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Merrick (Vampire Chronicles) by ANNE RICE Average Customer Review:  Hardcover (17 October, 2000) list price: $26.95 -- our price: $17.79 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review Just when you thought it was safe for a bloodsucker to go out in the dark in New Orleans, along comes Merrick Mayfair, a sultry, hard-drinking octoroon beauty whose voodoo can turn the toughest vampire into a marionette dancing to her merry, scary tune. In Merrick, Anne Rice brings back three of her most wildly popular characters--the vampires Lestat and Louis and the dead vampire child Claudia--and introduces them to the world of her Mayfair Witches book series. It is Louis who brings about the collision of the fang and voodoo universes. Louis made Claudia a vampire in Rice's classic Interview with the Vampire, in which she was destroyed, and now he's obsessed with raising her ghost to make amends and seek guidance from the beyond. (Claudia physically resembles Rice's young daughter who died of a blood-related illness. Rice nearly died of a diabetic coma in 1998, and writing Merrick turned her excruciating recovery into an exhilarating burst of creativity). Vampire David Talbot lobbies Merrick to call Claudia's spirit and slake Louis's guilt, but Talbot winds up in the grip of an obsession with the witch. You see, Talbot, unlike most vampires, lived 70 years as a human, so his sexual response to humans is still as strong as his blood thirst. Merrick can cast spells to make men crave her, and Talbot is tormented. After she reads his palm, he muses, "I wanted to take her in my arms, not to feed from her, no, not harm her, only kiss her, only sink my fangs a very little, only taste her blood and her secrets, but this was dreadful and I wouldn't let it go on." The secrets of Merrick are dark and sensuous, but the book is a romp animated by Rice's feeling of coming back to life through the magic of a literary outpouring. The narrative flashes back to the past, to an Indiana Jones-ish adventure in a Guatemalan cave, and to scenes from many other Rice novels. It may be helpful to read Merrick with the Rice-approved guidebooks The Vampire Companion and The Witches' Companion at hand. After many books, Rice's grand Vampire Chronicles tale was in peril of getting long in the tooth. Merrick Mayfair's magic represents an infusion of fresh blood. --Tim Appelo ... Read more Reviews (290)
Merrick is a witch of substantial power, descended from a branch of the Mayfair family. Beset by multiple demons of the spirit world (ghosts and demons) and the temptations of spirits (alcohol), she has lived within the Order of the Talamasa since adolescence. Now her semi-incestuous mentor, David Talbot, seeks her help on behalf of Louis, the original protagonist of "Interview with a Vampire". After a great deal of reminiscing and tale-telling by David (who serves as narrator), we are brought to the type of resolution that dominates so many of Ms. Rice's novels of the past ten years or so. Perhaps you should read this with the expectation of digesting a series of richly described short stories. Individual chapters can almost stand alone, yet the thread that passes for a story line is stretched entirely too far. Ms. Rice has done much better in the past.
David Talbot encounters his protege/semi-lover Merrick Mayfair, an octaroon witch who now works for the Talamasca. He has an odd request for her: Louis de Point du Lac, a tormented vampire, wants to call up the spirit of the child vampire Claudia, so he can be reassured of her fate. And he needs Merrick's help to do so, since she has the ability to call up and control the dead with her voodoo magic. David reflects on his first encounters with Merrick, her trips into the jungle in search of mystery artifacts, and the malevolent spirit of her dead sister Honey in the Sunshine. Now those artifacts may help her raise up Claudia's spirit, and might give Honey's spirit a way back into the world as well. But when Claudia is brought forth to speak with Louis, what she has to say may destroy him... "Merrick" was advertised as the spot where the Mayfair and Vampire Chronicles converged, but that's kind of misleading. Except for some mentions of Julian Mayfair, there's only a vague connection with the "white Mayfairs." It's mostly vampires and more vampires, with only the Talamasca (a sort of supernatural FBI) as a connecting point. As always, Rice's writing is lush and brimming over with steamy New Orleans atmosphere. But she could use some editing. There are constant references to Merrick getting snockered on rum, her breasts, her clothes, David lusting after her, Louis burbling about how he loves her, and so on. And Rice seems to lose her way in the final chapters, as if she wasn't entirely sure how to wrap up what she had started. The biggest flaw of the book is Merrick herself. She's certainly an intriguing character, a beautiful witch who wants to be a vampire, and isn't afraid to bend the men (and vampires) around her fingers to get what she wants. But she doesn't seem to have any flaws, motives, or recognizable emotions. We get no insights at all to what she's thinking. Louis is a rather ineffectual presence, and David is basically there to lust after Merrick. But Lestat's brief appearance toward the end sets the pages on fire. While "Merrick" is overflowing with promise, hardly any of that promise is actually used. Beautifully written but poorly characterized, "Merrick" tries to cast a spell but doesn't succeed. ... Read more Isbn: 0679454489 |
