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Great survey of tax ideas for 2002. None better.

This book is based on the true life experiences of two girls who accompanied their whaling families aboard whaling vessels at the end of the ninteenth century. Their experiences are combined in this fictional journal chronicling a character's life at sea.

The girl's voice is vivid and real, her experiences easy to imagine.

The illustrations sometimes try to look like a child's ink sketches in a diary and sometimes are double-page color depictions of incidents in the book.

I think the placement of the glossary at the beginning is great. I enjoyed the author's note at the end also.

Nine-year-old Laura, daughter of a whaling captain, has never even seen her parents' home in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She was born on the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii) and has lived most of her life there. But now, her father has decided that the whole family will join him on this voyage home to Massachusetts. So Laura, her mother, and her seven-year-old brother board her father's ship and sail north to the Arctic, where they must face excitement, danger, and long days of boredom before they can return home. This book featured lovely drawings and was told through Laura's diary entries. Laura's character was based on two real daughters of whaling captains, Laura Jernengan and Mary Williams. This is a good book for younger readers interested in historical fiction.

Most people know of only one book by Thackeray: his witty and savage masterpiece VANITY FAIR. PENDENNIS, perhaps his second-best book, is certainly no slouch itself: a funny, rollicking Bildungsroman, PENDENNIS chronicles the adventures of a loveable young man who almost always manages to get himself into trouble, and his tribulations with the several attractive women in his life (including his young mother). There are some definite slow patches to the work, but for the most part it moves almnost at a rip-roaring pace, and it has none of the overseriousness that mars Thackeray's later works (such as the fascinating, but slowpaced THE NEWCOMES). This is Victorian reading at its most pleasurable, if not its most intellectually challenging.

This is without a doubt one of the funniest and enjoyable novels I have ever read! Do not let the length of the book scare you, Thackeray's brilliant and unique style makes it an easy joy to read. I admit there are some lulls but overall PENDENNIS will earn an honored place on any bookshelf.

What a great way to teach science. Children learn best when they can relate to what they are learning and they can relate to most food. Tell them, they forget; show them they remember; but once they've made it and eaten it they will understand(paraphrase of a chinese proverb). I consider this a significant book in our collection for teachers and future teachers.

I've had fun with this book as a teacher in my own classroom, as a parent and grandparent in my own kitchen, and best of all as a substitute teacher using it for filler in high school chemistry classes and sometimes wowing advanced chemistry students with how much I know for "just being a mommy." My kids have more vivd memories of this book than they do of video games.

I liked the legend part of the book and the book is quite compelling

Peter Dickinson's skilfully woven tale of fictional Varina's attempts to become independant is an excellent story. Its bitter, deceitful history becomes evident as Letta, an English teenager, visits Varina with her Varinian grandfather, only to be met by soldiers and guns. A must-read

This is the first book I have read in over a year...I enjoy it a lot my favorite Character ( a though dead in this book) is Janet the petite, spunky girl, who demonstrated her spirit many times while they were buried in the darkness together. She hit by a bus in an early book I have yet to read...But if you want a page turner GET THIS ONE!!!

This is book #6 in the Mollie Fox series. In this book Mollie solves the mystery from book#5 (Death Threat). She also encounters characters from the other books, First to Die(#1), Double Dose(#2), The Third Degree(#3), Fourth-Quarter Fix(#4), and Death Threat(#5). In Six Deadly Lies Mollie finds out about a new Mafia gang that is arriveing in the US. She also finds out what really happened to her friend Janet Tze who was "accidently" hit by a bus. But if Mollie dosen't find out who's behind it all in time, she'll be the next to die.

I really liked this series. I especially like how this hard cover collects the entire run of Milligan/Allreds X-Force into one easy to read volume. Peter Milligan and Mike Allreds work is very spectacular! I had sworn off of Marvel books around 8 years ago but I could not resist the work of two of my favorites. Peter Milligans writing is quick, witty and interesting and I love Mike Allreds drawing style. My only gripe about this book was that the last issue of the series/collection was drawn by Duncan Fegredo and his artwork is possibly some of the worst artwork I have ever seen in any book. After reading through this large collection it was a bit of a letdown to have the "FINAL ISSUE" be drawn in such a haphazard way. I am serious. A third grader could have drawn the book more enjoyably than Duncan Fegredo! His "artwork" is a big detraction and to me, held this book back from being 5 stars. That being said I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes irreverant heroes to read.

