Courting Disaster: An Angie Amalfi Mystery

Book Description

This twelfth culinary mystery from Joanne Pence has everything a mystery reader could ever want: romance, intrigue and, of course, murder. Loveable amateur sleuth and budding chef Angie Amalfi continues her adventures in this exciting addition to a popular series.

Dilettante chef and amateur sleuth Angie Amalfi is at it again, in another culinary mystery in this successful series. Angie has reluctantly agreed to let her mother plan the party to celebrate her engagement to Paavo, her hunky detective beau. But as she frets over whether her mom will pull it off, a new situation surfaces––Stan, her next door neighbour, falls for a mysterious pregnant woman, and gets in over his head. With stalkers, baby–smuggling, and, of course, murder in the days leading up to the party, Angie must concentrate on solving a complicated crime, and reluctantly leave the party planning to mom.

o Perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich and mystery readers who love stories with a dash of romance.

o Each instalment in the series features several delicious recipes from the kitchen of Angie Amalfi.

Customer Reviews:

Strikingly obvious time-waster.......2006-02-17

There was little to recommend this book except that it reads easily. Pages fly by like hours in an airport. The mystery was dead predictable in form, although the other might keep us guessing as to the exact details, and the characters are so wooden one worries about a fire hazard. The recipes were great, but I get the feeling the authors and readers who prefer this kind of book do not have much in common with the real world. I would not recommend this to anyone who is not stranded in an airport and wealthy.

oddly entertaining.......2005-04-28

This series is hard to describe, in that the "heroine" is so stupid that you can't really like her, but the other characters more than make up for her. Is the reader supposed to like Angie and identify with her, or dislike her, or what? She's irritating in that she can't hold a job but acts like the world owes her something. She sponges off her parents, but thinks she deserves to live in luxury. It's impossible to imagine that any man would put up with her for long. But Paavo is an appealing character, as are Angie's family members, her neighbor Stan, the other police officers that Paavo works with, and Angie's friend who owns the gift shop. This book is an improvement on others in the series: it has less Angie and more of everybody else.

Amusing, some romance, and welll-plotted.......2005-04-03

The detective of this San Francisco-set mystery (and that is a big part of the charm) is Angie, a woman with enough money that she doesn't need to work, which is a good thing because she's not very good at holding down a job despite her ability as a cordon bleu cook. Angie is engaged to a homicide detective. Her mother is planning their engagement party, and the fact that the party is a secret from Angie is driving her crazy -- she's trying to find out where the party is, the theme, etc. But the real mystery plot involves what's going on in a Greek waterfront restaurant. Angie's neighbor and friend Stan "discovers" the restaurant and falls in love with a pregnant woman associated with the restaurant. She turns to Stan for help and Angie gets involved. Before they know it, they're involved in some puzzling things going on at the restaurant, including trouble coming from the baby's father. THen there's Angie's father, who is being stalked by an employee but doesn't want his wife or daughter to know -- so the father seeks out the help of Paavo, Angie's fiance.

As you can tell, there's lots of stuff going on in this book, enough so that the reader moves around among multiple plot lines. It's not difficult to follow, however, in part because the characters are such...characters. Larger than life and likeable, except for the villains.

I intend to read more in the series -- although there are enough in the series that I will be busy for a while.

Burgundy Complexity; A Fine Red Wine With Surefire Finish.......2005-03-31

Joanne Pence's Angie Amalfi continues delighting this reader with variations on plugging in her talent as a trained (trapped?) gourmet chef, and through humorously portrayed angst on this-and-that, especially around her mother's interjections of suggested direction.

In COURTING DISASTER Angie frets over an engagement party Serefina (her mother) is planning in high profile secrecy. Angie is consumed with desperation to discover the diddly details of her mother's choices of color schemes, etc., related to this upcoming party.

I was absolutely taken by surprise and overwhelmingly impressed with the way Angie's well-fed angst over the perfection of her party's ambiance, carried on entertainingly throughout the novel, was concluded in the denouement. Do check out how everyone's Dressed To The Nines? But, from which base number system are they making their debuts? That is the question. Or, one of the many which are answered absolutely.

From the first page to the last, this mystery was more sophisticated that most offerings in this genre. The burgundy complexity sneaks up on a reader who's been fooled into feeling he's in the book only for the exquisitely executed "let's party" escapism. All within the justification of escorting a villain to his or her payment of karma, of course.

