McSweeney's Issue 16 (Mcsweeney's Quarterly Concern)

Book Description

Issue 16 presents new stories from McSweeney's regulars like Roddy Doyle and Denis Johnson, and exploits a never-before-seen tripartite format to bring you a hilarious Ann Beattie novella and a special deck-of-cards story from Robert Coover, one of the great masters of American experimental fiction. This issue uses more cloth than any issue to date. Also, it comes with a comb.

Customer Reviews:

love mcsweeney.......2005-09-03

Enjoyed the magazine and the timely fashion that it arrived at. The comb was good too.

goody good.......2005-07-04

McSweeney's 16 is a fantastic issue with some of the finest packaging ever crafted for anything. i would pay 14 dollars just for that comb.

for content, the main book has some of the best stories i've heard all year. highlights include: "considering the bittersweet end of susan falls", roddy doyle's short story, and some other stuff i can't remember the name of.

Book Description

Society rogue Sebastian Reyne's search for a practical wife comes to a crashing halt when he dances with the effervescent Hope Merridew--and is seduced into a delicious intrigue of sensuality and desire.

Customer Reviews:

Trash.......2007-02-01

This book was pure trash! I couldn't even finish it. It was all about a man who couldn't control himself and some ditzy tramp who let him have his way.
I picked it up because of the great reviews and I was sorely disappointed.

Another enjoyable Regency Romance.......2007-01-31

This is the follow-up to "The Perfect Rake" following the same family of five sisters, this time focusing on the twin called Hope. Although there are occasional references to the events in "The Perfect Rake" it isn't necessary to have read that book to understand this one - however the details of the difficulties that the five girls (Prudence, Charity, Hope, Faith and Grace) experienced growing up with their evil grandfather are spelled out in that book and only alluded to in this.

Hope is at the start of her second season. Her two elder sisters Prudence and Charity are happily married and she and her twin Faith are meeting various men at balls and parties etc, but none of them quite hit the mark. Then she catches sight of someone who rather reminds her of her evil grandfather - a strong and muscular man. Despite this initial negative connotation she finds herself interested in Reyne. He asks to waltz with her and although not a comfortable dance, and in no way living up to her ideal of the perfect waltz, she is intrigued by him.

Sebastian is courting Lady Elinore, a prudish woman who has been on the shelf for years and is several years older than him. He's not courting Lady Elinore for his own means but because he needs a mother for his younger sisters who had been taken away from him when they were young and have only just been found after over a decade of being missing. Sebastian doesn't know in detail what happened to the girls in this time but Cassie wears a knife strapped to her leg and Dorie doesn't speak at all. Sebastian needs someone who can help look after the girls as governesses are being hopeless. He knows that Lady Elinore is involved in a charity school for orphans and thinks she's just the ticket.

Unfortunately for him he sees Hope Merrivale at a ball and from that moment he's smitten. Not enough to deflect him from his strange courtship of Lady Elinore, but he is unable to keep away entirely from Hope and keeps spending time with her. He thinks she's a young woman who has no concept of the difficulties his sisters have had and therefore can't help them - he doesn't know the Merrivale sisters' difficult past.

There aren't any great surprises in this book. Hope has to learn to trust a man again, Sebastian has to understand the true needs of his sisters, Lady Elinore has to throw off the shackles of her unconventional and life-crushing upbringing and Sebastian's friend Giles has to learn to look beyond a woman's outward appearance to discover a genuine women beneath. The twin love stories in this book are gently written and the characters are engaging. My only reservations are that Sebastian seems remarkably mercenary about Lady Elinore and that he also seems very blinkered about what would be good for his sisters; equally, Hope doesn't seem to see anything wrong with riding roughshod over someone else's strongly-held beliefs about teaching the children in her care. Their attraction seems largely physical for the first half of the book, although once they get to know each other you can understand more why they suit.

This is an enjoyable book and a definite step up from a lot of the mass-market paperback regencies. It's not aiming to be a historically accurate work like Georgette Heyer but it's an enjoyable read.

