Sterling Reviews

Sit down and settle in for a great read. You'll want to become Paisley Sterling's best friend. E. Joan Sims spins a real story filled with loveable, memorable characters. I can't wait to see what Paisley, her mother Anna, and her daughter Cassie dream up for their next mystery adventure!

Cemetery Silk is the first novel in E. Joan Sims delightful new series featuring Paisley Sterling, an author of children's books (the Bartholomew, the Blue-Eyed Cricket series), her college-student daughter Cassie and her genteel mother Anna.

When William, the husband of Anna's late cousin Abigail dies, Paisley, and Cassie return home to Kentucky to attend the funeral.

Anticipating no more than her grandmother's table, Paisley's mother is surprised to learn that the bulk of William's estate, including the table, is going to the Dibbers - neighbors to whom William granted power of attorney just two weeks before his death. Equally surprising to everyone is the disclosure that he left a legacy of over 3 million dollars.

When her agent is unable to sell Paisley's latest "cute little blue-eyed crickets with charming mousy friends" book, she suggests Paisley try her hand at "a nice juicy crime novel". Paisley, her mother and Cassie begin devising a plot for a mystery based on William's death and the newfound wealth of the Dibbers. They find themselves in great danger when they realize they might have come too close to the truth.

The greatest charm in Cemetery Silk stems from the relationship among the three generations of women. Anna is the "true Southern women" who is unfailingly polite, perfectly coifed and dressed at all times and able to "look years younger after a good night's sleep." Paisley is sassy, down-to-earth, and resilient in the face of misfortune and Cassie, with an in-your-face attitude and natural intelligence is a delightful and refreshing change from the super genius youth portrayed in so many novels today. They are all different yet they love each other and they like each other. This really makes this story work.

Some very interesting side characters are introduced early on in the book but Sims then drops them and they never reappear. Hopefully some of them will return later in the series. The most significant stumble is the Remington Steele-like invention of Paisley's co-author Leonard Paisley who starts to take on a life of his own as the novel progresses. His existence could distract from the winning appeal of the three main characters.

Sims writing is brisk and the whole time you think she is taking the plot in a predictable direction, Sims adds enough twists to keep the pages turning and make the resolution gratifying. Cemetery Silk heralds the beginning of a satisfying and long running series and a fine new addition to the mystery genre.

I fully enjoyed Cemetery Silk. Being from Kentucky, I recognized and felt at home with the meals mentioned, customs and slang. The twists and turns, nooks and crannies of the plot kept me riveted to each page, waiting to see what was going to happen next. Having met the author and spending an enjoyable time with her at her daughter and son in law's beautiful home, I feel especially blessed to have the book and will treasure my autographed copy of it. An excellent choice for any time, but especially curled up with a afghan or comforter and a hot cup of chocolate.

We travel quite a bit and spend a lot of time beforehand getting information about the food where we're headed. Before taking off for Turkey some 3 years ago we bought "Eat Smart in Turkey," (there are several countries covered in that series), which was just what we were looking for. We used LP guides a lot, so welcome the debut of their food guides. Bought the one on Spain for an upcoming repeat trip and expect this guide to be helpful. No McD's for us!

As frequent world travelers, there are certain "rituals" we perform prior to departure. Chief among these familiarizing ourselves with the local cuisine, and preparing dishes we expect to be eating. This little volume does the best job I have ever seen in explaining local food and drink, food preparation tools and techniques, and regional variations on all of these. Some recipes are included: the paella is the easiest I have ever prepared, and equally flavorful. The book is beautifully illustrated and whets one's appetite for travel to Spain as well as eating there. Descriptions of restaurant types are excellent: do YOU know what to expect at a horno asador, versus a terraza? And just what sort of drink WOULD you find at a sidreria? The one downside of the book is the lack of specific recommendations of restaurants, tavernas, etc. This is somewhat countered by a very precise guide to recommended stalls to visit in the Barcelona market. However, other guide books would have to steer you to eating establishments. The section on "Fit and Healthy" eating should be read by any traveler to a foreign country. Kudos to Lonely Planet. We look forward with great enthusiasm to their editions related to other cuisines.

As frequent world travelers, we have certain "rituals" we perform prior to departure. Chief among these is "studying" food - reading and preparing dishes from appropriate cookbooks. We're going to Barcelona and Costa Brava in May, and have prepared numerous Paella dishes. The recipe in this book is much easier to prepare than most and equally excellent in flavor. We had read in Saveur Magazine a bit about Sidrerias. (Cider Houses, but not as in the bestselling book.) The Lonely Planet guide gave much more information. The one downside to this book is the lack recommendations of good restaurants, bars, etc. Perhaps their travel guide does this, but it would have been much better to incorporate this into the volume under discussion. The book is extremely well organized, and it's easy to access information on virtually any food-related subject. This would be a great addition to the library of anyone interested in Spanish cuisine. The section on "Fit & Healthy" does a much better than usual job of explaining potential risk factors for American tourists, and how to deal with them. This will be one of three books we bring with us to Spain. I look forward to acquiring any other titles published in this series. Kudos to Lonely Planet.

