Bond Reviews

Bond of Blood was Roberta Gellis' second published book, first printed in hardcover by Doubleday in 1965. At that time there wasn't a historical romance genre. There was, however, a demand for fat historical novels with the emphasis on history which is what she wrote. However, Gellis also did some things that set her apart from many of the historical novelists writing then or since-- she tried to make the attitudes of the people she wrote about consistent with the period. You won't find her characters spouting off about equality for serfs or other attitudes that won't appear in the aristocracy for centuries to come. She does not concentrate deliberately on the unpleasant, but she does not hesitate to be a little more graphic about bodily functions that the average book written in the time.

This then is the story of a man who did not quite fit his time--personal circumstances have rendered him both hardier and more sensitive than many of his peers--and a woman (a girl really, she is 15 at the time of their betrothal) who struggles to work out what her place is in society and her marriage.

One of the things I found fascinating about my rereading of this book was the reactions of the two main characters seem psychologically realistic. Both of them were essentially abused children--although no one at the time would have considered their parents' actions to be "abuse"-- who developed various coping mechanisms for dealing with their situations.

A good early effort by an author who grew to be one of my favorite writers.

I have been searching for this book for 10 years and now with the internet I will have it within a week. It is a great read to get lost in on a cold fall afternoon. If you do not have this book you must get it!

Even after 20 years this is still one of my favorite books. The characters are compelling, the romance is deep and satisfying, and the amount of history just right for the serious historical reader.

The only reason I am not rating this book 5 stars is that the selection of posters from my favorite Bond film, 'You Only Live Twice', was limp. That said, the book exceeded my expectations for showing 'the images of the fantasy' of Bond: the debonnaire sexual animal, the wry expression on his face, the ever present gun, boobs, booze, and world saving mission....A wonderful surprise was all the foreign posters, which really added a dimension of how other cultures have interpreted Bond. The book is wonderful more for its great collection of Bond posters than for any high art book production quality (although the reproductions are fine).

Bond was my idol as a boy. This caused some problems in later life, given his unending cycle of kill a guy, save the world, screw a woman, have a drink. So I have definite mixed feelings about the character, but marvel at the whole dramatic creation of it all......

It's sad to see how [poorly] the poster art for the Bond films have become in the past decade. But this collection allows you to relish the amazing images and see Bond around the world.

We are finally given a book that focuses on the art of the James Bond films. With it's extensive size and length, this is one 007 book that is sure to deliver the idea it promises. Every film from Dr. No to The World is Not Enough including Casino Royale and Never Say Never Agin are included. Each film has posters from the USA, UK and many other countries that made posters for each film. The teaser posters fro On Her Majesty's Secret Service are a real treat offering the odd, but truly inspirational 007 and Bride posters. Excitng montage art for many other film posters is included as well. Many films have unique posters for each main character in the film such as The World is Not Enough. A wonderful and new kind of 007 book thats real strength lies in the pictures and not in the text. Great for all that enjoy James Bond!

This book is good. BUT...there are way too many recipes with no explanations for the beginning green cleaner.

I was a little lost in the vast forest of different ways to clean everything. Also, there are no detailed instructions on just how to mix together the ingredients. As Karen Noonan Logan points out in "Clean House, Clean Planet," there are times (especially when mixing baking soda and vinegar) when you must put the ingredients in a specific order for the cleanser to work.

Don't get me wrong, this *is* a very good book! Chemically sensitive people and those who already make their own cleansers will find it a valuable source. But, for the beginner, it would probably be better to get "Clean House, Clean Planet" first because it has detailed instructions, some chemistry lessons and effectiveness ratings.

After you become more familiar with how green cleaning works, this book would be an excellent addition for more recipes and ideas.

I'm not much interested in housecleaning, but when I read Annie's recipes, I trust her attention to safe and healthy living. Environmental illness,a disease that requires a lot of housecleaning, has forced me to search for safe products, and to use them.I am comforted to find such a reliable and extensive source of information.

I only bought this book a couple of weeks ago, and have already put many of the recommendations and recipes into practice. It offers easy to understand and implement alternatives for those who want to use enviromentally-friendly alternatives for their home. Also offers a large resource guide for where to find what you need.

Raymond Benson's James Bond Bedside Companion provides an excellent analysis of the entire James Bond series, including the films and the novels. This edition was originally released in 1988, and it has not been updated to the present. As a result, some of the information is quite dated. Of most notable development is the fact that Raymond Benson himself has since taken over as the author of the James Bond literary series.

