Try the Margaret Roach book which is excellent or even a Jerry Baker book. Martha probably enever did any real gardening in Nutley, NJ.

Over here in England, we are just beginning to be included in the Martha Stewart 'empire'. (Of cousre we have our own home grown lifestyle gurus, but I think a toughie like Martha could wipe the floor with the lot of them!) As a keen gardener I was eager to get my hands on this book to learn more about American gardening plants and styles, and ideas; to my surprise this book is in essence a rehash of the work of the very English Penelope Hobhouse, Rosemary Verey and Christopher Lloyd! Still, a good book, and a good read, despite the photographic quality not being up to the usual standards for garden books.

Basically, it's good for inspiring beginners; however, if you want to garden in 'le style anglais' go to straight Penelope Hobhouse. As I believe they say in the States - she's got it going on!

I know, I know, this is Martha's stuff, the woman we all love to hate! However, the book is arranged in a friendly fashion, giving a month-by-month tour of her gardens, with information on typical chores she will expect from her gardeners that month!

As with everything else Martha does, her gardens are on a grand scale and ambitious. What I like about this book are several things: she gardens in a similar climate zone to mine; her gardens are generally unpretentious, and her English-inspired style is one I enjoy. Each month, she lays out the work needing to be done for the various flower and vegetable gardens, then focuses on a seasonal aspect of her garden. The book is lavishly illustrated, and for those of us who are visual people--what gardener isn't?--the ideas are inspiring.

The information is fairly basic, but actually useful to those who are beginning to garden on a more serious scale. She does not seem to depend heavily on chemical warfare and emphasizes such basics as good soil preparation and the other down and dirty aspects of good gardening. If your gardening budget can afford it and you find inspiration from good garden design photos, this book is worth your time and money.

This is old articles from her magazine and the advice was not very good. There are better books.

Well done and illustrated, these are features from the early days of the magazine. I can personally vouch for the pear bread pudding and the torta di riso--a lot of work but like a lot of things, WELL worth the effort. I don't know if I could do all of those things at once for one activity, especially the wedding at home. But in addition to all the recipes and chapters, it's idea-inspiring. Which is what Martha is all about (that, and the stock market!)

The menus planned in the book are delicious. Each is catagorized under a different event or holiday, but I've used them for not so special events too. There are also wonderful decorating and entertaining ideas for all seasons. The paella is wonderful!

The photos truly are lovely, but I'm so glad I didn't buy based on reviews - I read a library copy first.

It does start out with some good advice. The Preface talks about choosing your gardening style and doing a bit of planning before digging. The Introduction talks about matching the plant to the site, and urges readers to ask local extension services or nurseries for advice. Invaluable info for a novice gardener, but I don't believe it was ever repeated later in the book.

Alas, the book then takes a nasty turn and descends into the pit of Martha's garden and Martha's terms. Rock powders - perhaps that's the New England name for soil amendments, but you'll have trouble if you ask for them in nurseries around here (unless they've read the book). Her lists of vegetables, perennials, and annuals must be the ones she favors growing in her zone; quite a few of them wouldn't do well in other parts of the country. You'll have to get ideas for your zone from some other book, because they're not in 101.

A lot of basic info is touched upon but not explained very well; for instance, one page is devoted to watering, yet three pages give instructions for casting your very own garden trough.

I didn't much care for her sources at the back of the book, either.

If you are truely a beginner at gardening, this book would be ok but it seems to only scratch the surface. I've read other gardening books and have discovered and benefited more from them than this one. I know it's tempting to buy a book because it says that its for the beginner but in this case, I'd advise beginners to seek more comprehensive books on the topic. They may sound intimidating but in the end, they will make you a better gardener and work for you long after you've moved on from the beginner stage. I abandoned this book after I learned more.

Don't be fooled by the size of this book. An abundance of information is inside. It is essentially a step by step guide to creating your first garden. If you are more experienced this is probably not the book for you. But for the novice (like me), there aren't many better.

The guests hated the finger food and I would think there are better books on the subject. I am terrified to visit the golf & tennis club after the dinner debacle. Maybe Martha's finger food was well received in Nutley, NJ but in Short Hills it was another story.

This is great if you have all the time and money to spend on Hors D'Oeuvres--I would not buy it again, but it was fun to look at.

I've enjoyed this one so much {'ve moved on to her new Hors d'Oeuvres Handbook. However, this one has much in it, so to get this one as well and use it.

Some of my all=time favorites are here: Apples with chicken liver pate, Orange muffins with Smoked Turkey, and Roquefort Grapes.

