The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic
Average customer rating:

Great book! Read this today!

Shopolics are fantastic!

Like a very rare, expensive pair of desirable, sparkling shoes!

This book turned me into a Sophieholic

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic
Sophie Kinsella
Manufacturer: Black Swan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0552998877
Release Date: 2000-09-14

Customer Reviews:

Great book! Read this today!.......2007-03-18

I have read all of these books except '& baby' and although I cannot identify with Becky's clothing and shoe addictions, there are still elements that I can identify with. The characters are well developed, sometimes I feel like I could pass her best friend on the streets of London. If they ever made this book into a movie, you would probably have to have the the What Not To Wear gal playing Becky with Cameron Diaz as the best friend. I have recommended this book to several people and have found a few just as determined as I was to get through the entire series. Get them in order, you can pick up bits and pieces that you miss but I think trying to catch up takes away a little bit from the entire Bloomwood experience. If you miss a year or two in her life, it's a lot! Write on Sophie!

Shopolics are fantastic!.......2007-03-10

Sophie captured my heart; this book was almost written for me. The humor is light and wonderful. I've even bought her books for other people. If you want to smile a lot, read this book....It will warm your heart.

Like a very rare, expensive pair of desirable, sparkling shoes!.......2007-02-06

Do you love to shop? Do you sometimes get an obsession to get the latest look? Well, Becky Bloomswood does just that! She stars as the main character in the shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella.She stars as the main character in the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. The books are about a young woman who is obsessed with shopping and will spend all her time and money on shopping!

Becky encounters a whirlwind of events and finally realises that her spending is getting out of control. Becky has been slacking on her job, getting deeper and deeper into debt from her outrageous spending, things just couldn't get any worse for her, that is until Mr Luke Brandon comes along and she immediately falls for him which causes even more events to spiral out of control...

Will all her problems be solved? Will she find true love with Luke Brandon?
This book is for all females and is aimed at teenagers and adults. With its humour and realistic storyline you just can not put the book down! Overall, I think this is a great read and I really recommend you read it!

This book turned me into a Sophieholic.......2006-03-04

This book is fun..I mean great fun and not just the girlish giggle type of fun but the LAUGH OUT LOUD fun. Its THAT good! It got me hooked on Sophie Kinsella.I have now all her books in my shelf and can't wait for her to write more!

This book, first of all, is the same book known as "COnfessions of a Shopaholic ".(just a different title) I dont know why it has two different titles but anyway...

I have started reading humourous chick-lit after I read the two Bridget Jones Diaries. To be honest I was sure I wouldnt find a funnier book than those two but, happily, i found i was wrong :)

Kinsella has the touch. I've read "Can You keep a Secret?" and the first two of the Shopaholic books and I'm still craving for more. (thankfully i still got "Shopaholic ties the knot" and "shopaholic & sister" to keep me going)

This is a book for those people who want to have a good, healthy laugh, who want to forget for a while the worries and troubles of everyday life. Yes Rebecca Bloomwood has no sense as regards to her personal finance . Yes she becomes totally and irrevocably irresponsible as soon as enters into a shopping mall. But heck, this is what makes the book such fun. We can actually feel good about ourselves because we can never be as bad as her....(some of us at least ;)

Her replies to the letters she recieves from her exasperated Bank are hilarious and equally so her reasonings that actually when she is spending she is in fact investing. Her attempts to control her spending are so funny I couldn't stop laughing. The Curry recipe part is really incredibly funny....

I think that most females will find themselves in Rebecca. I bet most of us have thought once or twice on the same lines as Rebecca does when she tries to excuse one of her mad urges for an expensive but not so practical item.

All i can say more is go on an read it a perfect light book with humour and also a dash of romance which will warm your heart like whiskey ;)

Average customer rating:

Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

Manufacturer: BLACK SWAN (TWLD)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GO9IYO

Bloodline: A Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mystery (Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mysteries)
Average customer rating:

Bloodline

A decision to make

Good premise spoiled by heavy-handed storytelling

2nd in genealogy mystery series. Fun read!

