Boston

This book began well, with an intriguing chapter from the point of view of the murder victim, but rapidly went downhill, to the point where I wouldn't have finished it if I hadn't been traveling in Italy and unable to get my hands on anything else in English. As the murders pile up, the heroine behaves more and more like Nancy Drew, doing foolish and unprofessional things so that she has to be rescued - and with constant references to similar behavior in past books that put her in the hospital. Well, duh.... Ultimately, a real let-down.

I loved this book--not for the plot, which comes across as immature a good deal of the time--but for the interplay between the main characters. Yes, the author tends to make Thea describe her feelings too us way too much (we don't need half the details we get!), and yes, she ends up chosing having her way over listening to her boyfriend's VERY REASONABLE concerns for her, but I still loved it. Thea is bright, sassy, has a great sense of humor, and doesn't let anybody walk on her. Don't expect too much depth or heart string tugging, but a great read if you want to laugh a lot.

Thea Kozak is one of the most unusual female amateur detectives in existence. She is a consultant for private schools and often becomes involved in murder with her signigicant other, a policeman fearing for her safety. Bad things happen to the people in the book. The initial victim is a teenage girl with few scruples, but one the reader begins to warm to and sympathize with as Thea probes her background. Buy this book, but only after reading the three proceeding this title which are available in paperback. See the author's note and keep Thea in print.

We found this book to be a total waste of money. It primarily lists very obvious activities and sites in the Boston Area -- there is nothing new to be learned in this book. Any parent could figure out most of these sites by looking in the yellow pages under "museum" or asking neighbors about nearby parks. Most activities listed are for children 5 and up, so those with toddlers will be out of luck.

This book has been by my side for the last two years and is so worn I had to buy another copy! Susan is right on with her age estimates and fun ratings for each outing. She ventures beyond the children's museums and zoos to lesser known locations like the Topiary Gardens in Rhode Island and Higgins Armory in Worcester. Everything you will need to have a fun day is mentioned with each outing. One word of advice: always call before you go, some of the locations in the book have closed or moved since the printing in 1994.

This book is a must for parents who love to explore! It will free you from time-consuming phone calls and internet searches and give you lots of new ideas. The author accurately rates each site on a "fun scale" and is good at predicting age-appropriateness. Well worth the money!

The previous edition of this book came highly recommended to me as highly informative about the many health issues facing women - the physical problems/changes women of all ages might expect to face, their symptoms and treatments. Instead, social and political essays on such topics as sexism, harassment in the workplace, lesbianism, the politics of women's health and medical care, racism and the environment, etc. have crowded out many of the subjects and the information that I, and probably most women, are seeking in a book purportedly about women's health. While political and social matters like those raised in the book are certainly valid and of interest to many, they don't belong in a book that should be dealing with women's health issues. The title itself is very misleading, and I was extremely disappointed in the book. Because of the inadequate coverage of facts and information in this edition, I am searching for another book that will provide the answers to the! many questions that were not answered by Our Bodies, Ourselves.

The authors write as if women are people, as if women are not all the same but in fact have a wide range of biological and behavioral variability, as if each woman is unique and, not only that, is entitled to living as she very well pleases. It's a disgrace. They show women naked who don't look like fashion models but could be just you or me. They write as if it's a good idea for women to be healthy in mind as well as in body. As if this wasn't enough, they go on to suggest that the quality of health care has anything to do with the medical establishment, that women should actually be informed correctly of the risks of medical procedures and alternatives available and, lo and behold, make the choice themselves, that the medical establishment is often not a wonderful haven for women who are poor or outside the cultural mainstream, as in for example when they are members of minority groups, that a woman's sex life and relationships may be influenced by power structures in the society she lives in, and other such far-fetched stuff. In reality, we all know that all women have 28-day periods, get menopausal at 48, are all heterossexual, are all white (most other books agree at least on this one point), are all fairly pretty, all get married, all want children, and that health has nothing to do with anything else in the world out there. No wonder one reader complained that this book, supposed to be about health, is also political. A disgrace indeed.