The opening of the novel does a moody-blues, literarily stylish, sensitive step-in as Angie's seemingly superficial friend, Stanfield Bonnette, drags his psyche through a self-pity soliloquy, moaning with such gregarious gusto that temptations of Prozac would be magnetically repelled before they could find an ozone hole for access to mental persuasion. After a few pages of this, Stan has taken the reader into a submarine dive into the murky depths of his unusual character; there's more to him than even he would admit.

The Classic opening scene of antique detective fiction describes with sensual sleaze the quintessential dumpy motel room's open window on a red-neon-light blinking to a slow-two-step, keeping rhythm with the hero's nearly dead heart ... beat. The essence (sans motel room ambiance) of that type of urban-fringe, jazzed-up-depression, turning downtrodden into a sought-after art form, is captured in Stan's sensitive soliloquy. Thumbs up for a great Act One, Scene One, Pence!

And kiss my joined finger tips in salute for the performances of the generous collection of characters reeking in "Perfecto" personality quirks, and the read-aloud-and-share dialogue dances. Of course the women in the plot are delightfully or dingily feisty and varied in temperament, depth, and essence; but the coup beyond coups in this novel is that every male in the plot is an unusually rich, complex example of that gender of the species. Each is potently, yummy male, yet uniquely one-of-a-kind.

The contrast of enlightened-macho-styles between Angie's fiancee, Paavo, and her father is especially well done. I was absolutely entertained by every word, gesture, and action exchanged between those two as they bungled from antipasto antipathy into side-glancing, no-admitting-it thoughts of, "maybe-I'm-gonna-like-you-after-all ... or ... then-again-maybe-not" intimacy.

There are too many sub-intrigues and character sets to begin to describe the multiplicity of duplicities woven into one of the tightest, densest, most luxurious carpets of Persian (Excuse, Italian) perfection to be found metaphor-ed into fiction.

- There's Stan and his truly varied (and insightful) relationships with several women, including Angie, and none of these connections come close to superficiality, except maybe the wise avoidance of "tap-dancing" with Nora.

- There's the sensitively and realistically explored social issue of baby's born, sold, or delivered to unworthy or incapable parents, contrasted to a fresh look at true parenting, out-of-the-box but in the ball park of "Yes, that'll work," providing the contented conclusion, "This child's lucky."

- There are issues of intimacy, approach/avoidance complexes therein, along with "how-to"s on getting there between friends of either gender combos, between parents and children, between heterosexual partners, among every-which-way of one-on-one dances through life.

How does Pence deliver this amount of intrigue and intensity through a legitimate mystery, filling in the blanks of that genre, yet using it as a cover for a literary mainstream novel?

She does it with the pizzaz of light, fun humor and the panache of a visceral awareness of how spirited people get "up close and personal"; how they relate and grow satisfyingly close, simultaneous to working the kinks out of life's hard-lines and hardships.

Well done, Pence!! You appear to be one of those alfalfa type authors who taproots her work 40 feet into the earth, and grows along with her talent in mineral rich soil.

With Respect,
Linda G. Shelnutt

Slow start........2005-01-05

Meet Angie Amalfi, chef and freelance food critic. With her "surprise" engagement party around the corner, Angie is in a whirlwind of motion trying to figure out the details. Then a mysterious woman appears at her neighbor's door.

Angie's neighbor is named Stan. He has just been drawn into the life of this woman and her baby. Now Angie must help the woman and Stan out of a murderous baby smuggling ring.

**** A slow start but by the end it was a worthwhile read! Angie and Stan's antics are enough to capture any reader's attention. ****

Reviewed by K. Blair.

Courting Disaster : An Angie Amalfi Mystery

Average customer rating:

Courting Disaster : An Angie Amalfi Mystery
Joanne Pence
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEM92Y

Customer Reviews:

Mortals look out!.......2001-09-10

This book is of major importance for every Hunters-Chronicle. It begins with a nice short-story you can use as a chronicle, followed by different methods and approaches to hunt vampires. You might be a Hunter by plain accident or by profession, anyway the book provides background information for you and/or your hunters organisation. What is known about supernatural beings? How to fight them? Etc. It contains new Merits&Flaws for mortals, some Thaumaturgy spells, psychic abilities and True Faith (though the latter is a bit too powerful in my opinion). It usually provides good overviews on all the various concepts. Nothing to reprove. Recommended for players and storytellers alike.

