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We are a family that likes camping so when I saw this title, I thought it would be a nice book. But the message is that camping is scary and that it is much more fun to stay home where it is safe and warm. Turtle and Snake are scared away by the hooting of an owl. This is not a message that we want to encourage in our family. My 4-year old daughter thought it was a pretty lame book.

After checking this out of the library, my 4 year old son immediately loved it. Keep in mind that it is not a book to help kids like camping. It is a fun book that can help kids start reading. My son memorized the book in just a few readings, and he now "reads" it himself. The pictures of the turtle and snake sleeping bags are great!

It's a mystery how this book was ever published in the first place! I can't imagine who proofread or edited it. I'll admit that this review is based only on the first 5-10 pages but that's because there were so many spelling and grammatical errors in those few pages that I honestly could not read any further. If that type of thing bothers you at all, please don't waste your money. I sure wish I hadn't!

In the first 3 pages, there are scores of typos, including "inseperatable," "gong" for going, and grammar mistakes that are so obvious, they should have been noticed. Just the use of a spell checker would have improved the book immensely. The sad part is, it may be a decent story, but I can't get through it with all these mindless mistakes. No one could have even glanced at this book before printing it and selling it. There is no excuse for this.

I think what any reader looks for in a good story is the strong character content and if it can or can not hold my interest. I found all these qualities and more in Time to Go Home. The story reflects the struggles that both Jesse and Riley have to go through from childhood to adulthood. The author successfully balances the present to past senerio, just the right amount to fill in the background of the characters. The story is not only suspenseful but full of quick witted humor. Like listening in on a personal conversation between old friends. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to any more from this author.

What is up with this writing??? First of all, I've reached my breaking point with Lori Foster's work. It has just gotten too dorky. I really can not take it anymore with her give-every-hero-3-brothers-so-I-can-not-only-write-their-stories-but-also-bring-them-back-on-cue-in-every-other-book-for-a-corny-lamebrained-cameo. It's really tiresome after a while! Also, it was hard to get past the fact that given the news that he had a 2 year old daughter, and was about to meet her, ALL Gil can think about is how hot Anabel used to be and what it would be like to see her again. In fact, when the door opens, with Anabel and Gil's little daughter standing there, for the first few minutes he ONLY notices Anabel and her belly ring! Yeah, great father. He finally snaps himself out of his lusty trance to notice his child standing there, too. Ugh!

Janelle Denison's story wasn't much better, though it was a little hotter, which helped make it bearable. The problem here is that the heroine has got to be one of the most annoying people in the entire world. The premise is that she's a photographer putting together a beefcake calendar, and really wants this guy, Adrian, in it because he's hot. Okay, fine. But after he tells her he does NOT want to pose for the calendar fifty times, and she declares that she won't take no for answer, but will follow him around until he says yes, I was like, who could stand this person? And then she proceeds to make good on her word, following him to the place he's out with his friends, badgering him relentlessly about the calendar, getting all his friends to gang up on him ("Come on, Adrian, why won't you do it?? Just do the calendar, come on, Adrian" etc.). When he goes to the men's room to escape the relentless pressure to pose for a cheesy beefcake calendar, she follows him in there, too!!! It is utterly ridiculous. And if all that was not bad enough, she comes to his mountain cabin with her camera, and continues snapping cameo shots of him constantly. Yet THIS is the woman he can't get out of his mind? Sorry, not buying it. She even asks at the end, after they've supposedly fallen in love, if his family will mind that she's going to be snapping pictures of them all the time without warning whenever she's around them. And he says "they'll get used to it"--oh, and isn't that adorable? No, try annoying, annoying, annoying!

If you don't mind corny writing with some hot sex thrown in amidst grating, juvenile characters and unrealistic dialogue, then this one's probably a good choice. Otherwise, I'd say skip it.

This book is a big disappointment. Either Kensington Brava should get new authors or they should put a stop to the Bad Boy series while it's still lukewarm. Each story in Bad Boys to Go lacks a compelling and memorable plot. Bringing Up Baby didn't live up to Foster's reputation as one of the best romance writers of this era. This story was a chore to read. As was Nancy Warren's Going After Adam. There are quite a few erotic scenes, but no plausible story to back it up. Which brings me to Janelle Denison. There's no doubt that the sex scenes in her stories are few of the steamiest in the erotic romance genre, and I love the Wilde series. The Wilde One is the better story of the three in this book. Adrian Wilde, the youngest of the Wilde brothers, whose stories can be found in I Brake for Bad Boys and Wilde Thing, is known for being adventurous, daring, noncommittal and, of course, wild. After four months of avoiding Chayse Douglas's proposal of posing for a beefcake calendar, the pretty and tenacious photographer could well be Adrian's perfect match. As said earlier, this is the better novella of the three. However, I do have a word of advice for all three writers. I love erotica and I love romance, but I also love a good, interesting story. And that's exactly what's missing in this latest installment. If Brava continues to release Bad Boy books, then I hope that the future offerings are as good as I Love Bad Boys and I Brake for Bad Boys.

