Behind the Lines: Corps 07 (Corps)

Book Description

Philippines, 1942. A renegade Army officer and a corps of Marines fight their way through the heart of enemy Japanese territory.

Customer Reviews:

I'm totally hooked on these books!.......2007-04-29

The Corp series is my first W.E.B. Griffin series, but it definitely won't be my last. This author is a storyteller extraordinaire, and this series is wonderful. Griffin's characterizations are incredibly good, and I will be sorry to reach the end of the series and see the end of General Pickering, Killer McCoy, Pick Pickering and all the other wonderful characters in these books. In this book, we have Ken (Killer) McCoy being sent behind enemy lines in the Phillipines to lend aid and supplies to a guerrilla army led by General Fertig. It is an incredibly dangerous mission, and we need to wait until the very end of the book to see whether or not Ken McCoy can get out. The time is sent around the end of the year in 1942, and the beginning of 1943. At that time the War in the Pacific was going full steam, and the Americans were running into some surprising difficulties with the Japanese. As far as I'm concerned, this series gets better and better, and I have two books left to read before I'm done.

Gripping Reading.......2006-03-13

BEHIND THE LINES is a fast read, gripping most of the time. I wish there were clarification on this story. It's listed as a novel, yet the author's ENDNOTE describes what happened to "General" Fertig after the war. I guess it's an historical novel.

One of the Authors Best Efforts.......2005-08-15

BE WARN !! These books are like peanuts, you pick one up and you just can't stop. I got hooked on these back in the 80's and I am hard core adict to them! These series are well written, researched and the characters will reach out and grab you. So if you don't want to get addicted then go no further.

The most entertaining novel I have ever read.......2003-02-12

This book got me back into reading books after a being severely burned out post college (it took four years to pick-up a book and actually read it and it would have been longer had I not listened to this book on tape.)

I can't say enough about "Behind the Lines." After listening to this book I read straight through the series and could not put one of them down while I was reading. In fact, like one of the other posters stated, finishing them nearly brought me to tears. I will morn when "The Corps" series ends.

If you are a military history buff and like action-adventure novels, then this would also be the most entertaining novel you have ever read. I promise.

Thank you for the experience W.E.B.

A Waste of Time.......2003-01-14

I picked up these books hoping to gain some insight into the actions of the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. What I found instead was a sort of soap opera that rambles on for hundreds of pages without getting around to much actual fighting. For example, The Marines don't even get to Guadalcanal (their first major offensive) until the end of book III, some 1200 pages into the story. Those 1200 intervening pages are mostly conversations (ad nauseam) between stateside Marine Corps officers as they sit around headquarters, or go out on the town chasing skirts.

The small portion of the books that is devoted to actual battles is done in such a cursory fashion that you're left with the impression that the author either finds this aspect of the Marines' mission distasteful, or doesn't understand it well enough to write about it. Mr. Griffin could have deleted about 80% of his material, and would have ended up with better books, albeit still not good ones.

If you're the sort of person who likes to watch daytime soap operas, then you may enjoy these books. If, on the other hand, you're interested in military history, the banality of these books will leave you screaming in frustration.

Customer Reviews:

Well-written but ever so boring.........2007-03-02

Yes, maybe I was expecting something different from Hard Case. I devoured the previous books in the series and enjoyed most of them. But this one stopped me dead in my tracks. It was well-written, no doubt about that. The author has a way with words. But as far as plot goes.. Cliche after cliche. *spoiler* (and as if by the first chapter, after we are told about his dog, we aren't supposed to EXPECT him to sacrifice someone at the end? come on..). *end of spoiler* It was a real chore to get through this book. When I want high literature, I want a layered plot with atypical characters and situations. This book, however, had a plot right out of a Europe-based crime movie complete with idiot foreign gangsters. I probably could have dealt with the cliche plot if the narrator didn't just go ON and ON about philosophy and about film theory (though the chicken thing was interesting, I'll admit) and film editing. Very tedious. Boring. If I wasn't collecting every Hard Case Crime book, I'd through this one right in the trash. I also think HCC was stretching it by releasing it under their name.. This was a mild crime novel that was mostly about friendship and love (not a thriller as the cover blurb says).
So yeah, if you enjoyed the other Hard Case Titles, just skip this and get any of the previous ones. You've been warned.

