A Soldier's Return (Harlequin American Romance Series)

Book Description

When Sam Richardson returns in 1946 from the "Forgotten War" in Burma to his hometown in northern England, he finds little changed. The war has changed him, however, broadening his horizons but also leaving him deeply scarred with traumatic, often hellish, memories. In addition, his six-year-old son Joe barely remembers him, and his wife has gained a new sense of independence from her wartime job. As all three strive to adjust, the bonds of love and loyalty are stretched to the breaking point in this taut and profoundly moving novel that captures what millions of families experienced in the aftermath of World War II.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-07-01

I was very impressed by this book. It really sums the sense of 'making do' in post war Britain as well as dealing with the social constraints of the time.
At times I wanted to shout at Sam & Ellen to stop them making a fateful mistake! ...read this book.

Quietly Brilliant.......2004-01-13

It's a theme repeated endlessly ever since the Odyssey, and yet this story of a soldier's weary return from war reads like it's all brand new.

Following a grueling and horrendously brutal campaign in Burma in the waning days of World War II, Sam Richardson returns to his home, a tiny village in England's Lake Country called Wigton. There, as he has dreamed of for months and years, he is reunited with his pretty young wife Ellen, and his young son Joe, a baby when his father went off to war.

Soon enough, it becomes apparent that the happy reunion was only the tip of the iceberg. A tangled web of emotions, frightening to both Ellen and Sam, and unspoken by both, threatens to destroy the relationship they both want so badly to keep. Sam is haunted by the atrocities and death he has seen in the war, and can hardly keep in his own skin as he dreams of escaping to far-off lands to make a new start. Ellen, used to being on her own, is frightened by this stranger with her husband's face, and clings even more desperately to the village of her birth and the way of life she is accustomed to. And in between them is little Joe, accustomed to having his "mammy" all to himself, and now misplaced by a stranger he must call "daddy."

Alongside this very private drama of three very private people is the larger story of the village of Wigton, which suffered all manner of privations during the war--but whose people are still clinging strongly to village ways.

Bragg, who grew up in the Wigton area, has created a masterpiece, in my opinion. It is followed by "A Son of War," a continuation of the Richardson saga, and something I intend to read immediately.

No Dramas Here.......2003-11-30

When Sam Richardson returned home from Burma after the second World War, nothinkg appreared to have changed in his hometown. However, traumatised from his experience, he found it difficult to adjust. He loved his wife Ellen and son Joe deeply, but having returned almost as a stranger to them, he had hurdles to cross to forge bonds with them. While he desperately wanted to get out of the familiar and routine surroundings, Ellen and Joe wanted to stay put almost as desperately.

Unsentimental and almost glommy, this book is not for readers looking for dramatic plots or romance. It simply moves the reader along with the thoughts and feelings of the two central characters, Sam and Ellen

Interesting switch of perspectives.......2003-08-01

This post-war book is thick with British idioms and terms, and so it was read slowly and deliberately! This is a very well-researched book. It describes a returning soldier's coming to terms with the horrors of war which he had experienced in Burma during WWII. The story opens with his return; very little of it is flashbacks, except when necessary, and only to tie it in to a current happening in the plot. The soldier's wife and young son have learned to be self-reliant while he was away, and their adjustments to his return are slow and painstaking. Well written, yet the ending was too hastily composed, in my opinion. A long, drawn out plot which ends abruptly, toying with one's emotions, is a characteristic of books which some like....I prefer a calmer resolution.

homecoming.......2002-12-06

Homecoming is not always the pleasant experience we want it to be. This is true of Sam, returning to rural England from fighting the Japanese in Burma. He is trying to rebuild his life, fighting his own inner turmoil with flashbacks of the horrors of the war he experienced. At the same time, his wife does not want to give up the jobs and independence she gained in his absence. Their communication is nil, further jeopardized by Sam's jealousy of the mother/son bond formed during the many years he was away. The author takes the reader into the lives of many touched by the war, with every attention to detail and sensitivity.Their frustrations become very real. With the offer of relocation to Australia, Sam has a renewed spirit, but Ellen is not willing to go and leave everything she knows behind.This is a great read about the struggles, sacrifices, and bonds of soldiers during war, and those very same concerns that surface with their homecomings.