Good Read.......2006-09-06

I loved the "Perfect Rake" unfortunately the "Perfect Walz" fell short of it's first book in the series. But overall this was a good read, not my favorite but good. I can't seem to pinpoint what made this book good and not great, maybe it was the lack of longing, sexual tension that was in her previous book. I thought Hope a sweet heroine and Sebastion equally good but I felt no spark. The chemistry seemed not to flow very well. I felt that when Hope's sister Faith was explaining about her hand that it felt thrown in to the story with no closure afterwards. Sebastion never asked Hope about it and you would not of really known that she had a problem with her left hand if you had not read "The Perfect Rake". I felt that if he really cared about her he would have been curious about her life. And Hope to me seemed too sweet, I would have liked her to have alittle more backbone. I felt more interested in the second romance going on in the story and wished Gracie would have written more about them. I still think that Gracie is a great writer but this was not her best work but it was good none the less.

Wonderfully mesmerizing.......2006-09-04

Sebastian Reyne is in need of a wife, preferably a matronly woman with child experience to care for his traumatized and strong-willed younger sisters, Cassie and Dorie. After months of search, his trusted solicitors have recommended a spinster of thirty years, Elinor Whitelaw. She is a stern woman who won't be seen in anything but the color gray and spends much of her time caring for orphaned girls at an orphanage in London. Sebastian is all set to court Elinor until he sees Miss Hope Merridew, one of the Virtue Twins and also one of the most popular and beautiful heiresses in London.

Despite his attraction to Hope, Sebastian is determined to court and marry Elinor. He convinces himself that Hope is nothing more than a pampered, sheltered girl who knows nothing of hardship. Sebastian comes to find out that she is a deeply compassionate and strong woman who is more than capable of caring and loving his two sisters.

I love the characters in this book. Hope is such a magnanimous character; strong, resolute in her convictions and determined to live the best life she can because of the horrors she endured as a child. Sebastian is also a strong character who is seemingly dark but is merely haunted by what he considers his failures at caring for his younger siblings. By the time Sebastian was a teenager, he was the sole supporter of his two sisters. He worked in a mill and paid Widow Morgan what he could to care for them. But then one day, Widow Morgan left with the two girls for destinations unknown and with no word for Sebastian. Since then, he's searched for them for years. When the story opens, it's six months after Sebastian's people found Cassie and Dorie. They are in their teens and are traumatized children, exposed to constant hunger and the ugly side of life.

I thought this was a pretty good story. It's entertaining, heartfelt and wonderfully romantic, but I have a couple of complaints. There are gaps in some of the subplots that I wish the author had filled in. For example, Widow Morgan's brother is pursuing Sebastian's two sisters to kidnap them. The only mention of his intentions is through dialogue. There's nothing else to explain what kind of character he was or the details surrounding his relationship with the girls. Another example is Dorie's refusal to speak. There isn't a clear explanation of the events that led to her loss of speech. Other than that, the story thoroughly entertained me.

Romance with a much deeper sub-plot thrown in............2006-07-07

This is the 1st Anne Gracie book I have read and I felt it was enjoyable, although the back cover is misleading to what the story is about. The romance in the book is secondary to the child abuse issues that the book revolved around. This is the story of Sebastian Reyne a bachelor in society who has just been reunited with his 2 younger/orpahned sisters who aren't very obedient. Sebastian can't keep a governess for the girls because their behavior isn't "acceptable", so he decides to find a practical, rational wife who will help him bring them up in society and to show compassion towards their unfortunate pasts. Sebastian isn't looking for a wife to love, but a wife who will help him raise the girls. He decides on Lady Elinore who is all the things he's looking for in a mother to Dorrie and Cassie (his sisters). She's practical, not necissarily pretty and works at an orphanage helping indigent girls. He believes she'll be perfect so he decides to court her. Little does he know he is going to meet Hope Merridew and fall in love with the ravishing beauty, who, according to him, is nothing the girls need because she's probably a spoiled little society brat who has never experienced hard times in her life. Apparently he doesn't know her or her situation well because Hope does know how it is to live a hard life and as he slowly gets to know her her past slowly unfolds. Sebastian finds himself in a sticky situation as he realizes he's falling for Hope, but courting Elinore at the same time.

I liked this story because it took you places you don't normally go in a romance novel. It was much deeper and darker than most so I felt myself being sad quite a bit while reading it. The characters are written realy well...Hope is a great character. She's fiesty, mature, not whiney at all, compassionate, patient, and understanding. Sebastian is brooding, withdrawn, sweet, quiet, loving and has the best of intentions for his sisters. The secondary characters I liked as well, especially Giles. I felt that I liked the ending of the book better than the beginning and middle because I liked the scenes with Hope and Sebastian together where they could focus mostly on themselves. I wanted to cry the first time they made love because they really waited and did it at the right time and it was so sweet. Anyway..I like this author and I hope to read more of her books soon.

