To Play the Fool. Laurie R. King

To Play the Fool is the second of a series of mystery novels by Laurie King that feature the San Francisco homicide detective Kate Martinelli. The first book, A Grave Talent, was an Edgar Award winner.

This book picks up about a year after the first, and finds Martinelli and her partner Al Hawken investigating the death of a homeless man in Golden Gate Park. There are no witnesses or evidence, but an enigmatic old man called Brother Erasmus who speaks only in quotations becomes a prime suspect. Quickly the story changes from a homicide investigation to an attempt to find out about the mysterious Erasmus, who is either a saintly fool or mentally ill.

Laurie King is in her element as the scholarly street person quotes from the Bible and Shakespeare to answer all questions, leaving the two worldly detectives to puzzle over his meaning. Either he killed the man, or he knows who did. They must find a way to make him talk in a way that will make sense to the legal system to solve the crime.

As with A Grave Talent, King creates wonderfully complex characters that draw the reader into the story. Also her plot is sufficiently complex to keep you guessing. I fell in love with the kindly Brother Erasmus and the people who were drawn to him. A delightful story that is well told.

The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue. Robert Klein

The Amorous Busboy of Decatur Avenue is Robert Klein's memoirs of growing up in the Bronx in the 1950s. Born in 1942, Klein writes affectionately of the basic influences of his youth during the years 1951 to 1966. Each chapter begins with a picture of Klein during the period discussed.

His parents were children of immigrant Jews who were "careful, cautious, wary people" and passed on their concerns to Klein and his sister. His bedroom was a Castro convertable ottoman in the living room of their small 6th floor apartment.

The first four chapters cover his life in junior high and high school in the Bronx. Having grown up in the Bronx myself during this time, I found these very well written and full of delightful details.

The next five chapters are about his life at Alfred University in rural upstate New York. Here he confronts anti-Semitism and develops a love of acting and comedy. He also works summers in the Catskill Mountain resorts made famous in the movie Dirty Dancing. He is no Patrick Swayze, and his amorous nature is mostly unfulfilled.

The last six chapters tell the story of his breaking into show business. His first success in Chicago's Second City and his friendship with Rodney Dangerfield are highlights of this section.

One of the recurring themes of the work is his sexual relations over time. Beginning with his losing his virginity to a 112th Street prostitute, Klein reminisces about the women in his life and the sexual and sometimes loving relations he had with them. Although he is not very graphic in his descriptions, this male oriented portrayal of sex in the 50s and early 60s may seem insensitive by modern standards. Yet it is his very honesty at representing the male attitudes of the time that makes this aspect of the book especially interesting. He says he writes "not to titillate but to communicate the excitement that sex held for me and its importance in my life." This was a time of great changes in sexual attitudes and his depictions of his and his friends' sexual interests over these 16 years shows how radical the change was.

All in all this is a wonderful memoir of New York life in the 1950s. It is also an insightful portrayal of college life at the time, especially in an era when Jews were still being discriminated against in fraternities and other aspects of academia. Lastly, Klein does a great job of describing his beginning career as an actor. How he learned his craft, the problems he faced, and the people he knew are all well represented.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife. Mary Roach

Spook provides a light-hearted look at the current status of research into the existence and survivability of the soul. Mary Roach calls it "a book for people who would like very much to believe in a soul and in an afterlife for it to hang around in, but who have trouble accepting these things on faith." At the end of the book, she admits that she began this project "from a state of near absolute ignorance." This is one of the book's most endearing features, since the reader gets a glimpse of how Ms. Roach goes about researching a topic.

The book does not end up with a definitive answer. If science had proof for or against the afterlife, it would have been big news. So this is an exploration of the current state of the research. The author claims that she does not approach the topic as a debunking skeptic, but she does throw in a lot of humorous asides in an attempt to amuse as well as explore.

Chapter One, "You Again," is about reincarnation. Ms. Roach goes to India for a week to visit Kirti S. Rawat, director of the International Center for Survival. Her purpose is to accompany him as he examines a claimed case of reincarnation. She meets the child, his family, and the family of the deceased man that the child claims to be. She also runs into cultural differences in a society where many people believe in reincarnation and don't need scientific proof.

The second chapter is a historic discussion on past research by people who believed there was a soul. Questions such as whether the soul came from the sperm or the ovum, or whether it entered the fetus at some point in its development are reviewed. Also looked at are those who searched for the exact bodily organ that contained soul.

"How to Weigh a Soul" is the third chapter. It explores the research done to see if the soul has weight. If so, can a drop in weight at death be proof of the existence of the soul leaving? The famous experiment by Duncan Macdougall that determined the soul weighs 21 grams is reviewed as well as other more recent attempts. The fourth chapter goes on to look at the attempts to photograph or capture an image of the soul as it leaves the body.

The next couple of chapters delve into the claims of mediums who say they can establish communication with departed spirits. Chapter 5 is a history of the attempts by mediums to produce ectoplasm, a physical manifestation of spirit energy. Chapter 6 then goes on to look at current research with gifted mediums at the VERITAS Research Program of the University of Arizona conducted by Gary Schwartz. This is followed by the author taking a Fundamentals of Mediumship course at Arthur Findlay College in England.

Chapter 8 "Can You Hear Me Now?" looks into attempts to use technology to establish communication with dead souls. EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) on tape recorders and radio static is the current trend, but Ms. Roach also looks into the history of this field.

Chapter 9 begins a section where Ms. Roach looks to see if physical phenomena, rather than spirits, may cause the feelings of contact with the beyond. First she visits Dr. Michael Persinger at the Consciousness Research Lab at Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario. He is studying the ability of complex electromagnetic fields to produce hallucinations that might resemble contact with the dead. Chapter 10 looks into whether low frequency sound waves (10 - 20 hertz) could do the same thing. Ms. Roach visits Vic Tandy who teaches at Coventry University whose research is in this area.

Chapter 11 is my personal favorite. It deals with a 1925 North Carolina ghost who appeared to his son to tell him where to find the most recent version of his will. The case went to court and the new will was accepted by the family. Both the old and new wills were on file in the courthouse, and Ms. Roach brings in the president of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners. Although the family decided to accept the new will, it turns out to be a poor quality forgery. Yet the story of family intrigue is so interesting that the chapter left me wanting someone to write more about this case.

The last chapter looks into what Mary Roach feels is the most promising of the current research to prove the existence of the soul. Based on the reports of people who have had Near Death Experiences (NDEs) who claim they felt themselves rising out of their bodies and looking down on the room they are in, this research places an object that can only be seen from the ceiling in rooms where people might possibly experience an NDE. Interviews are then conducted to see if they experienced an NDE and saw the object. This research is being conducted by Bruce Greyson at the University of Virginia.

The books ends with a 13 page bibliography that goes chapter by chapter through the resources Mary Roach used for the book. Some may criticize her for attempting to write such a book without being an expert in the field. I find that her newness to the topic gives her a fresh unbiased perspective. However, I feel that she attempts to cover her inexperience with humor that sometimes detracts from the work. If you can endure the jokes, the information provided is well presented.

The Living House of Oz. Edward Einhorn with illustrations by Eric Shanower

The Living House of Oz is Edward Einhorn's second collaboration with Eric Shanower on an Oz novel. The first, Paradox in Oz, was critically aclaimed, and took Ozma, the fairy ruler of Oz, on a rollercoaster ride through time into an alternative Oz where good and evil characters were reversed.