Nonetheless, this is overall, an informative work. Benson provides a chapter on Ian Fleming's background. Of particular note is a chapter in which Benson pieces together the biography of the James Bond character. This is reminiscent of John Pearson's Unauthorized Biography of James Bond. Benson provides an excellent analysis of the James Bond novels. He identifies trends in Ian Fleming's writing nad points to specific examples of what he calls the "Fleming Effect." For hard core fans of the novels this section is excellent. Benson includes analysis of the works of Ian FLeming, Kingsley Amis, and John Gardner. Curiously, many of the apparent criticisms that Benson had of Gardner's work, he is guilty of committing in his own novels. The film analysis is also excellent. Benson provides detailed analysis of every film through the Living Daylights.

It should be noted that this book will probably not be of much appeal to the casual James Bond fan. Benson tries to provide an in depth analysis rather than focusing on the superficial. Of distraction to the hard core fan, are occasional factual errors that appear to be the result of sloppy editing. Additionally, the quality of the text and photos is generally poor. The formatting of the text is somewhat erratic with occasional omissions of glaringly obvious punctuation. The photos are all black & white. The photos are generally blurred. This appear to be the result of poor printing.

Overall, the quality of the author's analysis is generally educational and informative. However, the production of the actual book borders on shoddy. An excellent reference work for the hardcore fan, but if you're looking for color photos of Bond girls and gadgets, then you should look elsewhere.

If you're a fan of the movies or books but haven't ever read anything about them, this is the place to start. If you have read lots of other stuff, but not this, shame on you. You'll still learn a lot from The James Bond Bedside Companion, and you'll find that it is THE essential guide to all things Bond, books and films, all in one place. I have just about everything ever published on Bond in English (and that's a lot of books), and this is the one that I'll pull off the shelf first if I want to look things up. Every Bond fan should own it.

If you want only one book for your collection on the bond series this is it!! A masterpiece volume with great research and colorful themes by MR. Benson. My children are now reading this book and watch a Bond movie each month and refer to this book for details/information. Its great that this out of print book is available again for all to enjoy!! BOND JAMES BOND

I'm an interest rate professional with more than 10 years of successful pricing and trading experience, and I enjoyed and appreciated Riccardo Rebonato's clear presentation of the pricing of these derivatives. I keep this on my desk as one of my key references.

Another great read is "Credit Derivatives" (2nd Edition) by Tavakoli. The products and their uses are clearly explained, and ties in relative value to the interest rate market. I concede that the models for this product may be trickier because of documentation risk and data issues, but Tavakoli brings clarity to this topic so any interest rate professional can grasp the products and why investors - even hedge funds - are so keen to use them.

It's hard to believe a reviewer with such a myopic view of Derivatives pricing could go through the whole book, understood it and found time to rate it. Mindblowing waste of time !
Few hundreds years ago, he would have recommended burning the Madmen claiming the earth was round.

Anyway, while Derivatives Pricing achieves little for the welfare of mankind, the recent need for assets based on ever complex market scenarios calls for a more refined pricing methodology. There no supply and demand here, only customers who want hedge/trade/tradge assets /liabilities and traders who need to make sure their firms don't go burst when market move.

The author answers that demand by formatting and publishing his papers.

My avid reading kept jostling out superb hot ideas from this book. Rebonato carries out a comprehensive survey of the LIBOR market model. He tackles historical background, calibration, and effective implementation. The later chapters also cover extensions to the LIBOR market model to take account of smile and skew. In particular, there is extensive discussion of the cutting-edge Joshi-Rebonato stochastic-vol, displaced-diffusion LIBOR market model.

If you are working on the pricing of exotic interest rate derivatives, this book is a must buy.

I picked up this novel after reading a charming but uncomplicated romantic-comedy novel by the same author. However, this particular book has significant depth and authenticity; my previous experience with this author gave no clue that she could write a book such as this one.

While the author may have meant for this novel to be funny, it is, in my opinion, more of a straight fiction book. The story concerns a highly dysfunctional North Carolina family of three illegitimate adult daughters, their bohemian parents, a live-in-boyfriend/ former fiance/ object of teenage desire all wound up in one dubiously deserving man, an uncle with political aspirations -- and his late wife, who was murdered while the girls were still in the teens, and whose murder the trio unfortunately witnessed.

