Words can't describe how beautifully and eloquently the message of the book 'A Course in Miracles' is conveyed through the heart-warming and spellbinding voice of Richard Thomas.

I have heard these tapes, and especially the 1st one of the set, countless of times...

Get this book! It is wonderful. It starts out a little scary, as the little monster voices his fears about what would happen if all these catastophes happened and his mother isn't there to help him. But then his mother reassures him and puts a beautiful upbeat spin on it all. I love reading this book to my 2 year old. It is a little scary in the beginning and sometimes he only wants me to read from when the mother monster is making pancakes, yet he asks me to recite the story over and over again.

I found this book in a library and read it. I was surprised that Mark Twain wrote such a serious piece -- it did not contain his typical wit or sarcasm, but was a rather sentimental account of Joan of Arc. I wasn't sure when I started or finished it if it was actually a translation he made from a real account or if he had written it himself as a sort of historically based piece of fiction. I gather from what I have seen elsewhere that this is considered fiction -- a novel -- but he was painstaking in his attention to historical details and facts. It was a wonderful book, and I found it inspiring. He persuaded me to believe her story.

Albert Paine's biography, "The Adventures of Mark Twain" says: "It was just at this time [while Clemens was still in Hannibel working for his brother's paper] that an incident occurred which may be looked back upon now as a turning-point in Samuel Clemens's life. Coming home from the office one afternoon, he noticed a square of paper being swept along by the wind. He saw that it was printed . . . . He chased the flying scrap and overtook it. It was a leaf from some old history of Joan of Arc, and pictured the hard lot of the 'maid' in the tower of Rouen . . . . Sam had never heard of Joan before -- he knew nothing of history. He was no reader. . . . But now, as he read, there awoke in him a deep feeling of pity and indignation, and with it a longing to know more of the tragic story. It was an interest that would last his life through, and in the course of time find expression in one of the rarest books ever written. The first result was than Sam began to read. He hunted up everything he could find on the subject of Joan, and from that went into French history in general -- indeed, into history of every kind. Samuel Clemens had suddenly become a reader . . . ."

Mark Twain's best. I couldn't put it down. I was away for the weekend, found it on a book table in the lobby, and bought it for bedtime reading. The rest of the weekend was devoted to living Joan's story. A great weekend. An incredible book.

This book will make you feel like you walked with Joan, knew her, loved her - READ THIS BOOK. Truly one of the greatest reads of my life! A Book that really changed my perspective on a lot of things.

This is an exciting book that unfortunately feels formulamatic at times. Maybe that is because it was produced as a serialized novel originally. It can have that "find out what our heros are up to next issue" feel.

Overall it is fast paced, but long. I liked the action sequences and the author's creation of distinct personalities for his heros. While I had to read this over a long period of time, I found I enjoyed it most when I could put in a couple of hours at a time and fully submerge myself in the author's world. I would recommend picking this up for a vacation book or if you know you'll be able to keep at it night after night.

The author uses a convincing historical and period backdrop for his tale. It feels real which aids the story. The romantic nature of his heros leads to a wonderful story of comradship and loyalty, good versus evil, etc. Many things to like, but I did not find it deserves quite as lofty a pedestal as most of these other reviewers do.

For those trying to read The Musketeers Saga:
In the original French, there are only three (3) books - 1. The Three Musketeers 2. Twenty Years After and 3. Ten Years Later. But when translated, most English editions split the behemoth Ten Years Later into a Trilogy (and some four - which make it all the more confusing!).

The reading list should be 1. The Three Musketeers 2. Twenty Years After and 3a. The Vicomte de Bragelonne 3b. Louise de la Valliere and 3c. The Man in the Iron Mask. Five books - that's the total series!

I highly recommend this series from Oxford University Press containing the complete unabridged and annotated versions of all of these books. The notes are located in the back of each book so as not to slow down the flow of the text. Most of the notes give additional info on historic characters and places. And a few point out that Dumas was a better storyteller than historian, as keeping dates seems to be such a nuisance!

The story starts out with a young naive Gascon by the name D'artagnan who goes to seek his fortune with the King's Musketeers. On his journey to Paris he has a tangle with a man named Rochefort whom D'artagnan chases throughout the book, along with his female companion Milady, a woman of pure evil.

He meets the Three Musketeers and they don't get off to such a great beginning as he finds himself preparing to fight a duel with all three of them. Eventually D'artagnan wins over Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and together the four set off on adventures to protect their majesty the queen (Anne of Austria) against the bad intentions of the cardinal.