The Living House of Oz has the classic structure of an Oz novel: a young child coming of age visits Oz and, through his adventures and interactions with the good people of Oz, he matures and overcomes a crisis. In this case Buddy and his sorceress mom have fled to Oz to find safety, but have to hide because his mother uses illegal magic to protect him from danger. When she is discovered and brought to Ozma, all Oz is threatened by her enemies.

Although the structure is traditional, Einhorn brings it new life with his examination of the two themes of Nature vs. Nurture and the Role of Law in a Just Society. Einhorn's delightfully eccentric characters, like the living hat stand called the Earl of Haberdashery and the tuneful flying piccolo Flutefly, lend the work a joyful and humorous presence that is brought to life by Shanower's beautiful illustrations. His color cover and endpapers and the black and white drawings throughout the book show that he is still the best living artist of Oz themes. Einhorn has shown himself to be a master of the genre by skillfully weaving in, not only themes from his previous novel, but also from two of L. Frank Baum's original series: The Emerald City of Oz and Glinda of Oz. Together Einhorn and Shanower are the best Oz Historians since the original team of Baum and Neill. They capture the essence of Oz as Baum and Neill imagined it and keep its timeless character, while presenting a sensibility that can be understood by a modern audience.

The Red Tent. Anita Diamant

Based on the second half of Genesis in the Old Testament Bible, The Red Tent tells the story of Jacob, his four wives, 12 sons, and one daughter from the women's point of view. It is a fictional life story of Jacob's daughter Dinah, whose name only appears in the Bible 9 times, with 7 of those in chapter 34 of Genesis.

Told in the first person, Dinah starts with how Jacob came to her family and married her mother Leah and her aunt Rachel. The red tent of the title is the place to which the adult women retreat during the new moon when they are menstruating, and is the place where the women's traditions and stories are passed on. Month after month Dinah, and we the readers, slowly learn the structure of this early tribal culture that will eventually become the Jewish people.

Unlike the Genesis version, this is a strongly matriarchal story, and the activities and visions of Jacob and his 12 sons are just background to the childrearing, farming, cooking, spirituality, and crafts traditions of the women of this time. Especially strong are the birthing traditions because Dinah is portrayed as a midwife.

Anita Diamant does a wonderful job of revealing the culture and setting through the words of someone of the time. Dinah is telling the story and it is not until the very end that we discover her intended audience. This is a well-crafted glimpse into the struggles and joys of ancient tribal women of the Middle East.

Vox. Nicholson Baker

Back in 1993, before Internet erotic chatrooms, Jim and Abby meet through an erotic phone chat service and begin a conversation that becomes the text of this novel. Devoting a whole novel to one erotic phone call allows the author to develop his characters better than your average pay-by-the-minute erotic service would normally allow. Cost becomes no object to these two people a continent apart as they explore their fantasies with each other. While the conversation doesn't maintain a high level of stimulation throughout, there are exciting moments. Overall, a good light work with exciting episodes and a climactic ending.

Nog's Vision. Brian P. Hall

Nog's Vision is subtitled A Fantasy Journey into Laughter, Dreams & Self-Respect for Pricklies & Would Be Non-Pricklies Young & Old. It is a parable illustrated with line drawings by Donna Griffin that is suitable for all ages.

Into a world called Prickle City, where everyone is defined by their function, a laughing visionary dreamer named Nog is born. The people don't know what to do with this misfit until Nog shares his dreams with them. The dream transforms the people of Prickle City.

It is the author's hope that it will transform you too, Gentle Reader. So if you are seeking a positive vision of self esteem and inner worth, this may be the book for you. Make Nog's Vision your own.

In Cold Blood. Truman Capote

On November 15, 1959 Perry Smith and Dick Hickock broke into a rural Kansas farmhouse where they bound and gagged the four people they found there: Herb and Bonnie Clutter, and their teenage children Kenyon and Nancy. They took about $40, a small radio and a pair of binoculars. When they left, the Clutters were all dead of shotgun blasts to their heads.

In Cold Blood tells the story of the events leading up to the murder and those following it in a straightforward chronological manner. The Clutters were highly respected members of the small town of Holcombe and their deaths came as a big shock. The murderer's thought they left no clues and had committed a perfect crime. The book treats murdered and murderers with a similar respect for their basic humanity. Although a terrible crime was committed the author is able to present all sides of the story.

Truman Capote truly immersed himself in the community and in the lives of the criminals to provide as much detail as could be found. This is a classic work that is well crafted and thought provoking. Sadly, it also was the last major work of the author.

In Search of the Divine Mother: The Mystery of Mother Meera - Encountering a Contemporary Mystic. Martin Goodman

In Search of the Divine Mother by Martin Goodman is a very human attempt to understand the mystery of the incarnation of the Divine. Christians claim this mystery to explain how Jesus, a man born of woman, was also the Christ: God come to Earth to redeem humans of sin. The gospels of the New Testament are the Christian story of how this happened 2,000 years ago. Mr. Goodman took as his starting point Mother Meera, a woman born in 1960 in the Andhra Pradesh region of India who claims to be an avatar (or incarnation) of the Hindu goddess the Divine Mother.

The book is in three parts. In the first part, "A Journey into Devotion" we learn how Goodman and others receive "darshan" (being in the presence of God) from Mother Meera in her home in the small German village of Thalheim where she has lived since 1985. "Her darshan consists of a ritual, where she will touch a person's head, and then look into his eyes. During this process, she reportedly 'unties knots' in the person's subtle system and permeates him with light. She doesn't charge any money for doing so and she will not give lectures." -- WIKIPEDIA.

The second and main part of the book is called "The Life Story." Goodman was encouraged by Mother Meera and her followers to go to India and to write a book about her life. They gave him a list of contacts and he went. He interviewed these people and others who knew Mother Meera, Venkat Reddy, the uncle who discovered her, and Adilakshmi, her devoted friend and follower. Among those he interviewed were Mr. Reddy's family, whom he left to pursue his devotion to the child-god he had found among them. Here Goodman explores the question of how the Divine manifests itelf in the human. Does the human know of their divinity from birth? How does their divinity manifest itself on the material plane? How does a very human creature respond to their divine nature? How do others, who have no knowledge of the Divine, interpret the divine spark in someone they know? These are difficult questions that are not easily answered in the limited vocabulary of human discourse. Goodman makes a valiant attempt yet, as with all writing, we see more of the author than what he is trying to describe.

The third part "A Journey into Life" tells of his attempts to get his words published. Mother Meera and Adilakshmi ask him to delete his first draft and he complies. He struggles with his decision and, in anger, writes a second draft which is also never published. The book we have is a later draft and this last chapter is his attempt to come to terms with his contact with the Divine. He sums up by saying: "Mother Meera gives powerful spiritual transmission that helps people bud into the fullness of life.... I have met a power that comes from Mother Meera, and it has transformed my life. It did not come from her words but from within the silence of her public meetings. ... It is wonderful to know her through her silence alone." He sees her as "a superb channel" of the Divine, that the Divine energy flows through her human form to those who approach her. Yet he seems to be saying that she maintains human form and does not transcend it.

Goodman's devotion to Mother Meera helped him to come to terms with his own homosexuality, something that was also stated by her first biographer Andrew Harvey in his book Hidden Journey. Her unconditional love and silent acceptance were very healing to both men. When her 1997 book Answers Part 2 states that "Homosexuality is against the law of nature," both men are shaken from their devotion. Goodman states: "...since I know with certainty that Mother Meera is wrong in her condemnation of homosexuality, I cannot accept her word on anything else."

This is a wonderfully honest attempt to write about the human experience of the Divine. It will be insightful reading for any who are interested in spiritual growth.

