No comments about Bezpieczne miejsce Matej Matpki/Little Monkey's One Safe Place (Polish/English Edition).

1 comments about The Gettysburg Address (Cornerstones of Freedom).

1. One of the illustrations in this work is a copy of the Gettysburg address in Lincoln's own hand. This book reads quickly but can be the starting point for a lengthy discussion regarding history, the civil war, warfare, politics, government, speach writing, and even penmenship.

5 comments about For Matrimonial Purposes.

1. I picked this up at the local public library. Am happy that I did not spend anything (except a few hours) on this one.
   
   I have lived in Mumbai for 23 years and in the US for more than 5 years. Kavita Daswani paints a totally unreal picture of both worlds. The novel is immature in many ways. Yes, it is just chick-lit, but it could have been more entertaining. After a certain point, I could not care less if Anju stayed a spinster. The stories of her attempts at matrimony got a little boring towards the end.
   
   The character traits of Anju are pretty inconsistent too. Is she a typical Mumbaite? Is she a God fearing superstitious young Indian woman who cannot even go on a date without informing her parents? Does she turn into a glam fashionista towards the end? There is no way to tell. What exactly did want in a man? Was she prepared to say "Yes" to the first man who proposed to her? (After all, that is what she did in the end).
   
   Who exactly is Anju? I am sure Kavita Daswani herself does not know.
   
   A hastily wrapped up ending leaves the readers feeling cheated. It was as if Daswani just got tired of writing and decided to end the book one day. And she wrote the entire ending in one day or rather one sitting.
   
   The fact that I read this one right after I read "Sister of my Heart" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, made it worse. I know you cannot compare the two genres, but Kavita Daswani is simply not a good writer. Good writing either entertains or stirs up readers' emotions. And Kavita Daswani's writing fails on both counts.



2. I wasn't sure if I should give this two or a three stars, after all I managed to finish it. I listened to this in unabridged audio two years ago on a single long drive. From what I remember, the writing was okay, the plot dragged, and the awfulness of the dialogue writing was only compounded by the narrating style of the reader (she read each sentence almost EXACTLY the same with a pace and style of intonation that was jarring - I literally wanted to pull my hair out.)
   
   I began having a hard time sympathizing with the main character about one-tenth of the way in, when her despair over being unmarried got repetitive and annoying and started coming off as whiny. Many of her characters were one-dimensional caricatures, especially in the sections where she was trying to go for humor, and I took issue with some of her characterizations of Indian culture (though I don't remember exactly what they were). Also, her rise in the fashion circle seemed unrealistic, and I have a hard time believing she didn't feel any cultural tensions or experience disapprovals/stereotypes with her occasional sari outfittings in such elitist circles.
   
   Accordingly, I can't say I particularly enjoyed the book. However, I could identify somewhat with the character's situation (not the whiny part) being in my late 20's, unmarried, and with despairing Indian parents. So it was gratifying to come to the end, and not just because I'd be done with the horror of narration, but because of how she resolved the character's tension. I have to say that part was sweet and endearing and made the (harrowing) journey there mostly worthwhile.
   
   However, I'm not sure why this is so highly-rated on Amazon. The cynic in me thinks it's because it caters to and confirms the Western exoticization of South Asian courtship and marriage by a 'native'. But, maybe it's because the author did a fair job for many readers of universalizing a culturally specific conflict. Needless to say, I do not recommend the audio version of this, at least not in a single sitting or while you're driving. If you are familiar with the South Asian terms used, be prepared to laugh out loud (comic relief, I guess!) over the narrator's ridiculous (and inexcusable) mispronunciations!



3. I liked this book.
   Every girl has a moment in their life where they feel like they might never meet that special someone.
   This book gives proof to the saying someone where is out there for you.
   Also it teaches about timing is something that only fate controls!!