Lebensborn
Bloodline: A Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mystery (Natasha Blake Ancestor Detective Mysteries)
Fiona Mountain
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Women Sleuths | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Pale as the Dead (Natasha Blake, 1)

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Death on the Family Tree: A Family Tree Mystery

Still as Death (Sweeney St. George Mysteries)

ASIN: 0312323255
Release Date: 2006-03-07

Book Description

"Cinderella is in the bluebell woods at Poacher's Dell...."

The anonymous note means nothing to ancestor detective Natasha Blake. Then one of her clients, an enigmatic old man who had commissioned a family tree of his granddaughter's boyfriend, is shot dead at his isolated farm in the Cotswolds, just as shocking facts about the past are brought to light. Is there a link?

Seemingly unconnected yet haunting stories begin to emerge, like slowly developing photographs: two young soldiers---one German, one British---playing football; two young women---inseparable friends until a fatal mistake tears them apart; and the eerie echo of a child in an English country house.

It is these individual lives that becomes the clues in Natasha's investigation, ghostly fingerprints that she must use to solve a cold-blooded, blue-blooded crime, hidden for generations in the bluebell woods at Poacher's Dell.

Customer Reviews:

Bloodline.......2007-02-21

Another great one by Fiona Mountain. If you are as interested in genealogy as myself or even an amateur sleuth this is a great read!

A decision to make.......2006-12-16

I actually liked this second novel better than the first. For some reason it was much easier to read.

Mountain takes a good premise and runs with it using genealogy to get to the heart of the matter. Natasha Blake is one of those needy people you want to slap on the side of the head and say "get on with it girl" in her personal life but professionally she is excellent.

If there is a problem in these mysteries it is Mountain's indecision as to whether she is writing a mystery or a romance novel. She has to lose those hokey younger couples which she insists on sending off into the sunset living happily ever after. I guess the reader is suppose to see this as a reflection of some kind of Blake's sorry personal state. For the most part they are ridiculously uninteresting and frankly not endearing as hard as Mountain tries to make them to be. If anything they add an amaturistic slant to the story. If Mountain wants to write romance than write a romance,otherwise stick to the mystery and how Blake gets to the solution-she does that very well. These side characters (including her dysfunction family) for the most part are irritating distractions. A good mystery writer knows that when it comes to crime there are few happily ever after endings.

Good premise spoiled by heavy-handed storytelling.......2006-09-03

Fiona Mountain had a good idea for a mystery with Bloodline, but she ruined it with her ham-fisted way of telling a story. She seems never to have heard that the cardinal rule of good writing is "Show, don't tell", but repeatedly hits the reader over the head with the points she wants to make. She insists on calling attention to the parallels between Natasha's life and the mystery she's investigating, as if she (the author) were afraid a reader wouldn't be clever enough to notice them on her own. For example, in describing a scene that takes place in a garden, she says, "The exposed and tangled roots of the weeds were pale through the covering of dark soil", and then feels compelled to add, "The analogy of roots being ripped up wasn't lost on her." Trust me, if you make it to page 262 (where this passage appears), the analogy wouldn't be lost on you either, even without the authorial intervention.

In my review of Mountain's previous book (Pale as the Dead), I commended her for not letting her research get in the way. Unfortunately, that isn't the case with this book. Too often, reading it felt like reading the author's research notes. She even has one character -- an elderly woman who isn't an academic -- say that, in a conversation which took place many years ago, another character "quoted J. Hooper Harvey's Heritage of Britain". I find it hard to believe that the character would have remembered not only the title of the book, but also the author's full name, right down to the "J. Hooper". Sounds to me more like the author, fresh from the library, speaking.

The Natasha Blake mysteries are a bit like Sarah Stewart Taylor's Sweeney St. George mysteries (O' Artful Death, etc.), in that both series are about a young woman with an unusual job that causes her to get involved in solving mysteries from a different angle. If that concept sounds intriguing to you, I would recommend that you spend some time with Sweeney St. George. After reading Bloodline, I can't say the same for Natasha Blake.