The liked the last two stories, but they were all unrealistic because the charachters fell in love practically over a couple of days! What is that?

Marco Polo, whose very name is a byword for travel and adventure, is worth reconsidering; but the case Frances Wood builds against him is primarily negative: Polo didn't mention the Great Wall, or cormorant fishing, or binding women's feet. All these matters are more than adequately answered in John Larner's MARCO POLO AND THE DISCOVERY OF THE WORLD, a book I recommend for balance. The thesis of Marco Polo not going to China is compelling, and Wood's style is fast-paced and keeps at a high level. But she seems to rebut her own argument in some places -- for instance, even mentioning a name close to "Polo" where Marco was said to have been, but dismissing it just as quickly by saying it couldn't have been him (the answer comes in a later chapter, but by the time you reach it, the author has made the argument look specious).

Marco Polo may indeed have exaggerated his own importance. Instead of being ruler of a province, being a major player in the salt business, on the face of it, was probably more likely his position. But Marco was a businessman brought up in a mercantile family. Unlike the author's idea, a seventeen year old in the thirteenth century was not considered a "boy" -- in fact, he was coming up on half his life expectancy. Even if the "great wall" of that day was the wall we see today (it wasn't, the impressive brick facade came later), we can hardly expect boyish wonder.

Without positive evidence, Frances Wood runs across the problem of those who believe Shakespeare didn't write his plays, or that he didn't exist. They can only argue from negative evidence, and a negative can't be proven. It cannot be proven that, because the Khan of Khans didn't mention a Venetian traveller, that the traveller who says he was there was lying -- although it can may suggest that he wasn't as important in the Khan's court as he intimates.

This book is only for those who wish to find out all aspects of the Polo problem. It's not recommended for the general reader, especially one who just wants to see famous people debunked. Debunking western European figures is a cottage industry at the turn of the twenty-first century, but in the case the evidence is very thin for the revisionists.

For someone who wants a good, solid, general overview of Polo and his mystique, check the John Larner book.

As with any book of historical perspective, the reader should take into account the historian's viewpoint, but also what is not said. Indeed history is interpreted through it's interpreters, historians, through facts that they believe to be accurate. There are, however, other viewpoints or perspectives that can be as well supported through facts.
"Did Marco Polo Go to China?" piques the issue and raises some considerable debatable questions on whether one of history's greatests myths is indeed fact and to what level cultural diffusion took place between the east and west during that specific time period.
Please read this book with objectivity and do not consider it to be the answer, as the answer should be found after reading all different viewpoints through a self-exploration process.

Frances Wood provides a semi-revisionist view on the travels of Messer Marco Polo. Wood offers a number of contentions (chopsticks, the Great Wall, cormorant fishing, Chinese writing, paper, tea, foot binding, not being mentioned in Mongolian and Chinese historical records, not learning Chinese, and the who invented ice cream/spaghetti debate) that make it seem highly unlikely that Polo actually went as far east as China. I will list each of Woods main arguments and then offer my own explanation.

Chopsticks: this is a good argument, however, there are many people in Central Asia that use chopsticks. In the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of China for example, most if not all Uighurs use chopsticks when eating noodles and dumplings. Perhaps Polo would have been surprised to see people in Central Asia using chopsticks at first, but by the time he traveled all the way eastward to China he had become accustomed to seeing the use of chopsticks and so this was not such an exciting thing. And what about the Middle East where people eat with their right hand and wipe with their left? Why is'nt this mentioned by Polo?

The Great Wall: another decent argument. However, there is absolutely no way to verify the exact route Polo took and so how can we discern if he ever had the chance to actually see the wall or not? Many travelers have tried to trace his route but none have succeeded. Wood describes the Wall as being made of yellow sand and mud. If you have ever been to China, you will see how well the old original parts of the wall blends in with the countryside. Only now can we really make out the wall with all of its brick renovations/restorations. It would be like someone coming to visit New York City and seeing the Empire State Building. Impressive? Yes. But would that person be so excited about it that they would write about it? Probably not.

Comorant fishing: It's not like all of China fishes with cormorant birds. This is a very specialized brand of fishing in a very small portion of China. It's very possible that Polo never even had a chance to visit this area.

Chinese writing : Woods argues that Polo never mentions anything about Chinese writing/caligraphy. But if Polo was a sycophant of Kublai Khan and Mongolia being the dominant country at the time, there would be no reason for Polo to learn Chinese. But surely he must have learned some Chinese but he just did'nt mention it. Besides, Mongol script is very similar to Arabic script and so again, this would not be anything new to Polo having traveled throughout Persia and the Middle East.