I can't say im a big fan of Marvel in general and X-titles are usually unapealing to me, but i am a fan of Mike Allred. Based on my love for Mike Allred's own Madman, i decided to give X-Force a chance and bought the hardcover version which collects the tpbs as well as some other extras. I wasnt disapointed, the writing by Peter Milligan is decent, better than 80 percent of whats out there at least, and Mike Allred's drawing style is clean, and uniquely his own. Laura Allred's colors are, as always, astoundingly bright and beautiful.

The story telling in X-Force is fast paced and teeming with satire. All in all, the book manages to be interesting and hold one's attention, but Id recomend you run to your local comic book store and leaf through the first few pages of the first trade paperback to see if this is really your bag, as the book deals with mature subjects and contains tons of graphic death scenes.

Jane Austen is definitely one of the greatest novelists of the world. I've read Pride and Prejudice &Emma and loved them both. However, I was disappointed with Sense and Sensibility. The story of two sisters altogether different from each other could be an interesting plot ... if it had Austen's usual style. Austen is famous for her keeping her balance between too romantic and too realistic. This time her style is much too romantic and by no means both feet on the ground. The sensible sister Elinor is really a charachter to fall in love with ,but the incredibly romantic sister Marienne has driven me nuts by talking foolishly throughout the book. Still , a good experience and worth reading.

Anyone who gives this book a bad review has no class. Jane Austen is one of the most celebrated writers in history. You just have to get past the fancy words. Beneath that is a classic and romantic story. Sense and Sensibility is the best romance novel I have ever read. I would recommend watching the movie first, though, if your Old English vocabulary isn't very strong.

I have read all of Jane Austen's novels at least once, and"Sense and Sensibility" is, at the moment, my favorite,because it was the last one I read. Jane Austen is - and always willbe - my absolute favorite writer. I love the way she can take just an average person and reveal the hero or heroine inside.

This is just what she does with Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. The central theme of this novel is not the love between a boy and a girl; it is about the love between two sisters and how they come to a better understanding of each other when they are forced to endure similar situations and handle them in completely different manners.

When each sister, through dissimilar circumstances, discovers that the happiness she had believed she would find in marriage is not to be, it at first appears that Elinor is rather cold and heartless - more worried about propriety than feelings - and that Marianne is more in touch with her emotions and would rather express her grief than take into account how her display will affect those who love her...

As for the relationship between the sisters, at the beginning, Marianne seems to pity Elinor for her lack of esteem for art and poetry, and she believes that Edward is not worthy of her. Elinor, while seeing the youthful faults of her sister, always keeps a sense of humour and does everything out of love for her and the rest of the family. In the middle, Marianne believes that no one has ever suffered as she, and continues to pity Elinor for her inadequacies...

This is a wonderful and deeply moving novel that should be read more than once to be thoroughly understood and appreciated.

The sequel of the miraculous book "Hatchet",known as "The River", by Gary Paulsen,is based on a story about a 15-year old boy named Brian Robeson.He faced 54 days alone in the woods with nothing but a hatchet two years ago because of a plane crash. But fortuanatly, he was recued at the end of summer. Now a young govorment psychologist named Derek Holtzer persuades him to go into the woods again so Derek can learn his survival techniques. Brian and his mother agreed, so soon enough, he was heading toword the woods next to a lake similar to the one he had been at two years ago. For the first few days everything was going fine, but later, during a terrible storm, Derek is struck by lightning and falls into a coma, while the radio is dead.Brian soon learns that Derek will die of thirst unless Brian can get him medical help 100 miles down the river. Brian builds a raft to try carry Derek and him across the river, but will Brian be able to save Derek in time? Read the book to find out. Overall, I think the book was pretty good, but not exactly great. The reason it's not terrific because it's a bit boring and I'm not that into survival stories anyway. But remember, that's my opinion. I think the book would be great for children around the age 9 who like danger and survival stories because the book is about how Brian shows how he survives to the wilderness and the reading level is meant is for these students. If you like "The River" you can read "Hatchet" or "Brian's Winter", a companion to both of these books. I hope you enjoy reading these books!

