonderful place. She died on November 4, just a few weeks after Heavenly Miracles was published. Jamie and I will miss her deeply, but we treasure the time we've spent together on these books. Enjoy the stories in Heavenly Miracles, and may they be a comfort to you, too. Jennifer Basye Sander ginsander@hotmail.com

This is one of the most touching and emotional books I have read in a long time. I was at the library and they had a display set up for Mother's Day, and this book caught my eye. The stories are quite short so you can read a few at a time if you are time-crunched. I plan on buying several copies and giving them as gifts to some of my friends who, like me, have devoted themselves to our children. I was extremely touched by the book, and I cried openly at many of the stories.

This book caught my eye because of it's beautiful cover and then captured my heart with its gentle, inspiring story and glorious illustrations. Told as a fable, the author touches upon life teachings suitable for all ages: respect for self and others, community, loving and letting go, and growing up. It would be a lovely book to read aloud to children or to open a discussion with young adults.

Wonderful lyrical quality and depth. A virtual trip to Italy and the Mediterranean.Brillant insight and images.

In The Square At Vigevano Laura Brylawski-Miller draws on her knowledge of Milan and the world of arts and letters to offer a brief, intriguing glimpse into Andrew Fielding's life. Andrew is an introspective professor and biographer of medieval noblemen on a research sabbatical in Milan. His sabbatical takes a uniquely confounding turn when wealthy playboy Torre Sismondi invites him on a week-end hunting trip that includes Torre's nineteen year-old 'ward" Ala. Andrew does not know what to make of the circumstances surrounding the trip. What did Torre mean by "ward"? Was Torre planning to leave Andrew alone with Ala? Was Torre's arrival intentionally delayed?

"And though he was not given to such fancies, he had a feeling of translocation of time. Not a déjà vu, but a coming to a place where he had never been but whose existence had been known to him. It was a recognition. His association with Torre, his choice of Gian Galeazzo as the subject of his book-something that had seemed to happen, rather than be decided-his coming to Lombardy, all, he suddenly felt, had been advancing stages leading to this moment. This was the end of a journey."

But which journey did Andrew embark upon and which did he end? Laura Brylawski-Miller's words vividly paint Andrew's breathtaking surroundings, elation and depression as he pieces together the truth about Torre and Ala.

An American scholar, Andrew Fielding, in Milan to do research for his latest book, renews a friendship with Torre, an Italian aristocrat he had known during his university days in the US. Torre invites Andrew for a hunting weekend at his lodge in Castelletto. Arriving ahead of Torre (possibly by Torre's design), Andrew meets and feels drawn to Ala, Torre's beautiful and mysterious young ward who lives at the lodge. Andrew wonders about the true relationship of Torre to Ala. An autumnal atmosphere permeates the interplay among the three main characters as they struggle with the effect on their lives of terrorism, past and present. Italy is awaiting the trial of Gianni Rovida, a known terrorist. An attempt is made to free hin from custody in Casala, near the lodge. Is Ala involved? As a small child she had witnessed the murder of her father, a suspected terrorist. Also, Andrew had observed her near the square at Vigevano in the presence of Fabio, younger brother of Gianni. And what is Torre's role in this? Why was he so late arriving at the lodge? Here the novel explores the themes of love, friendship, deception. Andrew is put to the test when he is asked to provide an alibi for Torre. This novel is a compelling character-drama, written in evocative prose. The reader becomes part of the scenery, feeling the rain, seeing the mist. One senses that the author could be a poet. "He watched the wet leaves from the sycamore fall silently to dapple the grey of the terrace. Their vibrant gold seemed spent too. The end of a feast.There was no wind to carry them away to some unknown fate, like Verlaine's dead leaves."

The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors is one of the best books on contemporary literature I've ever read. With the notable exclusions of writers John Nichols, David James Duncan and Arundahati Roy, the book is a comprehensive (though it claims not to be) and witty guide to all books not yet considered "classic" yet well on their way.

I am a college writing and literature instructor, so I first browsed the volume as an interested teacher (always looking for ways to get students to like reading), but ended up unable to put it down because I so loved its insight and humor about all the writers I've loved or hated over the years. I was delighted at the validation I received for not really liking trendy writers such as A.S. Byatt, Edwidge Danticat or Brett Easton Ellis, and thrilled that authors Jim Harrison and Salman Rushdie were finally given the fair criticism they deserve, not based on scandal or hype or Brad Pitt. In fact, I found Salon's criticisms generally accurate with regard to books I've read already. Never nasty, the critics sum up the influence the writer has had and honestly discuss whether or not the influence is justified.

