Average customer rating:
- "You are exactly how you were when we first met"
- The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
- Oh, that darn Opal
- Revenge is a dish best served cold
- great
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The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl, Book 4)
Eoin Colfer
Manufacturer: Miramax
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Colfer, Eoin | ( C ) | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Adventure & Thrillers | Literature & Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books
Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Teens | Subjects | Books
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The Eternity Code (Artemis Fowl, Book 3)
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The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
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The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl, Book 2)
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Artemis Fowl
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Artemis Fowl: The Criminal Mastermind
ASIN: 0786852895 |
Book Description
Criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl is back . . . and so is his brilliant and dangerous enemy, Opal Koboi. At the start of The Opal Deception, Artemis has no memory of the fairy people and has returned to his unlawful ways. In Berlin, he is preparing to steal a famous Impressionist painting from a German bank. He doesn't know that his old rival, Opal, has escaped from prison by cloning herself. She's left her double behind in jail and, now free, is exacting her revenge on all those who put her there, including Artemis.
Customer Reviews:
"You are exactly how you were when we first met".......2007-09-27
Colfer has been doing an impressive job with this series, with great character development, enthralling plots and full-speed action. This case is no different, except for the fact that the story turns a little darker, when compared to the previous three books. This is understandable, since it allows the author to get to the next level in the story, and that is exactly what he has done.
At the end of "The Eternity Code", the fairies wiped the minds of Artemis and his friends. One of the most relevant consequences from this decision was that the progress Artemis had made towards becoming a "better person" was halted. Now we find him going back to his old ways and planning heists with his faithful sidekick Butler. Meanwhile, something is going awfully awry in the fairy world. Opal Koboi, the mastermind behind the goblin uprising, is in a psych ward faking a catatonic condition. In reality, she is planning her revenge, which includes getting back at Captain Holly Short, Foaly the centaur, Commander Root, and of course, Artemis Fowl.
Holly is going through a tough patch. Even though she hated Artemis for a while, she had established a friendship with him, and now she feels she lost that. The fact that she is in line for a promotion does not help in the least, since this means a reduction in field missions and fewer trips to the world of the Mud Men. When Koboi starts striking back at those Holly loves, she needs to gather her wits and fight back, regardless of how insurmountable the odds look.
I am completely satisfied with the experience of reading the fourth book in this series. I think that Colfer is becoming even more proficient in using the unusual characters he has created for delivering some really fine humor. He really did kick it up a notch in this sense. If you enjoy characters with a healthy amount of sarcasm, then you have to be delighted by the passages dealing with Foaly and Mulch Diggums. The latter is one of my favorite characters in this series, and the things he does with his body usually crack me up.
If you have been following this series, I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed by this new installment. For those that are new to Artemis Fowl, my recommendation is to go back to Book 1 and read them in order. To finish, I'll just quote Colfer..."More to follow".
The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer.......2007-09-10
As usual our juvenile criminal genius is up to his neck in trouble. Another suspensful episode in the adventures of Artemis Fowl and his sometime opponent and colleague Holly Short.
Oh, that darn Opal.......2007-08-16
My little ones and I enjoyed reading the fourth installment of the Artemis Fowl series. Neat little series, lots of twists and turns. Artemis is a great imagination getter for the young-uns. My kids are already trying to build flying backpacks and super computers.
Opal is a great villain and almost as devious as Artemis himself. Almost.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.......2007-07-19
"Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception" is the fourth book in the Artemis Fowl series. It matches the previous three in terms of its humor and offers readers further adventures into another world. Yet some of the magic seems to be missing in this outing.
When we last left Artemis, he had just had his mind wiped of all knowledge about the fairy world, although he had left himself a trigger to recover those memories at some future time. With his mind wiped and his near-change of heart erased, he has returned to his old thieving ways. Meanwhile, in the fairy world, Opal Koboi is planning her return and her revenge on all of those who outwitted her (the story of the first book in the series). She makes short work of LEPrecon Captain Holly Short, now an outlaw from her own law, who must seek out Artemis Fowl as the only human who can stop Opal Koboi's plan from bringing the human and fairy worlds into conflict. But how can Artemis help Holly when he doesn't even remember her?
