When I was a child I loved Edward Lear's nonsense poetry. I bought this book to read to my children, 3 and 5, but what really attracted me to the book was the stunning illustrations by Nicki Palin. They are outstanding, detailed, even surreal, but in a warm way that brings the verses beautifully to life. My children love them, pointing out all the various characters that are mentioned in the poems. What is particularly nice about this book is the first two poems which I have only seen in this edition and are a perfect introduction to goals of the two authors: "How pleasant to know Mr Lear who has written such volumes of stuff..." and "Child of the unclouded brow and dreaming eyes of wonder..." And I have to admit that of all the books I read my children at bedtime, this is the one I most enjoy.

This childrens' favorite is equally popular with adults. The illustrations are colorful and mesmerize even the youngest. Familiar verses become preferred bedtime rhymes that evoke giggles from both reader and listener.

This is an excellent Atlas of basic and advanced laparoscopic techniques. It combines the knowledge of several experts with easy to follow diagrams to give the reader a good understanding of the various procedures. Highly recommended.

All of Wallant's amazing humanity and talent is evident in this tender, realistic at times harsh account of a superb relationship between two rather ordinary people...a most true to life plumber with an extraordinary sensitivity gives his family a wonderful life.

I've been waiting for this very book for quite some time now. Carroll's photography has never been collected in a full form like many other photographers. Previous books have been light on material and all too heavy on the photographs of young child-friends. This book gives a more even account of Carroll's photography---even going so far as presenting the photographs as he did so in his own albums. Rather than classify his photographs, his albums show a wondrous variety of images---a skeleton of a fish, a landscape, a child-friend, a famous painter, a sculpture, etc.... Though it concentrates on Carroll's one hobby, Roger Taylor's essay is as good as any biography, being a hundred or so pages long. Edward Wakeling contributes insightful captions to each photograph in the Princeton Collection---for all are included! What more could one ask for? Wakeling, one of the leading experts on Carroll with a database of information, even offers his list of all photographs taken by Carroll, a list that will be continually updated. He even gives his email address for those who may have lost photographs.
An indispensable book for the researcher and a delight for the casual photography fan.

The portrayal of our defense industry in this story is unfortunately accurate. We have placed so much emphasis on "smart weapons", that we have forgotten the real effectiveness of our military. The action and pace of this book will keep the reader enthralled and they will not want to put it down.

I've read almost all of Ralph Peters' novels, and this is probably my favorite to date. I passed it over in hardcover--frankly it didn't sound very interesting. I couldn't have been more wrong: it's one of the best written, engrossing novels I've read in a long time. Peters is one of the few military thriller writers that can name drop Thomas Hardy novels and actually make us believe his characters read them. I know what a cliche this sounds, but I couldn' t put it down. Peters has within him his best novel yet--some day he'll write the Once An Eagle of his generation of officers.

After 25 years in the defense industry, watching the Services buy big things they don't need while neglecting small things they do (like enough pay so the troops don't have to be on food stamps), it continues to disturb me that the American taxpayer continues to allow Congress to sell out to what Ike Eisenhower called the "military-industrial complex". TRAITOR could have been a documentary. This is a great novel, thrilling and unpredictable, but it is also based on the real world and all the more gripping because of this.

"The Hunting of the Snark" is a brilliant nonsense-poem. Yet Gardner has seen fit to put pretentious, geeky, ...pedantic annotations all over it. Now I like nonsense, but the vulgarly rational "sense" of some of these annotations irritates me. Do we really need to know that the word "BOMB" begins and ends with B (thereby relating it to the Boojum) and that OM is the Hindu name of God??? Do we really need to know of a political cartoon in which Kruschev says "BOO", and does Gardner have to tell us that he was trying to say Boojum??

Annotations should be done in the manner of Gardner's own annotations of Alice in Wonderland. Now those were annotations that made *sense*. Annotations that simply explained out of date concepts, gave relevant details from Carroll's own life, or obscure humour. That's all! That is what annotations should be like.

The pedantic geekery of these annotations remind me of the...games of Star Trek fanatics (or Sherlock Holmes fanatics).

The poem is brilliant, though; and the illustrations were funny, before the annotations over-analysed them.

Lewis Carroll is brilliant in this piece. First of all the poetical music is perfect, absolutely perfect, and yet the words don't mean much. Many of these words are not even to be found in any dictionary. Be it only for the music, this piece is astonishingly good. But the piece has a meaning. I will not enter the numerical value of the numbers used in the poem : 3, 42, 6, 7, 20, 10, 992, 8, and I am inclined to say etc because some are more or less hidden here and there in the lines. Hunting for these numbers is like hunting for the snark, an illusion. But the general meaning of the poem is a great allegory to social and political life. A society, any society gives itself an aim, a target, a purpose and everyone is running after it without even knowing what it is. What is important in society is not what you are running after or striving for, but only the running and the striving. Lewis Carroll is thus extremely modern in this total lack of illusions about society, social life and politics : just wave a flag of any kind, or anything that can be used as a flag and can be waved, in front of the noses of people and they will run after it or run in the direction it indicates. They love roadsigns and social life is a set of roadsigns telling you where to go. Everyone goes there, except of course the roadsigns themselves who never go in the direction they indicate. Lewis Carroll is thus the first post-modern poet of the twenty-first century. He just lived a little bit too early.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I am a fan of Lewis Carroll, but somehow was unaware of the existence of an edition of "The Hunting of the Snark" with annotations. As someone who tremendously enjoys Martin Gardner's "Annotated Alice," I heartily recommend this book to like-minded readers. Gardner's annotations and introduction set the stage for the reader, putting the composition of the poem in its proper context in Victorian England, and in Lewis Carroll's life. And as with "Annotated Alice" the annotations are fascinating and amusing in their own right. "The Hunting of the Snark" is one of Carroll's lesser-appreciated (or at least lesser-known) works, and this paperback is an excellent introduction.