I also learned much about the writing of authors I have always meant to check out and I learned about writers I've never heard of but now want to read desperately. I wish this book had been published years ago.

I am definitely going to recommend it to all of my reading friends and my students and I eagerly await the second edition (for surely there must be a second edition now that Jonathan Franzen has written The Corrections?)

Thanks, Salon.com, for filling a void so humorously and honestly.

"The Salon.com Reader's Guide to Contemporary Authors" is edited by Laura Miller, with Adam Begley. It consists primarily of alphabetically-arranged entries on selected writers. Each entry contains a list of books by the author, as well as a critical essay. This collection of writers is international and multicultural, although the selection is (as noted in the preface) limited to authors who write (or wrote) fiction in English and who have had major works published since 1960.

This is a book that I use both to "discover" authors I'm not familiar with, as well as to get new perspectives on authors I already know (either passingly or thoroughly). Each entry is about 1 to 2 pages long. A very short sampler of some of the authors covered: Chinua Achebe, Sherman Alexie, Saul Bellow, Charles Bukowski, Ian Fleming, Allegra Goodman, Ursula K. LeGuin, Amy Tan, Gore Vidal, etc.

The critical articles contain some questionable statements, but that's half the fun of this book: it's a reference work with which an intelligent reader can disagree.

In addition to the main entries, there is a series of sidebar book lists compiled by various individuals. Examples: "Five Contemporary Noir Classics," listed by David Bowman; "A Walk on the Wild Side: Very Original Novels," by Peter Carey; "Smart and Sexy," by Erica Jong; etc. The books are listed with short descriptive paragraphs.

There is also a series of interspersed literary essays: "Every Novel Is a Lesbian Novel," by Dorothy Allison; "Of This World: Why Science Fiction Can't Be Dismissed," by John Clute; etc. If you love contemporary literature, you may find "The Salon.com Reader's Guide" to be a wonderful resource.

I eagerly took this book home, and quickly flipped through the pages to see how many books I've read by the 225 authors listed in this guide. I've got a lot of work ahead of me. What I appreciated the most about the book is that along with literary giants such as Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Toni Morrison, and Robertson Davies, the contributors to this guide also mention commercial success stories such as Stephen King, Tom Clancy, John Grisham, and Michael Crichton. For each entry there is a bibliography given, a summary of the authors works, and a 'see also' paragraph that leads you to other great authors with similar writting styles as your favourites. In between entries there are essays and suggestions given by the said authors themselves which are enlightening and entertaining. I don't know much about salon.com, but I've learnt that they're capable of producing a top notch reference that I'll will use frequently.

My 6-year old daughter loves this book. She's wild about horses and this is a cute story of how Barbie finds a pony, names and cares for it. They solve a problem together and the story has a typically sugary-sweet happy ending. A 6 year old can read this pretty much on her own. I recommend this to anyone looking for a pleasant story about a girl and a pony!

I read with interest the reader reviews on this book before I purchased it and saw mixed opinions and many comments, but the one that stood out the most was something to the effect of "this book might be too much for the casual Laura fan, but great for those who want to dig a little deeper." I heartily agree with that and think that needs to be stressed. If you've only ever read the "Little House" books, perhaps you should start with some of the lighter books and biographies about her. If you are like me, however, and can't get enough information about the true life of Laura, this book is fantastic. Its focus is a bit shaky at first, as it breezes through the first 20 or so years of her life in first third of the book. At that point it changes focus so much that it is almost like two books in one. Here is where we meet Laura the writer and witness her long path from town columnist to published national author. Throughout this section of the book her daughter, Rose, plays a pivotal part and has her own biography of sorts within these pages. While at first I was reluctant to read about the controversy over how much Rose actually helped her mother write the books, once I got into it I was fascinated and hooked. This book is a biography, a history book, the story of a young pioneer, and a look into a complex and conflicting mother/daughter relationship. And for those out there who simply can't get enough of Laura, curl up and dive in.

One other note: I learned a lot of new information about facts that were left out of the Little House books or changed to make the story flow better for children. John Miller even goes so far as to call her Little House books fiction. I don't completely agree with him on that point, but I did learn a lot and wanted to know more about the actual accurate early life of Laura. Miller makes reference in this book to Laura's first attempt at novel writing; an unpublished manuscript called "Pioneer Girl." I did a little research and found that copies are available from the Herbert Hoover Library in West Branch, Iowa. It is costly, but worth it for the biggest fan. It is definetly an adult read, though, don't plan on reading this to your children as a bedtime story.