"The Opal Deception" is just as fast-paced as the previous three novels, with a narrative that weaves between various narrators and storylines until they converge at the conclusion. Eoin Colfer's imaginative characters are fantastically brought to life, but the story, while prolonging the life of the Artemis Fowl series, doesn't have as much pep and zip as the previous three.
great.......2007-06-26
This book was great! It was not the edition i expected but still has the same content. I read this 496 page book in one day easily. I would definatly recommend buying the lost colony with this book. I would STRONGLY suggest reading Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl: The Artic Incident, and Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code first.
Book Description
Simple songs and rhymes are an excellent way to familiarize young children with another language. Un, Deux, Trois, a collection of 25 traditional nursery rhymes, is a delightful way to introduce French. An illustrated vocabulary features simple words and phrases that are easy to learn and that can be used in games or everyday life. Children are encouraged to repeat the phrases and sing along with the rhymes, and the included CD lets them know how both should sound. The lively illustrations and amusing rhymes make learning a new language fun. A guide for parents translates more difficult phrases.
Customer Reviews:
Fun way to introduce French with sound & words.......2007-06-03
My one year old and I love listening to the CD that came with this book. Songs are sung by kids & adults. Each song has the words written out in the book too.
Fun French Rhymes.......2007-05-30
My 5 year old granddaughter and I had a delightful time repeating and reading along with this child's French Rhyme book and CD. By the end of it she could repeat 3 French words perfectly with a big grin on her face! She took the book out the following night for repeat reading and for dancing to the musique! :)
Not so great.......2007-05-26
The book is all french rhymes, riddles, a lot of nonsense and very difficult for young children. The CD is hard to listen to. I have it in the car for my daughters and it is too hard to follow.
If you want your kids to begin with french, the CD First Steps in French is wonderful. In a month my kids are singing in french.
C'est fantastique!.......2007-03-08
My one and a half year old enjoys this book and CD very much. It will be great when she gets older too because the rhymes are simple and they incorporate many things like numbers, body parts, days of the weeks etc...
I catch myself singing these songs throughout the day. It is a wonderful way to introduce French to your child. I highly recommend it.
A hit at our house!.......2007-02-13
We recently bought this and our boys (6y, 4y, and 2y) love it! It has lots of chanting which the boys love to repeat. The book is colorful and easy to follow along with. The current version came with a cd, not a cassette.
Book Description
The world standard is back by popular demand! This completely revised, updated and expanded version of Dr. Downing's 1992 Opal Identification and Value is a "must have" for all appraisers, opal buyers and opal lovers. Learn to properly identify opals from all over the world. Many new locations have been added along with new methodology to determine the characteristics that affect value, then determine price from updated value tables. Ascertain if the opal is a natural solid, boulder, doublet, triplet, dyed or lab-created. Be able to ask definitive questions when considering an opal. Learn what to look for in properly set jewelry. Become a confident buyer, seller or appraiser by distinguishing an ordinary opal from an outstanding one.
Customer Reviews:
Effective guide to opal evaluation.......2006-02-17
Downing's Opal Identification & Value provides a descriptive overview of opals, though it is short on technical data or gemmological information. The book emphasizes criteria for determining opal values, and here it performs a great service, because it lays out sensible-sounding and user-friendly guidelines. This book gives the reader an independent way to access the value of the opals offered in the marketplace, and helps her to make wise choices.
Best on How to Price an Opal.......2005-01-14
Even if you never intend to buy an opal, this book has much to offer a opal enthusiast, or those wanting an in depth knowledge of this gem. Other books will talk about differences in opal colors. Paul Downing will teach you to appreciate an opal's hue, tone, clarity, saturation and intensity. Lots of color pictures, as good as any other opal book, gives you the full range of the varieties of opals.
If you want a book to help you tell if an opal, especially a black opal, is offered for sale at a good price, then this is the book for you. There really is no competition. Because the author is an opal lover, student of the opal, and a trained economist, he is uniquely qualified to develop and present a systematic way to appraise opals. Amateurs need not be worried, you can easily do a quick estimate based on the book's method. Although the prices given in the book were developed in 2002, I find that they are still a good guide.
Yes, the book is a little on the pricey side. If you are going to spend more than about $200 on an opal, I think that the book is worth it. I have bought a number of other opal books. I should have saved my money. This one is all you need.
