I absolutely love those plots. It's filled with real intelligence and a lot useful tricks, unlike most other comics. And full of surprises, you never can guess what happens in the next moment. I'm a fan of Modesty Blaise since I was a kid. A must for her fans. I felt the pictures could have been drawn a little better.

This book is about a man who runs away from his father because the father does nothing but yell at him. This book is one of my favorites, even though I gave it a four, because it had a lot of action and it made me want to keep reading. Although I still think that the orignal was one of the better ones that have been written.

The book "Rip Van Winkle" is about a guy named Rip and his father, Dame, who thinks that Rip can never do anything right. Dame is always yelling at Rip. Dame really got mad when Rip sold part of the family property, so he went away for awhile and met some strangers and started to drink quite a lot of beer. You have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Several of these other reviews are for a different version of this story. The one I am reviewing is an "All Aboard Reading" version. It is definitely written for beginning readers (1st-3rd grade)

This version is a good introduction to the classic Washington Irving story. I do not like the way Rip's wife yells at him to get to work or how Rip is only "maybe...a little" sad when we finds out that his wife has died after his long sleep. Neither Rip nor his wife were the most exemplary characters! :-)

Still, that is the way the story was written and can be a good launch into a talk about character.

This idea that foods are "bad" for someone is not supportable with science. ANY food in great levels is "bad." NO food (That one is not allergic to) ia any worse than any other.

This is just a context of a person selling a book with an idea that is not supportable with science to gullable people. (Seems to be a common thing with the nutrition "experts" that all they do is make people afraid of something, then tell them to avoid it.)

I think the "blood type" lifestyle is one that does work. What I can say..... is that I have been "eating right for my type" for three years now; and have maintained my weight and never feel like I am "dieting." While pregnant, I followed this plan about 80% and after I delivered, I followed it 100%. I gained 52lbs. during pregnancy and within 14 weeks, I had lost it all!! I think with any diet, you have to find the one that works best for YOU. My immediate, and most of my extended family, follow this method and it apparently works for all of them, so scientific or not, we are maintaining fabulous results. Who said dieting was an exact science anyway?

Wilkie Collins will be justly remembered as writer responsible for "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White," both written in the 1860s, but after the golden decade he continued to write pretty good books, and his fame was not to suffer very much even though he never gained the zenith of his reputation he gained by these two masterpieces. "Poor Miss Finch" belongs to such post-"The Moonstone" period of the 1870s when he wrote quaint books -- less mystery but more unusual situations. "Poor Miss Finch" is one of them.

The story goes around the heroine Lucilla Finch, who lost sight because of cataract since childhood, and now she leads an independent life in quiet countryside. In her life joins the narrator Madame Prantolungo, and the identical twins (both very handsome) Oscar and Nugent. She falls in love with Oscar, and he in her, but one secret he can never disclose to her greatly troubles him, because by doing so, he might lose her love. In the meantime, Lucilla is given a chance to restore her sight. Then, Collins goes on; What if, with the amazing twists and turns of the story, Lucilla is led to think that Oscar's twin brother Nugent is Oscar himself?

You say it is a very preposterous development (I remembered David Cronenberg film "Dead Ringers" made in 1988), and that has been the general reception of the book since the publication. But the story keeps a good pace, and if you just suspend your disbelief for a while, you may forget the outrageous situation. After all, it was from the pen of master of suspense. But more important thing is behind the surface of text.

Oxford Classics gives very usuful introduction of Catherine Peters, author of acclaimed biography of Wilkie Collins "The King of Inventors," and she places the book in the historical context to explain several aspects of the book. One of the most intriguing is the fact that Collins researched thoroughly medical records of people who regained their sight after long-time blindness since childhood, and their reaction to the newly-given power of seeing. Lucilla experiences many difficulties in identifying objects she sees, and Collins makes good use of those records. Another aspect of the novel which Peters points out is that Collins uses blindness of "Poor Miss Finch" as a means of criticizing rigid Victorian moral codes. As a blind girl, Lucilla is less restrained in observing the strong sense of "respectability." She is made a little willful, obstinate heroine, but it is clearly intentional. With these things in mind, the book might become more entertaining, and inform you something about Vitorians.