If I could only recommend one book on women's health to my colleagues and clients, this would be it. Unlike other women's health books, this one recognizes that health and well-being is more than simply the presence or absence of illness or physical conditions. It's time that women learn about their bodies and health in the context of their lives and not just out of a medical textbook. I applaud the authors for their appreciation of women's diversity, both in bodies and lifestyles, and the personal uniqueness that each of us can learn to cherish. Every woman should have this book.

Although this book has wonderful detailed history on the breed and many, many good colour photographs, it lacked detail in the care of and specific health problems of Boston Terriers. Health was covered in only 4 pages of 176 and these pages had photos on half of each page. I wanted a book as an ongoing reference as my puppy grows, what to feed him, when and how to train him myself; a book that I would continue to use beyond knowing the history of the breed.

This is an excellant book for both the novice and experienced Boston Terrier fancier. The book defines the history and foundation stock of the breed with enough depth that a good understanding of the breeds development can be gained. Wonderful old photos of both Boston Terriers of days gone bye and their owners. In the contemporary section of the book we see a good cross section of the breed from both the US and around the world. Pedigrees, breed standards and grooming are all covered very well. The photo and text quality is supperb. Highly recommened to all lovers of BT's

This excellent book is a comprehensive guide to the care and history of the Boston bull. The pictures are a delightful addition, showing the Boston in its natural glory.

I liked the part covering the history of this intelligent, hardy, high energy little dog. Champion Bostons are covered; their descendants are featured as well.

Special note has been made regarding the care of pregnant Bostons. More often than not, Bostons are delivered by C-section because their heads are too large for a natural delivery. Gentle suggestions are made to breeders and people who are interested in showing their Bostons.

This book is for everybody, from the serious breeder to the pet owner. It will delight anyone who has ever owned a Boston, owns one, will own one or who loves Bostons in general. Bostons are delightful little dogs.

This book was fine for touring around Boston. It was very informative. As far as the rest of New England, there must be something better. We found ourselves in the middle of some great towns with nothing more than a couple of sentences, if that, about the area. After getting out of the car and exploring, we found many interesting sites and attractions. If we made our decisions based completely on the book we would have passed up many interesting stops. Next time we travel in New England, we will buy a different book.

Once you buy your first DK Guide, you will seek them out anytime you are getting ready for a trip. My husband and I had not traveled to Massachusetts or Rhode Island previously and used the guide for much of our trip. We found it extremely helpful for the Boston Area-for the sites to see and the handy map of the "T", which is their subway system. I also recommend purchasing the compact fold-out DK street maps of Boston, that can be purchased separately at most book stores. We used the guide throughout our stay in Plymouth, our day trips to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island. As always, I love the full color pictures and descriptions of the sites. We felt that we were able to make informed decisions about the places to visit that would interest us the most. Also helpful is the Survival Section in the back that gives you much of the information that you need to know when traveling to a new area. We used the guide also for restaurant recommendations, while out driving, and were not disappointed with any of the stops we made. I plan to use the guide the next time we go back and would highly recommend it to those thinking about a trip to this beautiful area of the country.

I live in New England and this is one of my favorite books on this region of the country. DK has always published quality books in their Eyewitness Travel Guides. They seem to have done an even better job with the crafting of this book. The colorful layout of this book with maps, illustrations, photographs and text really captures the spirit of New England past and present. This is a very dear and heartening book because it genuinely captures a sense of the people and the land. I think it is also very informative, not only from a historical perspective, but as a point of reference for sightseeing, travel and enjoyment.

I hadn't read any of his books before and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed his book. His characters are believable and John Cuddy, a private investigator, is a likable and more realistic character than you will find in many mystery books. A woman, who has fallen in love, has come to Cuddy to get his help to find out more about her lover, because he has been very reticent about disclosing any information about his past. One of her friends distrusts him and has advised her to check up on him. She doesn't want her boyfriend to find out that she is having him investigated. So Cuddy begins his search. In his investigation, he finds out that the man he is investigating is in the witness protection program. His client and her lover disappear and he has another mystery on his hands. The book has several twists and turns, just when you think you have it figured out, something else pops up. I enjoyed the book and will be reading more of his books to see if they are as good as this one.