Customer Reviews:
An Odyssey in Nature .......2007-08-21
An incredibly beautiful journal written by a young child prodigy. It is lyrical and delightful. A wonderful book.
hoff Vs. beck.......2006-01-28
I'm a huge fan of Benjamin Hoff. Who is a spiritual writer that a guy like me (who doesn't keep "earth crystals" in pocket or wreak of Nag Champa) can get into. I could go on glowingly about the passion that Hoff applies while exploring his subject. I would be someone pointed out to me that Hoff had been discredited by Katherine Beck. So I'm kind of writing a dual review using Beck's book as a jumping off point.
Some facts about Beck's book:
1) Beck never really discredits Opal for writing the book when she claimed: she admits that:
a) Opal was incredibly bright as a teenager, bizzarely aware of the latin names of plants and animals. beck admits that by 15 or she was already a prodigy. But never attempts to explain how that related to possibly she could have been a brilliant writer as a child.
b) Beck claims in response to forensic information favorable to at least part of Opal's story, that Opal planned the hoax by saving old scraps of paper and crayons from her childhood for 10 or 15 years and moving with to multiple houses and states to write the diary, appearantly hedging against future forensic technology, then torn her work to shreds and left it in jeopardy in a place where it could have been destroyed just to really sell people on it's authenticity. Also as native of the Willamete Valley I've met people who can recreate her journeys, which would have been hard to fake from a distance. That's about as crazy as any claims Opal made about the book.
c) Beck gives examples of other child authors of the time who she feels were better writers, so why would be inconcievable to her that a substandard counterpart would exist? She doesn't even touch on it.
2) Beck doesn't like Opal at all, she doesn't like her writing, kind implies she was harlot and a racist, and worst of all for me personally; she's glib about Opal's crippling mental illness.
3) Beck seems affectionate for amatuer Opalites but seems to think people like Hoff and Nassif are nuts and paints Boulton as criminally Naive. She doesn't seem think Opal should be taught in schools, or at least thinks its screwball.
4) Beck takes no time to really examine the spiritual significance of the book, except to say she thinks it's pre-new age tripe. To Beck it was popular at the time because people were gulliable and if it's getting a comeback now it must be for the same reason.
Even being horder of Opal related history I got bored because reading someone's account of how much they dislike someone who was at worst kind of a liar and bad writer (remember it's not like Opal was dictator or anything) gets really, really tedious after about 50 pages. Also discrediting the most widely discredited author of the last 100 years is not an exciting read. I think the Seattle Times called it "Myopic" which it is, that and commendably thorough and also kind of spiteful. I've been trying to find people to disscuss the book with who aren't Opalites, who dispise Beck. I did talk to one guy who hates Opal and Opalites for very personal reasons but he was a little bored by the book and didn't finish it. The same man read Hoff and praised his writing but didn't see Opal's appeal.
Now, Hoff, by contrast, is over flowing with praise for Opal. Beck interestingly "uncovers" a fact printed in book. Hoff was in love Opal, or the concept of her. So we can't call him biased. He presents a rosy picture of the girl who obiviously had a darkside. At the same time I like Hoff because he comes to the most rational conclusion about the book: It was written by a highly functional abused little schitzophrenic girl, and likely futzed with later in her life. Opal is a tragic figure to anyone who sees beauty in her wierd prose and a non-sequitor for anyone who doesn't. Hoff isn't bias free but no one is biasless about Opal. Also his repackaging of the diary is in my opinion the definitive version. Hoff is a brilliant counterpart in the present day to Opal. Who is due for a looking over outside of the neigh-sayers and new-agers.
A Tender Heart.......2005-10-08
To say this is my favorite book of all time, my most treasured, the one I would grab in a housefire - that is just a beginning. Opal brings us into the innocence and wonder of childhood in a way that inspires us to reclaim that part of ourselves. There are haunting scenes that pull you to love her and precious glimpses into her imaginings that wake you up to the magic in life. As she trots around with critters in her pockets and on her shoulders with names inspired by the great writers, christens baby chicks in the barn and finds notes and ribbons left by the fairies in the woods, Opal delights us and opens our hearts to a more tender place.
Astounding literature.......2005-07-19
This book is the diary of a six-year-old girl named Opal Whiteley, who grew up in Oregon logging camps in the early 1900s. She loved nature and her writing style was inimitably beautiful.
Her diary was published first in 1920, but became the centre of a large controversy and was dismissed as a fraud. Mr Hoff discovered a copy of this book by chance in 1983, and was so fascinated by it that he spent years researching the life of Opal to determine the true story.
