For a Few Demons More (Rachel Morgan, Book 5)

Amazon.com

With her action-packed Hollows series, featuring former bounty hunter--and mistress of the dark arts--Rachel Morgan, Kim Harrison has become one of the hottest authors in the incredibly popular genre of sexy supernaturalism. In her latest Hollows tale, For a Few Dollars More, Rachel unleashes all kinds of undead fury on the greater Cincinnati area when she tries to track down a serial killer. To catch up on the Hollows series so far, and to see the music that has inspired the stories, see below.

Follow the Hollows

Dead Witch Walking (Book 1)
The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (Book 2)
Every Which Way but Dead (Book 3)
A Fistful of Charms (Book 4)

Music Is the Muse

For Kim Harrison, music inspires her stories, and especially her characters. In her exclusive Music Is the Muse list for us, she reveals some favorite records that have provided the source, and the soul, for Rachel, Ivy, Trent, and more of her passionate and powerful characters. Among her muses:

Bleed Like Me, Garbage
With Teeth, Nine Inch Nails
Fallen, Evanescence

Book Description

Despite dating one vampire and living with another, Rachel Morgan has always managed to stay just ahead of trouble . . . until now.

A fiendish serial killer stalks the Hollows, claiming victims across society, and the resulting terror ignites a vicious Inderland gang war. And while the ancient artifact Rachel is hiding may be the key to stopping the murderer, revealing it could also create a battle to the death among the numerous supernatural races that live in and around Cincinnati.

For every action has its price, and when the vampire master Piscary is set free and the demonic Algaliarept dares to walk openly under the sun, even Rachel Morgan can't hide forever.

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic!.......2007-10-02

I love this series immensely. The characters are believable and fun. Kim Harrison knows how to write a story. I've love all of her previous books and this one is no different. The plot is intense. It's the kind of book you can't put down. I love how Rachel is portrayed. I look foward to the next ones!

OMGOSH! Amazing!.......2007-09-17

Everytime I think a book cant get any better i get shocked and this book was awesome!! I love Rachel although im a HUGE fan of IVEY! she rocks. I love how this book plays out i think its the best in the series so far!

She is getting better and better.......2007-09-17

Ms Harrison is getting better with each installation. Can't wait for her next book!. The addition of a "few more demons" was brilliant and diversified the storyline nicely.

For a Few Demons More.......2007-09-05

This entire series rocks!!! Pick them up and you can't put them down. The cast of characters are memorable and believable. I had given up on urban fantasy, Laurel K Hamilton will do that to you. (that's called fair warning folks)

However Kim Harrison saved the day. I have all the Rachel Morgan books and have my calender marked as to when I can get the next one coming out. The plots MOVE.. and in unexpected ways at times. While relationships are there, Ms. Harrison doesn't let it become the whole story (thank the goddess for that!)

This books are a must read for all urban fantasy fans!!

Highly Recomended.......2007-08-23

I think this book is the best in the series so far. It seems like Kim Harrison books just get better and better. I love this series and I'm waiting feverishly for the next one. If the rest of the books in her series are any indication, then the next book will be even better than this one. I really liked this book because of the brilliant mix of humor, horror, fantasy, and characters that are so well described I feel like I know them. I've never read an author who could shock me, scare me, then make me laugh out loud so many times in the same book. Trust me, this one is worth several all-nighters.

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde (Scumble River Mysteries, Book 9)

Average customer rating:

very good!
First time reader of Scumble River Mysteries
Mud and murder at a local spa
A good book to take to the airport or doc's office
Good read

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde (Scumble River Mysteries, Book 9)
Denise Swanson
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451221419

Book Description

A health spa complete with tofu turkey and "Dress for Sexcess" lectures is the last place school psychologist Skye Denison wants to spend Thanksgiving. But when her best friend Trixie Frayne convinces her to take a complimentary weekend at the new Scumble River Spa, Skye accepts her fate and prepares to be slathered, wrapped, and roasted-until a murder ruins the good time.

Customer Reviews:

very good!.......2007-07-01

this was really good and you are left with wondering what is going on in the heroines life, very good mystery. the "redraggers" are always amusing.

First time reader of Scumble River Mysteries.......2007-06-11

I found the story delightful. It is one of the "cozy" murder mysteries, and those are the type I enjoy. I thought the plot was well thought out and I was surprised by the ending. As my first Scumble River Mysteries, I am happy to say I'd read another.

Mud and murder at a local spa.......2007-05-19

Skye Denison is planning on having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with her family in Scumble River, Illinois, but her best friend, Trixie, has other ideas. Trixie convinces Skye that they should accept a free weekend at the newly-opened Scumble River Spa, and try to find treasure which is reputedly buried in the backyard of the old, converted mansion. Skye has her doubts, but soon she finds herself at the spa, wrapped in seaweed and eating tiny portions of inedible food. Soon a murder takes place in the mud bath, and Skye is knee-deep in the investigation. She is also caught between her current boyfriend, Wally, and her ex-boyfriend, Simon, and
her mother and Simon's mother come to the spa to help convince her to return to her old love interest.

According to her biography, author Denise Swanson was a school psychologist for 22 years, so her references to Skye's experiences in the same job always ring true. This book is a welcome addition to an enjoyable series.

A good book to take to the airport or doc's office.......2007-05-18

Okay, the opening scene would have your seatmates in either place scowling at you, but it's probably one of the funniest scenes I've ever read--including the Janet Evanovich. Clearly, a lot of work's gone into developing Scumble River and its people. This is my first in the series and if I need a good fast fun read, I'm going to definitely check more out.

Good read.......2007-05-17

This is another good edition to the Scumble River series. I enjoyed the plot line and the characters. The ending did have a twist I wasn't expecting. Skye and Wally make a good couple and I hope they stay together.

Average customer rating:

Creepy and Comforting?
Moving Novel About Love and Loss
All Over The Place
Terrible writing
Sad and pointless

The Lovely Bones: A Novel
Alice Sebold
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0316666343

Amazon.com

Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue."

