This was one of my favorite books to read under the covers. It has 2 very important qualities that girls love...horses and mystery. One of the best independent characters available after they starting making female heroine (too) feminine.

This audiobook covers the principles of management. It also includes a storyline and is very witty. I was somewhat sceptical prior to listening, but I am satisfied. I have used it once and know I will listen to it many more times in the future. If you want to improve your management techniques in a new way without getting bored, then you need to get this audiobook. It gets very boring listening to the same ol same old management books with no humor. I hope too see more audio books produced like this to keep it fresh.
Good Luck and never stop learning.

An interesting book describing the innkeepers in Yosemite Valley's history. The battles occuring between the Curry Company and rival concession companies along with the battles between the U.S. Government and the Curry Company are described in detail. The author's perspective is first hand and very fascinating. Events are documented by the author. There are numerous photographs included in this book dating back to the early days of the Curry Company. I found this book not only interesting but well documented especially through its photographs. In reading this book one can learn alot about Yosemite's history and it's current status. I hope you enjoy your travel back in time as much as my family and I have. You might also enjoy reading "The Big Oak Flat Road" by Margaret Schlichtmann which covers the road from Stockton, CA to Yosemite.

This book is a delight -- it is a great book for emergent readers, but it is more fun to read out loud. Zack's alligator has attitude -- and the giggles from my daughter made it a book we had to add to her personal library.

The heartwarming book, Little Women, has won its readers love and support. The generalized assessment shows fondness to the realistic viewpoint of the lives of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy and descriptive details that transport the reader into the beloved fairy tale. The plot of the story centers upon the girls' lives as they grow up during the Civil War. Each of the girls is extremely distinct in their character, taste, and dreams for their future. The positive role model and personal advisor to all of the girls is Mrs. March. I feel that she advised all of her daughter in making good decisions, except for when she agreed with Jo that Laurie was not a suitable match. The change the girls undergo as they get older is completely intriguing as each has special qualities and drawbacks to their character. The realistic aspects of the tale is one of my favorite characteristics of Louisa May Alcott's writing style. The detailed descriptions sent picturesque scenes through my mind. The variety of emotions throughout the duration of the book takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride.

The first time I read Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, I fell in love with the story. Little Women is the story of four girls that were coming of age during the civil war. Each of the girls, all sisters, has different personality traits and characteristics that are developed throughout the book. Meg, the oldest, is the sensible sister, while Jo is hot-headed and independent. Beth is musical and Amy, the youngest, is the more material of the four. The girls grew up in a very close family and strived to support each other in their dreams. But Jo, the second-born, has a difficult time seeing all of them growing up and leaving home. She wants things to remain the same, always. Change is inevitable, however, and throughout the book, the girls' love for each other is strong, as they face different challenges and joys of growing up. They keep their strong sense of family... I thoroughly enjoyed reading Little Women. It has been awhile since I was able to sit down and read a book I so love. Louisa May Alcott's character, Meg, did not hold much interest for me... Amy, the baby of the family, was too materialistic for my taste. The character I related to the most was Jo. I do not know if it is because I am like her, or if it was her spunk that I really liked. I loved to see the blossoming love Laurie had for Jo... I think that Louisa May Alcott did a wonderful job in writing Little Women. I could relate to the book and with how the four sisters were at home with their mother and their father was off doing military things. I grew up with a father in the Navy and he was gone a lot. My mom, brother and I had to take care of things while he was gone. Life goes on even if the whole family is not together.
I fell in love with the Little Women at a young age and I hope to read this book to my children as they get older... This is a great book for teaching these things to children.

Little Women focuses on the four March girls; Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, as they grow up from childhood to adulthood. The characters in the book try to teach each other helpful lessons about life, virtue, and morality. The novel is a real eye opener for everyone. Each of the mistakes the girls in the novel make are intended to provide some guidance for the reader. Society is explained, the harsh winters are described, and the profound work ethic of the people is described to also give the reader a strong sense of what life was like during the nineteenth century. I can strongly relate to all the character's feelings which are strongly depicted in Alcott's writing. I firmly believe all teenage girls should read the novel to hopefully be as strongly influenced as I was. The girls are constantly troubled by the necessity of being good, even when they feel the desire to be bad. There are also many issues on relationships between girls and boys. Friendship turns into love and vice versa, making a strong theme out of gender relations. The girls also struggle with the ideas of motherhood, sisterhood, pride, education, and marriage. After reading this novel, the reader will hopefully look more at their own life and his/her morales. Through the novel there is clear representation of the benefits of what good does.

