Product Description
Robert Forester is a fundamentally decent man who attracts trouble like a magnet, and when he begins watching the domestic simplicity of Jenny's life through her window, the deceptive calm of suburban Pennsylvania is shattered. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Another Great One
I love Patricia Highsmith's writing in general.And while I will admit I like some of her works better that others, this one rates pretty high on my list.

I find it especially compelling the way she refuses to take sides, forcing the reader to decide for themselves who the "good guys" are and the "bad guys" are.Her characters don't always get what they deserve.Their lives aren't neat."Villians" (like the sociopathic Nickie) often thrive, while "good" people like Robert sometimes can't seem to win.

What a waste of time!
This book was a huge disappointment.It sounded like it would be a great story but it turned out to be one of the worst books i have ever read.Implausible,unbelievable characters who do unbelievable things,none of it made any sense.And the ending,wow!just when you think it can't get any worse.How anyone can like this rubbish i don't know, but it was a waste of paper and a waste of my time.If you like books to make sense then don't bother with this one.

Too slow
This author's writing is not what I expected. Too slow and the characters are undeveloped. You can not relate to the people the story is about and it leaves you indifferent and bored. I did not have the patience and after 100 pages skipped to the end.

The romance of negative emotions
Jack is married to Betty, and Robert Forrester is their friend.Robert is a voyeur.He believes he doesn't look like a psychopath.He dreams of Brother Death.Subsequently he gets to know his subject.This is all I'll say about the plot since Patricia Highsmith is the master of twisted plots.Setting, atmosphere, serpentine leads are also the tools used by Highsmith to create the suspense and unease inherent in her fiction.Robert, among other things, has impostor syndrome.

Fictions of Patricia Highsmith are fascinating for their grasp of schizoid trends.In the economy of expression the novels seem French in the manner of Georges Simenon.The Highsmith oeuvre is a rich trove for movie scripts.There is more here than just a RIPLEY movie.Missed connections, misunderstandings, creators of psychological terrors and manipulations are present everywhere in the work, creating anxiety, dread, apprehension.

The nervous sensibility resembles that of and captured memorably by Edgar Allan Poe.Poe and Highsmith were thorough-going intellectuals.It is possible in their personal existences in the world they were, characteristically, misunderstood.They were people caught up in their own obsessions and found literary forms to embody them.

Depressing yet fascinating, like Updike on downers.
If you are old enough to remember the early 1960s, this novel will remind you what a grim era it really was in America, when everyone was expected to act according to fairly strict social codes, where conformity was king and where anyone seen as different was distrusted by other people in the town, especially in a small town.

At the heart of this very unsettling novel is the premise that, once people viewed you outside of the bounds ofeveryday "normal" behavior, you were rejected, guilty until proven innocent, and the worst was assumed of you until your own belief in your own sanity or interpretation of reality could be questioned.

This is a book about a couple of emotionally damaged main characters who find each other but whom societal circumstances destroy one way or another.It is vividly if bleakly drawn, and Ms. Highsmith really goes to extremes to show us how these innocent individuals, somewhat "fringe elements" in society because of bad experiences they've had in previous years,are so marginalized by a conforming, unsympathetic microcosm of American society that the integrity of their lives becomes slowly dissolved by harder, meaner people who get all the benefit of the doubt by neighbors, law enforcement officers, co-workers, etc.

It's a depressing book, but excellently written. Ms. Highsmith seems to know just what she wants to do, and she does it relentlessly and suspensefully.I would agree with other reviewers here that the behavior and actions of two of the characters, Nickie and Greg,seem eventually so extreme that it's kind of impossible to accept them as believable characters.But in truth this seems a kind of "fable of the 60s" which places two vulnerable, well-meaning but somewhat damaged people at the center of a maelstrom of injustice and misunderstanding, and seems to want to make us uncomfortable with the society we lived in back then.Along the way are occasional "decent"and well-meaning people, but they never prevail and throughout it seems that good people are subject to a kind of entropy beyond their control.

Fortunately it's no longer the 1960s and America doesn't seem as essentially small-minded, unjust and unfair as so many of the characters in this irritating small town seem to be.There seems to be a real sociological agenda afoot here from the author, a strong attempt to criticize the small-mindedness of Americans circa early 1960s.It's a period piece in that regard, because thank God we don't live in that society any more (not that our current society doesn't have its own problems).I'm sure Ms. Highsmith thought that the gentler characters (like friend Jack Nielsen) were being shown sympathetically, but the lens of time makes everyone look a little bleak, so accurately are they drawn within the moral grimness of the immediate post-McCarthy era in America.This is like an early John Updike novel morphed into a nightmare.

To summarize, it's impossible not to sound contradictory:this is a very difficult novel to get through - it will irritate and depress you.But it's also extremely well-executed and haunting.It's more than the sum of its parts, and it lingers with you, making you look at your own neighbors and your own vulnerability to misunderstanding or injustice in a wary and uncomfortable way. ... Read more

Product Description
The editors of this legendary and hilarious anthology write: "Bad Verse has its canons, like Good Verse. There is bad Bad Verse and good Bad Verse. It has been the preoccupation of the compilers to include in this book chiefly good Bad Verse." Here one finds bad masterpieces by the greatest poets of the English language, including works by Dryden, Wordsworth, and Keats, among many others, together with an index ("Manure, adjudged a fit subject for the Muse, 91") that is itself an inspired work of folly. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Only the Best of Bad Verse
One of the first to recognize the "bounty of god-awful" verse out there, this anthology was initially published in 1930, on the cusp of poetic modernism.The editors find that bad poetry was merely tiresome before mid-seventeenth century, where the anthology begins.It ends with Tennyson, so as not to offend living poets, and only includes distinguished poets--those who have been rewarded with reverence or royalities by their contemporaries.The editors insist that bad poetry in their anthology be grammatical and innocent of the faults of craftsmanship.Poetasters are out.The inflated, flouncy diction of Victorian poetry is their special target.The title of the work gives a taste of what bathos it contains.Written by William Wordsworth, "The Stuffed Owl" of the title is a sonnet, whose subject is the sole object comforting the ailing Miss Jewsbury.The work is arranged chronologically by author with a subject index.