Average customer rating:

Unexpected Pleasure

Not sure how to rate this one

Disappointed

Maybe even less than * * *

Action, Romance, and a book well written!
The Privilege of the Sword
Ellen Kushner
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Kushner, Ellen | ( K ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Swordspoint

The Fall of The Kings

The Virtu

Melusine

Beguilement (The Sharing Knife, Book 1)

ASIN: 0553382683
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Book Description

Welcome to Riverside, where the aristocratic and the ambitious battle for power in the city's ballroom, brothels and boudoirs. Into this alluring world walks Katherine, a well-bred country girl versed in the rules of conventional society. Her mistake is thinking that they apply. For Katherine's host and uncle, Alec Campion, aka the Mad Duke Tremontaine, is in charge here—and to him, rules are made to be broken. When Alec decides it would be more amusing for his niece to learn swordplay than to follow the usual path to marriage, her world changes forever. Blade in hand, it's up to Katherine to navigate a maze of secrets and scoundrels and to gain the self-discovery that comes to those who master: the privilege of the sword.

Customer Reviews:

Unexpected Pleasure.......2007-08-29

I picked this book up desperate for something to read that could hold my interest. I had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I could hardly put it down. The characters are eccentric and fun, I loved the politics and intrigue, I couldn't put it down.

Not for children though. There are some explicit scenes.

Not sure how to rate this one.......2007-08-27

I like SF/Fantasy with strong female characters. I was blown away by the list of positive reviews, from some of my favorite authors on the cover. So, I picked this one up without having read anything else previous to it.

I ended up having a love-hate relationship with this book. I loved the world, but found the characters troublesome. And then, in the middle of the plot, as I had finally managed to entrench myself into the world, there it came -- the dreaded footnote, referring me back to Swordpoint. From that point, I was no longer entrenched in the writing, and nothing could bring me back.

Be warned -- if you don't like depictions of sometimes brutal sex (both gay and straight), this book is NOT for you. I don't fancy myself a prude by any means, but it got a little overwhelming for me.

Overall, I'm a bit disappointed. I had hoped for better, but this didn't live up to my expectations. I don't think I'll be reading anything else in this series.

Disappointed.......2007-08-06

After reading all the reviews, I couldn't wait to go out tand buy.I found the book to be boring, pointless and plodding.The only bright spot was Katherine ...the rest of the characters were forgettable. I hate to slam any book, but I feel this is merited in this case.Sorry guys!

Maybe even less than * * *.......2007-07-16

I read it over this last weekend, and found it a bit incomplete for me. The large gaps in training, to bring a 15 year old, to Duelist Extraordinaire, in a span of six months, were a bit much for me to bridge. When the lead finally (I found myself muttering "will something PLEASE happen) Duels for her friends honor, and fails to recognize her own brother (even though he does recognize her) I found myself waiting and waiting for the Bulb to go on, or at the very least, for it to be addressed in conversation with her mother later in the storyline, but to no avail!

As an aside, I would not recommend this book for younger readers, depending on their maturity level.

Action, Romance, and a book well written!.......2007-07-06

This book has everything that a book needs to become perfect! I found no flaws in the story or plot as I read and I was kept reading until the book was entirely finished. The ending was as interesting as the beginning and the middle of the story was full of sword fights, interesting characters, pinches of romance, and an idea that makes the book great!

The book is about sword fighting (check cover!). But of course it's more than JUST about sword fighting. It's about a million other things too! The mad Duke of Tremontaine is known to be rather mad. He's made many enemies and many of those are even his own family memebers. His sister - for example. He's been taking parts of her and her daughter, Katherine's land for years. He'll stop the lawyers the sueing IF Katherine comes with him to learn the way of the sword...

I was deeply surprised by this book. I expected it to be a "normal" sword story. About the girl learning to sword fight. But it is not so original and the characters are not always as they seem.

Happy Reading!

Swords of Riverside including Swordspoint & The Privilege of the Sword

Average customer rating:

Swords of Riverside including Swordspoint & The Privilege of the Sword
Ellen Kushner
Manufacturer: Science Fiction Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Fall of The Kings

ASIN: 0739473360

Product Description

An excellent gift! Now for your pleasure we present Swords of Riverside, an exclusive 2 in 1 hardcover omnibus. Remarkable stories that manage to create a swashbuckling fantasy world with nary a wizard nor dragon in sight.

