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If you are a reader on your commute to work and back home this is a warning. This quick read will suck you in, time flys and you will miss your stop. I did. This book kept me guessing, enjoy the ride.

Hannibal Jones, in the mystery Blood and Bone, is a black PI working out of Washington, DC who has the charm and nerve of James Bond. This first book of his adventures snakes around hairpin turns of suspense to a surprising and satisfying conclusion. You'll eat it up with your eyes.

Whenever I get a book by an author I've never read before, I'm willing to give him 15 pages to capture my attention, because, let's face it, life is short, right? I don't have time to waste on drivel.

Austin Camacho's Blood and Bone grabbed my attention on the first page, held it in a choke hold until I finished the book. It is exceptionally rare that I finish a book in one sitting, but I couldn't put this one down.

The characters are engaging. The pacing is perfect. And Mr. Camacho's word choice is dead-on. He spins a mental image with his short but clear descriptions that drew me into the story and made me care about the characters.

The twists were well plotted and this was just a FUN READ! I can't wait to get the rest of the series. I enjoyed this book so much; I've already started casting the movie in my head!
Thank you Mr. Camacho for a very enjoyable evening! I hope to have many more!

Hannibal Jones has been hired to find Kyle's father. He disappeared eighteen years ago, right before Kyle was born. Now Kyle lies dying of leukemia. They believe his father could be a match to save his life.

Hannibal only has two weeks to find him. He follows a trail full of deception, conspiracy and greed. A woman who claims to be Kyle's illegitimate half-sister appears. Hannibal isn't as taken with her as Kyle and his family are. He begins to investigate her as well.

The story twists and turns before the surprising conclusion.

I must say that this book is not the type I normally read, but I devoured it in two days. It is great. I highly recommend it. I liked the fact it was set in DC which I know, but I also liked that it moved around to Texas and Mexico, places I've never been.

I look forward to more Hannibal Jones in the future. I highly recommend this book.

Throw away your map, it will do you no good on the switchbacks of Mr. Camacho's plots. When Hannibal Jones takes the wheel, just hold on tight and enjoy the ever-changing view until you careen around the last corner, crest the final rise, and screech to a halt because, alas, the ride is over. You never know where the trail is leading, but when you look back the way you came, it is all laid out for you. The ending is satisfying, and a good one--no rabbits pulled out of hats, no cheap tricks. Hannibal Jones is a gritty guardian angel, and his struggles to clean up any corner of the world he touches--starting, literally, in his own back yard--make for page-turning books. Which reminds me, I only came online to complete my collection of Mr. Camacho's books--gotta go!

I haven't the faintest idea of whether this book is good or bad. All I know is that my 12-year old granddaughter loves the series, and she has managed to be a teriffic kid despite it, and anything that gets her to read is a good thing.

That is the first line of the book. Comfort lives and works in the Snowberger Family Funeral home. It is really nice to see a book that so genuinely and honestly talks about a subject as monumental death. This book is really beautiful. Comfort Snowberger doesn't like her cousin Peach and he's coming to visit, Comfort's best friend Declaration is acting funny and she's hurting Comfort's feelings and to top it off her two favorite people die in the same year. I love how honestly and openly the topic of death, friendship, fitting in, "doing" even though you don't want to do is covered in this book.

I read this book with some 9 year olds. I gave a copy to some 65 year olds. Everyone that I've read this with or given this book to has loved it.

Let me start out with this- Each little bird that sings is a great book. It's about a girl who lives in a funeral home, amidst a beauty-queen mom, brat-of-a-cousin, and a comforting dog named Dismay. The girl's name is Comfort, Comfort Snowberger, an 11-year-old who lives in the small town of Snapfinger. Comfort's life was thrown like a rag doll when her great-uncle Edisto died. They had gone on "pic-a-nics", played games, and had great times with each other. Just after recovering from Edisto's death, Comfort's great-great-aunt Florentine dies in her garden. Comfort is devastated. In the days leading up to Aunt Florentine's funeral, Comfort's cousin, Peach, comes. Comfort's best friend hates Peach, and starts to avoid Comfort. Finally, Declaration, Comfort's BFF, agrees to come to Aunt Florentine's funeral, but she's REALLY mean to Comfort. The rest of the book consists of a flash-flood, lost dog, and a friendship that might never be regained. If you want a good, true-to-life book to read this summer, this is for you! I love the way that what Comfort says is so REAL that you can almost picture that she exists! I also like how there's little bits and pieces of recipes, newspaper articles, and journal entries in this book. Wiles does a great job discribing life and the world of Snapfinger from an 11-year-old's eyes. So go ahead, buy this book, and rejoice in the truth of one author's words.

