Away

A boring rehash of old newspaper columns.I'd rather chew sand than be forced to read this pompous nonsense again.
All in all this book was overlong,pointless and poorly written.
Somehow Gill doesn't seem to realise the writing is different from showing off.

This sorely underappreciated book needs to be read. This guy is one of the funniest and most illuminating writers around, worthy of the highest esteem.

Fresh, intelligent and exciting work.

His piercing, amusing perspectives stimulate emotions the way writing is intended to.

The content of the book is not as informative as the title sounds. Also, the toy coming with the book is nothing special - my cat has already had it!

This book contains real insight mixed with high humor. My cat was also impressed. At least, I think so. But who can tell with cats?

While I found parts of this book very interesting -- the history of Newfoundland and how it related to the Goodyear family -- the author's writing style was irritating and hard to follow. The author said that his family told stories in "great, looping circles," and that is what he has done here. I was frustrated with this book because the author would go off on tangents and would not stick to the narrative, making it difficult to follow and to find out what happened to the characters in his family.

I did learn a great deal about Newfoundland and how it was affected by the First World War, and for that alone, it is worth reading.

The Goodyear family, living in Newfoundland, experienced few events that, directly or indirectly, did not end with someone's death in Come From Away. Bleak, gray conditions were part of the climate of Newfoundland as well as storms and icy waters. To the struggling economy, Hedley Goodyear said, "With managers such as these, who needs natural disasters?" Desolate living conditions were especially negative during the wave of tuberculosis, and people with this condition did not have a happy ending. The Newfoundlanders who enlisted in World War I learned the stages it took for a body to rot: white, yellow, green, purple, and black. Some of the survivors knew just how a person died when they were shot: their eyes rolled back, their breath was cut off, and the skull burst to pieces. At the time of the battle, all they could rely on was luck, so they stayed clear of the number three. David Macfarlane, author, listed thirty-one different things that came in threes, which is enough to make any number evil. Not much was said about the life of the main character, but more about how he viewed the lives of others. One, his great-aunt Kate, lived to be old and modest for her doings. After the loss of her three brothers in the war, she would have flashbacks and would interrupt herself to dab her eyes with a Kleenex. Both the young and old Aunt Kate had fears; "she was terrified of the most sway-backed, overweight, docile pony." The Canadians viewed those "Newfies" as Yankees view Rednecks. They've got the slurred accent, the yellow teeth, and the offbeat sense of humor. Overall, I did not enjoy this book as much as I have others. It concentrated too much on listing facts (and repeating them) and not enough on the plot of the story. If that's your kind of book, then I recommend it. If you're a fan of fiction, follow my lead and stick to the non-informative sources.

I found this book very dull and a chore to read. I have read serveral books by dancers that have had me enthralled about the experience of dancing for a living. Bull seems to lack the fervor typically expected from someone is a field renowned for heartfelt passion.

I totally disagree with gafield@dimellashaffer as I found this book interesting and enthrawling. As an aspiring ballet teacher I was deeply captivated by Deborah Bull's intelligence and maturity. She shows that ballet dancers need to be intelligent people (contrary to popular belief). The period of time that this book was written was a particulary crucial moment in the history of ballet in not only London, but all over the world and I found her telling of this trying time facinating and captivating.

I purchased this book based on previous experience with Fodor's books. The categories were helpful for a quick determination of the type of facility. The descriptions however seemed more like advertisements from the various facilities rather than informed experiences from the writers. The rates were not up to date and there are no web sites listed. Unbelievable for a travel book published in 2000!

I can't tell you how often I have used this book in the year I've owned it. It describes every major spa in the US and Mexico so well. The categories is uses to classify are great. I've sent copies to several friends so we can plan getaways together. Even if you just want to fantasize about going to a spa, it's a great reference.

This book is filled with numerous questions that are never answered by the author. I felt like I was back in graduate school listing to yet another boring lecture from yet another boring member of academia.

The first part is a diatribe with strong overtones that the current legal mess (and others) are the fault of white males. The author throws in just enough facts and fairness to overshadow this. The author goes out of her way on two occassions to mention that she is a victim of rape ("over two decades ago") while adding nothing of substance to the overall discussion. She additionally uses she thoughout the book instead of a mixture of he/she. Perhaps the author is attempting to make up for all those years she read books using he. This was and is not the time or place for this.

While the points raised are worthy of intellectual discussion and do need to be addressed by society as a whole the author buried any hope outside of academia. This book is a difficult read for the layperson and should be relegated to the law school book shelf. If the author was attempting to reach the masses she has failed completely. The author never really addressed the subtitle of her book: "How politics is destroying the criminal justice system." Instead we are left with unanswered question that we might see on her exams at USC.

Susan Estrich appears to be a lecturer in law. She is a rape victim, but that fact has probably been mentioned, as a good deal of her book is an attack on the current sentence system in America. It establishes her credentials as someone who is not a bleeding heart liberal but someone who has thought about the issues carefully.

