Cluny Brown carries the kind of satisfaction of reading a good book on a warm bed when it's cold outside. It isn't particularly challenging, and you have a decent idea what's going to happen at the end, but it does bring so much pleasure to indulge in.

I read it first as an awkward preteen, and still enjoyed it as an (I hope) less awkward adult.

This is one of my favourite novels proving the heroine, Cluny ( short for Clover ) Brown a wonderful example of a woman who has empowerment in her distinctive voice and her outgoing nature. Cluny is a plumber's neice who yearns to be a society woman...how this intelligent, fiesty young woman discovers her ideal miraculously exemplifies wonderful women's literature. Also, the relationship between Adam Belinski and Cluny is worth noting. A charming, competitive romance, with a hint of rivalry and contempt. A must read for a very strong role model.

Ages ago, I heard of an English movie, Cluny Brown, with, I think, Jean Simmons and Charles Boyer. (Made during the early '40s?) But when I finally tracked down the novel from which it was taken, all I could think of was the young Audrey Hepburn, the Hepburn of Sabrina. (Not the pallid Jennifer Love Hewitt of the recent tv-bio, but the real Audrey, as we all knew her.) Cluny Brown is a young working class woman in 1938 London who is becoming a trial to her plumber uncle, Arn (he and his late wife raised her when she was orphaned as a baby). Cluny, described as tall and plain, but with creamy skin and beautiful dark eyes, is beginning to attract too much attention from men---to Uncle Arn's surprise and dismay, because he (and the rest of the family) considers her extremely unattractive. She's sent into service, in the Devon countryside, at Carmel Friars, a lovely country manor. There she meets an assortment of characters, including a priggish chemist (drugstore owner) who fancies her, a Polish emigre writer, who doesn't seem to fancy her at all, the son and heir, who's involved with a blonde English beauty, an enthusiastic double-barreled young woman, Miss Duff-Gordon, who raises rabbits, and on and on. Cluny chafes at the lack of freedom and becomes part of everyone's life, popping up at key moments to comment on the action and providing a good deal of it herself. A charming look at England before WWII and at a refreshing character reminiscent of two Hepburn movie heroines, Sabrina as well as Holly Golightly. We all knew that Cluny (real name, Clover) was a diamond-in-the-rough, and was destined to become "someone." Lovely book.

So much in reading Ibsen depends upon the translation of these great works. These four plays of Ibsen's so-called "realistic period" revolve around social issues of his day which plague us 100 years later. Do we ever learn from such literary wake-up calls? Although the dramatic tensions here, which could have easily have been 20th Century tensions, rumble through these plays, the translations here are wordy and dated, thus making the plays sound overly melodramatic and at times downright silly. Still, everyone should read -- and discuss -- Ibsen's plays for their uneasy questions regarding universal social problems: money, privacy, freedom to act, government corruption, unchecked journalism, and the moral and physical diseases which only seem to wear a new face each year.

Henrik Ibsen's creation of "modern theater" makes him one of the most influential playwrights, along with William Shakespeare and Samuel Beckett, in the history of drama. This unique collection of the four plays he wrote between 1879 and 1884 provides teachers of drama/literature with an opportunity to look at a major writer trying to develop his craft. Ibsen is concerned with social criticism and each of these plays reflects his change in perspective as he tries to write a drama that will be both socially relevant and commercially successful. You have to remember the time and place that considered it shocking for Nora to leave her husband or for Mrs. Alving to consider euthenasia for her son. By turning to "comedy" (of a sort) in "An Enemy of the People," Ibsen found a way of making his point in a manner more acceptable to his audiences. By looking at not only the plays but how each was received by the public, teachers/students can better appreciate what Ibsen was trying to do with each successive play.