This book begins with the truth and a fact that I agree with which is what makes this book so strong: It doesn't matter how you die; it matters how you live your life. This is my favorite book ever!

It's about a girl named Comfort and her family who run a funeral home. It tells how she and her family deal with death. When her aunt dies, her family comes to the funeral, and then when her cousin Peach comes everything goes wrong. Soon enough Peach and Comfort start to get along,but then something horrible happens. If you want to know what happens, you will have to read the book. Comfort and her friend Declaration are having trouble as friends, and soon Comfort is blaming everything on Declaration.

I like this book, because it has things that would happen in real life, like someone dying. I also like it because of the way Deborah Wiles makes the characters Comfort and Peach remind me of my brother and me.

If you like this book, you will like Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech.

By Elizabeth

This book is a great book for anyone of any age to read. I loved the colorful names of each character and the relationships the main character had with her family and friends. This is a must read!

This book is an often amusing look at the coming of age of a young homosexual boy in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The book starts out with a very funny description of Arjie, the protagonist, and his female cousins playing bride-bride. Arjie is passionate about the game and his role as bride and is very disappointed when his family discovers his penchant for girl games and forces him to play cricket. This is Arjie's first realization that people think he is "funny" - a code word for gay - and that he does not quite fit in to typical gender roles. As Arjie gets older, he becomes his mothers confidante as she enters into an inappropriate relationship with an old flame. At the same time, Arjie becomes more aware of his role as a Tamil in Sri Lankan society at a time when the Tamil Tigers were forming and tensions between dominant Sinhalese and Tamils are growing. Arjie also is forced to enter a tough all boys school, where his father hopes that he will become a man. Paradoxically, at this all boys school, Arjie realizes that he is indeed gay and embarks on his first homosexual relationship.

This is clearly a debut novel. While some of the anecdotes are humorous and the historical information on the Tamil-Sinhalese conflict is interesting, the author's style is shallow. There is insufficient depth to the novel and it seemed to be better suited to a mature high school audience (given the sexual content) rather than an adult audience. The book is at root a hallmark plea for tolerance, which makes it a feel good story. However, the writing is a bit jaunty and other than Arjie, the other characters are not well developed. I think the author is not sure which story he wants to tell - the Tamil story or the gay story - and does not do the best job of combining the two. Both of those stories are out there, but they seem to compete for attention in the novel.

Ultimately, this is an enjoyable first effort, but was disappointing in that the author did not do more with the novel. [close]

I love this book. This book has become so personal to me. I too am from Sri Lanka. However i was born during the decade, which is the 1980s, where things got worse between the Tamils and Sinhalese. This book is the first book where I can truly understand the landscape of Srilanka, because I am from there, where I can understand the character's final destination to Canada, leaving their homeland to a strange new world, because of our differences. The homosexual element of this novel may seem as the focal point of this novel, however coming of age for this main character, the young boy, is not the only element. He loses his innocence because of the butchery that surrounds him, from the start to the end, and the homosexual, where he finds love is the only innocent thing that he holds to himself. This novel is so close to home, the main character's father reminds me of my father who too used to hope so much of his home, but is forced to flee because of the war. My father keeps on repeating Sri lanka could be a great land, but it is destroyed for tamils anyways.I recommend this novel to be read by all srilankans, tamils and sinhalese and the burghers. And everyone in the world. It is such a beautiful novel.

Shyam taught my Prose Workshop class this year in university, which is what led me to read this book.

I found it to be quite entertaining and a good read overall. The political angle, while it does not leave any room for debate based on the POV chosen, is gripping. However, Arjie's voice does not seem as sharp by the end of the novel as I would've expected it to be. At the age of 14, he still seems to speak with the same naivite as when he first started speaking in the novel at the age of 7. I assume that this was the effect Shyam was striving for to further illustrate the social situation, but I found it to be a distraction in the novel overall.