I'm new to the Healy novels. I haven't read all of them, but I've always been pleased. But this is the most interesting of the ones I've read. (Staked Goat, Rescue, Invasion of Privacy, The Only Good Lawyer).

The most interesting thing about this novel is the way the plot turns and you don't notice. By the time you reach the end Healy has taken a whole new route to the conclusion and turned the story on it's ear. When John Cuddy is hired to discover the background of a woman's boyfriend, he gets more than he bargained for. The mob is involved, but there is also a suspicion group of townhouses. When you reach the conclusion you've had, but it's a fun ride. Healy's talent is growing. Keep an eye on him. This series refuses to get stagnant. Try Spiral as well.

Healy serves up a genuine mystery, sure to keep readers off-guard. Unlike that other Boston PI, Healy's book packs more twists, characterization, and realism into this one book than I've read in the last decade's worth of Parker's books. If you're looking for a mystery that doesn't insult your intelligence and keeps you guessing, this is it.

Like, I suspect, many readers of the Bethany series, the changing of the guard in the White House from a republican to a democrat caused the Tom Bethany character to be unmasked. Where, in the earlier works, Bethany is portrayed as a man cynical of government (note his references to Albert Jay Nock's early works) it becomes apparent in the novel "Half Nelson" that the character speaks out against government only so long as there is a republican to be despised.

Doolittle fumbled the ball, in my view, by allowing his glee that a democrat occupies the White House to show through into the Bethany character's personality, changing Bethany's attitude from that of a free thinker who despises government corruption into that of a partisan party supporter.

I'm glad that the author dropped all pretense and revealed himself, the series was becoming tiresome anyway.

Dear Jerome,

Don't mean for this rhyme to be shoddy

You certainly might find it oddy

You made my whole year

When what should appear

That wonderful book Scissors, Body.

Your writing skills I have been sold

My boasting your talents gets old

I tell all my friends,

Their ears I must bend

Some threaten me with Strangle Holds!

But still I remain cool and smug

Your books I continue to plug

You are funny and gallant

You have all the right talent

You deserve a humongous Bear Hug.

Your publishers should take great stock

"Out of Print"!--Your fans are in shock!

Are their heads filled with lumber?

We want rank, files and number

We'll put all of them in Head Lock(s)

Your fans need to know who to sway

We want to get into the fray

Although we don't wrestle

There must be some vessel

To teach us the Half Nelson Soiree

I really don't want to get gory

But I've called Montel, Phil and Maury

The stifling of writers

Has made fans turn fighters

There should be no way to Kill Story(ies).

Bombing Officer should be on top

You have written not one single flop

I hope you did guess

I wish you success

Just promise that you'll never stop.

The wry, likable Tom Bethany, a bit of a mystery man himself, sets out to find out whether an unscrupulous newspaper owner is responsible for the death of the paper's former owner and along the way, deliver justice to the bad guys.

There may be more information about the newspaper industry and the issue of chain ownership than some may like, but even if you don't care that your local paper might be owned by a bloodless corporation 3,000 miles away, you can appreciate Bethany's methods, self-deprecating style, and the author's very smooth delivery of a good story. The entire story has a ring of truth, populated by far too many less than scrupulous people trying to scrape by in life. Author Jerome Doolittle delivers a great deal of amusing comment on politics and contemporary culture, though you may like it a bit more if you're a Democrat than a Republican. Everyone, though, who has suffered through watching the wrong people advance in the corporate culture should appreciate this sentence, offered in a side riff about office politics and the military: "You can learn a lot about what's wrong with the world by watching how the scum beats the cream to the top."

Doolittle brings a fascinating series of careers that feed the colorful detailsof his novels: speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, war correspondent, café owner in Laos. Kill story is the sixth in the Tom Bethany series. Read him for whatever reasons, but read him for a wonderfully good time and yet another twist on the standard private investigator story.

Having lived in four countries now I found this book to be very helpful. It avoided the US tendency towards far too much information which shows great discipline by the authors in achieving this as the needs of the newly arrived vary tremendously, and it is a large US city.