I first read "The Lottery" in high school and it has stayed with me ever since. I bought this book for the title story, and it is the most powerful of the stories, though the others are also very entertaining. Hopefully it will also stay with you.

Ms Jackson is a phenomenally talented writer. You know immediately that there is something wrong with the simple village lottery, and the suspense and horror builds with every word. That this can be achieved in the space of a short story is amazing - we have a very lttle time before we are faced with the shocking truth.

"The Lottery" is the finest short story of its genre, and stands alone as one of the greatest stories ever written. Shirley Jackson is a master, and her novels "The Haunting of Hill House" and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" are also engrossing reads. But "The Lottery"? Well, you will never forget the twist in the tale.

If you've never read "The Lottery," you're wasting valuable time reading this review. Go buy the book and read it instead. If you have read "The Lottery," then odds are you already appreciate this dark, brilliant, horrific little story. It's one of the greatest horror stories ever written, and it's one of my favorites of all time to teach, as well. My students were all shocked and horrified by the story (not least by the fact that I would give them something that so offended them), but by the end of the semester, they came to love the story. The set-up is brilliant, and the twist ending is perfect: brutal, shocking, and short. Other reviewers have commented on the story's excellence for teaching things like the evil of tradition; it's also an excellent way to teach how ordinary people could become involved in something like the Nazi death camps.

The rest of the stories in the collection are uniformly excellent, as well, although I would recommend saving "The Lottery" for last. It's by far the most horrific in the collection, but Jackson's satire can be just as brutal as her horror, and there is more than a little of the horror of everyday life sprinkled throughout the rest of these tales. A must-buy!

I first picked up this volume because, shocking as it may seem, I'd never actually read Shirley Jackson's landmark story "The Lottery." That's the last story in the book, so I skipped right to it; and, long story short, I wasn't quite as floored by it as I thought. (Full disclosure, though: I more or less knew the ending already.)

However, as I read through the rest of the stories in the book I was amazed at the range, depth, and general brilliance of Jackson's storytelling. Many of her stories tend to center around basic human cruelty (a theme made all the more powerful by the fact that the characters are mostly genteel females) and insanity. Jackson wrings plenty of drama out of these concepts, to be sure (many of the stories are downright chilling), but she's equally capable of playing them for laughs--in "My Life With R.H. Macy," a hilarious account of working in retail, and the "Come Dance With Me In Ireland," a perfect illustration of the pessimistic axiom, "No good deed goes unpunished."

"The Lottery and Other Stories" is an outstanding body of work from a woman who's clearly one of the best short-storytellers of the past century. It's going on my shelf right next to Raymond Carver's "Where I'm Calling From," and if you knew my reading habits, you'd know that's probably the finest compliment I could give a book.

Jackson writes smoothly, skillfully, and with economy, which helps to make this book a quick read; what helps even more is the plot. Constance always does the cooking for her family, so naturally she falls under suspicion when most of the family dies as the result of arsenic poisoning. She is acquitted, however, and lives with her younger sister Merricat and the charmingly demented Uncle Julian. But the villagers are hostile, and Constance takes to living like a hermit to avoid them. She is content with this, too, until one day in walks Cousin Charles, a manipulative child of unmarried parents, to use Wodehouse's phrase.

This book is frequently quite funny, and very enjoyable for the most part; yet it is chilling too. There's the mob scene, for one thing, and then, of course, the book is about murder. Who did put arsenic in the sugar? The answer is disturbing, and so too the resolution (there is none). Then again, the narrator, Merricat, is very likeable--at least she seems so at first; after a while what first seemed like harmless idiosyncracies begin to seem symptoms of something sinister. Again, there is no resolution of this problem. Jackson presents us with her story, but makes no judgements; she writes entertainingly, then destroys the reader's enjoyment, but doesn't fix, explain, or replace it--she just leaves things hanging.