A Grave Talent. Laurie R. King

A Grave Talent is the first novel written by Laurie R. King. it is also the first in a series of mysteries that features the detective Kate Martinelli, A lesbian detective in the San Francisco Police Department. It won the 1993 Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

In this book Kate has just been promoted to detective and is assigned to work with a seasoned male detective who has recently transferred from Los Angeles. The case involves young girls who are strangled, but not molested, and left on the grounds of a rural gated community which is a home to various unconventional folks. When a famous female artist, who is living in the community under another name, turns out to be an ex-con who was convicted of murdering a child, it appears they have their culprit. Yet after meeting her, they start to have their doubts.

At first the young inexperienced woman and the hardened male detecive seem an odd couple that will not get along. Yet the novel is as much about their finding commonalities, and finally friendship, as it is about solving the high-profile case. This turns out to be a strong start to a mystery series that will deal with character development as well as criminal activity.

Laurie King has also written the Mary Russell series of historical mysteries involving a young woman and an older detective, the fictional Sherlock Holmes. She seems at home with the older man/young woman dynamics of both these series and brings a very human side to her characters while writing convincing mysteries.

The Emerald Wand of Oz. Sherwood Smith

The Emerald Wand of Oz is an Oz story in the classic form created by L. Frank Baum over 100 years ago. Yet it has a modern flavor that may make it acceptable to a young audience.

It has a seal on the front cover proclaiming that Smith has an Official License to be Royal Historian of Oz that comes from The L. Frank Baum Family Trust. Before the Baum Oz books came into the public domain this was very important because the family trust controlled the use and depiction of the characters created by Baum. Lately this has been less relevant, and many authors have taken their hand to writing non-official Oz books with varying degrees of success.

In this book two sisters, from Lawrence Kansas, who believe they are related to Dorothy Gale get transported to Oz by a tornado. They get adopted into a community of children who groom a herd of wild unicorns, and pick up a strange friend who, like them, wants to escape from the possessive and vain unicorns. Their goal is to find Glinda and ask to be returned home to Kansas. Yet, as in so many Oz stories, there is a threat to the fairy land of Oz. This time it is the niece of the Wicked Witch of the West, who has taken up residence in her aunt's old castle, and has cast a spell on the fairy ruler Ozma, the good witch Glinda, and the Wizard. As in the classic Oz stories, a group of Ozzy characters who seem silly and helpless join together to defeat the villain and restore order. Once things are returned to normal, there is a banquet in the Emerald City, and the children are returned to their normal life much more mature and aware of the importance of group action and compassion.

This is planned to be the first of a three volume series by Smith, and so there are parts of the plot that do not get resolved. This gives the plot a loose feeling that Baum would never have tolerated. Sadly, Byron Preiss who was funding this project tragically died last July, and his publishing company declared bankrupcy this February. So the future of the project is deeply in question. Hopefully, someone will pick it up and see it to completion. Smith feels that the other two books are even better than this one, and it would be a shame if they never see print.

The Emerald Wand of Oz. Sherwood Smith

The Emerald Wand of Oz is an Oz story in the classic form created by L. Frank Baum over 100 years ago. Yet it has a modern flavor that may make it acceptable to a young audience.

It has a seal on the front cover proclaiming that Smith has an Official License to be Royal Historian of Oz that comes from The L. Frank Baum Family Trust. Before the Baum Oz books came into the public domain this was very important because the family trust controlled the use and depiction of the characters created by Baum. Lately this has been less relevant, and many authors have taken their hand to writing non-official Oz books with varying degrees of success.

In this book two sisters, from Lawrence Kansas, who believe they are related to Dorothy Gale get transported to Oz by a tornado. They get adopted into a community of children who groom a herd of wild unicorns, and pick up a strange friend who, like them, wants to escape from the possessive and vain unicorns. Their goal is to find Glinda and ask to be returned home to Kansas. Yet, as in so many Oz stories, there is a threat to the fairy land of Oz. This time it is the niece of the Wicked Witch of the West, who has taken up residence in her aunt's old castle, and has cast a spell on the fairy ruler Ozma, the good witch Glinda, and the Wizard. As in the classic Oz stories, a group of Ozzy characters who seem silly and helpless join together to defeat the villain and restore order. Once things are returned to normal, there is a banquet in the Emerald City, and the children are returned to their normal life much more mature and aware of the importance of group action and compassion.

This is planned to be the first of a three volume series by Smith, and so there are parts of the plot that do not get resolved. This gives the plot a loose feeling that Baum would never have tolerated. Sadly, Byron Preiss who was funding this project tragically died last July, and his publishing company declared bankrupcy this February. So the future of the project is deeply in question. Hopefully, someone will pick it up and see it to completion. Smith feels that the other two books are even better than this one, and it would be a shame if they never see print.

Hidden Journey: A Spiritual Awakening. Andrew Harvey

Hidden Journey reminds me of the Joan Osborne song "If God Were One Of Us." It tells the story of Andrew Harvey's nine years of spiritual growth while a pupil of Mother Meera, an woman who claims to be an incarnation of God on Earth. He meets Meera at the Aurobindo ashram in Pondicherry at the end of 1978 when he is 27 and she is 18. She has been brought there by Mr. Reddy, an Indian who had been seeking the Mother Goddess his whole life and discovered Meera when she was an 11 year old servant in his in-laws' home.

The book is more about Harvey's mystical journey, but people interested in Mother Meera will also find the book useful. He describes her silent meetings with followers (darshan) where she first holds the devotee's head in her hands and then looks into their eyes, supposedly imparting her grace in this process. Also her early life in India and Thalheim Germany are presented, but in a very subjective way through the practice of Mr. Harvey.

Since Mother Meera is silent during her public appearances, much of what we learn of her is from question and answer periods that Harvey held with her in private. However, even these are presented basically as leading questions by Harvey to which Meera agrees. The other method that Harvey uses to reveal her thoughts is through Mother Meera's voice in Harvey's head. He presents Meera as being able to communicate with him telepathically and many discussions in the book, presented in italics, are of this nature.

Another large portion of the book is devoted to the mystical gifts of visions and dreams that Harvey gets from Meera during his spiritual progress. Many of them are of glowing radiances, golden glows, and other lights. While these and other unusual occurences present a very lively and dramatic view of the mystical path, I found them repetative and skipped over a lot of them.

The book does present how an average human being with a fair share of personal problems can make spiritual progress through mystical practice. However, although Harvey made lots of progress, one gets the idea that he still has a way to go.

Daughters of Destiny. L. Frank Baum

Daughters of Destiny was originally published 100 years ago under the pseudonym Schuyler Staunton. This was the name Baum used for 2 of his novels written for an adult audience. It takes place in London and Baluchistan, on the Arabian Sea, which is now part of the countries of Pakistan and Iran. Famous for his children's books about the land of Oz, Baum was excellent at creating uncomplicated and strong characters and developing plots based on their interactions.

This book is no exception. A group of six Americans hires a Baluchi prince in exile to guide them to Baluchistan to negotiate the rights for a railroad. The prince is hoping to gain the throne when the current monarch dies. Their business plans get sidetracked by local intrigue over succession to the throne of the dying king.

Three of the Americans are women: the daughters of the two businessmen, and an aunt. They get swept up in the local affairs and romantic interests blossom. It is their destinies that drive the plot forward.

Baum's characters are either devious and plotting or noble and altruistic, and good wins out over evil in the end. Sadly, his ethnic portrayals are racist and stereotypical which makes this novel an interesting glimpse into the racial bias prevalent at the beginning of the 20th century. A good read for Baum fans and people interested in the portrayal of the Middle East in literature, but this will never be more than fringe literature in our modern culture.

