Wow! I loved Untangling My Chopsticks. It is a delicious book from beginning to end. Victoria Abbott Riccardi's beautiful writing style made me feel like I was a part of her journey, discovering the foreign culture, customs and lifestyle of Japan. Through her detailed descriptions she gives the reader a very true sense of the people, the food and the natural beauty of the country. I loved learning about tea kaiseki and the foods that revolve around it. I craved Japanese food as I read the book and was thrilled to discover that each chapter ends with delectable recipes that are quite simple to prepare.
This book has everything I love to read about from travel, to cooking, to history, to love (yes, it is a bit of a love story!). In summary, it is a fantastic book that captures the reader's attention through wisdom, humor and beauty.

Untangling My Chopsticks is a book you want to pick up by just looking a the beautiful cover. And then the inside, just like a great piece of sushi, is wonderful. Riccardi's humor, candor and lush descriptions make this one of the best books I have read in a long time. She weaves the history of the tea ceremony with her personal stories of a year in Japan. Her descriptions of food will leave you mouth watering and her humor make you chuckle out loud. A great book to read and share with your friends. I'm going to use the great recipes to make a Japanese dinner for my bookgroup, so we can taste while we talk about the book!

I really enjoyed this book. I've never been to Japan, but after reading Untangling My Chopsticks, I felt like I had a true feeling of what it is like. I loved the descriptions of the tea ceremony. So well-written, and with such telling detail. The tea ceremony is so different than anything in America, with its emphasis on symbolism. Every action, every item served in the tea ceremony has meaning, and I enjoyed learning about it all. Also, I loved reading the recipes in this book, even though I'm not a cook. This book is to Japan what "Under the Tuscan Sun" is to Italy. Definitely worth reading. Beware, though, that it will leave you craving Japanese food!

This gorgeous novel reflects many of the ideas found in "A Room Of One's Own" by Virginia Woolf, with whom Vita had a famous affair. After the death of her husband, the Earl of Slane, Lady Slane shocks her staid family by asserting her own will, leaving the house she kept with her husband, and settling into a small house in the countryside. Finally after seventy years, Lady Slane is determined to live as she chooses, with a life full of contemplation, dreams, and memories. She reflects on her lost ambition to be a painter, but knows that the life she lived was not without merit or value. She finds passion in the freedom to choose, and this gift she bequeaths to the one member of her family who understands its importance.

I meandered my way to this book through Sarah Ban Breathnach's treasure of self-excavation, Simple Abundance. I had read Anne Morrow Lindbergh because of her recommendation too. AML & Charles Lindbergh were good friends with Vita Sackville-West & her husband, Nigel Nicholson. So I finally got around to Vita Sackville-West & this book. It was so moving, wonderful, unforgettable, that I will reread it. I laughed & cried. I will try to find older copies of this to give away to dear friends, old & new. It's one of those books. I'm 41 & have sacrificed much for the men & children in my life that I nonetheless love so dearly. This book helped me bring those feelings of ambivalence into focus. It also helped me realize I'm relatively young & still have time to live the life I've dreamed of since I was a little girl. Maybe this "child-bearing years" thing was just a detour.

This curiously overlooked novel was revived by a Masterpiece Theater production starring Dame Wendy Hiller, which like this novel was superb. The gentle story of an elderly woman's retirement while her forceful children squabble over unimportant matters is at once comic and poignant. The author has peppered the tale with curious, memorable characters, among them the eccentric art collector who is allowed to eat in portrait galleries because museums hope he will donate to them when he dies; the benign landlord Bucktrout, who sees Lady Slain's desire for peace at home; and the coffin maker who pictures people dead to reveal their true characters. This fine little masterpiece deserves to be read today.

Drafted by a committee of 19 (but sufficiently well edited to read as if it were written by a single author) this book provides a well-argued, detailed and wide-ranging analysis of the consequences of economic globalization (the term corporate globalization is also extensively used in the book) and an examination of alternatives and the action required to move towards those alternatives. It has succeeded brilliantly, and deserves very close study, whether or not you agree with the drafting committee's views.

This is no extremist anti-corporate, anti-capitalist text, although it does clearly come to the conclusion that the vector of economic globalisation that we are on is neither inevitable, desirable nor sustainable. It is notable for arguing at the level of underlying principles and their practical consequences - it makes explicit the assumptions underlying corporate globalisation and questions them. This, in itself, is a valuable service as so much of the 'debate' in the media proceeds on the basis of bald assertion of essentially fallacious economic dogma.