The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife. Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Book Description

On her way home from school on a snowy December day in 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon ("like the fish") is lured into a makeshift underground den in a cornfield and brutally raped and murdered, the latest victim of a serial killer--the man she knew as her neighbor, Mr. Harvey. Alice Sebold's haunting and heartbreaking debut novel, The Lovely Bones, unfolds from heaven, where "life is a perpetual yesterday" and where Susie narrates and keeps watch over her grieving family and friends, as well as her brazen killer and the sad detective working on her case. As Sebold fashions it, everyone has his or her own version of heaven. Susie's resembles the athletic fields and landscape of a suburban high school: a heaven of her "simplest dreams," where "there were no teachers.... We never had to go inside except for art class.... The boys did not pinch our backsides or tell us we smelled; our textbooks were Seventeen and Glamour and Vogue." The Lovely Bones works as an odd yet affecting coming-of-age story. Susie struggles to accept her death while still clinging to the lost world of the living, following her family's dramas over the years like an episode of My So-Called Afterlife.Her family disintegrates in their grief: her father becomes determined to find her killer, her mother withdraws, her little brother Buckley attempts to make sense of the new hole in his family, and her younger sister Lindsey moves through the milestone events of her teenage and young adult years with Susie riding spiritual shotgun. Random acts and missed opportunities run throughout the book--Susie recalls her sole kiss with a boy on Earth as "like an accident--a beautiful gasoline rainbow." Though sentimental at times, The Lovely Bones is a moving exploration of loss and mourning that ultimately puts its faith in the living and that is made even more powerful by a cast of convincing characters. Sebold orchestrates a big finish, and though things tend to wrap up a little too well for everyone in the end, one can only imagine (or hope) that heaven is indeed a place filled with such happy endings. --Brad Thomas Parsons

Download Description

This edition of the New York Times best-seller and a Good Morning America "Read This" Book Club pick contains features available only in the electronic version! Included in this eBook edition are a Reading Group Guide, an exclusive interview with the author, and "The Oddity of Suburbia," Alice Sebold's comments on growing up in the suburbs of "Nowhere U.S.A." When we first meet 14-year-old Susie Salmon, she is already in heaven. This was before milk carton photos and public service announcements, she tells us; back in 1973, when Susie mysteriously disappeared, people still believed these things didn't happen. In the sweet, untroubled voice of a precocious teenage girl, Susie relates the awful events of her death and her own adjustment to the strange new place she finds herself. (It looks a lot like her school playground, with the good kind of swing set.) With love, longing, and a growing understanding, Susie watches her family as they cope with their grief-her father embarks on a search for the killer, her sister undertakes a feat of amazing daring, her little brother builds a fort in her honor-and begin the difficult process of healing. In the hands of a brilliant new novelist, and through the eyes of her winning young heroine, this story of seemingly unbearable tragedy is transformed into a suspenseful, touching, even funny novel about family, memory, love, heaven, and living.

Customer Reviews:

Creepy and Comforting?.......2007-09-29

Everyone else is right. Th book is great in the beginning. It contains some odd scenes that are unnecessary and hurt, more than help, the story's momentum and punch. The author tried to wrap up too many loose ends too quickly in the end, and I felt so dissappointed that a book I really enjoyed and that had so much potential ended so poorly. However, I so enjoyed the beginning, that I got over the ending.

The aspect that I think I most enjoyed about the plot of this book, was that the main mystery was solved very close to the begnning.
You do not feel suspense waiting to find out "who did it?" The author tells you who did it right away. Then you don't feel suspense waiting to see when one of the other characters will figure it out, because another character figures it out right away. You feel suspense waiting to see when others will believe and if the murdered will ever get caught. Very non-traditional suspense.

I really appreciate books that make me FEEL. Good, bad, hapy, sad, scared,or totally creeped out. I just enjoy having my emotions provoked by a good book. This book made me feel every one of those things. I laughed and cried, sometimes one right after the other. I definitely felt completely creeped out and oddly comforted really close together. That's why this book is a winner.

This book will make you think. If you don't like to feel sad, or uncomfortable, this book is not for you. If you appreciate emotion and creativity, you will enjoy this different book. I look forward to the movie, hoping they don't massacre the story.

Moving Novel About Love and Loss.......2007-09-19

After fourteen year old Susie Salmon is raped and murdered, she goes to heaven where she is able to look down at her family and friends and the rest of the world. As she is adjusting to life in heaven and making friends there, she is also watching her family deal with her disappearance. She watches as both her parents struggle to accept the fact that she is gone and the affect it has on their marriage; she watches her younger sister Lindsay grow and become stronger as a person; and she watches her little brother Buckley, who is too young to understand what is going on. She also watches her friends Ray Singh and Ruth Connors, as they grow closer after Susie's death. As Susie watches her family and friends grow older and mature, she begins to realize how much she has lost and longs for one more chance for life on earth.

"The Lovely Bones" is a sad, moving, and at times odd novel. Extremely well written by Alice Sebold, it is told in the first person by Susie. This unique perspective means that we not only have insight into what Susie was like as a person, but who her killer was and how frustrating it is for her to not only watch the killer stalk other victims (including someone close to Susie) but watch the police try and find her body and determine who her killer is and prove it. Her ability to look down from heaven to see her family and others (and somehow be privy to their thoughts) adds poignancy to the novel, as each of her family members and friends struggle to cope with their loss in their own private ways. It is heartbreaking to read about how Susie's disappearance and the inability of the police to find her body affects her parents marriage, and how Susie begins to realize she didn't know them, especially her mother, all that well. It's equally heartbreaking to see Susie watch her sister Lindsay grow up and experience things that Susie never will, especially falling in love and having sex for the first time. Sebold makes the characters so believable that at times I wanted to hug them and say "I'm sorry" and at other times I wanted to shake them and make them aware of how their actions were hurting others. Although the book is sad, it's not as depressing as I thought it would be and there are some humorous moments in the book, mostly with Susie's Grandma Lynn. While I thought "The Lovely Bones" was well written for the most part, there was a truly odd section towards the end that felt out of place in the book.

"The Lovely Bones" is a moving novel about love and loss.