It's all intigue and romance and swashbuckling! I loved it all, every sentence. And i love how M. Dumas twists history to his own literary devices.

I played hooky to finish reading this book!

This is a well-written, no-nonsense book about emotional abuse. No fluff. The author takes the reader through the various stages of emotional abuse --- from the beginnings through the gradual erosion of identity and self esteem --- in both families and couples as well as in the workplace. She fills in the gaps that other books have left wide open and has a unique compassion for the victim. What was particularly helpful to me was the way she addressed the classic "Why doesn't the victim just leave?" question.

I purchased this book after extricating myself from a relationship with an emotionally unstable man. By the time I left the relationship, I had no self identidy or self esteem; he had sucked the life right out of me. I thought I was going crazy.

Emotional abuse and physical both erode the victims identidy, the only difference being that emotional abuse victims don't wear their scars on the outside. This book explains how the abuser gets inside your head, and the slow steady degradation of self that occurs as a result. I found myself amazed at the author's insights, and vindicated by her words of encouragement and healing. From this book, I learned to spot the warning signs of emotional abuse - in myself, and in my relationships. After reading this book, I don't think I will ever fall into an emotionally abuse relationship again. This book is a must read for anyone who has been in an emotionally abusive relationship, and anyone who suspects they may be.

Oh my. Oh my oh my oh my.
I could only read bits of this book at a sitting. Dr. Hirigoyen equates emotional abuse with trauma. That explains my intrusive thoughts and flashbacks while reading it. This is SO satisfying to one who has experienced the lasting effects of emotional abuse. At last! Someone understands!
This book is not for the timid. It is a clear-eyed, and unabashedly biased (toward the victim) look at the abusive process in varied aspects of life - the family, in business, and in the intimate relationship. Grit your teeth and read this one. It's a keeper.

The Michael Thomas story leaves the reader spellbound by a sinew of life threaded through a wave of racial hatred and apathy such as the world has possibly never known. It follows the inquisitive and courageous mind of a polish Jew named Michael who refuses to surrender his convictions under any circumstances, nor deny himself to the enemy. Surviving three French concentration camps, where the "siren song" of death paralyzes the masses, he survives to become part of the French resistance, and finally joins US Army Intelligence to establish a brilliant sting operation to capture the most offensive Nazi officers. Forever haunted by the love and loss of his mother, his aunt and his one true love Suzanne, he leads a life as a pledge to God helping others around the world in whatever fashion possible. Michael spearheads a mission to teach languages and establish an international university, in an attempt to help others awaken the sleeping giant within to crave learning and become self-empowered. The book also provides unbelievable insight into the cowardice and brutality of the Vichy French government, the horrible silence of the international community to help immigrate Jewish refugees, and the lengths to which the Army cloaked heinous Nazi crimes for their own technological gain. Michael's candor and compelling story leaves you wanting more.

QUICK REVIEW
Test of Courage is an amazing book about an incredible man. It is about a man living around the time of World War II, and his experiences of escaping from the grasp of the Germans and trying to bring them to justice, and about his life after the war's outcome. It is definitely worth reading.

FULL REVIEW
This story, about a Jew named Michel Thomas, is a story of amazement, with events including prejudice, imprisonment, escapes, impersonations, lies, scandals, love and overall brilliance. It is at times surprising, shocking, upsetting and most of all intriguing. It tells of a life based and shaped within racism and war. Michel Thomas grows up in this life and is forced to adapt and find his own way. Born in Poland, as a very intelligent boy, he was on the move from a young age to escape the betrayal and danger that came with people's racial hatred of the Jews. The first half of the book is about what went on in his life from before World War II through to the end of the war. This includes the incredible stories of being captured and escaping, of worming his way out of difficult circumstances, and of underground forces fighting against German domination. The second half of the book is about life after the war, in which he hunts down German criminals of war, and traps and breaks up underground Nazi resistance still trying to exist after the war. This book will amaze readers and will leave them in awe of Michel Thomas and his experiences.

Test Of Courage is full of accounts of the personal escapades of Michel Thomas, living in Poland, Austria and France before and during WWII. Often he is the hunted, later he is the hunter when helping Americans track down Nazi War criminals.

The book is awesome from several perspectives. It is a great insight into the costs and benefits of defending one's character & personal ideals. It is a great story about WWII, about fighting in the French underground, about concentration camp survival,about anti Jewish sentiment in Poland and France, about how the United States sometimes sat idle in the face of Nazi terror...from this book you can feel the deep impact world events had on individual lives.

For anyone who is interested in the events of WWII or wants insight into the life of a very couragous man, a man of character, this book is an excellent read...I could not put it down. I salute you Michel Thomas...you are a hero!