The illustrations by Eric Shanower are well done and capture the essence of Baum's characters. While there is a hardbound edition limited to 250 copies, the complete work is also available in Oz-Story #4, both from Hungry Tiger Press.

Made in the Middle Ages. Christine Price

Made in the Middle Ages is a 45 year old work for teens and general audiences about Medieval craftsmen and their work. At a time when seeing the artifacts of this era meant going to a few widely-scattered and specialized museums, Christine Price used her artistic abilities and historic knowledge to create a wonderful illustrated introduction to this topic.

The book is divided into two sections: "Things Made for the Castle," and "Things Made for the Church." These are subdivided into sixteen chapers on Armor and Weapons, Cloth and Clothing, Jewels and Enamels, Sports and Pastimes, Tapestries, Tableware, Books for the Castle, Diptychs and Reliquaries, Books for the Church, Embroidery, Wood Carving, Paintings, Carvings in Alabaster, Carvings in Ivory, and Treasures of the Church. Each page is amply illustrated with pen and ink drawings of artifacts of the time that now reside in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Bodelian Library, and other places. The end papers are outline maps of Europe that show the places mentioned in the book.

Well-organized and well-presented, this little book provides much detail about life and crafts in Europe between the years 1000 and 1500. Today photographs of many of these items are on the Internet, but Price's presentation gives them an order and logic unique to this work.

Forever Amber. Kathleen Winsor

Forever Amber covers 10 years in the life of Amber St. Clare in Restoration England beginning in 1660 when she was 16 and ran away from the farm to go to London. The monarchy had just been restored, and the Royalists were returning to England.

Bruce Carlton is a returning lord whose family had lost everything during the Cromwell period. He is on his way to London when he stops in Amber's village for the night. For Amber, it is love at first sight and she begs him to take her with him. However, to Bruce, Amber is "a woman any man would like to have for a mistress, but not for a wife." She is beautiful, desirable, and sensual. Yet she is also vain, unscrupulous, wanton, and ambitious.

Sleeping her way to fame and fortune, Amber is not a likable heroine. As a character, her devotion to Bruce is her saving grace. Yet she is a woman who loves too much an unattainable man. So even her undying love doesn't redeem her.

What finally makes this novel work is the history. Kathleen Winsor does an excellent job of portraying the turbulence of Restoration England. She superbly portrays the intrigues of King Charles II and his court, the upheaval of British life caused by reformation and restoration, and London consumed first by plague and then by the Great Fire.

The prior Puritanical period was swept aside by a royal court of relaxed sexual morals into which Amber fit particularly well. Forever Amber, while banned in Boston when it was published in the 1940s for its portrayal of the loose morals of the court, actually contains no descriptions of sexual intimacy. Dozens of times the author makes it clear that something happened without ever describing it. Depending on the reader this can be a strength or a weakness of the book.

The Wandering Jew. Eugene Sue

Written in 1845, just 3 years before revolutions swept Europe, this 887 page five volume novel is a classic piece of French socialist writing that has been swept under the rug of history. It was originally serialized in a French newspaper and created quite a stir with its strong positions on women's rights, worker communes, and anticlericalism.

I originally started to read this book because I was interested in the legend of the wandering Jew. This is a mythical person cursed to live forever and wander without rest because he refused Jesus a place to rest as he carried his cross to Calvary. Although the wandering Jew and his equally long-lived sister Herodias, who gained her longevity because of her involvement in the death of John the Baptist, make occasional appearances in the book, the story is really about the heirs of Herodias, seven members of the Rennepont family. So if you are seeking a work on the legend of the wandering Jew, I recommend you do not read this book.

The Rennepont family lost their position and most of their wealth during the French persecution of the Protestants. What was left of the Rennepont fortune was entrusted for 150 years to a Jewish banker and his heirs who were loyal to the family. Over the course of time through wise investments, the small inheritance was carefully nurtured into a fortune.

Any surviving members of the Rennepont family were directed to meet at a certain address in Paris in 1832 by bronze medallions cast in 1682 that have been passed down from generation to generation. Those present on the given date will divide the inheritance. This book is the story of the seven members of the family left at this time. They are Jacques Rennepont, a Parisian workman who favors drinking and the wild life; Francis Hardy, an enlightened industrialist who has built communal living quarters for his happy workers; Rose and Blanche Simon, twin teens who travel with an old soldier to Paris from Siberia where their mother has just died; Adrienne de Cardoville, a beautiful and independent-minded woman of means; Abbe Gabriel, an orphan who has been raised by the Jesuits, and Djalma, an Indian prince.

Two Jesuits and a female accomplice have devised a plan to keep the Renneponts from their inheritance and to claim it for the The Society of Jesus. They hope to obtain the fortune to secure their futures and pay for the rehabilitation of the Order.

The story moves from one cliffhanger to another throughout the book as the struggle between the family and the two Jesuits unfolds. The Perils of Pauline and A Series of Unfortunate Events come to mind as contemporary stories with similar plot devices. This structure is a byproduct of the newspaper serialization. However, Eugene Sue is a master of his craft and he develops the various subplots with great skill. Characters are well-developed and scenes are vividly described. It is sad that this book has been out of print for so long. A new edition with a modern translation would be a great literary treat.

Scarlet Women. J. D. Christilian

This book has the format of a historical detective novel, complete with a Marlowesque detective and a double murder to be solved. The detail of 19th century New York life and personalities makes this a delightful work for lovers of this period.

Yet within this framework, this fictional mystery novel also takes a probing look at the status of women in 1870s New York. The title Scarlet Women refers to the depiction that women had few choices other than prostitution to earn a living at the time.

One of the reasons I read and liked the novel is that it gives an accurate and sensitive portayal of the famous 19th century feminist, spiritualist and free-thinker Victoria Woodhull. Even 130 years later, some of her ideas are still too liberal for mainstream America!

So if you like your detective novels with a strong feminist flavour and historical accuracy I recommend this book. It succeeds as a mystery, a social commentary, and a historic novel.

Hiroshima. Laurence Yep

This is a wonderful children's book about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It tells the story in simple yet thoughtful and elegant language. Starting with the bomber crew, the book explains the bombing in context of World War II and its effects on the city and people of Hiroshima. The author takes you into the lives of two sisters and shows how the bomb changed everything. Then the book goes on to explain the aftermath with people dying of radiation sickness even years after the bomb was used. Lastly, it describes the current state of the world's nuclear powers and the threat of nuclear winter. Older children and teens might prefer the manga or anime Barefoot Gen, but this is a better introduction for young children to a difficult subject.

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by the Sieur Louis de Conte. Samuel Clemens.

Mark Twain wasn't the only pseudonym used by Samuel Clemens. When this book was first serialized in Harper's Magazine in 1895, it was presented as "Freely Translated out of the Ancient French into Modern English from the Original Unpublished Manuscript in the National Archives of France" - a found manuscript with no connection to the famous author. The book presents itself as a memoir by a fictional companion of Joan's written for his family in the final years of life. The narrator claims to be a childhood friend of hers who, being one of the few people of her village that can write, accompanies her and becomes her secretary during her military career. After her capture and imprisonment, he sneaks into Rouen, where she is to be tried, and becomes an assistant to the official recorder of the the events. Thus, the author has established a single voice that can tell the complete history of the brief, miraculous life of the Maid of Orleans.

