MR

A drunk driver deprived Dean Sheffield of his dreams when a shoulder injury took him from major league baseball and leads to the end of his relationship with the woman he loved. The continual agony of his shoulder serves a reminder of his loss; one he will not discuss with anyone. His consequential gloomy dispossession often earns him the misnomer of Mr. Congeniality. The arrival of Annie Holladay, who accepts a position as his ranch's summer cook, aggravates the situation even more.

Annie does not know she looks like Dean's former fiancé, or that her mannerisms serve as an unpleasant reminder of the woman he lost. She does recognize the spark between them, and determinedly tries to reign in her emotions. With his struggle to make a success of his fledgling business, her need to rebuild her life following the destruction of her marriage and the upcoming shift of household for her teen daughter, Annie knows neither she nor Dean need to start a relationship right now. But her heart disagrees.

Author Sherry Lewis deftly captures the challenges of life and love in MR. CONGENIALITY. Lewis explores the essence of the conflict between those in the midst of divorce as Annie struggles to make career and family decisions. She also explores the related lost dreams and disillusionment, as well as the need to create a new life with new goals, as shown by both Annie and Dean. Indeed, Dean's challenge of chronic pain, family relationships and his need to reevaluate the past mirrors Annie's struggles. In addition, Lewis' remarkable understanding of the tumultuous teen years adds yet another level of depth. This character driven romance comes highly recommended.

This book deserves the review. It was published in Europe dec-99. The hero/ heroine was good but I liked the side persons even more. The scene where they woke Rip in the laboratory... It was like one of my collegeaus. Then the twin brother whose got a boyfriend and sister who needs a shrink all the time.

I loved it and laughed, felt sorry for Spencer. It might have been fun to read how he described to the doctors damage to his you-know-what. And the doctor's giving orders. Propably I would be interested about Rip's story, too.

This book was like the good old days when we looked Soap on tv. I still remember Billy Crystal as a brother.

I read this almost immediately upon completing David Pirie's "The Night Calls", another novel that uses the characters of Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Joseph Bell as "real-life" stand-ins for Doyle's illustrious Sherlock Holmes, and the variations are fascinating.
Whereas Pirie paints a dark moodish piece with all of his characters (including the leads) as sombre, haunted individuals caught in a web of horror and intrigue, Engel's picture is bright, snappy, and breezy (or as much so as possible given that it details a wrongly convicted man facing the gallows). Pirie is rich in minute detail and atmosphere, Engel skips from scene to scene, plot point to plot point, like a runner trying to break the hundrde yard dash. In sum, I must confess that Pirie's book, the second in his Doyle/Bell series, is much more literary and engrossing but Engel's, originally published in paperback in 1997, is simply, a lot more fun. As they say in the ads though; "even better, try them both!"

This was fabulous for teaching my kids lines and spaces. They caught on immediately, and remembered what they had learned all through the year. Lots of fun, and well done!

I have had this cookbook for 7 years and have enjoyed almost every recipe. I strongly recommend it. There are even some great dessert recipes listed.

Mr. Food uses his unique humor to share his own weight loss story and his new weight loss plan. Mr. Food provides many hearty, delicious low-fat recipes and meal suggestions that makes following his plan incredibly easy and tasty enough for the whole family to enjoy! Most of the recipes are really easy to prepare with common ingredients. The Fettucine Alfredo is absolutely delicious, by the way! Mr. Food also emphasizes the importance of daily excercise. Mr. Food's book seems like a very sensible way to lose weight, be healthier, and eat great food while doing it.

Albert J. Nock has long been known by those familiar with his work as a shrewd commentator who is always eager to "tell it as it is." When his premises are correct, this can be refreshing, to say the least. However, when he misses the mark, the results can be embarassing. This work, much like his infamous "Our Enemy the State," is a great testament to this.

However, to begin with, there is much of great worth and interest in this volume. Nock, as one scholar has observed, was a supremely literate man, and his great learning and intelligence is clearly evident throughout this work. Unlike many other authors, Nock reflects a deep, thorough knowledge of Jefferson's life and writings. Furthermore, few modern authors can equal Nock's beautiful prose style. Thus, when one reads of Jefferson's opinion on architechure, art, philosophy, or agriculture, we have some of the most delightful passages in all of the Jefferson literature.