4. For Matrimonial Purposes is a hilarious story of a young Indian woman on a global search for a husband. The narrator, Anju, isn't willing to date, doesn't want a boyfriend, and is expected to be married once she turns twenty-six.
   "I didn't want a boyfriend, I wanted to scream at him. I wanted a husband."
   She does, however, fast three days a week to appease Hindu gods, wear a coral ring to bring her a husband, a black thread around her right wrist to ward off the Evil Eye, and a yellow sapphire to calm her nerves - all suggestions from swamis and her mother.
   True to the chick-lit genre, For Matrimonial Purposes is full of fluff and fun. Yet there is richness to the characters and unique cultural references that make this seemingly typical finding-herself story anything but ordinary. Westerns will be amazed at the details of arranged marriages and women everywhere will relate to the societal pressures to find a mate.
   Anju gives up hope of finding a boy she likes in India who also meets her community's requirements and convinces her parents to let her study abroad in NY. She continues her search but is burdened with her culture's taboo on dating. She wants a traditional Indian man to satisfy her parents' dream of an arranged marriage, but she also wants a man that allows her to keep her independence. She says of her life in NY, "It had taken me some years, but now it was a life I had grown intimately familiar with and happily accustomed to. And, like so many women in my situation, I wanted a man to fit neatly with it. I wanted him to live the same life, enjoy the same things, look the part. And, simultaneously, I wanted him to be chosen by my parents, sanctioned by the rest of the family."
   Her quest becomes a joke among her American friends who nevertheless help her find love. Anju tries everything from party hopping to Internet match-making - she even takes the Concorde from London to NY to meet a potential match at a party. He leaves without saying two words.
   "How I yearned to be chosen by a fair-skinned Indian man dressed in a white silk tunic," Anju laments. "How I dreamed of his parents coming to mine, their arms outstretched, asking for me, saying they would take me "in a sari" - Indian-speak for "without a dowry." How I knew that being selected by a stunning eligible man - the kind that all the girls wanted - would finally win me the approval I had never had."
   Can we not all relate to that?
   As she continues to be exposed to Western society, Anju develops insights into why marriage is so important for her. "My having a "perfect" mate would, finally, end the regretful sorrow and lasting disappointment in which I believed my parents held me. I was, finally, going to do something to make them love me."
   It is Daswini's combination of Anju's desperate need for approval with her bravery and intelligence that make this book impossible to put down. On the one hand you are rooting for Anju to find the husband she craves, but on the other you hope she first finds herself.
   http://sarkajeanee.blogspot.com/



5. This book followed most of the rules of Chick Lit Writing 101, so while I suppose it is successful as a chick lit novel, it fails to make much of an impression otherwise.
   
   Jane Austen wrote about young society women who are dealing with matrimonial prospects. But her books, unlike so many modern day adaptations, managed to convey some broader truths about human nature and romance.
   
   Like many chick lit protagonists, Anju 1) has the backbone of an overcooked noodle; 2) manages to have a glamorous career with lots of free time to complain and gossip, though without much in the way of an education or resume; 3) goes back and forth between desperately wanting a man/marriage and stating that she is fine being alone. The last is not too convincing, even though at the end of the book, she says she's changed and grown (and perhaps the author believes she has), I saw little evidence of it.
   
   At first I was going to chalk up her passivity to her background (she is Indian), but in a lot of chick lit novels, the American-born heroines are pretty passive, too, until the end where they pitch a fit, quit their job and gallop off into the sunset with a guy. That's pretty much what happens here.

1 comments about A Three-Minute Speech : Lincoln's Remarks at Gettysburg.

1. This little book not only talks about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, but gives some background behind it as well. The first part of the book deals with the Civil War and slavery. Some background is given about the Battle of Gettysburg. Then some information concerning the ceremony for the dedication of the cemetary and battlefield and how President Lincoln was invited. The book tries to debunk some myths concerning Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address (e.g. that Lincoln didn't spend any time thinking and writing about it). It concludes with a look at the impact that three-minute speech had. I enjoyed reading this book and found it both fun and educational. I had heard most of the story before, but it's nice to be reminded of it. This is a good book for students in the 2nd-5th grades. It's fairly easy to read and gives a solid background and history about the Gettysburg Address.

5 comments about The Day Lincoln Was Shot: An Illustrated Chronicle.

1. Richard Bak has done an extraordinary job explaining in great detail all of the events that led up to the shooting and eventual death of President Lincoln. Out of the many books that I have read about Abraham Lincoln, this is one of the few that made me almost feel like I was there. He has gone to great lengths to find who was involved and just what took place in great detail in the hours prior to the shooting. I was amazed to read about just what some of the people that were there at the theater that night had experienced and how they felt at the time. It also told how unstable Mary Lincoln was and how one of her outbusts directed at Mrs. Grant days before the shooting had been the reason that the Grants didn't attend the play that evening with them. The book explains that Lincoln expected to be assassinated and that there was nothing that he or anyone else could do to prevent it from happening. I believe that this book would be must have book for any Abraham Lincoln fanatic like myself. After I read this book, I immediately bought the companion video. I highly recommend that anyone considering the purchase of this book also purchase the video. You will definately not be disappointed.