Interesting crime fiction, but not that great overall.......2006-07-23

Straight Cut features an unconventional protagonist - a Kierkegaard-quoting film editor - and various other unusual aspects for the crime genre. There's the hidden backstory (many areas of the past are never fully revealed) plus the way the lead character "accidentally" falls into a drug deal that becomes the story's main suspense element. Then you've got the writer of Cut, a literary author (Mr. Bell) not normally associated with crime fiction. All of this stuff is interesting, and is also pretty well covered in the other customer reviews. My bottom line on this novel is that there was never really enough suspense. This is NOT edge-of-your-seat story-telling. The lead guy, Tracy, more or less just seemed to wander out of one scene and into another. So I would not recommend it as a good read. One other thing, too ---- the cover art is a fun throwback to pulp fiction covers of the mid 20th century, but it is also a misrepresentation of Straight Cut's story. The scene depicted on the cover never happens in the story, and the teaser quote, "She was a pawn in their deadly game," really has very little to do with what happens in the book. I found that annoying.

a cult classic among fans of noir crime fiction.......2006-06-27

At first blush STRAIGHT CUT is a bit of an enigma within the context of the Hard Case Crime list. Madison Smartt Bell doesn't ordinarily work within the suspense genre in general or hard-boiled crime fiction in particular, though certainly his talent is such that he is capable of writing, and writing well, in any genre he wishes. And STRAIGHT CUT is not as bare-knuckled as, say, BUST, FADE TO BLONDE or KISS HER GOODBYE, or any half-dozen titles from Hard Case you could name (with the exception, of course, of Stephen King's THE COLORADO KID). The publication of STRAIGHT CUT, however, demonstrates the elasticity of even the relatively narrow hard-boiled genre.

Originally published in 1986, the novel has a European feel and edge, and not just because a great deal of it is set in Italy and Belgium. Bell's writing style has a continental flare to it, as well as a cinematic one. At times I felt as if I was reading a script from a Barbet Schroeder film, not topically but stylistically. There is not a great deal of violence in the book, though it is there, interjected at one point to demonstrate that there is more to protagonist Tracy Bateman than meets the eye.

Bateman is a freelance film editor whose personal life is less than ideal. Kevin, a film producer who is Bateman's best friend and occasional employer, is incapable and unworthy of trust, as is Lauren, Bateman's ex-wife with whom he shared at best a marriage of convenience. Yet Bateman is at least partially to blame for this state of affairs, aware that his wife and erstwhile best friend formed points of a romantic triangle, a situation that Bateman tolerated almost from the beginning of his relationship with Lauren.

Bateman is sunk in an alcoholic ennui on his farm in Tennessee, uneasily brooding and reading Kierkegaard, when he receives a call from Kevin with an offer of employment. The job --- editing a documentary film in Italy --- is an interesting one and certainly within the range of his considerable talents. It is made clear though that the job will involve something more, an additional side task involving drugs and money that Bateman has performed before for Kevin. It is only when Bateman is in Italy and immersed in his editing chores that he learns that Kevin has interjected Lauren into the mix as well. Bateman and Lauren resume their relationship, however briefly, and as a result Bateman takes over Lauren's role in the side job, even as Bateman realizes that Kevin had assumed he would do just that. But Bateman is not without his own personal resources, which he utilizes even as he must fight against his own self-destructive impulses.

Though Kevin makes only relatively brief appearances at the beginning and end of STRAIGHT CUT, he is a Machiavellian presence throughout, crossing swords with Bateman at a distance while preserving an amoral detachment from what befalls others at his behest. It is Kevin's machinations, and Bateman's somewhat tardy but effective reactions, that provide the duplicitous elements that has made STRAIGHT CUT a cult classic among fans of noir crime fiction.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Straight Cut - page turning.......2006-06-18

A page turning mystery that takes you to Europe and back. Didn't want it to end yet couldn't put down.