The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett is about a girl, Mary Lennox, who has spent her entire life in India. When her parents encounter a strange and mysterious illness that leads to death, Mary must move to England and stay there with her uncle, whom she's never seen or met before. Strange things are going on at Misselthwait Manor, like a garden that's locked up for an unknown reason, and a strange crying sound in the middle of the night. I enjoyed this book a lot because Ms. Burnett made the characters seem real, the plot exciting, and the ordinary seem unordinary.
Francis Hodgson Burnett made the characters in The Secret Garden seem real to me because of the description. For example, this is what she has to say about Mary, first thing on the first page, right after you open the book. "When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwait Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. It was true, too. She had a little thin face and a little thin body, thin light hair and a sour expression. Her hair was yellow, and her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another." Can't you just picture Mary in your head? Ms. Burnett describes all her characters so well you can see them, and are positive that you have met that person before, no matter if they are mentioned just once, or on every page.
The plot of The Secret Garden is exciting because there are lots of different things going on at once. To illustrate, Mary is trying to get into the locked garden. She's also trying to make friends with Colin, her disabled cousin, and to adjust to life in England with her uncle and no parents. If I had that many things going on in my life, it certainly wouldn't be boring!
In The Secret Garden, Ms. Burnett makes the ordinary seem unordinary in many ways. One way is that everything is seen through the eyes of a disagreeable, spoiled, ten-year-old girl. I'm not very much older than ten myself, but I don't think that wandering around in a huge old house on a rainy day is exciting, but through Mary's eyes it is. In addition to that, Ms. Burnett makes the ordinary seem unordinary by combining unusual character traits. Take Mary's uncle for example. He's a mean old man with a crooked back, and he's married. Alone, those two things are perfectly normal seen every day, but you don't expect to see those two things together when someone's being described.
An exciting plot, the unordinary turned ordinary, and very realistic characters are my favorite things about The Secret Garden. In reality, the whole book is a treasure to cherish. If you've never read this book, you really should. If you've only read it once, read The Secret Garden again and again. I know I will.

Like most classics of children's literature, "The Secret Garden: deals with very human emotions: love, apathy, fear, trust. The author has woven a very real tale about people that change due to their interactions with each other.

The central character, Mary, undergoes a transformation that she, in turn, causes her cousin to do, likewise. Both children begin to see that the world is not centered on them and they hold their own "keys" to unlocking the wonders of life. This growth is an essential element in the story.

Even the supporting characters play an important part in the telling of the story. Mrs. Medlock is comparable to all the servants that Mary has had in the past - those that just did as they were told. Martha's friendliness was instrumental in the charges in Mary's personality. Dickon sparked in Mary her first "crush." Uncle Archibald represented Mary's distant parents.

The story effectively transports the reader to the dark English moors with its constantly rainy days. The immensity of Misselthwaite Manor is described in great detail.

Language of the characters ranged from the learned diction of Mary and her uncle to the "common" tongue of Martha, Ben, and Dickon. It is quite amusing to read the different accents and phrasings.

The highlight of the story is when Colin's ability to walk is revealed to his father. This very emotional event is handled with compassion and delicacy. The reader can visualize the expression on the father's face as he sees his son stand for the first time.

The true "secret" of the garden is not in the foliage that grows within; it is that one's life can blossom if there is caring and faith to help it grow.

I'm well known for swiping my two daughters school books especially if they're classics as was this book. Of course, I read it when I was younger and the thrill of seeing my girls reading the same book made me want to read this wonderful book again. It's a wonderful story about a young girl, Mary, who becomes an orphan while living in India with her parents so she is sent to her Uncle's manor on the Yorkshire hills in England. She starts to ramble around the big old house and soon discovers her sickly cousin, Colin, who is being fussed over and treated like an invalid by the servant. Without spoiling the story for you, they find a secret garden, which is an absolute mess. Overgrown and unkempt for many years. The garden was once tended by Mister Craven's wife (Colin's mother) who has since passed on. The story revolves around the children's adventures in the garden and amazing things start to happen. Colin finally walks without the aid of his wheelchair and Mister Craven makes a sudden trip home to the manor only to find the children in the garden. He has been extremely down and his heart broken since his wife died which is why he had locked the garden as his wife was the only one who tended it. The story is very deep and is actually a story of healing, joy, tears and finally facing ones obstacles. All stemming from an overgrown garden! Well, that has always been the way I've envisioned this story. But please read it for yourself and make your own judgment.