It most certainly is no fraud. Mr Hoff opens this book with a very well-researched, unbiased biography of Opal which proves beyond doubt that this really was her diary written at age six. He follows this up with the diary (or what exists of it), and ends with the tale of his story of trying to meet Opal personally.
The tone of the book, by the time you have read from beginning to end, is one of tragedy. However, like the lonely, brave tones of a bird chirping through the twilight its farewell to the setting sun and a day that shall never return, beauty sometimes IS bitter sweet; but the quiet love, the charming way Opal describes her surroundings, her pets, the people she meets, and the voices of the natural world which Opal understood so well balance out the sadness and make this book well worth reading and adding to your personal collection.
Opal's story is at once a sad commentary on the way one small hint of a rumour can snowball into the destruction of a person's life and a celebration of childhood and nature. It is mostly the latter.
This is a brief passage from the diary part of the book, to give you a sample of its simplistic yet profound loveliness.
"And all the times I was picking up potatoes, I did have conversations with them. Too, I did have thinks of all their growing days here in the ground, and all the things they did hear. Earth-voices are glad voices, and earth-songs come up from the ground through the plants; and in their flowering, and in the days before these days are come, they do tell the earth-songs to the wind. And the wind in her goings does whisper them to folks to print for other folks, so other folks do have knowing of earth's songs. When I grow up, I am going to write for children - and grownups that haven't grown up too much - all the earth-songs I now do hear."
Doesn't that just sound like such music?
Please read this book. Take it to heart.
And thank you, Mr Hoff, for your loving tribute to an amazing woman, and for the hard work you did to bring this masterpiece back into the public eye.
Will change the way you see your own surroundings.......2003-04-19
This beautiful, lyrical journal, written by a 6-year-old prodigy from the backwoods of Oregon, will have you gazing in wonder at fire hydrants and listening to the song of the subways. Opal has a direct relationship with every tree, horse, rat and blade of grass in her backyard, and is able to see every living thing as a gift from God.
The story behind the publication of the journal is a sad one, but the diary itself is timeless and transcendent. Opal may have died in obscurity but her lovely spirit lives on in her work.
Book Description
This is a revised edition of OPALS and part of the Fred Ward Gem Book Series. The lavishly illustrated all-color book continues in the quality tradition of the other gem eight books in the series. Opals from Australia, Mexico, the USA and other sites are included as are mining, processing, sales, and care. This is a compact, beautiful, and informative coverage of this fascinating gemstone.
Customer Reviews:
Intro to Opals.......2007-09-09
Informative book of the history of Opal mining in Australia. A useful guide for classifications, purchasing and overview for a lay person. Easy reading, but not quite enough depth to satisfy that "thirst for knowledge".
Close But It's Definitely Not Eckert's Opal Book..........2006-08-30
I have been lucky to have obtained both newer and older source books on Opals. This book is good - perhaps very good. But it is lacking in some areas. It doesn't really come close to Allan W. Eckert's "The World of Opals." Nor does it compare with Paul B. Downing's book, "Opal Identification & Value." I think you can find these on Amazon and possibly you may even come across Wilfred C. Eyles' "The Book of Opals." This one is a bit older (last printing was somewhere around the mid-70s). Honestly, I'm not about to say, "thumbs down," to Mr. Ward's book. I't certainly has a lot of attractive pictures and decent information. Please do not let your opal library be without Mr. Ward's book. However, I do think an opal book collector would first want to find some of the other books I've mentioned.
Great overview of opals.......2005-08-12
Not a "how to" book for lapidarists, this is instead an excellent review of the many types of opals. The photos of the opal specimens are superb. The author has visited the mines for many of the familiar opal varieties - Coober Pedy, Andamooka, etc, and adds important human interest in describing the outback towns and their colorful residents.
I learned a great deal from the discussion of the formation of these fascinating gemstones. A must have for either the already addicted opal fancier, or those just curious about the stones they've longed for at jeweler's displays.
Next Best Thing to a Trip to the Mines . . .......2005-01-14
I liked the description of the miners and their culture at Lighting Ridge. But if you want information on how to select and price an opal, especially a black opal, you need Paul Downing's Opal Identification & Value.
All the facts and more..........2003-06-19
This slim little book taught me more about opals than rummaging around in the opal stores and book stores of Sydney ever did... Fred and Charlotte have managed to add lots of juicy information about opals - how they are made, history, cutting, what makes them special etc and present it in a very easy to read manner. A great book to give anyone an indepth knowledge of opals!