Very general.......1999-04-01

This book is not that bad. As another review said, it was written in the early stages of the other White Wolf games, so theres a lot of info thats not that meaningful anymore. What it is good as it as provoking your imagination to make your own Hunter characters. After all this is a Storyteller game, so it makes sense to make your own character using broad concepts to flesh it out. Overall, its just ok but not horrible.

Cursory, outdated and poorly written........1998-12-09

Some of the flaws to a modern reader can be attributed to the era this was written in: There only was hedge magic, and the other White Wolf games weren't in their final stages. Fine. That makes the specific examples it cites fairly useless, but that's to be expected.

The real problem is that this only adds slightly to the definitions given in the Vampire basic game of each of the groups of hunters, padding with typically not-so-great "fiction." (It must be great to have friends at a game company, and not have to be a good writer to have your fiction published.)

What's good in here could be squeezed down into about eight pages. But even those concepts have been expanded in more recent supplements. Either stick with the core rules or buy "The Inquisition," "Project Twilight," "The Arcanum" and "Ghouls" (for the masterless ghouls who prey on the Kindred) as your interests dictate.

Book Description

Based on extensive scientific research, The Wonder Weeks describes in easy-to-understand terms the incredible developmental changes that all babies go through during the first 55 weeks of their lives. Now this book, which has sold more than 400,000 copies overseas, can help American parents predict-within a week or two-when to expect the behavior that marks a new change. They will learn what is going on in the baby's brain and read examples of how other parents react at this stage and what they can do to help the child during this transition. It includes: -Week-by-week guide to baby's behavior -An explanation of the markers for fussy, clingy behavior and how to react -Fun games and gentle activities you can do with your child -A description of your baby's perspective on the world around him and how it can help you understand the changes he's going through

Customer Reviews:

Book is being reprinted.......2007-08-23

I give this book to every new mother I know, it's that good. However, the used book prices are insane. I emailed the author in the Netherlands and he said they are in negotiation with a new publisher to reprint the book.
There is no reason to pay $80.00 - $175.00 for a $20.00 paperback.
People all over the world have written to him asking to have it reprinted and he's very anxious to do so.
Tricia

There's a reason for the change in behavior!.......2007-07-20

I wish someone had told me that babies have a fussy phase around 5-6 weeks. I got this book when my son was about 8 weeks old and it was comforting to know that his seemingly out of the blue crying was very normal. For each "leap" the book tells you fussy signs to look for, things your baby may be doing, and things you can do to help them flourish. The last week or so, my son has been craving more attention, having trouble settling down before sleeping, and turning away at times when being fed. I picked up the book again and sure enough, we have hit the next wonder week at 19 weeks and all of these things were listed under fussy signs. It's nice to have an idea of when these weeks are, instead of wondering why things have changed so much!

Great insight into baby's brain development.......2007-04-10

I really wish I'd had this book from the beginning! It's a fascinating insight into what is going on inside your baby's head.

It's easy when your baby is fed, slept, cuddled and played with to become a little frustrated if he's still uncharacteristically fussy. It really helps to be able to anticipate a fussy phase -- I actually prefer fussy "time frame," since our little guy just seems to have a few more off days and isn't really fussy all the time. When he's unusually fussy in that time frame, instead of just becoming frustrated and giving myself a hard time that I'm not meeting his needs, I can look for specific new things he is learning.

I agree with other reviewers that just knowing what is going on is incredibly helpful. Also, knowing that it will end soon and that this fussiness is your baby's way of coping with increased mental capacity and awareness really gives me a great deal of perspective. Actually, knowing it will end soon is probably the most helpful :)

I also like that the authors emphasize that your child will *not* do all the new things listed, but to pay attention to what (s)he is interested in for clues to the emerging personality. I have enjoyed their suggestions for games to play to help your child learn to use their new mental capabilities.

I have acquired a large library related to child/infant care and this is the best book I have invested in thus far. No other book has had such practical information that really contributed to lowering my stress level as a first-time parent.

Wish I'd had this book with my first baby..........2007-02-13

This is such a helpful book. It explains all of the major developmental stages, and helps you understand what your infant might be going through. It seemed whenever my son would start getting fussy or sleeping poorly, I'd look in this book and coordinate it with a different developmental milestone. I recommend this book to any new parents. Sometimes realizing what's happening, makes it easier to deal with.