Average customer rating:

The Privilege of the Sword
Ellen Kushner
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MT0GSK

Book Description

Plagued by drooling predators and violent weather, Mike, Candayce, and Janine must look to the least likely leader for help--the often-picked-on class brain, Bertram. But can he help his new friends survive as dinosaurs?

Customer Reviews:

The Teens Time Forgot.......2004-03-29

The books is about these four teens that had gone back in time, into the Cretaceceous age. So any way they had turn turn into these four great dinosaur. There names are Mike the T-rex,Jaine the Quetalcoatlus, Candayce the Leptoceratops, last but not least Bertram who is the Ankylosaurus. They were once human but now dinosaurs who romned the earth befor us. But to top it all of they had to face all sorts of danger. So they had traveld a long way to look for the standing stones. They are (standing stones)stones that just like them. Will Bertram had gotten in touch or should I say in love with another Akylosaurus. The female Ankylosarus was going to have a new mate, because she had lost her first male in a flood. Before that had happen it was Mike with Bertram traveling together intell they had met with a old enemy. Now, that has left Candace and Jaine to work to get to the futre and hya they did go through weird changes. Will the ever make it home?

Scott is a brilliant writer!!!.......2002-01-07

...

I'v e been to the bookstores and have seen a lot of your books and find the characters to be believable and empathetic. Young people seem to really enjoy your style and ability to create surprise, mystery and excite, all the while weaving very grounded principles and morals to the stories.

Great Work!!!!!!

Steven.

Dinoverse: part 2.......2000-08-23

In paper back form, this is the second half of the Dinoverse Hardcover book. Which of course means that it is absolutely wonderful. Aside from a great story, the art by Fredericks is a great visual commentary.

Average customer rating:

Kerala cuisine, yummy recipes

Great cookbook

Too much emphasis on appearance;

authentic kerala recipes

Savor this collection of Keralite recipes

Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala
Maya Kaimal
Manufacturer: Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Indian | Asian | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Curried Favors: Family Recipes from South India

Samayal: The Pleasures of South Indian Vegetarian Cooking

Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India

Healthy South Indian Cooking

Mangoes & Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent

ASIN: 0060192577

Amazon.com

This comprehensive introduction to the use of many rich and flavorful spices--including cardamom, black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon--takes readers beyond usual notions of Indian cooking. When combined with meats, fruits, and vegetables--especially in dry curries and rice dishes--such spices will leave anyone who has enjoyed Indian cuisine with a new appreciation for the unique southern style of cooking. A must-read preface provides a colorful description of the region and a historical overview of the state of Kerala, a center for the spice trade located on the southwest coast. More winning, the chapter features compelling background and autobiographical information about the author, her family, and her roots in Kerala. While the recipes, collected from many trips to the region and time spent in the kitchens of Indian relatives and friends, are full of exotic spices and vegetables, Kaimal offers alternatives to some of the unusual ingredients that may be difficult to find in the typical grocery store. Sourdough Crêpes with Potato Masala, Sweet Green Mango Chutney, Spicy Beef Curry, and even Christmas Cake are just a few samples of the variety. For those interested in traditional Indian cooking, this is both a rich source of history and a thorough introduction to the southern Indian palate. --Teresa Simanton

Book Description

"I was nine years old when I first went to Kerala, my father's boyhood home, where the lush tip of India meets the Arabian Sea. I'd heard stories about this place, seen photographs, and even tasted the lively South Indian curries my father cooked in our suburban Boston home. Still, nothing prepared me for how extraordinarily exotic it would seem when I stepped off that Indian Airlines plane ...."

A colorful land of spices and coconut palms, the southern state of Kerala is home to some of the most vibrant and flavorful cooking in all of India. Virtually undiscovered by Americans, its distinctive cuisine is influenced as much by its abundance of fresh ingredients (including fish, lamb, coconut, ginger, green chilies, black pepper, tamarind, and curry leaves) as by its different religious groups (Hindu, Christian, and Muslim) and cultures that make up its population. Now acclaimed cookbook author Maya Kaimal offers a unique culinary journey to Kerala, sharing the authentic recipes passed down by her family and other Keralan cooks.