Unexpectedly rewarding.......2006-06-15

Is Hard Case Crime trying to expand its audience? Madison Smartt Bell isn't exactly famous for his crime noir fiction, but is probably best known for his novel, All Souls' Rising (the first of a trilogy of novels on the Haitian Revolution), which won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a National Book Award finalist. Not exactly the rundown of the average Hard Case Crime author.

A thriller with literary aspirations (the cover quote from Walker Percy, author of The Moviegoer, clued me in to that), Straight Cut gives us the best of both worlds -- although for genre fans, the first two-thirds will essentially feel like exposition.

With an opening that will re-break the heart of anyone who's ever had to put a pet to sleep, Straight Cut tells the story of Tracy Bateman, freelance film editor, before, during, and after he is sent to Rome for a cutting job. Offered the job by his best friend / romantic rival and the film's director, Kevin Carter, Tracy is suspicious from the beginning, but the money is too good to refuse (another reason for his suspicion).

His Italian is poor, but he manages to make a go of it in Rome. He teaches an assistant, Mimmo, the ropes of film editing while dealing with the recent death of his dog, and his stormy relationship with his wife, Lauren (who married him for an American green card and occasionally runs off with Kevin), while spending a lot of time in trattorias drinking grappa. His reliance on the philosophies of Danish existentialist Søren Kierkegaard doesn't help things.

Neither does meeting up again with Lauren, which wasn't exactly on his agenda, but she shows up unexpectedly, carrying a mysterious briefcase, a false identity, and instructions from Kevin. Tracy is conflicted because he doesn't trust that Lauren will ever be the person he needs her to be (though their physical relationship has never been a problem), but he can see what she is getting herself involved in and doesn't want her to get hurt. That Kevin is so obviously careless about putting Lauren in danger only aggravates Tracy's love / hate relationship with him.

This leads to what most Hard Case Crime readers will have been waiting for the whole time: a continent-hopping drug-and-money exchange, with all the border-crossing problems, fistfights, and gun-crazy Bulgarians that implies. It only covers the final third of the book, but Bell's prose is so sparse as to make it feel like a novel unto itself. Tracy's thought processes are fascinating to watch and whether he will get himself out of this situation is always in doubt, making the suspense quotient even higher than expected.

On the whole, however, Straight Cut is a novel of character, not of plot. Go into it expecting a tense page-turner on the level of Bust or Grifter's Game, and you'll likely be disappointed -- but exercise a little patience, and you'll be greatly rewarded.

Matting Simplified: How to Mat Art Pieces; How to Cut Mats with Straight Line Cutters

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Matting Simplified: How to Mat Art Pieces; How to Cut Mats with Straight Line Cutters
Alto O. Albright
Manufacturer: Alto's EZ/Mat; Kirkland, WA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PR1WEG

Product Description

A workbook on matting for artists, photographers, teachers, students, framers, or anyone with a need to mat an art piece. Over 200 illustrations and 96 pages of information, procedures, methods, techniques and suggestions. For the professional and the amateur.

Matting: How to mat art pieces, how to cut mats with straight line cutters

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Matting: How to mat art pieces, how to cut mats with straight line cutters
Alto O Albright
Manufacturer: Alto's EZ/MAT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00070YEVE

Olde James Towne. Bradley's Straight Line Picture Cut-Outs

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Olde James Towne. Bradley's Straight Line Picture Cut-Outs
Milton Bradley Co.
Manufacturer: Milton Bradley Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WPLQA6

Pilgrim Village. Bradley's Straight Line Picture Cut-Outs

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Pilgrim Village. Bradley's Straight Line Picture Cut-Outs
Milton Bradley Co.
Manufacturer: Milton Bradley Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WPGTK8

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Stand on the Crooked and Cut Straight
Elisha A. Colgram
Manufacturer: Vantage Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0533107342