For all four of these plays the notion of responsibility is primary. In "A Doll's House" Nora Helmer decides to leave her husband because he is unworthy of her love. In "Ghosts," Mrs. Alving has to decide whether she should give her diseased son poison as a mercy killing. In "An Enemy of the People," Dr. Stockmann decides to stay and fight to have the infected baths repaired even after the town ostracizes him. Finally, in "The Wild Duck" the idealist Gregers Werle comes home and destroys a family by insisting the truth be told. A classroom set of this particular volume is relatively inexpensive and provides an excellent case study of the growth of a major writer. Students do not often get the opportunity to read several works by the same writer. Shakespeare is the exception to this rule, but usually students are exposed to different types of plays (comedy, tragedy, history) rather than to a series of consecutively written plays.

henrik ibsen has perfected the realist movement in theatre. he has accomplished what so few have: to maintain the realistic effect, without succumbing to the tediousness of every day life. his plays ring true for the common man, yet not in a pedestrian manner that becomes boring. in my opinion, he far surpasses any other playwright in the realist movement, including chekhov.

A friend recommended this book, The Senior's Guide to Easy Computing, for my 80 year old mother who loves computers. I reviewed it and found it to be the perfect Christmas gift for her. It is very easy to read and it includes all of the basic techno jargon that she needs to remember when using her computer. It's a definite buy!

By the way, I also learned one or two things from reading it... and I consider myself computer literate!

Rebecca Colmer's The Senior's Guide To Easy Computing is specifically written for readers over the age of 50 who are uncomfortable and inexperienced with computers, intimatiated by computer techno-babble, and lack the confidence and skills necessary to take advantage of what their computer can offer them by way of information, entertainment, and life enriching resources. Colmer begins with the very basic information of what a personal computer is, what software is, modems, booting up, what the Internet and the Web are, what a browser is, how email works, attaching a file to email, and gives the reader clear, concise, practical answers to hundreds of other computer related questions. The Senior's Guide To Easy Computing is further enhanced for the older reader with a large print text for easier reading. The Senior's Guide To Easy Computing is quite emphatically the best and most "reader friendly" how-to introduction and guide to operating a computer for seniors published to date.

I really was hesitant to get a computer because I was afraid I could not learn to use it. This book really helped me get started and over the fear hurdle.

I am a Foreign Language Major in California. I bought this book awhile ago, and even though my Latin studies defer me from studying Cherokee, I've retained most of what I've learned, which is good for me because there are no Classses to avail in California. The language is not an easy one, but you dont even notice it's difficulty, due to the Comprehensive structure. I feel it is greatest for available for Beginners. The only problem is a lack of more entertaining exercises, which do allow for a better retension. it is to a form, as is the form of learning a Classical Language (i.e. Latin). Audio Cassettes to accompany are also available.

This is the best primer on both spoken and written Cherokee. There have been other attempts to write language instruction in Cherokee; all the others that I have seen are too complex...attempting to teach too much, too fast.
Cherokee is so unlike English, in terms of grammar and syntax, that learning the language is difficult; however, the difficulty is minimized by starting slowly and building vocabulary first. The optional accompanying cassettes should be a big help.
One caveat: this book teaches the dialect common in Oklahoma. Eastern Cherokee is slightly different, but if you learn the western dialect, folks in North Carolina will be able to understand you.

I began learning Cherokee with this book over a decade ago. Growing up in Illinois, I didn't have a Cherokee community around that I could learn from. Over the years this book has became absolutely invaluable to me. I have read almost all the Cherokee language books written, and this is definitely one of the best. When I finally did get to Oklahoma to work on my Master's, I was actually able to talk to Cherokees in Cherokee largely through the rules of grammar, sentence structure, etc. that this book taught me. I also learned the syllabary through this book. Well worth a look.

Although I hadn't knitted much of anything for many years, I found Jo Sharp's book easy to use. She has rated each pattern as to difficulty so that I wouldn't choose one which would frustrate me due to my lack of experience. Her styles are attractive and do not look dated even in 2001.

I just completed "Jessica" for my daughter-in-law and she absolutely loves her sweater. Now my son wants a sweater as well. The best compliment for me is that people say that the sweater looks professionally made, not like many other homemade items which have the "fireside touch" (you know, nice, but who would really want to be seen wearing them?)!

One drawback is that only Jo Sharp yarns are used. By using the weight and the yardage, any yarn store can help you select comparable yarns. But I would be reluctant to do that. Her soft New Zealand wool is far superior to US wool. Acrylics might be a suitable substitute, but they tend to pill up more readily.