Vastly different from the familiar North Indian staples of tandoori chicken, fried breads, and thick sauces, the food of Kerala has a lively tropical spirit, revealed in dishes like Tamarind Shrimp, Vegetables in Fragrant Coconut Milk, Batter-Fried Bananas, and the ubiquitous Sourdough Pancakes known as dhosa. Kaimal offers more than one hundred of these flavorful recipes, each carefully adapted for the home kitchen. Chapters on getting started, stocking your pantry, and planning a complete South Indian meal

provide thoughtful explanations of ingredients, seasonings, and techniques, making it easy for home cooks to create the complex layers of flavor that characterize Keralan cuisine.

Enlivened by Kaimal's passion for her father's homeland, and by outstanding four-color photographs, Savoring the Spice Coast of India is more than simply a cookbook. It is a captivating taste of a culture and cuisine to which you will want to return again and again.

Customer Reviews:

Kerala cuisine, yummy recipes.......2007-07-09

This is the best, most authentic cookbook I've seen for Kerala cuisine. Maya's love for the region and the food really shows. Also, the recipes are very easy to follow. I commend the author on figuring out appropriate quantities, because most Keralites cook with amounts like "some of this" and "some of that" that aren't exactly quantified! Anyway, I recommend this to anyone who enjoys South Indian cuisine. There are both vegetarian and non-veg recipes. The book is not exhaustive, but there are plenty of recipes in many categories of meal courses.

Great cookbook .......2006-08-13

I absolutely love this cookbook. I was shopping around for indian cookbooks and this one interested me because I have not really tried anything from the Kerala region in India. I was pleasantly surprised that the book was so well organized, the pictures are as wonderfully delicious as the recipes. The author begins this book with an introduction to Kerala, and her family. She then gives you a list of ingredients, and spices that you will likely use in her recipes and she even has some websites listed for hardder to find ingredients (i.e. curry leaves). Luckily there is an Indian market near where I live and was able to locate the hard to find curry leaves. I have tried around 9 recipes from this book so far: the chicken kurma, potatoes with cabbage, and even the noodle pudding. All of the recipes won rave reviews. Best of all I now have an excellent Chai recipe, not to sweet not too strong, so i won't be paying the ridiculous $3.80 for it anymore at the coffee shops. I discovered that the recipes once you have a well stocked pantry are easy and inexpensive to make. This is great since i am on a student's budget!

Too much emphasis on appearance;.......2006-02-23

Appearance of the cookbook, not the food to be cooked. I used to have a rule never to buy a cookbook with color pictures in it. I find it hard to take a cookbook seriously if it looks like a travel brochure. This cookbook has that look to me.

But, the content of the cookbook seems just fine. My rule about color photographs has adapted over the years since there are some well written cookbooks with pictures if you search around enough. I've only made one recipe out of this cookbook so far, a spicy beef curry. I like the cookbook, I just wish it was a little less gaudy.

authentic kerala recipes.......2005-12-27

My husband is from Kerala, and, so he tells me, many of the recipes in this book are just like his mother's cooking at home. I have never been to India, and yet the Spice Coast---more so than Kaimal's other book Curried Favors, which I also have---has taught me how to make specialties of Kerala cuisine. When we have friends over for dinner who are likewise from Kerala, I love to see the surprise on their faces when I serve them dishes from this book. They are amazed that an American can cook the same dishes that they enjoy at home!

Also, Kaimal often comments in the intro to each recipe which religious community in Kerala cooks which dish, and her remarks are very useful. Most of the Indians I know come from the Syrian Christian community there, and the recipes which she specifies as being from that community are truly the ones that they grew up eating at home. This book is a must-have for any homesick Keralites out there!

Savor this collection of Keralite recipes.......2005-03-15

Drawing inspiration from her roots, Maya Kaimal shares some of her wonderful recipes. The foreword briefly outlines the history & influences which touched Keralite cuisine. The authors explains setting up the pantry, equipment used, the basics of spices & the processes to create various blends of dry & wet "masalas". Recipes are for both vegetarians & non vegetarians. Having tried out most of the recipes, I enjoyed most of them, - my favourites are the Peppery Chicken Curry & Lamb Vindaloo. Well laid out with a number of color photographs & the author's conversational style makes it an interesting & easy read.

Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala

Average customer rating:

Savoring the Spice Coast of India: Fresh Flavors from Kerala
Maya Kaimal
Manufacturer: Morrow Cookbooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OELZM4

Book Description

No one is more qualified to teach you how to train your dog than Dick Maller, president of the U.S. Professional Dog Trainers' Association and operator of the famous Maller School for Dogs, whose dogs have won over 100 awards and have appeared in movies and on television. Here is his easy-to-follow, effective, and above all, humane approach to training your puppy or full-grown dog in only 21 days. Using "operant conditioning" and "positive reinforcement" as the two basic training techniques, the author shows you:

* how to housebreak your puppy quickly and painlessly

* how to break your dog's bad habits (barking, chewing, chasing cars and bicycles, jumping up on visitors, howling when left alone)

* how to train your dog to follow simple commands (sit, heel, turn, stay, lie down and come)

* how to teach your dog to fetch, jump, catch, carry or retrieve an object.

The simple Maller method is your guide to raising a happy, obedient dog -- one who follows your orders not out of fear (as in traditional training methods), but out of delight in pleasing you -- every time.

Customer Reviews:

Yeah right.......2007-07-05

Bought the book, was skeptical, and I turned out to be right. I couldn't teach my adult dog how to behave in 21 days unless I had all day every day to devote to it. It might work for some people, but not for me.

Good To Have.......2007-06-02

I used this book, in conjunction with other training materials. It's useful, but I wouldn't rely on it as my sole training guide. I used it to get a basic idea of how to train my dog once we had passed the 8mo. mark and were basically doing OK.

Didnt like this book.......2006-03-03

I did not like this book at all. It states to wait for the puppy to do the wanted action and praise the puppy. That to me does not seem like the way to train a puppy. I have ordered the dog whisperer video and am hoping for better results.

3 dogs ... quarter of a century! still perfect!.......2005-03-24

I first purchased this booking the late 70s or early 80s. If I recall correctly, it was on the "suggested" table at a local bookshop in the Hamptons.

Ah yes... the 1980s! In finance, Ivan Boesky personified the times of "live big, show off." At the movies ET phoned home, Peggy Sue got Married. The toys to own were a Rubik cube and Pac man.

Those icons are long gone ...yet this little book has survived! Ain't life strange?

Well since that time (almost thirty years ago) I've had two more dogs and two more wives.

I got my latest dog last month. Once again I went back to this "21 days" classic book. After all it kept me in good stead through "Buffy" and "Charlie" and now is being reread for use with "Trumper" (the dog not the Donald).

I see why this has survived almost thirty years on the Simon & Schuster backlist as well as more than thirty five printings in five different editions and four languages. It is a true classic.

This is the one book to buy to train your new pup or old dog. It is brilliant in its absolute simplicity.

I'm not sure this book actually needed one more review. However, there are very few things in my life that (a) I liked in 1980 and still like (b) that survived from 1980 and (c) that cost under $10.00 yet has brought so much joy.

It belongs in every doggie persons library.

This is the best!.......2004-09-22

No ifs, ands or (none housebroken) butts ... this is the best dog training book I've ever seen. It did take me more than 21 days (more like 42 days). However, considering my earlier training attempts fell on deaf ears (I thought dogs have really good hearing) ... I am thrilled. The best ten bucks I've ever spent. Get this book ... from amazon, the library or a friend. These guys really know howw to train dogs. Or actually they know how to train layman to train dogs!

Customer Reviews:

The Fabulous Victrola 45.......2007-05-27

Very nicely done. Lots of information that is useful if you are interested in the 1950's 45rpm Players. Because of this book, I acquired an Alice in Wonderland 1950's player and restored it using the information from the book and links to suppliers of replacement parts. I even created "New" decals from the old ones so my unit looks like it came right out of the box and plays as new....
My highest regards for the author and contributors to this book
Leland Faber

The little record with the big sound........2007-01-12

This book does a good job in bringing back to life this wonderful record player made primarily by RCA Victor Company. It shows the progression of styles, especially the early bakelite models that were always the envy of every young school person in the 1950's. You knew the real thing was yours, if you had one of the RCA Victor Bakelite models. The author, adds his own love of the machine along with an excellent job in tracing the history of the 45 record player from its' inception in 1949, when it was initially introduced to the public. Anyone owning one of these record players, or simply interested in seeing the transition it made from 1949 through the 1960's should get this book. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

This book complements the other BETTER HOMES BOOK called...