I read this book for a summer reading program at my high school last summer. It was interesting and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys science textbook-like books. It was "very non-fiction" w/ stats and facts. Therefore, if you like things that way, and you are also interested in the subject, it's very helpful; a learning experience. The book is informative and helpful, some backing to common myths, some scientific backing to rumors floating around. The downfall is that it CAN get boring and takes forever to read. It's to be read in multiple sittings. In conclusion, it is either great or terrible, depending on your interests.

I read the book a few years ago and have ever since been helped
along the way as I wind myself down the path of endless
"sex difference" books.
I read it before I read "Brain Sex" so I wasn't at all able to
be programmed into a set of beliefs so common these days.
Gender studies are flawed,they involve the subjectivity of the
"researcher" and bias.If the "researcher finds a woman to
have a road map and blueprints in her mind,she's said to have
been exposed to male hormones,as though a woman cannot have these
gifts without being somehow a "misfit" according to most
"researchers".And what of the man who has great writing and
memory but poor spatial and math ability? He is neating fitted
into a catagory of male who was exposed to female hormones.
Anyway the writer debunks these myths with straightforward
writing and objective conclusions to confusing answers other
writers come up with to explain a man with a female brain and
a woman with a male brain.
The "researchers" have assigned a very narrow set of abilities
to males and females,and they use the hormone theory to
perperuate it.
Hormones are cousins,and esrtogen,androgens,testostrone,progestrone are found in both
sexes and in individual amounts.This in turn gives little
truth to the notion of hormones playing a part in male or female
brain wiring.
Brains are not fixed,a spatial brain can be in a female and
a verbal in a male.
Read the book and find out how subjective and bias gender
research actually is.

I'm not surprized that more people haven't read this book,because it gives the human being a maze of possiblities and HUMAN potential not limited by gender,which maybe to frightening for the Mars and Venused public to accept,since it leaves the door wide open for limitless potential and variations among persons atributed to individuality and not gender. I found other gender related books to be very limiting,which lead me to take some tests on spatial and verbal ability,let's just say,under the narrow Brain Sex mode,I would have a completely male brain in a female body!..after my test,my suspicions increased and I did some further reading and found this book. The writer explains how researchers may not be entirely ojective, how you cannot in any way base all gender behavior on a limited amount of subjects,since we of course have over a billion persons roaming the planet with many different individual abilites,and how there is an agenda against women's advancement in science and math,which of course demand sound logic and spatial reasoning. Expand your possibities,get the gender limits off your minds, and soar!

Passion Brought Him Back, Love Made Him Stay

He'd lived through hell overseas, but Captain James Garrett was coming home... Back to claim the woman he'd lvoed one passionate night and the baby boy he'd never seen.

Little did Jesse know that possessing Elissa would be the most difficult mission of his career. But he would have moved heaven and earth for her and their son. And he did.

This is a stirring story of love beyond time and heaven and earth---- a ghostly tale with a heavenly ending!

This has become one of my all time favorite stories. It was not possible for me to put it down once I started reading and by God, it stayed on my mind ever so long after finishing.

I loved this book!

This is a wonderful, romantic ghost-story. The hero is the ghost, and up until the very end, I couldn't figure out how Ms. Sterling was going to get these two people together. She did it! And what a woderful, surprising end. I can't wait to read more by this author.

For those of us whose idea of a foreign vacation is a cruise to the Greek Isles, castle hopping through Britain, or an auto tour of the Swiss Alps, Richard Sterling's THE FIRE NEVER DIES is likely to inspire a fascination ranging from the bemused to the horrified. The book's thirty chapters span the period from 1975, when Sterling was a naval weapons specialist aboard the U.S. cruiser Oklahoma City sailing Vietnamese coastal waters, to roughly the present. Virtually all take place in Southeast Asia, or Africa, or Baja California, and almost all center around an unforgettable meal or memorable woman. A Real Man's needs are pretty basic.

I think my favorite tale was that of the time when Richard, gripped tight in the misery of nicotine withdrawal, was part of the ship's detail assigned the task of transferring nuclear warheads from the deepest hold of the Oklahoma City to a munitions ship steaming alongside in seas made turbulent by a nearby storm. In other chapters, he's trolling for pickpockets in Saigon, or searching for a legendary (and possibly mythical) hooker in Olongopo City, or arm wrestling a local tough guy in the Burmese jungle, or watching a mob beat up a thief alongside his lunch table in Nairobi. And speaking of food, some of his meals are in the Yuk! category: roosters' gonads (with garlic) in Saigon, fish topped with crumbled red ants in Borneo. I guess one must take what one finds in the absence of better fare, or at least a McDonald's, but, jeez, Sterling actually seems to enjoy it.