The events of the book have been simply summed up in a paragraph in WIKIPEDIA's entry on the Hundred Years War as follows:

By 1428, the English were ready to pursue the war again,
laying siege to Orléans. Their force was insufficient to
fully invest the city, but larger French forces remained
passive. In 1429, Joan of Arc convinced the Dauphin to
send her to the siege, saying she had received visions
from God telling her to drive out the English. She raised
the morale of the local troops and they attacked the
English redoubts, forcing the English to lift the siege.
Inspired by Joan the French took several English strong
points on the Loire. Shortly afterwards a French army some
8000 strong broke through English archers at Patay with
heavy cavalry, defeating a 3000 strong army commanded by
Falstaff and John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. The first
major French land victory of the wars, this opened the way
for the Dauphin to march to Reims for his coronation as
Charles VII. After Joan was captured by the Burgundians in
1430 and later sold to the English and executed, the French
advance stalled in negotiations.

Clemens presents, through this memoir form, a story of a small group of Joan's friends from her village of Domremy who are caught up in her vision and quest and follow her into battle. They see how this poor, unschooled girl has the wisdom to convince the learned men of the Catholic Church and the French government of her mission, how she was able to raise an army and bring it success in battle despite the reservations of her generals, and how she was able to inspire the people of France to believe in their collective selves, the country of France, in spite of their foreign occupation and poor leadership. Through this approach, we the readers get a wonderful insight into the miraculous influence that Joan had on France at the time.

One might expect the irreverent Mark Twain, who wrote many scandalous pieces to be somewhat satirical in presenting this biography, but that is not the case. While his writing in this book is critical of church and state, his approach to the personal character of Joan puts her above reproach. He could find nothing in her life that was suspect, and he studied the records for 12 years. While he seems unsure about the nature of her voices, he shows Joan as firmly believing that they were real and of divine origin.

This is a mature Clemens who is married with a daughter Joan's age, and he seems happy to have found a human hero who didn't have ulterior motives when closely examined. He liked this best of all his work, yet the critics didn't share his feelings. The original Harper edition ran to almost 600 pages and was issued in two volumes. The story moves slowly with lots of asides about the infighting and rivalries of those around Joan. This may bother some readers since these are obviously fictional characters and not part of the historic record. Also, Clemens was not a scholar of the 15th century and his characters sometimes act more like 19th century Americans than French peasants. Yet these are minor flaws in a story that is an incredible introduction to the life and accomplishments of a truly remarkable person. I, personally, was disappointed that he didn't get closer to his subject Joan of Arc. He gives us the viewpoint of someone who was there and saw everything, but he never gets you inside the mind of Joan. Maybe that is the best we can hope for when reading about such an extraordinary person.

The Blue Lotus. Hergé

The Blue Lotus is a sequel to Cigars of the Pharaoh, in which Tintin struggled with an international gang of smugglers in north Africa and India. In the current volume, the intrigue with the smugglers takes Tintin from India to Shanghai where his life is constantly in danger as the smugglers try to stop him from finding a cure for their secret poison of madness. There is a racial bias in this volume in favor of the Chinese of Shanghai over the British and Japanese who are portrayed as scheming and self-centered. Hergé must have sympathized with these colonized people who were being threatened by rising Japanese aggression.

Tintin's friendly adversaries, the twin Thompson brothers, detectives, make their appearance in this volume and there is a very funny scene where they try to disguise themselves as Chinese in pre-reform costumes and become the center of attention. However, the heroes of the book are the elderly Wang and young Chang, two remarkably clever and resourceful allies.

This series is great at portraying the world between the two great wars in a way that is simple yet respectful. The adventures are well crafted and the color illustrations are sumptuous in detail. Shanghai really comes to life in this book with its opium dens, busy streets, and tea shops.

Cigars of the Pharaoh. Hergé

Cigars of the Pharaoh is an early volume in a series of graphic novel adventures starring the fictional international reporter Tintin, a young man who ends up solving mysteries rather than reporting news.

In this installment Tintin and his talking dog Snowy are taking a quiet holiday cruise where they meet an absent-minded scholar, a movie producer, and the twin Thompson brothers detectives. Arrested by the Thompsons because someone planted heroin in his room Tintin jumps ship in Port Said and bumps into the professor.

He agrees to help the professor seek out a hidden Egyptian tomb. When they find the tomb, it is full of mummified archaeologists and cases of curiously labeled cigars. Then they are drugged and captured and put on a ship.

A series of escapes and captures keeps the story exciting as Tintin keeps running into the professor, the Thompsons, and the movie producer, while running from an international gang of smugglers and making his way from Egypt to India.

Eventually, he solves the mystery of the Cigars of the Pharaoh, while portraying the various populations of this part of the world without patronizing them. An exciting adventure that continues in a second volume called The Blue Lotus.

This series is great at portraying the world between the two great wars in a way that is simple yet respectful. The adventures are well crafted and the color illustrations are sumptuous in detail.

Bittersweet : The Story of Sugar. Peter Macinnis

Bittersweet is a wonderfully interesting and engrossing history of a major food crop filled with interesting details concerning people and events. Although Peter Macinnis traces the story of sugar from its prehistoric origins in New Guinea through to the 20th century, he does so in a very entertaining rather than comprehensive way. As such, this is a good introduction, but will leave the reader with many questions unanswered.

The subtitle, The Story of Sugar could really have been The Story of Sugar and Slavery since, according to the author, this form of forced labor has been so integral to the success of the crop. In fact I am sure that the "Bitter" half of the title is a reference to slavery. Macinnis states that not only the institution of slavery, but also the global politics of Colonialism, has its foundation in the global production of sugar.

So as you can see, the world as we know it has to a large extent been molded by the story of sugar. Thus this book, or some other like it, is important reading for a good understanding of modern world history. Being an Australian gives the author just enough distance from the European and American sugar empires to tell the story with a balanced and somewhat objective point of view.

The book is illustrated with black-and-white maps and each chapter ends with a historic sugar recipe. There is a two page glossary of terms related to sugar production as well as a seven page bibliography of further readings. There are no footnotes to break the narrative.
This is a great introduction to the story of one of the most important cash crops in world history.

The Death of King Tsongor. Laurent Gaude

In his youth King Tsongor inherited a small kingdom from his father. Through war and courage he built a vast empire. But now Tsongor is an old man. He is about to marry his only daughter to the prince of a neighboring land. The prince, at the head of a vast army, has arrived at the city gates loaded down with presents. At this moment of supreme happiness for Tsongor and his kingdom, another suitor shows up leading a second army. He is the childhood love of the princess who has been away building his fortune and power. He has rushed back to claim her based on her long-ago promise to be his bride.

Two men, each with an army outside his gates, have been promised his daughter. Tsongor is tired of war. He stays up the whole night to decide what to do.

What does his daughter Samilia do now that she has two men to decide between? What of these men who cannot lose face before their armies? And lastly, whose side does Samilia's father and brothers take?

This is the story of Tsongor's decision and the events that follow from it. It is an epic tale filled with tragedy, told in a sparse yet hypnotic style fairy tale style.

The translation from the French is excellent. This is Gaude's first work to be translated into English. I hope we will see more.

Bungalow Nation. Diane Maddex & Alexander Vertikoff

Bungalow Nation is a truly sumptuous and detailed look at American bungalows.With color pictures on every page, this book is a wonderful balance of text and graphics. The author's text and the photographs by Alexander Vertikoff together present a well-rounded introduction to bungalow style through brief looks at over 75 specific examples of bungalow architecture.

In a chapter called "In The Land Of The Bungalow" the book starts with a brief history of the origins and growth of the architectural style and its place in American history. This chapter is followed by brief treatments of specific aspects of bungalow style: the outside, porches, the inside, fireplaces, built-ins, and furnishings.