All Over The Place.......2007-08-29

I had heard great things about this book so decided to read it. I agree with a lot of the other reviews that say it started out really great and then fizzled out. I think the storyline was all over the place, and I couldn't understand what the point was, other than just to be a fly on the wall in the lives of Susie's family. I was also not happy with the bodily possession (a bit much in my opinion) or the weak ending. I think the concept was interesting, and I think I would have liked it better if it kept the same energy it had in the beginning. I did enjoy the fact that it was based in the Philadelphia suburbs, as I am familiar with that area.

Terrible writing.......2007-08-27

I couldn't finish reading this book after getting about 150 pages in. This turned out to be a fortunate decision. My wife tells me it got worse and worse. I'm shocked at how well-recieved it was... The writing is sloppy, we're given no descriptions of the characters, and the storyline makes you groan with its cliches. What really annoyed me were the incredibly strained metaphors tossed around, dice in a Yatzee game of literature, spinning like Disneyland teapots in the cosmos of ludicrousness. This was one gem: "leaden weights had been tied by anesthesia to the four corners of his consciousness".

Sad and pointless.......2007-08-24

I'm sorry to say it... I really wanted to like this book... but I didn't! In fact, I was quite stunned to discover how disappointing and unproductive this book is, considering the number of people who have read it. I read it on a recommendation from a friend whose book recommendations I usually agree with. Unfortunately, I wish I had gone with my gut instinct and put the book down after getting nowhere in the first 100 pages. Instead, I kept reading just to get through it. I really disliked this book! I'm not a book snob, but I like a book to be somewhat believable if the author is attempting to depict a real life scenario ie: a family's coping with the death of thier murdered child. The whole thing, start to finish, was so contained, so picture-perfect, so annoying!!!

It's funny, the person who recommended the book to me said the hardest part of the book was the first chapter because of the grisly details of poor Susie's death. I disagree. Though I am not a fan of horror or even CSI shows... I at least found the first chapters suspenseful and engaging... I cannot say that for the rest of the novel!

The concept of the narrator being in heaven is definitely an interesting one, but the story she tells is so contrived and meandering and really uninspired that her perspective hardly seems special.

I think this novel has the ability to be interesting or possibly helpful to someone who has had to deal with the death of a close family member because it so plainly shows that a family falls apart around such a loss and that this is sort of a natural process. But beyond that situation... I'm sorry, I would not recommend this book.

Average customer rating:

How does one make a play by Shakespeare accessible to those disinclined to read one?The answer is Sixty-MinuteShakespeare Series
helpful
Great for studying Hamlet!
Helpful edition; entertaining play.
A good reading copy

Hamlet (Shakespeare Made Easy)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Accessories:

ASIN: 0812036387

Book Description

Here are the books that help teach Shakespeare plays without the teacher constantly needing to explain and define Elizabethan terms, slang, and other ways of expression that are different from our own. Each play is presented with Shakespeare's original lines on each left-hand page, and a modern, easy-to-understand "translation" on the facing right-hand page. All dramas are complete, with every original Shakespearian line, and a full-length modern rendition of the text.

Customer Reviews:

How does one make a play by Shakespeare accessible to those disinclined to read one?The answer is Sixty-MinuteShakespeare Series.......2007-07-14

Reviewed By: Beverly Krueger, Eclectic Homeschool Online

How does one make a play by Shakespeare accessible to those disinclined to read or see one? Or how do you make it possible for those who just don't have the time to do the play full justice, but nevertheless want to have more than just a taste of the bard, to find the time to read it? The answer is the Sixty-Minute Shakespeare series. I've got in my hands their version of Hamlet. There are two important distinctions to this edition. First, it is abridged. The core of the play is left untouched, so the play and its themes are still understandable. Famous soliloquies are also left untouched. The dialogue that fleshes out the minor characters is often abbreviated. Second, the play is rendered in the original language, but uses standard spelling. This is not a modernized version of the play.

The Sixty Minute Shakespeare series was also written to give a shorter, easier to produce version of the play for theater groups that wanted to put on a production of a Shakespearean play. Any of this series would be a great production piece for a homeschool theater group. I recommend Hamlet in particular because there are so many resources available to help young actors learn more about their roles, especially the many fine productions of Hamlet on video or DVD. A short section on staging a production gives useful advice for staging and pacing of a production.

For those who want to use this edition for a study of Hamlet, I suggest getting a study guide to help with understanding the themes of the play. The notes at the bottom of each page help with understanding some of the unfamiliar words used, but those who are not familiar with Shakespeare will benefit from additional explanations of what is happening in the text.

helpful.......2007-01-15

I have my degree in English... I like reading and teaching with this version as "help" not as a substitution. It gives a clearer understanding to Shakespeare for people who have difficulty with it.

Great for studying Hamlet!.......2007-01-10

I had to use this for a course I was taking. This book was very clear and very helpful. It definetely made reading Hamlet a lot clearer and simpler.

Helpful edition; entertaining play........2006-09-14

"Hamlet" was not a Shakespearean play I had plan on reading outside of my Movement in Theatre class and this edition made it one hundred times easier. I had to read the play in a week, so reading the modern English side made that process effortless. I then read over the original Shakespeare version when I had to focus on the character Ophelia. Overall, I found that this play was easier to read in Shakespeare's writing, as opposed to some of his other plays. The play is interesting, but I felt the ending to be boring. I "sorta" recommend.

A good reading copy.......2006-08-25

Once you get used to the layout, this is a good copy to read along with as you listen to the play. Some valuable insights too and not just for students.

Average customer rating:

A very silly book
What happened?
Dance of Death a Slow Predictable Two-Step
Meanwhile, back at the museum
Much to do about lilttle

Dance of Death (Pendergast, Book 6)
Douglas Preston , and Lincoln Child
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0446576972
Release Date: 2005-06-14

Book Description

Two brothers.One,top FBI Agent, Aloysius Pendergast. The other, Diogenes, a brilliant and twisted criminal.An undying hatred between them.Now, a perfect crime.And the ultimate challenged: Stop me if you can.