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Straight Cut
Madison Smartt Bell
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HYN5II

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Straight Cut
Madison Smartt Bell
Manufacturer: New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1986
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NVBLJA

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Straight Cut
Madison Smartt Bell
Manufacturer: TICKNOR & FIELDS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKC8KQ

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Straight Cut 1ST Edition Signed
Madison Smart Bell
Manufacturer: TICKNOR & FIELDS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000Q3IULW

Average customer rating:
The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories
Algernon Blackwood
Manufacturer: Wildside Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Blackwood, Alegernon | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1592241891
Release Date: 2005-02-04

Book Description

Most connoisseurs of modern horror fiction rate Algernon Blackwood (1869-1951) as the finest horror writer of all time. Blackwood was unsurpassed in originality, atmosphere, and characterization. His finest works still surprise and shock today's readers. THE EMPTY HOUSE AND OTHER GHOST STORIES, originally published in 1906, was Blackwood's first collection. It includes such classics as the title story, "A Haunted Island," "A Suspicious Gift," and many more.

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Tale of an Empty House and Other Ghost Stories

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Tale of an Empty House and Other Ghost Stories
E.F. Benson
Manufacturer: Black Swan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0552992224
Release Date: 1986-11-14

Customer Reviews:

Ivan Illich and Modern Medicine.......2004-04-26

This highly referenced text, orginially written in the late 70's, outlines a well presented documentation of why medicine has not positively impacted modern life. Illich argues that iatrogenic illness is far more common than we realize. It's a must read for anyone intersted in the evolution of our views on "disease" and what constitutes health!

Another brilliant, well-written book by Illich!.......1999-05-13

In this book, much like Deschooling Society, Illich attacks the issue from all sides. He consistenly provides an excellent argument with examples, statistics, and well-done research. Though this book is not quite as fast-paced as Deschooling Society, it is equally engaging. Illich not only presents the problems in a realistic way, he also presents alternative methods for dealing with the issues he's attacking. This book is well worth the time it takes to read, and although it was written several years ago, the issues addressed in this book are even more prevalent now. Illich is a wonderful writer and this is an incredible book.

Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health

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Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health

Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GRMCAS

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Joanna Lund Rocks my World!

Indespensible

Disappointing!

unoriginal and uninteresting recipes

Great for those on Weight Watchers

Cooking Healthy Across America
JoAnna M. Lund , and Barbara Alpert
Manufacturer: Perigee Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Plastic Comb

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | U.S. Regional | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Low Cholesterol | Special Conditions | Diets & Weight Loss | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0399527206
Release Date: 2001-12-04

Book Description

JoAnna Lund has traveled across the country promoting her Healthy Exchanges lifestyle - and she's picked up hundreds of delicious recipe ideas along the way. In Cooking Healthy Across America, she offers up the best of American regional cooking - made healthy.

Customer Reviews:

Joanna Lund Rocks my World!.......2007-08-06

I discovered Joanna Lund's cookbooks about two months ago quite by accident. Now, they are all we eat in this house. I've lost 14 lbs. in the last month! They are all great and very few recipes ever get a frown. Most, my family cleans their plates and begs for more! You cannot go wrong with her books, or her newsletter!

Indespensible.......2006-09-29

For anybody needing traditional food recipies created in a newer-day, low-fat, low cholesterol way, have a look at this book. It is divided into several regions of the USA: New England, Southwestern, The Heartland, etc. Each section has recipies for entreés, side dishes, soups, salads, and desserts, and each recipie is charted at the bottom with the number of servings, calories, and dietary "exchanges". "Cooking Healthy Across America" has been of huge benefit for keeping my family's weight down and health up!