The report starts with a critique of 'corporate globalization'. The term itself is useful, because the term 'globalization' has become something of a 'Humpty-Dumpty' word ('when I use a word, it means exactly what I want it to mean, neither more nor less'). 'Corporate globalization' describes a process driven and promoted by the large global corporations which, whatever its other consequences, gives primacy to the benefits that will flow to global business.

The critique identifies eight key features of corporate globalization:

1. 'Promotion of hypergrowth and unrestricted exploitation of environmental resources to fuel that growth
2. Privatization and commodification of public services and of remaining aspects of the global and community commons
3. Global cultural and economic homogenization and the intense promotion of consumerism
4. Integration and conversion of national economies, including some that were largely self-reliant, to environmentally and socially harmful export oriented production
5. Corporate deregulation and unrestricted movement of capital across borders
6. Dramatically increased corporate concentration
7. Dismantling of public health, social, and environmental programs already in place
8. Replacement of traditional powers of democratic nation-states and local communities by global corporate bureaucracies.'

It demonstrates each of these propositions and explores who are the beneficiaries of application of these policies. One of the complexities of trying to follow the arguments of the pro- and anti- globalisers is that both use statistics, both from apparently authoritative sources, that directly contradict each other. It is almost as if the two sides inhabit parallel universes that operate in different ways. Suffice it to say that the report puts forward convincing arguments in support of its case.

The critique proceeds to a devastating analysis of the impact of the World Bank, The IMF and the WTO, the three pillars of corporate globalisation, over the last four or five decades.

The report then argues ten principles for sustainable societies, as a basis for identifying ways of realising these principles in the subsequent chapters of the report. It argues that these principles 'seem to be the mirror opposites of the principles that drive the institutions of the corporate global economy.'.

One of the minor problems in the debate is that, whereas 'globalization' rolls easily off the tongue, 'the principle of subsidiarity' is neither easy to say nor obvious in its meaning. The report contains a chapter on the case for subsidiarity, and it is a strong one. The counter argument is almost entirely concerned with power. While there are many elements of conflict between corporate globalisation and the principle of subsidiarity - local control - they are not entirely antithetical. But the reach of the large corporates would unquestionably be reduced.

You may or may not agree with the arguments in this report, but they deserve serious attention. They are well and carefully argued, they represent (in fairly sophisticated terms) the views of a growing number of people around the world who believe that current beliefs and institutions serve them poorly, and they show those who wish to promote change a path for doing so.

This book is excellent for all those who think we can do better-that small farmers needn't be driven from the land, our water needn't be polluted, people need not go hungry while others are overfed genetically engineered chemically altered junk food, etc. It has great thinkers presenting clear, well thought out ideas about what's wrong and what we can do about it. It helps when getting in that classic argument of keynesianism/communism v. neoliberalism because it outlines the thrid alternative very well. I am a grad student and I used it for a paper i wrote recently refuting neoliberalism and it was very helpful. I highly recommend it! Also, look into Maria Mies. She is the anti-capitalist-patriarchy bomb, yo.

A friend of mine who is involved with Rabbi Michael Lerner's Tikkun Community movement recently gave me a copy of Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible. I'm not an expert in this field at all, but I found the book worthwhile and very accessible. (So accessible that I read the entire thing in a week!) The writers include Jerry Mander, David Korten, Lori Wallach, and many people working around the world in the anti-globalization movement.

What makes the book really important is the positive solutions and alternatives offered. The authors offer real ways to put into practice the Tikkun Community's first and second core principles (interdependence and ecological sanity, and a new bottom line in economic and social institutions).

I think other Tikkun readers, progressive-Democrats, Green party members, and thoughtful people everywhere---who want to see the world change from how it is now to how it could be---would want to read a book outlining specifics of how to create sustainable energy, transportation and food systems. And Alternatives to Economic Globalization does just that. I can't recommend this book enough (in fact I've already bought several copies to give to some of my friends).

Benni and Victoria is a story that pulls you in and makes you want to find out what is going to happen next. The main character, Benni, is a foster child who has gone through many hardships. His thoughts and emotions reflect what many other foster children may feel. The story is imaginative and sends the message that each child has something special to offer. -Cynthia Miller Lovell, author of The Star: A story to help young children understand foster care, and Questions & Activities for The Star: A handbook for foster parents

BENNI & VICTORIA: Friends Through Time tells the story that so many abused and neglected children have lived. I was pleasantly surprised by the charm this book held, by my hesitancy to put it down, and by the sensitivity and accuracy with which Patricia Aust wrote of the children's feelings and experiences. I was reminded that children thrive on mystery, magic and intrigue and are much better able to swallow the truth when surrounded by a well-crafted tale. This book can assist children in exploring their thoughts and feelings and further to affirm that a friendship can help soften difficult times. Reviewed in THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, Fall 1997, by Molly Faulkner, RN, LISW, Clinical Social Worker, Programs for Children and Adolescents at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM.