I find this a useful book in its structure by function: Tea Party, Christmas Cocktails, Outdoor Barbe, etc. Bonus as in all her cookbooks, fantastic clear photos and marvelous creative ways to serve an eye=catching, tastebud wowing first course!

I wonder if she had parties with Sam Waksal of Imclone before he went to jail?

I'd love to throw one of the parties in this book, but I can't figure out how to get my guests to dress in the perfectly appropriate style. One person in a gingham check outfit that would be perfect for the Fourth of July picnic would simply ruin the Thai-Vietnamese feast. Until I get a more malleable group of friends, I'll just have to stick with the suggestions in "Swell" by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig. That being said, I highly recommend that everyone buy all of Martha's books -- it greatly alleviates the depression that will befall you when you invariably attend a function that follows her instructions to the letter. Somehow the perfectionism seems less than perfect when you know it has been cribbed directly from Martha!

Now I know that we can't all go to Texas to have an authentic Tex-Mex fiesta, but the ideas are great none the less. Who care's if no one comes dressed the part? This book is all about themes. Themes that you can manipulate and call your own. Each party is beautifully photographed and the recipes are delicious. They even offer her infamous "Good Things" as a sidebar for many of the parties. Don't let the perfection overwhelm you. This book delievers.

In this month's (Nov. 2000) issue of ************************, Martha's traditional opening letter proudly describes the way she gave a presentation to potential stockholders about "spreading our costs of creating fresh and timely and evergreen content." What that means for us, Martha's consumptive public, is increasingly recycled content, which is unfortunately the case in this book.

While previous Holiday books have also consisted of compilations of recipes and projects from the magazine, they were richly useful and well-organized. This book doesn't even bother to reformat the original content. The book is divided into three parts - "The Parties," "The Projects," and "The Recipes." So, "The Parties," are basically reprinted articles from the magazine in their original "story" form, whose recipes are inconveniently clustered at the back. Of course, the quality of the recipes is high - included in this book are my favorite cookie recipe ever (Torie's Oatmeal cookies), and you'll be interested in the menus if you're thinking of making crown roast or roast goose this year. "Party plan" timelines are also included. However, I see no real reason to buy this book if you've subscribed to the magazine for a few years, or what advantage this book has over the newly released compilation of MSL recipes.

"The Projects" section's obvious intended highlight is the creation of the candy decorations featured on the cover. People with children might be interested in this, as there is a menu devoted to accompany a "Candy Craft Party with Kids," with the quintessentially traditional peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, mac and cheese, little pigs-in-blankets, and cocoa with candy canes. Other projects, like ideas for giveaways, are skimpily represented.

On the whole, I am a great fan of Martha's, but I find previous Holiday books, such as "Christmas with Martha Stewart Living," or "Handmade Christmas" more charming.

Here's another Martha book for the collection! With all the ideas and beautiful pictures, it's a book that sure to inspire most to creating beautiful tables and decorations for your own spectacular party!

After searching for several years for a Christmas craft book that is simple enough for the average person to follow, Martha Stewarts "Parties and Projects for the Holidays" hit the spot. She does an excellent job of illustrating the instructions to make them easy to follow. She also included some great crafts for children of all ages in this book. Not only are there these beautiful crafts for us to try, but just as many good recipes. A definate and all around great buy!!

It's time to retire this old book which is amazingly rigid in its decorating ideas and its school-marmish, rules-oriented approach to design. Decorating today is so personal, yet Martha (or this old book, anyway) seems to think that there is only one way to do things. It reminds me of a 1950s book filled with rules for the little housewife to follow, but it certainly doesn't fit the world of today's educated, style-conscious, and confident consumer. Bleah!

I couldn't wait to get my copy of this book, but was very disappointed to find how few ideas in here applied to me. We live in an apartment in NYC, and I was looking forward to ideas on how to make the most of a small space, how to brighten up a dark, windowless foyer, etc. None of these concerns are mentioned here. Instead Martha's "how tos" focus on spacious houses, with tons of natural lighting. Doesn't anything look good when you've got a huge light-filled house to work with?

Another disappointing thing about the book is its lack of practicality. The author often refers us to "Martha's collection of antique Wedgewood crystal vases", or "Martha's Louis XVI chairs" or something of the sort. Most people I know don't own priceless antiques. It's obvious that if we did it would be that much easier to make any room look spectacular.

Bottom line: many of the how-tos in here are no-brainers if you've got unlimited space, fantastic natural lighting, and a deep pocketbook. For the rest of us, keep searching for truly useful decorating pointers.

This was Martha's first work, and explores places and settings. The rustic bench in the middle of the trees is a great idea, ditto the outside shower, but only if you live where there will be no peeping Toms. While you may not be able to duplicate her ideas exactly, these should give you inspiration to work with what you have at home, wherever that may be.

