Away

My second day of reading this book and I am severly upset at our lack of cultural exchange. What have we been missing is the one questions not sufficiently answered by international book reviewers world wide. The treasure trove of supressed literary genius has exploded on to an unprepared public. Don't miss out.

the grimreader.

Don't be put off thinking this is a deep political or cultural book. It is, but it is also fascinating in its detail and fun in the way it opens a door on life in modern China. The pace is none stop and the characters so memorable. By the second page, I could not put the book down, but walked around with it open as I cooked and did laundry with the other hand. Chia Chen is an author with real talent for capturing the moment.

Though the novel (Among The 36 Strategies, Running Away Is The Top One) focuses on the discoveries of one character (Xuya Zhao) on a trip back to her native country, it achieves a nearly epic sweep in its portrayal of the social fabric of contemporary China. It is, first and foremost, a novel about a personal quest-both to uncover secrets in the past and resolve present problems. The quest takes Xuya, the protagonist, from a troubled and conflicted life in New York City to China. In the process, the novel manages to look back into recent Chinese history; to portray the opening of China to the world economy today; and to introduce readers to a large and varied cast of characters. Stylistically, it is virtuosic, ranging from Dickensian caricature to magical-real lyricism to genuinely affecting pathos. Its emotional range is similarly large. Chia Chen has achieved something extraordinary. Writing a novel of great size and scope, she has also managed to mold her material, as various as it is, into an exciting narrative of discovery: Chen's novel is large and important, and it is also a crackling good read.

Enjoyed this book tremendously.

This book is incredible, as a new Arabian breeder, I was feeling overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information and various breed types. I've read a number of books, but overall this one instills the knowledge that even I can have an impact on this beautiful athletic horse. AND it gives me a process and insights on how to go about it. THANK YOU Bazy and Mary Jane!!!!

And Ride Away Singing is an excellent resource for information on Al-Marah Arabians and Crabbet Arabian horses in general. There are many photos, both black-and-white and color, to accompany author Bazy Tankersley's anecdotal history of the breed and her farm. There is also a complete index, which makes it easy to look up people and horses.

Aside from its historical value, ...And Ride Away Singing contains plenty of lessons for Arabian breeders of all experience levels. Tankersley, who has bred over 2,200 purebred Arabians, shares her formula for assessing the quality of her horses with an emphasis on useful conformation. She also laments the overall decline in correctness among halter horses ("Superstars are made, not necessarily born, and you can make a superstar out of a very average kind of horse") and how few breeders hold judging cards today.

Is ...And Ride Away Singing worth reading? Yes, particularly if you're the type of person who appreciates a well-built, functional horse over an untrainable lawn ornament. Admirers of the Al-Marah breeding program will especially enjoy it because the book reveals a number of Tankersley's secrets for breeding better horses. Big money, big name trainers, and big scams are conspicuously missing from this historical account, and that's OK with me.

I enjoyed it very much and found it highly informative, enlightening and evocative. There was a gap in the history of the USAAF. What better could fill it than a volume drafted by those who were there. I am sure that every veteran of those bitter battles in that monumental conflict will want to read your story of the "Pathfinders of the Eighth Air Force". It is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of the USAAF. I thank you for all that you and your colleagues did so many years ago in the fight to preserve our Freedom. Thank you for then and thank you for taking the time now to produce this book-a fine tribute to all the 'pathfinders' of the 8AF.

There are very few books available on the history and missions of the Pathfinders, aircrews of the 482nd Bomb Group who were assigned to various other bomb groups as advance aircraft, using radar and radio beam equipment to search out and identify targets of the day on missions over enemy-held territory. Bombs Away tells the story of three members of an air combat crew in a most unusual and effective manner. Authors Thixton, Moffat, and O'Neil - flying as a bombardier, a ball turret gunner, and a tail and waist gunner, respectively - have collaborated to tell their stories of combat in 1943 and 1944 as members or the Pathfinders. The volume covers the early missions with the 95th Bomb Group and then describes their experiences with the 482nd. The combined views of life on the base and descriptions of combat missions from the authors' varied viewpoints offer a unique and authentic flavor to the entire book. In the early months in England , locating the target presented a problem to the Eighth AF bomb groups, because of the unpredictability of the weather on mission days. The Pathfinders, flying out of Alconbury, opened up a flexibility not previously available, allowing many raids to be successful due to their participation and their expertise in bad weather. Pathfinder aircraft were known to the Luftwaffe and were prime targets for German pilots on the way in during bombing raids. The 482nd worked closely with lead crews of many 8th AF bomb groups, and were involved in intensive training programs. On March 22, 1944 the Pathfinders led their last mission in their previous role, as sufficient H2X bombers were then available to allow a pathfinder group to be established in each division.