Beef, death dealing
This book is a gem. It's a little hard to read from cover to cover -- kind of like a box of bitter chocolate, you come back to it again and again. The index is the ultimate scream, though.

The Owl is All Wise Atop the Bust.
These poems were chosen from American and English Literature to signify the worst in a history of pratfalls as exhibited by some of the big names."If you glance at History's pags, in all lands and eras known, you will find the buried ages far more wicked than our own; as you scan each word and letter you will realize it more, that the world today is better than it ever was before."

Poe's "Eulalie' was chosen: "I dwelt alone in a world to moan,
And my soul was a stagnant tide,
Till the fair and gentle Eulalie became my blushing bride --
Till the yellow-haired young Eulalie became my smiling bride."

Longfellow's 'Excelsior' goes thusly: "The shades of night were falling fast, as trough an Alpine village passed
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice,
A banner with the strange device, Excelsior!
...
There in the twilight cold and grey, lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, And from the sky, serene and far, A voice fell, like a falling star, Excelsior!"

"Something to love, some tree or flow'r,
Something to nurse in my lonely bow'r,
Some dog to follow, where'er I roam,
Some bird to warble my welcome home,
Some tame gazelle, or some gentle dove:
Something to love, oh, something to love!

Some to love, oh, let me see!
Something that's filled with a love for me;
Beloved by none, it is sad to live,
And 'tis sad to die and leave none to grieve;
And fond and true let the lov'e one prove.
Something to love, oh, something to love!"

'A Lesson for the Proud'

"The scheme is tried; and shall it prosper too?
Yes; what can't steam and gold united do?
Near the commencement of Victoria's reign,
Both sea-chiefs started on th' Atlantic main;
While all the merchantmen they met and pass'd,
Long looks of wonder on the heroes cast;
Their proud, majestic march, their stately air,
Their god-like prowess, and their length of car,
Made gazers all, with great reluctance, see
Their own comparative nonentity."

Wordsworth wrote:"Yet, helped by Genius -- untired Comforter,
The presence even of a stuffed Owl for her can cheat the time."The Capricorn edition has eight cartoons from the works of Max Beerbohm.There is a subject index and an author index.A bit of nonsense, but D. B. Wyndham Lewis and Charles Lee must have had fun chosing what they considered the worst of the lot.Of course, everyone has his own opinion and, what's bad for someone may be good to someone else and vice versa.That's what a reviewer if for, to cause another to think differently from what he might otherwise.But, of course, you must have an open mind.

'Criticise as some have done/Hitherto herebefore'
This is not just a collection of any old bad verse. McGonagall for one is not represented. Nor are the forgotten poetasters `...the semi-literate, the nature-loving contributor to the county newspaper...the hearty but ill-equipped patriot, the pudibond but urgent Sapphos...' to take a sample ofthe disregarded from the anthologists' preface. The main qualifying factor for inclusion in The Stuffed Owl is solemnity. It may be that now and again Wyndham Lewis and Lee deviate slightly from this criterion, and I wonder whether in Boston churches they still sing

`Ye monsters of the bubbling deep/Your Maker's praises shout/Up from the sands, ye codlings, leap/And wag your tails about'

but a fairer sample of the `target' style would be e.g. Elizabeth Barrett Browning's

`Will you oftly/Murmur softly?' or `Our Euripides the human/With his droppings of warm tears'; or Crabbe's `Brother, there dwell, yon northern hill below,/Two favourite maidens, whom `tis good to know,/Young, but experienced'.

The very greatest can be found here at their less-than-greatest. The title of the book is itself a quotation from Wordsworth. Toweringly great poet though he was, he lacked, as everyone knows, any sense of the ridiculous whatsoever. He really did cite

`...the umbrella spread/To weather-fend the Celtic herdsman's head' as an instance of spreading decadence. One inclusion that seems to me marginal is from Resolution and Independence, the celebrated question to the old leech-gatherer, betraying that William had not been listening to a word the old fellow said

`My question eagerly did I renew/How is it that you live, and what is it you do?' Say what you like, I still find nothing absurd in it and I still think this is one of his greatest poems. How this got into The Stuffed Owl is obvious - the whole scenario was more than Lewis Carroll could take, and it inspired him to perhaps the most hilarious parody (along with Housman's Fragment of a Greek Tragedy) I have ever read, the White Knight's tale of the aged aged man a-sitting on a gate.

The funniest things in the book are not so much the poems themselves as the commentaries. These are mainly the work of Wyndham Lewis and Lee, but there is some Olympian demolition by Macaulay of a certain Robert Montgomery (1807-1855) who specialised in obsequious piety. The anthologists themselves contribute a wonderful preface, the captions over the extracts, and, maybe best of all, the index. From this you can easily access, say, `Leeds, poetical aspects of'; or `Oysters, reason why they cannot be crossed in love'; or `Trains, rapture of catching'.

How they must have enjoyed doing it all! It appeals quite inordinately to my sense of humour, and perhaps it will to yours.

This book is indispensable!
This collection is much more interesting *and* funny than a more recent anthology of bad poetry, because it draws so heavily on great poets--Wordsworth, Byron, Poe et al. Laughing at semiliterate amateurs is acheap shot. The wonder is the follies of the talented, and Stuffed Owldisplays these. The introductory matter and editorial comments are alsobrilliantly funny, and the index--yes, the index--is a scream. THIS TITLESHOULD BE READILY AVAILABLE (publisher please note.) ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Only mildly interesting
Although I love her "WOLF" series, with some minor reservations, I subsequently have been reading her other efforts and these look to be more like a beginers attempts at serious writing.