As is usual in any fiction book, a problem arises... in this book, about five problems arise concurrently. First, the bohemian parents, while never married, have separated, necessitating the liqidation of their antiques business. Eldest Daughter is dodging the angry wife of her latest conquest. Youngest Daughter is dodging the rather psychotic aforementioned live-in boyfriend. The sisters are askance at a resurgence of interest in their late aunt's murder. And Middle Daughter, the "good child," is cajoled into help liquidate the antiques store, assisting a rather attractive and engaging appraiser hired by her mother.

In a masterful and clever way, the stories converge for an ending that's satisfying as it leaves positively no loose ends. I can't imagine the work and effort that went into this novel.

Now, I took off two stars because IN SPITE of everything, I had next to no affinity for these characters. Mostly, I wanted to spank them, or I wished that someone would stand up and say, "Hey, grownups don't act like this" and walk out. The Middle Daughter is wishy washy, the oldest and youngest are harpies, the parents are infantile, and the peripheral characters are pure stock. The only one who's vaguely interesting on his own is the engaging antiques appraiser... he'd be a good candidate to walk out. Instead, throughout the story he's vaguely amused.

I think this a book downright EXCELLENT for plot and mediocre for character... depending on your tastes, this could be a sure bet for you.

I had thoroughly enjoyed OUR HUSBAND, Stephanie Bond's earlier book, so I expected to like I THINK I LOVE YOU. Yet I more than liked it, I was awed by it.

The story was far more detailed than one expects a genre romance to be. Ms. Bond lets the reader know right from the beginning that she was inspired by the Nancy Drew mysteries of our collective youths, and I THINK I LOVE YOU is very much a Nancy Drew book for the modern woman.

The tension among the three sisters who are the focus of this novel is altogether plausible, and its history is well-explained. The separate plots concerning each of the three sisters also are compelling, and the backstory of small town Southern life is extremely interesting. I was awed by Ms. Bond's imagination and I cannot wait to read the sequel that the final pages of this novel promise already is in the works.

A real treat to read. The phrase "a hoot" comes to mind. "I Think I Love You" was my first Stephanie Bond read, but it most certainly won't be my last.

No one in the world knows Zane better than I do.
He wrote a good book that runs the gambit of his experiences.
Mania or depression are hollow words that bounce off my heart and simply encourage my love for him.
I see a man wrapped-up in his work, as a Coin Dealer and a Writer. I see a man who likes to sleep too much, an drive too slow one day, and too fast the next. I see the man I love.
I see a different man than the one I married in 1985, and I see a book that captured his spirit!

Wow...1000 words.....I'd need a library to tell you about Zane Bond........I've known this gent for over 30 years and he is a Michelangelo..still in the works.I have travelled the USA with Zane....certainly an unusual way of perceiving life. I would reccomend this book to those who are looking for an escape from the mundane.Power packed with rip-roaring anecdotes.I would safely say you will enjoy the book in its entirety.Zane told me he will refund anyones money 10x if they donot think this is the greatest book ever published!!

Zane Bond has the unique ability to wander through the fields of his mind unhindered by all the mazes, between sunny knolls & mud flats, through happy times and those which are painful. He has allowed his reader the chance to not only get into his private world, but to see, first-hand the workings of a mind teetering on the edge. With the help and support of his loving family, friends, and a few total strangers he has managed to not only survive the nightmares of his bi-polar disorder, but to enlighten us all. Many thanks to this courageous man.

.....having just lost a cat that I'd had for fourteen years, I can tell you that the pain is terrible and that the one thing that can reduce the pain is someone who has been through it and who understands. Dr. Julie Kaufman, an animal chiropractor, has compiled a collection of wonderful stories written by people who have lost pets, be they cats, dogs, a horse or a beloved goldfish. It helps relieve one's own grief to read how each individual dealt with the loss, memorialized a pet and in some cases wrote poetry or even attempted to contact a departed animal spirit. She even includes relaxation and breathing techniques to engage in while thinking of one's beloved lost companion. This book was recommended to me by a friend and is wonderful for anyone dealing with the terrible grief that accompanies such a loss.

Crossing the Rubicon: Celebrating the Human-Animal bond in Life and Death. 1999. By Julie Kaufman, DC.