Customer Reviews:

A very silly book.......2007-09-25

If this weren't the only audiobook on my iPod at the moment, I'd have bailed on it. Everything in "Dance of Death" is a cliche or stolen from some other, better specimen of genre fiction: Sherlock Holmes, Hannibal Lector, etc.. All of the research is bogus. The authors are very keen to let their readers know how "classy" everything they write about is, from the rolls driven by their ludicrous hero to the fact that one character is supposed to be a reporter for the New York Times. But they obviously have never even read the Times themselves, since they have this poor sap chasing a sensational murder case as the "big story" of his career, when that stuff is strictly tabloid fodder. Maybe it'd make the Metro section, but that's about it. Everyone in the Times scenes behaves like extras in an old '30s newspaper movie, nothing like the Ivy League types that actually work at the paper. Plus, movie stars don't go to openings of Natural History Museum exhibits. I'm sure the stuff based on other professions is equally preposterous. Besides the total lack of originality, it's the nose-pressed-up-to-the-glass wannabe-ism of this book that makes it kinda painful to read. At least Rene Auberjonois seems to realize that it's pure kitsch and reads it with a lot of campy brio.

What happened?.......2007-08-17

Is it just me, or is Pendergast starting to get a little boring? Perhaps it's because we have the full story of he and his brother, and I'm certain we have not seen the last of Diogenes, but somehow we've lost that mysterious edge to him. I fully appreciate the authors commitment to making their story a three part series and giving us the detail that they did, however they missed so much and took shortcuts in other ways. Where has Diogenes been? What has he been doing all those years that Pendergast was looking for him? Why is it that Constance tracked him down in a heartbeat and left Pendergast in the dust? I'll stop there, no need to be totally negative. I still enjoyed the ride for the most part and I'm looking forward to the next installment, Wheel of Darkness, hopefully a change of pace, environment, and villian will spark a new passion. P.S. - Absolutely HATE Pendergast's love interest, Viola, she is sooooo not interesting in any way. Would love to see someone who could kick Pendergast's butt, make it a little interesting, shall we?

Dance of Death a Slow Predictable Two-Step .......2007-08-09

Perhaps since I read Preston and Child's "Dance of Death" out of sequence and was well aware of the outcome before the actual events transpired throughout the novel, I found this contribution featuring the reoccurring characters of Special Agent Pendergast, police lieutenant D'Agosta, New York Times reporter Bill Smithback, Nora Kelly, Margo Green and the rest of the Museum of Nature History team not up to the coauthors' usual page-turning standard.

It's not as if the novel excites the reader with fresh scenarios or ideas; certainly Smithback, Pendergast and D'Agosta have moments that seem all too familiar. Nevertheless this novel does bridge "Brimstone," the first novel featuring Pendergast's deranged brother, Diogenes with "The Book of the Dead," the culmination of this trilogy whose overall theme pits the ingenious siblings against each other. Perhaps this explains to a degree why the action seems stalled and rather hackneyed.

Plot, in this one, seems to be sacrificed for further character development, the inclusion of a love interest for white knight Pendergast interjects some emotion to an otherwise rationally, educationally and intellectually developed human machine whose lack of reaction and intuitiveness sometimes seems uber human. That Diogenes would utilize Pendergast's personal weakness to his utmost advantage comes as little surprise. In fact, what is lacking in this novel is just that: the bombshell twists and turns that one has come to equate with a Preston/Child novel fizzle like dud firecrackers wet-blanketing the reader with about fifty cents of bang for his/her expected buck.

"Dance of Death" attempts to assemble some Pendergast family history for us while tunneling further into the deep dark secret that Pendergast has hidden even from himself with regard to his brother's lack of humanity. Because of this, unlike "Relic", "Reliquary", "Thunderhead", etc., this novel does not rely on unique state-of-the-art scientific factoids to explain initially nebulous events that occur throughout the plot. Instead of baffling and then educating the reader with fascinating archaeological or forensic scientific tidbits that eventually formulate the basis for a tightly crafted tale, "Dance of Death" relies on the reader's built up interest in the characters themselves. The entire galaxy of players cultivated from "Relic" on appears in this the writing team's tenth work. Knowing and understanding the actual interrelations between the different personalities enhances an otherwise mundane kidnapping/chase storyline with this genre of writing's glib and sometimes senselessly predictable dialogue.

Bottom line? The bridging nature of "Dance of Death" necessitates it being read in the correct sequence. The second in the Diogenes trilogy of novels, its success depends on the reader's knowledge of characters that Preston and Child have developed in the first nine of their popular thrillers. Although I enjoy the Pendergast saga and would like to see this develop further, I prefer to see this author collaboration inject more scientific/technical data to give their adventure more teeth. Recommended to those who like Agent Pendergast and enjoy a Cain versus Abel type romp through New York City and its environs.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

Meanwhile, back at the museum.......2007-07-22

This here's the 6th Pendergast novel, and is the strongest since Reliquary. The unbelievably well prepared and impossibly well informed Pendergast takes on his evil twin. (Well, ok his younger brother.) Many plot twists worthy of a Victorian melodramatic Gothic ensue, and some plots twists are about that old. It's rather silly if enjoyable pulp fiction, that's saved by the more interesting and more believable supporting cast. While not as reliable or interesting as Wilson's Repairman Jack series, it's fairly decent summer reading.

Much to do about lilttle.......2007-07-22

I probably read two to three books a week. And I could not get past page 22 of this one. Dialogue is trite, and plot seems convoluted. My wife bought the hard cover at 7.99 in the bargin bin. Its probably not worth that. Certainly not in the same league as Crichton, Patterson, Connelly or Dunning. Will donate to the local library. Maybe someone will find it enjoyable.

Average customer rating:

the essence of childhood
Imaginative
Good Read
My review on The Egypt Game
My review on The Egypt Game

The Egypt Game
Zilpha Keatley Snyder , and Alton Raible
Manufacturer: Yearling
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0440422256
Release Date: 1985-12-01

Book Description

When Melanie Ross and April Hall begin to play the Egypt Game, everyone thinks it’s just a game until strange things begin happening to the players. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?