If you have a baby, you need this book........2007-01-23

I don't think I've ever bothered to do a review here before, but this book made me take the time to do it. I got this book when my daughter was a few months old and I recommend it to all parents. Each chapter discusses a "fussy phase" and explains the developmental leap that accompanies it. The book offers suggestions of how to handle it, how to cope when things get frustrating, what toys are especially useful during the phase, what games to play with your child at that time.

I love the way it's organized. It's very readable. Without fail, every time my little girl was acting...not herself...I would open up the book and sure enough, we were right in the middle of a great developmental leap. I feel like this book helped me understand my daughter better, and be a better parent. I WISH they would write a book for the second year as well.

Average customer rating:

Piquant Passion

My 'book of the month'.......period!

Great Read and Hot Recipes. Buy It!

Some Like It Hot: Spicy Favorites from the World's Hot Zones
Clifford A. Wright
Manufacturer: Harvard Common Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Herbs, Spices & Condiments | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
International | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1558322698
Release Date: 2005-10-05

Product Description

If you are one of those spicy-food lovers who constantly strives to test your heat capacity -- or if you're just one of those people who really appreciates the nuances of piquant cuisines, this fun and feisty collection of recipes is for you. Author Cliff Wright has followed the equator in search of authentically spicy dishes, and he recreates them here with Meat-Stuffed Chiles from Peru, Chile Verde from New Mexico, "Tablecloth Stainer" from Oaxaca, Egusi Soup from Nigeria, "Sauce that Dances" from Algeria, Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup from Thailand, "Ants Climbing a Tree" from China, and about 300 more deliciously fiery foods. Each recipe has a heat index, so you know what's going to be subtly spicy and what's truly incendiary. If you are looking for that next "hot" thing, this is where you'll find it.

Customer Reviews:

Piquant Passion.......2006-07-30

Simply put this book is our house Bible. We're Anglos with a hunger for hot & spicy food. We have our local library to thank for showing us this tremendous guide. Originally borrowed, it soon became apparent that we must own the book to truly benefit from it. It's both a pleasure to read about the history and science behind these spicy foods and to learn how to prepare them.

Once you get the ingredients from your supermarket's ethnic section, local ethnic markets, or online most dishes can be made in about 1/2 - 1 hour. Some are even easier than that and all pack a colossal flavor.

One of the books best features is the 1 - 5 spice rating scale, cleverly noted above each recipe. Don't be afraid to try a recipe rated 5. This is usually given because it calls for some ridiculous amount of peppers, which can be halved or quartered. If you find you like the dish and can handle more spice, you can up the (pic-)ante the next time you make it.

There are a few recipes that I find daunting (i.e. Dora Wat). I want to make them but am turned off by the fact that I have to make specialty spice combinations (i.e. niter kebbeh or berbere) in advance. While the author gives suggestions for substitutions I'd prefer the real thing or nothing at all. One of these days, I'll get around to doing the pre-work and have a reserve of the stuff on hand.

Note: Fans of Sichuan must have this book. It makes Sichuan cooking easy and the creative cook can make it healthy by minimizing the amount of oil used.

WARNING!
If you are new to cooking with chilies, take extra CARE. I always wear gloves when handling chilies. Perhaps a real chef with chew me out for this but there's nothing worse than discovering you have pepper juice on your finger and rub your eye.

Finally, I just can't say enough great things about this book. It's a jewel for cooks the world over!

My 'book of the month'.......period!.......2005-12-16

It might even be my book of the year. This is the book for spice lovers and 'chile-heads' who want a truly GLOBAL appreciation of their passion. The recipes I've tried are superb and easy to follow. More importantly, the anecdotes, sidebars, historical notes, and especially the internet listings are indispensible to fully appreciating the beauty of spiced cuisine. I never dreamed I would be making my own HARISA (it's fairly easy) and applying it to homemade Algerian dishes.
Thankyou Clifford! BTW this is my first book review hence the handle :)

Great Read and Hot Recipes. Buy It!.......2005-10-19

`Some Like It Hot' by noted culinary writer, Clifford A. Wright is a real gem. I was surprised to find such a book written by Wright, who is one of the leading scholarly experts on food of the Mediterranean, and, as he so elegantly illustrates himself, the Mediterranean is hot a hotbed of spicy foods.