Great Read
This book was my introduction to this author.Great author- I went on to buy everything of hers I could find!

simply delightful
I found this book at my local independent bookseller. Liked the cover. Bought it, sat down to read it and was transported into one of those alternate realities that I prefer. I loved the characters, the quotations, a literate mind at work...
Now I want a sequel!

What I wish I'd known before I bought it...
I bought this book because I have read other books by Jane Lindskold and thought that the premise sounded interesting. However, 1 or 2 chapters into the book I was quite surprised by the multiple uses of the f word, and the inapropiate sexual remarks made in the "jungle". Just a warning...

Dragon
I loved her other books that she has written, this one was ok,,, but nothing like the others.... ... Read more

Product Description
Martial artist Frank Rivers shows readers how to successfully negotiate the daily strife in their business and personal lives. Using the owl's bearing and conduct as a model for effectively handling conflict, he offers fresh and thoughtful strategies for confronting life's most complex challenges with poise and integrity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Excellent Resource for Inner Understanding
The Way of the Owl contains a great deal of good advice for everyday life. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to improve their personal relationships.

Excellent information
This book is a must for anyone with the desire to excell in life and be at peace while doing so. Excellent for management training.Required reading in my company.

I'm back for another copy....
I purchased this book several years ago and have misplaced it since moving so I'm back for another copy. Why? Because this book was an integral part of my life and gave incredible insight on how to manage conflict from a spiritual perspective. If you're looking for "entertainment reading" ( 3 stars? C' mon!)this isn't it.
However, if you are like me...a spiritual person who has to deal with conflict somewhere in your life, and would like to do it without losing something precious...your integrity...this is the book for you.
This is also not a "feel good, everything's gonna be ok" type book. Definately, as the the other reviewer said NOT metafizzy in the least. It is a book that will help you discover ways to deal with conflict and confrontation with grace. If you are like me, and had parents that were too busy/dysfuntional to teach you how to defend yourself (in an honest ethical way) you will find great insight here. Like the i-ching, I would just randomly open a page and read it's meaning. This is also a great book to give to a friend who may be having passivity issues.
This book is not for the faint of heart..or someone who does not realize the value of sticking up for yourself when the time comes. It is for those who realize that conflict just IS...like it or not, and those who would like to fight back with honor.
Thanks Frank Rivers...your wisdom is sorely needed. :o)

Paradox and Principle
This extraordinary book by Frank Rivers deserves more stars than would fiton this page.Frank Rivers deals with ideas formerly reserved for mysticmand the most esoteric disciplines in a charmingly down to earth manner.Hegets a lot of mileage out of the Owl analogy, and it works.The reader,male or female, can easily identify with both the fledgling and the wiseold owl of Frank River's examples. This fascinating treatise on conflict,paradox and martial principle has so much more substance and clarity thanone would expect from such a relatively unknown work.I especiallyrecommend it to readers who don't normally enjoy warm and fuzzies, orself-help conflict-resolution type books.I also recommend it to thosestruggling with the inconsistencies and injustices of life. Again and againFrank Rivers makes the principles of life, of reality and conflict, asconcrete and usable as an idea or words on paper can get. I plan to readthis book several times in the next few years. I put Frank Rivers "TheWay of The Owl" right up there with James Carse's "Finite andInfinite Games" and consider it much more accessible to the personwith an average interest in this type of subject. Although I found the bookdeeply spiritual in nature, I also found it well in line with fundamentalbeliefs.A Baptist minister and a Buddhist monk would both enjoy theinsights Frank Rivers presents to the reader. A great book for carryingaround and reading at those odd moments.

A wonderfully empowering book
I have always considered the owl as my totem, yet didn't make the connection between owls and tai-chi, and integrity. Soul work is taxing to the spirit, we are not always dealing with people whose goals are harmony,co-operation, reverence for life. We need to be reminded that the Yin andYang of daily life brings struggle, we cannot escape that fact, but we canbe guided thru these conflicts with awareness, the most important of whichis *Know Thyself*. It's a HOOT of a book, and I am delighted to have it. ... Read more

Product Description
Woodpecker and Owl are neighbors, but not friends. The noise Woodpecker makes disturbs Owl, who sleeps during the day. Their feud gets so big that the other animals try to intercede -- to no avail. But Owl has a change of heart when Woodpecker saves Owl from danger. ... Read more

Product Description
A derelict antiques and scrap metal business in Owls Head, Maine, is the setting of this multi-layered word-portrait of its owner, William Buckminster, proprietor of an extraordinary collection of discarded and decaying items, no-longer-functioning remnants of previous lives. Buckminster's world, which includes both his vaunted talents in the local pool halls and his sure knowledge of the seemingly endless number of fascinating objects from his vast supply, are inspiration for Purcell's carefully crafted meditation on collecting and entropy, and the signals both send to those of us willing to pay attention. 34 duotone footnote photographs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

fascinating
I hoped there would be more pictures, considering the authors photography skills and other books.The story was fascinating.

Collecting, Antiquities and "Other People's Junk"
You will never feel guilty again when you collect.After reading this book I will pick up anything anywhere that means something to me - no matter what others might think!

A surreal trip to a small piece of Maine
Rosamond Purcell's photography class was on a field trip when she and her students first came upon William Buckminster's land.The eccentric antiques / junk dealer of Owls Head, Maine, had eleven acres of stuff piled high, in mounds and mounds, in and around several buildings.At first the artist in Purcell was intrigued; she was moved to photograph individual objects or random groupings of items.Then at various times over 20 years, she continued to stop to buy things and to talk to Buckminster himself.She took the items back to her own studio in Boston, where she arranged and rearranged them into her own special kind of artwork.And we're not talking about "whole" objects here -- rather, they include broken toys, books in varying stages of disintegration, pieces of furniture, old lobster traps, window frames, rusted parts of machinery.

