Customer Reviews (3)

Fun to read to kids, but also great for small stage shows
This is a great book - hilarious morality tale which children can understand, wonderful rhymes and beautifully illustrated too.

In this an old woman is complaining about how crowded her house is, it is in fact "A squash and a squeeze". She goes to an old man, who gives her some 'good advice' about taking in her farm animals until at last she throws them all out - and now she feels like she has more space than she could ever possibly need. Well, bear in mind it is a lot funnier when Julia Donaldson writes it!

This is a great book for pre-schoolers to act out - we read it out and the children get to be the various animals and be squashing and squeezing. You under 6's will really enjoy this one! But also get Room on the Broom and the Gruffalo by the same authors - glorious children's books all round.

Cute little book if you have some spare cash
I bought this book after I saw it read and acted out on Playschool (TV show in Australia).It's a great little rythmic book to read aloud and has endearing illustrations.A little old lady decides her house is much too small for her - a wise old man helps her to solve her problem by suggesting she move all her animals in to live with her (one by one).Of course, by the end of the story, the house is very squashy so she moves all the animals out and realises that her house is not that small after all!Good little tale for teaching children to appreciate what they have.Nothing too deep and meaningful, just a sweet little story.Not a must have but worth buying for your library if you have spare cash and already own some of the really special books out there.

Excellent book for a toddler
I bought this a couple of weeks ago for my 19-month old daughter and she loved it right away. She chimes in now with the key phrases that are repeated throughout the book like "a curious plan" and "my house is a squash and a squeeze"! (She obviously understands the latter phrase more than the former! I give her 'squash' and 'squeeze' hugs when we get to those phrases.) The rhymes are great and there's certainly a song-like rhythm. You don't need great story-telling skills for this one. It sounds great just being read aloud. Not one that a child or adult reading to the child will tire of easily I think. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Worth a Mention
"Unmentionable!" is the sixth collection of quirky short stories for kids by Australian author Paul Jennings, originally published in 1991. It's technically the eighth collection of his stories, if you count "The Naked Ghost, Burp & Blue Jam" (a collection of his early work) and his novelization of his television series "Round the Twist", which presented selected episodes as short stories. Ah well...

He might not be that well known in America, but if you were an Australian kid in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Paul Jennings was something of a superstar. He did for reading in Australia in the 1990s what J.K Rowling did for reading this decade with her "Harry Potter" series. Even kids who usually hated books could get into Paul Jennings. His writing style, though not the most polished in the world, was just the way Australian kids think and feel, and is full of things kids can relate to: (school, bullies, getting in trouble, etc), plus he had a wacky imagination, was full of ideas and had a sort of slapstick, sometimes gross out, sense of humour that you could really visualise. I know when I was in third grade, when I first started reading Paul Jennings, he very quickly became a hero of mine, one of my first. When we had private writing time in class, I wanted to be Paul Jennings. He was a Melbourne guy, which I really admired. He described places and suburbs I could actually go to and visit, he had taught at schools just up the road from mine.

I got this particular book, "Unmentionable", with it's 9 short stories on my 9th birthday. It's the last one in what I'd call, as a fan, Jennings golden age. He released it after his television series "Round The Twist" had taken off, and four of the stories here ("Ice Maiden", "Birdman", "Little Squirt" and "Sloppy Jalopy") were adapted into episodes of the second series. It is a collection has a couple of his most famous stories, and the lesser known tales are just as good as the known ones. Here's a rundown:

"Ice Maiden" tells us a tale of a boy who falls in love with an ice sculpture of a young woman in a butcher's shop window. When it gets thrown out, he tries to rescue it, a plan that results in chaos and embarrassment for the poor boy.

"Birdman" is probably my favorite in this book. It's all about a birdman contest, where kids make wings and other flying contraptions, then jump off the pier and see how far they can fly with them. Sean doesn't have much of a chance, that is until he discovers a hat made out of a cat washed up on the beach. It's something of a copy cat, when it sees someone doing something, the wearer of the hat repeats the actions the cat-hat sees perfectly. Perhaps Sean could win the contest with it. Perhaps it will all go horribly wrong.

"Little Squirt" takes place in a urinal of a school toilet block. That's all I'll say about that one...