In the story of Puss In Boots, a miller dies and leaves one of his sons nothing but the cat. This cat turns out to be quite clever and earns the favor of the King for his master. The cat also obtains land and a castle for his master and gives him the title of the Marquis of Carabas. The King becomes so impressed by the Marquis that he offers his daughter's hand in marriage, and the simple miller's son becomes a prince. The use of clever illustration makes this book an effective piece of folk lore. "Narrative Expectations: The Folklore Connection" discusses the basic pattern of a folktale. The article states that every folktale begins with the main character of the story being no different from or more special than any other character. Then, out of nowhere, the character is boosted into a "supernatural world" and all of a sudden he is moved up to higher society and viewed as a hero (67). This resembles the plot pattern of Puss In Boots, with the Marquis being the average character who becomes a hero. This jump to a higher level of society out of luck is strangely enough realistic in the twenty-first century. With things like inheritance, lotteries, and the stock market, a person of today could easily go from the poor miller's son to a "prince." However, this is not a common occurrence. The article also states that folklore "functions in part as an informal system for learning the daily logic and worldview of the people around us (71)." The author chooses not to use human characters to represent Master Slyboots and the rich ogre. He could have done this easily with illustration by making Master Slyboots a servant boy and the ogre a Marquis. Instead, he uses an informal style, placing animal characters in the book. This represents a higher level: Using animals in contrast to humans in order to show the differences in people as a whole.

This new translation of the "fairy" story first presented by Charles Perrault (1628-1703) in his Tales of Mother Goose in 1697 was illustrated by Fred Marcellino and translated by Malcolm Arthur. It was a 1991 Caldecott Honor book (that is, a runner-up to the Medal winner) for best illustrations in a book for children. The youngest son of a recently deceased miller receives a cat as his inheritance. He feels that he will soon die of starvation (after he has eaten the cat) since he has no other possessions. But, the cat convinces him to get him boots. The cat proceeds to find a fortune and a position for his young master.

I regularly visit school classrooms and read aloud to children from Kindergarten through eighth grade. Finding books that appeal to more than one grade level is a challenge.

I have found that the pictures in this version of 'Puss' appeal immensely to kindergartners through third graders. (Fourth and Fifth grade children also like it, but are often embarassed to say so in a classroom setting!). Children who often have a hard time sitting still for a story have sat transfixed as I read this book, holding the pictures in front of them all the time and giving them lots of opportunities to check out the wonderful use of light and color. The illustrator uses a lot of wonderful yellow that is very appealing to young children and seems to draw them into the book. I love reading this book out loud both to see children's reaction and also because I love the detail and color in the pictures.

Reading this book aloud has also sparked some beautiful art work from young children.

This is a thrilling account of one British officer's determination to survive and, even more, do everything possible to help win the war. The things this man experienced are almost incomprehensible, yet he endured it all with spirit and never let his fellow men down. It's one of the better-written post-war memoirs I've read, and one of the most enthralling.

When World War II began, Frederick Yeo-Thomas was running the Paris fashion house of Molyneux. At his age, he could have easily sat out the war, parachuting into occupied France as an agent of Britain's Special Operations Executive. He was one of Britain's most heroic secret agents, and played a major role in the growth of the French Resistance. He survived the war, but just barely.

Readers of Leo Marks' "Between Silk and Cyanide" will recognize Yeo-Thomas...he was a man for whom Marks had intense admiration.

The writing style of "White Rabbit" is craftsmanlike but not exceptional.

This book reads stranger than any fiction I can recall. The events that take place for this covert operator in WWII france will make a man doubt his own ability to confront adversity of a similar kind and to indure torture and a certain expectation of a gruesome death. An Iron will, indomitable spirit and some good fortune add up to the survival of a man who was a member of the greatest covert organization to ever exist in the free world. I personally know the son of one of the characters in the book and after talking to him about his fathers comments on The White Rabbit I can reassure you that as amazing as this story is, it is true.

I purchased this book based on these reviews and I was disappointed. I am interested in ANTIQUE Limoges vs newer pieces of Limoges and new boxes from retail shops. Love Schiffer books and I highly recommend Antique Limoges at Home.

This is the perfect book for the person wanting to know about Limoges porcelain. From Limoges Boxes to specific manufactures of all different types of pieces, it's all in here! The pictures are beautiful! The backmarks and values make it a great tool for anyone wanting to collect Limoges.

Waterbrook-Clyde have done a lot of research in compiling their list of backmarks for so many various Limoges companies. There are also many photos of beautiful and unusual pieces of Limoges porcelain. They have done a great job with a very difficult study.