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Review Date: 12/11/2011
A beautiful and compact little treasury of paintings. Recommended.
Review Date: 6/17/2014
Good, reliable guide, as an AMA publication should be
Review Date: 3/3/2008
Sir James was physician to Queen Victoria. Insights into the royal household.
Review Date: 12/9/2012
Helpful Score: 1
Almost any book involving Charlotte Bronte is worth reading, in my view. This one is pleasant, fills in a few gaps with imaginary scenes, but is not quite a must-read.
Review Date: 2/19/2017
Same good and bad points as the other books in the Simon Serrailler (sp?) series: Simon is not particularly likable and the author has a streak of cruelty similar to Joanna Trollope's, yet the plot is compelling and the reader continues to be curious about what will happen within Simon's family. This is basically junk food for the mind, temporarily satisfying but not at all nourishing. I intend to continue reading the series but not to keep these books permanently.
Review Date: 12/20/2011
The prescription drug recommendations may be slightly out of date now, but the diet and exercise programs are very helpful. Recommended.
Review Date: 4/15/2012
Good illustrated summary of the holdings of the British Library, opened circa 1998 when it split off from the British Museum. Highly recommended as a souvenir.
Review Date: 1/25/2019
Combines the techniques of Kafka and Isak Dinesen with some very specific political satire directed against the early Nazi regime in Germany. Very entertaining, but at the same time depressing.
Review Date: 5/17/2023
I've now read Susan James's Catherine Parr biography as well as ANOTHER Catherine Parr biography written a year or two later. The newer one is better written and more interesting than James. And there's too much in James about Catherine's siblings, in my view. However, I give James credit for quoting from Catherine's correspondence with her fourth husband. Oddly, although James claims to be the person who realized that a portrait once thought to be Lady Jane Grey (illustrated on cover) is actually Catherine Parr, she never brings up that topic in her book. I think she should be proud of that little accomplishment in art history.
Review Date: 10/19/2024
I've enjoyed Claire Tomalin's other biographies, so I knew this one would be good too. It's excellent. It really is a life, not primarily literary criticism. None of Dickens's 15 novels gets more than about 5 pages of analysis, which keeps the book manageable instead of the thousand-page volume it might have been. The most startling thing I learned about him was that he wanted no more children after the third one, yet went on to have TEN. I enjoyed the treatments of each child's life (although most of the ten lives were quite depressing), and his biographer Forster's life, and the very interesting connection with the family of his fellow novelist Anthony Trollope. But my favorite thing in the book might be the photo of clean-shaven Dickens!
Review Date: 8/15/2009
The author knows London at least as well as anyone now living. Add to this knowledge a brilliant imagination and you have another superb novel in CHATTERTON. The story concerns the mysterious "suicide" of real-life 1700s teenage poet Chatterton.
Review Date: 12/17/2010
A rather short story told in an old-fashioned way, but with sympathy and good psychology. More accessible than Keilson's Death of an Adversary.
Review Date: 5/30/2012
As is true of every other book in this Compass series, the Pennsylvania guide is the best possible introduction to the geography and history of the state. It's written for the traveler, but not just a list of hotels and restaurants. Highly recommended.
Review Date: 3/3/2008
Second installment in the adventures of Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked attorney in the time of Henry VIII. A very sympathetic hero, an intriguing mystery, and of course the background of Thomas Cromwell's shenanigans in the service of the king.
Review Date: 5/31/2009
Based on the true story of the archbishop who built the cathedral at Santa Fe. Minor characters include Kit Carson and his wife Josefa. A vivid description of the beautiful Southwest.
Review Date: 12/26/2010
The New York Times Book Review gave this book a rave review, but I was disappointed. There is nothing wrong with it, exactly, but I was not impressed. It's sort of Kafkaesque and allegorical. I like Kafka, but I did not see anything so remarkable about this book. Maybe its main value is historical, since it is a reaction to Nazi-ism and the German occupation of The Netherlands 1940-5.
Review Date: 7/21/2008
A terrific book that has kept its appeal for 25 years. If you liked the recent HBO miniseries John Adams, or the book it was based on, you should also try this book.
Review Date: 3/3/2008
First installment in the adventures of Matthew Shardlake, a hunchbacked attorney in the days of Henry VIII. His character, as well as the mystery he tries to solve and the political background, are fascinating. Whole series highly recommended.
Review Date: 9/29/2012
Enjoyable information about the beginnings of this popular British soap opera.
Review Date: 3/3/2008
Sticks very close to the historical truth but ends on a twist with a "might-have-been" ending. Concerns the last Tsaritsa, Alexandra; her sister Elizabeth, Grand Duchess Sergei; and the politically powerful brothers they left Germany for.
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