Paper: what is so exciting about paper when the great Khan gives you a golden tablet for unmolested travel back to Venice?

tea: tea was available everywhere in the Middle East and India. Why would this be a revelation?

Foot binding: most Chinese women who had their feet bound were of the upper class. Supposedly done to make women look more sexy, it was in reality more or less a sinister way of not allowing women freedom and the opportunity to cheat on their husbands. If a woman was unhappy in her marriage, there was absolutely no way for her to "walk out" so to speak. Most foot bound women stayed at home inside so Polo may not have had much opportunity to see this practice.

Not being mentioned in historical records: Polo probably exaggerated greatly his importance within the Imperial Court. He was also not the the first European to visit Mongolia/China. And even if he was a high official, was it not more the responsibility of the Mongols to document this as opposed to China as Mongolia was the ruling country?

Who invented Ice Cream and Spaghetti, Italy or China?: I think it is pretty obvious that these two foods originated in Central Asia, if not the Middle East. Woods admits this herself. Having been to Central Asia, it seems to me highly likely or quite possible that these could have originated in West/Central Asia. Dumplings are a regular staple of many within Central Asia.

After 17 years in a foreign land, it would have been very difficult to remember every single thing that Polo saw. Polo himself said that he had not told the half of what he saw.

All in all, this is an excellent book worth reading. Wood says that this is not the ultimate answer or authority on whether Polo actually visited China, but a book to read so that people can think more analytically and critically about Marco Polo.

A very readable book with a number of passages that describe the power and ferocity of the Mongols: "like the reprisal against Burma (1277) when the Muslim general of the Mongol army Nasir al-Din, aware that he was outnumbered , ordered his archers to fire on the two thousand Burmese war elephants, covering them with arrows and causing a frenzied stampede."

A book well worth reading but buy it used!

My wife and I went to Rome for a week in March of 2001. I ordered 2 publications. One of the publications was this one (I wish I didn't buy this one). This walking guide didn't provide enough detailed information (directions) to it's walking tours. The publication is not much better than a bunch of pages that were just printed off of a black and white printer. If this publication was selling for $1.95, then I would say it is worth the money (even then, I don't think you would end up using it).

If you are going to Rome for the first time, get the book called the "Eyewitness Travel Guides: Rome". This is all you will need.

This Rome Walking Guide included an eclectic mix of sites to visit, and the walks were comprehensive. However, it omitted precise directions to and from each attraction. Addresses for most sites were omitted, as were many street names. The included maps were not very detailed and ended up confusing us more than helping. We found ourselves frustrated and lost more times than not. The compact size of the guide made it easy to carry around, but it was lacking in historical background. A bit more information on the attractions would have enhanced the experience of each walk. Overall, the guide lacked clarity, detailed directions, instructions and background -- all crucial for a special experience. I would not recommend this guidebook for first time visitors to Rome.

I used this guide on my recent vacation. Jeanne really provides a thorough and efficient way to explore the city. You won't miss a thing and you will really enjoy your time. You go Jeanne!

How can I review what I haven't read

Made all the difference in our family vacation. Saw things we otherwise would have missed. Very entertaining and informative.

It certainly is a cute little book, very portable. The maps are nice and I can just imagine myself walking down the street and whipping out the book to find a cozy little bar in Chelsea.

However, the book it is very out of date. Here is an example excerpt "WHERE TO START DAY 2: World Trade Center. The twin towers practically define the lower Manhattan skyline....."

If it still has info about the WTC, then perhaps the other info is also not quite up-to-date?

This is a cool little guide for a weekend in the Big Apple. Designed for travelers with two days to burn, it shows you the highlights through walking tours. A small map is included, providing a quick overview of New York's layout. The city is broken down into districts (ie. SoHo & Greenwich Village, Chinatown and East Village) with a selection of restaurants, stores, and attractions for each one. All in all, a good deal. One note of caution however: this guide is the same size as a credit card, but the covers are magnets. So don't put this near any of your credit cards or computer disks. It could do a number on your Visa!

This consists of 8 x A4 pages. Total waste.

I truly enjoyed my visit to London due to this walking guide. It was easy to follow and a time saver. I was able to see the things I cared to see and walk on by the things I had no interest in. I would highly recommend this to anyone traveling to London who doesn't mind walking. HINT! HINT! Get a good pair of walking shoes.

So, here I was in New York Penn Station, my train is delayed, and I walk into a bookstore to find something to read. On a special table I see Jimmy Breslin's new book, "I Don't Want To Go To Jail." Breslin....in New York City....too good to pass up.

