A wonderful book about a little Algerian boy in the 1950's (when relations between French and Algeria were suffering) and how he sees the world. This book will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

Life in the Land of the Living lacks the interwoven luster of Vilmure's second book, Toby's Lie. "Life" explores the too often uncharted and largely ignored (at least in contemporary fiction) fraternal relationship of two nameless boys "living" in Florida. Estranged from their adulteress mother, and neglected by their alcoholic father, the boys take to the streets of their small town, in a will to survive and on a run to find their own willful justice.

The novel, unfortunately, does anything but thrive. The protaginistic narration of the story becomes unclear at several key junctures throughout the story. Rather than a novel, this book would have made a splendid basis for a screenplay.

Although character development is virtually non-existent, its absence is a strangely refreshing paradox, and in this case, not necessarily a liability. Instead, it is craftily used as a textual parallel to the boys' transient, sketchy, and confusing world.

The novel, in true 'Vilmure' form, introduces the reader to what seems to be the middle of an existing situation. The reader, as a result experiences developments and complications as they arise, in unison with the book's characters.

Overall, the main themes of life and death are explored and handled exceptionally well, and in outstanding poetic form, with dashing and intriguing introspective. Considering the relative young ages of the narrators, this element should be especially noted. A pleasant read.

Dr. Walter Turnbull shares not only the story of his upbringing and motivations, but he blends these lessons into the direction and fullfillment of the Boy's Choir of Harlem (BCH). This book is an intense look behind the faces, costumes and music of BCH. It reveals the intimate details of struggle of the members of the choir, the staff and ultimately the African-American/Latino males of our society at large. It forces the reader to look deeply into their own pysche and how one views his fellow man as well as himself. There are highs and lows throughout, but you never sense a moment of utter defeat! This is a triumphant wake-up call to all with regard to the potential of all our youth, if all are willing to pay the price for our dreams! A must read!

our linear algebra class prof. told us that this is the most readable math book, that's why the math dept. switched to this book this year. =)

This book helps to keep our lives focused when all around us is a decadent, ungodly culture. We may stand alone, and be in the den, but we do not have to be prosperous or physically strong to avoid being eaten. I especially liked the chapter about how to keep our minds out of the gutter, and the slippery slope of success. I liked this book better than some of the newer christian books. How Daniel stood strong when the culture and the King was againest him...

After the murder has been committed, the author spends time giving us the backgrounds of the three principle characters. Even if you aren't a history fan, don't skip these chapters because they'll help you understand the account of the actual trial. This is the story of a talented and intelligent woman who finds both the courage to leave and divorce her abusive alcoholic husband and to fall in love with a brave and decent man in spite of she went through. Then she loses her true love when her scum ex kills him. The chapters on the trial were difficult to endure because the defense team was so slick and the prosecution team was so lame. I was so angry with the prosecution team because they didn't even try to counter the defense team's "sanctity of marriage" ploy with the theme that no one on the jury would want to have his sister or daughter married to a drunken brute such as the defendant. Thank goodness the book tells us what happened to these people! ! after the trial, or it would be very depressing to read. I like the fact that the author gives us so many actual quotations from the original sources. I *really* hate books which are supposed to be factual accounts of true crimes but the authors include thoughts and dialog that are pure speculation because there is no reliable source for that information! Don't let the fact that this murder and trial happened over a hundred years ago stop you from reading it. Similar stories are happening today. Ann E. Nichols

A note to readers -- the first half of this book is more of a chronicle of WW I than an account of the Lusitania. If you're just a disaster buff, you'll probably like the Titanic stories better than this. The author explains in his final note that he deliberately focused on the historical context and meaning of this event rather than the minutia of the sinking itself (as he does in his Titanic book). I personally enjoyed the WWI refresher. There are still many unanswered questions about the ship's death -- did Churchill deliberately let it be struck to draw the US into battle? We may never know. The author does a nice job of putting this event in context. The sinking chapters are shorter than you'd think (heck, the ship went down in 18 minutes) but there is a lot of juicy background stuff here.

This obscure little collection of poems does a good job of critically examining human lust in all its forms, along with acting as a loose journal of one American life. Garrison is never wordy or grandiose. His lines are often deceptively simple and deceptively easy on the eyes, and he can make you burst into laughter when you recognize something in yourself you thought was unique splayed on the page. Very laid-back style, good to flip through at random.

Not as thoroughly satisfying as Gerould's Madman And The Nun And Other Plays By Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, this books sandwiches the playwright's crowning achievement (The Water Hen) between his two most accessible works (Madman And The Nun and Crazy Locomotive). Nothing really new here, but since other English editions of Poland's greatest 20th century playwright are currently out of print, this slender volume should be considered indespensible. I just wish the publishers saw fit to include more. As for Gerould's translations, they are quite splendid, of course, as well they should be since they have occupied the greater part of this dramaturgical scholar's life.

I recall picking this up at the elementary school library back in the day. It was a nice, brief, cutesy little tome that I became quite attached to. It involves the owner of an ice cream parlor in Hoboken, N.J., and the somewhat sickly-looking Alaskan malamute he buys from a local kennel. Included in the mix is a local dog show that goes horribly wrong, and our protagonist meeting his idol! Plenty of silly situations and amusingly strange moments abound in this neat little tale.

I gave 'The Magic Moscow' a read at least a couple times a year up until the end of fourth-grade, when I started considering it a bit too simple for my maturing reading tastes. Due to the cut-off point I personally experienced, I recommend this for children in the second-through-fourth-grade range. Although listed at 57 pages, only about 40 pages of it is text, the rest simple cartoonish illustrations. If your child has pretty good reading comp, he/she will likely go through this within an hour. More than likely, a very entertaining hour at that!

'Late