2. I bought this book at Ford's theatre gift shop after asking the giftshop supervisor which book has the best narrative and accurate summary of the events leading up to John Wilkes Booth assasination of President Abraham Lincoln, she recommended this book. I must say that she made an excellent choice. This is an excellent book that not only gives the details of the assasination of Lincoln on the night of April 14, 1865, but also gives the background of the mentally imbalanced actor John Wilkes Booth and his cohorts of assasins. This is the companion to the TNT original movie "The Day Lincoln Was Shot" which in itself is an excellent movie. But by itself this book stands on itself as giving the all around perspective both North and South to the views of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and the ultimate defeat of the Confederacy. In this book the eyewitness accounts of the assasination are told by the people who were in the theatre box with the President and First Lady as well as by the people who were in the audience. The events after the shot was fired are given in first hand accounts, and narratives and perspectives years after Lincoln's death. There is a chapter that even gives focus on the rumor's of Booth's escape and living to an old age, but I agree with the book's analysis that this was just rumor. Booth did die by a soldier's bullet a couple of weeks after Lincoln's death. Overall, this is a great read that anyone could enjoy from early High School to a U.S. History Major college student, or any US History enthusiast who wants to know more about the death of President Lincoln.



3. I was surprised by how much information was packed into this slim volume. The pictures are well chosen to complement the text. And the essays from other scholars help add light to this turning point in US history.



4. April 14, 1865, Washington. During a performance of the play OUR AMERICAN COUSIN in Ford's theatre young actor John Wilkes BOOTH shoots Abraham LINCOLN, sixteenth president of the United States, with a .44 derringer in a desparate attempt to turn the tides of civil war. (The cause of the South was already lost, General LEE had already surrendered at Appomatox Court House.)
   At the same time BOOTH's co-conspirator Lewis POWELL tries to stab secretary of state William H. SEWARD, leaving the politician as well as his daughter, two sons and a male nurse severly injured. Another conspirator, George ATZERODT, decided to abandon his mission to kill vice president Andrew JOHNSON and got drunk instead.

   THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT details the story of this infamous assassination, from the background of the characters, the scheming, the assassination and its aftermath to the fate of the conspirators inside a burning barn (BOOTH) and on the gallows (his accomplices), respectively.
   Author Richard BAK brings the persons involved in this tragedy vividly to life. I found this aspect of the book especially compelling. We learn about the war weary president, who also suffered from personal plight (an emotionally unstable wife and the death of his son Willie in 1862). We get to know assassin John Wilkes BOOTH, a famous actor and womanizer, bold, darring and sympathizing with the Confederacy's cause. The book points out how BOOTH's deed affected the American society and the life of all persons involved in this drama. Did you know that Major RATHBONE, an officer, who had accompanied LINCOLN at Ford's theatre, never forgave himself for having been incapable of stopping BOOTH and subsequently became insane due to his self-reproaches, resulting in the murder of his wife and a lifelong imprisonment in a mental institution? The book is full of such gripping details.
   Also of note is the way the book sets right some popular myths abouth the assassination. For instance, it is a wellknown belief that after having shot LINCOLN, BOOTH jumped from the presidential box to the stage below and disclaimed "Sic semper tyrannis!" (So perish all tyrannts!) According to eye witness accounts there was no agreement of what BOOTH did or did not say. Also BOOTH's broken leg seems to do not result from the leap on the stage. (He simply made it up in his diary to make his deed more "heroic".) According to author BAK there is good reason to believe that BOOTH broke his leg on his escape, when unheroically falling down from his horse.

   THE DAY LINCOLN WAS SHOT is very well written and not at all scholarly. It's written in a way that appeals to history buffs. The text is accompanied by dozens of contemporary photographs and pictures, which add much detail and information.
   Also included are various essays of contributing authors, the topics ranging from a portrait of Lewis POWELL, "mystery man" of the conspiracy, to the depiction of the assassination in movies.