The book The River by Gary Paulsen is about a boy named Brian Robensen. He is about 15 years old, and is just getting used to being home after being stranded in the Canadian Wilderness Area. Three men come to his home and ask him to do it again. He decides he will do it to save peoples lives. One man, Derrick, who is with the wilderness survival center, goes with him to the wilderness. The plane leaves and the two only have a radio to call if there is trouble. Trouble comes in the form of lightning, and strands Brian with Derrick in a coma, and the radio is dead. He decides the river is his only hope to civilization...

The book overall was good, but There were one or two things I didn't like, such as Gary Paulsen doesn't explain the camping site very well. He just says that it has a fort, and a fire pit, and the usual camping site stuff. He should have described into detail the fort, and the fire pit, and all the rest of it. Another thing I didn't like was the fact that he introduced the two problems at once. It isn't very realistic that Derrick was holding the radio during his sleep, and the lightning bolt just happened to hit right as the two were sleeping. One thing I did like was the non stop action the whole time after the introduction of the problem. Brian is constantly chasing a raft, or pulling on the raft. I really liked the action of this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes wilderness survival, or action books, or who just like to try to figure out how to overcome a problem. You are constantly guessing how he will get out of a problem or if he will get out of problems.

You must read The River. It's a book where Brian argues with a government psychologist over survival gear and battles a raging, ripping river with only a small, homemade raft. Brian is being paid by the Canadian government to teach his survival tactics, that he used in Hatchet, to instructors for the army. The only big change for this trip is that Brian won't be alone. A young government psychologist named Derek Holtzer will accompany him on this survival. Also Brian and Derek will be dropped off at a different Canadian lake. The plane is carrying plenty of gear, such as a tent, gun, sleeping bags, fishing gear and a radio. Brian refuses all the gear, except the radio, which Derek promises to use only in dire emergencies. The camp goes well. Brian gets a fire started and they make their beds. Brian teaches Derek how to shoot fish, and everything is going great until a freak storm erupts. With a loud clap of thunder, Derek reaches for the radio and a bolt of lightning strikes Derek, and puts him in a deep coma. The River is an extremely good novel. I would suggest it to anyone who is into the outdoors, and adventure.

Like all devoted lovers of Jane Austen, I have long pondered why she chose to write this, of all books, at time she was experiencing the intoxicating success of Pride and Prejudice.

The protagonist is a loathesome little priss. Austen herself says so in her letters. Fanny Price is neurotic and oversensitive where Austen's other heroines are brash and healthy. Even Austen's own family found the ending as odd and disappointing as do subsequent generations of readers.

So there's a puzzle to be solved here. The answer may lie in the fact that this book was written when, after a lifetime of obscurity, Austen found herself, briefly, a huge success. As is so often the case with writers, the success of her earlier book may have given her the courage to decided write about something that REALLY mattered to her--and what that was was her own very complex feelings about the intensely sexual appeal of a morally unworthy person.

This topic, the charm of the scoundrel, is one that flirts through all her other books, usually in a side plot. However, the constraints of Austen's day made it impossible for her to write the story of a woman who falls for a scoundrel with a sympathetic viewpoint character.

So what I think Austen may have decided to do was to write this story using Edmund--a male--as the sympathetic character who experiences the devastating sexual love of someone unworthy. Then, through a strange slight of hand, she gives us a decoy protagonist--Fanny Price, who if she is anything, is really the judgemental, punishing Joy Defeating inner voice--the inner voice that probably kept Jane from indulging her own very obvious interest in scoundrels in real life!