Book Description
A lively and irresistible first novel about an overachieving teenage girl who discovers that, in order to get into the college of her dreams, she needs to have more fun. Since Opal's birth, the Mehtas have raised their only daughter with one goal in mind: to get into Harvard. They even concocted a rigorous game plan they called HOWGIH--How Opal Will Get Into Harvard. There were flowcharts, diagrams, and endless lists to track her progress. At 16, Opal is her high school's valedictorian, president of three honor societies, and first chair in the regional orchestra. She even took welding classes to appear well-rounded. Her admission to Harvard looks like a sure thing. But at Opal's interview with Harvard's Dean of Admissions, he sets aside her impressive resume and asks the one question she never saw coming: What do you like to do for fun? Opal flubs the interview, but the Dean offers her another chance--if she can show that she is more than her GPA. Opal and her parents respond to this setback with the same rigor, calculation, and focus they applied to creating the perfect academic resume, and design a whole new plan: HOWGAL--How Opal Will Get A Life. The Mehtas excel at anything they set their mind to, and Opal's calculated rise on her high school's social ladder--full of pop-culture cramfests, fashion makeovers, and a semester of nonstop partying--leaves Opal impossibly popular…and very confused. For the first time in her life, Opal finds herself asking two fundamental questions, "Who am I, and what do I love to do?" In this brilliant and outrageously funny debut novel, Opal's journey is a delight from the first page to the last.
Customer Reviews:
why was this book even written?.......2007-08-05
I read this book and intended to base my review on its contents alone, not the controversy. That's been played out enough.
I completely expected to hate it, but I didn't. I didn't particularly love it either. There were so many things in this book that were either improbable, impossible or bore a resemblence to every piece of teen lit/chick lit ever written. It was exactly like Mean Girls, except not as clever.
I haven't been a teenager for a while now, but none of it really rang true. How did Opal get so smart with all of fashion labels all of the sudden? And the ones she wears, like Moschino, are not ones girls her age would wear. Or even know about. Some of the other ones just seem really adult and not something a high school senior whould wear.
The dialogues were kind of stupid, contrived and sounded unnatural. It played into so many stereotypes. The popular girls are always bitches, the nerds are always nice and college is this great heaven away from high school. I found when I went to college, it really started getting complicated, but that wasn't the message in this book.
The only thing I liked were Opal's interactions with Sean. Those seemed like the most truthful. It seemed like there was a good book in there somewhere, struggling to get out.
I get it two stars because she at least tried. I could have easily gone off on her for the plagarizing, but like I said, that's already been done. Plagarism or not, I found this book contrived, unoriginal and horribly cliched.
Indian Version of 'Mean Girls'.......2007-07-07
This book reminded me so much of the movie 'Mean Girls' The popular girls are the Haute Bitchez instead of the Plastics and the main plot being the whole climbing up the social ladder, only to come falling down. Some parts of the book made me cringe as I read them, especially when the parents were involved in Opal's college aspirations and how ridicule far they were willing to go to get her into Harvard.
However, some parts of the novel made me reflect on my own life as a Indian-American college student--whose parents just like Opal's have tried to live their lives vicariously through me. I really enjoyed the chapter when she visits Harvard and that feeling of college being the stepping stone into a whole new world. I remember feeling the same exact things during my freshman year as I met new and exciting people who I had never had contact before.
To keep things short, if your parents have ever tried to force you to do anything (college, marriage, life in general) you should read this book. Who knows, it may give you a new perspective on things.
Unfairly maligned........2007-05-12
Kaavya Viswanathan, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life (Little, Brown, 2006)
Everyone remembers (at least, I hope you do-- it wasn't all that long ago) the Kaavya Viswanathan scandal, in which the entire literary world destroyed the reputation of a first-time author because a few sentences in a three-hundred-plus-page novel bore a good deal of similarity to a few sentences from another novel written by someone else. If nothing else, at least it taught the world how to spell "Kaavya Viswanathan." Otherwise, it's really too bad, because for chick lit, this really isn't too bad a book. I've read a bunch of chick lit-- certainly more than the quota for the average American male. And no one's ever going to mistake Opal Mehta for Eudora Welty (or, for that matter, William Faulkner), but this is as good an example of the genre as you're likely to find. For one thing, its protagonist is not obsessed with (and, perhaps, has never even heard the name of) Manolo Blahnik.