Bombs Away is well-researched, with much detail throughout. The personal experiences related by the authors, both on the airbase and in the air, result in a book unique in its premise and fascinating in its presentation, while telling the story of one of the unusual bomb groups of the Mighty Eighth Air Force.

Review by Dr. Walt Brown Spring Hill Tenn.

THE AUTHORS, CREW MATES ON A B-17 BOMBER, TAKE US THROUGH THEIR EXPERIENCES OPERATING THE PLANE DURING WORLD WAR II. THE BOOK IS WRITTEN ON A PERSONAL LEVEL. THE READER GETS A SENSE OF THE CHALLENGES, FEARS AND DIFFICULT DECISIONS THAT THESE YOUNG FIGHTERS HAD TO DEAL WITH ON A MINUTE BY MINUTE BASIS. ONE COMES AWAY FROM THE BOOK WITH A SENSE OF PRIDE AT KNOWING OF THE BRAVERY THESE YOUNG MEN POSSESSED. VERY COMPELLING READING FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THIS PERIOD OF HISTORY.

The ancient Hawaiian culture has always held an air of mystique. The language, not readily understandable by the rest of the world, even has a touch of the unknown. Couple these with a warm tropical paradise and you have the perfect setting for suspense.When Kate McKenna, the daughter of a native Hawaiian mother, visits the island of Maui in search of her heritage, a chance meeting with a mysterious stranger piques her curiosity. The stranger, Dan Kala, is disconcerted with the near-identical resemblance of Kate to a long-dead Princess of Hawaiian Royalty.Beginning with a missing roll of film, unexplainable events begin to occur which seem to have roots in a curse out of the past. When Kate begins to doubt her own sanity she wonders if Dan holds the answers, or is he on a search for his own reasons? TAKE MY BREATH AWAY is a good, suspenseful read that kept me turning the pages.

Take My Breath Away is the fifth Meg O'Brien book I've read and the author continues to amaze me. Her writing is both intelligently crafted and full of suspense. I loved the way she weaved historical fact throughout a modern plot. The heroine is brave, but in a vulnerable sort of way, making me want to cheer her on every step of the way.

This book is interesting and spellbinding. Meg's other books that I love are her Jesse James series and my favorite thriller is "The Keeper". If you like suspence and mystery, you have to read these books. When you read, you are there, you can understand the characters and are rapt to see what happens to them throughout the story. Jesse James of the series is a unique character and as the books evolve so does she. She ages and grows. The only thing wanting about these books is that it takes too long before a new one comes out!

Do yourselves a favor and get into a Meg O'Brien book, you'll be glad you did.

Terri Doria

Mr. Sellier tells a very moving personal story of his experiences in the German Army during World War II. The book covers three parts of his war experience: initial officer's training after secondary school, service in an artillery unit in the Balkans, and, in the last third, a nightmare journey from Rokycany in Czechoslovakia back to army headquarters in Berchetsgaden and on to army provision headquarters in Traunstein and the end of the war. Throughout his experiences, Sellier retains his sense of humanity and concern for his fellow soldiers and for the civilians they encounter, and this comes through strongly in the book. He is a great, personable, story teller and has meticulously reconstructed his army career.

As a young man, Claus attended Castle Bieberstein, an exclusive private school, where his schoolmates included Kaiser Wilhelm's grandson and the nephew of Baron von Richthofen.Their lives in private school were far removed from the reality of the war in 1942, where their biggest worry was whether the war would last long enough for them to graduate and earn a medal. One early wake-up call occurred when the school team went to a Hitler Youth Athletic competition wearing their school uniforms, instead of their Hitler Youth uniforms. Although they won some of the events, they were disqualified, and their behavior led to an investigation of the school by the SS that nearly closed it.

Soon after, Claus and his friends were drafted, and he joined the First Mountain Division, where his three brothers and father were already serving.