Gradually Buckminster took on a near-mentor role for Purcell, and it's obvious the two vastly different people came to care about each other.She took him to museums and doctor?s appointments, he took her to pool halls.And as they climbed around the junk piles and investigated nooks and crannies in the buildings, Purcell learned more about Buckminster's personal history.The result is a kind of dual biography pressed against the backdrop of both the antique business and the art world, sometimes questioning which is which.

Some of Purcell's b&w photos accompany the text.But only the photo printed on the cover flyleaves gives us a grander perspective, as a wide shot of the property shows a pile of indecipherable objects stretching from one building to the next, one story high.Reading this book could be a nightmare for neat freaks. It can be heartening to those of us who are ordinary pack rats by comparison; for even after just a few pages, we can say to ourselves, "Well, at least I'm not THAT bad."

This is an unusual book, and it's difficult to nail down what audience it might appeal to.Fellow photographers may be interested in Purcell's process and artist's eye.Fans of Maine life might enjoy the depiction of the eccentricity of a real Down Easter.Still others might enjoy a respite from typical genres.You will certainly look at junk yards differently after reading this one.
... Read more

Product Description
Paul Ricoeur is one of the giants of contemporary continental philosophy and one of the most enduring and wide-ranging thinkers in the twentieth century, publishing major works ranging from existentialism and phenomenology to psychoanalysis, politics, religion and the theory of language. Richard Kearney offers a critical engagement with the work of Ricoeur, beginning with a general introduction to his hermeneutic philosophy. Part one explores some of the main themes in Ricouer's thought under six headings: phenomenology and hermeneutics; language and imagination; myth and tradition; ideology and utopia; good and evil; poetics and ethics. The second part comprises five dialogical exchanges which Kearney has conducted with Ricoeur over the last three decades (1977-2003), charting and explaining his intellectual itinerary. This book is aimed at a broad student readership, as well as the general intelligent reader interested in knowing more about one of the most enduring major figures in contemporary continental philosophy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Adapting Ricoeur to a social field model
[[ASIN:0754650189 On Paul Ricoeur: The Owl of Minerva (Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology) (Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology) (Transcending Boundaries in Philosophy and Theology)] Excellent for my purposes. Kearney links key Ricoeur ideas into subject chapters that make systemic inquiry more feasible for a non-philosopher.

An Amazing Study of and Engagement with Ricoeur
Paul Ricoeur is a philosophical and theological thinker whose scope and economy of writing is unmatched in this age.Still more, it is difficult to find philosophers and theologians who can adequately engage with him.That the author, Richard Kearney, was a former student of Ricoeur's still makes no guarantee that he can do so.But Kearney does, indeed.

Kearney's book is first class in this field of thinking on Ricoeur.I would consider it as important as any of Ricoeur's own books.Though it is not "critical", this books lays out a wonderful exposition of many of Ricoeur's points.In this sense, it is better than a critical approach which often puts the progect of critiquing before understanding what is being read or thought. ... Read more

Product Description
Owl Moon, the timeless and beautiful award-winning classic, is celebratingits twentieth year of charming and delighting children the world over.This touching story of a child and parent finding magic and adventurein a simple, snowy nighttime search for the great horned owl won theCaldecott Award in 1988. With letters from author Jane Yolen and artistJohn Schoenherr, and a stunning silvery cover, this celebratory edition is atreasure for longtime fans, and introduces a whole new generation to thisbeautiful book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Writing assistance
This is a great book to start the writing process.It has great examples of sentence stucture changes and show, not tells the story.

Always a classic
My three-year-old grandson just loves this book.The illustrations are beautiful and as an added bonus there is a train in the background in one picture.A great winter tale. ... Read more

Product Description
For cliffhanging suspense and thrilling action read THE HARDY BOYS MYSTERY STORIES- featuring the thrilling adventures of America's favorite detective duo, Frank and Joe Hardy. Millions of young readers have teamed up with the Hardy Boys, helping them in their quest to bring criminals to justice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

What Secrets in Black Hollow?
Frank and Joe Hardy and their best friend Chet Morton travel to the Pocono Mountains to visit Captain Thomas Maquire.Captain Maquire wrote to Fenton Hardy, the boys' father, to tell him about strange noises and missing pets in Black Hollow, an area adjacent to where Captain Maquire lives.The boys had to investigate in their father's place because he is working on a hijacking mystery with the New Jersey state police involving missile components.

When the boys arrive at Captain Maquire's cabin they discover he is missing.The boys are unable to gain the attention of the local police, and are stymied further when Walter Donner, who seems to live in Black Hollow, makes the boys appear to be incompetent tenderfeet in the wilderness.But the boys know something is going on in Black Hollow.There are strange noises at night, and what sounds like cries.

The boys observe early in the mystery that Walter Donner bears an incredible likeness to Colonel Thunder, an animal trainer in a carnival.Are Walter Donner and Colonel Thunder related in some way?Are they the same person?Why is Walter Donner living in Black Hollow?The Donner family was previously wealthy and there is an estate, so what explains Walter Donner living in poverty?

In addition to these mysteries, the boys soon learn of a wild boy living in the Black Hollow area.The boy seems at home in the wild, but he may also be dangerous!

As the mystery builds, the attacks on the Hardys and Chet increase, with the boys threatened by fire, wild animals, and criminals with guns.How will the Hardys and Chet escape this time?

This particular book in the Hardy Boys series is reasonably interesting.The pace of action is continuous, and the storyline holds together reasonably well.This book is one of the better books as compared to books that immediately preceded this one.