2nd in genealogy mystery series. Fun read!.......2006-06-06

Bloodline by Fiona Mountain is the second book in the Natasha Blake genealogist mystery series. After an elderly man hires Natasha to investigate the family background of his granddaughter's fiance, he is mysteriously murdered. The man's son hires Natasha to find out why. Mountain does a much better job this time of connecting with the reader. Natasha's connections to her friends and family deepen and develop as well. There are loads of subplots, including Natasha's insomnia which occasionally makes her take actions that had me shaking my head in disbelief. The story takes an unexpected dark turn as Natasha finds out that sometimes finding the answers to questions only creates more questions with answers no one wants to hear. This was a fun read that made me think a bit too. I look forward to the next in the series.

Lebensborn.......2006-02-15

Young, attractive genealogist, Natasha Blake has been commissioned by a charming but strange old man, Charles Seagrove, to research the family tree of his granddaughter, Rosa's boyfriend. Her search reveals a murderess and a series of criminal types in the boy's background, causing Charles to forbid Rosa to have any further contact with the boy.When Charles is murdered by a shotgun blast, his son Richard asks Natasha to continue with the genealogical search as he feels that there are answers to be found in Charles's past history, which was bound up with his farm and a number of Land Army girls who worked for him during WW2. What follows is a fascinating series of revelations, all connected to the Nazi party's policy of Lebensborn, the plan to populate Germany, and eventually the world, with genetically and racially pure children, all of Aryan descent. It's a chilling indictment of racial purification and all that it entails. It was an interesting read with a heroine whose exploits I intend to follow in her other books.

Laws of the Wild: Changing Breeds 3
Average customer rating:
Laws of the Wild: Changing Breeds 3

Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1588465128

Book Description

Modern rugby requires you to have speed, strength, agility, endurance, and power in order to excel. Few sports demand such diverse physical attributes, and no book so comprehensively addresses how to develop them specifically for the sport—until now!

Complete Conditioning for Rugby features first-hand insights from Dan Luger, English rugby star. Luger teams up with leading strength and conditioning coach Paul Pook to provide the very best in conditioning know-how. They present more than 120 position-specific drills and exercises that will help you excel in any match situation you will face:

· Increase speed and agility to succeed in today's expansive game.

· Build strength to help drive in the tackle and dominate in the ruck or maul.

· Improve endurance to compete to the final whistle.

Survive the rigors of the sport and perform your best with Complete Conditioning for Rugby. You'll find everything you need to get ahead of the pack!

Customer Reviews:

Great Overview.......2007-01-10

Great detail of drills, both for indiviuals and teams. Good overview of how to bring together the overall ideas of rugby-specific fitness. But a little short on specific workout regimines.

Good for the drills alone.......2007-01-09

Some of the conditioning things are a little dated, but the sport specific drills are well worth the purchase of this book.

a must for rugby union enthusiasts.......2005-10-22

This book is excellent. It is very informative and the ilustrations are easy to understand.

Best so far.......2004-08-21

Very pleased. It's modern, cmprehensive, and sophisticated.
Excellent training programs that take a player from the ground up to full competition. Especially liked the statistics on what world class players perform on certain drills and lifts.

Complete Conditioning for Rugby.......2004-06-22

An excellent book for players and coaches alike. Luger and Cook provide drills for individual fitness training as well as multi player drills for practice. Excellent emphasis on overall fitness. A must to every player looking to improve and every coach wanting to make his players better.

Carolina Thyme
Average customer rating:
Carolina Thyme

Manufacturer: Favorite Recipes Press (FRP)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0961584513

Creative Crocheted Dolls: 50 Whimsical Designs
Average customer rating:

my inner crochet artist comes to life

I love this book!!