His youthful arrogance and independent thinking got him into repeated trouble in officers training school and he was eventually demoted and sent to a combat artillery unit, where he served in Yugoslavia, fighting the Russians. He was 19. Claus grew up fast in combat, as he learned survival skills and became close to the men in his unit. He became a first rate artilleryman and survived many engagements, including a Russian attack in which many of his mates were killed, and he and a few other survivors walked through swamps for days to get back behind German lines.

In April 1945, Klaus and some others from his unit were sent to Artillery Officers School in Rokycany in Czechoslovakia. After only a few days, they were promoted to lieutenants, and Klaus and his friend Fritz were chosen, because they were Bavarians, for the dangerous mission of taking vital documents to Army Headquarters.They remained faithful to this mission while the structure of the German army was collapsing around them into chaos in response to the American advance. They spent a few days in American custody but managed to escape and walked home to Munich, to begin to rebuild their lives.

An amazing book of the thoughts and actions of the youth in Nazi Germany. The author gives one a perspective not seen by the Allies. He attempts to simply the daily life of a youth growing up in Germany during World War II. It gives the student of Nazi Germany a different view of the war through the eyes of its youth. One can see what it was like to be a youth in Germany and be caught in the furor of war. Sellier gives one a vivid view of war with all its futile consequence. He brings to life the strengths and weaknesses of man in war, and the incredible courage endured by men of both sides of war.He denounces war as one not of glory and fame but of evil and terror. This book would be an excellent read to one with a sense of World War II, especially those who fought against the Axis powers. I would suggest this book to any student of World War II. It gives one an excellent view from the other side and shows one a picture of the horror and stupidity of war. A must read for all World War II historians.

Walking away from the Third Reich by Claus W Sellier, is a compelling story of a young German Soldier caught up in the sobering throws of a real war!! At 17, the "glory and honor of fighting for a unified Europe seemed very exciting but reality soon set in with the horrors of true life battles. Young Sellier was forced brutally into maturity and tells his story in a honest and gripping way!! Hearing this story from someone who fought on the "other side" and is now an "American" gives the reader a whole new view on what all sides went through in this time of our history. I would HIGHLY RECOMEND this book to everyone,not only history buffs. It is a story of human interest to all!!!

I hope that Mr Sellier would consider writing about his life experiences after the "War". It would be very interesting to see how his experiences affected his later life.

A very good story of escape from a Germans point of view. Von Werra is obviously a man who likes to expand on his version of events but the authors research into what really took place puts a more credible light on it. I finished the book in 2 days.

Many years ago I saw the film of the same title about von Werra
on TV and I never forgot it. Hardy Kruger gave a wonderful performance of the complex German pilot von Werra. I finally found the book that the film was based on and very glad I did as it expands on the film and tells far more of what happened to von Werra after he escaped from Canada. I definately recommend this book (and the film too) to everyone.

I always enjoy reading war stories,but detest ones that are fake and just unbelivable.This book while with the author taking you through a documentry at the same time did a great job in keeping the reader going.I obtained my copy from a local market stall for $2.00 last saturday and i finished it by Wednesday in the same week,it just wouldn't let me go. The Authors did justice for Von Werra in presenting an biased view of his exploites,you can feel Von Werra's undying determination,his bottomless energy is awe inspiring. The authors made you feel like you were there digging the tunnel or in the cockpit of the Hurricane hoping the mechanic would hurry up with the Accumulator trolley(used to start the aeroplanes).It was just a pity the book has only 286 pages for i would have kept on reading if it had one thousand.It just drew u in and kept you interested all the way.

Bill Pearce

When a new,fresh-minded teacher comes to teach creative english at Sweet valley Middle,Todd Wilkins becomes just as interested in story-writing as Elizabeth is ,even discovering a hidden talent he never knew of before. But Father says no,Todd HAS to concentrate on his basketball;he just won't listen to Todd so Todd decides to run away.

Hey, all of you pre-teens out there! Looking for a great read? Then how about trying the SWEET VALLEY TWINS AND FRIENDS series? This particular book in this series is TODD RUNS AWAY. Todd Wilkins has always been a great basketball player (he's one of his middle school's team star players) and so his father has always been happy with him. But when Todd gets signed up for a special creative writing class at school, Todd gets a great teacher named Mark and learns he has other talents, too!