What I loved best about Funny Boy was the first story, Pig's Can't Fly. The author captures the voice of the seven year old Sri Lankan protagonist, vividly, for the adult, mostly western audience. The character Arjie, is well developed for the story, and as a reader I could "feel" his emotions, his fears, his gradual grasp of the adult world. I wouldn't classify the novel as solely gay literature, just as I wouldn't classify Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes as "straight" literature. Although part of it deals with the character coming out of the closet, the novel is also about the innocence of childhood, and society's expectations of how one should grow up.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the rest of the stories, and found the last one about the riots frightening. If Michael Ondaatje described the inhumanity of the Sri Lankan ethnic war well in Anil's Ghost, Selvadurai definitely captures the fear and shocking emotions that follow it. And so abruptly, cruelly, Arjie is stripped off his childhood and homeland, by a society that could not practice tolerance and humanity.

but is disappointing. I feel like this book might have been rushed to the publisher before it was really reviewed. There is not much character development and thus it is difficult to feel for the main character and then be invested in the book. I did not even bother finishing the last fifteen pages I had left b/c I did not care for Arjie very much. Being as the book presents itself to be about a homosexual boy growing up in a society that sees him as bringing shame to his family name the book hardly deals with this issue. I feel that the majority of the book was dedicated to the political situation in Sri Lanka at the time and less focused on Arjie's conflict of sexuality. This was the author's first novel and unfortunately that comes across.

Matches Great Expectations (Oxford World's Classics) in the ultimately good-natured story of Nicholas, sister Kate, Mrs. Nickleby, evil Uncle Ralph Nickleby, and numerous side characters. Some mystery, some tragedy, ultimately resolved for the good with much humor.

Dickens's one fault, probably more the age than his, is that of flowery and immensely wordy romanticism when he tries to get serious. Get over it, forgive him for the overdraft of wordiness, and pay this worthy classic its time-honored due.

I actually read this in a pocket-sized hardback edition from 1900! Well before ISBN and obviously not for sale on Amazon, so I posted this review to the Penguin Classics edition because I find them the best presented and most affordable versions of the classics.

I grew up listening to this audiobook and I have adored Nickleby ever since. Siberry's narration and character voices are superb, particularly his Yorkshire accents. The eccentricities of Dickens' characters are truly accentuated by the narrator's character voices, making this audio version of the story a truly delightful experience. If only it weren't abridged! It's still a worthwhile buy, particularly if you don't have the time or energy for the 800+ page novel.

Nicholas Nickleby might not be the best book ever written (certainly some other book wins that prize (and it is likely that that book is widely available)), but it is still worth reading. It is long, yes, but it has plenty of things to recommend it: interesting characters, comic interludes, and a touching (if a bit sentimental conclusion). Perhaps the book's main problem is that Nicholas Nickleby (the character, not the eponymous book) is a bit too good. His character doesn't change, and his probity can become annoying. One imagines that Dickens could have fixed this shortcoming quite easily: he could have had Nicholas drink a bit too much and stagger around; he could have had Nicholas pick the pocket of some Londoner (he needs money, after all); he could have given Nicholas a hook for a hand (a device he used to great effect in a later novel); he could have had Nicholas use a few bad words (which perhaps is unlikely given that Dickens wrote in the 19th century, though one might suggest that an editor could jazz up a new edition); or any other numerous things. As it stands, Nicholas is the least interesting character. It's a good thing that many other characters (e.g. Newman Noggs, Ralph Nickleby, Mulberry Hawk, Smike, Wakford Squeers (Jr. and Sr.), Mrs. Nickelby, Vincent Crummles, and pretty much every other character other than Nicholas himself) carry the book. Except for Nicholas' sister; she's too good as well. In fact, one of the more annoying aspects of Dickens work is his brother-sister pairs (see Dombey and Son, Hard Times). Still, you should read this book.

This is a great book. Bought it for my brother-in-law in Dallas, an avid book lover. He loves the book and this hardcover edition looks sharp as well.

This is a very funny novel in some sections. Imagine an older Oliver Twist, about 19 or 20 or so, but handsome, and with a temper, and with a strong outgoing personality, and one who can act and do all kinds of things. He has lots of self confidence and a beautiful sister, and throw in an obnoxious and rich uncle and a dotty mother. Yes, it is very, very entertaining.

I bought the Wordsworth Classic version but would recommend the Penguin Classic version, and recommend that purchase highly. This is among Dickens's somewhat forgotten novel but still among his best. It is another masterpiece that brings together all of Dickens's writing skills with a great story. I would rate it slightly behind David Copperfield but it remains one of the most original and interesting of Dickens's novels somewhat on par with Oliver Twist.