This is a very well-written and heartwarming anthology of real stories and experiences with pets. As the title indicates, it is intended to offer the reader new perspectives on the loss of a beloved companion animal. It also conveys the important message the bereaving pet owner is not alone, in this grief.

The author has succeeded in transcending the usual view and fear of death that we all have been raised with. In her wisdom and perspective she perceives death as a natural phenomenon, and offers gentle guidance to her readers, in developing this theme.

Each chapter begins with a self-help approach to meditative visualization and healing. In addition to the many heartwarming memorial poems and stories, this helpful book presents a positive philosophy of undying love, that enriches and enhances the life of the surviving owner.

In presenting new viewpoints on pet death, Dr. Kaufman has also added five interviews of special people, in this wonderful collection. These include a counselor in pet bereavement, two forward-looking holistic veterinarians, and the last two with a spiritualist and animal communicator.

Although the recent emergence and popularity of holistic medicine is starting to prove its hitherto undiscovered values, the suggestions that some people can communicate with animals - living as well as dead - can be too extreme for many. But it is still very interesting to read what these people have to say.

Overall, Crossing the Rubicon is an excellent new literary experience in pet love and loss. We recommend its reading, and trust that a future edition will include the APLB website with the others listed as Internet resources.

My 19-year-old Persian cat, Tilly, is a regular visitor to Dr. Julie. She is the warmest, gentlest and most knowing doctor I have ever known. She has helped Tilly with her severe arthritis and greatly reduced her pain. This book is filled with stories of the animals Dr. Julie has known and treated. There is also an excellent interview with veterinarian accupuncturist Dr. Heather Evans. This book will speak to your heart.

I really enjoyed this book, but it's not much of a romance. It's full of sexy and sinister secrets, compelling hints and lots of humor. I found Roxann and Joe completely likeable and respectable. Unfortunately, there is such a little part in this book for Joe and she is so good at blocking the few advances he makes that when she and Joe fall in love, you find yourself asking, "Where was I?" But buy the book, anyway. Stephanie Bond moves the story forward at a good clip and with firm control, keeping you reading and wondering and feeling fairly satisfied that all the pieces of her complex puzzle fit so nicely together. All but the romance.

The story line is unusual and it keeps you reading! Lots of twists and surprises. Romance readers tired of the same old story lines will have a treat with something new!

This is my first Stephanie Bond book but it won't be my last. This is the kind of book I love. . .hunky, alpha-type hero, smart heroine, complicated but well defined characters, a smart story line, a mystery that is actually difficult to figure out, action, humor, sexy love scene. . .Hey! This one has it all! A definite keeper and I can't wait to order OUR HUSBAND and any other book I can find by SB. Great!

As a Librarian and, almost life long reader of true crime, I must say I was very disappointed in this book. I purchased it based on the high reviews. It's hard, for anyone so close to a story, to report completely objectively. It was little things that bothered me, such as on the first page of the prologue where Cindy relates "Perhaps the vodka she accidentally drank at the party was fogging her brain..." A horrific thing had happened to her family, yet it appears that even as an adult, Cindy can't admit that as a teenager she drank alcohol at a party. It was inconsequential whether she drank or not. This made me question her other portrayals, since she didn't seem to be able to portray herself honestly.

The story is related mainly in dialogue. The dialogue is stilted and unbelievable. I admire Cindy's strength and this is an interesting story, but would have been much better if written by someone further removed from crime.

My wife read this book first and she told me that this one and Angela's Ashes are the best books she has read in her lifetime. WOW. I just finished "Bonds" and agree it is most interesting though I can't rate it quite as high as my wife. You know who "did it" from the beginning of the story, but the ramifications as the story unfolds keeps you riveted. You won't put this book down 'til you're finished.

Although I don't read many true crime stories, I loved this one. While visiting Mom in Iowa, I heard Cindy Band (the girl who the book is about) being interviewed on the radio. She sounded so cute and made her story sound so good, I went out and bought the book. She had said her coauthor Julie Malear did all the writing. It was exceptional writing because it definitely made Cindy come alive for me. I related to what happened in Shattered Bonds so much I stayed up all night to finish it. Poor Cindy. She was so brave. She sure didn't deserve what happened. Being in my twenties, I thought the book was cool, but I think both younger and older,(really any age) readers would enjoy it, too. I bet it will be a movie. It's true, too. That's what really gets you.