The cover was emblazoned with a badge calling it "A Good Novel", and Carl Hiassen is quoted, on the cover, saying that "Jimmy Breslin delivers more laughs in a single page than most writers do in a whole book. He is impossibly funny."

The rest of the reviews are just as laudatory, so I bought the book, expecting a raucous send-up of the Mob in New York City with a strong underlayment of the anger, fear, and terror that speaks to the strange dialectic of "family" and "crime", "loyalty" and casual fratricide that is the real dynamic of the Mafia.

But the reviews are as phony as a no-show job on a construction crew. There is no story line, no plot, the characters come and go with little respect for continuity, dropping in and out with no warning in the middle of a paragraph.

Some mob novels try to build sympathy for the characters, others vilify them as savage animals, and the best show the quicksilver contradiction as they dangerously veer between humanity and savagry. But Breslin is lost between all of these, and so we get nothing more than a series of loosely connected vignettes that never add up to a single story or viewpoint.

I often like impressionistic novels where seemingly random scenes and events are daubbed like paint in loose strokes on a canvas, so that you feel more than see the whole emerging as you go deeper and also step back for perspective. But Breslin is not reaching for this, or if he is, he misses badly, and we are left with a cacaphony of characters and scenes that never meld or mesh.

In the end, this book is not about the Mafia in New York. It is about Jimmy Breslin's self-image as THE interpreter of the wise guys for the rest of us. But the novel does not ring true and feels like something anyone could make up after seeing Goodfellas and reading The Godfather...

just old stories in a new wrapper. Invites comparison to Mario Puzo: Breslin's is an Irish take on the human condition-- sarcasm like Puck, "what fools these mortals be;" Puzo does grand opera--Italian melodrama of the human condition, waste and loss. Both are narrative, but Puzo's characters are rounder; neither is dramatic.

Breslin is fun when he writes about those who connive against interest. But characters here are thin; interactions between lovers are haptic--flat AND thin, like cartoons. His gift is tapping memory for an image, a smell, a habit; and making just-in-time connections--gangster trading cards undoing the mob. But zip in his prose has gone missing. Maybe New York has changed for him, too, and his point, that the world of the mob was its own undoing, applies to him. The Gotham he loved is gone, and he mourns like Damon Runyon.

Can you sue a jacket cover for false advertising? Right there on the front cover is the bold statement, "...Delivers more laughs on a single page than most writers do in a whole book. He is impossibly funny!" Only if those other writers are the ones that write the phone book. The only thing funny about this book is that I shelled out good money for it. If the publishers had been a little more accurate about what was inside, I might be a little more forgiving. This book is an aimless and shapeless collection of anecdotes, loosely connected by the common theme of a mob presence in a "ficticious" New York City neighborhood. "Laughs" are conspicuously absent.

It's obvious that Jimmy Breslin has an immense fondness for his New York/Italian heritage, and is a consumate student of New York City's citizens, past and present. It's also obvious to the reader that he harbors a whimsical nostalgia for those tough, but kind-hearted "made guys". I can imagine Mr. Breslin spending countless hours of his free time jotting down notes about his own real life experiences in just such a neighborhood, knowing that one day he could weave them into a great novel. However, it appears that Mr. Breslin actually just sent the notebook to the publishers, and forgot to write the novel. If you actually lived in this "ficticious" neighborhood, and are actually one of the characters mentioned in this book, you might find it mildly interesting. But if you're looking for laughs, you'd be better off with the phone book.

This book looks great but is actually just a listing of hotels and wineries that belong to a trade association. I looked for the names of 10 wineries and 5 top restaurants that my wine merchant told me to visit. Not one of them is listed. The ones that are listed are very small and most of them don't even export their wines to the US. No thanks!!

I collect Italian wine and at first glance thought this book would be perfect to plan a trip to the Italian wine regions. Then I tried to find the top 20 Italian wineries - not one is listed. Nonetheless, all the reviews were just glowing - all the wines were great, all the hotels were perfect, etc., etc. Then I read the statement (I paraphrase): "All members of the National Association for Wine Tourism as of XX date are listed in this book." Hey, that's advertisement - no one should be tricked into paying money for that. If I'm buying a book, I want - and expect! - the views of an independent writer.

The Italian Wine Guide is a delightful travel guide to the various regional wines and 325 wineries of Italy. Virtually every page of this comprehensive and detailed reference features colorful photographs, maps, lists of amazing facts, and much more. Enhanced with 167 maps and 99 detailed itineraries (complete with lodgings and restaurants), The Italian Wine Guide is a truly great reference for wine connoisseurs traveling abroad in the Italian landscape ranging from Tuscany and Florence, to Milan, Naples and Venice, as well as the armchair traveler who truly loves learning about good wines and the places from which they come!