Unfortunately, a large portion of the work is consumed by Nock's grossly inaccurate analysis of the political environment of the early republic. Economic determinism in the tradition of Charles A. Beard and Henry George is the gist of what you find, and all of their fallacies and flaws are given full exercise. Indeed, as one Jefferson scholar has remarked, this work reveals a "uncritical" use of the Beard thesis. Thus, Jefferson is portrayed, not as an advocate of natural rights or anything of the sort, but as the supporter of the interests of the producing class against those of the exploiting class. As one would expect, the Constitution is portrayed simply as a tool for economic exploitation, and much ink is spilled documenting the evils of Hamilton, the Federalists, as well as "speculators." While all of this is not without a semblance of truth, his simplistic and often misleading exegesis is very dissapointing.

Nevertheless, as I have said, the work still has great value, largely as a brilliant account of Jefferson's interests and character. Nock is fundamentally correct when he focuses on the fact that Jefferson's real views are very far from those of his comtemporaries, and even farther from those who claim his name for support in later days. Ultimately, I would only recommend this work to individuals who have already done a good deal of study in Jefferson's life and ideas, for only these individuals will be able to see the true worth of this study despite its many flaws.

Burke Davis is my grandfather on my mom's side. My mom, Angela Davis-Gardner, has written two books, "Felice" and "Forms of Shelter". Burke Davis has written 50 or more. I'm 14 now, but when I was about 7 I read Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers. I loved it! I have all of his books and this is the best children's one. I recommend this to see about another side of Abraham Lincoln

"Mr. Meeson's Will" was first printed in book form in October 1888, after having first appeared earlier that year in "The Illustrated London News." It was H. Rider Haggard's 11th novel (out of 58), and one in which his experiences as both a writer and aspiring lawyer were given vent. The novel is at once a tale of adventure, a critique of the publishing industry in late 19th century England, and a satire on the English legal system. In the book's first half, Augusta Smithers--our heroine and a successful author, who has unwittingly entered into an unfair contract with Meeson's publishing firm--takes passage on board a steamship bound for New Zealand, where she hopes to make a fresh start. Her enemy, Mr. Meeson himself, is on board the same boat, coincidentally, and when the ship sinks after a catastrophic collision with a whaler (in a disaster scene that predates a similar, fictional shipwreck in Haggard's 1905 novel, "The Spirit of Bambatse," not to mention the real-life Titanic disaster of 1912), Augusta, Meeson and several others are washed up on one of the lonely Kerguelen Islands, in the south Indian Ocean. Before his death, Meeson decides to alter his will and, having no other means of doing so, has that testament tattooed upon Augusta's back! This sets up the story for the book's second half, in which a huge court battle takes place regarding the validity of this document. What might have turned out to be a dry exposition of legal procedures in another author's hands is handled quite entertainingly by H. Rider, and the result is a book of adventure in the first half--the shipwreck and marooning scenes are especially fun--and interesting court battles in the second. Haggard must have greatly enjoyed exposing the unfair practices of the publishing system that had tried to cheat him during his early career, much as Meeson & Co. had cheated Augusta. The book, though a lesser title in Haggard's bibliography--and probably a seldom-read one today, at least as compared to such other Haggard titles as "King Solomon's Mines" and "She"--offers ample entertainment value for the modern-day reader, and I do unreservedly recommend it. This book was, by the way, made into a film starring Lon Chaney in 1916, and called "The Grasp of Greed." If it's half as good as its source novel, I would love to see it one day.

If you are a fan of Jack Finney or Ray Bradbury, you will probably enjoy this book very much. I am and I certainly enjoyed some of the stories I remember that are contained in this volume!

It's been a few years since I read Mr. Bond's work, but having a request for this title at our library brought back memories of some of the short stories it contains. While time has dimmed details of some of the tales I recognized, a few of them have remained with me.

"The Magic Staircase," a classic time-travel story, stayed with me over the years. It will change the way you walk up a staircase for the rest of your life -- or at least what you think of as you do so!

The stories "Johnny Cartwright's Camera" and the title story "Mr. Mergenthwirker's Lobblies" also deal with the bending of or intersecting with the time continuum in some way that touches the characters lives and sends a chill or two up the reader's spine!

I would highly recommend this book of short stories, based on the ones I have read and remembered, to both fiction and science fiction/fantasy readers.