List price: $14.95 (that's 30% off!)
In "The Innocent Mrs. Duff", Mr. Duff has become bored with his young wife, Reggie, twenty years his junior. He imagines how wonderful his life would be again if his first wife had not died. While fantasizing about ridding himself of Reggie and perhaps starting a life with his son's nanny, Miss Castle, the uppercrust Duff entangles himself with his street smart driver, Nolan and embarks on an interlude that jeopardizes everything he holds dear.
The author allows the reader of both these novellas to really get into the day-to-day nitty-gritty that actually makes people people. Through dialogue and musings, we see the inner workings Lucia and Duff well enough understand their predicaments and shake our heads over the turn of events.
The Blank Wall was made into a movie "The Deep End"; the circumstances revolving around the blackmailing motif in the movie have been slightly modernized, but the emotions of the two main characters are superbly transferred to the screen.
Thoroughly and strongly recommended to all those who love classic suspence.
List price: $20.00 (that's 20% off!)
A wonderful resource if you like weekend getaways, beautiful farms, and, of course, sipping wine! Indispensable for budding regional wine connoisseurs and casual travelers alike.
I have enjoyed living in this area much more after using Frater's book to plan weekend trips. Her book was invaluable when family came to visit recently.
It's a favorite of my childhood, and my kids today love it, too.
Too bad it's been allowed to slip out of print.
List price: $14.00 (that's 20% off!)
This story is about Isabel's struggle to find her adult path in her remaining family, which includes her maybe/maybe not so stable sister, her loving father, and her husband and the baggage between them. It is excellently written and you can easily visualize Izzy's childhood adoration of her mother, as well as feel her adult contempt at being abandoned by her.
It is a short book, plan on spending about four to six hours where you can shut off the phone and enter this world. You'll get a great return on your investment.
An unusual feature of this cookbook is that it explains the principles that give cuisines of different areas their distinctive flavors. The idea is that you can categorize cuisines in terms of (1) their primary ingredients, (2) the cooking techniques that are used, and (3) the types and combinations of flavorings that are added. (Somewhere along the line the author must have studied structural anthropology.) A later section of the book talks about how to combine these elements creatively.
One thing about this cookbook that must be mentioned is that the recipes work. I can't recall ever making something from this book that didn't turn out. The directions are very clear.
There's a lot of great stuff in here; I'll mention just a few stand-outs:
- mu shu whatever
- ful gobi (cauliflower curry)
- Provencal bean and sausage soup
- vegetables Provencal au gratin
- Spanish codfish soup
- Italian meatballs
It shows that our species is in the midst of choosing to fulfill it's potential or by default, self-destruct. It clearly shows that our choices that we are making now are decisive. It also makes clear that we already have and know everything we need to not only survive and prosper, but to facilitate the same for all of our fellow creatures and earth itself. Our time is running out and, as this book shows, the world will go on perfectly well without us. We are a new "big-brain" experiment in the dance of life...one that is blessed/cursed with having to choose our destiny.
Contact life@igc.org for ordering info.
Excellent book written in user-friendly language that shows how we can better model our social systems after natural systems; which has had billions of years to work out the kinks. Highly recommended.