The book is very short, easy to read and passionate in its call for change. By way of background America has seen a huge increase in the number of people put in prison over the last ten years. Despite falling crime rates the number of people in prison is equivalent to countries such as Russia and South Africa. Whilst America is generally a well ordered country with low crime rates in all categories except for homicide countries such as Russia and South Africa are experiencing social break down. The placing of large numbers of people in prison has a number of negative consequences. It is extremely expensive and the sorts of people who end up in jail will always be from the poorer sections of the community. In the United States this means that the prisons have very large numbers of Afro Americans and Hispanics in the prison population.

Estrich suggest that the basis of this occurring is a move away from the sentencing discretion of the courts and the introduction of mandatory sentences. She argues that basic criminology shows that people who commit crimes have very different prognosis for re-offending. A small percentage of offenders will commit most of the crimes whilst the broad mass will have a limited contact with the system. She argues that what you should do is to lock up the people who are likely to offend and not lock up those who are not likely. She further suggests that there are easy ways to predict criminal behavior based on the type of offense priors and drug use. She believes that a significant proportion of low level offenders could be let out of jail with massive savings to the community and no likelihood of an increase in the crime rate.

Against this background she says that the high levels of imprisonment combined with the high proportion of black people being locked up has started to corrupt the judicial system. Juries especially black juries are becoming sympathetic to calls by lawyers acquit guilty people as a way of showing that the system is wrong. This is at odds with the very notion of the law.

She also explains the Willie Horton case and the process by which the current system is now supported by both the major parties in America. In summary a passionate and interesting book.

This book gives VERY unhealthy eating tips. One of their tips on how to loose weight is "think like a thin person" absolutley rideculous.

Although I'm not a teenage girl, I was once, and I read this book before letting my daughter read it. I thought it was well done... it was humorous, but gave very sensible, sound advice that most diets or eating plans omit. I think the info would be great for adults who are chronically dieting.

Unless you need help packing or planning for a trip, there is very little here of value with respect to honeymoons (I can't evaluate its worth with respect to planning a wedding). I was hoping for specific recommendations of places to stay for a honeymoon. This book offered only one paragraph descriptions of the destinations in general (plus a couple of sentences about things to do). If you are looking for a book which offers suggestions on specific resorts/hotels to go for a honeymoon, don't waste your money here.

My husband and I had decided to get married in Jamaica, but we didn't know the first thing about how to plan for something like this. This book told us everything we needed to know: travel packages, foreign travel, tips for creating romantic moments, ways to avoid stressful situations, and even those places that are just for lovers! If you are planning a wedding away, I wouldn't be without this book! Jennifer Malphy

I keep hoping that something will reach out and grip me in this book. I found that the characters do not have any personal charisma. The character development in this book is unsatisfying superficial, as is the story itself. Although I don't mind the occasional lesbian quasi-erotic pulp, the writing is just absolutely not what I expected from Winters. I never witnessed the author's understanding of what the plot should be, nor the human relationships and feelings she was obviously hoping to express. I was truly disappointed in this book.

One Belief Away is the second book by CN Winters I have read (Irrefutable Evidence was the first) and I can safely say she's got a fan for life. I was an impressionable young girl growing up in New York City at the time this story takes place and she managed to bring back all the memories of that time...especially the incredible tension between the Establishment and the Counter Culture. CN manages to bring two radically different women together despite the pressure each of them are under. And when they finally do get together, they must battle their own inner demons until in the end they both realize that the only thing that matters in the world is love.

I love historical romances, and for that reason, it's pretty hard for me to really not like one. But this book is one that I particularly didn't like. Since I'd spent a small fortune purchasing the unabridged audio version, I really tried to like it, but to no avail.

Generally speaking, the book is lackluster. There's little to no real excitement in it. I'll admit there was a scene or two that I thought were pretty decent, but overall, this book just doesn't have "it".

The majority of the characters were lifeless dull people that weren't very likeable. Most of them seemed to dislike the main female character, Eden, for one reason or another, and so she moved from one bad set of circumstances to another.

And to make matters worse, Raven, one of the men and major characters in this book, didn't improve her lot. Raven is one character that I didn't like at all. He was selfish, cruel, and spiteful. Even when he was supposedly feeling love towards Eden, he still seemed like a mean person. I couldn't understand why or how she could return any semblance of feelings outside of scorn. Since I didn't like Raven, and I questioned Eden's sense of self-respect for caring for him, the book was very hard to enjoy. It was like watching a cat toy with and torture a mouse for an extended period of time.

Historical romances usually include just that, romance. For the majority of this book, there was little of that. Yes, two people were thrown together and yes there was some emotional interaction between them, but "love" ... I don't think so. Tolerance or resignation seemed to be the prevailing emotion.

As for the good things, the dialog was decent and the descriptions were okay. But the poor storyline and unlikeable characters outweighed those positives.

This is my first Phoebe Conn book and I must say, it didn't inspire me to go in search of another. This is definitely a book that you should check out from the library IF you decide to read it.

This author has a gift of discription of places, peoples and scenes that is unmatched in my humble opinon. The intimate scenes are so vivid that it takes your breath away. I read the unabridged audio book and now I want to find the written book. Any budding author could take lessons from this lady. The characters are fantastic. I'd love to see a sequel to this book.