I read this several times and each time found more facets of little Benni, who endures many hardships but emerges a survivor. I read it to my grandchildren and they both -- girl and boy-- enjoyed the story of little Benni and his ghost friend, Victoria. They were delighted with the end. --- Eileen Hehl

This poignant novel is a must read! The author skillfully transports you into this wonderful story of friendship and love, of determination and conviction, and of true spirit. You will laugh and cry along with the characters as they experience life's journey in a way many of you might relate to.

There is a little of Sophie and Tori in all of us. Anyone who reads this book can relate. I totally enjoyed reading this and recommend it to anyone who likes to laugh and cry when reading a good book!

A wonderful book about friendship that touches your heart and soul. Loved It!

I say this because some of the other authors I've read take for granted that readers don't notice obvious plot holes or easy outs that they take. It disappointed me that both of my favorite authors, Bertrice Small(in "Pirates" I never found out who Old Woman was) and Linda Lael Miller(in "The Love Slave", the daughter of the sultan died of an outbreak of spotted fever while visiting her father in his palace, which only received four sentences in the book)did this Most of the time, children of the 19th century died of an incurable illness, like measles. It surprised me that nothing like this happened in the book even with settlers moving into the valley of Jackson Hole. It was realistic that Analisa got a fever probably from one of the families that were passing through, namely the baby that sneezed on her.

This is the first book I've read in a long time that made me feel what both the main characters were feeling.

Yes, Analisa Ludke was extremely naive about the world around her, especially the Scandinavian brothers that moved into the area. Also, she had a hard time getting over and discussing her father's and brother's deaths. Before she met David Terrell she survived the long lonely winters mending clothing and tending to her zoo. It wasn't until she was almost raped by the Olfson brothers that she began to appreciate David Terrell's need to "smother" her with protection.

That's another thing I like about this book. Both the main characters have flaws that are realistic. David thinks he could have done something to prevent his wife, Catherine's, fall from the cliff where she was observing Eagles. He jumps to all sorts of conclusions when Analisa goes to her favorite rock for some fresh air.

I like that, in spite of Analisa being a "19th century woman", she speaks her mind after the walk to the rock. With most of these so called Victorian women, we as readers expect them to be meek and accepting. Analisa is not one of those women. Of course. being on the other side of the world makes a big difference too. People tend to forget their Victorian ways in the West. Along with the sexual tension, I could feel the iron determination when she stood her ground, "I CAN'T live like this! I WON'T live like this!"

I also like that Ms. Chancellor shows where her aviation information came from and the detail she got from the people in Wyoming on the first settlers.

This is a definite must read for time travel fans. I plan to read more of her work in the future.

I love the time travel, books if this could really happen, I would like to travel back to the old West.
But in the story Across the Rainbow, I think David Terrell would do anything out of love, for his little girl Jamie, even fly his plane and find her a mother that its like a faire princess.
I love this book readed it in one day could not put it down.Ms.Chancellor should write more stories like this one, this deserves 5 *****, read it you'll love it.

Victoria Chancellor delivers a thoroughly heartwarming read with OVER THE RAINBOW. I stayed up late to finish it - a sure sign of a winner in my opinion!

This book is not simply an introduction to South American plants and animals. It is a fascinating journey through Mayan culture, with the role these elements played for the ancient Maya. This book is equal parts history, medicine, education, and adventure. I got it for Christmas and couldn't put it down.

(Planeta.com Journal) - One of the best books of the past year, this work combines the details of a scientific field guide with anthropological research. The result is outstanding.

Author Victoria Schlesinger tells the story about the animals and plants most commonly seen in Mundo Maya -- Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. The book provides a synthesis of current research and will delight specialists and travelers alike. Chapters focus on Pine-Oak, Cloud and Tropical Forests, Savannas, Mangroves and Coral Reefs.

The book is well illustrated with line drawings by Juan C. Chab-Medina. This is a beautiful book which would make an excellent holiday gift. I'm trying to think of a book that has piqued my interest as much as Animals and Plants of the Ancient Maya, and I'd have to put this a category with Lane Simonian's Defending the Land of the Jaguar. Excellent!

