Mary Bellanova comes home from work one day to find her boyfriend dead. She starts to track down his old girlfriends and finds she doesn't know as much about him as she thought. What follows is hilarious and touching while staying a frighteningly real look at life in the East Village of NYC. Arthur Nersesian develops a great (and occasionally-insane) female character that anyone can identify with. I picked up the book based on its front cover and my familiarity with the Tompkins Square Dog Run where a bit of the action takes place, but now I'm hooked on Nersesian's work. With my having just moved away from the East Village, this book is like coming home.

I just finished reading this book and I loved it. I don't normally read more humorous books, because I think I won't get very much out of them, but I was very wrong. Dogrun has changed me forever. Nersesian had me laughing all the way through this woman's journey of love. With every twist of bad luck, you couldn't help but smile and say, that's life. This book is truly the book of life, with all of it's ups and downs, it tells the story of us, humans. The narrator of the story, Mary is a 29 year old temp worker and hopeful writer, who discovers her boyfriend of 6 months, dead in her apartment one day after work. From this spins an uncontrolable tale of finding out about someone's past and finding out who you really are. Mary's search for answers in her life, makes the reader ponder questions in their lives. Like why are we in the relationships we are in? Along the way you meet crazy characters that all seemed linked to Mary's dead boyfriend, the most memorable being a hard rocker and ex-stripper named Sue Wott. If you want a fast paced, remarkable book, that will leave you laughing but thinking, read this book. I have now become one of Arthur Nersesian's biggest fans! You won't regret buying this book.

As someone who's visited New York only once and that was ten years ago (back when Times Square was Disney and Carson Daly-free), I was skeptical about reading Dogrun. Many novels that focus on a particular geographic location tend to forget that some semblance of universality is needed. And based on other reviews of Nersesian's work, it seemed his appeal was limited mainly to New Yorkers and East Village inhabitants.

After finishing this book, however, I realized I couldn't be more wrong. Nersesian has a gift for creating new yet familiar characters that take you for a weird, funny, neurotic and frantic ride. While Dogrun's plot does tend to get a bit soap opera-ish as another reviewer commented, the book's true appeal is its narrator, Mary Bellanova. Cynical yet loveable, neurotic yet hopeful, Mary is an absolute charmer. Her wry, appealing view on all things related to love and living in New York is universal enough that any late twentysomething/early thirtysomething urban dweller can identify with her predicaments.

But the true test of Dogrun's success is it's ability to leave the reader wanting more. Few books these days succeed at that task. While Nersesian's roster thus far hasn't included any sequels, one hopes that Dogrun isn't the last we've heard of Mary Bellanova and her wacky gallery of friends, deadbeat boyfriends and obnoxious employers. Highly recommended.

Arthur Millers, The Crucibal, is a wonderfully written dramatic play. It is intersting and absorbing. The history of the play begins from the communist "witch-hunts", which inspired Miller to write the book. An easy reader, but very thought provoking. Worth reading at any age!

In this book, not only does Miller define a modern hero, but he also finds distinct parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and the Red Scare. The book shows an array of impressionable characters who will not only spark emotion in you, but will make you think. There is the everlasting struggle between Good and Evil, Personal belief and Broad interpretation, Individual and Society, and most importantly personal judgement. Could a similar circumstance happen again right here in America? Most definitely. Do people allow themselves to be suppressed and deceived? Absolutely. Does Miller allow his readers to see their selves, peers, and beliefs in a new light? Without a doubt. This book is a piece of history in more ways than one.

First off, the way the Crucible relates to the post-war era and the 1950 McCarthy trials make it a prime choice of reading material for high school students. As a high school student myself, I found the book very interesting as a psychoanalysis of human nature. Arthur Miller has explored the concepts of guilt and hypocrisy in a very unique fashion.

The theme of how a repressed society reacts to hysteria is perused in this drama. My personal belief is that people who entrust their lives to unproven dogma find themselves trapped in a form of repression. This includes the conservative outlook posted by the former reviewer of this book.