   This history book is as exciting as a thriller novel, a real pageturner. Believe me, even in case you are not overly interested in civil war history, you'll enjoy it, because it is so thrilling.
   HIGHLY recommended.




5. This is an excellent book!! Richard Bak successfully brings the past to life in his natural and descriptive writing style, and in 'The Day Lincoln Was Shot,' he successfully takes the reader back to the events leading up to that fateful night at Ford's Theater. But that's not all - we're also privy to the final hours of Booth's life as well, and even to the horrid (and extremely biased) court proceedings and outcome that, in a number of unfortunate cases, brought death to innocent people caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
   Mr. Bak does not take sides in the text. He presents the facts as they were at the time combined with our discoveries over the last 140 years. This is what makes this book so thoroughly enjoyable and exciting.
   Being a relatively extensive but quick read, 'The Day Lincoln Was Shot' is highly recommended for anyone, be they high schoolers or older, who want to know the truth behind the conspiracy of the death of our 16th president.

No comments about Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer..

1 comments about Tim in Danger (Little Tim).

1. Edward Ardizzone is skilled at describing children's adventures that are harrowing, exciting, and original. Tim is a nice boy and a loyal friend. He lives a comforting, cozy English daily life in a seacost town - and also has amazing adventures. Modern kids aren't awfully familiar with life at sea, and certainly no one my children knew could set out into the world in order to search for a friend who had left home. Ardizzone's locales and situations manage to seem exotic, yet totally reasonable. We were pulled into this story. The plot is complex enough, the action is convincing and, as usual with Ardizzone, the denouement is pleasing without being Milquetoast. The story can withstand repeated readings, which is a nice plus, since your child might want to hear it repeatedly. In addition the pen and ink drawings, with watercolor wash, are a constant treat for adults and kids.

No comments about John Wilkes Booth Escape Route: History Map: Follow the Route Taken by the Assassin of President Abraham Lincoln As He Fled from Ford's Theatre On April 14, 1865, Until His Capture A.

3 comments about Return of Assassin: John Wilkes Booth.

1. I read this book from cover to cover the first time I got it and have bought 5 other copies as gifts for friends who have said the SAME THING!!! It is the BEST book I have read since THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY, and by the way, The last 4 chapters read very much like an extension OF THAT very BOOK!! I won't give any thing away except to say that RETURN OF THE ASSASSIN-JOHN WILKES BOOTH is most assuredly a MUST READ BOOK for every Lincoln Assassination buff Bar none!!!



2. I have read this book from cover to cover since i got it and i am of the firm belief that the John Wilkes Booth Claimant David E. George in 1902 was indeed the real Booth and that he had escaped capture from the law after assassinating President Abraham Lincoln in Fords Theater back in 1865, and that a confederate soldier by the name of 'John' 'William' 'Boyd' was killed in Booths place!.Read this gripping book and judge for yourself!.



3. John Wilkes Booth died as history records he did. He shot Lincoln, and fled, nearly escaping. He was caught, more with luck and manpower than anything else, by Federal troops and detectives in a barn near Port Royal Virginia. After he refused to surrender, one trooper took it upon himself (against orders) to shoot Booth. The bullet went through his spine. Booth was dragged out of the barn, and died a few hours later on the porch of a farmhouse. Booth was a famous man. Everyone recognized him. His autopsy was preformed virtually in public, and his body matched very well with descriptions given of him by various people.
   
   Do not allow yourself to be convinced by amateur, opportunistic and deceitful history. The huge amount of genuine confusion and mystery which still surrounds the assassination of Abraham Lincoln should not be discounted or swept under the rug. Neither should it allow the propagation of such utterly untrue and patently false theories as this.
   
   Yes, for many years, a mummy toured the country, reportedly the corpse of John Wilkes Booth. It was a carnival side-show. That is all this book amounts to.

1 comments about Dear Friend and Gardener.

1. Two old friends, who also happen to be two of England's best known gardeners--correspond for two years in this absorbing and heart-warming book. The conversation was intended to be about their respective gardens and nurseries, and the reader who loves gardens will be richly rewarded. But the correspondence ranges much further--to music, food, family, friends, colleagues, and, inevitably , the weather. Beth Chatto's luminous intelligence and courageous openness set off the forthright and irrepressible Christopher Lloyd. This is a book about love, life, and plants, and a real winner.