$17.79 |
One of Ann Rice's Worst books
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Irresistible Forces by Danielle Steel Average Customer Review:  Mass Market Paperback (31 October, 2000) list price: $7.99 -- our price: $7.99 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Reviews (98)
Isbn: 0440224861 |
$7.99 |
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A Day Late and a Dollar Short by Terry McMillan Average Customer Review:  Hardcover (15 January, 2001) list price: $25.95 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review Terry McMillan's novels feature chatty, catty narrators who have a story they're just busting to tell you. The dominant voice in A Day Late and a Dollar Short is Viola Price, whose asthma just sent her to the ICU. And who came to visit? The Jheri Curl-wearing Cecil, "a bad habit I've had for thirty-eight years, which would make him my husband." Viola doesn't think Cecil's such a catch: "His midlife crisis done lasted about 20 years now," and "to set the record straight, Cecil look like he about four months pregnant." But somebody did catch Cecil--he recently left Viola for "some welfare huzzy" with three kids. And, as we soon find out in Cecil's first-person chapter, Viola has abundant flaws of her own. McMillan deftly sketches the exasperated intimacy of the long and unsuccessfully married. She also has great dish about family dynamics. Have Cecil and Viola's kids got problems! When lovable, luck-free Lewis turns up to visit his mom, he's drunk, broke, and still whining about his ex, Donnetta, who "didn't have as much sense as a Christmas turkey" (though she did have the sense to dump Lewis). Now Lewis consoles himself with his Bobbing Betty doll. "How could somebody with an IQ of 146 be so stupid?" marvels Viola. And that Charlotte! Viola's daughter is "a bossy wench from the word go." (Gee, where could she have gotten that trait?) Charlotte feels like she never got her fair share of attention, having been born 10 months after the eldest daughter, Paris (now the driven mom of a brilliant athlete whose white girlfriend claims she's pregnant). Charlotte took it out on younger Lewis and Janelle, who's been in college 15 years with no degree in sight. At first, you'll make ample use of the family charts in the endpapers to figure out who's who, but pretty soon you'll feel right at home with the squabbling, multiply dysfunctional, ultimately loving Price clan. You may agree with Viola: "Some folks got some stuff that can top ours. Hell, look at the Kennedys." --Tim Appelo ... Read more Reviews (282)
Here's a title that I think a lot of Terry McMillan fans did not discover when it first came out in hardcover (as attested by this reviewer, who got a lot of "when did THIS book come out" when reading the book in public). A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT is a novel by Terry McMillan about a family that seems to be drifting apart. Viola Price is the matriarch of this black American family. Her husband is living with another woman, she's got a lot of health problems, mainly asthma, and her four grown kids seem to be too busy to come together at the same time as a family. The story is centered on Viola, however she is not the only important character to this story. The story is told in many voices - someone different narrates each chapter, which allows the reader to get into each characters head. There is of course Viola, the feisty 50-something grandmother and mother who is trying to make a new life for herself without her husband Cecil. There's Cecil, the man with the out of style Jheri Curl and polyester outfits who is now in love with a much younger woman, who comes complete with her own set of children. Paris is the oldest daughter of Viola and Cecil, and she's also the high achiever in the family. Charlotte's the self-centered daughter who feels very neglected and unloved. Janelle is dealing with a major problem with her husband and her daughter, something so terrible she can't talk about it. Lewis is the only son in the family, and also the one that keeps getting into trouble. With a genius IQ, he can't hold on to a job and finds himself in jail a lot. And these are only some of the characters you'll get to know. There are nieces and nephews and ex's and best friends that come into play. It takes a while to see where the book is going, but the overall theme is about a family that doesn't feel like a family anymore, and Viola somehow manages to bring them all together. I'm a relatively new fan of Terry McMillan, having read WAITING TO EXHALE last year and HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK a few years before that. I enjoyed them both. A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT was not as good as these other titles, but I enjoyed reading it. What changed my mind was the rather anti-climatic ending. I felt that Ms McMillan did not know how to end this story. The journey was fabulous but the destination was somewhat of a let down. I'm still recommending this book but I wouldn't recommend it as a first book for those how have not read her other books yet.
Isbn: 0670896764 |
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Brilliant Return!