Customer Reviews:

the essence of childhood.......2007-06-10

I really felt a sense of nostalgia reading this book, though I've never read it before. It just felt exactly like the chapter books I would read in the summer as a kid. A group of kids get together and play Egyptians. There's a bit of a mystery in the neighborhood, too (but not really surprising or part of the main plot). Best part of the book is the incredible characterizations of the children and their personalities, and how they disappear into their game. It's very familiar, very reminiscent of my own childhood. When I had a copy in my yard sale, a lot of people picked it up and mentioned their own childhood love for the book. Grade: B+

Imaginative.......2007-05-25

The Egypt Game took me back to the days in childhood when the world of imagination was sometimes more real than the real world. Back in the 60's, there really wasn't much for kids to do but play together. When they wanted to learn something, they went to the library; not the internet! I did like how this portrayed kids with different backgrounds, ages and races and never a hint of prejudice. In fact, the only "white" child was from a broken home and had self-esteem issues. While the African American children had a stable family home. Quite the reverse from most things we read, even today.

I enjoyed this one, though IMO it lacked he depth that Newberry books often have, although this is an Honor Book. There was some danger, but it wasn't dark. Some parents may have an issue with the altar worship or oracle/fortune telling parts. However, these things weren't done out of a worshipful or idolic action, more of a part of the make believe world. When the kids entered back into the "real world," they left it all behind and were not obsessed by it. It didn't seem to matter what they were playing at, rather it was the fun and friendships that they enjoyed.

Good Read.......2007-03-23

The Egypt Game was a great book filled with mystery and suspense. I liked the way Zilpha Keatley Snyder made April and Melanie so different on the outside, but exactly alike on the in side. They are what made the book flow so easily. The part of the Egypt Game that amazed me the most was the part when the boys, Toby and Ken, joined the Egypt Game. On the outside they are big jocks that act all tough. But on the inside, just like April and Melanie, they are nice and friendly. The diversity of the characters really helped the book flow.

The Egypt Game was a book that pulled you in, and would not let go until you finished. The suspense was a huge part of the book. With out it, the book would have been as boring as the dictionary. The main plot is of April and Melanie becoming friends and starting the Egypt Game behind an old store. They end up having to stop after a murder is committed in their neighborhood. The plot alone was suspenseful, not even counting the part where they catch the murderer. Overall this book is a great read.

The book did have some bad parts in it though. I disliked the way Zilpha Keatley Snyder didn't go into great detail about the part when the murderer grabs April. The part just ended when the murder was scared away. The murderer didn't even try to pull her down the alleyway or anything. He just ran away instead of trying to drag her. That was the only lame part in the book. In my eyes this would be a great book to read if you can't find anything to read.

My review on The Egypt Game.......2007-03-07

I'm just going to come right out and say it; the book isn't the greatest of all times. It is a very young read and you have to have a five year old imagination to enjoy it. That doesn't mean if you're older than five don't read it but it does mean you should be a happy go lucky person to read it.
Now remember, this is all in my opinion so if you don't agree don't agree, and I'm not always right I'm just here to help you understand the book. So let's get down to business.
The Egypt Game is about these six kids who have nothing in common except that they all like the history of Egypt. Since they all like Egypt they decide to make "The Egypt Game" behind an A-Z Curios and Antiques shop. That's how it all got started.
Some plots in the book made no sense, especially the murder that happened in the town. The murderer was not even important to the book; I guess it was just to make the book longer. One of the weirdest plots was when the Egypt gang decided to ask the oracle a question. One of the six kids had to pray and worship undisturbed until he was supposedly clean enough to ask the question. After that he had to put his question in the oracles hole and wait for a response. The first time the oracle answered them everyone thought it was a joke, so they tried again. Both times the oracle had answered them, and they were positive no one had put an answer in the oracle as a prank. Thos are two events that are in the plot.
My book takes place in a suburban little town, never named. It is a very nice town and so small if you lived there everyone would know you. It is a great country town. The Egypt Game also takes place behind and antique shop.
A major conflict that happens in the Egypt Game is when they all argue whether or not to sneak out on Halloween night to go play in Egypt. After time they all decide to go to the Egypt Game on Halloween. Luckily they don't get caught. That's my review on the Egypt Game.

My review on The Egypt Game.......2007-03-07

Kill Without Joy!: The Complete How To Kill Book

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Minnery Collector
The Exploding Cigars of Doom
Perhaps I may be a little strange, but I love this book!

Kill Without Joy!: The Complete How To Kill Book
John Minnery
Manufacturer: Paladin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Criminology | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Now under one cover, here are all six volumes of the notorious How To Kill series, the complete history of murder, assassination and death by design. The Hatchet Job, Smothering, Drilled to Death and other chapters provide gruesome testimony to why these books have been banned in certain countries! For information purposes only!

Customer Reviews:

Minnery Collector.......2003-06-29

Its not written as a how to manual only as a description of how it can be done, which is what it advertises. So don't give this book a bad review because YOU think it should be more of a do it like this or do it like that book, because people are going past the context of the book and trying to make it into something its not nor claimes to be. John Minnery is dead there won't be a revised edition people.

The Exploding Cigars of Doom.......1999-05-19

If you are a mad scientist and need some convoluted, impractical and easily escapable way to kill agent 007 this book might be of some limited use. It's devious schemes are on the order of sulfuric acid in a Visene bottle. The ideas in this book might seem slick to some twelve year old kid but are not worth the attention someone with a more than passing acquaitance with reality.

Perhaps I may be a little strange, but I love this book!.......1998-09-06

This book has been banned in Canada. Now under one cover the complete How to Kill Series. Forget the book Hitman! Covered in this book are the hatchet job, body snatchers, quiet alley cleaner, smothering, drilled to death, exotic weapons, and lots more. More than 500 pages! This book is the complete how to history of murder, assasination, and death by design. If you have a fetish for the macabre, then order yourself a copy today!