Very Disappointing

Crochet Art at it's best

Creative Crocheted Dolls: 50 Whimsical Designs
Noreen Crone-Findlay
Manufacturer: Krause Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Crocheting | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0873497414

Customer Reviews:

my inner crochet artist comes to life.......2004-06-20

What an awesome book. It didn't take much reading before I had to go out and get a hook and some yarn in order to try to co-create with Noreen Crone-Findlay. Although I hadn't held a crochet hook in over 25 years, her clear instructions and dazzling designs kept me motivated. Lest you be overly impressed, I did begin with Chubby Lady Bug on page 109, an adorable little being, and perfect for a beginner, or someone returning to crochet.
I can guarantee that if you like dolls in any of their creative manifestations, or like crochet, you will be held and nurtured by this wonderful book.

I love this book!!.......2004-06-05

I love this book. It's absolutely beautiful and magically inspiring. I want to start at the beginning and make every doll in it. Noreen gives plenty of info for beginners and those who like to work from a pattern yet leaves plenty of room for those who want to take her work off in their own direction. If you love dolls and crochet, do not fail to own this book.

Very Disappointing.......2004-05-24

I was very excited when I found out that Noreen Crone-Findlay was going to do an entire book on crocheted dolls. However after buying the book , andgetting a chance to go through it...I must say that I am very disappointed. It's perhaps the most disappointing book I've ever purchased. The dolls in it are very amateur in their presentation. Few of her examples/projects rise to a standard equal to that of someone just learning the craft. Most of the projects seem like an explosion of yarn. Your craft book dollars would be best spent elsewhere.

Crochet Art at it's best.......2004-04-04

I will try to keep it to a few words here but it will be hard. If you love dolls then you MUST get this book and if you like whimsical, creative, one of a kind projects you must get this book. A definite asset to your crochet library. Includes step by step very complete instructions for each doll, Hurry once the word gets out I am positive the supply will run out.

Customer Reviews:

Nice examples. Good for those with existing skills&tools........1998-05-01

"Collectable" ... Dust cover photo is a fine example of rustica. Good examples throughout, though the focus seems to be mostly on the Adirondack 'twig & bark' style ... more of a cliche genre than a hint as to what REALLY can be done with 'found' and 'distressed' materials.

NOT a how-to book, but nice.

RUSTIC FURNITURE MAKERS
Average customer rating:
RUSTIC FURNITURE MAKERS
Ralph Kylloe
Manufacturer: Salt Lake City, UT: Gibbs-Smith, 1995, 1999
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KOZ4F2

Book Description

More and more people are foregoing and aggravations of hiring a general contractor and opting to oversee their own homebuilding projects.

Customer Reviews:

Good book........2007-05-13

Bought the book, but found a dream home before we had the chance to start building. I would recommend it highly if you are thinking about being your own contractor.

An unfortunately titled, but still valuable book.......2003-06-16

This book should probably have been called "How to Prepare Yourself Legally and Financially to Build Your Own Home." The title it does have is not representative of the book's true focus, and I believe does a disservice to those who want a construction book *and* those who would benefit from the legal and financial information it so richly covers. One group is disappointed, while the other skips over it because they think it doesn't apply to their needs.

To be blunt, the actual construction process is not very well covered. For instance, owner-builders probably do not know what types of materials are high quality vs. just high price tag vs. "standard" and possibly inadequate. That is a huge hole in the book -- materials overall are skimmed over. The one time they got specific, they almost sounded like a commercial for Andersen windows. I'm sure Andersen windows are just fine, but I seriously doubt that you simply "must" buy them to have resell value in your house.

The other huge hole is how to manage the actual building phase -- what to expect, pitfalls and such. Yes, it has a chart, but it's hard to read (it's sideways!), there is no explanation if the numbers signify days or weeks, and in general it is not adequate. There was a very short chapter at the very end on common mistakes, but once again it seemed to skim over that information. Also, I realize that every house is built differently, but it would have been nice to have one example project used throughout the book so that the reader could see a cohesive picture of how that particular house was built. Nothing like a concrete example!