Then the author and photographer take us to five different cities to look at examples of bungalows in each. Sample bungalows in Los Angeles, Seattle, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, and Washington DC are highlighted in two to four page spreads. Each house has a description and history of the house and some information on the current owners. This is followed by some photographs of specific features with captions describing each.

The book ends with a bibliography and lists of organizations and architects in each of the five areas highlighted.

This is a lovely book. The bugalows are beautifully photographed. The endpapers are sheet music for the song "In The Land Of the Bungalow" by George F. Devereaux. The cover has a color print of a crewel embroidery of dragonflies. It is a labor of love that is a delight to read and a treat to the eyes. If you love bungalows, this is the book for you.

I got this book because of my plans to remodel the kitchen and bath of my 1930 bungalow and was looking for ways to do so while retaining the original integrity of the house. This book has given me many good ideas.

Strangers in Paradise - Pocket Book 5. Terry Moore

This fifth volume of the Pocket Book compilation edition of the Strangers in Paradise comic books contains the original comics numbered Volume III, issues #61 - #76 plus issues #46, #49, and #73. The author plans to bring the series to an end with comic #90 so there is probably envisioned eventually a Strangers in Paradise Pocket Book 6 that will bring the series to completion.

This volume starts with a lengthy flashback to David and Darcy's youth and adventures leading up to the time where the first volume begins. This is followed by a glimpse into Katchoo's successful career as an artist in Dallas. She is seeing a psychiatrist who encourages her to keep a journal as a way to explore her buried emotions. Another sequence explores Francine's relationship with her father and her mother's past. Then the story switches over to Casey who has decided to put aside her gym training career and become a Las Vegas showgirl. David and Katchoo go to Vegas with her and rekindle their romance. Freddie has fallen for a pathologist at the Dallas morgue but has a hard time with her work. Meanwhile Francine and her doctor husband move to Dallas which causes Katchoo to long for Francine again. Just when the reader thinks that there may be some closure on this three-way romance, the author leaves our characters and ends the book with a very long digression called Molly & Poo: A Collection of Moments, a 19th century Gothic mystery romance with two women.

With nine issues of the original comics yet to be written and published, it will be over a year before we the readers ever get a chance to buy the final Volume 6 of this Pocket Book series. For the impatient, the author's website does offer a subscription to the final issues of the comic books.

Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 4. Terry Moore

This volume 4 of the Strangers in Paradise Pocket Books contains the original comic books Volume II, #41-#41, #47-#48, and #50-#60. Francine has gone home to her mom in Tennessee, and David and Katchoo are living in a cottage in Hawaii. Casey breaks up with Freddie and visits them in Hawaii. Eventually, Katchoo fights with David and he goes back to Japan. There Katchoo's half-sister Tambi catches up with him. Also remnants of the old mob try to seek revenge against Katchoo, while the FBI is also closing in on her.

Not as violent as the last volume, this is a somewhat introspective volume where the characters explore their feelings for each other. Each is eager to bring closure to their pasts and to get on with their life. Yet the readers know we are only in volume 4 of a 5 volume book version of a comic series that is still being published. So the odds of "happily ever after" any time soon are very slim.

Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 3. Terry Moore

Volume 3 of the PocketBook edition of Strangers in Paradise contains the original comic book issues numbered Volume III issues #18-#24, #26-#32, #34-#38. In this volume, Katchoo's art career takes off with an exhibition that includes nudes of Francine. Her ex-boyfriend Freddie and his wife Casey get into a fight over these highly-desirable paintings. Also, with Darcy dead, her mob organization becomes the center of a rivalry between Veronica Pace and Tambi. Katchoo, Francine and David are caught up in this conflict as they struggle to work out their jumbled relationships. Being the middle volume of the five now released, there is lots of action but little resolution in this book. For the romantically inclined readers there is a flash forward to Katchoo and Francine together ten years on.

Briar Rose. Robert Coover

Briar Rose is the name of the princess in Sleeping Beauty and the name of the Grimm brothers version of the story is Little Briar Rose. Robert Coover tells the story from three points of view. First is the point of view of the prince entering and cutting his way through the briars on a heroic/erotic quest. Then there is the princess dreaming of her rescue by a kiss from the spell induced by a spindle prick and the promised handsome prince who will do the kissing. Lastly, is the evil fairy who cast the spell and who keeps the princess company by telling her stories during her 100 year slumber. The story keeps switching between these three perspectives, with much repetition. Each character explores their own expectations and fears through this process.

This is a story rich in mythic and erotic symbolism, and Coover explores these in depth as each character relives the event in their mind from slightly different perspectives over and over again. As a study in the symbolism and possible overtones of the brief story, Coover's work is excellent. People looking for a romantic retelling of the original tale should definitely look elsewhere because some of the variations include disturbing elements like incest, cannibalism, adultery, and rape. While nowhere near as much an erotic fantasy as Anne Rice's three volume Beauty series, this book is still not appropriate for the faint of heart or children.

ISBN-13 For Dummies. Zoe Wykes

ISBN-13 For Dummies is a great introduction to a sweeping change in the numbering system for books. Starting in January 2007 all books will be issued a 13 character ISBN rather than the traditional 10 character number that has been in use for over 30 years. This short 16 page guide also talks about how the ISBN relates to EANs (International Article Numbers) that are used on non-book items for sale and the 14 digit Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTIN). It also shows you how to compute the last digit of the new 13-digit ISBNs so you can convert your existing 10-digit ISBNs to the new 13-digit ones.

Admittedly, this is primarily for the book publishing and selling crowd and their programming staff. So most of us buyers don't need to think about it. However, with desk-top publishing, more and more of us are becoming small independent publishers, and then all this will be extremely helpful. This publication even tells you where to get ISBNs for your books (no, you can't just make them up!).

Even the casual book buyer may want to know a little about the secret inner workings of the book industry and this is the answer. Best of all it is free: http://www.bisg.org/isbn-13/ISBN13%5FFor%5FDummies.pdf

SICK SICK SICK. Jules Feiffer

Sick Sick Sick is the very first compilation of Jules Feiffer's cartoons ever published. Starting in 1956 he wrote his cartoons weekly for The Village Voice, something he continued to do until 1997. In 1958 there were enough to put them out in book form.

Subtitled" A Guide to Non-Confident Living," this collection shows the angst of Feiffer's characters in its earliest manifestations. Here you will find an 11 year old boy who feels that life has already passed him by, insecure Village artists and Bohemians, a dancer who performs her homages to Spring and Fall, corporate executives caught up in the rat race, single women who fret that men are only interested in one thing, conformists who seek individuality, and individualists who secretly desire conformity.


Most of the material still has relevance, even though there is one story about U.S. insecurity over the Soviet Sputnik that may require explaining to some readers.

Feiffer has gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize, an Oscar, and even the Milton Caniff Award for Lifetime Achievement. This book provides a chance to see how he began writing for The Voice back in the 1950s. A treat for any serious cartoon reader.

One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding. Robert Gover

I picked up Robert Gover's One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding to read because of the recent events in Durham, North Carolina where a black stripper, hired to perform at a Duke University lacrosse team party, has accused three white males at the party of raping her. Published 45 years ago this book has nothing to do with rape, but it does deal a lot with issues of sexuality as it relates to class and race, privilege and poverty in the southern United States.

