Baker writes beautiful, entertaining stories. Though there are highs and lows throughout this book, each story was thought provoking and amusing. You can't get too comfortable (read: bored) while reading these stories- Baker always keeps you wondering where she will take her characters next. Great beginnings of the stories help catch your attention, and the ride through the rest of the story until you reach the end where everything comes together is a fun one you won't soon forget. This collection of short stories is definately worth a read.

Alison Baker is to the surprise beginning what O Henry was to the surprise ending. "Benny Sarver knows what's going on in the lab where they clone babies out of one-eyed frogs." "The summer is so hot there's a spontaneous human combustion on the South Side." The stories that follow are eccentric, ironic, minimalist tales, which basically involve two pairs of human partners or a human couple and animals. The animals include bears, flamingos, deer, African bullfrogs and even dogs. The people are cowboys, ornithologists, Mormons, biochemists, gymnasts and cheerleaders. Quite delightful. One quibble is about the representation of Indian English. I am knowing many Indian doctors and and never I am hearing the continuous present. I am thinking this is how Americans are thinking Indians are talking.

Alison Lurie, whose brilliant book "Don't Tell the Grownups" demonstrates both her knowledge of and insight into children's literature, has done a wonderful job of collecting fairy tales from the 19th Century all the way up to the present, including authors such as Dickens, Thurber, and Le Guin. Anyone familiar with Lang's "Prince Prigio" will wish it had been included, but the other tales more than compensate for its absence.

This book is a comprehensive of 19th Century up to today of fairy tales. It is a great buy because of all the stories you get for your money. It has all the fairy tales we have loved throughout the ages. It is great to give to your children.

Just having returned from 18 days in the UK two of those spent in jet and bus travel and eight more getting the most out of an eight day Brit Rail pass that we could I must say that even though I have stopped running I feel like I am still running in place. That is how I get some of my best ideas. Those of you who know me know that I sort hang at the margins of the formal academic study of literature. I do this because language and literature study are really sort games which you have to learn the vocabulary (lexicon) if I were presenting at a conference or writing for blue noses.

Well one of the hottest games now in the world of literature is the study of the postcolonial literature of the former European colonies, South Africa, Algeria, Vietnam, or what ever. If you were a young academic then it would be well to focus your study in this area. This is especially true if you want work in something other than the house keeping and food service industries as your ultimate career goal.

That got me thinking as I re-read and loved Rip Van Wrinkle by Washington Irving in this wonderful collection that I was reading perhaps the archetypal work of post colonial literature, old henpecked Rip (a subject of George III), has a few beers with some very serious 120 year old Dutchman as he falls in with them in their the secret Hudson River Valley meeting place.

Twenty years later he wakes up to find he is an American Citizen. I don't but know for sure but, I bet a lot of post colonials feel like that They share with Rip one very large hangover. Well I could go on and play the game further but I think you have the idea, and as a dear friend of mine once said sometimes Philip a little of something goes a long way. So let me get back to this wonderful book , as I urge you to add it to your collections

American Fairy Tales is a collection has something for everyone .It is a collection of American tales, which really serves three publics. First of course the adolescent reader who may miss or only seen fragments of these wonderful stories. Next the eternal Adolescent likes my self at age 55 who loves a good story. It also serves any serious students of children's literature, this medley of stories progresses chronologically across a century, from Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" to Carl Sandburg's "How They Broke Away to Go to the Rootabaga Country." From the Maleficent Witch, Mother Rigby, in Hawthorne's "Feathertop" to the ethereal fairy in "The Lad and Luck's House," Book List had some good things to say about it "A patriotic-looking jacket with blue stars and red stripes adorns this collection of 12 stories drawn from an emergent American literary tradition that includes such characters as bee-men, goose-girls, kings, fairies, and wizards." Editor Neil Philip provides an introductory essay about the "American fairy" tale" and briefly introduces each selection.

I loved the variety of stories and the collection of famous writers, including Hawthorne, Sandburg, Alcott, and Baum. McCurdy's woodcut illustrations give the stories a sense of the past yet still allow plenty of room for fantasy, woodcuts have a haunting timeless look about them. Theses stories are made to read aloud. But it must remembered that because of the time they were written but a few contain language or allusions that now seem politically incorrect. But we must be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. American Fairy Tales is a beautifully Illustrated book you may have to work a bit to find it.

Philip Kaveny, Reviewer

More than 20 sizzling sexy stories make this book a winner! Many of the stories are culled from previously published anthologies, making it a best-of collection. The stories and characters work together perfectly. There are several girl-girl scenarios, so if that's not your scene, this won't be the book for you. That said, the sex is really sexy in all of the stories, and many genres and fetishes are covered, making the book feel very complete and satisfying.

Get this book! It messes with your head in the most pleasant of ways.