You get what you pay for.

Jo Sharp's Knitted Sweater Style may be just what some knitters want -- three dozen quality patterns. Most are multi-color intarsia efforts (Sharp's signature) for advanced knitters. There are several single color efforts suitable for advanced beginners and up.

My reservations about buying this book are threefold. First, I tend to shy away from expensive books that are just patterns. Unlike Meg Swansen's Knitting, this book doesn't have much in the way of technique tips or other timeless hints that I can use in my general knitting. Secondly, published in 1997, the designs are already looking a little dated. Third, there are better books out there for inspiration on colorwork. Kaffe Fassett's books are much more likely to provoke artistry. Sally Melville's Styles is a much more helpful guide for color combining and stash reduction.

So, a book to enjoy and buy if the designs really catch your fancy.

Jo Sharp appeared on the American scene with her incredible collections of new, inventive, beautiful designs and a wonderful line of knitting yarns. In this book, she can take a conservative style and through stitch-work make it quite lively and appealing, as well as an adventure to make. Other sweaters are bold intarsia, quite striking and unusual. Nothing is too difficult, and her wool is perfect for her designs -- a luxurious and durable wool in an ever growing number of colors. Knitted Sweater Style is her first hardbound book, combining many of her sweaters previously available as leaflets. Her newest book, Knitting Bazaar, is even more stunning -- her style, already creative, blossoms in the new book. Both would be an excellent addition to any knitter's library.

Research geneticist David Brooks envisions a whole new world with the progress being made in cloning. Like his colleagues he sees possibilities with organ regeneration, but unlike most of his peers fearing harvesting of humans, David pictures re-creations of Einstein or better yet his twin Daryl, abducted two decades ago ant not seen since. Thus, David hides his recent advancements even with big brother watching him.

However, once successful, practical questions arise as to what to do with Daryl and philosophical-religious issues are brought up as to whether the cloned individual is human or even contains a soul. If not, what will fill the conscience of a vacuous corpse that looks human? David will learn the answer as the spirit world hates a vacuum and something deadly has filled that void. Feeling responsible, David must stop the murders of the innocent.

Readers of cutting edge suspense medical thrillers will appreciate PSYCLONE, a fast-paced cautionary tale that modernizes Shelly's Frankenstein (the book, not the movies). Though doubtful that David could achieve so much so fast in secret with only one colleague somewhat involved and a team watching every step, readers will understand his obsessive needs. Still the key to this sharp story is the ethical questions that are raised that demand society open the debate now and not allow one person (political, religious, or scientific) to determine morality paths.

Harriet Klausner

Roger Sharp's story Psyclone brings up questions worth examining. Our capabilities have advanced to where the idea of cloning isn't far fetched as it was years ago. We wonder, would a clone have a soul? If not, would it be open for possession by other spirits? Sharp weaved his suspenseful and exciting story around this chilling topic keeping readers turning pages and shuddering over the terrifying real possibilities.

The novel, written in third person, begins with David Brooks, who is a successful scientist and knows it's against the law to clone a human. That is too bad, he thinks, because it wouldn't be difficult. In fact he knew it would work. It did with the secret mouse. The little guy turned out better than perfect. Dr. Brooks still missed his identical ten-year-old twin brother, as did his mother. Wouldn't she be thrilled if David brought Darryl back?

With his co-workers away on business, David begins to work hard and fast at his experiment. After success, he feels something similar to parental love for his naive clone. His asexual creation looked just like him, and of course Darryl his twin. It was difficult to leave Darryl alone, but he couldn't stay with his rapidly growing creation. His wife, Gayla, already was angry about the long hours he spent at the lab. She'd never agree or understand his staying overnight there.

Darryl seemed vulnerable, and existed because of him. David found he loved Darryl as a newborn son; one that had the body of an adult man, but the mind of a child. He didn't like leaving day after day. Darryl was more vulnerable than David realized. A terrifying presence visited as soon as David walked out the door. No matter what he did it was with him. The innocent clone wondered where that man went who took care of him. Darryl cried and wailed waiting for David to come to his aide before he passed out from exhaustion and dehydration.