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The WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE by Rush Limbaugh Average Customer Review: Audio Cassette (01 May, 1999) list price: $9.98 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Reviews (104)
Too bad Paul Wellstone is not still around. It would have been great to see a debate between the two of you. ... Read more Isbn: 0671045970 |
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On Writing by Stephen King Average Customer Review: Hardcover (03 October, 2000) list price: $25.00 -- our price: $16.50 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee."I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing." King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote. King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo ... Read more Reviews (540)
When I first first bought the book, I thought it would probably espouse all the common diatribes on writing (i.e. write what you know, outline your plot, blah, blah, blah) but I was completely wrong, and pleasantly so. Instead I found a refreshing personal dialogue with the author that unchains you from pedantic conventions and provides sound advice for transforming one's passion into craft, and ultimately into the essence of good writing. This book is about the core creation of ideas, the key tools to good writing, and the need to focus oneself on the truth as every author sees it. There are many good books on writing (Lord knows I've read enough of them, as I'm sure you have as well) that are formula based. The difference between King's book and these others is that it intertwines the author's life experiences, his passion for the art form, and the development of his story telling abilities with his growth as a living, breathing human being. He literally combines personal experience with hard lessons learned about the craft, book by book, story by story. For example, King often times relates how he connects two disparate ideas and discovers to his amazement that he has discovered an artifact, a fossil in the ground that is the genesis for a creative idea, more compelling than a plot, a situation that begs to be defined. From such events have come his best stories. I dare you to find any other book on writing that so unabashedly describes the events that shaped the author's ideas and learnings about good writing into succesful novels as succinctly as King does. By interweaving the personal experiences of his past, the tough realities of a single parent home, the allure of addiction, and the love of his family, he demonstrates how he has managed to overcome his demons and routinely tap the muse that sits somewhere between his conscious mind and the far off subconscious in the basement of his mind. On a more technical level he gets to the heart of what is important to bringing one's writing to a new level, what he calls the tool box of writing, that is, the key elements or tools every successful writer must keep omnipresent and sharp to do good work. If you are an apsiring writer you could do far worse than read King's work. (It's a bit reassuring that one of the world's most successful writers had to use a literal spike in his bedroom, not a pin mind you, to hold up all his rejection letters early on in his career). If you are looking for the catalyst that will energize you, push you forward (I know it had that effect on me), and help you overcome the hurdles of what writing is supposed to be about, than I recommend this work to you. If you are a fan ( but hopefully not too much of a fan, ala Misery) than you will still enjoy this close dialogue with a favorite author, an everyday guy who just happens to be very good at what he does, sometimes to his own surprise. Expect the melding of King's own special take on those special moments and observations in his own life that developed the skills and craft that have shaped his work. Expect to be surprised!
As an aspiring writer myself, I found this book classic. When I think back to before, when I didnt read it - and was writing myself - If found that I really needed it. So, for anyone who wants to know the low-down on becoming a successful writer, buy the book; for anyone who is a fan this is a must, you will read exciteing stories about his childhood and later life, and read the explicit chapter on his horrible accident. Isbn: 0684853523 |
$16.50 |
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A Charge to Keep by George W. Bush Average Customer Review:  Hardcover (17 November, 1999) list price: $23.00 -- our price: $16.10 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review The political biography, complete with life-altering turning points and a political philosophy for leading the United States into greatness, has become obligatory for those running for president--just one more thing to check off the "to do" list on the way to the Oval Office. A Charge to Keep is George W. Bush's offering: a light and breezy book mixing personal and political remembrances that proves heavy on chatty anecdotes and light on policy prescriptions. If you read the last chapter you'll sort of learn where George W. stands on most things, but still not really discern how he would actually run the country. There are no revelations, either personal or political: Bush's wild side and youthful indiscretions, like stealing a Christmas wreath from a New Haven hotel for his Yale fraternity, are touched on lightly when he discusses them at all. A Charge to Keep is so upbeat and positive, in describing the Houston woman to whom he was engaged in college and from whom he "gradually drifted apart," Bush says simply: "I still think the world of her, and our parting was friendly. We were very young, we lived in different places, and we gradually developed different lives." George W. has been labeled a lightweight by some; A Charge to Keep will do nothing to dispel that notion. It features lots of Bush family memories and numerous mentions of George W.'s famous parents, including letters from his president father. George W. has followed closely in his father's footsteps, attending the same prep school and college. He even belonged to the same secret society at Yale, Skull and Bones. From college it was on to flight school and the Texas Air National Guard, Harvard Business School, and then (again, like his father) the Texas oil business and politics. George W. seems mostly in sync with his father on policy issues as well. "A thousand points of light" is transformed slightly to become "compassionate conservative," which pops up in the final chapter more than 10 times. Readers will come away knowing many of the experiences and events that have helped shaped George W., but his future is still an open book. --Linda Killian ... Read more Reviews (104)
Isbn: 0688174418 |
$16.10 |
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Contract with America by Newt Gingrich, Bob Schellhas, Ed Gillespie, Richard K. Armey Average Customer Review:  Paperback (26 December, 1994) list price: $10.00 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Reviews (4)
Nevertheless, it's an important historical document. Read it to understand what might have happened had Americans chosen to go over to the "dark side."