Soon Todd starts spending more time with his writing than playing basketball...and his father is NOT happy in the least (Todd's father wants Todd to someday play in the NBA pros). And then Mr. Wilkins's ends up blaming Mark for Todd's messing up during his games and even tries to get Mark fired!

Todd is angry with his father and all of Todd's friends are angry with him because they think Todd wants Mark to get fired (all of Todd's friends like the new teacher). So when Todd gets suspended from the basketball team because he cut school by walking off of school grounds, he has to make a decision about whether or not to drop out of the writing class. And when Todd can't seem to figure that one out, he only has one choice left...running away from home.

TODD RUNS AWAY is a really good book because not only is it entertaining, but it also gives an important lesson: Running away is not the best answer to all your problems. In fact, running away can make your problems worse. This book was well-written, and realistic, too. Becuase this kind of thing could happen to just about anybody.

This is probably still my favorite out of the SWEET VALLEY TWINS AND FRIENDS series. And Todd's final decision at the end may surprise you! So excellent and fun. The perfect book to read on a boring summer day when you have nothing else to do. Read this book and enjoy!

I love the Sweet Valley Twins series, and especially this book. There are very few books that focus realistically on boys, and I like the way this one does. In the story, Todd Wilkins is experiencing a lot of pressure from his father. Todd is in a writing class, and he's discovering his love of writing. But his father wants Todd to focus on basketball. Todd has too much pressure and he considers running away. I really like the way that Todd finds happiness even after his struggles. It's a very worthwhile book, and it shows the importance of being a good friend.

What if...

what if...you had a happy marriage, two healthy kids and a third on the way. You lived in an upper middle class Oakland outskirt utopia and had a wealthy mother in law that doted on your kids, even though she was a pain in the a-- sometimes. She was worth tolerating.

what if...you still had boiling unresolved feelings of your father leaving your beloved, wholesome, adored mother for a life of random affairs and self-centered actualization.

what if... your mother dies at an early age, you are still a young mother longing for her love and support , holding fast to an anger to father for leaving all of you..

what if....your third child is born with cerebral palsy, and other disorders that literally consume all your attention, a great deal of the family dynamics and the husband's longing for the life before the birth of this child. The price of the child is too high, the husband can not fulfill himself in this selfless village, and he takes flight. A divorce occurs, and unbelieveably, he remarries and deserts not only his family but all financial responsibility...

what if .....this was happening to you?

How angry, depressed, hopeless and alone could you possibly feel when the real estate lady places a "sold" sign in front of the only home your children have known, and the only source of income you now have is a question mark. Because, he has left you and taken everything. Your life, your hopes, your dreams. And left you with his children (HOW COULD HE DO THAT!) unsupported, one virtually on life and death from day to day.

Oh, but he did. And, say your freaked out one day...took the keys in a moment of dispair and drove away. That very act was worse than all the horrible things your husband has done to you and his own children. It will be you that must pay the price for a mental breakdown that should have weighed heavily on the back of a man too weak to take it.

This is a novel that will wake you with a new attitude. Read it.

I had posted a review on this book but for some reason it never got listed...
Anyway, I just want to say I absolutely love this author. She writes exactly the type of books I want to read. I love all that I have read so far by her and look foward to reading more.
This was a very touching story and I won't give anything away. All I can say is that this is a definte must read. Enjoy!