The publisher recommends the Hardy Boys series for ages 9 to 12 because the series is relatively tame for the previous target audience of ages 10 to 14.This particular book is a good fit for the new age range.Though the Hardy Boys series contains archaic information, as reading material for an increasingly younger audience they are good.Once a child has reached age 12 or so the stories may be of less interest, but given the combination of mystery and action, these books remain good safe choices for parents who want to know what their children are reading.

panthers and wolves and owls, oh my!
Tadek Kasman
SUMMARY:

Two brothers named Frank and Joe Hardy,go camping in the woods to visit thier
friend named Captain Maguire.Theyfind out that thier friend...isn't there...!They meet Odd people along the way:like a mute boy named Simon,a tall family whose last name was Donner(two brothers and one sister).They were always fighting for a mansion.
One of the brothers is in the ccircus and the other one is suspicious...

****
I gave this book****stars because there are some extremely well writen parts and
some parts that were not very involved.

The book has 177 pages. I recomend this book for people aged 6-12 years oldbecause
of the mystery element.

I likedthe story becauseof how they gathered up all of the clues and how theHardys
mystery tied into their dad's mystery.

Hardy boys/Double jeopardy
Travis Hewitt
Double Jeopardy" finds the Hardy Boys at the world-famous Indianapolis race track as student reporters covering the American Grand Prix for The Bayport Herald.
A long-simmering fued between the two top contenders breaks out into a free-for-all in which the Boys get involved.
Later one of the contenders wrecks his car, then disappears and his rival is blamed.
The Hardy Boys investigate and the trail leads them to a surprising conclusion!

No Sleep at Night
I read the book The Clue of the Screeching Owl.This book was written by Franklin Dixon.It was about three boys going to a cabin in the woods to meet their friend Mr.Mcguire.The boys' host never showed up at the cabin, so they went in search for him.At night in what was called "Black Hollow" you could hear the shriek sound of someone screaming.My opinion of this book is very good.I really liked all of the mystery in it.If I was looking for a good mystery book and hadn't read this one, I would definately pick it.It had a lot of suspicion going in my mind of what was going to happen next.There was one thing that I didn't like about this book.It had some very difficult words in it.If those words hadn't had been in there, it would have made it a lot easier to understand.But overall I really liked this book.

Fantastic Setting!
Camped in a cabin beside Black Hollow the brothers become involved in a mystery surrounding the strange happenings within the hollow.I give the setting for this book an A+. Imagine - inside your four walls - knowing that danger lurks outside.The setting is brilliant and the knowledge that "something evil is lurking" makes for a suspenseful read.Reminds me of a setting for a horror film.I would have named this "The Witch of Black Hollow" or "The Secret of Black Hollow".Either would be better than the Screeching Owl title, but in any event this seems to be a favorite on most people's lists and I am no different.The Hardy's travel about the local town located in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and occasionaly dare to venture down in the spooky hollow. This was the best volume in the series among the higher volumes in my opinion.Great interior artwork (The early 1960's interior artwork reached it's zenith) and a well written suspenseful action packed mystery rank this volume among the series elite.RATED A- ... Read more

Product Description
In China they whisper about the Jade Owl and its awful power. This ancient stone, commissioned by the Empress Wu and crafted by a mineral charmer, long haunted the folk of the Middle Kingdom until it vanished into an enigma of legend and lore. Now the Jade Owl is found. It wakes to steal the day from day. Its power to enchant and distort rises again. Its horror is revealed to a band of five, who must return it to the Valley of the Dead before the laws of ch'i are set aside in favor of destruction's dance. Five China Hands, each drawn through time's thin fabric by the bird, discover enchantment on the secret garland. Five China Hands, and one holds the key to the world's fate. Five China Hands. Only one Jade Owl - but it's awake and in China, they whisper again.Finalist for the 2009 RAINBOW AWARDSBOOK I of THE JADE OWL LEGACY SERIES - and NOW available - BOOK 2 of The Jade Owl Legacy Series - THE THIRD PEREGRINATION go to: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1441456724 ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Fun, China, and great characters.
I didn't know what to expect when starting this, but I was soon enjoying this romp through China with a group of unusual, fun characters. No traditional publisher would let the drag queen Simone see the light of publication, but s/he was just the right character to keep a plot involving an ancient Chinese artifact with sinister powers from getting too serious. I really enjoyed the snowball fight with monks at a temple, and the sarcastic lead character Rowden Gray, the sinologist with a heart of gold.

Unless you are a complete fuddy duddy who can't stand any mention of gay people in a book, you will enjoy The Jade Owl. Now I have to go buy the second book in the series!

Save your money - not Fantasy
I purchased all 3 in the series (Kindle) thinking that Fantasy/Science Fiction based on China would be an interesting twist. Sadly, these hardly qualify as fantasy/science fiction.They're not bad if you're into Chinese history and Gay lifestyles.I got the idea that the author interjected Fantasy when he back himself into a corner or ran out of ideas.Each book got a little better but even the 3rd wasn't worth my time.

High adventure at its best!
Imagine a modern day "Lord of the Rings" and set the story in the lush backdrop of China, and that's my impression of Ed Patterson's gripping novel "The Jade Owl." Five intrepid adventurers are commissioned by a San Francisco museum to travel to China on a mission to trade historical artifacts with the Chinese. What the museum doesn't know is that the team is also carrying the Jade Owl, an ancient mysterious jade carving that is purported to have supernatural powers.

And what a team it is: Rowden "Rowdy" Gray, a college professor; Nick Battle, the son of a legendary Sinologist; Nick's partner and flaming drag queen Simon Geldfarb (aka Simone DeLefleurry); Xiao Ao-ti (Audrey), a young Chinese-American martial arts expert; and Griffen Jones, a one-eyed American Indian artist.

Before long the eclectic group is in China, where they begin their journey to find the hidden tomb of the Empress Wu Tze-t'ien, who was buried many centuries ago. Their mission is to take the Jade Owl to the tomb in order to - yes - save the world. Unfortunately for the group, there are plenty of bad guys around who want the Jade Owl and will stop at nothing to get it. Each member of the tightly-knit group has their chance to thwart the bad guys, and many times, it's Simon/Simone who demonstrates that he's not just there for comic relief.