I noticed some confusion in the Amazon listings for this book, so let me clarify that the edition with Gardner's annotations is the paperback, and for illustrations it contains reproductions of Henry Holiday's original woodcuts from the 1800's. There are only eight pictures, and these are in old-fashioned style which may turn off some modern readers. This edition does not contain the illustrations - listed in the review of the hardcover editions - by Jonathan Dixon, nor the illustrations by Mervyn Peake also listed as available in hardcover from Amazon.

To Snark fans, though, I would unhesitatingly recommend both those editions as well. Dixon's is little-known, but excellent, the most profusely illustrated Snark, with pictures on every page in lush, gorgeously detailed and humorous pen and ink. It may still be available through the website of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, who published it in a small edition. Peake's drawings are also in beautiful black and white, and capture his own rather dark, quirky "Gormenghast" take on the poem. (A good companion, too, to the recently released editions of "Alice" with Peake's drawings.)

Until The End is the second and final instalment of Harold Coyle's Civil War series. As with the first in the series - Look Away - the novel chronicles the lives of the Bannon brothers as they continue to fight on opposite sides of the conflict. Although Until The End is the second instalment of a series it can be read as a stand-alone novel. However, I would encourage you to initially read Look Away.

As with Look Away, Until The End is a splendid read if you're interested in the battles of the Civil War. This novel takes us to the end of the war and includes amongst others, battles scenes from the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, a particularly realistic account of The Bloody Angle, Jubal Early's aborted raid on Washington, the mud of the trenches at Petersburg and the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House. Although there are chapter notes at the end of the book I certainly benefited from a little previous knowledge of these battles. If you're able to get a copy you would find it useful to have The Conservation Fund's 'The Civil War Battlefield Guide' as a reference source

I feel that the author has fine-tuned his skills in writing about this subject matter, as a result Until The End is the better of the two novels. It still has the realism of the War but has lost some of the need to over elaborate on the nature of social relationships that was to be found within Look Away. I enjoyed the focus on the Bannon's personal lives in the shape of Harriet Shields and Mary Beth McPherson and found that Coyle had developed this element of the plot in a more believable manner than the previous novel.

Until The End, as with Look Away, can not be described as high literature, it does not have any hidden agendas and it does not try to convert the reader to any particular Civil War bias. It is, however, fast paced, realistic, gritty and enjoyable. If these are qualities that you enjoy in your Civil War fiction then whether read on it's own or as a conclusion to the story of the Bannon brothers I do recommend this book to you.

Look Away and Until the End were my first 2 Civil War novels. I was not dissappointed. The battles are described in vivid detail. Coyle makes the 1860's come alive with wonderful plot AND character development. The only bad thing that could possibly be said about this book is that it is not "to be continued".

Much better than first novel MUCH, MUCH better. In my review for the first book I noticed I'd accidently reviewed the audio book. I didn't mean to... Benn M. Limburg, NL

"I'll try and do anything and be anything you want if only you'll keep me." This is how "Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery begins.
Anne Shirley is a twelve-year-old girl who is brought to Green Gables only to find they were expecting a boy. The Cuthberts however, are one over by this queer, imaginative girl with bright, red hair and decide to allow her to stay.
Green Gables is a lovely, little farm just outside of a small town on Prince Edward Island called Avonlea. It is surrounded by fields and forests, which hold many surprises for adventurous Anne.
Throughout this book Anne's fierce temper and wild imagination often get the better of her, but she usually manages to squeeze out of these scrapes.
Anne's melodramatic nature and fiery temper keeps you interested as you read this marvelous book.
Montgomery's humorous writing style gives life to the characters so that you feel like you are meeting them in person.
I think that this was a wonderful book filled with humor, drama and tears. I would recommend this book to anyone that has ever had a dream and loves a good book.

first of all, let me begin with I LOVE THIS BOOK! I have read this book more times than I can remember...easily more than a dozen...thus, I am going to set my mind to write a glowing review of it.

This book portrays a stunning sketch of Canadian History and Culture in the late 1800s to early 1900s. The character personalities are so real and so amazingly "human" that one cannot help but fall in love with them. You really get a taste of PEI in its glory.

This story is set in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island (Canada), a fictional settlement which is really Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, the place where Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author grew up.