Disappointing!.......2004-04-13

This book was a total disappointment. Several of Joanna Lund's books were recommended to me, so I thought this would be a sure winner. The recipes looked easy, straight forward and relatively appealing and healthy (aside from frequent use of artifical sweetners, including saccharin!). For Easter, I made several of the recipes and they were a complete and total disaster! The Key Lime Pie was so bitter, it was inedible (thankfully, my family has a good sense of humor). I would not recommend this book at all-- it is, by far-- one of the worst cookbooks I have ever purchased.

unoriginal and uninteresting recipes.......2002-02-26

The recipes in this book aren't terrible, but there are so many other "healthy" cookbooks out there that are far better and more original -- try any of Don Mauer's cookbooks, for example, or if you care about exchanges, I have a recent Weight Watchers cookbook that is far more interesting than this one. Moreover, I was disappointed that a cookbook with the word "healthy" in the title would include recipes that call for ingredients such as nutrasweet and diet Mountain Dew. And the fact that many of the recipes call for brand name ingredients without any explanation makes me suspcious, too. On the whole, this just isn't a cookbook I'm interested in coming back to, and it will not be getting a permanent spot on the shelf in my kitchen.

Great for those on Weight Watchers.......2002-02-20

My husband bought me this for Valentine's Day. I love it! I recently started Weight Watchers and there isn't a single recipe in this book that is more than 7 points per serving. (That is better than the cookbook that I bought at Weight Watchers!) I have made four of the recipes so far and they have been fantastic. Some people may need to "tweek" some of the recipes to suit their tastes, (Crab cakes need a little garlic salt,etc.). But hey, I do that with all of my cookbooks anyway. Its really nice to have some choices when it comes to eating healthier! I intend to take a look at some of this author's other cookbooks

American Dietetic Association Cooking Healthy Across America

Average customer rating:

Not impressive...
Two thumbs up!s

American Dietetic Association Cooking Healthy Across America
The American Dietetic Association
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Diabetic & Sugar-Free | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Healthy | Special Diet | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0471686824

Book Description

"A taste of culinary history that celebrates the delicious melting pot of American cooking while leaving the guilt behind."
-Jill Cordes
host of The Best Of on the Food Network

"This book shows how easy it is to prepare and enjoy the wonderful variety of ingredients and recipes that make American cuisine unique, flavorful, and healthful."
-Roberta L. Duyff, MS, RD, FADA, CFCS
author of American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide

"A wonderful edible survey of American regional classics that blends authenticity with good nutrition. This is an important book."
-Graham Kerr
author of Charting a Course to Wellness and My Personal Path to Wellness

Set the table for good nutrition-and savor the regional flavors of delicious American food

American Dietetic Association Cooking Healthy across America presents over 300 healthful, mouthwatering recipes that draw on the flavors and traditions of various cuisines around the country. You'll find stories from the kitchens of ADA's culinary professionals-their special family recipes, cooking secrets, and innovative food prep tips and insights-showing you just how easy it is to prepare healthy versions of these American favorites:

Philly Cheesesteak • Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce •Maryland Crab Cakes • Tropical Breeze Smoothie • Gazpacho • West Texas Chipotle Chicken Salad • Smoky Holler Fried Chicken •Southwest Black Bean Dip • Baked Halibut Bristol Bay • Lemon Ice Box Pie • Cajun Jambalaya • Stovetop Glazed Ham • Vineyard Stuffed Quahogs • Mom's Baked Beans • Triple Chocolate Cake • And much more

Customer Reviews:

Not impressive..........2006-03-22

I bought this in the hopes that I could make some yummy meals for my family that weren't loaded down with sugar or fats. I can't say this cookbook provides the best recipes for those needs. It was well organized and planned out but several of the recipes shouldn't be falling under the healthy category. Refined sugar (white) should never have a place in a health-based cookbook. That's just one of the examples. It was okay, but I'd see if your local library has if first.

Two thumbs up!s.......2004-12-02

It's a great book. I liked how they divided the book into different sections for each region. This is more than just a recipe book. It has other useful information about chosing different types of meats, vegetables,ect. Great book. It would be a perfect gift for anyone on your Christmas list!