This is one of those incredibly rare guidebooks that pushes past the confines of the genre and brings something totally fresh to the endeavor. I am not a Maya scholar, but Schlesinger's writing is so evocative that I couldn't help but be totally pulled in by her descriptions of the plants and animals that inhabited the Maya world.

This is the first book in the Norman Trilogy series written by the author and a very good work of historical fiction. It chronicles the the life of William the Conqueror, the bastard son of the Duke of Normandy. Born to the daughter of a tanner, his illegitimacy was to be a sore spot and bone of contention for many years. Designated by his father to succeed him as the Duke of Normandy, the circumstances of his birth would cause him to have to fight usurpers within his duchy in order to retain his title.

After a somewhat unusual courtship, William married Matilda, the fiercely independent and beautiful daughter of the King of Flanders. Together, they had a number of children who were to cause him much anger and much sorrow. One of them would eventually bring about a fissure in his relationship with his beloved Matilda.

William, always ambitious, coveted the throne of England and was supported in his desire to be king by his intelligent and equally ambitious wife Matilda. In 1066, after the death of the King of England, Edward the Confessor, with whom he had had a longstanding friendship, William crossed the channel from Normandy to England. He wrested the English crown from King Harold, Edward's popular Saxon successor. In doing so, he forever changed the course of England and its history.

Vividly written and well researched, the author weaves a spellbinding tale of the Duke who would be King. A tapestry of exciting historical events makes this an enthralling tale that will capture the imagination of the reader. Lovers of historical fiction will especially enjoy this interesting and well written book.

The first in a wonderful series on the History of England. Plaidy makes the life of the first King of England interesting and wets your appetite for more. A must for all history buffs!

Jean Plaidy is an excellent author. She manages to make you fascinated with all the characters in the story--from its hero William the Conqueror, to his worthy adversary Harold Godwinsson. A must-read for a historical fiction buffs.

This is absolutely one of the wildest biographies I have ever read. If it wasn't true it would make great fiction, right up there with the sexy potboilers and confessionals I so love to read. This is the story of Vicki Morgan, longtime mistress to Alfred Bloomingdale, and the loved they shared, a strange and crazy kind of love that would lead to their mutual destruction. Here he was, scion of Bloomingdales Department Store, industrial magnate and member of Ronald Reagan's kitchen cabinet; and here she was a naive but gorgeous small town girl come to the big city.

This book has an epic sweep as Vicki Morgan, in a vain attempt to escape the married Bloomingdale, encounters a series of adventures with some of the world's most wealthy and powerful men. And women. It is not a tale for the faint hearted, but there are strong moral lessons--mainly there is a steep price for the glamour and the money men give for sexual favors.

The story is told from the author's point of view. He spent nine months with Vicki Morgan and was one of the last people to see her alive. The author, Gordon Basichis, gives us intimate insight into the making of a wordly rich girl who knows how to manipulate men for money, only to be trapped in the game she has profited by for so many years. Through the seventies and into the eighties she was getting at least a quarter millon dollars from these different lovers.

It's rare that I find a book so compelling. I love how the story describes the high life of power and money while showing, also, how this glitzy path leads to destruction and, in this case, murder. This was truly one of a kind.

Power, Sex and Money
I was totally caught up in this true tale of a naive and beautiful young woman, trapped in a world where power, sex and money reign. As the mistress to Alfred Bloomingdale, the department store heir and member of the kitchen cabinet, Vicki Morgan lived a life that few can imagine...a wild and ultimately tragic journey that ended in her brutal murder. What I loved about this book was its unwillingness to rely on predictable cliche. The author's insight sheds new light on a very old subject -- sex and power. The writing is personal, intimate, at times humorous and always engaging. If this book were published today, it would be a bestseller

this book was very moving. the story of a mistress, who never can seem to find her way, but found love in a married man. the author got to knew vicki before her murder and this gives us great insight into her thoughts and feelings. i highly recommend this book, a great read from beginning to end.

One of those better historical romance novels that keep the pages turning. It's my first book from Victoria Lynne. I was craving for more but she wrote so few novels.

After the 2 previous reviews, I'm not going to elaborate on this. I just want to say that recently I bought a batch of books which all received glowing 5-stars reviews but this is the only one that lives up to expectation. After so many romances and historicals, I find the plots are hackneyed and overused but it is the writing skills of the writers which make the difference between good and bad, corny or refreshing. Victoria Lynne is a terrific story-teller. It is such pleasure to read this fast-moving, funny and captivating romance.

Read this book and learn about yourself, 'nuff said.