The main character is Anne Shirley...and eleven year old, enigmatic, imaginative, sparkling, highly intelligent orphan who is sent to Green Gables, a farmhouse in Avonlea, under the impression that she was to be adopted by a pair of elderly siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthburt. But, apon arrival to Green Gables, Anne discovers that there had been a horrible mistake...the Cuthburts never wanted a girl...they wanted a boy who could do the chores and help Matthew with the farm. Anne was was in the "depths of dispair". Matthew, on the drive home from the train station had taken a great shine to Anne and had his heart set on keeping her, regardless of any mistake. Marilla, however, was not so easily enchanted. She agreed to let Anne stay at Green Gables on trial, to see if she would behave herself and lend a helpful hand to Marilla. After the trial, Anne is welcomed to Green Gables and flourishes under the love of the Cuthburts and all Avonlea folk. Anne, however, has one big problem. Her Hair. It is a hopeless shade of carrotty red and Anne felt that it was the ugliest hair anyone could imagine. She was extremely sensitive about it and she was horribly embarrassed about it. On her first day of school, Anne's hair was made fun of by Gilbert Blythe, the smartest and handsomest boy in school. "Carrots! Carrots!" he said. Anne's temper got the better of her and she was so angry she broke a slate over his head. After that, for many years, she snubbed Gilbert every time he spoke to her and he developed a boyhood crush on her.

Ah, but to keep this review interesting and the book mysterious, I will stop telling you the story and begin reviewing. The characters in the book are so well-defined that it seems to you that you know every character personally, like an old friend or neighbour.

And by all means, don't let the age recommendation fool you either...this book can be read by all ages alike...and I have no doubt that this book will still be my avid favorite at the age of 85.

The book is not boring, contrary to many opinions of those who read the first chapter of small print and historical settings. The discriptions will place you right into the heart of the story and you find you will laugh and cry while reading this story. Every time I read it I cry at a certain part which I'm not sure if I should reveal to you for fear of spoiling the good parts in the story, but it is dreadfully sad. If you read the book, then you will know what part I am talking about. The one saddest part in the whole story.

Although this book has some old ideas and ways of expressing them, you will learn a great deal of Canadian history through them and there's no doubt in my mind that this book will still be popular decades and most likely even centuries to come.

Anne of Green Gables is one of my all-time favorite books. Anne is a person almost everyone can relate to in some way or another. Anne is launched into the "depths of despair" as soon as she finds out the horrible truth that the Mathew and Marilla really sent for a boy from the orphanage. Her fiery temper gets the better of her at some of the worst possible times. Such as when she vows that she will never forgive Gilbert Blythe for calling her carrots, as if smashing a slate over his head is not enough. This is a wonderful book that L. M. Montgomery has really shown her skill as a writer and novelist in. I have read the entire Anne of Green Gables Series and am also, like another reader, saving them all for my daughter some day. If you want a book that you can thoroughly enjoy, this is the one, although I have one warning that you may have a hard time putting it down.

Renato's Luck, from the first word to the last visual, is the perfect read for anyone seeking a renewed taste for life. Jeff Shapiro has taken the Italian culture and woven a tale of hope, faith, and new-found happiness throughout his characters. Renato, in particular, becomes the small town hero of a delightful Tuscan town. Every character that Renato encounters shares a unique tale, simple yet so very Italian. Amazing for an American expat living in Tuscany. The visuals in this book are so precise that anyone who has visited Siena, Montalcino, or anywhere in Tuscany for that matter will no doubt be transported back to the tranquility of the Italian countryside. I loved the Italian phrases throughout the book, including their incredible translations! Bravo, Jeff Shapiro. Bravo, indeed. A must read for all!

Having returned from a few months in Italy, I have wanted to stay in touch with all the "life" that Italia offers ... this book is a wonderful way to recapture the experience. The way Shapiro builds his characters and their dilemma, he really wraps the reader into Sant'Angelo. Che bello ... bravo Shapiro!

I highly reccommend Renato's Luck to anyone who enjoys a chraacter driven novel full of interesting yet familiar characters. I found Renato and his fellow Tuscan villagers to have sharp insight into the absurdities and joys present in everyday life. Renato confronts the fears and challenges we all face as we get older and begin to question the choices we have made in life. The answers that Renato finds to these questions point to important truths that are present in our own lives.

Showing how one man endured the worst nightmare during World War II and how it affects him and his mind throughout his life, "The Pawnbroker" is a gripping story about loss, acceptance, family, and sacrifice. It is also a story about "moving on". It's an exceptionally well told story and a fine addition to literature and fictional prose regarding the holocaust and the lives of those that nightmare affected.

This is not a book I would've picked on my own. It was a selection in a local book club. Wallant is able to describe the undescribable...holocaust, horror, longing, as well as the everyday, "...in the hallucinatory foyer before sleep..." Perfect. I'm glad that the book club has introduced me to this powerful novel, and to an author of this caliber.

This heart-wrenching work is a staple of Holocaust literature. It's truly a shame that this monumental novel is not more widely recognized. I count it among my personal favorites.