This novel is a wonderful, delicous tale that only the late Ms. Jackson could possibly bestow on her fans. This novel is a deep journey into the psychological powers of us all. Merricat is a very real character, one that will and should be treasured by future generations as a wonderful priceless work of art. This is so much more than words on paper, this novel is a eerie lingering taste of true horror. Not the horror that authors such Stephen King or Anne Rice would write, not Shirley Jackson. This is another superb master-piece of psychological horror that can only be described as cryptic and beautiful. I HIGHLY recommended that you read this novel, it will teach you how to view circumstances and events in a different perscpitive...the Shirley Jackson perscpitive. I would love to rate this book with at least eight stars. ******** Wonderful, you won't be sorry if you read this. Constance is such a caring person, and Uncle Julian is so real that you actually begin to feel sorry for him. And Charles you will not like Charles. But Merricat, she is a divine work, a sweet little niave girl who wishes to live on the moon with Constance and Jonas, her cat. Breath-taking saga that only Shirley Jackson can create.

I am a big fan of Shirley Jackson. I first became interested in her after stumbling across a collection of her short stories, and since then, I have been hooked. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is my favorite Shirley Jackson novel. The Haunting of Hill House has generated much more speculation and interest world-wide than did We Have Always Lived in the Castle, but in my opinion, there is much more to be said for this book. There is much more to this novel than it seems when you first start reading it. Many things throughout the book will appeal to you, and simultaneously tear your heart in two, like the villager's hatred of Merricat (the narrator and main character) and their horrible, shameful treatment of her.

This is a complex novel. It is not for everyone. It is a difficult read, because if you aren't into the book, then you won't understand what's going on. It reminds me of J.D. Salinger's. His books, especially if you've read his short stories, are to be puzzled over, yet never completely understood.

The story is about Merricat and Constance, two sisters who live isolated on the edge of town at Blackwood Manor. They seldom venture out of their home, and when they do are subjected to abuse at the hands of the villagers, who particularly enjoy throwing rocks at Merricat and calling her names. Readers come onto the scene of the story years after a poisoning during supper at Blackwood Manor, which killed most of the family. For years Merricat, their uncle, and Merricat's older sister Constance have lived in solitude until Charles, a distant cousin, comes calling. He plays upon Constance's desire for a normal life, telling her how unnatural her life is at Blackwood Manor, while at the same time displaying to the reader a strong interest in the family fortune. Merricat sees him as a threat to her lifestyle of comfort and solitude, away from those who revile her and her family. Merricat is also disturbed by the way Charles seems to be tantalizing Constance with visions of how her life could be if they left Blackwood Manor. Suddenly everything important to her is threatened.

I felt particular sympathy for the character of Constance. She was locked in a world she couldn't get out of. She loved her sister Merricat, (even though Merricat was strange and a bit crazy) and didn't want to desert her, but at the same time, as demonstrated by her quickness to come around to Charles's way of thinking, she wished to have a normal life. She didn't want Merricat to be so wild, and she strove for normalcy at every turn. She was constantly doing motherly activities like baking and cleaning, and generally taking care of everyone around her.

What I liked most about the book was that it left me with the same feeling I got from reading Jackson's famed story "The Lottery". It leaves you with that kind of horror at humanity "The Lottery" did with such deftness.

All this book needs is someone who is willing when he or she sits down with it to take the time to figure out what's REALLY going on here, and to understand the characters and their plights. If you read this book, go into it with an open mind. You will be rewarded for it.

This novel is not for everyone. But it may be for you.

I read this book the first time while backpacking Europe and finding a shortage of English-written books to read. It changed my life. I read it again nine years later and although many of the ideas she writes of I have internalized since my first reading, MacLaine's book again inspired me to look at some spiritual ideas on a new level. I am grateful for "Out On a Limb" as my initial kindergarten book that helped me get beyond suspicion and cynicism and into openmindedness and higher consciousness, welcoming eastern philosophies, the belief in reincarnation and UFOs and provided a reading list to help me find my way. I would recommend this book to anyone who feels like "there's got to be something more going on out there."