During the group's journey, the Jade Owl demonstrates its vast powers, even ripping the fabric of space and time. It's up to the group to try to control the owl until they have completed their mission, a task easier said than done. The climactic scene is a real dandy, one of the most jaw-dropping climaxes I've read in a long time.

The author, Ed Patterson, has written a bang-up action-adventure thriller that pulled me in immediately. Although "The Jade Owl" is a standalone book, I know there are several spinoffs from the book, and after reading "The Jade Owl," I'm definitely hooked.

Bottom line: Two thumbs up and five stars.

Fly away with the "damn owl"
This is a corker of a quest yarn. The author knows much about Chinese history and unspools it for the lucky reader in a tale of unlikely companions on a fantasy adventure with a supernatural chunk of jade. The "damn owl," as one of them repeatedly calls it, connects the travelers with the dead Chinese past, when it isn't trying to destroy the living. From time to time it even hoots.

The humor is chuckle-worthy (my favorite: "He viewed the twenty-hour haul to China like a middle passage---voluntary bondage in the hull of a modern metallic slaver") and, despite an occasional typo (the persistent grammatical confusion of past/passed also slows things down), the plot rocks along in can't-wait-to-find-out-what-happens-next fashion.

Patterson's vocabulary can be pretentious at times (people rarely walk, they saunter), even confusing when the words are obscure, but a good dictionary helps. Except for the words he makes up. But their meaning usually is clear. And this is only the beginning of a saga with sequels to come. Fly away on a long-distance hunt with The Jade Owl. You face little danger of grounding.

An exciting Adventure!
Mr. Patterson once again enthralls us with tales of the mysterious Jade Owl. An eclectic group of five - a professor/curator, the young son of a great China Hand, his love who is also a drag queen, a half-blind Cherokee Indian who protects the Owl with his life, and the young, beautiful Audrey who has a direct connection to the Chinese Dynasty who originated the Jade Owl and its legend.
Or is it a legend? Once the reader enters this book, this question will haunt themas the five trek across China with their foes who wish to possess the infamous figurine for their own evil purposes,right on their trail. The group who possess the Owl with all its magical powers vows to return it to its rightful place, no matter the danger involved, which lurks around every corner!
Don't we all wish we could go on such a journey of discovery? Dan Brown has nothing on you, Mr. Patterson! Highly recommended for all who love a good adventure!

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Product Description
Cousins Menedemos and Sostratos are preparing for a trading expedition to Athens. While philosophy-minded Sostratos is thrilled to return to Athens, Menedemos is both reluctant to leave his father's wife Baukis, with whom he has fallen in love, and relieved to be removed from temptation. They stock up on luxury goods and rush to Athens so Sostratos can make it there in time for Greater Dionysia, a parade and dramatic festival in honor of Dionysus.

In Athens, the cousins watch political history being made as Athens trades their sovereign ruler for an invader who announces plans to institute a newfangled "democracy." Meanwhile, Sostratos visits the Lykeion, the site of his unfinished education, but his fears of being mocked turn into triumph when he gets a good price for his wares. Menedemos, in typical fashion, starts an affair with a married woman, this time having the audicity to get their host's wife pregnant. In love as in trade, Menedemos's and Sostratos's quick wits have usually been enough to get them out of their self-created messes, but this may be pushing it...

Like a Patrick O'Brian novel set in the third century B.C., Owls to Athens is an entertaining tapestry of cameraderie and adventure amidst the world of classical antiquity in all its living, breathing, earthy reality.
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Customer Reviews (3)

An under-rated series
This series by Harry Turtletaub is in my opinion quite under-rated and under-read, judging by the number of reviews.They are a bit sophomoric, but that's just the right age for teenagers who will be this book's best audience.Charming books.Recommended as a light read on the one hand and as an intriguing enticing intro to ancient history on the other.

Fun and logical in the series but needed a kick
I have read all of the Menedemos/Sostratos books since stumbling across The Gryphon's Skull about two years ago. They are a fun way to spend a quiet afternoon or to keep you interested on the bus, which is more than one could say about a lot of contemporary literary fiction. While I won't say they're *serious* or especially deep, personally I don't need that and they give us an idea of what it would be like to live in that time period.

Owls to Athens is a nice book but it seemed to lack the energy of the first three. As another reviewer noted, our heroes are never in any real danger and it's when they are that the book often comes alive. The scene where they have to escape from the Roman galley in Wine Dark is good, as is the pirate attack in Gryphon, or the bandit attack in Sacred Land. Nothing like a good action scene to get the blood up now and again! Also, the travelogue aspect of the earlier novels is missing as they spend pretty much their entire time in Athens, except the start of and end of scenes in Rhodes. In the area of character development, however, Owls is good. Sostratos finds out that what he thought he wanted he doesn't necessarily and Menedemos finds out that life can get... complicated, sometimes too complicated.

One thing to note about the series generally: These novels don't pull punches when it comes to the mores of the time, many of which are VERY different from ours. Sostratos is a pretty enlightened person for his day but he sees little wrong in slavery, for instance. (He mostly thanks his lucky stars he's NOT one and occasionally muses about how things might have been different if he was.) Menedemos behaves more or less like a Greek man of his day, which involves behavior many of us would consider unexcusable (though many modern people certainly do the stuff he's completely unapologetic about on vacation). If you're at all squeamish about such things, stay away.

Turtledove (Turteltaub) Has Done It Again!
Another excellent historical novel by acclaimed science fiction write Harry Turtledove (here writing under the penname of H. N. Turteltaub), the fourth in his series of books about the adventures of Menedemos and Sostratos, two cousins living on the island of Rhodes shortly after the death of Alexander the Great, who once a year take their family's ship on a trading expedition around the Eastern Mediterranean.