Jim is a white college sophomore in a Southern college on a Friday night with a hundred dollars in his pocket. Kitten is a 14 year old African-American prostitute. Their paths cross as Jim visits a "Negro house of ill repute." The book proceeds with Jim and Kitten narrating alternate chapters. Each sees the other as an answer to their needs, and their encounter builds into a weekend of misunderstandings as their different backgrounds and expectations keep them from having meaningful communication. Yet, despite the insurmountable cultural chasm that separates them, their determination eventually makes small inroads possible.

This book made history at the time because of the frank discussion of sexuality and racial differences. Today, the terminology seems remarkably tame, even quaint. Yet the issues raised about sexual morality and class privilege are as relevant as ever.

Gore Vidal said: "There is always a division between what a society does and what it says it does, and what it feels about what it says it does. But nowhere is this conflict more vividly revealed than in the American middle class's attitude toward sex, that continuing pleasure and sometimes duty we have, with the genius of true pioneers, managed to tie in knots. Robert Gover unties no knots but he shows them plain and I hope this book will be read by every adolescent in the country, which is most of the population."

To truly appreciate this story it is important to remember that it is fiction. No 14 year old girls were lured into prostitution in the writing or reading of this book. Robert Gover states it as follows: "The caricatures in this story never were and aren't. If a reader happens to transmute them from typo-alphabetic symbols to figments of his imagination, they will continue to not exist, except as figments of his imagination. This also applies to the events which are this story - they didn't happen and don't. Any reader who imagines them happening I asked to please remember he is doing just that - imagining. In other words, the following is a made-up, untrue story."

As an untrue story, this book still does a great job of pointing out, through caricature, some of the seemingly timeless problems of class and privilege in American society, especially as they relate to the sexual behavior of the middle class.

Wonder Woman. Charles Moulton

Wonder Woman is a 1978 paperback book republishing of 6 stories from the DC's Wonder Woman comics of the 1950s. While it offers a delightful glimpse into the original Golden Age comics, the paperback lacks the color graphics and full size of the originals. Five of the six stories represented in this volume were copyrighted between 1953 and 1955.

The first story, "Wonder Woman's Lasso," is dated 1942 and was written by Charles Moulton (a pseudonym for Dr. William Moulton Marston) with art by Harry G. Peter. It tells the story of how Wonder Woman won her unbreakable magic lasso with mind-controlling powers. Written prior to the 1954 Comic Book Code, it contains lots of depictions of scantily clad women in various forms of bondage. In addition to winning her lasso, Wonder Woman saves the chief of American intelligence from a Nazi plot which includes an invisible ray and a cruel baroness.


"The Bird Who Revealed Wonder Woman's Identity," the second story, is about a talkative pet mynah bird that causes some awkward moments for Diana Prince when it reveals her secret identity.

In the third story, "Wonder Woman's Wedding Day" is ruined when Prof. Uxo's time dimension transfer machine turns her into an invisible wraith. Using only the power of suggestion, she convinces the evil scientist to return her to normal.

In "The Secret Invasion," Orlusians from the planet Orbus use mind control to confuse Wonder Woman while they plan their attack of Earth. Fortunately, she is able to use brute force to combat their nefarious scheme.

The last stories in the book are origin stories for two of her fascinating weapons. In "The Talking Tiara" Wonder Woman fights a Tyranosaurus, a Roc and a giant Octopus to win the right to wear the Linguagraph Tiara which allows her to understand and speak any language past, present or future.

"The Origin of the Amazon Plane" is the final entry in this collection. When she finds the plane it is in three parts protected by a giant underwater carniverous plant, an electrified tree, and a fiery volcano. She must defeat these three obstacles to put the plane together and use it to combat evil.

Interestingly, she uses her Amazon Plane in the first story to go to Paradise Island to get her famous lasso, then in this last story she uses her lasso to overcome the volcano and retrieve the last part of her plane. So it becomes an amazing chicken and egg paradox as to which came first, unless there were two Amazon Planes. The first 1942 plane is shown with a propeller, while the plane in the last story, written in 1955, has no propeller.

These stories provide a wonderful glimpse into the origins of a 20th century icon. They also provide a contrast between pre- and post-Comic Code depictions of the same super hero. If you can live without the color graphics, this is a good introduction to Wonder Woman.

Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 2. Terry Moore

Katchoo and Francine are roomates, and Katchoo has a crush on Francine. Francine loves Katchoo but prefers men. David is in love with Katchoo, but she hates men. This is the love triangle that anchors this multivolume series. In volume one we learned that prior to living with Francine, Katchoo worked for David's gang boss sister, Darcy Parker, as a call girl and also was her lover. She went into hiding when she ran away from Darcy with a whole lot of Darcy's money.

Now in Volume 2 Darcy has found Katchoo and forces her back into her mob with threats on Francine's life. Darcy needs Katchoo in her biggest blackmail project to date. The main theme of the volume is how Katchoo and David, with help from Francine, escape Darcy's nefarious plans.

Terry Moore takes us through three different time periods in this book. The main story takes place in the time when Darcy's plans are foiled by Katchoo. Then Mr. Moore takes us back to when Francine and Katchoo first met in high school. It is in there that we learn about the troubles that have shaped their current inability to develop loving relationships. Then we find that the high school flashback is just a reminiscence of Francine who hasn't seen Katchoo for ten years and is a wife and mother in a loveless marriage. If she ever needed Katchoo's love, it is at this moment.

The book ends with a short fantasy piece where Francine and Katchoo role play Zena, Warrior Princess. All in all, a delightful book with lots of twists and turns to keep you wanting more.

Love: The Legacy of Cain. Leopold Von Sacher-Masoch

Love: The Legacy of Cain contains new translations of three love stories by the infamous author of Venus in Furs, whose name has come down to us primarily as the term for a variety of sexual behaviour. But do not expect to find women with whips standing over cringing men in these tales. Sacher-Masoch was a much more complex writer who was considered a new Goethe by some of his contemporaries.

This book is a very good English-language introduction to the writings of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Not only does it provide new translations of three of his novellas, but it also has a six page Afterword by the translator that shows how these works fit into Sacher-Masoch's body of literature and literary themes. The author was planning a series of 36 novellas to be collectively called The Legacy of Cain. It was to consist of six stories on each of six themes: Love, Property, The State, War, Work, and Death. Only the two cycles on Love and Property were finished and finding English translations of any of them besides Venus in Furs requires the resources of major university libraries. This book contains the first three novellas of the Love sextet along with the prologue to the series which is called "The Wanderer." There appears to be an awakening scholarly interest in Sacher-Masoch's writings. This is the second book of translations by Michael O'Pecko, and Virginia Lewis has also recently translated a new book of the author's Jewish stories.

"The Wanderer" is the prolog to the whole Legacy of Cain series. In it a civilized man who is out hunting comes across a holy mystic wandering in the Carpathian mountains. The holy man attacks the narrator for being a hunter, a killer. A discussion begins in which the mystic claims we are all infected with the legacy of Cain's sin. The just person can only flee the world and its enticements to avoid the six things that are Cain's legacy: Love, Property, The State, War, Work, and Death. Confronted with this "Truth" the narrator returns to his village to ponder. The prolog ends and the stories begin.

Don Juan of Kolomea tells the tale of a man who falls in love and marries. He is blissfully happy until his wife has children. Feeling neglected by her, now that she spends her time with them, he seeks out lovers. But he can never recover the feelings of true love that he first had with his wife.

The Man Who Re-Enlisted tells another story of true love led astray. This time the lovers are young and poor. They are deeply in love, but her great beauty draws the attention of a rich man. She chooses security and wealth over true love and poverty. Yet this is a small town and the two must see each other in passing as the years go on. We see the man's unending love yearning for the unattainable through the eyes of his fellow villagers.