Thoroughly enjoyable!

A treat

Don't let the title fool you!

Decorating Year-Round: Shaping Your Style Through the Seasons
Better Homes and Gardens
Manufacturer: Better Homes and Gardens
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Decorating | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Decorating | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Interior Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Style On a Budget (Better Homes & Gardens)

Susie Coelho's Styling for Entertaining : 8 Simple Steps, 12 Miracle Makeovers

Celebrating Home: Decorating for the Holidays and Seasons (Seasons of Cannon Falls)

Susie Coelho's Everyday Styling : Easy Tips for Home, Garden, and Entertaining

The Emotional House: How Redesigning Your Home Can Change Your Life

ASIN: 0696213923

Book Description

Decorating ideas and projects organized by season.

Whole-house tours that convey seasonal palettesÂ—pinks and greens and creams for spring, bright tropical colors for summer, etc.

Chapters include at a glance, tip-style, and step-by-step projects.

Multiple room arrangement ideas and tips with floor plans.

Ideas to change rooms with color, furniture placement, and accessories to reflect the mood of the season.

Resource directory for materials and furnishings pictured.

Shopping sources for decorating materials cited.

Customer Reviews:

This book complements the other BETTER HOMES BOOK called..........2007-07-26

Yes, this book complements the other BETTER HOMES & GARDEN book called: "STYLE BY NATURE".
At least, I think so.

I bought both books together and I have enjoyed reading both "Nature" books (by BETTER HOMES) very much.

Example, both are hardback books, with gorgeous photos.

The colors in the homes used throughout this book are just as soothing as the photos in the other BETTER HOMES book mentioned above.

If you are the type of decorator that likes to look at pictures , in order to be inspired, then this is a very nice book to own in your library.

Thoroughly enjoyable!.......2005-05-22

This book is more practical than some decorating books I've seen. It goes beyond just photos of beautiful rooms with commentary. The pages inside explode with colorful decor and practical ideas.

One of the nice things I noticed is that there are sections where the author points out different components in the room (and there is literally a line drawn from that piece in the photo to the commentary about that design element). Sometimes I find it hard to think about what makes a room warm and friendly. I know it when I see it, but I couldn't really tell you off the top of my head. Since this book points those things out, it really draws your attention to those important details.

The author also does a great job of demonstrating how small touches can transform a room as there are photos of the same room with a few things changed (perhaps a different duvet in the bedroom or adding some flowers during the summer). These subtle changes can really change the look of the room, especially if you want your home to reflect the different seasons. There are photos that show how you can bring the outdoors in and change the feel of the room throughout the year. What a wonderful idea to keep your room fresh!

This book also contains information and ideas of how to make your own decorating touches - perhaps a picture gallery or a mirrored door that fools the eye. How about ideas on stenciling a room? The book goes beyond showing the idea, but also contains a materials list and instructions on how to complete the project.

This book is a wonderful and practical resource for decorating ideas. And if you want to change up your rooms periodically without doing a complete makeover, you'll find this book very handy!

A treat.......2002-11-01

I figured this book would be full of ideas, and it is. I love it, and I know I'll use it for a long time to come. What surprised me a little was how absolutely beautiful the book was just to flip through. I felt like my blood pressure went down as I flipped from page to page. This is a sumptuous book with such lovely pictures and such practical ideas. I really like the fact that the book has so many little and non-crafty ideas I can do quickly .

Don't let the title fool you!.......2002-10-02

I thought this book would show me ways to change the same room throughout the seasons. It does that only about five times in the book. The rest of book shows different rooms and houses for each of the four seasons. I live in the same house year round and could use more tips about changing my basic look. The craft ideas are not appealing to my style either. I gave it three stars because it does have three or four good pieces of information.