As you would expect from Turtledove he combines high entertainment values with careful attention to historical accuracy, following in the tradition of the late great L. Sprague De Camp, another sf author who also wrote a few wonderful historicals.As was the case with De Camp I admire the fact that Turtledove's characters are recognizable human beings, even the historical figures portrayed, who talk and act in realistic ways, rather than being stick figures who recite pseudo-Shakespearean dialogue as in so many other historical novels set in this period.

In this chapter, the two cousins, Menedemos, the man of action (and devil with the ladies) and Sostratos, the intellectual, travel to the great city of Athens, only to find themselves in the middle of a political and military crisis when the city is invaded and occupied by the forces of Demetrious, son of Antigonus, one of the successors to Alexander the Great.It is already a bitter homecoming for Sostratos, who had studied in one of the famous philosophical schools in the city earlier in his life and had dreamed of returning, only to find, as another philosopher put it, that you can't step in the same river twice.Meanwhile, Menedemos continues his roving ways, in this book seducing not only the wife of his host in Athens, but dangerously advancing his flirtation with his own father's young wife Baukis back in Rhodes.

If you have enjoyed any of the first three books, you will like this one.I have heard there will be seven in all, obviously leading up to a climax with the siege of Rhodes itself by the forces of Antigonos in the last book or two.(I am hoping to see cameo appearances of at least some of the characters from L. Sprague De Camp's book on this period, THE BRONZE GOD OF RHODES.)

My only slight reservation is that this is the first book that has failed to put any of the characters in real jeopardy for a dash of suspense (unless you count Menedemos' constant fears that his adulteries will be discovered by the husband's involved) so it is a little less exciting than previous volumes.But in my opinion a mediocre work by Turtledove is usually more entertaining than most others best work.Still highly recommended. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

intellectually interesting
Sometimes this gets a little braniac for me, but it addresses some interesting emotional causes.

Brilliant insights
Woodman wrote about eating disorders before they were vogue. Her personal insights through her own eating disorder and those of ther clients offer a deep look into these disorders. If you don't buy the Jungian perspective don't buy this book. But if you do you will find it well worth the price.

Far from the *WORST* book I have ever read
Marion Goodman is one of the foremost Jungian Analysts in the world.I have found ALL of her books, including "Owl Was A Baker's Daughter" to be exceptionally compassionate towards women.She has great reserves of empathy and profoundly subtle insights into feminine psychology.This book explores a very painful aspect of many women's lives, and the exploration is undertaken with scrupulous honesty, integrity and wisdom.

The Worse Book I Have Ever Read.
I find Jungian analysis interesting however this book is the most hateful book towards women, and fat people that I have ever read. The author has the most hateful attitude towards anyone that has any weight problems. She uses all the worse stereotypes towards people in these predicaments to forward her "theories" which ignore everything scientific about the human body. I guess in Woodmans world, we are all supposed to be stick thin and if we are not, this means we are psychologically disturbed. I think this author somehow felt morally superior to the women she was writing about. The horrible thing is she had case studies about "obese women" and they averaged ONLY 160lbs! Shocking. A sad disaster of a book. A hate manifesto disguised as intellectual enterprise. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Breathtaking artwork!
This is a marvelous book for anyone who in interested in knowing just about everything there is to know about owls.I found this book when I was given an injured owl and needed a quick course on owls.I found it at the library and found SO much good information, and I was absolutely amazed by the wonderful illustrations.I knew I would have to have a copy for myself.The detail about each owl is complete and even if you just look at the 'pictures', you will fall in love with this book, too! ... Read more

Product Description
Do you secretly hope that there's more magic to life than the conventional world admits?Is there a little wildness underneath your public persona that yearns to be unleashed?Do you believe, deep down inside, that if you ask a Question you'll receive an Answer?

Owl Medicine is a true story that traces one couple's amazing journey into a world of magic and omens, messages and mystery.They ask questions - of themselves and of the Universe - and receive answers from the most astounding of teachers.

If you recognize yourself in this tale, maybe it's time to risk asking your questions.The answers that come may change your life forever, too. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Wow, this is a must read.....
I read this at the recommendation of someone I care about, who happens to be related to the author. She actually has no idea that I actually ordered the book and i read it in 3 days. I could not put it down;I walked and read on every break I had at work, my lunch break consisted of eating and reading and I actually just finished it tonight instead of watching football, becasue it captures you and the author let's you enter her mind to hear her inner unspoken thoughts, and when she is speaking to someone, youalmost feel like you have been transposed into the room and are watching the discussion up close, and no one can see you. I was moved to tears at least 3 times during the reading, and not because of the book being sad, but because I could feel the pain and struggles at certain points, and it reminded me of my own struggles. We all have our problems, and this book shows you just how important communication is to not only getting past things, but also an essential and important part of any relationship. So Lindsay, thanks so much for telling me to read this, and I do hope that sometime soon we can sit and discuss this wonderful book...and to the author, thank you for opening your heart and your life to the world with this book, I feel a sense of inspiration that I did not know was inside of me....Sammy

A must read
I read Owl Medicine in 48 hours and could not put it down.It captured me from page one, and held me hostage until the end.It is the amazing tale of one couples journey thru fear, magic, anger, trust, omens, discovery and ultimatley, truth.I highly recommend that you read Owl Medicine.It will open your eyes to yourself!

Three Cheers for Lisa J. G. Weikel
Lisa is a gifted writer and this real-life adventure story makes for compelling reading. Fans of Jamie Sams, especially the "Medicine Cards" and books, will definitely identify with the author's own journey of self-discovery. Although I didn't always agree with every point the author had to make, this nonfiction book kept me guessing how things would turn out until the very end. I look forward to her next book and the further adventures of Lisa and Karl.