Really- it sounds like a plain boring book- but it's not! No, From original stories like Clever Gretchen to Twisted ones like the sleeping prince or Mollie Whippie- it had all that and a bag of potatoes. My favourite was Kate Crackernuts. Then came the Sleeping Prince, next Manka and the Judge.
All of the tales are of strong women who outwit, set straight, and save the "Man's" world from GIANTS,bugurlers,enchanted sleeps (what did you think the sleeping prince was about?) and other horrible creatures.
THis book is a must- but you might understand the wording a little better if you're a pre-teen or teenager.Enjoy it, I did!

For anyone who likes to get right to the heart of the matter when it comes to reading erotica, this is the book for you. The stories are exceptionally sexy and very well crafted, and also very short. The intro claims that none are more than 2,000 words, and I think that many are much less than that, only several pages long -- sometimes just 2 pages. But they all do read like stories, not fragments at all. The writers are big-time, Maxim Jakubowski, Thomas Roche, Rachel K. Bussel, M.Christian, Sage Vivant, Dante Davidson, and many others. My favorite stories were "Tess Needs a Spanking," which is unbelievably hot, "The Naughty Nanny," "Yes" and "Teacher's Pet." There are a lot of genres covered in this book.. with so many stories, that's easy to believe. There's some spanking, bondage, girls with girls, public sex, orgies, and so on. A little kink for everyone! This is definitely one that will become a favorite!

Alison Case provides that rarity in current literary criticism: a wittily written, non-faddish set of razor-sharp analyses which read particular scenes closely without ignoring or obscuring the novels within which those scenes appear. If you're interested in English literature and/or in the way a group of fabulous (and reader-rewarding) eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novels enacted ideas about femininity and masculinity through their narrative structures, read this book. It will make you a smarter, more judicious reader of English novels--and reading the novels will make you a smarter, more judicious human being.

What happens when you fall in love--two weeks after you've married the man you're supposed to marry?

Lucy Fooshee, the local beauty newly hitched to farmer Bob Bybee, has dreams and yearnings unacceptable to the unspoken but rigid social rules of Palmyra, Illinois. She can't even get the color thread she wants due to the lack of choices in her small town. In Lucy's words, "What you do in Palmyra is you make a compromise. You take green and not turquoise. You take something else, instead of what you want."

While Lucy is spoiled and self-centered, we relate to her wanting what she can't have. And as we get deeper into the story, Alison Clement shows us how Palmyra made Lucy who she is. Clement demonstrates impressive technical skill by telling the story in Lucy's voice, yet giving the reader insight beyond Lucy's scope of insight. The characters--Lucy, Bob, Billy Lee, Evaline, Mama, Mother Bybee, Aunt Babe, and a cast of eccentric extras--are vivid and human.

I love novels that make me change my mind about the characters as I read along. We may not like Lucy, but Clement's fine writing helps us understand her. I highly recommend this original book.

I highly recommend this book. It's vernacular writing creates an aura of in-your-face honesty. The flawed heroine is Lucy Fooshee, a former beauty queen from a small town in southern Illinois. She's spunky, brash and often hilarious, sporting her tiara and pouty lips with pride. Lucy stops at nothing to win the heart of the best looking man in town, even though she's been married to someone else for only two weeks.

In this book, Ms. Clement captures the rhythm of small town life, complete with elements of sexism, racism and class. But this book is no stuffy morality tale. The words fly off the page, providing the reader with passion, longing and lots of laughter.

Instead of Eudora Welty's "Why I live at the P.O.," it could very well be Alison Clement's "Why I'm Leaving Palmyra." In a running first person dialogue, Palmyra resident, Lucy Fooshee, describes small town life from a very subjective point of view. While Lucy tells the story, her own blatant character flaws are humorously exposed.

As a result, we seem to enjoy loving or hating the vain, self-absorbed Lucy. Our strong reactions indicate that the main character has enough depth to actively engage the reader. By the end of the book, defenders of Lucy Fooshee are pleased to discover there are hints of her maturity on the horizon. Who knows? Perhaps someday Fooshee fans will find out if there's life for Lucy AFTER Palmyra.

My book group chose this book by the interesting description here and review. The idea of a spinster leaving her family to become a witch intrigued us all, but we were disappointed in the book. We found the character not very interesting, and the lack of action calmed us all into slumber while trying to read it. It wasn't a terrible book, it had some interesting things to say, but we could not understand all the immensely positive reviews here.

These new little NYRB editions are just honeys--I have yet to read one that wasn't absolutely spectacular (the editors have superb taste), and the editions themselves are little gems--they FEEL so nice in your hands because they're made of gorgeous high quality paper and set in a lovely font.

Warner's novel is fantastic--its rhythms are slow but musical, and it takes quite a while to determine what awaits Laura in Great Mop. A very, very funny book that also comments movingly on the condition of "odd women" in the generation before Suffrage... I couldn't put this down!

Lolly Willowes is the spirited story of a woman searching for herself. The themes in this book are as applicable now as they were when it was written. Thank you to Academy Chicago for bringing us this beautiful edition with an insightful introduction (they also use the original cover art).