In spite of its shortcomings and the rather dated ideas about what makes a home have resell value (this book was written in the early 90s, just as "starter castles" with cavernous ceilings and huge greatrooms were becoming popular), this book offers a ton of good -- and most importantly, timeless -- information.

In a nutshell:

If you need or want to know about the financial and legal process of building your own house, right down to the surveying, appraising and loans, including sample contracts and forms, then buy this book.

If you are interested in a guide on how to actually *build* a quality, custom home that has updated materials lists, a detailed example schedule and realistic work/time/money expectations, worksheets and samples of change orders, contracts for craftsmen and other construction sundries, then do not buy this book.

Not enough on the building process.......2000-01-12

This book really went into detail on how to finance, how to choose a site, and a lot of other preparation processes for building a home. What it is severly lacking in is a detailed idea of how to schedule the home building process. It has a flow diagram, but does not have any detail behind each task. The most important piece of building a home in an established time is to know the order of when to schedule work; when to pick household items, colors, flooring, etc; when to install the septic system or run electricity; when to decide on the type of cabinets (stain or paint grade); etc. All of these items are critical to obtaining a quality home, at the lowest cost, in the quickest time possible. Many home builders are 1)delayed by the simple fact that they do not know about the steps until they are delaying the process and 2)surprised by the cost of the home because they established a price based on unknown selection criteria. Change orders mean increased cost and time to any project. I would like to find a book that really addresses these issues for a home builder.

Highly recommended even if you don't want to be your own GC.......1999-06-01

This book covers both house buying and working with contractors. Do not be put off by its title; I would recommend it even if you are buying a standard house or building an addition to your existing house.

Although it seems to be very specific to building a new custom house, in fact it gives excellent advice on all phases of buying a house or lot (including evaluating it, bargaining, financing, etc.) as well as finding contractors, negotiating with them, etc. It assumes you are going to be your own general contractor, but even if you are not, its advice is pertinent and useful.

Some of the discussions of contracts and payment schedules may seem a bit nit-picky, but you ought to read "The Home Remodeler's Combat Manual" to show why it can be necessary.

I find it much better than Bob Vila's book on house buying, and also better than House Buying Step-by-Step (which was the best among the other books I found at the bookstore).

It's unfortunate that its title makes its scope seem so narrow.

Book Description

For interior designers and architects who have always dreamed of having their own design firm…this book can make that dream a reality. How to Start and Operate Your Own Design Firm takes readers step-by-step through the process of establishing a business, from developing a business plan to running an office. This comprehensive guide is packed with nuts-and-bolts information on such topics as getting financing, setting fees, establishing a client base, advertising and marketing, dealing with insurance and banking, and getting accounting and legal assistance. There’s even valuable help with the psychological challenges of starting a business—fear, risk, guilt, success. Filled with real-life success stories, business checklists, and self-evaluation forms, this invaluable guide offers everything designers and architects need to make their dreams come true.

Customer Reviews:

Great Resource.......2007-09-30

Very good book if your looking to get started on your own. Everything you need to know. Nothing is left out!!!

Customer Reviews:

Amazing.......2004-04-23

This is an incredible book. I first ran into it when my college art instructor brought it for me to look at. He obtained a copy while on vacation, visiting Hugo home. I was awestruk then and now. Now a few years later, I was visiting the Art Institute of Chicago and saw a Hugo, one that is actually in the book.

It jogged my memory of this incredible book. I jumped online, and amazingly found a copy here on Amazon. I can't wait to get it. And for an amazing price.

This book is fonaminale in its explaination of Hugo, his art, and his techneques. A ture treasure for anyone interested. Exceptional work from someone who is known for is writing, not drawings.

Wonderful book on a neglected aspect of Hugo........1998-11-11

After viewing Hugo's art displayed at his home, I was surprised at the lack of material I could find to read about it. This book has been a great find for me, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Hugo or the history of modern Western art.

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