In fact, the protagonist knows nothing about fashion. Or culture. Or anything, really, except academics and welding. (Welding? Yes, welding.) She's a single-minded, driven straight-A student whose entire lifetime goal has been to get into Harvard. Well, anyway, that's the goal her parents have set for her, and she's just kind of followed along. But when her early-admission interview goes disastrously because she has no life outside academics, her parents devise a new plan: get Opal a life. Of course, this is related to the old plan of getting her into Harvard, but still, it's a pretty radical redefinition. And because of it, Opal starts to question not only her own motives, but those of everyone around her.
I get the feeling that those who have been trashing the novel on Amazon, usually with one-liners, fall into two camps: those who haven't read it and are shocked (shocked, I tell you!) at the fact that one writer would [...] another (I'm assuming you've all heard of Virgil, yes?), and those who managed to get all the way through high school without ever being embarrassed by their parents. To the latter camp, I salute you. (The former, I just scrape you off my shoe.) The rest of us, however, can identify all too well. Viswanathan has given us a good, solid character roster here, at least for her main characters. She even throws in a curve ball by having the leader of the popular clique at school not be a two-dimensional airhead. And you know what? You can't [...] characterization. You can try, but everything you didn't [...] won't hold up on its own. Kaavya Viswanathan has talent. And once the world has gotten over this ludicrous idea of "intellectual property," hopefully people will realize that. *** ½
Fun and easy read.......2007-03-06
While I will admit that this isn't the most intellectual book, it was funny, entertaining, and catchy. Those of you who like chick lit fashion books will enjoy this; those who don't, you shouldn't read it anyway!
Not That Bad.......2007-03-02
Yes, this book is getting slammed becuase of its alleged plagiarism, but come on. It wasn't that much. I love Megan McCafferty, but hers and Viswanathan's books AREN'T that alike. The plots are completely different. Although the book wasn't brilliantly written, it was funny and entertaining. So I give Kaavya credit for creating a fun story, even if some of the material wasn't hers. And she's only seventeen years old--she's got years ahead of her to improve and make a comeback if she truly wants to continue writing. Check this book out if you are a teenager and you want to have a fun, fluffy read.
Book Description
How and where opal is mined, its history and its lore. Grab your suitcase...we're going to Australia. Pack your love of opals and your sense of adventure. Get ready to bump over dirt roads. Climb down long ladders. Find opal...not find opal. The complete story of opal.
Customer Reviews:
Opal Adventures.......2007-03-22
Great book to learn about Opal. The author will hook you with his infectious passion for this amazing stone. Extensive details about his adventures searching for Opal and the many friends he met along the way. Much of the setting for the book and so many of the stories are set in Austrailia as the book brings you up to date on much of the history of Opal right up until the late 1980's. I recommend it as a great introduction to anyone looking to learn more about Opal and why so many are fascinated by this precious stone.
Chatty but very enjoyable.......2003-06-19
After reading lots of book written by journalists, I was almost floored by the impersonal way this book was written. At first, I was a little reserved, thinking it read more like a letter than a book, but in the end, Downings love for opals - and the enormous amount of information and entertaining stories in this book just suck you in and win you over!
There is no doubt Downing knows his stuff when it comes to opals. In this book, Downing starts by giving a bit of history about opals (prompted wisely by his wife, Bobbi), before delving into his adventures in the Australian outback. In fact, that would probably be the only complaint about this book - it focuses (apart from the history) exclusively on Australia and there is a smidgin of opal mining done in other parts of the world (Mexico, Nevada, Central Europe...).
However, that aside, Downing coveres the journey from beginning to end with opal - from getting down with miners, cutting, valuing and selling opals. And all of this 'insider' information is wrapped up in entertaining stories written by someone who has clearly fallen head over heels for opals and made a life-long commitment to this beautiful gem. What makes the book even more interesting is its a snap shot of Australia, before sealed roads connected the major tourist destinations of Australia
Well worth the read if you are even remotely interested in opals or thinking of visiting Australia for opals. You will learn more reading this book than anyone out there is probably going to be able to tell you.
nice little book.......1999-12-09
good stories about the author traveling around searching for, buying, cutting, and enjoying opals. very nice color pictures. I not only liked the adventure stories, but learned about the history of mining, value of opals, and different kinds of opals. It's a great book if you have a casual interest. By the time you read this, you will probably want to own an opal if you don't already.