In defense of this theory, consider these points:

1. Jane herself loved family theatricals. Fanny's horror of them and of the flirting that took place is the sort of thing she made fun of in others. Jane also loved her cousin, Eliza, a married woman of the scoundrelly type, who flirted outrageously with Jane's brother Henry when Jane was young--very much like Mary Crawford. The fact is, and this bleeds through the book continuously, Austen doesn't at all like Fanny Price!

To make it more complex, Fanny's relationship with Henry Crawford is an echo of the Edmund-Mary theme, but Austen makes Henry so appealing that few readers have forgiven Austen for not letting Fanny liven up a little and marry him! No. Austen is trying to make a case for resisting temptation, but in this book she most egregiously fails.

2. Austen is famous for never showing us a scene or dialogue which she hadn't personally observed in real life, hence the off-stage proposals in her other books.

Does this not make it all the more curious that the final scene between Edmund and Mary Crawford in which he suffers his final disillusionment and realizes the depths of her moral decay comes to us with some very convincing dialogue? Is it possible that Jane lived out just such a scene herself? That she too was forced by her inner knowlege of what was right to turn away from a sexually appealing scoundrel of her own?

3. Fanny gets Edmund in the end, but it is a joyless ending for most readers because it is so clear that he is in love with Mary. Can it be that Austen here was suggesting the grim fate that awaits those who do turn away from temptations--a lifetime of listening to that dull, upstanding, morally correct but oh so joyless voice of reason?

We'll never know. Cassandra Austen burnt several years' worth of her sister's letters--letters written in the years before she prematurely donned her spinster's cap and gave up all thoughts of finding love herself. Her secrets whatever they were, were kept within the family.

But one has to wonder about what was really going on inside the curious teenaged girl who loved Samual Richardson's rape saga and wrote the sexually explicit oddity that comes to us as Lady Susan. Perhaps in Mansfield Park we get a dim echo of the trauma that turned the joyous outrageous rebel who penned Pride and Prejudice in her late teens into the staid, sad woman when she was dying wrote Persuasion--a novel about a recaptured young love.

So with that in mind, why not go and have another look at Mansfield Park!

Jane Austen is one of the best storytellers I have had the pleasure of reading. My favorite aspect of Austen's writing is her characterization; She acquaints the reader with her characters through the most ingenious and subtle techniques. My favorite denizen of Mansfield Park is the irritating and repulsive Mrs. Norris, who is a preeminent example of masterful characterization. For an illuminating artistic look at this novel read Vladimir Nabokov's wonderful and incomparable "Lectures on Literature", which includes a detailed study of "Mansfield Park"---don't miss it, it's a real treat.

While I have enjoyed other books by Austen, this one is unique among them in that the plot structure is, for the most part, quite complicated; and, what singles "Mansfield Park" out artistically is its style, as opposed to its story. Some passages are exceptional; for example, the scene where the main characters stroll about Sotherton Court approximates the scene at the county fair in Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" in its complexity, orchestration, and execution. Parts of "Mansfield Park" are simply exquisite.

Unfortunately, the denouement is something like a train wreck. The last 1/3-1/4 of the book is stylistically dull, though structurally sound, and the last twenty or so pages read like Cliff Notes. The ending should have been much longer in order to resolve the various, complicated elements of the plot with the stylistic grace of the first 2/3s of the novel. The uneven execution sets "Mansfield Park" a step below the best of Austen's (approximate) contemporaries (Flaubert and Dickens, for example), but "Mansfield Park" still makes the short list of my favorite novels.

I must admit that the first half of this book is somewhat slow and at times quite difficult to hold attention to. I understand that the setting, personalities, and situations must be established in the first half. Even so, the story is a gem well worth reading. It has quite a different feel from the other Jane Austen books and the characters stick to your mind as people you will never forget. A few characters are quite tragic yet do not deserve sympathy, which provides an interest in the reader's mind. Fanny Price, the main character of the book, is an admirable and intelligent person whom I would not mind modeling myself after. This is a GREAT book, so don't miss your chance to read it.