Average customer rating:

American Dietetic Association Cooking Healthy Across America
American Dietetic Association
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RRRYDC

Cooking Healthy Across America (A Healthy Exchanges Cookbook)

Average customer rating:

Cooking Healthy Across America (A Healthy Exchanges Cookbook)
JoAnna M. Lund
Manufacturer: Penguin Putnam Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound
ASIN: B000PECJX2

Book Description

This is the only book that completely lists accurate technical data for all cars imported into the U.S. market from 1946-2000. With many imports approaching the antique status, this book will be a big seller across all generations of car enthusiasts. From the grandiose European carriages of the late Forties to the hot, little Asian imports of the Nineties, every car to grace American roadways from across the Atlantic and Pacific is carefully referenced in this book.

Foreign car devotees will appreciate the attention given to capturing precise data on Appearance and Equipment, Vehicle I.D. Numbers, Specification Charts, Engine Data, Chassis, Technical Data, Options and Historical Information.

Collectors, restorers and car buffs will love this key book from noted automotive authors, James Flammang and Mike Covello.

-Comprehensive history of all cars imported into the U.S. market from 1946-2000

-Detailed year-by-year changes in each model
-First-time coverage of models from 1991 through 2000
-Accurate, current pricing for all models in up to 6 grades of condition

Customer Reviews:

A pale imitation.......2004-01-22

This book looks superficially like the Standard Catalog books dealing with American cars, but the data is incomplete and the editing is grossly inferior. Just a few of the problems I noticed flipping through a few sections:

They lump model years together into big chunks, when there were substantial differences in models within those years.

Information is incomplete or wrong. Example: I looked here to find an answer to the question, "When did Toyota first build a Celica convertible?" The text refers to one in 1987, but I know for a fact that Toyota built one in 1985! No mention at all.

They have pictures of cars that are never discussed in the text or production statistics. Example: Under Volkswagen, they have several pictures of the Thing, but it is never listed or discussed anywhere in the data or text. (And, they have a seemingly infinite number of pictures of the Beetle, which barely changed over several decades, but there are a number of models of which there are no pictures at all.)

These are just a couple things I remember off the top of my head, writing this review without the book in front of me. I have found lots of other similar omissions and mistakes. I'm sure some of the information is accurate, but how to tell?

And this may be a pet peeve, but the Standard Catalog of American Cars didn't include the Nash Metropolitan, apparently because it was actually built by Austin in England. But the catalog of import cars doesn't include it either, apparently because it was sold by Nash.

After the excellent catalogs of American cars, I had high hopes for this book, and I was sorely disappointed. Hopefully a new edition will fix its shortcomings.

Lots of information on lots of cars.......2002-12-31

A remarkable effort to list all the cars imported to the US, and their specifications. For many cars they have total production, instead of US or North American imports, but they try to organize their information. Some good B/W pictures, and short histories of the marques. A numbers book, with a poorly defined pricing guide, not a picture book.

Average customer rating:

An excellent guide for quilters at all levels of experience.

New Techniques to Quilt

Flower Patterns to Applique, Paint, and Embroider: To Applique, Paint, and Embroider
Joan Waldman Waldman
Manufacturer: American Quilter's Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Applique | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Embroidery | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Birds & Flowers Album

Petal Play the Traditional Way

ASIN: 1574327267

Book Description

This versatile collection of flower and leaf designs offers endless opportunities for applique, quilting, painting, and embroidery. Developed to introduce Joan Waldman's unique technique, 'Watercolor Pencil Painting,' the designs are easily adapted for use in many other ways. The designs are then 'painted' with water and ironed to set the color. This method is well suited for wallhangings. Patterns include lilies, irises, roses, wildflowers, and more. Joan offers several delightful designs for quilt labels and ideas for lettering. AUTHORBIO: Joan Waldman grew up on a farm near Humphrey, Nebraska. Since the mid-1970s, she has been a quiltmaker, designer, and teacher. She is co-founder of the Calico Quilt Club of Columbus, Nebraska, and member of the Country Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Norfolk, Nebraska, Nebraska State Quilt Guild, NQA, and AQS. REVIEW: The Midwest Book Review says, "Flower Patterns provides patterns to applique, paint, or embroider, and will prove inviting to quilters seeking flower foundations. All are excellent guides."