Unfortunately, not all parts of the Contract were signed into law, but what did get signed clearly shows in what it set out to accomplish. Gingrich takes on many issues like budget deficits, welfare, crime, family issues, judicial affairs, the size of government, and job creation and offers commons sense ideas on how to either improve in these areas or solve these burdens on the American people. He gives hypothetical myths and answers with actual facts, and how the Contract was not some kind of political stunt or way to win voters. It was a necessary collection of ideas that stress personal and fiscal responsibility, limited government, liberty, and safety at home and abroad. It also preaches the need to end modern liberal spending pracices and return to more sensical limits to government's scope and power. Luckily for America, the Contract started the ball rolling to clean up government and give more voice to the people who desire the power to fix America's problems. ... Read more Isbn: 0812925866 |
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Jesse Jackson: America's David (Title of Previous Ed.: Jesse Jackson, the Man, the Movement,) by Barbara A. Reynolds Average Customer Review: Paperback (01 August, 1985) list price: $14.95 US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Reviews (1)
Isbn: 0935707018 |
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The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield Average Customer Review: Paperback (01 September, 1995) list price: $13.95 -- our price: $11.16 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Reviews (730)
I believe the scroll to be fiction, however the insights are true. How do I know? Well I've experienced them and this happened before I read the book. If you too want to experience them, it really is very easy. Just follow the simple principles listed in the books Fit for Life and Fit for Life II by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. This process of detoxifying the mind and body will take several months and then everything will become clear. Other books worth considering following detoxification are The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo, The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy. Good luck and God bless.
I'm thankful I didn't spend more, because the book was a huge letdown from all the hype. As many have already noted, the prose is extremely simplistic, as is the story. There is nothing interesting about the characters, and each dangerous moment in the story is neatly wrapped up in a hokey, "oh please" ending. The concepts discussed are worth consideration towards a more peaceful society, but the degree of serious thought that has gone into the presentation of the various "insights" is sorely lacking. Ooh....I can see your aura...like wow. I haven't read any of the followups to this book, because if they are as hokey and simplistic as the first, I don't want to waste my time. You could sum up the message of this book in a few sentences; basically, be open to coincidental encounters and what you might learn from them. Appreciate the natural beauty of the earth. Be a vegetarian (not specifically advocated, but every meal discussed in the book is fruits and veggies). Treat children like real individuals. Don't be so egotistical. There is more to life than what you see on the surface. Oh, and the best one, that the Mayans mysterious disappearance millenia ago is attributed to their becoming invisible. Let's just say, I'm really glad I only paid a dollar for this thing, and I do like most books, but this one's pretty lame.
Bad reviews stand out a lot more than good ones, read the good reviews as well. The opinion that this book is trash is only a minority. ... Read more Isbn: 0446671002 |
$11.16 |
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The Case for Christ:A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus by Lee Strobel Average Customer Review: Paperback (01 September, 1998) list price: $12.99 -- our price: $10.39 (price subject to change: see help) US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France Editorial Review The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel's attempt to "determine if there's credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God." The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, "Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?"), scientific evidence, ("Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus' Biographies?"), and "psychiatric evidence" ("Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?"). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus' divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own. ... Read more Reviews (394)
The book is divided into three sections: Examining the Record (which looks at the reliability of the New Testament); Analyzing Jesus (which looks at his claim to being the Son of God and the Messiah); and Researching the Resurrection (which is a tremendous resource on the issue of whether Jesus rose from the dead). Taken together, these chapters represent the most compelling overview of the evidence for Christianity that I've ever read. Anyone wanting to go deeper can take advantage of the resources listed at the end of each chapter. I've read a number of books, both pro and con, concerning the historical evidence for Jesus. This book has been criticized by those on the fringes who don't even believe that Jesus ever walked the earth. That should say something about their credibility! Each time someone would try to rebut "The Case for Christ," others have been able to answer those objections with solid and convincing replies. The Tektonics organization, on their site, replies point-by-point to the flawed reasoning of those who seek to undermine the evidence for Christ in this book. So I'd encourage anyone with further questions to do some research for themselves. This book is a great place to start, but there are any number of other books that will help you go deeper, such as J. P. Moreland's "Scaling the Secular City" and "Jesus Under Fire," both of which I've obtained through Amazon.com and highly recommend as well.
I loved McDowell's "Evidence that Demands a Verdict", but this is so much more readable. His mix of present day law cases to introduce and illustrate each segment drew me in and his personal interviews with the people who know the real facts about Jesus and the New Testament was entertaining as well as informative. It was like being in on the best conversations about Jesus you could hear. I'm grateful for this author and this faith strengthening book. Christians: Buy it, read it and give it to others.
Isbn: 0310209307 |
$10.39 |
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