It is a handy companion size and is easily referred to giving need to know information which is a brilliant support tool in the early stages of a move. It delivered what I expected and was really the lynchpin of a successful, happy move here to Boston.

When we moved to the States we found this book practical and informative in it's content. The fact that quotes were used from other expats made you feel "yes, other people have done this, met the same seemingly trivial difficulties and survived" . It was not overwhelming in the information it gave and pointed you in the right direction if you needed to find out more.

I am not an international newcomer. I recently moved to Boston from Seattle to attend graduate school. Nevertheless, "International Newcomer's Guide to Boston" by Karen Rudick, Anne Copeland and Helenann Wright provided both the practical and the essential information that any newcomer to the Boston area would require.

The book is brimming with the answers to those common sense questions that newcomers almost always have. Topics include driving a car in Boston, accessing utilities and Boston's weather. For international newcomers, this book is a comprehensive orientation to living in the United States, in addition to the insightful Boston area information.

In sum, this is a practical guide that is written in clear, concise language and is a "must-buy" for anyone arriving in Boston from other countries or distant regions in the United States.

It was with enthusiasm that I bought this book on my favorite Celtics. What a disappointment. The book is for some reason said to be a book about the greatest Celtics TEAM ever but it never really captures the TEAM concept as the author skillfully plots the personal progress of individual players. It is his fault coompletely that the players who should have been the heroes of this book fade into the background. Bird, McHale and Johnson never get the ink that Ainge and Walton get. The author misses the point while absorbing himself in the I's instead of the WE. What he finally ends up with is exactly that: Story of individuals but not a story of a team. The question remains unanswered, WHY did he write this book? Surely for the money that Celtic will forever generate but not for the Celtics themselves or TEAM basketball in general. Next time the author thinks about writing a book with the same method, he should write a story about the Chris Webber or Steve Marbury teams since both of those players think of themselves first and of the team second.

THIS IS A VERY SIMPLE AND DOWN TO EARTH BOOK. I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK. IT DOES A GOOD JOB GOING THROUGH THIS EXCITING SEASON WITH THE CELTICS LAST CHAMPIONSHIP. IT DOESN'T WASTE TIME AND STAYS ON TARGET ALL THE WAY. A GOOD INSIGHT ON MANY OF THE PLAYERS. ALSO A GOOD BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT HOW SOME TRADES WERE MADE. ABOVE ALL I ENJOYED HOW EACH MEMBER WAS BROUGHT TO THE TEAM AND HOW EACH CONTRIBUTED TO THE ULTIMATE GOAL. A VERY GOOD READ. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

The 85-86 Boston Celtics are, without question, the greatest team in NBA history. And, Peter May's book is the best account of the team and their experiences. No other book goes into detail about the individual games and the players themselves. This is a true accomplishment! A must for any Celtics fan!

The best part of this book was the jacket describing its contents. The description is far more creative than the actual text. I was so excited when I saw the title of the book and read the summary. What a great disappointment! To the author's credit, she had an incredible idea for a book. But where was her editor? The syntax throughout the book was elementary and the conversation was just plain foolish. The story did not delve at all into the history of the rugs or of any enchantment they might contain. The sex scenes and sexual relationships between the characters were tasteless and no suspense or intimacy was created. (Come on - anticipation comes in the form of studying "The Joy of Sex" before beginning an affair? An outrageous sexual experience includes standing up? Oh, please - how simply moronic!) The character development was poor at best and only fleeting remarks were made regarding "intuitive" feelings. WHERE IS THE MAGIC? This idea had so much potential and it was completely butchered with its simplicity and asininity. I think the paperback edition should come in the form of a "Harlequin Romance," if it has to be printed at all. If you must read this book, read the cover description and stop there. Your imagination can only be better.

a page turning fun quick read. Looking forward to more books by this author. I would highly recommend this book. Take it to the beach or take it on a trip.

While it's perfect for the beach, it's also great light reading any time! A must-read for all of us working stiffs who can only imagine what would happen if things went a little awry at the workplace. Dispels the myth of the proper Bostonian from page one!