Don't Murder Your Mystery [Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction Book]

Average customer rating:

Says it All.
For a book rooted in the minutiae of effective writing, this book is surprisingly readable and well laid out.
If you're writing a book, read this book
It's Both Informative And Fun
The Second Book You to purchase if you're serious about publishing your mystery

Don't Murder Your Mystery [Agatha Award for Best Nonfiction Book]
Chris Roerden
Manufacturer: Bella Rosa Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Publishing & Books | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1933523131

Customer Reviews:

Says it All........2007-09-22

This edition covers just about everything to do with the craft of writing. Serious and succinct, it covers all stages of the craft and offers valuable insight.

For a book rooted in the minutiae of effective writing, this book is surprisingly readable and well laid out. .......2007-09-11

In the opening pages of Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A. Chris Roerden makes it crystal clear that she doesn't consider herself a book doctor. Roerden states that the term book doctor would imply that the writer's work is sick.
Roerden further specifies that she doesn't use words like good and bad or right and wrong, as these would imply the existence of rules.
Her approach, which makes for interesting reading, stresses effectiveness rather than rules. As mentioned in the introduction, her goals in the book are to help writers of fiction: "find and fix the clues to those deadly techniques, and survive the first cut of the submission process so plot and characters get a fair reading."
And as she succinctly asserts: why send your manuscript of to commit suicide or dead on arrival?

Don't Murder Your Mystery is an ambitious technical book complete with considerable detail that includes passages from one hundred and forty published authors who know exactly how to employ the most effective writing techniques. Divided into ten sections, the book begins with the qualifying trials of appearance and category where readers are strongly advised that without having a professional appearance, their manuscript submission is doomed and will be shoved back in the envelope you sent it in. You can expect the same retort if it is the wrong category or genre. In other words, don't send a mystery to a science fiction publishing house. From here readers are given a brief summary of the various terms employed throughout the book.

Roerden then proceeds to scrutinize diverse elements of the novel as character, scene, setting, action, image, description, detail and dialogue and how to make them more effective. Entire chapters are dedicated to dissecting twenty-four fiction writing skills such as hobbled hooks, perilous prologues, fatal flashbacks, bloody back-story, toxic transcripts, deceptive dreams, time elements, dastardly description, poisonous predictability, disappearing bodies, changing of venue, the usual suspects, rogues gallery, and loose ends. As an example of the tips Roerden hands out, let us look at "crazy time," where writers are advised to go beyond an initial scene-setting or weather report but to suggest time's passage throughout the story. Sensory details should be used to lend authenticity and depth to the story and accurately reflect its time span. Practical advice, such as entering every event in your story on an actual calendar, together with the whereabouts of each character, are likewise proffered that help writers organize their writing to achieve maximum effectiveness.

At the end of each chapter there are find and fix clues that point out what writers must watch for and correct in order to avoid rejection of their manuscripts. The concluding chapter contains information pertaining to a standard manuscript format as well as a comprehensive bibliography and suggested readings.

For a book rooted in the minutiae of effective writing, this book is surprisingly readable and well laid out. Roerden has over forty years experience as an editor, writer and teacher and Don't Murder Your Mystery: 24 Fiction-Writing Techniques To Save Your Manuscript From Turning Up D.O.A. was the recipient of the Agatha Award as the best non-fiction book in 2006.

Norm Goldman, Publisher & Editor Bookpleasures

If you're writing a book, read this book.......2007-05-21

This is a great book that tells you not how to present your book for sale, but how to avoid the newbie pitfalls that yank your book out of the reading pile and back into your return envelope. I am learning a lot.

It's Both Informative And Fun.......2007-04-03

This is a great book for any fiction writer. It describes the many pitfalls and perils of writing and does it with a wonderful sense of humor.

The Second Book You to purchase if you're serious about publishing your mystery.......2007-04-01

Ever since Don't Murder Your Mystery has come out, I have been telling wannabe mystery writers that this is the SECOND book they will want to purchase if they are serious about having their book being taken serious by either the New York Publishing World or all those small presses that seem to pop up across the country. These first time and novice writers always ask: Well, then what is the FIRST book I should read, and I tell them it can be any old How to Write Your Mystery-type book because you need to understand the structure of the story you are telling. But when you become serious about having an agent or an editor look at your masterpiece, you must use Chris Roerden's Don't Murder Your Mystery to EVEN GET A SHOT at being read, past the first page, by agency or by editor. This is how solid Don't Murder Your Mystery is. Gobs of information and filled with tricks of the trade, and pages and pages of examples and details no lecturer could possibly give you. Don't Murder Your Mystery will be on your reference shelf for the duration of your writing career and whenever you hit a snag, it will be the first book you pull off that shelf, but only after you have hit those difficult-to-take bumps in the road. Make this difficult process easier and pick up Chris' book from the get-go. It is like sitting at the feet of a master and trying to soak up all the wonderous knowledge that this woman knows.

Thrill Me to Death (The Bullet Catchers, Book 2)

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Enjoyable Read
Book #2 in the Bullet Catcher's
This bullet is gold!
Kept Me Reading!
Hot and Sexy thrill ride

Thrill Me to Death (The Bullet Catchers, Book 2)
Roxanne St. Claire
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 1416521852

Book Description

A hot-blooded bodyguard. An heiress worth a cool billion. And one dangerous attraction.... Roxanne St. Claire delivers a heart-pounding thrill ride in the second Bullet Catchers novel!

HE KNOWS ALL HER SECRETS...

Max Roper never lets emotion get in the way of his job -- not since the tragic shooting that killed his fiancée's father. Now the former DEA agent is a Bullet Catcher, and he's managed to block out Cori's bitter goodbye -- and their sizzling passion. Those dangerous desires come back with a vengeance when Max is assigned to protect a recently widowed heiress: who turns out to be Cori. But Max must also discover his ex's dark

secret...and they both know she can't hide anything from him.

...AND HOW TO USE THEM AGAINST HER

Her luxury lifestyle suggests that Cori has gone from being a trophy wife to a merry widow, but nothing could be further from the truth. Suspicious of her billionaire husband's sudden death, she hires a bodyguard. But her protector is the one man who can melt her every defense -- the one man she blames for her deepest sorrow, the one man whose six-feet four-inches of solid muscle ignites reckless passion in her. And as they close in on a killer who hides in plain view, their high-stakes affair could cost her everything...including her life.