Book Description

From initial concept through to finishing touches, for the first time, Boris and Julie give an in-depth description of how they paint their masterpieces, taking the reader through every stage of the creative process. As well as teaching the main techniques, the premiere fantasy-art team shows the reader how to use a wide variety of media to create a whole range of different types of painting, and explain how they create the effects for which they are so renowned, such as Julie’s legendary “metal flesh,” with its mix of fluidity and hardness contrasting with the sensual softness of the skin. Illustrated throughout in full color, the Practical Guide to Fantasy Art includes step-by-step photographs that Boris and Julie have taken as they’ve worked as well as a selection of their finished art appealing to art students and fantasy-art admirers alike.

Customer Reviews:

Great Help........2007-01-04

Truly helpful and a Great Help with learning textures and techniques from professional artists. Certain pictures of Boris Vallejo's and Julie Bell's work are shown in a step by step process that you can follow in your own works. If you are not interested in learning how to paint this book is also a great collection to admire, either way you will not be disappointed. It's truly helped me with my digital painting I cannot wait until I have the free time to practice the techniques shown in the book.

genuine sham.......2006-10-06

The claim that step by step the artists reveal their secrets is a sham, they reveal nothing, and their text is just airy rap about nothing. The artwork must be their left overs, including several pages devoted to a tedious ad campain for a fruit juice. In addition there are several ridiculous repeated images just for fill out. A shoddy and hastily book put together for self promotion. It's amazing how two such capable fantasy artists dont have the IMAGINATION to put together the genuine article. Buy this only if you are a die hard fan with no sense of discrimination!

Boris/ Bell rulez!.......2006-03-15

painting technics and a lot of work, and coposition tips. Its not for beginners , but essential!

Boris reveals more but not all.......2006-02-25

I'm hungry for Boris's painting technique. The first book of his was enlightening but skipped the critical part of his process, rendering the final product. This book gets closer to revealing his and Judy's magic but still left me wondering how many things are accomplished. It is an essential book for anyone fascinated by Boris and Judy's painting technique just don't expect to be shown how they do everything.

great tips.......2006-01-22

This book could help any artist; no need to have an interest in Fantasy. Lots of good tips and the art is great. I found it inspiring and anxious to try out all the good advice.

Book Description

"I sat down to write a book about pain and ended up writing about love," says award-winning Chickasaw poet and novelist Linda Hogan. In this book, she recounts her difficult childhood as the daughter of an army sergeant, her love affair at age fifteen with an older man, the legacy of alcoholism, the troubled history of her adopted daughters, and her own physical struggles since a recent horse accident. She shows how historic and emotional pain are passed down through generations, blending personal history with stories of important Indian figures of the past such as Lozen, the woman who was the military strategist for Geronimo, and Ohiesha, the Santee Sioux medical doctor who witnessed the massacre at Wounded Knee. Ultimately, Hogan sees herself and her people whole again and gives an illuminating story of personal triumph.

Customer Reviews:

Very theraputic.......2007-02-23

I read this book in a class about violence in society. it really brought home the nessesity for violence but a productive way to turn it into a positive thing in your life and still have good energy surround you. this book especially hit home with me because i have experience with foster children that can't bond. it really helped me to understand how to deal with that. Plus Linda Hogan Rocks!!

Book Review.......2004-05-26

Life is a journey form fragments to wholeness. Hogan's memoir tries to reveal her steps and processes of having harmony in her life. She divides her memoir into eleven sections with various topics to express her different experience of life. Each part of her personal experience is the part of life journey, though in the journey, no absolutely direction is shown to tell her when to go or what to do. In "Geography: An Introduction," Hogan says there is no maps of direction in life, even she wish to direct her life to others by saying "This way," (14) but she couldn't. From receiving the broken pieces of the clay woman named "The Woman Who Watches over the World" that she bought in the museum, Hogan starts to illustrate her journey of broken past in "Water: A Love Story," which narratives how she falls in love with a sergeant army in German, and how she decides to come back to America by through the sea. Then she says "through our time life-times it is water that sustains us, water that is the human substance, the matter of cells"(31). In her years of falling, Hogan concludes "falling isn't always bad. Sometimes it is better into world" (66). As the topics go, readers seem to have steps to penetrate Hogan's inner floating. From piecing the following topics together, including "Silence is My Mother," "Fire," "Dreams and Visions: The Given-Off Light," "Span: Of Time and Stone,¡¨ ¡§Mystery,¡¨ ¡§Bones, and Other Precious Gem,¡¨ and ¡§Phantom Worlds,¡¨ we gradually finish the journey made by Hogan's personal events by the topic steps she gave us. Reading Hogan's memoir is like playing jigsaw puzzle, which is the game from fragments to wholeness. The process of the play jigsaw puzzle is like the process of facing many events in journey life. As she describes herself from the broken past to the harmony in the living world, Hogan's memoir also reveals the situation of Native American today. Therefore, it is not only a memoir of self, but a reflection of her tribes.

