I bought this book having already read each of the vampire chronicles, as well as several of the "New Tales of the Vampires". It was probably a good thing too, as it's quite possible that if you haven't read all the books, the Companion will give away some very important plot twists.

However, the book is obviously meant as a guide and reference point for people who are already very familiar with Rice's vampires, and not for people who are too lazy to read the books. A mind-bendingly comprehensive "encyclopedia" of everything you could possibly want to know about anything to do with the first 5 vampire chronicles.

This book is made even stronger by the fact that it was written in conjunction with Anne Rice, and as such contains many asides and comments from her on the development of her characters, how she feels about them, and of course, the much-publicised parallels between the child vampire Claudia and her own daughter, who died of leukaemia at the age of 5.

While there are many people who think Rice is extremely long-winded and a trifle strange to boot, those of us who thoroughly enjoy her fantastic novels and seductive characters will wonder how we ever made do without the excellent Vampire Companion.

Being a fan of Anne Rice and having read a couple of her books I wanted to know more about the characters and other details in her novels. This book in question, i.e., The Vampire Companion: The Official Guide to Anne Rice's the Vampire Chronicles By Katherine Ramsland, Anne Vampire Chronicles Rice does fulfill this need. It starts out with a well-developed table of contents; however, it does lack an index which makes searching for a term quite arduous and therefore a bit time consuming. The acknowledgement and the introduction are very well written and are very easy to read. The entries themselves are also well written, e.g., that of the bio on Lestat.

"The Vampire Companion" is a very exhaustive encyclopedia of most of the terms, characters, locations, and events in the Vampire Chronicles series. It only covers the first five books in this series, though ("Interview With the Vampire", "The Vampire Lestat", "The Queen of the Damned", "The Tale of the Body Thief", and "Memnoch the Devil"), which may bother more die hard Vampire fans. Information on the other four books ("The Vampire Armand", "Merrick", "Blood and Gold", and "Blackwood Farm") is obviously missing since they were published after this book.

Just about everything's included in this mammoth 500+-paged book: maps, illustrations and photos, bits of Anne Rice information, a time line, in-depth character biographies, etc. Even the unpublished short story of "Interview With the Vampire" is included, which originated the novel one year later.

If you're an Anne Rice fan--and especially if you enjoyed the Vampire Chronicles--then I highly recommend this official reference guide to her popular vampire series, even though it only covers half the books in the series. (Hopefully, there will be another revised edition published soon.) But for what it does cover, "The Vampire Companion" is very thorough and worthwhile to Vampire fans. This is certainly a book worth owning, since it answers just about every question you've ever had about this series and then some.

Also recommended: Katherine Ramsland's "The Witches' Companion."

I just got this book, looked it over and am really excited about it. Very unique recipes that I haven't seen anywhere. However, I was discouraged in one recipe, "Brown Rice Risotto," because it tells you to "dissolve yeast," but there's no yeast listed in the list of ingredients. I'm assuming I found the only recipe with a problem. All in all, I can't wait to make the recipes!

This book has an expansive overview of different grains, their history, some familiar and some less known. Many may not be part of some peoples regular diet, yet this book inspires one to try them and provides good recipes in which to experiment and have fun. Bumgarner makes a great case to expand a readers menus in order to live a more healthy life with natural foods. She shows that solid research and lots of love went into the production of this book. Baking recipes may be difficult for wheat sensitive people.

I have used this book over and over again.It has wonderful bread recipes,such as a malt one with raisins.The side dishes and salads are VERY easy to prepare,and none of the recipes require an umpteen number of ingredients!!Most of them take very little time to prepare,also.If you are into adding mroe grains to your diet,or expanding your repetoire of recipes,this is a great book.

I feel this book can be a bit scary to children. My 4 year old was frightened after reading this book because he learned germs were everywhere that he felt used to be safe, his school and home. True, germs are everywhere and we do need to teach children to wash their hands, but I don't think it's necessary to get into detailled descriptions of germs that cause headaches, earaches, fevers and throwing up, and that even after washing their hands, the germs will come back. Children need to know about handwashing and germs but they also need to feel a sense of security and well being in school in order for it to be a positive experience.

Although I have to add to it, my kids really love this book! I had to discuss what invisible meant (that big ten foot bunny in the corner!), and give a visible demonstration afterward (paint or glitter in my hand that I "sneeze" into, and then offer to shake hands and touch other things in the room. We talk about sneezing into your elbow and tissues to keep us safe from germs. We use funny voices for the different germs to make it more "kid friendly." My kids have it almost memorized, and beg for it to be read. Really helps explain germs, even to my 2 yr. olds, without being too "boring" to my 5 yr. olds. Hope that helps!