As a literary work, "Poor Miss Finch" never achieves the height of "The Moonstone" and "The Woman in White," so I recommend those two books if you haven't read them yet. However, if you are interested in something very unique, you can try this one.

As Peters says in Introduction, intriguing theme of blindness is recorded in Dr. Oliver Sacks's tale "To See and Not See." This tale can be found in his book "Anthropologist on Mars," and partly became the basis of a film "At First Sight" (1999) starring Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino. The film is not a masterpiece, but still gives some insight to the topic.

Lucilla Finch, the protagonist mentioned in the title of this unusual Collins' novel, is not one of his more endearing heroines. Oft times impetuous and fickle, even in her gentlest moments she's impossibly dull, even with the "affliction" of blindness. This is one of the many flaws in this rare Collins novel. The plot is mercilessly silly and wildly implausible. Collin's characters are mostly cardboard- with the exception of the narrator. Collins is not asking for reader's pity in Lucilla's plight for love in the sighted world, but pity for those who are bound to it's narrowed understanding. Not one of Collins' more accomplished works yet in many ways deeply thought provoking.

The true story of Peter Tchaikowsky and Nadejda von Meck has never been told until now.

That the wife of a nobleman, a woman who was beautiful, popular, fabulously wealthy -- the mother of eleven children -- for years lavished her attention and practically devoted her entire waking and dreaming existence to a composer whom she never met is, of course, well known.

But why she did this -- why during the thirteen years of their friendship they book took extreme measures never to meet -- why she permitted Tchaikowsky to marry another woman -- why she later gave him money to get a divorce -- why Tchaikowsky alternated between the heights of exaltation in his friendship and the deoths of self-abasement and despair -- is an enigma that has never been satisfactorily explained until now.

The letters upon which this biography is based were hidden for years in Mme. von Meck's household. At the outbreak of the Revolution in Russia they were seized by the Bolsheviki; the originals are now in the possession of the Soviet Government, which has refused to release them.

But fortunately for the musical world, translations of these letters were made by Barbara von Meck, the granddaughter of Nadejda; and Catherine Drinker Bowen, author of FREE ARTIST, has reconstructed the whole story.

It is a strangely moving story, the recounting of a romance that never came to full fruition, but which found its expression in music which has delighted the world with its tragic beauty and its lilting airs.

If you want to be starved out of your pregnancy by all means read this book. However, I do not agree with the premise of the book. It's fine that certain blood types react to certain things differently but when someone tries to tell me that because I have AB blood, I shouldn't eat anything that's not recommended for both A and B bloodtypes but also that there were severe restrictions on many other things that I shouldn't eat as well. I tried looking in the book for things that I could actually consume without feeling horrible about it, but I didn't find much. Take my advise, if your doctor gives you an idea of what to consume, take it. If not, eat healthy and your baby will be fine.

This has got to be one of the most absurd books I have ever read. Imagine my surprise at discovering that as a pregnant woman with type-A blood that the authors cannot safely recommend that I eat ANY kind of meat! And when I say "no meat" I mean "NO MEAT!" They instruct that if my willpower weakens and I absolutely must consume some kind of meat that it only be chicken or turkey, and that consumption should be limited only to rare occasions. Further, I am not to consume tomatoes, apples, etc. I could go on and on with lists of perfectly healthy foods that are on the no-no list for type-A's. God speed to folks who are able to find any logic in the nonsense that the D'Adamos are pushing, but I remain devoted to my trusty internal bovine feces detector, which has never let me down. Bottom line: Run, don't walk, away from this book, it will only serve to bewilder, scare, and depress you at a time when you are most hyper-sensitive and receptive to suggestions that you are inadequate. Trust your instincts and don't be intimidated.