Clarkson reveiw
The book unraveled an ordinary couples journey to a more well rounded relationship. Not only did it open my eyes to a new way of thinking but made me realize that the more we know the more we realize the things we don't know and we can continually grow as individuals as well as a couple. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting, well-written, and thoroughly entertaining
I acquired this book from a friend after I had told her I was planning to take part in theannual survey of owls in Quebec.

The author is Jonathan Evan Maslow, who died in February 2008.He was a journalist and naturalist whose travels took him from the rain forests of Central America to the steppes of Central Asia.This book - which was first published in 1983 - is 183 pages long, is dividedd into four parts, one for each season, and each dealing with a different member or membersof the owl family.Each part is subdivided into short chapters which makes this sweetheart of a book so much easier to read,

Part 1 - Winter - is an account of the author's search for The Great Horned Owl in a place called Pelham Bay Park, which marks the northern limits of New York City on Long Island Sound.This owl, which the French used to call "Le Grand Duc", is the heaviest and fiercest nocturnal raptor in North America, and the story was so captivating, that I had difficulty putting the book down.

Part 2 - Spring - is an account of Maslow's expeditions to search for Barn Owls, Screech Owls and Barred Owlsin southern Connecticut.The Barred Owl is theonly owl which I have ever met face to face on the two previous owl surveys I have done in the Eastern Townships, and to see one of these perched on a tree looking down at you to check you out from no more that 30 or 40 feet away is a truly wonderfulexperience even if you are not an avid birder.So this part of the book provided animmediate resonance with my own activities.

Part 3 - Spring - is the sad tale of the decline of the Short Eared Owl in Jersey Meadowlands where this particular owl used to nest in large numbersin what used to be a pristine area of marshes and wetlands of New Jersey.Some time in the late 1920s and early 1930s,however, the areawas given over to an industrial park which, by the time Maslow visited there, itwas little more than an area of deteriorating warehouses, deserted factories, and a dumping ground for garbage, which was so badly polluted that,to quote the author, New Jersey wastelands might bea more appropriate name for it rather thanNew Jersey wetlands.His search was a somewhat futile one, but in the process of describing his expedition, he goes into considerable detail about the habits of this bird, which unlike other members of the Owl family prefers open land rather than woodland.

Part 4 - Autumn - is primarilyan account of the author'sexpedition to the South Station at Cape May in southern New Jersey adjacent to Delaware Bay, in order to take part in the annual fall migration survey along the Atlantic coast flyway.This did, of course, include an array of many different bird species, but it alsoincluded the Barn Owl, the Long Eared Owl, and the Saw-whet owl (which isone of the smaller species of owl in Eastern North America.) You didn't know that owls migrated? - well, I didn't either - but they do, but not necessarily in the direction you would expect - so the migration of owls might be better called a "Dispersal" or an "Incursion" rather than a migration.

I found this book to be extremely informative about the description and habits of all of these owls - and one which was far easier to read and absorb than the rather formal and somewhat dry descriptions of birds thatone usually findsin most bird guides.More than that, the author's accounts of the areas he visited on his expeditions are light hearted andmake you wish you would like to have gone along with him.His comments include many literary and poetic quotationson the historical myths and earlier scientific observations about these fascinating and beautiful birds, whichadd a great deal of detail of which I was totally unaware.This is so much more than a book about owls.It is also a travelogue which is well written with such anengaging style that it might be considered a piece of literature in its own right.

New and used books of the 1988 edition still seem to be available, and if you don't know much about owls, and would like to know more, thenthis little book would be a good place to start.You might also want to consider it as a Christmas stocking stufferfor a young personwho is just starting to take an interest in nature.
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Product Description
Discusses the physical description, habits, behavior, and future of owls, using numerous pictures. ... Read more

Product Description

The irresistible blend of romance and nonsense in Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" has made it a classic enjoyed by generations of young listeners. Now celebrated artist Hilary Knight wraps Lear's beloved verse in a richly imagined fantasy where two young listeners find themselves magically transformed and transported to the land where the Bong-tree grows.

Come sail away with them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

too much money
I ordered this for my niece through Amazon (through another book seller).It is a smallish book of nice quality but certainly not worth $20.

Delightful!
The illustrations really won me over!The book is a 'retelling' of the classic song. The lyrics haven't changed, but the illustrations tell a wonderful dual story!
Look closely, and you can see how the characters mimic each other visually!Fantastic!

Also, sheet music and lyrics for the song are included.

Definitely stellar for what it's meant to be!! :D

So lovely, so irreverent...
This is a wonderful rendition of Lear's poem. Knight's artwork is absolutely splendid, with glorious detail that will delight children and adults over and over again. I've been reading this book for ten years to my children, and I still linger over the drawings.

A must have.

Amazing artwork!
I am not a huge fan of old "nursery rhyme" type poetry, but this book caught my eye and my 3 yr old boys and I love it! The illustrations are simply amazing as each page unfolds from 2 children visiting an eccentric, storytelling neighbor to the children becoming the owl and pussycat. My boys immediately noticed the firepole in the man's house among other curiosities. As the children enjoy a snack and the man reads the poem, the floor turns to water and the window seat to a pea green boat. The bespeckled little boy becomes an owl and girl becomes a cat. The poem is read a second time with them as the main characters and the illustrations cleary 'telling' the story. Just as fluidly, the children return to human form and their mothers call them for dinner as the poem winds down. This book would certainly be a wonderful addition to a classic nursery rhymes collection.

Another Great Entry in the Knight Revival
If you're a fan of Hilary Knight's artwork (and if you're not, you ought to be), you will definitely want this book.Those who are only familiar with Knight's wonderful pen and ink drawings for Eloise and Mrs. Piggle Wiggle will be amazed at the beauty of his full color illustrations. This book is good enough for either your child's/nephew's/niece's bookshelf, or (in my case) your own. The illustrations of a young boy and girl slowly becoming part of the tale are beautifully rendered. I am glad to see so many Knight books on the market again, and hope that i will get to see some more. ... Read more