"The Mouth Organ" is a classic Jennings story. A busker girl receives an enchanted mouth organ from a mysterious ponytailed man. There's some beautiful descriptions of music here, something you wouldn't normally expect to find in a kids book. Jennings must be really passionate about music, whatever he listens to.

"The Velvet Throne" is another top story. An all too mild mannered man gets locked in a public toilet block for the night. He soon discovers that anything written on the walls of this particular block comes to pass. He also discovers that there is some pretty crazy stuff written on the walls already...

"Cry Baby" begins with a boy photocopying his bottom on the school's photocopier, and ends up in the arid Australian desert. How does the story end up there? You'll have to read to find out. Great quote: [regarding the photocopy] "I'd called it 'elephant ears', because that's what it looked like"

"Ex Poser" is a curious tale. A brainy kid at school has invented a lie detector, and his friend tries it out on the pretty, rich girl named Sandra. He's determined to prove she is a snob and determined to expose the secrets she presumably hides, but ends up proving something else entirely. You can feel the unrequited young love that comes from all angles so strongly in this story.

"Sloppy Jalopy" is another real classic, with a little bit of an enviromental message thrown in. A boy, while sitting in his dad's Jalopy, gets blasted with toxic waste from the truck in front of him, which had a loose valve. After this putrid bath, the boy is horrified to find that all rubbish is attracted to him like a magnet!

"Eyes Knows" is a story I'd forgotten about for years, but it's actually a really good one. After a couple decides to get divorced, their son is forced to choose which one he is going to live with. He has a lot of trouble with this decision, and pretty soon he's having trouble with every decision, even the small decisions like what socks to wear. Maybe his toy robot can help. It's eyes light up red and green at random when you push a button. Red for no, green for yes, that's a good way to make tough decisions, the boy decides. The boy tries it and finds that life becomes a lot easier for him. At first, that is...

For those who have never read Paul Jennings before, be they young or old, "Unmentionable" is a fairly good place to start. Though I like the books he wrote after this one ("Undone", "Uncovered", etc), they're not quite as good, I don't think.

Highly recommended to kids, and for those looking for something quirky to read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Hackneyed plot
I have been fascinated by Clare Francis after following her round the world sailing feat and subsequent battle with chronic fatigue syndrome.I thoroughly enjoyed her first book Night Sky but found Red Crystal to be far fetched and hard to generate any empathy for the characters.Am currently reading Deceit and find this very slow going.I wish she would go back to writing about sailing. ... Read more

Book Description
The battle between Satan and human beings began in the Garden of Eden and continues to this day. Running conflicts between Christians and the dark lords perfected the skill and cunning of mankind’s most dreaded enemies as the pages of history steadily advanced. The endless acts of madness and insanity that broadcast themselves through everything from the major media to neighborhood conversations continually reveal that Satan and his demonic legions have indeed crowned themselves in the knighthood of evil.

The imminent emergence of the third Elijah and the dwindling time that precedes the Second Coming of Jesus will escalate the battle to its climactic conclusion. Your survival will largely depend on your ability to learn to battle the evil monstrosities that will seek the destruction of all mankind—an ability that can only come through the knowledge provided by God. Neutrality and indifference will not protect you. In the years that remain prior to the Second Coming of Jesus, nature and many human beings will seemingly go insane as the evil ones throw every last desperate punch. It will indeed be a time of fear and dread such as has never been seen in the history of mankind. ... Read more

Book Description
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" "Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be . . ." These lines from some of the most famous poems in the English language are also the legacy of a great love story. Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were united not only as man and wife, but also as writers who shared and debated ideas, values and literary craft. Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning: How Do I Love Thee? Their Story and Poetry is an audio original consisting of 70 poems performed by three great British actors. It interweaves the classic poetry by these two famous writers of the Victorian era with the narrative story of their love, offering a rare glimpse into the artistic, passionate nature of genius. 2 cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fantastic True Love Story
"How Do I Love Thee?" was a romantic true love story.In the book, Robert Browning gave Elizabeth "Ba" Barret the courage to love and live life.Ba was an invalid who lived with a widowed, controlling father of seven children.Although, Ba was his pride and joy, he kept her captive through her illness.Ba's poetry caused Robert Browning to fall in love with her and wish to meet her.The two poets' friendship blossomed through their letters; after they met face to face it soon became love.Soon Ba's father was the only thing standing in the way of their true happiness.