Therefore, Wright's primary focus is on the various world spicy cuisines. He identifies the following centers of spicy food culture:

Western South America, primarily Peru and Bolivia.
Mexico and Southwestern U.S.
Cajun Cuisine
Jamaica
Western coast of Africa, primarily Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria
North Africa (the Madgreb) of Algeria and Tunesia
Eastern Africa, especially Ethopia
Yemen
India and Pakistan
Thailand
Sichuan and Hunan provinces in China
Korea

These cuisines are discussed in detail in sidebars scattered throughout the recipe chapters.

The very odd thing about this list is how widely separate these regions are, especially since the single plant genus, the chile, grows so easily in all sorts of tropical, subtropical, and temperate climates. I am quite happy to see Wright confirm a hunch I had about capsicum genus (composed of five different species from the very mild bell pepper to the thermonuclear Habanero) that it's arrival in Europe and Asia simply blew away all piquant competion by its being so much stronger and so cheap to grow.

The most important `academic' study Wright covers is why some groups of people like hot food. He reviews and dismisses fourteen different common and not so common hypotheses, reaching the one that simply says people like the way they taste. What Wright does not do is explain why these particular regions embraced hot food and so many other regions did not. Why, for example, is Spanish cuisine so in love with the sweet bell pepper (capsicum annuum) which came from Mexico (note all those red pimentos, which are pickled sweet peppers) yet they do not embrace the chiles with high heat. It is easy to understand South America, Mexico, and Jamaica, as genus capsicum is native to these lands. It is also easy to understand India and Pakistan and Sichuan and Hunan, as both cuisines have a history of creating spicy dishes based on the pre-chile spices of black pepper, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, galangal, and tamarind. But what about the west coast of Africa, Ethopia, and Yemen? Wright never gets around to answering this question, but we quickly loose interest in the academic questions when the Professor gets down to the recipes.

While Wright claims to not be a chile head, he cannot escape the fact that the capsicum chile is by far the strongest source of culinary heat. Therefore, virtually all recipes include one or more varieties of chile in the ingredients.

The recipes are all organized by type of dish, with chapters on:

Startling Starters
Sexy Salads
Searing Soups
Electrifying Eggs
Hot Chicks, Wicked Ducks, and One Killer Rabbit (with apologies to Monty Python)
Blazing Beef and Indendiary Lamb
Piquant Pork
Sassy Seafoof
Volatile Vegetables
Pizzazz Pasta, Napalm Noodles, and Fiery Rice
Hot Accompaniments
Cool Accompaniments
Basic Sauces, Pastes, and Seasonings

Within each chapter, recipes are organized by location, following the same geographical order laid out above, always beginning with the New World source of chiles. And, not all cuisines are represented in all chapters.

In these recipes, Wright has done some adaptation to American kitchens and markets, but not much. That means that like just about any good survey of a regional cuisine (other than one native to North America), you will have to do a little culinary spelunking to locate some of the more important ingredients. And, since the books covers many cuisines from around the world, this means you will be stocking up on a LOT of esoteric ingredients to do these recipes. This is not only various kinds of chile, but also special sausages, fats, pastes, and sauces. Wright suggests some substitutions, but also confesses that most substitutions simply cannot give you the flavor of the original. It also means you will be doing a lot of cooking with animal fats such as lard and duck fat.In addition to being very close to authentic, all recipes are described with exceptional care.

To handle this problem, Wright provides two very important tools. The first is his last chapter of recipes for `Basic Sauces, Pastes, and Seasonings'. The second is one of the longest listings of Internet sources I have yet seen, including the great section in Paula Wolfert's exceptional book on the cooking or southwestern France.

Like Wolfert's book, this book is worth it even if you do nothing more than read it and pick out just those few recipes for which you can find ingredients easily. But, if you love your heat, you will really want to explore some of the more esoteric dishes, simply to get the different flavors from the many different varieties of chiles and the sauces and pastes into which they are made.

If you like hot food, this book is a must. If you are simply a foodie, this book is a must read, as Wright rarely missteps in his analysis of culinary matters.

Average customer rating:

Bad Kitties: Celebrating Good Times and Bad Behavior

Aaawh

Bad prices

Bad Kitties: Celebrating Good Times And Bad Behavior
Cute Kittens
Manufacturer: Willow Creek Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cats | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1595431519

Customer Reviews:

Bad Kitties: Celebrating Good Times and Bad Behavior.......2007-09-17

Bad Kitties: Celebrating Good Times And Bad Behavior

Really cute pictures and text. Great gift for anyone who loves cats, or as a treat for yourself.