Customer Reviews:

An excellent guide for quilters at all levels of experience........2000-05-04

Joan Sjuts Waldman's Flower Patterns provides patterns to applique, paint or embroider, and will prove inviting to quilters seeking flower foundations. An excellent guides, ideal for quilters at all levels of experience.

New Techniques to Quilt.......2000-04-13

A great new way to create a beautiful quilt if someone doesn't like to applique with templates. The results are truly different, but very easy to achieve. I would recommend this book to my friends. I just checked it out at the local library last night and am ready to purchase it.

Book Description

This private house with office is abviously a built manifesto demonstrating precise agreement between internal and external geometry and eliminating the antihesis between elevation and ground plan.

Book Description

Description: "Mainly he draws," an Italian critic once wrote about Velasco's work, and draw he does: sitting, standing, in front of the TV, in a bar, on the beach. Ceaselessly, everywhere, anywhere, day after day, the pieces of paper pile up. Remarkably, then, this is the first book to document the artist's prolific work on paper--and a story of fully achieved love it is, the love between a man and his drawings.

Book Description

Featuring insights ... analysis ... great films and filmmakers from “the most-sought-after screenwriting teacher in the world” (The Hollywood Reporter).

A life in film. An extraordinary career. An unforgettable story — from noted lecturer, teacher, and bestselling author Syd Field.

What makes a great movie great? ... An actor legendary? ... A screenplay extraordinary or just ordinary?

Syd Field has spent a lifetime seeking answers to these questions. His bestselling books on the art and craft of screenwriting have become the film industry’s gold standard.

Now Syd Field tells his own remarkable story, sharing the insight and experience gleaned from an extraordinary career. Using classic movies from the past and present — from Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane to Andy and Larry Wachowski’s The Matrix — Field provides a guided tour of the basic elements common to all great films.

Learn what makes La Grande Illusion a groundbreaking, timeless classic ... how Casablanca teaches one of the most important elements of creating memorable characters for the screen ... why Pulp Fiction might be one of the most influential films of our time.

Discover the legendary filmmakers, films, and stars who shaped Field’s understanding of the medium.... Meet Jean Renoir, the great French director who steered his young Berkeley protégé away from medicine into film.... Watch a dazzling young Francis Ford Coppola as he directs his thesis film at UCLA.... Spend an amazing summer with Sam Peckinpah as he shares the screenwriting techniques behind his classic western The Wild Bunch.

Rich in anecdote and insight, Going to the Movies will both entertain and inform, deepening every moviegoer’s appreciation of the magic behind the silver screen.

Customer Reviews:

Living history.......2007-05-15

Going to the Movies is a wonderful journey with Syd Field trough decades of living history of movies. Syd Field writes in such a way that you almost hear him talking to you. His precense is wonderful.

A Life in Film and A Screen Writers Guide.......2005-03-08

This is a pretty good book. While Field has been touched by beneficial timing, and influential relationships, he has developed through diligence a perspective and vision for film, screenplays in particular.
While the book begins as an autobiography: school, wanderings, discovering film, school, early work, etc., it developes into a book of analysis and technique. In that way it went from good to okay. His working at Wolper Productions, his relationship with Jean Renoir and Sam Peckinpah all are interesting views of film making and film makers. I wish there was more of that. In fact, after a half chapter plus on Citizen Kane, in a following chapter Field talks about working at Wolper on a series hosted by Joseph Cotton. But there is no regarding of Cotton's involvement in the most influential of films.
Through script reviewing at Wolper Productions he developes a style and level of efficiency which begins to translate itself into a writing career. He survives off of optioned scripts for several years before he begins teaching. From this point on he becomes more of an advisor, and leads up to his place today as a formidable screenplay expert.
Within this arc, from autobiography to technical manual there is interesting and insightful writing on film, it's brilliance, influence, form and power. A decision on whether or not to make this a technical book about writing a screenplay or a memoir about a life in the film business would have improved this book.