Customer Reviews:

Enjoyable Read.......2007-07-01

The first thing readers should realize is that even though this book is second in the Bullet Catcher series, it is also a stand alone novel. Well written romantic suspense. The only reason it didn't get five stars from me was that there were not enough red herrings in the plot, making the reveal predictable in my opinion. Romance was plentiful though for readers looking for a little more sex in their novels than the typical Romantic suspense.

Max Roper is given a difficult assignment; be the bodyguard for his ex-fiance. He hasn't seen her since she ran away claiming he killed her father and she would never forgive him. Yet, she wasted no time in finding herself a new extemely wealthy husband, who just happened to have died three months earlier leaving her a sizeable fortune and a great deal of power. It's Max's job not only to protect her from whomever is trying to threaten her, but to find out if she killed her husband. The only problem is that he isn't sure if he can get her to confide in him without getting too close in the process and opening up a world of emotions locked to the past. Someone wants her out of the way. Will Max be able to protect her, or will she suffer the same fate as her father?

Is it worth buying?

Yes. Either as part of the series or just for someone wanting to read a good contemporary romance novel. Suspense is carefully strung out to pull the reader along. Just don't expect a surprise ending. Hope that helps a little with the decision.

Book #2 in the Bullet Catcher's.......2007-06-27

Wonderful read! Fast paced, starts right off and goes. Well written and edited. Sizzling romance. Gosh, the bigger and meaner they are, the bigger they fall. Glad these two got their lives back on tract. What a story. If you like bodyguard tough guys and girls that are not totally helpless, with action, thriller-type, mystery, drama and steamy scenes, you'll enjoy this easy to read book.

This bullet is gold!.......2007-03-09

When her father is killed in a DEA bust gone bad, a guilt ridden Cori blames her lover, DEA agent Max Roper and dumps him. Several years later, the two are reunited when Cori hires an elite bodyguard group to provide protection while she investigates the possible murder of her much older wealthy husband. No one is more surprised than Cori when she discovers that Max is the man who is sworn to protect her. But who will protect Cori's heart from the only man she's ever really loved, who's assigned to both protect her and determine if she had a role in her husband's murder?

Full of sizzling love scenes and great bantering between the two protagonists, St. Claire's second entry in the Bullet Catcher series has equal parts romance, intrigue, and sensuality to sustain the reader's attention and waiting impatiently for the next intallment in the series. But I could have done without the epilogue, which added nothing at all to the story (in fact, I found it detracted). Too many authors are using them to do nothing but plug their next book.

Kept Me Reading!.......2006-09-25

I'm not typically a romantic suspense fan, but this book wowed me! The characters are so easy to fall in love with, and the writing makes each scene easy to picture.

I look forward to the next installment of the Bullet Catchers series!

Hot and Sexy thrill ride.......2006-09-22

I loved it. Ms. St. Claire promises to Thrill You to Death and delivers. Max is a hero to die for. He could watch my back anytime.

A Wreath for Emmett Till (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards))

Average customer rating:

Form Over Content
Beautiful Poem
Ambitious but highly disapointing
From Sisters Nineties Literary Group Book Review Editor
Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL

A Wreath for Emmett Till (Boston Globe-Horn Book Honors (Awards))
Marilyn Nelson
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Law & Crime | Reference & Nonfiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0618397523

Book Description

In 1955, people all over the United States knew that Emmett Louis Till was a fourteen-year-old African American boy lynched for supposedly whistling at a white woman in Mississippi. The brutality of his murder, the open-casket funeral, and the acquittal of the men tried for the crime drew wide media attention. Award-winning poet Marilyn Nelson reminds us of the boy whose fate helped spark the civil rights movement. This martyr's wreath, woven from a little-known but sophisticated form of poetry, challenges us to speak out against modern-day injustices, to "speak what we see."

Customer Reviews:

Form Over Content.......2006-09-27

A fellow teacher is doing a unit on African-American lit and the Civil Rights Movement as a lead-in to Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird". "A Wreath for Emmett Till" was one of the books she shared with the class. I have perused it myself, still unsure whether I should actually purchase it or not. Two things other reviewers have mentioned that I too find appealing about the book are: 1)The sheer complexity of constructing a heroic crown of sonnets and 2)the historical backdrop of the events described. Unfortunately, these aspects have very little to do with the content of the poems themselves. Most of the information about Till is contained in the preface and afterword, not in the poems themselves. Likewise, others reviewers, like I, praise Nelson for giving a tour-de-force in making a heroic crown of sonnets (and her commentaries about the sonnets were enlightening), but to be honest, the poems themselves were not particularly outstanding. I would buy the book more as an example of the structure and form of poetry rather than as an example of good poetry (If that makes sense).

Beautiful Poem.......2006-05-31

This book is in the form of a Heroic Sonnet is a brilliantly written book. It is about giving a wreath to Emmett Till, a young child who was lynched after whistling at a white woman. Till, who normally lived in Chicago, was spending the time at his uncle for the summer. After whistling at a white woman, Briant, Milan and a third person kidnapped Emmett Till. Soon after the kidapping, they lynched him. Later in the Trial, Briant and Milan were found not guilty, though later, it was proven they were guilty. This book was brilliantly written into a heroic sonnet, each of the first lines stating: R.I.P. EMMETT L. TILL. It got me emotionally connected, displeased by the racism people had back then (i.e. allowing Briant and Millan the right to be not guilty just because Till was Black). This book was brilliantly written through the use of similies. It allowed you to invision the racism back then. The only comment I have against it is the World Trade Center reference, mentioning 9/11 hadn't happened yet. Other than that, A Wreath for Emmet Till by Marilyn Nelsen was an excellent work of poetry.

Ambitious but highly disapointing.......2006-04-27

This ambitious poetry book is based on a little known poetic style known as a crown of sonnets, used historically to honor great kings. In this unique book, author Marilyn Nelson tries to apply it to an ordinary kid named Emmett Till whose name became household when he was brutally lynched, and outrage over his murder fueled the early flames of the black civil rights movement.