The book begins with a curious statement which holds your attention through the first few chapters."How Do I Love Thee?" becomes very interesting after Ba and Robert finally meet face to face.The author's incorporation of the love poems of Elizabeth Barret Browning and Robert Browning was terrific addition to the story.The end was disappointing, but the book as a whole was a fantastic true love story of two amazing poets. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best book I've ever read
Ice Station is a great read by a very great author. It captures you and starts moving very fast until you can't put the book down. Advice for you: If you are going to read this book, make sure you can set up some time so you don't get too hooked. ... Read more

Book Description
71 poems are included from these two influential poets of 19th century England who were also man and wife. The poetry reveals their passion, ideas, and dedication to social causes. This 2-CD set offers the listener a convenient way to hear favorite poems of Elizabeth easily (CD1) and/or find the preferred poetry of Robert (CD2) with maximum accessibility. The first CD includes the most famous poems from Robert: "Love among the Ruins," "Home Thoughts from Abroad," "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "Abt Vogler," "Rabbi Ben Ezra" and 16 others. The second CD offers Elizabeth's best-loved works: "Grief," "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point," "Casa Guidi Windows," the 44 complete Sonnets from the Portuguese, and 4 others. 2-CD set. ... Read more

Book Description
In this powerfully affecting Flaubert's Parrot gives readers a brilliant take on the deceptions that make up the quivering substrata of erotic love. "An interplay of serious thought and dazzling wit. . . . It's moving, it's funny, it's frightening . . . fiction at its best."--New York Times Book Review. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (21)

And over and over and over...
This is a book where a simple story of a love triangle is made more interesting by allowing the reader to view it from the perspectives of everyone involved (or everyone even remotely associated with the main three characters). However, the book seems to lack momentum may be because the unfolding of events is delayed when characters take their turns to talk about them.

A classic triangle
Julian Barnes's Talking It Over is told from the perspectives of three first-person narrators: Stuart, who is pedantic and slightly nerdy; the reserved, conflicted, and lovely Gillian; and Oliver, a flamboyant show-off in love with his own cleverness. Stuart marries Gillian, Oliver is their best friend who tags along with them all the time, and I'm willing to bet that you guess what happens next.

The plot is conventional, the characters never quite escape their stereotypical roles, yet somehow the book succeeds. Don't get me wrong; it's not Great Literature, nor is it Barnes's best work, but it's an engaging read nonetheless. Barnes does a good job of playing his three narrators against each other, and despite the fact that they never quite rise above their types, he eventually manages to show us the humanity that lies beneath the type. There are some nice lines and a few very well-written scenes. I like the way Barnes captures the feeling that exists between Gillian and Oliver as they sit in her attic studio day after day, and I love the moment when Gillian sees the secret flower petal on the shelf and swallows it--such a wonderfully subtle way of letting us know that she's crossed a line within herself, before she even knows it.

The book lost steam a bit towards the end.It seems that Barnes is better when is writing is fueled by the crackling sexual tension that exists in the first half of the narrative; once the tension is resolved, the story seems to go astray.

It was a compelling read, and very quick, but anyone seeking Barnes best work would be better of with A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters.

Fails structurally - and a rip of of Amis
For a start, for readers of Martin Amis's success, Barnes' novel seems like such an obvious rip off that it is hard to believe it wasn't intentional. The central tenets of Amis's novel - one successful dilletante male, the other hard working and mundane, a woman who doesn't say much, characters speak directly to the reader - are all followed in Talking it Over.

In addition, the structure of the book is weak. The narrative rests on the reader being drawn into Gillian first falling in love with Stuart (which you don't - how often does an attractive woman sign up for a dating agency then fall for a dull, needy, insecure man?) then Oliver (which is also unconvincing - he bungles the seduction, but she falls for him anyway). Barnes pads out this narrative with some interesting comment from the characters on love, life and sex, and some trademark humour, but pasting some wry social observation onto the page does not in itself make a good novel.

Actually, I found the sequel, Love etc. rather better, and far more convincingly done. You would have to read this novel as a stepping stone to that book, which picks up the lives of the characters after the cliffhanger at the end of Talking it Over.