Also....the book is named the Last Waltz because Hope always had a dream that she'd meet her dream man during the last waltz at a ball so she always kept her last waltz open on her dance card, then she met Sebastian and saved him for her last waltz..it was really sweet.

Book Description

"How Sir Edmund Roberts, gentleman naturalist and Sea Maiden questor, unsung cataloguer of the world's mermaid population and champion of all battles save one with the loathsome pirate, Naughty Nat, circumnavigated the globe, fell in love with the recently svelte Captain Constance Daphne Fitzwillie, and still managed to leave this life cloaked in the cold blanket of obscurity."

This is the companion volume to the SEA MAIDEN PAINTINGS by Robert Kline.

Book Description

LEARN ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS -- AND PROTECT YOUR WELL-BEING -- WITH THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE SOURCE THAT DOCTORS DEPEND ON

Is this drug safe for someone like me? What are the signs of an overdose? How should I make up a forgotten dose? Is the drug dangerous during pregnancy? What are the side effects and drug interactions?

The answers to all these questions and more are here at your fingertips -- in one up-to-the-minute source. With complete information on the latest remedies for arthritis, acid reflux, high cholesterol, hot flashes, and more, The PDR® Pocket Guide To Prescription Drugs™ gives you everything you need to know as you work with your doctor to assure the safest, most effective treatment possible.

The easy-to-understand drug profiles in this unique consumer guide are drawn entirely from the official FDA-approved information published in Physicians' Desk Reference® -- the professional drug handbook to which doctors have turned for more than half a century whenever they need the latest facts. For complete, reliable information on each of your potent prescription medications, there is no better source than The PDR Pocket Guide To Prescription Drugs.

Customer Reviews:

Good handy book of prescription drugs.......2007-09-21

It's a good reference book. However, the pages rip off on the colored picture pages in the middle of the book too easily.

Pill smart-Patient saavy.......2007-05-23

For the Patient who wants to know about prescription drugs efficacy, side effects and cautions "The Pill Book" is a modestly priced and handy reference which puts the Patient on the same level with a Physicians drug reference manual, when it comes to uderstanding the consumption of precribed medications. If we want to know about what food we put into our mouths, why not know what pills we consume ?

Great resource.......2007-05-12

I bought this product for my mother and she just loved it. She says it is a great resource for her prescriptions.

Great for medical personnel.......2007-02-21

I work in a general Ophthalmology practice and use this guide almost daily. It gives enough information without being overwhelming. It also has a condition index so when a patient says their blood pressure med starts with a "L" it is easy to find. I just bought the 7th edition, and still have the 6th at the office also.

Pocket guide - HA!.......2007-01-09

The info is valuable but this is advertized as a "pocket guide" - not in my pocket! I'm a CRNA and wanted a small reference convenient to pick up and look up medications while in the hospital. I leave this book home - I use it there.

Average customer rating:

Delicious! An Important Addition to a Cook's Library.

Great Greens: Fresh, Flavorful, and Innovative Recipes
Georgeanne Brennan
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Vegetables | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0811839079

Book Description

All it takes is a visit to the local grocery to see the abundant repertoire of greens available today. Great Greens is an inspirational guide to selecting and cooking with fresh greens. Including plenty of delicious salads but traveling far beyond, it's packed with recipes for using these vitamin-packed and versatile veggies in soups, starters, sides, and main dishes. Temptations like Escarole and Lemon Risotto, and Beet and Mesclun Salad with Blood Oranges and Goat Cheese share the stage with updated classics like Shepherd's Pie with Three Greens and Iceberg Wedges with Blue Cheese Dressing. Great Greens lets cooks showcase the best produce available each season, such as Juniper-Brined Pork Chops Smothered with Braised Kale - perfect for a winter supper - or a summer treat like Skewered Lime and Ginger Prawns with Watercress, Mache, and Fris e. Author Georgeanne Brennan includes plenty of her renowned culinary wisdom, plus a what's what guide to both classic and newly popular greens, from arugula to mache to cabbage. Lavish color photographs look good enough to eat, making Great Greens the handbook to the latest green revolution.