I first heard this story from my daughter's preschool teacher, and it stuck with ME so much that I had to get it when I got my own preschool class. It does a super job of making germs real and to be avoided. My preschoolers ask me to listen to the germs screaming as they go down the drain. They remember this story for a long time! Super investment to your library!

This book is good and bad. The reason is these writers write an essay based on Anne's books. It might be interesting to the reader or not. But the main problem is that in some essays, the essays is not really talking about the books but a particular subject. If you are want to read a book that has an in-depth look at the books, this book is not it. I did buy it for the history of Making of Interview with the Vampire. And two short stories Anne wrote. So try it out a little. Read a little and if it sparks your interest then buy it otherwise wait for it to come to the library

I think that this is an excellent book - I enjoyed it tremendously. An employee at the Garden District Book Shop in New Orleans recommended reading this book before I read Violin, and she was correct - I understood Violin much better. I think that this is a must read for any and all Anne Rice fans. And if you are not a fan, there is a good chance you will be after you have read this book. Wonderful!

The books takes yoiu back in time and we see the history behind Lestat. What makes him tick. It shows us his compasionate side as well as his cruel and devilish personality that we have all grown to love.

The stroy behind Lestat and why he is the way he is. his grim view of the world and the tender side of him rarely seen. In The Vampire Lestat we enter his world, his mind set, his past. What makes Lestat, "Lestat".

I found this book to be helpful in facilitating class discussions, which in turn led to a greater understanding of the films we discussed.

Is this really the end of the Mayfair?, I hope not, I read this book in one day I couldn't put it down, but I was expecting something more scaring. When Ash and Morrigan find each other, is like a love story. Anne Rice, please write more about the Mayfair!.

This is a good book that lets you find out more about Rice. A good collection of articles about Rice and interviews. Reviews of her books. Some good info. A good book for the casual Rice fan

Este libro revive la narrativa de Anne Rice, que por un momento parecia perdida en su anterior "La vampiro Pandora". Aunque en la primera parte del libro la historia es un poco lenta, cuando se adentre un poco mas, será díficil que logre dejar de leerlo.
Esta vez se trata de la historia de un personaje mas trascendente en la saga de las crónicas vampíricas, de el cual se han presentado muchas incognitas y misterios a lo largo de la serie. Aunado a esto, en este libro se responden las dos interrogantes que quedaron abiertas en "Memnoch el demonio" y "Pandora" (Si ha usted leido estos ultimos libros, sabra a que preguntas me refiero). Si no ha tenido la oportunidad de leer la serie completa, le recomendaría que lo haga antes de leer "Armand", de caso contrario, este libro podría causar que la lectura posterior de la saga no le parezca lo suficientemente buena. Es indispensable que haya leido "Memnoch el demonio" antes de leer "Armand".
No espere la emocion encontrada en "Lestat el Vampiro", pero espere una buena lectura que lo mantendra al filo de su asiento por algun tiempo!

Admittedly, Kafka is not an easy read. The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony are the two parts of this book I am most familiar with, and I definitely recommend them to interested readers. Both are strangely imaginative stories, sometimes lacking in action, but more than making up for it in depth. I think Kafka's stories are riveting due to the psychological tension he creates, especially in 'Penal Colony'. That particular short story is also an operetta, which I recently saw. To see it acted out is a uniquely disturbing experience. Read on, but brace yourselves.

This is a splendid initiation into the warped imagination of Franz Kafka. In one swoop the reader gets the infamous Freudian "Metamorphosis" as well as some of Kafka's other macabre short stories.

Perhaps the best of these is "In the Penal Colony." It reads like Michel Foucault's "Discipline And Punish" on acid. It is almost like a satire on what Hegel liked to refer to as the "slaughterhouse of history." The story is at once terrifying and grotesquely comical.

The rest of the stories are typical Kafka; perverse but fascinating. For those who have a morose fascination with ghastly world of this author's literary fantasy, this is an exceptional book to begin with.

Said plainly, Kafka was one bizarre man. His Contemplation is not much more than various mental wanderings, but The Metamorphosis and In the Penal Colony make for wonderful short stories. Curl up and read THIS on your dark and stormy night! These are really delicious stories.

I've looked into other translations, and I wasn't pleased ... this one seems far superior. Joachim Neugroschel goes for the most basic, uncluttered, uncomplicated way of interpreting Kafka. One would think that this would make the text thin and anemic, but it really makes all the greater impact: "One morning, upon awakening from agitated dreams, Gregor Samsa found himself, in his bed, transformed into a monstrous vermin." Other translations seem to wander, and find larger, more complicated ways of saying "agitated dreams" or "monstrous vermin." Even though I wish I knew German, I find this English translation of a very high quality.