Aaawh.......2007-03-29

Darling bathroom book with precious photos. Didn't like a few of the quotes picked, but they fit the title. Great guest bathroom book.

Bad prices.......2006-02-18

Bad Kitties: Celebrating Good Times and Bad Behavior is another one of those petite gift books comprised entirely of cute photographs set to a random selection of appropriate quotes, and it should naturally be judged accordingly. As a kitty-lover, I naturally adore all kitty photos by default, but even I have to admit the selection is a little less cute than in other books. In addition, the quotes seem less appropriate, with only every other quote or so being truly memorable.

My main hesitation in getting the book was its price--nearly $15 at full cover charge! Most full-length novels by world famous authors don't net that kind of price-per-page cost. For a style of book that's simple to mass-produce, this is a bit unreasonable, although it's likely the fact the book is in full colour that's to blame. If you, like me, love these kinds of books but don't have the budget to fund their exorbitant price, I recommend finding a used copy or waiting until they go clearance at the book store.

Average customer rating:

Review-Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls 1900-1950: Identification and Values

Beautiful Book In Every Way

Vol.II is better than Vol.I!!

Should be on every doll collector's book shelf!

Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls 1900-1950: Identification and Values (Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls)
Ursula R. Mertz
Manufacturer: Collector Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Dolls | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1574323784

Book Description

This second volume makes American composition dolls more accessible to collectors by presenting hundreds of clear photographs and new research in this field. Marionettes and puppets are new features in this volume. Fifty of those marionettes were sold exclusively by the Madame Alexander Doll Company, and photos of complete sets like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are displayed. Composition doll collecting as it relates to the Internet is also a new section covered in this volume, as well as questions most often asked by collectors. A biography of Harriet Flanders, creator of Little Cherub, is included. 2004 values. REVIEW: This book is a companion to the Standard Encyclopedia of Carnival Glass, 9th Edition, but can also stand alone as a handy reference guide to take along on your glass searches. Thousands of patterns, from Absentee Dragon to Zip Zip, are included, with all available colors and values listed.

Customer Reviews:

Review-Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls 1900-1950: Identification and Values .......2007-06-28

Excellent book-Well organized by years, showing top quality photos of American compo. dolls. Highly recommend!

Beautiful Book In Every Way.......2007-03-11

The photographs in this book are outstanding and very helpful when trying to identify a doll. Ms. Mertz has outdone herself in the information she provides in this book. I especially like the closeup photos of the dolls' heads because it is so helpful when trying to identify unmarked dolls without original clothing. This book is a joy to read, and I have kept it on my chair side table in close reach so that I can enjoy it every time I sit down for a break.

Vol.II is better than Vol.I!!.......2004-09-30

This is a 'must have' book for the collector of American composition dolls. It is well researched and showcases many smaller companies that produced dolls as beautiful, and desirable, as the larger ,better known manufacturers. The addition of actual advertisements from trade magazines, touting 'uniqueness' and sales potential for particular dolls, is both interesting and education to the serious collector as well as the novice. The histories of the lesser known companies ,no matter how short, are enlightening since many of them I knew nothing about. This volume is as beautifully photographed as the first; Ms. Mertz took no shortcuts on quality. Both volumes I & II are well worth their price.

Should be on every doll collector's book shelf!.......2004-07-05

Ursula Mertz has done it again! Her first volume of the COLLECTOR'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN COMPOSITION DOLLS set the standard for compo doll reference books. Now her Vol. 2 -- all new information and photos -- has been published and it more than lives up to the quality of its now out-of-print predecessor. For anyone who enjoys the composition dolls of the first half century of the 20th Century, this book is a "must buy!"

Collectors Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls: 1900-1950: Identification and Values (Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls)

Average customer rating:

Compo dolls book
The 'Bible 'of compo dolls
Beautiful!
Best Reference Book on Composition Dolls!
A "FLIRTY-EYED" WINNER!* ( *Compo talk!)

Collectors Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls: 1900-1950: Identification and Values (Collector's Encyclopedia of American Composition Dolls)
Ursula R. Mertz
Manufacturer: Collector Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Dolls | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1574320807

Customer Reviews:

Compo dolls book.......2007-06-14

I have the other Ursula R. Mertz book on compo dolls and both are just great! I would recommend both books!