Upon his arrival, David noticed that one of his co-workers, Trevor, was back. I sure hope Darryl stays quiet so Trevor doesn't find out about him, David thought to himself. His pace accelerated into a sprint until he saw Darryl hunched over Trevor's body.

"Oh, God, No! What have you done, Darryl?"
Thus the unthinkable begins and nothing is ever the same for David, Darryl, Gayla, or multitudes.

The author, Roger Sharp, Jr. works as a System Administrator for the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations. He is currently working on two other novels, one of which is the sequel to Psyclone.

Roger Sharp's style flows smoothly making reading easy. He created characters to care about and placed them in a too real situation providing an eerie ride.

I found Sharp's topic interesting and his style of writing entertaining. He raised an issue I'm now more concerned about than ever. It certainly is a matter of time before science clones a human, whether legally or not. This story will appeal to those intrigued or concerned about cloning. It's also for those who like horror, suspense, and delving into real life possibilities.

A taut, fast paced, character driven thriller. Psyclone is the type of story that makes you sit up nights wondering about the scientists in the world. Do we really know what they are up to in their labs? Do we really understand the complicated ramifications of the tests they might be performing, whether authorized or unauthorized?

A body farm of adult sized human clones. A perfect storage place for human organs. A way to heal and save the lives of living humans. The idea has merit and Dr. David Brooks dedicates his life to the task.

When he achieves success, a new question is laid on the table. At what costs? The clone, Darryl is more human than Dr. Brooks could ever have imagined. Since his research was a private, personal and not authorized, he has to figure out what to do now with his clone. He can't leave him in the lab. He can't take him home...

And what if a clone can learn at an accelerated rate. What if that clone comes to learn what he is? Once the can of worms is opened, Dr. Brooks finds himself in a waking nightmare.

Like a tropical storm, a raging cyclone, Roger Sharp has written a Michael Crichton style thriller, full of haunting possibilities. Sharp has a clean, easy writing style. He knows how to build and carry out suspense filled scenes-a splendid debut novel. I look forward to more.
--Phillip Tomasso III, author of Third Ring, Tenth House & Mind Play

I give great credit to Lynn Paine for framing the importance to organizations on making "social/ethical" issues a top priority. I loved the first chapter. However, she stays at a high level. When it comes time to provide action steps for companies to act ethically and develop and manage an ethical culture, she falls short by only providing a few questions relevant to executives by which, if ask and answered honestly, would provide a leader a "moral compass."

As we have seen in the press, it is not always the senior executives who perform ethical misconduct. Quite often it is the managers and employees of an organization that make unethical decisions that put the organization in harms way. So my disappoitment is in that she did not provide practical (and I stress practical) strategies, processes and tools for an organization to provide its workforce to adress the dozens of potentiallly unethical situations managers and employees face everyday that provide the same risk, if not more, than a few bad decisions by executives. The questions that she provides for executives are not practical for managers. I doubt a manager at a manufacturing plant will take the time to "reflect" on the thought-proviking questions provided by her to help make good decisions. She offers several examples of companies that she considers are making progress, but these steps are still at a very high level.

I offer an insight. There is a reason why the books "Execution" by Larry Bossidy and "Good to Great" are best sellers. Executives are asking for more actionable and practical guidelines to execute strategies in companies that already have established processes and cultures.

It is obvious that Lynn Paine has great insight and vast experience. I would like to have seen actual steps (i.e., training, communications, proceses, standards) by which a current organization, with an established culture, can leverage to shape their culture to fit this new ethical standard.

I hope she writes a "how to." I will be the first to buy it.

In this book Lynn Paine does an excellent job of unravelling and clarifying the complicated issues surrounding business ethics. She convincingly argues that a new definition of business success is emerging, one which includes financial performance but also embraces wider considerations.

A lot of current writing on the topic of corporate social responsibility is based on the vaguely defined concept that "ethics pays". Paine agrees that there are many tangible benefits for companies embracing wider responsibilities, but shows that ultimately an "ethics counts" approach has more to offer. She backs up her perspective with business examples from around the world, and with illuminating philosophical and legal analysis.