A third and truly captivating novel by Ms. Inclan. Peri Mackenzie is a wife and mother of three children who is suffering from a mental breakdown and depression. Peri is totally dumbfounded and awestruck when her husband leaves the marriage. Peri has great difficulty dealing with the breakup as she believed their committment in marriage to each other was solid and unshakeable. Her husband is living in Arizona with his new mate and leaves Peri and her children without financial aid. Peri appears to emotionally struggle and is caught up in an ever increasing depression. Desperate, angry, hurt and confused she gets in her car and drives away from home leaving her children behind. Peri drives to Arizona in search of the husband who abandoned her. Peri unfortunately, doesn't think about HER abandonment of her own children by driving away. Once gone, Carly the eldest child is forced to take over running the household. Carly's younger sister Brooke is handicapped and Carly struggles to do her best for her sister in the absence of her mother. Changing, washing and feeding her sister each day is tough for this young teenager. Brooke becomes ill with a high fever and Carly is uncertain who to turn to. She calls their maternal grandfather Carl, whom they haven't seen or been in contact with for quite some time. Carl immediately steps up to the plate and takes in his abandoned three grandchildren. Carl begins a search for his depressed and missing daughter, while tending to the needs of his grandchildren. Once Peri has been found and spends time in a hospital, she must come to terms with the fact that she abandoned her children and must now live without them until she can prove to the courts, her father, her children and most of all herself, that she is well enough to take care of them again and deserving enough to have a second chance!
Ms. Inclan's portrayal of vulnerability and mental illness in these people's lives is written with compassion and sensitivity. Also, that having a child with a handicap, whether it be physcial or mental, requires a twenty-four hour, 365 day committment. We are all subject to vulnerability and down times in our lives and Ms. Inclan's ability to communicate these subjects to the reader is done with grace.
I have read Ms. Inclan's other two novels: 'Her Daugher's Eyes' and 'The Matter of Grace' and would highly recommend all three to your readers.

I've always Been a Fan of Taveras&this Book takes you down the road on there Highs&Lows along with the way things go in the Industry. this is a Cool book that stays on Point through out.

Ann J. Bishundayal along Chubby Tavares takes fans through the wonderful and turbulent years of the talented family group Tavares! Also known as Linda and the Delrios, the Realities and Chubby and the Turnpikes, the handsome and talented Tavares brothers thrilled audiences with thier wonderful harmonies and exciting stage shows. As a die hard Tavares fan myself, I loved looking into their private lives, I laughed and cried as I read about their personal joys and heartbreaks. My ONLY complaint is that I wished the pictures were in color, but that is the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars!
Tavares, if you're reading this....YOU ARE LOVED AND MISSED TERRIBLY! In this world of Brittney Spears, sound alike boy bands and violent, sexist hip hop, Tavares will always hold a special place in my heart!
Ann and Chubby....Thank you so much for the book!! Movie next??

As a long time fan of the group Tavares, this book holds a special place in my heart. The authors take us through the happy as well as turbulent years as the Tavares brothers enjoy sucess as hit makers as well as disapointments in the topsy turvey fickle world that is the music industry. Filled with tons of wonderful pictures and family stories!!
A must have for all music fans!

My great grandfather emigrated from northeast Kings County on PEI at the turn of the 20th century. He didn't go to the Maine Woods to log. He went to Boston to practice architecture. But like the old-timers that Sandy Ives interviewed in Maine early on in this book, he was constantly drawn back to the island, and now I'm guessing that when he wasn't there, he missed it.

I went up to visit PEI once in the 1970s and again a couple of summers ago. On the most recent visit I met some of my distant cousins (all the close relatives had emigrated) and found them to be just like the folks that Dr. Ives describes in Drive Dull Care Away. The word for them, I suppose, is "genuine".

They won't pretend to know you better than they do and they will gradually warm to you if you show respect, are polite and don't try to hurry events along. When you speak with them about hard times or sad occasions in the past, they will grow sombre and somewhat reverential. When you get them to gossiping a recurrent theme will be someone who got a little too big for their britches, put on a few airs or otherwise started to ride a little high and then got their comeuppance.

All of these traits and a lot more are recorded by Dr. Ives in two senses. In the literary sense his memoir brings alive the people that he talked to over 40 years ago when he began collecting Larry Gorman songs in Princes County on western PEI. In the literal sense he has preserved on tape the songs that so well express the temperament of these people.

I bought this book expecting to get some useful information about a fairly esoteric topic: the folk songs of Prince Edward Island. As soon as I started reading I could see that I was going to get a whole lot more than that. This is a very personal book by an extremely personable guy. Dr. Ives is refreshingly candid about his youthful impatience and ignorance on his first sojourns into the field. He doesn't beat himself up about it, but he admits that he might have blown it here and there.

In one of the final chapters of the book he recounts attending a folk festival on PEI where he sits apprehensively in the stands waiting for a local singer to butcher one of the old songs by singing it accompanied by a 12-string acoustic guitar. He is nervous because he knows that these songs were written to be song a cappella in kitchens, pubs and logging camps. And he is nervous because these are plain-spoken songs that often describe deaths, betrayals and bad behavior of all kinds; they should not be prettied up. He is quite relieved when the singer delivers an unadorned, stoic version of an old classic called "The Flying Cloud". He liked it well enough that he included it on the CD that accompanies the book.