The 'Bible 'of compo dolls.......2004-09-22

This is by far the best book on composition dolls printed to date. Ms. Mertz begins her book with a little background on the construction of composition dolls and traits peculiar to them alone. Lesser known compaies receive equal representation in this book ,with a section devoted to Patsy look-a-likes that shows many dolls some of us never knew existed. The photography is outstanding and quality is consistent throughout. I particularly like the section on Effanbee dolls;there are some early F&B's that I have never seen anywhere else.
For the serious collector it is an invaluable resource; for the doll lover, it is a work of art . For both, it is the ultimate 'wishbook'!

Beautiful!.......2001-06-08

Thoroughly enjoyed all the information provided. This book will continue to be a reference for anyone interested in composition dolls both recent and antique, the photographs are wonderful.

Best Reference Book on Composition Dolls!.......2000-12-14

This is the BEST book I have ever seen on Composition Dolls! Not only does it include marked dolls, but identifies unmarked dolls based on their characteristics. Also has many dolls that the Blue Book does not have. Great color photographs! The only thing that this book does not have is an index of marks (initials & numbers) for quick reference. I love this book!

A "FLIRTY-EYED" WINNER!* ( *Compo talk!).......1999-04-24

Wow! This wonderful compendium of American composition dolls is the most comprehensive and beautifully presented book ever written on the subject. What I most appreciated about this volume was that Ms. Mertz gave thorough descriptions of the dolls including markings, manufactured sizes, inconsistencies and even how these dolls were produced. So many other authors seem to "slap-dash" books together without paying attenton to these important details which truly make a collector's book worth its mettle. This book is not only filled with useful identification markings and values...it is also filled with the most professional of photographs that truly capture the spirit of each doll. It is obvious that this project was undertaken with great care, attention to detail and a lot of love for its subject. Even if one is not a doll collector, this is a book that captures a part of American design history and a simpler time when most major doll companies were still a family business..not some impersonal conglomerate. Hats-off to Ursula Mertz (and her husband) for creating this treasure of historical and collector's information. I think it belongs in the library of every doll collector and every historian of popular Americana.

Average customer rating:

Well written

Squirm of worms revisited.

review for worm guide

Practical and informative enough to be a science textbook!

An outstanding resource

The Worm Book: The Complete Guide to Worms in Your Garden
Loren Nancarrow , and Janet Hogan Taylor
Manufacturer: Ten Speed Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Organic | Techniques | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Techniques | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books | Fishing | General & Anthologies | Hunting | Shooting
Similar Items:

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up & Maintain a Worm Composting System

Easy Composters You Can Build

Let it Rot!: The Gardener's Guide to Composting (Third Edition) (Storey's Down-to-Earth Guides)

Dead Daisies Make Me Crazy: Garden Solutions Without Chemical Pollution

Dead Snails Leave No Trails: Natural Pest Control for Home and Garden

ASIN: 0898159946

Customer Reviews:

Well written.......2007-06-05

Really now... What is there to say about a worm book? Can it actually be INTERESTING? Well, this book held my attention well, taught me many things I did not know, did not burden me with super technical bunk that I do not need or want to know, and was a detailed, well rounded book on the topic.

That said, I think the book was excellent.

Of course, a more recent publication would be better (for instance: no mention of european nightcrawlers -- something rather recent on the American worm market)... but this book gave me ALL the information that I needed to begin raising worms and understanding the HOW's and WHY's of worms and vermiculture.

Squirm of worms revisited........2007-03-24

This is one of the two books most recommended by the vermiculture sites that I have visited. It is a comprehensive guide. It is a great book for children and adults who want to raise worms. It's easy to understand. It is a "most" before you buy the redworms. The only reason I give it a 4 is because it is so basic that young children can understand it and I am quite a bit older.

review for worm guide.......2007-03-12

great information for the novice, or as a review guide for the more experienced. topics are easily referenced, and written to be understood.
the only reason it did not receive 5 stars is it was published in the late 90's so some of the data given is outdated. as far as the how to it is 5 stars.

Practical and informative enough to be a science textbook!.......2006-12-24

This is a well researched, not to mention well written book. Each page has pertinent information presented in an easy to read format. It isn't padded with a lot of fluff, and you feel like a friend is sharing information with you. I'm planning to use it as an additional textbook while homeschooling my 3 kids, and will certainly keep it handy as a reference book.

An outstanding resource.......2006-11-17

I highly recommend this book. It's quite comprehensive and would be helpful to newcomers to worm composting as well as those whose bins are already underway. Not folksy or corny, this book is serious but straight-forward and easy to understand.

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