I strongly reccommend this book for anyone interested in the future of business.

There is an emerging standard of corporate performance that encompasses moral and financial dimensions.

Lynn Sharp Paine, a lawyer and professor at the Harvard Business School, argues companies are being rated as if they were human beings; they are being asked to provide more than profits to their shareholders. The market demands that corporations respect their employees, be reliable to their customers and communities and be transparent with their investors.

The author argues "ethics counts" provides corporations with value-added in the truth, loyalty, gratitude and reciprocal respect it engender among its stakeholders. The new bottom line: a corporation's success comes down to the quality of its decision making. Moral scrutiny is becoming as important as financial performance in stakeholders' evaluations.

When they burned down the library at Alexandria, The excuse was if it is in the Koran than we already have it; if it is not, then we do not need it. What was true for them is true for us; if it is not in this book, then we do not need it. Or as Ed McMahon would say on the Johnny Carson Show "everything there is to know is in this book"

I will not give you a blow by blow description of all the features in this book, as it would weigh as much as the book. Let's say it covers everything you need to get off the ground or expand your existing knowledge. One usually overlooked feature that is well covered is [Connecting Using ODBC (with Microsoft Access)]. What I really want to do is tie this back to my Unix applications, as this is the only program I use that is not UNIX at this time. My best guess is that AutoCAD can not afford to keep their UNIX experts. That is no excuse for lack of information in this book. So five stars for coverage of almost everything and minus one for lack of UNIX information.

The book itself is an amazing tool to have at ones side while learning this complex program. However, I see I'm not the only one who had problems with the CD. Most unfortunate as the files that do work are an excellent match with the scripted tutorials.

I have found the book to be an excellent source of information. The only problem I have found is that the CD that comes with the book locks my computer when autorun is turned on, and will not let me access the CD.

All is not fair in love and war. Lines are not clean and easy to deliniate. Join Hammer's eclectic survey team on a mission to solicit business for the most lethal and successful mercenery force in the galaxy.

David Drake's work is more subtle than a first reading would suggest. If you were to read just one Hammer story, or one Belisarius, you might think he was rubbing your nose in the blood and gore like so many of today's movies do, just to get a gut reaction and celebrate the carnage. However if you read the books a second, and a third time, and reflect on some of our recent history, you begin to understand that while the characters entertain the background of blood and gore reflects the brutal reality of human conflict the characters must act in, and survive. War is ugly. The characters that evolve and survive are forever affected by this ugliness. A tremendous amount of history is created in conflict. We are a product of that history and that brutality - David Drake wants to make sure we remember that and that we don't forget the human nature of the people who undertake the most brutal of human occupations. I would recommend his books to anyone who wants to serve their country, or who wants to be responsible for sending sons and daughters to war. There is a rough side to that business, and David Drake does an excellent job of reminding us of the ugly, the profound - and most of all the human sides of war. And,
it's a rollicking good read!

I loved it, it my favorite from the series! I've been waiting to find out more about the egnimatic Major Joachim Steubben for ages. This book is also the only one (so far I think) in this series that is only 1 book, as the others are a collection of stories.

This is the second best Fiat repair manual that I have come across. So far, I have read four of them and would rate them in this order:

1. Fiat Official Factory Repair manual for Spider 124.
2. Haynes
3. Autopress Ltd
4. Clymer

I consider the official factory repair manual as the bible for these cars. It offers detailed diagrams, and step by step instruction for practically every nut and bolt on the car. Some companies offer a reprint of this. The negative is the high-cost. Typically, a reprint of this manual (if available) [is very expensive]

Haynes is the manual that I used to take my Fiat apart. It was certainly a good manual with explicit instructions, and good digrams. I did notice on a few occaisions, that some of the information was incorrect. Also, Haynes does not offer a Pinninfarina version for those looking specifically for 1983-1985 specific repairs.

Your local library will likely have a copy of the Haynes manual should you care to review the book in person prior to purchase.

Good luck!

it's a great manual guide to re-build your own fiat 128 coupe ...

This is my first auto's book i've ever read..so i suggest who owns or love this car should have one.. for their refferences...
Bravo..