Dorothea Tanning shows an incredibly wide range of artistic styles in this compilation of her works. Some of the most intruiging and inspiring paintings I have ever seen!

I went to Columbia, with the most prominent 'great books' curriculum still in existence. 25 years later, I'm finding myself re-reading and discussing many of the titles. The Penn Greek Drama series is a handsome library of new translations that give fresh takes on the classics. It's useful to have Euripides on the shelf when you return home from the recent bravura performance by Fiona Shaw as Medea--it settled an argument too on how it 'originally' ended.

As you read through this masterful yet succinct examination of the state of the family in Britain today, you are struck, in part at least that despite the social upheaval in Britain in the post war years, much of our social structure remains intact.

Despite the many freedoms won by women and by men particularly in the last forty years or so, what is more surprising than anything else is how conservative Britain has turned out to be. True, the work excludes factors such as race and ethnicity as well as immigration and the impact these may have had on the overall figures, but despite everything, to a degree, the traditional behaviours of marriage hold good to a great extent.

Before anyone should think that I am a supporter of this conservative picture, let me assure readers that I am not. While I think that the study here is a good one, I also am of the belief that the notion of a traditional family is an artificial construct which does not have real meaning.

For instance, it is only about 150 years agao roughly speaking that women were considered to be mere chattels once they became married or put it another way, what is mine is mine and what is hers (including her) is mine too.Female sexuality was under male control as was reproduction. Divorce laws were changed such that women could divorce their husbands. The point here is that this artifact of the family, far from it being something to aspire to has been endowed with a mythological significance which cannot be supported. The breadwinning husband is a construct to, denying women the right to work and the right to financial independence. The conclusion I draw from this is that diversity is good and that all men and women should be free to make their own choices.

I find that the conservatives of all parties who purport to produce evidence to establish the suffering of children and the handicaps in life that they must endure as a result of the lack of married parents are also setting up a straw man. To be sure suffering children are found in many families but often that suffering is a result of insufficient income. The benefits of proper family life are bound to win through if the comparator is a time when most people were in marriages whether they liked it or not. It would not be surprising if mothers in bad marriages devoted their time and energies to their children.

My biggest objection to this book lies in the dogmatic approach set out by Patricia Morgan who seems to be on a crusade against what she terms the atomistic society. This surely must be a topic all on it's own but it does seem to me that the opponents of freedom and liberty are casting their eyes back to a golden age of marriage where none existed. Education is rightly seen as a liberator for women who are as good, if not better than men in many respects. Why should they not have the same freedoms and responsibilities as men for all aspects of their lives. The question really is one of choice. Everyone should have the ability to decide for themselves what they do given the facts available.

In this case, social structure will be determined by those choices and we should be prepared for change whether people like Morgan want to deride it as post-modern or not. The conservatives case is too simplistic and seeks to use emotion and blackmail to return us to an age where men are subjugated to men. For myself, I want to see a time when all people are free to make the most of any opportunities which may be presented to them regardless of sex or colour.

Every student or interested observer of society should read this book and make up their own minds.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It is well written and suspenseful. I couldn't put it down!

This wonderful story about a boy and his horse shows that special bond that can exist between a person and an animal. The illustrations enhance the story. Our family read an article in the Randolph (Vermont) Herald that tells the real story of John and Tom.

I have my personal copy of Land of Cotton cookbook and having found it to contain very good and easy recipes. Have never been disappointed yet. I highly recommend it. I often give it as gifts.

This collection of essays, short stories, and poems all deal with the "Ultimate Question": to be, or not to be. Each philosopher, writer, or poet has contributed his or her own thoughts regarding suicide. Some of the selections are whimsical, such as a poem which discusses different ways of "doing it". Others are thought-provoking and emotional pieces, which bring up thoughts about why people commit suicide, and the feelings felt by those they leave behind. This book is suitable for scholars, teachers, professionals of all sorts, and especially those who may think twice before answering their own "Ultimate Question".

This work by two investigative reporters is extremely interesting and well-written. How accurate it is I do not know, but I know thatI found it to be extremely absorbing reading. E.g.: The authors say that Cardinal Benelli had 70 votes and if he had gotten 75 he would have elected Pope. Since Benelli died Oct. 25, 1982, if he had been elected the whole history of this latter part of the 20th century would have been different!

The Scopes Trial: A Brief History with Documents is a wonderful introduction to the Scopes "monkey" trial and its significance in history. I found the narrative history to be a quick but compelling and informative read, and was especially interested in the way in which the author shows how events during the time period following the First World War influenced the parties and helped to explain their motivations. I also found the documents, including excerpts from the trial transcript and newspaper articles of the time to be very helpful in understanding the manner in which the trial developed and the manner in which it was perceived nationally. Anyone looking for a readable yet informative work on the Scopes trial would be well advised to look into this book.

If you have to choose the story among the Christmas stories I think you should have Ch.Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" among your finalists and many of us might find it as the final choice. Some characters of the story even expand the spheres of Christmas; in the first place we will probably mention Ebenezer Scrooge, who has inspired e.g. Walt Disney quite a lot. It might be that his feathered equivalent, even more prosperous than the (finally) good Ebenezer,is today better known than Dickens' original. One more reason to read the book! Among the rest I'll only mention "Tiny Tim", who has lent his name at least to a tasty species of minitomatoes. The author mixes cunningly facts concerning the social contrasts in 19th century England, rich owners and poor workers, with fictitious ghosts. The latter allow him to move in time, these moves are more related to personal and moral matters than to possible changes in the social frames. The social frames of the story are as well international as English, and they cover - mostly and luckily in a more lenient form - all the ages. The darkest time of the year might make it easier to believe in ghosts or at least accept easier the ones who do so? We can follow how Mr Scrooge's opinions about the members of his staff change, he realizes that he has got some duties towards the people working for him, not just rights to use their skills and time. A kind person is easy to deal with all the year around, one of the wonders of the Yule Tide is that quite a lot of the naughty ones start to behave themselves rather humanly, too. Stories like "A Christmas Carol" might not just bring the reader the right Christmas feeling, but also make some people to change their attitudes - at best not just till Boxing Day Eve but till the next Christmas!

Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen).

This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist.

The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again.

It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.

Charles Dickens writes this story in such detail that you almost believe you have just enjoyed Christmas dinner at the Cratchits home. The characters have so much depth. The made for t.v. or movie screen renditions do not truly depict what Ebenezer Scrooge witnesses with the three spirits that causes such a change in his outlook on life. Such as Scrooge's emotions being quickened by the past heartache in his childhood; seeing how his bad choices caused the hardening of his heart and how deeply it cost him in the end; seeing what could have been his to enjoy and then thinking it could still be his with the Spirit of Christmas Present only to find out the future does not hold any love or joy for him by the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come and instead his actions leave him robbed at death and no one left to grieve for him. Read the book to hear how this story was really written. Even if you have seen every Christmas Carol movie every made, the book will offer so many gold nuggets that you will think you are hearing it for the very first time. Pictures are beautifully detailed throughout the book. Excellent!!!