Dear Reader
Steady nerdish Stuart and his best friend, flamboyant loser Oliver, are both in love with Gillian, who solves her dilemma by marrying both of them. It is set in 1980's London
It is told very cleverly (rather too cleverly) from the point of view of each of a cast of characters who write as if trying to get their own points of view across to the reader and analyze each others motives and criticize each other. Normally I dislike these fancy narrative devices (sometimes called post-modern, although you can trace them back to eighteenth century epistolary novels, andaddressing the "dear reader") but Barnes does this so well that I was captivated.
The style becomes too fancy when Oliver is the narrator. He is fond of elaborate witticisms and bits of French.The best narrators were Val and the girl in the flower shop.
Barnes wrote a sequel "Love Etc" ten years later, which is set ten years later in the characters' lives. It is even better.

GOOSEBERRY
Not until I came to the end did I check the publication dates of this novel and John Mortimer's Dunster. Barnes has it. Talking It Over dates from 1991 and Dunster from 1992. Whether there was any communication between the authors regarding their stories, or whether the muse visited them independently, I have no idea at all. If the latter, the resemblance between the plot-lines is nothing less than startling. Safe and slightly dull financial professional has a showy and erratic best friend. Dull professional marries well, and wife deserts him for erratic and showy best friend, whom she then marries. The second marriage fails, partly through Aristotelian hamartia of best friend. The b/f gets his deserved comeuppance, this providing some cold and partial consolation to the wronged dull professional.

Julian Barnes is talented in the extreme. Not only is the book as well written as those familiar with his other work would expect, the plot gives him the opportunity to parade some of his own prejudices regarding the proper use of English, these prejudices being of course voiced by the characters in the book and not directly by the author (as if we would be fooled). In fact it is the persons of the drama who talk from first page to last, never the author for himself, and it is not just the three protagonists but the minor supporting cast as well. This device is very cleverly and adroitly used, again as we would expect, but I myself am sometimes inclined to find Barnes just a little too smart for his own good or for my appreciation as a reader. The start of the book is completely brilliant, for example, with the two lonely-hearts falling for each other, and the talkative Oliver playing gooseberry. His own discomfiture at being in this position and the way he talks too much in compensation are ultra-perceptive observation by the author, and I have the strong impression that he knows that himself. How the story then develops until the ousted Stuart finally becomes the unwanted presence that brings Oliver's downfall about is clever, original and convincing, or clever and original at least.

The whole book shows a sharp eye for character and situations, and an even sharper ear for how some kinds of people talk when they are forced to come to terms with their real thoughts and motivations. What I found very successful was the way Barnes keeps his distance from his characters and ensures that they are really talking for themselves rather than for himself. Every incident and every situation in this book challenges us to be judgmental, but if any judging is going to be done the author makes sure that we are left doing it. His style is also light, graceful and in the last degree skilful, and you will get through the book's 270 or so pages before you think.

Very readable, very persuasive and I suppose very recommendable.I gave Dunster 5 stars when I reviewed that, so I have no other option here. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

an unconventional love story -- and spy novel
This is the best of three MacInnes novels featuring Robert Renwick as the hero. They are best read in order: PRELUDE TO TERROR, THE HIDDEN TARGET, and then CLOAK OF DARKNESS.

Almost all of MacInnes's novels were about the struggle against either Nazism or Communism, but in this novel the focus has shifted more to international terrorism. Renwick is a former NATO intelligence officer who is starting a new organization, InterIntell. Like InterPol, they exist to be a clearinghouse for information, but instead of drugs they focus on terrorism.

The central figure of the novel is Nina O'Connell, a college student who accepts a friend's offer to join a round-the-world student adventure. Unbeknownst to her, she has been specifically targeted by one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. Renwick had almost captured this man, Erik, but he escaped the net. Renwick is hunting him, and he is travelling from country to country on behalf of his Soviet moneyman, recruiting new terrorist cells.

Erik wants to use Nina to get close to her father, a high level member of the State Department. Nina is torn between her attraction to "James" and a girlish crush on a man she remeets just before she starts her trip -- Robert Renwick. As the trip progresses and she starts to question the strange behavior of James and his friend Tony, Renwick starts to suspect that Nina's travelling partners may also be the terrorists he is hunting.

Which man will Nina choose? And will she survive the choice? This is one of MacInnes's best novels. ... Read more