Try Second-Hand Style: Finding and Renewing Antique Treasures or Decorating With Flea Market Finds or Flea Market Decorating (Better Homes and Gardens Books). I love these three books.

I have never seen some of those things available when I've done some scrounging, but the ideas to use them are pretty interesting. My favorite is the linen cabinet made from the shutter doors; you'd have to see it to understand what I mean. Having met a man who is into collecting, I thought we could use it, but so far, not. Thumb through it, see if it's for you.

I know Martha Stewart has had bad press lately but her ideas are still pretty cool (plus this book was from a few years ago). I'm having a blast with this book because I love to go antiquing and looking for stuff to make things with. Granted, you may not find the extact items she uses but you can certainly find the same general items (e.g. egg cups, button covers, vintage fabrics). I really like how the book is laid out in terms of glass, textiles, etc. Also, she has tips for caring and cleaning different types of items which is great since you generally need to clean things that you find at flea markets etc. The ideas are all really neat and really they are easy to do. Five stars all around from me. The ideas I've gotten from this book have really spawned my creativity to make other sorts of things too. Lots of fun!

The recipes I've tried just plain don't work. My latest cooking disaster from the book was the cheesecake. The baking time was suspect to begin with but I tarried on only to pull out the remains of a less than perfect cheesecake to take to a dinner party (my oven has never had temp. regulating problems before). I disguised the almost burnt offering with a raspberry coulis and brought it anyway. Even though I rescued it before it turned completely unedible (with yet 20 minutes left in baking), the flavor was horrid and the texture was that of a block of cream cheese.

The instructions in a lot of recipes are incomplete and I've had to read them through several times to make sense of them. The index is set up strangely and I didn't care for the cheap printing of the book. The binding is coming apart on mine and for such an expensive book, that shouldn't happen.

I didn't give this cookbook a one star rating because I really respect Martha. She has done a lot for the world of cooking and there are several of her recipes from Entertaining that I would never think of not using for someone else's--like her tart crust recipe, creme anglais, sticky buns, pesto...I have used Martha's books for year and they are fabulous. Needless to say, this one was the ultimate bummer for me. If you're a real cook, and not just a collector of cookbooks, this ain't the book. Get one of Martha's others--Entertaining is a classic.

Even if you can't stand Martha Stewart, you may find this a useful, repetoire-expanding cookbook. While it contains a staggering number of recipes, they are well organized, and the index is actually useful (unlike, for instance, the Moosewood Cookbook's). Imaginative but not too far-out or trendy for the average taste, recipes are easy to follow. I have never encountered a typo, a real pitfall for some of these huge, rushed compendium cookbooks. I especially like the chocolate cookies that have a little cayenne (really, it's good!), and the chicken breast saltimbocca. Martha clones can happily imagine themselves sitting down to the table and eating the same food she does (gosh, maybe even at the same time!), and anti-Martha cooks can just whisk off the offensive book jacket and add the big blue book to their cookbook collection without shame

If you like Martha but you think her recipes are to complicated or sophisticated for everyday use, this is the book for you. There are no pictures and there is hardly any commentary but what there is, is wonderful. My family's favorite recipe, the yellow pound cake with blood orange glaze is simple yet you get "a lot of bang for your buck". I usually skip the blood orange glaze and I add canned mandarin oranges or frozen raspberries to the top of batter after I pour it on the cake mold. This is the cookbook I count on above all others.

I am a big Martha fan, but I was very disappointed with this product. It was not nearly large enough to hold all my receipts and contracts. Also my bridal party was large, and there was not enough space for all the information about them. It comes with a slipcover, but my planner was bulging with so many papers, I could never fit it back into it! The book itself is lovely, with a pretty cover and beautiful pictures. But it isn't useful for brides in the real world.

Ok - so not all of us can have a "Martha" type wedding... However, a lot of her ideas were extremely helpful in that they helped me decide what I did and did not want for our wedding. It also helped me stay completely organized; I could go back to my Planner and see what someone quoted me, or when payment was due on anything. This book compliments her "Weddings" book, which also has great recipes in it. I have also given this book to my girlfriends who are getting married -- they love it too. Buy it!

Although I was not having the "traditional" wedding, Martha Stewart's Wedding Planner was a great help! My mother used a wedding planner book, and this was the best one we could find. Some of the items were not applicable, but the basic ideas were, and it really helped me stay organized. No pockets in ANY wedding planner book would be big enough for all quotes, so don't be turned off by that. My mother and I had a great time filling out the pages -- I really liked the book. I suggest you buy it even if you're having a wedding at home...because you'll have all those memories in that special book of your special day.