Simple, yet oh, so revealing.......2004-04-10

Let's start by saying this book is not for everyone. Going to the Movies is the story of how and why Syd Field learned to analyse scripts. As such, it's introspective at times and personally revealing at others.

I especially loved two things about this book. First, Field's honesty is quite endearing. He discusses his failures as well as his triumphs, and writers need to see failures, too. It's how we all learn.

Second, I loved the tips I got from this book. Field discusses the importance of midpoint--how to hang your story around a centerpiece event. Later he explains closed and open stories. In the former, the protagonist knows what's happening (like Chinatown). An open story is when the audience understands what faces the protag., but the protag. doesn't (Hitchcock movies, usually). And Field reminds us that a good story isn't a good story unless it's executed properly.

One thing annoyed me a bit. Field has an "Uncle Sol" who helped him get started by finding him jobs in Hollywood. Well, frankly, I sure wish I had an Uncle Sol. BUT--in fairness--Field did his own homework, worked hard, and learned important lessons which he shares with us. Uncle Sol or no Unlce Sol, Field understands what makes a script great. He deserves his success.

You don't have to be a screenwriter to learn from this book. I'm a novelist, and what he says about story works regardless of medium. I think beginning writers will probably learn more than advanced writers, but that may or may not be true. I've been writing a long time and still picked up invaluable tips.

So, this book may not be for everyone, but you'll love it if you sincerely want to learn basic techniques for better writing.

He should stick to analysis . . ........2002-04-25

Field is probably the country's current best analyst of screenplays and teacher of the theory and mechanics of screenplay-writing, and I own all his previous books. This one was a bit of a disappointment, though, being heavy on self-conscious, egocentric autobiography and light on analysis of the films he discusses as being "turning points" in his development. (And he uses that phrase way too often.) Though he purports not to believe in luck or coincidence, he does seem to have been in the right place at the right time far more than most of us -- a crawl-on role in _Gone With the Wind_ as an infant, nephew of one of the great cinematographers, student at Berkeley when Jean Renoir was Writer in Residence, buddies at the UCLA film school with the niece of Sam Peckinpah, first job at David Wolper Productions when it was just beginning, and so on. Oddly, in between the fits of ego and overwriting ("this is how I invented/discovered . . ."), there's also a lot of "aw shucks, little ol' me"-ness. For this kind of thing, I think William Goldman's two (so far) volumes of Hollywood autobiography are much better.

Good teacher.......2001-11-05

I started reading this book yesterday and found that the clarity of the writing and the insight and experiences the author brings to understanding movies have kept from hardly putting this book down. Field's book is useful for both developing screenwriters and avid movie watchers.

Because movies are really the popular literature of the 21st century (despite the number of bad flicks produced every year), it's important that we gain a better appreciation of how the movies tell stories and how they affect us. Field in his own journey to understand movies provides some very good insight.

By chapter 12 of his journey he shows his talent as a teacher, script reader and writer, and a lover of movies. In this chapter he breaks down the classic film "Chinatown," showing how what he calls Plot Points are used to set up and move dramatic parts of a movie along. By understanding the form and structure of movies, we can gain a better understanding of a film's narrative and also appreciate when a screen writer and director have produced a well crafted movie.

Using Field's insight, we as movie goers get beyond it was a great movie because its action, star appeal, or drama. We begin to critically reflect on how the actions, words, and images tell the story in a film. We can appreciate what the writer and director do to the set up the context for the story and take us through the middle (what Field calls the confrontation) and the end (the resolution) of a film.

(The rest of the book goes how to examine contemporary films like Pulp Fiction, explaining how Tarantino creates such memorable characters.)

Now when I happen to see video or DVD more than once, I can apply what I'm learning from Field to better appreciate the art of a film. I think I'll think also read his other popular book, Four Screenplays, for futher insight.

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