Dr. Ives inserts the music and lyrics to a large number of these songs into the body of the narrative at a juncture where he either first records the song or finds a particularly good version of it. This is fairly priceless information; in many cases he has transcribed the music himself by listening to the tapes. He allows that the songs as sung are quite difficult to reproduce in standard notation because they are coming from a strictly oral tradition and don't always follow standard musicological structures.

I deduct one star from my rating perhaps unfairly. I wanted more. Dr. Ives' narrative voice was so enjoyable that I found myself getting disappointed as he seemed to grow impatient with the writing as the book wore on. The most detail can be found in the chapters that recall the earliest trips. In later chapters he begins to skate through and more often refers you to his other books on Larry Gorman and Larry Doyle. And I believe I'll look for those books, if only to hear his voice again.

Title: Drive Dull Care Away: Folksongs From Prince Edward Island as Gathered by Edward D. "Sandy" Ives.

Published in 1999 by the Institute Of Island Studies

ISBN: 0-919013-34-1

This weekend I finally sat down and read this book I bought last year. So sue me, I been busy! But I'm glad I did. I should have read it earlier. This one is a keeper!

This is the second Sandy Ives book I've read. The first was "Larry Gorman: The Man Who Made The Songs". That book was a biography of Gorman with many of the songs he wrote included and placed in the context of his life.

Drive Dull Care Away, on the other hand, is a description of the author's visits to PEI and his work in the field. But it is more than that. It includes 62 songs and fits them into the community from which they came. It introduces the people who wrote them and those who kept them alive until Dr. Ives could get there with his tape recorders.

If you are at all curious about the field work of a folklorist this book is for you. Though Dr. Ives makes the point that he wasn't doing general field work but researching specific song writers he does provide a good picture of what our favorite folklorists must have gone through to preserve the music. Here you find him as he slogs along the dirt tracks that served PEI as roads in the '50's, lugging his heavy tape recorder along only to find that the people he needed to record didn't have electricity. (Later recorders could be run from his car battery but he lived in fear that the battery would die.)

In the book you meet the men and women in whose heads the songs were preserved. These people were anxious to help, knowing the importance of the work and happy to find someone who was interested in them and their songs. They became more than "informants" to Dr. Ives and his family. These people became his lifelong friends and family.

The book also includes a number of photographs of the contributors and the area in which they live. There are pictures of some of the people who were the subject of some of those songs. And there are two photos, one of the Amberly house and one of Peter Amberly's grave, that speak volumes for the life to be found in folk music.

And above all are the songs. The book includes the words and music to 62 songs and a CD of the original field recording of 14 of those songs.

Some of the songs are familiar to us. Included are The Jam On Gerry's Rock, The Dreadnought, Wild Colonial Boy, and Brennan On The Moor. Dr. Ives explains there is good reason for recording even familiar songs. He says comparing multiple recordings of a song helps to nail down how the original may have been sung. And it shows how a community can change a song and make it their own. It is a record of the folk process.

The book also includes songs I had never heard of before, though some of you may have. These included The Miramachi Fire, My Seventy Six Geared Wheel, The Norway Bum, Guy Reid, Fogan MacAleer, Saville The Brave Man, and quite a few more. These are songs written and kept within the community. They are full of local place names and in jokes that we outsiders could not understand.

Many of these songs went out with the men who left to find work in the Maritime Provinces of Canada and the State Of Maine. Even so they are linked inexorably to the homes of these people telling as they do of neighbors and events in those homes.

All in all this is a good read and a valuable addition to your repertoire, especially if you live in the Maritimes or Maine.

Edward Ives is one of the finest writers among American folklorists. Reading this book on the ballad traditions of Prince Edward Island is a terrific way to learn about ballads and ballad singing. Ives also crafts a fascinating story about his experiences doing fieldwork. This narrative frame provides more than a memoir; it is a great base for understanding his analysis and interpretation of the songs that he studies. In this way, his writing makes the voices of the ballad singers come alive, and the accompanying CD of actual performances from the 1950s - 70s is a terrific addition to this excellent book.