Book Description
Within these pages you will successfully learn to cut Opal, step-by-step at your own pace. You will discover how to: Cut your first opal, Orient the color, Cut standard sizes, Make doublets and triplets, Treat matrix opal, Cut Lightning Ridge black, Mexican and Boulder opal, buy rough and much more.
Customer Reviews:
This is the book you want.......2004-04-03
if the title interests you. Though it's a short book and could be read in an evening, it is jam-packed with all the information a newbie would want. I certainly did. And, am re-reading it. I can hardly wait to get the advanced opal cutting book.
GREAT INFORMATION FOR BEGINNERS!.......2001-02-11
I'm new to working with precious opals and this book helped me immensely. It has great step-by-step "how to's" for the novis opal cutter. Great addition to your "how to" books!
Opal information at its best, everything you need to know!!!.......2000-10-15
Paul Downing does a wonderful job of explaining everything you need to know about OPALS. From the simplest "which bulb to use for orientation" to "How to Fix Cracks". The title says it all. Anyone that owns this book can cut a fabulous opal. Information for identifying which way to cut, how to treat and maintain the best fire. Comprehensive charts for sanding grits and polishes. Guidelines for thickness of opals of various sizes. He scoffs at the horror stories and makes identifing and cutting opals so simple. Easy step by step in detail description and graphs to make a masterpiece. Anyone could master the art of opal cutting with this book. Keeps the best fire to be awed instead of in the drain pan. This is a wonderful, must have for anyone interested in opal crafting. "Better to be OPAL LOVER rather than HAIRY LEDTHUMB'S"
Average customer rating:
- Nicely Done
- Easy style but disappointed
- Not as good as the first 2
- Opal's not as good as the first 2
- Opal is great
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Opal (Dakotah Treasures #3)
Lauraine Snelling
Manufacturer: Bethany House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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Pearl (Dakotah Treasures #2)
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Amethyst (Dakotah Treasures #4)
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Ruby (Dakotah Treasures #1)
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Blessing in Disguise (Red River of the North #6)
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Daughter of Twin Oaks (A Secret Refuge Series #1)
ASIN: 0764222201
Release Date: 2005-01-01 |
Book Description
Book 3 in the bestselling Dakotah Treasures series. Dove House has burned to the ground, Ruby and Rand have married, and now Rand's ranch is home for them all. Ruby's younger sister, Opal, is taking to ranch life like a hummingbird to sugar water. She can outshoot, outride, and work as hard as any cowboy on the place. Ranching has clearly stolen her heart. When a young minister arrives from the East, he is amazed to find himself falling in love with Opal, even though she is not a woman anyone would think of as a pastor's wife. But when God takes hold of a heart, He can work amazing miracles, and Jacob Chandler just might be the one to eventually woo her away from the ranch.
Customer Reviews:
Nicely Done.......2007-01-07
Personnally i really enjoyed this book every bit as much as the first two. i love the ranch setting and Opal being an outdoors person rather than an indoor one like Ruby and Pearl, it gives it its own style thats different from the first two. and i also like that opal is younger, only 14, where the other 2 were already in their twenties. I like all of the challenges she has to face as a youg person and how her character is developped by what happens and how she learns. though why Atticus had to treat her that way i don't know, pride maybe. I love this book and cannot wait to read the next one.
Easy style but disappointed.......2006-03-26
Although I enjoyed the writer's style, and the subject matter, I was let down by the way it left me. I would read more of Snelling's books, however.
Not as good as the first 2.......2006-01-19
I really enjoyed the first 2 books in this series. As Opal started out, I enjoyed it, as well. However, as I got into it, I felt that it dragged. I've been reading it an unheard-of amount of time...a week and a half! and have yet to finish it. Ms. Snelling is a very descriptive author. This is not a bad thing; however, I got a little weary of the cattle drive descriptions. Also, Ruby and Rand's little son, Per, got kind of old. I realize that he should be in the story, because it is exciting that Ruby had a baby. But, his actions would be much cuter in person than written on just about every page of the book. I got tired of his repeating everything the characters said in his baby talk. Then, too, I'm ready for Opal to quit blaming herself for every bad thing that happens or might happen. Ruby finally got over her unforgiveness for Jake, but now we have to deal with Opal's guilt about Atticus...who, I don't know why he treated her the way he did. Hopefully, things will be resolved at the end of this book, but I may never know. I am not one to leave any part of a series unread, but as hard as I have tried, I just can't seem to finish it. Maybe Amethyst will be better, and I will able to catch up on the last 100 pages of Opal in it.