Nelson is admirable to tackle such a brutal and tough subject matter, however admiration is not enough to cover the fact that her poems are often hard to follow due to the ridged style, in addition to being tangential and lacking in any strong dramatic or emotional punch. She writes about Till's murder as she would weave it into a floral wreath, and sometimes that leaves the reader bored and wondering why we should even care about Nelson's pretty flowers. Her stated goal is to write about Till but he rarely makes an actual appearance in these poems, and her attempt to tie his murder into a larger history of lynching is poorly executed. At one point she ties Till's murder to the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, which comes out extremely contrived and tacked on, since the events, issues, emotions, and circumstances are completely different. She expands considerable ink wishing he had never been killed, which although very admirable, doesn't give her much space to explore the national impact of his death or the good that grew out of his tragedy. In addition, her lengthy and complex notes at the end of the book are absolutely necessary to understand her many intellectual allusions and symbols. I could not imagine giving this book to anyone under 16 and having them get it at all - I'm finishing my undergrad in two weeks and I was overwhelmed. While the poems pick up pathos towards the end, it really is not enough to save the whole set.

The illustrations by Philippe Lardy are nice but unremarkable, and given the poignant and brutal subject matter they are severely disappointing. Many of them are simplistic and pretty paintings of flowers and birds that fit the wreath theme but entirely loose the tragedy and power of Till's death. Like Nelson's poems, you need the complex notes at the back of the book to understand the many symbols in the oft-abstract illustrations. Emmett Till himself is only shown once, and the artist attempts to make him look like an EveryChild (even to the point of giving him no real facial expressions) which makes him look generic and dull. The art shines best when it is the most simple, such as when it is a textured background for the text itself, with simple shapes instead of complex allegories. When the best thing you can say about the illustrations is that they make nice and non-imposing backgrounds, you know the art is in trouble.

A Wreath for Emmett Till asks the reader to "bear witness to the atrocity" and take responsibility for this murder in our collective memory, but otherwise is not a call to any action or awareness. Unfortunately what sticks in the memory is a book that falls short of its lofty goals.

From Sisters Nineties Literary Group Book Review Editor.......2005-08-18

A Wreath for Emmett Till is my first encounter with Marilyn Nelson; a bittersweet introduction. As a member of the Sisters~Nineties Literary Group, this book fascinates me as it is a beautiful example of poetic mastery. When our editor gives us a writing assignment for our publication, I grumble and protest, then I revel in the experience; delighting in the success of learning about the world of poetry and all its various forms. The "sankofet," created by Debra Morrowloving Sisters~Nineties founder, comes to mind as I read this book.*

Ms. Nelson's rhyme scheme is a fourteen-line sonnet on each page linking the previous poem with the next as the last line of the previous poem is the first line of the next poem on the following page. In the world of poetry, this is known as a "crown of sonnets."

Although written for children, I had to read the book twice to "feel" the horrible images that this book so beautifully captures. References to flower, plants, and trees are symbolic and make up the "wreath" for Emmett.
Please read this book and share the experience with your children. The incident is described as the motivating force of the Civil Rights Movement. It is also a wake-up call to all those who continue to live a life of apathy and denial when it comes to standing up for the legacy of the African American struggle.

*Sankofet is a poetic form of three stanzas, each with seven lines. The fourth line of each stanza is the same. The last word of each stanza is the first word of the subsequent verse, and the last line of a Sankofet is the first line in the poem. The format of the Sankofet emulates the call-and-response motif of Afrikan musical tradition with the repetition of the fourth lines. The connecting words at the beginning and end of the stanzas represent the Afrikan cycle of life concept.

Richie's Picks: A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL.......2005-05-22

I cannot recall if back in 1968 my eighth-grade American history teacher Mrs. Auryansen taught us about the death of Emmett Till. But one of the things I loved most about that year of studying with an enthusiastic teacher who often made American history come alive for me was the series of quarterly independent projects we had to plan and complete. Each marking period we would have to do an American history-related visual piece as well as a written piece and an oral piece.

"BY the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave-grass quiver,
Asleep are the ranks of the dead:
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment-day;
Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray."

That's the first of the seven verses of "The Blue and The Gray" by Francis Miles Finch (1827-1907). I memorized and proudly recited those seven verses to my American history class, and that memory has stuck with me.

Having just celebrated my personal half-century mark, I'm all for turning around and returning to eighth-grade. And if I could do so, this is what I would memorize this time around for one of my oral pieces:

"Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood,
my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years
by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears.
That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood
listening to small struggles to find food,
to the songs of creature life, which disappears
and comes again, to the music of the spheres.
Two hundred years of deaths I understood.
Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night,
shivering the deep silence of the stars.
A running boy, five men in close pursuit.
One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight.
Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars.
Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat."

That is one of the fifteen sonnets that comprises A WREATH FOR EMMETT TILL by Marilyn Nelson. After reading the book to myself and then reading it aloud to Shari, my thoughts kept wandering off yesterday to brainstorming how I might somehow set up an event down in the City on Sunday, August 28th--fifty years to the day since Emmett was kidnapped--in which someone who would both have known the Civil Rights movement and whose presence could attract a major audience (a Danny Glover or a Bill Russell or someone else of that stature) would read this powerful series of poems aloud to a crowd to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal death of Emmett Till, a death which horrified the world and made clear what had gone on for so long.

I can imagine having a choir and soloist perform at such an event, but definitely not a bunch of droning speakers whose verbosity might take away from the carefully chosen words of Marilyn Nelson's heroic crown of sonnets about Emmett Till. As Marilyn explains in her preface (HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS POEM):

"A crown of sonnets is a sequence of interlinked sonnets in which the last line of one becomes the first line, sometimes slightly altered, of the next. A heroic crown of sonnets is a sequence of fifteen interlocking sonnets, in which the last one is made up of the first lines of the preceeding fourteen."

Thus, it's like a literary crossword puzzle. Get one word wrong and it simply doesn't fit together. Get all the words exactly right and you've got something worthy of public performances by famous personalities and recitations by today's and tomorrow's American history students.

Marilyn Nelson got it right.

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