Customer Reviews:

Delicious! An Important Addition to a Cook's Library........2004-03-18

For those of us who frequent our local greenmarkets and see a wide variety of greens, often wonder not just what they are, but how to cook them in a variety of creative ways. Great Greens solves these issues beautifully!

In Great Greens, we are presented a very thorough and detailed examination of both common and unknown greens. First, we are given a great glossary of greens and their various ways of preparing them, along with a useful section recommending various tools that will facilitate the handling of them.

The book is divided into 10 sections that begin with the forward and introduction and then branch out into recipes for starters, soups, salads, main dishes, and side dishes. What is extremely useful is the table equivalents. The recipes offered are fast and surprisingly easy to do!

The information presented in this compact book, delivers in a huge way. The photographs make greens look quite sensuous.

Average customer rating:
Great Greens : Fresh, Flavorful, and Innovative Recipes
Georgeann Brennan; Foreword Todd Koons; Photography Frankie Frankeny
Manufacturer: CHRONICLE BOOKS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OKMLY4

Book Description

There's nothing like the joy of decorative painting--transforming an ordinary object into a one-of-a-kind work of art! It all starts with your first stroke. And there's no easier, more enjoyable way to learn that first stroke (and the second and the third ... ) than with this comprehensive visual guide.

Inside, you'll see every basic stroke--from the comma stroke to the S-stroke--broken down into several steps and illustrated in easy-to-follow worksheets. You'll learn proper brush techniques for single-loaded strokes , double-loaded strokes , tipped strokes, side-loaded strokes, and linework. Before you know it, you'll be using what you've learned to paint pretty flowers, beautiful borders, and even complete designs! These strokes are the "building blocks" of virtually every decorative painting style--so once you master them, there's no limit to the decorative magic you can create!

Customer Reviews:

Very good book.......2004-03-04

I never thought that I'll like another one stoke book after Donna Dewberry's books but this book is really good for beginners and professionals.The first 70 pages shows the basics of one stroke painting. Then there are lots of border examples which can be made easily by the beginners. After them,the real painting comes. 6 beautiful projects are shown step by step so you can understand and make the same projects easily. I recommend this book to everyone.

Too technical for my taste.......2003-10-03

You'll like this book if you are:

1. Left-brained and over-analytical
2. Like things written in a technical manner
3. Prefer simple things broken down in many steps.

If you like things written in a simple manner, don't buy this book.

I bought this book and ended up returning it. I found the instructions too technical and tedious. The instructions read more like "the anatomy of a brushstroke," where one brushstroke would be broken down in so many steps that you could get lost. "Angle your brush to the corner, in your minds's eye picture 2 o'clock, at this point put pressure...now curve, lift..." and we have 5 more steps to go. OK, I might be exaggerating but I'm trying to give you the gist of it. There are NO WORKSHEETS, except for 2 pages that look like a ROAD MAP which tell you where your brush should be positioned and where it should end up after you complete the stroke. You really should take a look for yourself to see how confusing this book is.

There are so many better, simplier, more comprehensive and enjoyable (let's not forget that) decorative painting books out there, that I suggest you bypass this one. I gave it 2 stars because someone who is more technically-oriented might find it useful.

Great Book!.......2000-05-17

This is a wonderful book describing basic brushstrokes for Decorative Painter's. There is a good explanation of brushes and their uses. The techniques are well explained and easy to follow. After practicing for a relatively small period of time, I was painting things that I felt comfortable showing other people. And those people knew what I had painted! Actually, they were quite impressed! The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is that I have seen some Decorative Painting books that are slightly more thorough although they tend to be more expensive. I would recommend this book to a beginning Decorative Painter.

Average customer rating:
Handbuilding Pottery: Practical Art Handbook
Josie Warshaw
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Pottery & Ceramics | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Ceramics | Other Media | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques: Raku * Saggar * Pit * Barrel (A Lark Ceramics Book)

ASIN: 0754814483

Book Description

A practical and accessible guideto three key ceramic techniques-- handbuilding, making and using moulds, and glazing and firing.