Lies, hypocrisy, and lust are themes that teenagers begin to encounter in high school. To refuse them the liberty to have complete access to literature is to lock down the developing, free and independent thinking mind. Thus, the banning and removal of books deemed "inappropiate" by biased standards results in the formation of a repressed society much like the Puritans in the early 1600's.

Ignorance may be bliss for you, but don't punish others because of your biased, uproven religious dogma. Our society will succeed if the next generation is given a chance to use their BRAINS. Our society will fail if the conservative coalition destroys independent thinking.

Conformism is your enemy.

I give this book four stars for it's interest. The reason I read this book was for the Arthurian connections. If that's what you're looking for, it may or may not be what you'll find. For one thing, don't expect Lancelot or Guinvere to ever come into the story. Lord Artos -the legendary King Arthur- is a bachelor. I am not a huge horse fan, but I did enjoy the horse connections in this story. The conflict in "Black Horses" relates to the Saxon threat and to recent Irish raids. To prove his power and define his strength, Lord Artos acquires the enormous Libyan stallions. One problem- they're footsore, with problems like cracked hooves, growth rings etc, arising. That's when the "horse sandals" are made. "Black Horses" explores this knowledge and the devotion to Lord Artos through the eyes of Galwyn. It is a very good book, and I'd recommend it for a bit of light reading.

I really enjoyed this book. So much I have read it twice. It is great for the horse lover because it tells about where farriring may have begun. I really like the characters and it gave me another point of view of King Arthur! I was sad when it was over and wished we could have learned more about the lives of the characters and the great war horses.

In a departure from her normal fare of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Anne McCaffrey gives us a hugely believable tale of King Arthur, and the true uniting of all the Britons. Told from the point of view of a young runaway, Galwyn Varianus, Black Horses traces Lord Artos', who is later thought to be King Arthur's, search for fast horses. These horses had to be big enough and strong enough for his knights to ride to give the Britons a fighting chance against the bigger armies of the Saxons.

Historically accurate, Black Horses is a fast read, and an emminetly exciting story. Despite the lack of the mystical turn of the normal King Arthur tale, or perhaps because of it, Black Horses for the King takes the reader into a realm of fantasy both thrilling and moving. A highly satisfying story aimed at the young adult, Black Horses is a treat for all readers, young and old alike. King Arthur fans will enjoy this unique look at their favorite hero, and those who like more realism in their stories will like this likely view of a piece of history.

I had high expectations concerning Dust, and was quite disappointed.

It was certainly well written, and at the beginning I was hooked and wanted to find out what was happening. But it degenerated into something unrealistic, weird and silly. The ending was a complete let down.

Abram Harsich is a skin-crawling amalgum of Humbert Humbert, Professor Harold Hill, and one of Philip Pullman's villains. The book was profoundly compelling until the conclusion, which I found to be a bit of a deus ex machina. Excellent writing and fascinating premise, though I wish the author would have rounded out the nature of his universe with more information.

It's a prairie town, some people have cars, most drive horses. It hasn't rained for a long time. Young Matthew is going into town to spend his nickle on candy. He is dreaming of candy when a pickup appears down the dusty road. Abram Harsich convinces Matthew he should hop in and get a ride to town. Matthew vanishes off the face of the earth.
Eleven-year-old Robert dreams of science fiction novels and longs to read "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea", but he's Matthews older brother, and he hears the pickup coming down the road. He can't tell how he knows but he sees the pickup in his mind. He thinks he should have gone into town with seven-year-old Matthew. "Seven years old is too young to walk to town.."
Abram Harsich begins a campaign to convice the whole town that he can build a rain mill and end the draught. His fancy mirror show begins to cast a spell over the the people of Horseshoe. More children go missing. But the spell is one of forgetting. Somehow, only Robert remembers.
This book is simply marvelous. YOU will be spellbound, too.

I read this book a long time ago, and thought it was okay, althought the first, blade of the posioner was better.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone knew if there was a third book in the series? I still have a lot of questions...