In Moonlight, a married woman becomes bored with her life in the country and takes her husband's friend as a lover. Everything comes crashing down when her husband finds out, and she is left only a shadow of her former self, playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata night after night.

These stories take us into another world. This is the 19th century in the Carpathian Mountains of rural Austria-Hungary. The people who live here were called "Little Russians" because they spoke a dialect of Ukrainian. Today we know them as Rusyns or Western Ukrainians. If you are looking for the Hollywood version of love that conquers all, these are not the stories for you. But if you want to see how the impulse of love plays out against the realities of 19th century life and, despite the intensity, doesn't always have a happy ending, you will find much to enjoy here. Sacher-Masoch will take you to another time and place and fill your soul with the poignancy of his characters.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan. L. Frank Baum

Originally published in 1910 under the pseudonym Floyd Akers, Hungry Tiger press makes this volume in The Boy Fortune Hunters Series by L. Frank Baum available again with a new Foreward by David Maxine and a new cover illustration by Eric Shanower. The author wrote various adventure series under pseudonyms, while publishing his more famous Oz novels under his own name.

In this volume the boy fortune hunters team up with a Navy Lieutenant and a Central American Indian prince to find Tcha, a hidden Atlantean city in the heart of the Yucatan jungle. Equipped with lighter-than-air flying suits and electric stun-guns, fanciful inventions of Baum's fertile imagination, the group of nine adventurers take on two native Indian tribes and the secretive Atlantean culture to garner some of their fabulous wealth of gold and rubies. They overcome mosquitoes, warrior bands, blood sacrifices, and even an earthquake on their way to their goal.

The white male chauvenism of the early 20th century is evident in the writing, but can more interesting than offensive as a period piece that illustrates the prejudices of the time. Baum's take on Atlantean culture is certainly the most intriguing part of this standard boys' adventure. David Maxine in his Foreward draws some interesting parallels between this real world fantasy and Baum's magical land of Oz. Most outstanding of these are that the Tcha people are ruled by a teenage girl and live in a communist society in peace and happiness. This is a book that will interest Baum fans like me and those interested in adventure stories of the past.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas. L. Frank Baum

Originally published in 1911 under the pseudonym Floyd Akers, Hungry Tiger press makes this volume in The Boy Fortune Hunters Series by L. Frank Baum available again with a new Foreward by David Maxine and a new cover illustration by Eric Shanower. The author wrote various adventure series under pseudonyms, while publishing his more famous Oz novels under his own name.

In this volume the boy fortune hunters take a job running guns from Australia for wealthy Colombians who are planning a revolution. The guns come in handy when they end up run aground during a typhoon on a tropical island full of hostile natives who worship a Pearl God. They have the richest pearl beds in the world and keep them secret by killing anyone who lands there.

Fortunately the Columbians have a Louis Bleriot Antoinette biplane in crates below deck. Louis Bleriot was famous in Baum's time because in 1909 he was the first person to fly across the English Channel. Using the biplane to fly themselves in and out of trouble with the local islanders, the boys have life-threatening adventures and stuff their pockets with lovely pearls.

The book's leading characters are full of White supremacist attitudes that jar the sensibilities of modern readers. However Baum relates these with an innocence that would be difficult to recreate today. In addition to being an adventure tale for young white boys, the book provides an interesting look into how racial stereotypes were presented at the beginning of the 20th century.

Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook. Scott Adams

If you think you can learn management skills from a character in a newspaper comic strip, this book is not for you. On the other hand, if you read Scott Adams' Dilbert comic strip before you read the headlines of your local paper, or if you find yourself LOL at most of his cartoons, you have already committed this book to memory and don't need this review.

Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook is a combination of reprinted Dilbert comic strips from the first half of the 1990's and a management handbook written as if it were the work of a cartoon dog named Dogbert. The cartoons are funnier than the handbook. I gave up reading the book linearly and read the cartoons first. Then I went back and read the management handbook.

The cartoons work better because you get to see Scott Adams' view of management both from the manager's point of view and also from that of the dumbfounded workers. It is this juxtaposition of manager logic and worker reality that makes the Dilbert strips so funny.

The text of the handbook is entirely one-sided. You get to see the world from the unrelenting point of view of the demented management expert. The cruel logic is there, but you, the gentle reader, are forced into the role of Dilbert facing the twisted thinking of middle management. You may laugh on the outside, but you may be crying inside. I do not recommend reading this book before spending lots of time with your own manager.

Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 1. Terry Moore

Katchoo and Francine are roomates, and Katchoo has a crush on Francine. Francine thinks she loves Freddie who is only out to get what he can, which he can't since Francine won't sleep with him. David is in love with Katchoo, but she hates men. Thus begins Strangers in Paradise which is a tightly scripted graphic comic that is now being released in a paperpack book series.

In volume one we learn the secret of Katchoo's past, and the three main characters struggle with their feelings for each other. Having been written for comics, similar to 19th century novels of Dickens and Dumas that began life as serializations in the magazines of the time, the plot keeps coming up with surprises. In book form this comes across as lots of plot twists and surprising revelations.

The drawings are fantastically well-drawn and expressive, and they are broken up by occasional pages of poetry and text (as if the artist got tired of drawing in her rush to fill in detail and get back to the story).

Despite the strong characterization, the true hero of the book is Love, the motivator and inner spark of all the main characters. In reality the book is about the healing power of Love. The title comes from a play of the same name that Francine was in while she was in high school. The book provides a flashback to the stage when one of the actors is saying "Without Love, we're never more than Strangers in Paradise."

Onions, Onions. Toni Hormann

Onions, Onions is a story of love conquering fear. A young married woman is afraid of evil spirits and believes that onions will keep them at bay. So she serves onions at every meal. When her husband protests and tries to make light of her fears, she starts hiding her compulsion. It is only when he leaves her that they both realize that their love is true and stronger than their obsessions. Do they live happily ever after? Well, they ARE in love.

Notorious Victoria: the Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored. Mary Gabriel

Victoria Woodhull was one of the boldest, most renowned, and most villified woman of the United States in the 19th century . Yet today many people have never heard of her. Also, what has been written about her has been so biased by attempts to either deify her or demonize her. Thus today's reader is well-served by this factual and chronological presentation of what can be known of the life of Victoria Woodhull. Mary Gabriel puts her background in journalism to good use in putting together this unbiased account of the woman and her times.

With chapter titles that consist of place names, months and years Ms. Gabriel takes the reader on a trip through Victoria's live from her birth in Homer, Ohio to her last days on her country estate in Glooucestershire, England. More than half the book is focused on the years 1971-1973 when Victoria, with her sister Tennie C. Claflin, rose to fame in a meteoric fashion. In this brief time they opened a brokerage house on Wall Street and published a news weekly on topics of social and political reform. In addition Victoria was the first woman to address a committee of Congress; she ran for president of the United States with Frederick Douglas as her running mate; and she presided over the women's suffrage movement, a New York chapter of the International Workingmen's Association, and the American Spiritualists Association.

Her stated goal was to rescue the women of America from sexual slavery and guarantee their rights to their own sexuality. When she found out that the famous minister Henry Ward Beecher was sleeping with members of his congregation during the week and condemning her politics from the pulpit on Sundays, she exposed his hypocricy. He was never condemned for his duplicity, but she was hounded into jail and ruin until her only recourse was to leave the country.

Mary Gabriel does a wonderful job of presenting the complex story, picking through the slanders and exagerations, and creating a readable history of this social reformer and her impact on her times. This is the best account of the life of Victoria Woodhull that I have read and I recommend it highly.