Average customer rating:
Monochrome Home Harmony, Balance, and the Elements of Modern Style
Hoppen Kelly with text by Helen Chislett and photography by Thomas Stewart
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UFBCFM

Average customer rating:
Monochrome Home: Harmony, Balance, and the Elements of Modern Style
Kelly Hoppen
Manufacturer: Rizzoli Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N670LS

Book Description

They've been our closest ally for more than a century. They've brought us Shakespeare, the Beatles, Monty Python, Winston Churchill, and the Jaguar E-Type. But what do we really think of our former colonial masters? Are they a proper, literate people with quirky humor and stout beer, or a snobbish breed of has-beens with a faded empire, bad teeth, and the Spice Girls?
And what, for that matter, do the British truly think of Americans? Do they see us as the benevolent, can-do, masters of destiny we imagine ourselves to be? Or are we, in their eyes, arrogant and materialistic war mongers out to rule the world?
These are the questions that acclaimed illustrator Paul Davis set out to answer as he traveled across the United States and the UK armed with pencil, notebook, and his razor-sharp powers of observation. Us and Them, an endlessly humorous book with two fronts, is the result. On one side, you'll find his devilish caricatures of Britons, each responding to the question posed in the title. Flip it over and you'll find Americans giving their takes on the Brits. A master satirist with a firm grasp on the inanity of the human condition, Davis will have you laughing out loud and returning time and again to sample the intelligence and humor of his observations.

Customer Reviews:

A complete waste of money........2007-07-27

I cannot say when I've disliked a book more than this one. Generally, I will read ANYTHING and probably hang on to it forever. I can't wait to throw this one in the trash. Apparently, according to Mr. Davis, most Americans and Brits dislike one another and can find nothing positive to say. Or perhaps he chose to only print the negative remarks. Either way, this book will not contribute to furthering positive relationships. And, I'm sorry, but the drawings look like something done by a seventh grader I once knew. I think he ended up in prison. Perhaps I'm just not sophisticated enough to "get it" but I saw nothing humorous, clever or witty in this book. Don't waste your money.

Book Description

Charles Kuralt should be remembered. He gave us stories of hope and of unheralded heroes. His more than 600 episodes of "On the Road," filed from every state in America, punctuated the daily barrage of riots, wars and demonstrations on the nightly news. "Two-minute cease-fires," Time magazine called them. We should remember Charles Kuralt for his rich, mahogany voice and slow talking that brought us the relaxed pace of "Sunday Morning." And for his seven best-selling books. So many stories. So many memories.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2001-02-25

This is a well-written, intimate portrait of Kuralt presented in a way which itself reminds the reader of Charles Kuralt's own journalistic style. A beautiful edition including original photographs and a variety of personal and professional perspectives. Recommended for any fan of Charles Kuralt or for the reader who wants to learn how and why this charismatic individual transformed the nature of American journalism.

Friends remember famed CBS newsman.......2000-08-31

Charles Kuralt never really believed how good he was at his profession. That's hard to believe, but it's a sad truth and maybe at the heart of the man who traveled the country for over 30 years, chronicalling what he saw and felt in his "On the Road" series for CBS News.

By that time he graduated college, Kuralt had a work record that would be the envy of a college journalism graduate. As recounted in "Remembering Charles Kuralt," a collection of interviews and essays edited by Ralph Grizzle, the high school senior had worked for a radio station, helping to call the baseball games of the Charlotte Hornet. The summer he was 13, he had a once-a-week radio show. He had won an essay contest on democracy and delivered his speech in the House of Burgesses in Colonial Williamsburg.

Kuralt knew what he wanted to be a reporter early in his life, and he pursued it with a single-minded determination. But not only that, he did it on his work ethic and talent alone, and in a good-natured manner that came through in his television appearances. "I never heard Charles say anything unkind about anybody," jazz pianist and friend Loonis McGlohon said, "that's true, and in thinking about it, it's pretty unusual."

"Remembering Charles Kuralt" covers the whole of his life and career: his upbringing in eastern North Carolina, his growth as a writer and reporter, his career at CBSNews, and his life in retirement, his illness, decline and death. It's an affectionate look that reveals more about the man than Kuralt probably would have wanted.

Average customer rating:
REMEMBERING CHARLES KURALT. Foreword by Edwin M. Yoder, Jr.
Ralph. Grizzle
Manufacturer: Kenilworth Media,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7I5UM

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