As background information, I am in the process of reading most of Dickens's 22 novels and longer short stories, and set up a Listmania list. As a suggestion, avoid the Penguin Popular Classics with the plain green covers (I bought two). They fall apart and do not stand up to a read, especially books over 500 pages in length. The Regular Penguin Classics with the photo or painting on the front are excellent and some have maps and illustrations (drawings). The Wordsworth Classics are not as good, and some are illustrated.

A young Dickens at the age of 12 had the unenviable job of attaching labels 10 hours a day at the Warren's boot blacking factory. That experience shaped much of his writing career. Still in his teens he became a law clerk, then later in his twenties a journalist. The last job as a reporter led to the serialized writing of his novels. His works were social commentaries with larger than life characters, or colorful caricatures, living in the slums of London. He was a critic of poverty, social injustice, and the slow moving court system.

All of Dickens's experiences come together in his novels. The Pickwick Papers, his first novel, is mostly humorous. But the next one, Oliver Twist, is a dark novel set in the crime plagued streets of early 19th century London. Next in novel number three, he changes back to a more humorous novel which is the present work. This is a big novel, about 750 pages or so - but the pages fly by. The protagonists are Nicholas, who is almost 20, his sister Kate, a few years younger, and his uncle Ralph Nickleby. Their father has died and Nicholas and Kate come to London with their mother to seek aid from the wealthy uncle. The uncle finds them minimum paying jobs, and that creates a good story. It is a novel with many common features that we expect from Dickens with things such as a school where the children are beaten, but it has many funny parts and it is complicated by the uncle's financial dealings.

Having read many of Dickens's novels I still rate David Copperfield as best as a work of literature and rate Oliver Twist as close behind and a must read. The latter book was read by Queen Victoria and Karl Marx, and both enjoyed the read. The novel had a far reaching social impact. Nicholas Nickleby is another gem and well worth the read, but lacks the social bite of Oliver Twist, and lacks the enthusiasm of David Copperfield, but it is hilarious.

Inspector Rebus is in the hospital because his hands had been burned and it seems he can't quite remember what happened. After he gets out he's called out on a shooting case at a private school. An ex-soldier went a bit nuts, killed two people, then himself. The question for Rebus is, why?

Also someone had been stalking Siobhan Clarke, Rebus protégé and partner and this looks bad for Rebus, because someone burned up the stalker, killing him and those burns on Rebus's hands sort of make him look good for the killing. So now Rebus and Clarke have two crimes to solve, why did the soldier do what he did and who killed the stalker?a qaaaa

Ian Rankin writes terrific mysteries and this one is no exception. Rebus and Clarke are very believable characters who one cannot help enjoy reading about. You learn a lot about crime and how the police operate on the other side of the pond, plus you're treated to a good story as well. You can't go wrong with an Inspector Rebus story.

If you like "who dunnit" mysteries you will certainly enjoy this read!!
It is a good bedtime novel...can sleep like a baby afterwards!

"A Question of Blood" is the 14th book in the John Rebus series and delivers an engaging storyline--two murdered schoolboys, a snuffed out stalker of Rebus' partner, the death of an ex-cop and assorted mayhem revolving, as ever, around Inspector Rebus and his mates. Author Ian Rankin puts his anti-hero through the usual physical punishment which at times seems only reasonable for someone so anti-social and contrary as Rebus is portrayed. A secondary and interesting theme explored by this book (although not in nearly enough depth) is a look at post-traumatic ailments suffered by various characters central to the plot, including Rebus' own piled up issues.
This is a better than average read, driven largely by compelling dialogue rather than narrative and well-worth the time of any crime/mystery reader.

This is the first Ian Rankin novel I've read, but I'll make a point of reading them now. A really well designed mystery/police procedural by a Scottish author set in Edinburgh. The story begins with a school shooting, unfortunately an all too common event today, and not limited to the U.S. There was an earlier shooting in Scotland by a man who burst into a school, similar to Rankin's book. The actual shooting, as well as the whole gun control debate, are brought up in A Question of Blood, as well as other current issues U.S. readers will be familiar with, such as teenage gangs, the drug trade, Internet pornography and Goth kids, who might have stepped out of Columbine. The action is continuous and although there are a lot of characters and various subplots, you don't feel they get in the way of the story. Although the Scottish criminal justice system is somewhat different from the American, police and other personnel face similar problems. I found the book fascinating (I really hate that pseudo-word unputdownable) and recommend it to anyone who likes the mystery genre. Also on the school shooting theme, Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, in a U.S. setting, is a good comparison read.

I took a long time to warm to this book, which is one of series of stories about Scottish Detective Inspector John Rebus, a hard drinking loner, as you might expect. The author states in the preface that, in exchange for a donation to charity, he has taken to naming some minor characters after people who donate. I found this a bit weird, and strangely stereotypical. I took a long time to get into the story line, which moves along via Rebus's interior narration, and that of his young, admiring assistant Siobhan Clarke, and mixes in some dialog between them.
I found the best bits were the descriptions of Scottish society, I live in Ireland, so don't know the full details, but I identified with the descriptions of the modern media, the sodden weather, the drinking etc. I thought some of the street-criminal characters were quite believable also.
The plot hinges around a helicopter crash off the Scottish coast which killed a significant number of Government spy-types, an event which actually did take place. However, Rankin fictionalises what they were up to, I thought this might be insulting to the relatives of those who died, however I guess he has licence to do so.
The main weakness, I felt, was the clichéd nature of the lone, hard drinking detective, useless at relationships, but obsessively brilliant at his work. This has been done so often, you have to wonder what more could we be expected to put up with. Rebus finally drops his guard when he `rescues' his assistant Clarke, after suspecting she was involved in another `plane crash and gives her a big hug. NO HE WOULDN't, and the plane crash was put in for the TV mini-series. This last chapter takes a meandering story and puts it into a tailspin [yes, I know] Overall I won't be back to Rebus anytime soon

What a GREAT book! The material is very well organized, and straight forward. Marc presents the information as if he were talkin' person-to-person with ya. Marc doesn't leave you hangin' there wondering, "...what the hell does that mean?" I would strongly suggest ya grab this book. Use it in conjunction with: 1)Win95 Resource Kit -for detailed information, and 2)Transcender Practice Exams -the closest thing to the real test that you can find. Good Luck on your exam, you future MCP!

Nice job Marcus! I was amazed at how similar the actual exam was to the practice questions.

I used this book as my primary and almost exclusive study guide for the exam. Having used Windows '95 extensively for some time and more than a little comfortable with installing, configuring, and optimizing both the host computer as well as peripheral hardware, I was pleased when I found more than half of the book dealing with just these subjects. But when I went to take the exam, I found it was another story. The exam dealt predominantly with networking and the book didn't. I knew the book but found it to be quite different than the actual exam! My advice is to search elsewhere!

This book has been a great help to me in passing exam #70-064. The author states in his introduction that the book is aimed specifically at getting you through the exam and not to learn you everything there is to know about windows 95, and that is exactly what it does. I particularly like the "Test Day Facts" at the start of each chapter. There is also an abundance of typical exam questions with answers, and a full practice exam at the end. The author is also very approachable. I e-mailed him with a query about the book and received a reply within two days

After reading several other so called exam prep books and then failing the exam , I decided to pick this one up after reading all the great reviews. The second time I wrote the exam I passed with flying colors. I got 20% more then I needed to pass. Thanks Mr. Barton on a job well done.

COVER THE BUTTER

We meet Kate Cadogan as a teenager growing up in Great Britain. She has two close friends and is your typical teenage girl. She lives with her parents -- her mom is named Biddy -- and I just realized how the term OLD BIDDY works here -- her mom is one piece of work. Demanding, nasty, manipulative, always putting everyone down, including her husband and daughter.

Kate goes through high school and turns into a young woman. Her life never seems to be her own; as she is constantly trying to please this person or that person, but never seems able to please a very important person in her life -- herself!! She never does what SHE wants/needs to do, she does what her friends, teachers, parents want her to do.

Kate grows up, becomes a teacher, has some men in her life, along with the normal heartache we all encounter with relationships. Always, always, in the background is Biddy, trying to run her life.

Kate finally marries and becomes a lonely woman. Her husand totally neglects her, physically, emotionally, personally. He is never home, as he is so into every sport you can think of. To me, he was a total dud and I was sorry when Kate marries.

Her life does have some great characters you will love -- her grandparents who live in Wales, her Mamgu and Griff. They are wonderful characters, as are her friends Moira, Ingrid, her aunt Oona, her son Charlie.

This is a good book, one I highly recommend. The story moves fast and is never boring. We go from the early 1960's to the 1980's, enjoying Kate's life and laughing with her and crying with her. Kate is the narrator and does a great job. Her stories are funny, true-to-life, and some times wild.

Get yourself comfortable and read this book. You will be glad that you did.

Thank you!
Pam

The decisions made in the present are rooted in the past. I love a novel that grows a character out of childhood, letting the reader see what makes the person tick. (Maeve Binchy does this wonderfully and so does Carrie Kabak!) We get to better understand why the character responds the way she does in adulthood. Interaction with her best friend and her parents, her choices in men, and the way she manages major life situations all make for an absorbing, memorable read.

Carrie Kabak has spun a tale of a mid-life crisis for a 40-stomething woman, Kate Cadogan, who quite literally "wakes up" one morning to re-examine her life (she found her house trashed by her teenaged son when she woke up, while her husband was unmoved by the entire scene). The story is told in flashbacks to Kate's girlhood, her struggles with her weight in middle school, her relationship with her demanding and domineering mother, and her early relationships with boys. She examines exactly how she got to the place she is in during her forties.

Kate is a charming narrator, but this story meanders a bit in the middle. There is a good message of self-reliance here--no matter how long you've let others push you around, you can sieze control. I'm giving it only three stars, but don't let that dissuade you, especially if you are a fan of authors like Jane Green. For YA literature in this same vein, try Carolyn Mackler's The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.

I loved this book. I finished it a few months ago, and I still think about the characters, the story, and the wonderful style of writing. Sometimes, books about a character's personal struggles can feel plodding to me. I like books that give me a lot to think about but still keep me turning those pages. Ms. Kabek manages to do both in Cover the Butter. It's excellent.

I absolutely loved this book! I listened to the audio version. It was unabridged, and 10 wonderful hours of listening to narrator Kate Reading who really did "perform." She used different voices for each character, and has the most delightful British accent. She also knows how to speak in "American" as well as Welsh and French. I came to really care about the main character, Kate, and felt I knew her well. Very good book, one of the best of the year so far! Refreshing!

I began this book, but found it slow going. I got as far as the first murder and was going to stop reading. Then I looked up the reviews here and saw the "fun" had just begun. Once it got going it was hard to put down.

It was so different than the usual setting and cast of characters. I did not guess the bad guy at all, but found the end satisfying.

I thought I had read all the Agatha Christie mysteries many years ago, but DEATH COMES AS THE END seemed unfamiliar and I picked it up. It is an anomaly for Christie, a historical setting and characters, though as she says in an author's note, the plot could be set elsewhere in time and place but she was inspired by artifacts turned up in an Egyptian archeological dig in the early 1920's. In fact, I could easily see the story played out with similar characters in an English baronial manor house in the early 20th century. Or on a Texas ranch in a 1980's American television show.

The plot is vintage Christie, with twists, turns and red herrings galore. It is mostly logical. It takes place in the household of an autocratic ancient Egyptian ka-priest, whose sons vie for power in the family's vast agricultural and commercial holdings. The delicate balance of family interrelationships is knocked off kilter when the widowed patriarch brings home a vixenish concubine, apparently an acceptable practice back when. The female characters range from witchy to ingénue to matriarchal to unctuous servant. If they seem stereotypical some at least have a little psychological resonance and there are faint whiffs of English literary icons ranging from Lady MacBeth and Iago to Uriah Heep. It is refreshing to see the ingénue itch for self possession and independence.

A word about reading Christie again after at least 20 years: I was surprised at how "styleless" her writing style is. Fluent and efficient, yes. But no idiom to distinguish the narrative voice from American English. Perhaps I've been watching too many PBS versions of her work that I expected differently.

Death Comes As The End was an extremely well told story. It was so easy to get lost in the imagery and events that were taking place. The novel was fast paced and got straight to the point from the very beginning. I especially love the language, it's somewhat poetic. The depth of understanding of human relationships that is conveyed in the simple speech patterns of Christie's characters is almost incomprehensible. I thought I knew who the killer was, but truly I did not solve this mystery until the very end. I first read this book ten or more years ago when I was a teenager. I enjoyed Death Comes As The End today just as much, if not more than the first time I read it. I am not by any standards an avid mystery reader. I first selected this book because I was curious about Agatha Christie as an author and my interest was piqued at the possibility of reading about Egyptian characters. That said, this book is one that can be enjoyed by many readers, even quote, non-mystery readers. I could read this book again and again.

This is one of my favourite Agatha Christie books, albeit lesser known for some reason.....If you like AC, you're sure to love this one!

This is not the book that Agatha Christie wrote. What "improvements" have been made for the Bantam edition? There were already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Signet, Berkley, and Black Dog & Leventhal editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

The book is about Scott Hudson, and the guide of things he makes for his upcoming sibling, about coping with problems of Freshman Year, such as drifting friends, a new baby, homework, and the older kids.
I loved this book, and it was an amazing read.

I had to read this book over the summer for Summer Reading. I expected it to be just as dull and uninteresting as the other books I have had to read. Actually, it was better than previous years. However, it was not that good.

The characters seemed fake and the plot was totally predictable. (spoiler) It was obvious from the beginning that Scott's mom was pregnant. How could he not see that? And in the end with Lee? I figured out in the beginning that Scott would like her better than Julia. And then the thing with Mouth. Jeez. And his "friends" were pretty stupid.

I would not recommend this book to most people.

I was going to make another corny review, calling it, "Sleeping Freshman, Crouching Sophomores", but I will never presume to try to outwit the narrator of this very clever book. Mind you, I heard the "Full Cast Audio" version, and didn't get a chance to read it (don't worry, their version is unabridged), but still I must say that this story is great!

It has humour in all the right places, little life lessons, and a good portrayal of adolescent angst. The main character is very believable, and you find yourself cheering him on.

While I don't agree with the "punk" (or is it goth?) look of the SPOILER HERE girlfriend, I can understand how she doesn't want to be a part of the crowd. Both of them realize by the end story that they are pretty special without being stereotypically so. (A fact that Lee-the girl-knew all along.

Other lessons include being nice to the "oddballs" like Mouth, and not just ignoring them. Also, that revenge and fighting are not the answer. I like how our main hero didn't sic Wesley on Vernon.

It's just a very good book-a rarity in the sex-filled volumes inflicted on teens these days.

One more word of caution: there is some swearing in this book-even done by our hero.

Scott Hudson sure has a way with words. Whether he's spouting vocabulary words at his friends, writing humorous articles about the losing team, or keeping a survival guide for his new sibling-to-be this book is a wonderful, refreshing read.

It's obvious that Scott is a geek, what with always reading, loving the word games his english teacher gives out or writing out one of his many lists, but it's also obvious he has a way with words.

Which is how he got on the school paper. Hoping to write book reviews (and he's be good at them, too) he gets stuck writing about sports teams who aren't any good. And running for student counsel to get his crush to notice him. And becoming part of the drama team. He somehow manages to make his way through his first year in high school(juggling school and writing), making unexpected friends and losing some old ones as they grow apart. He finds out that the girl he was crushing on isn't who he thought she was, and that the "weird girl" in school is actually pretty cool.

To give away more might spoil this delightful book. As an aspiring author myself, this is the kind of book that makes me smile and work harder at my writing to make characters this memorable! Bravo David Lubar! I hope we can meet Scott in another adventure!

This book is the required book for kids entering 9th grade at my school. I thought, ok, just another boring reading book, whatever. But it was worse than that. This was stereotypical, but tried to be clever. Every time the main character made a joke, he clarified it, and it usually wasn't very funny the first time. The main character was portrayed as a well read, above average student, but the only books he reads are the general required reading for every school in the country (To Kill A Mockingbird, etc.)The book also tries to use vocab words, but he is so blatantly trying to pound them into our heads that it gets annoying. The characters are very fake and boring, and when it tries to get into heavier subjects, the heavier things (like suicide) are glossed over and sort of ignored (bad things happen, but not to you!). There is one type of charming in the book, and if you aren't that kind of charming, you are out.

The norton critical edition was very useful for this novel. Having all the background about the novel as well as all the footnotes throughout the novel really aided me in my understanding of the novel. Without the information in these footnotes, the book would not have had the same meaning for me. The book itself was also very good, although a bit difficult to read. It was very interesting and it led me to a better understanding of the Victorian era and trials ordinary men at that time had to go through. A good read.

This is a wonderful classic for many reasons. But, I urge you not to read this edition, because the notes are terrible! There are notes for things that are obvious, and a lack for those things which need them. The worst offense, however, is that one of the notes (which readers are likely to check, as it gives background on a forgotten song sung by one of the main characters) gives away not only the important action of that short chapter, but also gives away the main line of the story. Awful, awful editing...

i do think it's a wonderful fiction! in the process of reading this book, i was captivated by the twisted development of the story and also Hardy's mastery language. it gives you a great picture of beautiful scenery in rural England, and there is romance, expections for what happens next. i really enjoy it !

In Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy introduces us to the precarious "love square". At the core of all the turmoil is beautiful farm girl, Bathsheba Everdene - spirited, vain, intelligent and adept at toying with the hearts of men. Inevitably beguiled by her charms a humble and kind farmer, Gabriel Oak, fervently attempts to win Bathsheba's affections. Enter the competition: (suitor#2) Farmer Boldwood - a wealthy and temperate middle-aged man respected in the community, eventually plunges into maniacal obsession at the mere possibility of making the beloved Miss Everdene his wife; and (suitor#3) Sergeant Francis Troy - a dashing young philandering soldier, with his share of inner demons, ruthlessness and vanity, vies for Bathsheba's hand in marriage. Bathsheba's ultimate decision, and the cataclysm it evokes, lies at the epicenter of Hardy's unforgettable ambivalent story.
Far from the Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy's fourth novel, saw publication in 1874 and earned him widespread popularity as a writer. A delicately woven tale of unrequited love and regret, set in the mid-19th century, Far From the Madding Crowd is a masterpiece of pure story-telling. Hardy's classic style is a pleasure to read as he masterfully brings his characters and their dealings to life. I would not hesitate to say it definitely captured my heart as another favourite.

Few literary settings are more distinctive than Thomas Hardy's Wessex, a hilly, chalky, bucolic quilt of pastures and villages occupying the southwest of England, its residents sworn to the immutable cultural traditions of centuries long past. But it is not the goal of "Far from the Madding Crowd" to be merely a sentimental portrait of a region for which Hardy has a great affection, but a grandiose drama about the eventual union of a man and the woman he loves. In summary, Hardy does accede to a Happily Ever After ending, but how he gets to this point is why his novel deserves to be read.

It's not surprising that the novel was originally attributed to George Eliot because the protagonist, Gabriel Oak, as the novel's moral anchor, is very similar in character to Eliot's Adam Bede. Oak is trying to make a living on his own as a farmer, but a stroke of bad luck compels him to take a job as a shepherd for a beautiful young woman named Bathsheba Everdene who has recently inherited her uncle's farm and commands a large number of workers and servants. Oak iconically personifies the rustic setting, not only because of his surname but because of the intimacy with which he communes with nature, and his fondness for playing the flute seems designed to evoke an image of Pan.

Oak has an awkward history with Bathsheba -- he had known her before her windfall, but in her independent spirit she spurned his love. As the head of Weatherbury farm, however, she can't get by on her independence alone, and she needs Oak's expertise in ensuring her sheep are healthy and fit for wool production. Her romantic attention turns toward a profligate soldier named Francis Troy who, through an unlikely error, has just barely avoided wedding Fanny Robin, one of the Weatherbury servants. Bathsheba's eventual marriage to Troy breaks the hearts of Oak and another rival, a neighboring farmer named Boldwood whose affections she had once teased and whose obsessive nature erupts at a most climactic moment in the novel.

The plot developments are a flamboyant display of contrivance, but Hardy masters his devices so well it's impossible not to go along with him for the ride. As an example, consider the jilted Fanny who is so weary from sickness that she has to use a dog as a crutch to get to her destination where she finally dies; not until Hardy reveals what's written on the lid of her coffin do we (and Oak) realize the role Troy played in her death. Likewise, Troy's impulsive reaction to this incident seems like a purposely destructive measure that intends to stir even more turbulence into the story.

A large part of Hardy's appeal is his prose, which maximizes the value of a mastery of language; his sentences are like finely cut gems that demand to be held up to a light and studied for their craftsmanship. I believe that Hardy is the consummate novelist; he approaches the art of the novel as a painter looks upon a canvas, a weaver upon a tapestry, a composer upon an opera -- as the supreme representation of man in harmony with nature and in conflict with fate.