One thing I didn't like: EVERY OTHER CHARACTER'S NAME WAS AN ATROCIOUS PUN IN LATIN!!! I mean, minor deities with names translating to "rainbow," villains with names translating to "darkness," "destruction," or "stinker..."(no, wait, the villain whose name meant "stinker" was in the first book. My mistake.)

When I first read this, I got the feel of increasing energy as the book moved along, building up to a feverish pitch at the end where all hell breaks loose. The result was me hammering my fists to the floor in exhultation!

...reponding to the comment about Latin puns: I had no idea! However this does not annoy me. It actually increases my repect of Hill. I did not expect any type of hidden meaning in a book intended for young adults. Bravo!

THIS BOOK CERTAINLY HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD. HERE WE FIND DIRECTION AND WORKABLE IDEAS TO REACH THE YOUTH IN OUR COMMUNITIES. REV MCCRAY STATED FACT THAT OUR YOUTH WILL NOT COME TO THE CHURCH COMMUNITY, BUT WE NEED TO MINISTER TO THE YOUTH WHERE THEY ARE! GO INTO THE WORLD AND TEACH. IF EVERYONE WOULD TAKE ON A SERVANT ROLE, WE COULD POSITIVELY EMPOWER THE NATION THROUGH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE.

This book covers classical Euclidian geometry. It has been around a long time. (The 1982 copyright date is just the last time the text was revised for printing. The pictures etc. date back to the 1940's.) The exercises are delightfully challenging.

Amazon listed the book's reading level as "young adult". I have been teaching advanced HS geometry classes with this book for 6 years, and I can report that most bright students find the language challenging without someone to help them along. If you are homeschooling etc, you may want to investigate whether you can get the solution text from the publisher.

I give the exercises in the book 5 stars. Again and again I find myself saying: wow I never would have thought of that. The text that accompanies the exercises gets only three stars.

This is an excellent book for research about Watauga County, and it's early settlers. This book is a reprint of the 1915 edition and portions of it can be found online on my geocities site, Heartland/Estates/8473, when there, just click on the "Watauga" link and then watch for the name of the book. This book has original photographs and is a very nice volume to own and is just as nice as some of the other reprints out there, at a better price. Highly desirable if you do genealogy research in Watauga County. This book from the Overmountain Press, Johnson City, TN has a full name index which helps tremendously when doing your research.

If you want to know about everything about the beginning of America, this is definitely the book for you! Great for school American history classes.

As a younger person in the nineties, I dipped into the plays of Shakespeare, and this book let me get into the classic stuff. It was interesting, put into kids' stories so as not to intimidate the younger enthusiast, and altogether, it was a good book. I suppose you have to be in to Shakespeare to enjoy it wholly though....

A gentle, relaxing dip into Shakespeare. I'll give two stars.

Charles and Mary Lamb's classic book on Shakespeare retains too much of the archaic language of the actual works to interest grade school children. While the work might appeal to upper grades and high school students anxious to find an alternative to reading the actual plays, as an introduction to Shakespeare for young children, the book is a failure. It compares unfavorably with Ian Serralier's out-of-print classic THE TEMPEST AND OTHER TALES: STORIES FROM SHAKESPEARE, which uses modern language and glowing imagery to effectively communicate the universal appeal of Shakespeare to the very young. I can testify to this since it was Serralier's book, read in the third grade, that first interested me in the Bard. I stumbled upon Lamb's book later. If I had found Lamb's book first, I would have concluded that Shakespeare was something dry and dull for grownups, and it would have been forced down my throat in the upper grades. As things turned out, I have a lifelong love of the Bard thanks to Serralier's book. A publisher with any sense would reprint it

Although this book is written for children it is great for all ages and is great to get the basic story line before you go to a play. I read most of the plays in this book (I have not yet read all of them) when I was 11. Now that I have been reading the actual plays of Shakespeare I always start by reading the short version of the play in this book and than read the actual play. I can understand what is going on much better that way. I also recommend "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children" by Edith Nesbit which gives about ten page versions of each story verses the thirty pages per story in this book and also has a smaller vocabulary which makes it better for younger children.