History, Healing and Survival.......2004-05-26

Hogan¡¦s memoir is a book not only ¡§about love¡¨ (16), but about ¡§healing, history, and survival¡¨ (16). In this memoir of eleven chapters, the idea of history dominates the whole work in which Hogan retrieves not only her personal history but the communal history. The ¡§space-time¡¨ relationship becomes a unifying force for each chapter to construct a unified whole and present a ¡§a geography of the human spirit, common to all peoples¡¨ (16). For Hogan as a Native American, history, no matter personal or tribal one, is present in geography, no matter a spiritual or spatial one. First of all, Hogan tries to relate her ¡§self-telling¡¨ to the young people on reservations and thus connect her personal history with the history of the continent since ¡§I can lay a human history out before me and hold a light to it, and in that light is the history of a continent¡¨ (14). She then identifies herself and the world with the clay woman, ¡§the Woman who Watch Over the World¡¨ since she, the clay woman and the world/land are all broken. And the historical traumas are revealed and shown in human bodies and the land in itself. Thus, by retrieving the history of her physical pain, emotional suffering, and early inarticulateness inherited from her mothers, she presents us a suffering history of her tribe in this continent. By exploring both the personal and tribal history, she displays a map/path for herself and the young tribal men to pursue after her. It is then a map/path of healing. By healing, she means the power of words and the cure of nature. She offers a history of three generations of women in her family, herself, her mother and her two adopted daughters, who, because ¡§the destruction of the body and land have coincided in history¡¨ (62~63), have been or are, in a way or other, voiceless of their emotional, physical, or spiritual sufferings. Thus, the power of storytelling/words is significant for her to deal with her personal problems and recognition of self-identity in the tribal community. Moreover, after years of experiences with pain, she finds her cure relies on ¡§earth, water, light and air¡¨ (16). Its significance can be seen when several elements in nature are used to entitle six out of the eleven chapters. Finally, what unifies all these treads presented in the memoir into a spider web, separate but of the same direction, is the power of tribal survival through which personal survival is also attained. It is only because of a quest into her haunted past and tribal hardships can she find a power to refresh her spirit and a meaning for her life. Thus, with the presentation of both traumatic histories and ways of healings, she positions herself and establishes her subjectivity in a tribal world that, in turn, survives in face of possible genocide. And it is this urgency of survival, no matter personal or tribal, that makes the memoir and the Naitve American literature extraordinary to the Euroamerican literature.

History, Healing, and Survival.......2004-05-26

A great memoire of Linda Hogan.......2004-05-26

As the title implies, this momoire arises form Linda Hogan her own perspective to tell the history of her tribe, her family and her own self. It is indeed a very impressive work for me. Many details and many depictions attract me very much, and I am going to illustrate some of them that impress me most.
Drunken is a very serious problem for Hogan¡¦s family and relatives. By the description, we gradually realize that to drink is a way to elude from the painful history. ¡§I was drunk, not an alcoholic,¡¨ their reason is that ¡§the drunk wants to lose the memory of every day.¡¨ ¡§It was an escape from the pain of an American history.¡¨ For them, so many memories are unacceptable and the solution they can do is to escape from it. The Indians are the Natives of the States. But the invaders occupied most of their land and even made law to restrain the Indian territory. It is very ridiculous event.
One thing that shocks me very much is about ¡§the Sand Creek Masacre.¡¨ It is a very painful thing for the Native people, but the Whites choose to make fun of the deathes. It reveals all the horrible history. Besides the history of the Native and the tribes, Hogan also explores herself and confesses herself to the readers. I believe this book is absolutely a good one to read and you will get more by your own reading.

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