I have my favorite armchair travel guides: Bill Bryson, Peter Mayle, Eric Newby. However, I can't recall a work by any travel essayist that better captures the pure essence of adventure driven by curiosity and sheer gutsiness like THE FIRE NEVER DIES. I certainly wouldn't have the pluck to eat deep fried potato bugs on the banks of the Mekong, but Sterling did, and I admire his style. The only reason I'm not awarding 5 stars is because he spent an inordinate amount of time in Baja California, an area too geographically near to my world and too historically uninteresting to be personally appealing. Richard, beyond that, I salute you with a tip of my Indiana Jones hat.

A rather entertaining book. Reminds me of another Richard I once knew, and love. Great read for a little escape, with depth and humor, be it fantasy or not found it rather entertaining.

Richard Sterling's writing is like nothing I've encountered before in food or adventure writing--an amazing cross between Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective writing and M.F.K. Fisher's hymns to food and culture. This is one unique talent at work, someone you shouldn't miss. And lest I forget, in many of the stories in this book, he's funnier than Bill Bryson or David Sedaris--not just laugh out loud funny, but tears-streaming down your face funny.Perhaps the book is more of a guy's book, but I think women might find it a fascinating look into a man's life...exotic shores, strange meals, poignant friendships, wartime adventures, and all kinds of nonsense that men do indeed revel in.

the reference to dog meat preperation contrary to Lonely Planet's description is from Robert Templer's _Shadow and Wind: A View of Modern Viet Nam_.

The book is well put together but it is a more chatty version of a food guide. In its tone and topic it humanizes the Vietnamese via the vehicle of food removing stereotypes. It covers topics that other Vietnamese cookbooks do not cover very much such as, etiquette and placement of items in a greater meal context. Which for the traveler and non traveler is a very good thing.

However it is NOT a cookbook though it has some recipes. It's main focus is to enable you, the traveler, to experience Vietnamese food on location. Which this book does very well.

I found things somewhat factually wrong - the dog meat section. Though it tries to make you feel better about eating dog meat by saying that the dogs' lives are happy until their quick death -- certain instances of this are not true. Look up Temple's book on modern Vietnam _Shadows and Wind_ in describing how the dogs were beaten to death for tenderizing purposes to celebrate a New Year meal. This method may disturb some people but the ancient Romans practiced similiar methods (see Plutarch's essay on vegetarianism). Anyway, it is a flaw of fact.

This book proves to be a wonderful companion to other books such as, Trang's _Authentic Vietnamese_. It provides, in its small pages,information on modern food, history, and background information on Vietnam in a compact way that is well written and succinct. The photographs and layout are very well done creating a very pretty book. In conjunction with _Lonely Planet Vietnam_ it is indispensable.

For the cookbook enthusiast it is a good item for a collection emphasizing southeast Asian cuisine. It is a good source for background information and gives a more modern slant on things. It is a companion piece but not the main stay of a Vietnamese cookbook collection which it was never intended.

A good book and MUCH better than the Food of _insert cuisine here_ Periplus series.

1) compact and succint; 2) highly informative; 3) maps and amusing anectdotes; 4) good layout and design; 5) few recipes but recipes are very sound;

As a food writer planning a trip to Vietnam (for personal, not food-related reasons), I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the culture and cuisine. I may never cook any of the recipes in it, but it's helped me know what to look for when I go, and to anticipate my trip even more. I thought it was very well-written. Sterling's sense of adventure and good living are apparent in the guide in an infectious, inviting way. He is judgemental about no one but the foreign young people who go to Vietnam to eat fake burgers and wiener schnitzel instead of the light, beautiful food. And the photographs are as compelling as the writing. Buy this book!

Without flinching from the truth, this book shows that it IS possible to break the circle of abuse: to understand, to love, to forgive, to recover, and to go on loving and nurturing those who are dear. The story of Hoffman's growing up with two terminally ill brothers, a father sometimes unable to control his rage, a mother who copes by shutting out memories, and a sexually abusive coach, is painful but ultimately hopeful.

This book was easy reading. I read this book in one night. It thankfully left out the details of the child abuse. Though it tends to jump around, and over many years, it is quite clear as to what happened. The author is telling his story, a very brave one to tell. But the importance of this book is really about how TELLING your story, can set others free. Its also about confronting your abuser, and how THAT can set yourself free. Free of secrets. Free of lies. Lies you tell others, and ones you may tell yourself.

Richard Hoffman is a brilliant writer, and quite a good teacher as well. My friend David says that he finds the book arousing. hehe Way to go Mr. Hoffman. The New York State Summer Young WriterInstitute Rules! Shout out to all of my peeps! AAAmennn

I love to read about romance, and I really fell in love with this one. I have read this story three times and I plan on reading it again. It made me fall in love each time I read it. If you want to feel a little romance or if you need romance then read this one. It's what we all want, that real love.

I don't usually read this kind of story, my sister-in-law had me read it and I couldn't put it down. I loved it! Now I'm waiting to see it in film, this is what we all long for, ROMANCE! Now I'm hooked, I want more! Hope to read more from this writer again. