Full Books

I purchased several of Tom Tierney's historical paper doll sets to augment my family history projects. I have 150 years of family photos which are mostly in black and white, of course, so it's great to see the period clothing in detail and in color. The paper dolls will add so much to my research and my family's appreciation of the historical times and stories. Although I intend to keep the paper dolls uncut, they are printed on card stock which would be easy to cut and not tear apart if well-cared for.

Tom Tinerney has written and drawn dozens of excellent books meant to educate children about what people of the past wore for various occasions.

This book is wonderful for those interested in the fashions of Federal America. It has fashions for every age tier, showing how a conservative older man's dress may differ from that of his adult son. It also shows the dilution of American fashions from European; even though they mirrored them, they lacked some of the extravagant wares.

Apart from that, it shows what your average family would wear, rather than that of the aristocracy or the very well off. The family featured is prosperous, but not rich.

Finally, the back pages have wonderful, accurate descriptions of all the fashions, why/where they originated, and descriptions of fabric, embellishments, accessories, and so on. This book is good for kids; great for fashion historians and re-creationists.

This book is up-to-date, instructive, comprehensive, and easy to read. It even introduces political principles and theories in the margins in a palatable and intuitive way. This is an excellent book for an introductory American politics course, exceeding the expectation that a textbook is only useful as a reference.

I just wanted to say that my Grandfather wrote the American Standard Bartenders Guide. As well as Classic Cocktails, Tropical Cocktails and Elegant Wine Cocktails. He passed away in 1992 from cancer. When he produced the book in the 80s it was well ahead of its time. Very few bartender guides had a full color picture of the drink on one side and how to make it on the otherside. The book has a space for notes as well as measuring chart, terms etc. He set the standard of what a lot of bartender guides are like today. He was in the middle of negotiations with Seagrams to buy the rights to his book..but he passed away before the deal was made. Every drink in the book was made by him at the Brigadoon in Vacaville CA. Then the drink had its picture taken by a professional photographer named Bill Honig of Vacaville Ca. He owned Vacaville liquor emporium for many years. He has traveled the world extensively and was a master bartender. (he reminded me of the Irish guy in the movie Cocktail. He had the gift of gab. He was Cherokee indian and Irish and was raised on a reservation. His Sons and Daughters were great athletes and still reside in the Vacaville area. His son Tommy Murphy Jr. Was a linebacker for UCLA, BYU and University of Hawaii. He attended Vacaville High school and was a state champion wrestler, star football player and baseball player. He was a blue chip player in the late 70's. The book is a great book for any bartender. I have personally seen the book in use from Reno to Dallas Texas in many of their hotspots. He was a great man with a great vision to improve the skills of many the bartender.

Angel in the Full Moon is the third in a wonderfully suspenseful series written by Don Easton, and I mean wonderfully suspenseful in the most riveting way!! For those reading this review... read Loose Ends and Above Ground first. Totally worth picking up all three for a weekend read because you won't stop after the first one!! From start to finish, Easton has a style of writing that makes his characters, Jack and Laura, alive, credible and just a little frightening for heroes - keeping you on the hook the whole way through. You will truly understand and appreciate the intriguing, rebellious Jack and you will share the crooked smile of his as he "blurs the blue line" of his actions. As a 'member' in a drug section, I LOVE how Easton has pushed the envelope for justice!! Thanks Don... Can't wait for the next book!!! You are far from "NFAR. CH."!!!!

I downloaded this from audible. It was quick enjoyable listen. I'm not sure if the title does the book justice. A teen book with "thong" in the title?

The book is the diary of a 14 year old British girl. Angus is her poodle eating cat. Thongs are mentioned once I believe... and the main character finds them ludicrous. As for full frontal snogging... well, that is kissing with a bit of tongue... and in this book, the character is in search of boyfriend and experience but is a bit lukewarm when she actually "snogs" (if that is the correct slang.)

It is an amusing (laugh out loud at times) book and I think the audio version adds a lot with the correct accent and line readings.

I'm not sure if teenage girls are really like this and I don't know if they would find it funny... but adults will read/listen to it and, I think, enjoy it.

This is a great book. It includes an Annie Oakley doll, her husband Frank, Buffalo Bill, and Sitting Bull. It also includes a brief biographical account of Annie Oakley. The costumes are beautiful, and there are more than 10 for Annie. Each dress in the book actually existed and it tells what occasion the doll wore it for. This book is worth every penny, and is a must for fans of the Old West and paper doll buffs of any age.

`The Hunting of the Snark' may not only be the greatest nonsense poem ever written, it may be one of the half dozen most famous poems of all time in English, as long as you don't include Shakespeare's dramas written in verse.

This particular edition of this great poem, edited by James Tanis and John Dooley, includes many extras, the most important of which is `The Annotated Snark' by Martin Gardner, the logician / puzzle master who also annotated Lewis Carroll's Alice stories. Since the poem appears in both a facsimile of its original publication and in Gardner's annotated form, the poem actually appears twice.

My first encounter with `The Hunting of the Snark' was on a late Saturday night, as I was surfing the AM radio dial in 1958 or 1959 and I ran across this very odd recitation of verse in this furtively confidential voice. Even at this tender age, I was familiar with the fact that some of the most creative broadcasting is done in commercials, so I passed it by on my way northward. Having found nothing of special interest, I came back south, returning to 710 AM and found the recitation to be still in full swing. This being long before the age of infomercials, I knew something else was afoot, and stayed with this signal (which happened to be the great WOR talk radio station out of New York City and the voice was that of the equally great Jean Shepherd, who did regular readings of `The Hunting of the Snark' on his WOR radio show. So notable is this confluence of work and performer that the editors of this volume even make note of it and add that Shepherd often ended the recitation with the statement that `. and this is NOT Uncle Wiggley'. One upshot of this contact was that I became a lifelong Jean Shepherd fan.

I was certainly familiar with Carroll's Alice stories at this time, although `Alice in Wonderland' was much more familiar than `Alice Through the Looking Glass', as Walt Disney had already done an animated version of the Wonderland tale. While there is certainly a fair amount of absurdity in the Disney version (picture the Mad Hatter and the March Hare careening around the table shouting `No Room, No Room' and you can get a fair taste of Carroll's absurdity in the animation.) But, the cartoon made it just a little too easy to confuse fantasy (J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis' stock in trade) with Carroll's true genre, nonsense.

Having virtually memorized the `Jabberwocky' poem from `Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', I was just initially just a bit disappointed in `...Snark' as there seemed to be less absurdity and word invention per stanza than in `Jabberwocky', but then, `Jabberwocky' is but three stanzas long, while `...Snark' consists of eight `fits', each composed of about 23 stanzas. But I have come to love this poem more than any other piece of verse I can think of, except for `Jabberwocky' and, possibly, the 23rd psalm. Needless to say, I am not a big fan of verse, so I give my attraction to these works even more weight.

One of the most notable discoveries in the notes to the poem in this book is Carroll's use of the number 42. By itself this may not seem remarkable, and Gardner can offer no explanation for this bit of numerology. But, 42 happens to be the answer to the meaning of the universe in Douglas Adams' `Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'. I will bet the farm that Adams borrowed this `answer' from Lewis Carroll, although no commentator in this volume on `...Snark' makes mention of this borrowing.

One very notable aspect of the publication of `The Hunting of the Snark' is the fact that the illustrations were not done by John Tenniel, the illustrator for the Alice books, but by Henry Holiday, a more conventionally `art nouveau' illustrator, who went on to design stained glass windows for many an important church, including one notable house of worship in New York City. The editors' opinion on the drawings is that they are inferior to Tenniel's Alice drawings. I will agree, since they have not become a part of our modern cultural baggage like Tenniel's white rabbit or hookah smoking caterpiller. But they add to the poem nonetheless, and the drafts and the one unused illustration alone may be worth the price of this book.

Should you not be familiar with this poem, but like Carroll's Alice books, I strongly recommend you get a copy of this work in this richly annotated form. If you know and like the poem, but have never read Gardner's annotated version, I also highly recommend this work. I am certain that there are dozens of references and inventions which will simply be hidden from you without this help.

As an annotation, I find no puzzling construction left untouched. There are a few for which Gardner confesses he does not have a definitive resolution, but hints are offered on all puzzles. I have seen other annotated works such as the annotation of Sherlock Holmes stories and `The Hobbit', and this is easily one of the best on that score.

Very highly recommended for fans of Carroll and nonsense fiction.

heartwarming and sweet. A wonderful book for all pet and/or bird lovers

This is by far the most complete book I have read on hand and machine applique I have reviewed. Explanations are clear and concise for the beginner as well as for the intermediate and advanced quilter. The pictures are drawn to thoroughly explain each step in applique. Jeanne Benson's book should be a definite addition to anyone's collection who is seriously into the art of applique.