I have had several special encounters with this enlightening film,since first seeing it during its original mini-series broadcast on TV years ago!It seems to periodically come up in consciousness to me,when I am sharing with others,my Spiritual journey,as they too become aware of a greater potential for their own lives!It has been over the years available at most larger video rental stores,ie.Blockbuster,etc.,but now has apparently been removed and no longer has any distributor to even be able to order a copy for purchase anywhere.It is very sad that a film with such consciousness raising and healing qualities to it would just disappear.I am hoping someone may be able to help me to acquire an audio-visually decent copy,so that it may continue to bless and inspire people,as it has done for all who have seen it in the past!Just for myself,I know what it has done for me,everytime I've watched it with whatever "new" person,I've recommended it to.It is the only movie that I have ever written notes from as I watched it,just from the nuggets shared between the characters in the dialogue!I'm so glad that I am not alone in the enthusiastic pull to get this film re-released,re-distributed and available once again to the general public!I don't know what we'd all have to do,short of writing a petition of sorts to Ms.MacLaine herself as a vote of confidence in this timeless piece of work but I feel that it is far too important a film to simply be satisfied in being just one of the many who remembers this uplifting movie with fond warmth and affection.If anyone would like to help those of us searching for a copy of "Out on a Limb" so that we may continue to share it for the "soul" benefit of all the others who haven't seen it yet,P>"If you want to get to the fruit of the tree,sometimes you've got to be willing to go "Out on a Limb"!"

This might sound condescending, but this compelling account of the actress' spiritual journey is surprisingly well written. Shirley MacLaine is not just a Hollywood dancer turned New Age guru; she's a bestselling author who knows the craft of writing. What comes across immediately is the earnestness of her message. She's not out to fool her readers. She's also done her research. Each chapter has apt quotations from great thinkers about the nature of life as they saw it. There are a lot of sentences that begin with the word "Maybe," as in "Maybe the ancient thinkers had it right." Nevertheless she rightly states that what we call history is a leap of faith. Readers will have to make their own judgments about the credulity of the author, but MacLaine's testament shows us that everyone has to draw their own lines about personal beliefs based on experience, reading, and reasoning. But above all, experience. And she documents this process spendidly. She does not come off as an unreasonable "kook." On the contrary, she herself is skeptical at first and admits that the very ideas she later accepts seem "preposterous." It is this intelligence and skepticism which makes this book hard to dismiss as simply New Age pap. The chapter about Peter Sellers is genuinely moving.

I heard the last portion of Shirley's interview on NPR and was impressed by how easily she described the science of bread making. Being an avid breadmaker, I dashed out and bought the book. After reading Cookwise I felt far more confident adding my own flare to recipes. I learned how much adjustment I can make without throwing the balance of the ingredients. Every cook needs to know the reasons why recipes succeed or fail and this book has it. On a critical note, this book isn't a reliable source for recipes. Many of them didn't work for me, and further, Cookwise isn't organized as a cookbook, anyway. If you want fabulous recipes and a comprehensive index, try Joy of Cooking.

The answers are all in here. It's one thing if you have a mentor in the kitchen with you but most of us don't. The author is not ashamed to tell you how she's messed up in the past and how to avoid it. The science and the chemistry, of custards for example, and her detailed, down to earth instructions are not what you want to read when guests a walking up the driveway but they are so well written that they'll stick with you and make you a better cook for having devoted the time at your leisure. And you'll make fabulous cheesecake, yum-yum. I'd love to go to cooking school some day when I don't have little kids running in and out of the kitchen but in the mean time cooking is a creative outlet and I feel that this book has given me confidence to try new things because I understand "why". This book is not cover to cover recipes but it doesn't need to be. The knowledge imparted has helped me fill in the gaps in the instructions in recipes from top cooking magazines and cook books. The roast pork tenderloin recipe in Cookwise is fabulous, delectable. But the technique is the key and it applies to most meats for roasting. That's what this book is about. My husband and I used to eat out every night in Manhattan. Now we eat at home 350 days a year and we entertain. And it's been great for impressing people with anectdotal cooking conversation if that's your thing... the ability to talk about the different amounts of gluten in flour and what it will do for your patsries....! Buy it, read it. You'll open it over and over. It's the best money you'll spend.