Opal's not as good as the first 2.......2005-12-08
I felt like this book was sort of choppy. It completely skips Belle's reaction to Dove House burning down, which I thought would be great to see. With all of the different stories that kind of seem to pop out of nowhere, the book seemed more difficult to read. The preacher and his son were kind of interesting, but I didn't think a man that age should be interested in any way with a fourteen year old, even if he thought her a bit older. I do like that Ruby and Rand have a strong faith and show it constantly. I just felt like this book was missing what the first two had.
Opal is great.......2005-10-20
I am so glad that the author wrote this bok. It was really wonderful. I love Opals attude. I think that Ruby should really lighten up. I mean really she is in a bad mode all the time. I can't wait to buy the next book in the series.
Book Description
A lyrical, lovely, and deeply touching adaptation of an authentic journal kept by an orphaned six-year-old girl--later believed to be a French princess--living in an Oregon lumber camp at the turn of the century.
24 black-and-white photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Not the original.......2005-07-25
It is important to understand that this is an adaptation. It is not identical with the original text published in 1920. This version has been abbreviated and rearranged.
See Benjamin Hoff's version.......2004-12-12
This is a presentation of a portion of the childhood diary of Opal Whitely. Included is introductory material in which it is accepted that Opal's explanation of her Bourbon geneology may be valid. Larry Looney's excellent review describes this version of events. Opal believed that she had been of royal Bourbon birth, then orphaned and adopted by a rustic family of Oregonians.
Opal's unflattering portray of her "wicked stepmother" and her assertion that she was a surviving Bourbon caused quite a stir back in her hometown. It was pointed out that the girl looked like her rustic Oregonian kinfolk. People always wondered if the diary was too good to be true. Now the cry of "Fraud!" was voiced across the land.
Hoff seems to be getting to the bottom of things as he declares it highly unlikely that Opal Whitely secured outdated crayons and paper types to write a childhood diary upon, which she then tore into thousands of pieces and then reassembled. He also thinks it highly unlikely that she was an heir to the Bourbon dynasty. Rather, Opal was different and misunderstood. "Melancholy" ran in her mother's family, and her mother was harsh with her, fostering Opal's development of a rich imaginary life.
Even if the journal was written by a committee appointed by the Pope with assistance from Goebbels it's the most beautiful thing you could ever read. People say no child could write that. I say no adult could.
I prefer Benjamin Hoff's version, though. I find his understanding of the author more penetrating. Opal was special. Under different circumstances, who knows what kind of life she could have lived. It is hard to believe it would have been ordinary.
Making the everyday sacred.......2004-09-27
I read a quotation from this book long ago and knew I had to track it down. Little Opal is alive to everything, and she turns everything she experiences into a hymn to life. When I feel the mundane pressing down on me, I pick up this book and feel my heart lighten.
Is the book "authentic"? Was it really written by a lonely little girl out in the wilds on scraps of whatever paper came to hand. Frankly, I don't think it much matters. What matters is the creation of a spiritual tool which will endure and enchant.
Does changing the format of the original printing matter? I think that presenting Opal's writings as poetry serve them much better than as a flat prose rendition. If one really wished to represent the work accurately, it would have to be recreated as an exact copy of all those hundreds of little pieces of paper on which Opal wrote her words. The poetic treatment is very satisfactory to me, and I think most readers will also find it so.
Regarding the authenticity of Opal's diary..........2003-04-16
Re: the reader review that said "This book's authenticity is in question..."
I refer you to the exhaustive research that Benjamin Hoff conducted and later decribed in his introduction to The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow that argues very convincingly for the diary's authenticity, and disproves and discredits her detractors.
Opal was the real deal, and a true genius.
This book's authenticity is in question........2002-01-07
Take a look at the Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, for January 6, 2002. An article recommending Opal to Northwestern readers also questions the authenticity of the allegedly precocious young Opal. Apparently, she turned up in Los Angeles without a diary or notes; two years later, a box of diary notes with a surprisingly literary, sophisticated mentality arrived at the publisher's. So: the book may be good, but it may have been written by the adult Opal as she was on the verge of mental illness.
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