Hope this review was helpful - enjoy!

Miller pretty well refutes the contention that Rose Wilder Lane ghostwrote the "Little House" books. There is no question that she edited her mother's manuscripts, and without her connections in the publishing industry there is a good chance the books might not have been published at all. However, the books were and are Laura's.

It's also important to remember that the "Little House" books only cover Laura's life up to her marriage, and that she in fact lived less than 15 years in DeSmet. She spent the remaining 63 years of her life in Missouri. I always thought that Missouri was an odd choice of destinations, but there in fact were compelling reasons, and Miller does explain them.

Some have criticized this book because they feel that it almost becomes a biography of Rose Wilder Lane about halfway through. A more careful reading gives an explanation for why this seems to be the case; Rose left massive amounts of personal archives, letters, and other documents when she died. On the other hand, Laura ("Mama Bess")left very little of this kind of information behind, and were it not for Rose's archives there would be even bigger gaps in the narrative. Miller does mention that a roomfull of possessions left behind in Laura's parents' home in DeSmet was discarded by the new owners of the house, and it's just possible that some of her letters were lost there.

If some people wish the book provided more in-depth detail about Laura's life in Missouri, then they should also wish for even more information about Almanzo. At the end of this book we know only a little more about him than we did at the end of "The First Four Years." He was apparently a man of few words, either spoken or written, so he largely remains an enigma. What little we do know about him comes from either Laura or Roses's writings.

One thing we do learn is that Laura never lost her pioneering spirit. In 1925 she, Rose, and a good friend of Rose's drove all the way to the West Coast from Missouri. A transcontinental auto trip in 1925 was sitll a major adventure, and even more remarkable when undertaken by three women. An account of this adventure surely would have made for good reading, but apparently neither Laura nor Rose thought of it.

This has been something of a rambling review, so I will conclude that Miller did very good work, and that any true fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder or her daughter would do well to read it.

This book gives a much more balanced account of Laura Ingalls Wilder's life than other recent biographies. John E. Miller creates a richly detailed portrait of the real Laura Ingalls Wilder, one that is well supported by his documentation. The relationship between LIW and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, is examined in great detail. Miller's assertions about the relationship between mother and daughter ring true. His statements are clearly supported by his research. He does not attempt to negate Rose Wilder Lane's contribution to the Little House Series. This book gives a good picture of the complexities of the mother/daughter literary collaboration. One comes away with a better understanding of and an appreciation for both women. "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder" is an interesting, well written, and highly readable biography. A most welcome addition to the shelf of any admirer of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books!

I expected this book to be of the same quality as Miller's biography of Laura "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder," which is a first rate work. Unfortunately, this book is substantially inferior in every way.

This book purports to be a history of De Smet as it was when Laura grew up, but is instead a hodge podge of essays ranging from Charles Pierce's theories to the paintings of Harvey Dunn. So instead of learning about De Smet, we have the privilege of learning how educated and erudite the author is. Instead of learning about the town and its characters, we are regaled with the author's theories of how the plow broke the plains.

Occasionally there are nuggets of new information about De Smet, and about some of the characters who appear in Laura's book or were known to her when she lived there. But these nuggets tend to be heavily wrapped in Miller's academic jargon and theories. Evidently, there is not much to be said about any small town, even De Smet, so you have to talk about others things that you conveniently already happen to know: "Place and Community (and De Smet)," "Freedom and Control (and De Smet)," "Fact and Interpretation (and De Smet)," and so on and on.

"Dreary" and "boring" are adjectives Miller uses more than once to describe life on the prairie: those same adjectives apply in spades to this book. It is very difficult to get through, so buy it and read it only if you're into self flagellation.

This book looks at various historical aspects of the world Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about, and focuses especially on one of her books, Little Town on the Prairie, and on the town of De Smet, SD. I found it very interesting finding out more about the town that was the focus of Wilder's later books. This book is done as a series of essays, and at times repeats information from one essay to the next. However, it is well written and obviously very well researched, and adult fans of Wilder who want to find out more about her and more especially the larger world and time she lived in will enjoy this book.

I think this book is very interesting and very informative. I am a huge LIW fan and I think that any fan of her books would definately enjoy this biography on her life.

I also believe that anyone who doesn't believe that she really exsited should also read this book as well.