I got this cookbook for Christmas after I dropped several very broad hints. I skimmed it, then decided to enroll myself in my own Cookwise Class--I've started at the beginning with The Ultimate Brioche, and I'll cook all the way through to Chocolate Walnut Ruffle Cake. I figure you can't get a much better kitchen chemistry education than that without actually going to cooking school. For all you folks out there who thought that bread baking was an art and you didn't have it, PLEASE read Shirley's chapter on breadbaking and try some of her recipes, especially the French-style Crusty Loaf. Now I know why my bread always resembled large beach cobblestones (too much of the wrong kind of flour)--but no more! My only gripe is that some of her kneading techniques would be much more understandable with some photos or even simple line drawings, but I guess I'll make do until she gets her own cooking show. (Hint, hint, any TV producer that might be reading this.)

I've owned this book for a couple of years or so. It's a guide I'll refer to when I'm at home, but I don't like using it out in the field. It's a guide that I've never felt very comfortable using. There are better ones out there than this. I can't quite point my finger at what I don't like about this book. The information and maps are fine. I guess it would have to be the fact that the book's drawings don't seem as good as other guides illustrations. The book is quite large also, and not really pocket sized. My favorite illustrated guides are Roger Tory Peterson's Eastern Birds and All the Birds of North America (the drawings are more reliable in these I believe).

For years, I've used the Peterson field guides to identify birds. Most of my bird watching has taken place in the Eastern U.S. mountains and north and south of the coastal area where I live, as well as WI (summer) and LA (winter). The Petersen guide book for the Eastern region meets most of my needs, but I also own several other books (Smithsonian and Audubon). I became interested in the National Geographic book BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA because I admire the NG magazine.

The NG is a heavier book than the Eastern Peterson, perhaps because it shows birds from both the Eastern and Western areas of the country, but the Peterson maps show the full range of "Eastern" birds--even if a range extends to the West. Both books show ranges that extend into Canada. The NG book is nifty because the little maps that appear in the back of the Petersen books are on the same page as the bird illustrations.

The birds illustrated in both books are clustered by category. For example, Petersen shows male and female Downey, Hairy, Northern Three-toed, and Black-backed woodpeckers together, as does the NG. The Petersen guide has little arrows that point to distinguishing marks, but NG does not. I find these indicator arrows very helpful when I am trying to tell two closely marked birds apart. The NG does show a tiny row of variants across the bottom of the page (For example, the woodpecker page = fasciatus, dosalis, orius, etc.)

The bird colors are less differentiated in the Peterson than the NG illustrations. For example, stripes on the Peterson Three-toed woodpecker's belly are less articulated than those shown on the NG bird. I don't think this matters as one seldom gets close enough to see the mottling. The Peterson birds are hand drawn and relatively flat, while the NG birds are more rounded, i.e. modeled. The Petersen birds look like the Audubon paintings. The NG illustrations remind me of digital photos of taxidermist stuffed birds (probably why the colors are so differentiated).

Both books provide measurements and Latin names. The Peterson book provides text that describes birds that might prove confusing with your bird of interest. The NG book provides text that describes the attributes of regional variants. This latter feature won't help you in the field since you almost never see regional variants in the same location.

If you are a serious bird watcher you will probably want both books and the Audubon and Smithsonian books as well. If you can only afford one book, I recommend the Peterson book. I have used my Peterson book for so long it just falls open when I hold it in one hand, so I am probably prejudiced.

Just like that holy book, you will find this excellent book by National Geographic is constantly referred to. As you would expect from any field guide, it is beautifully illustrated. That's usually not enough though to help you positively identify some species, regardless of whether you are an expert or casual birder. The field notes associated with each birds' illustration come in very handy. They give vital clues about behavior, habitat or some other factor that can help clinch the identification. Small maps showing breeding, year round and winter ranges are well placed on each page and are there to provide quick geographic checks. Helps avoid situations like this: "I just saw a Louisiana Waterthrush. Oh wait, I'm in South Florida, can't be then, it must have been a Northern."

The only other way I can endorse this book is to say that I have quite a few other guides and reference books and when going out birding with my family and I say "bring the field guides" this is usually the first one grabbed.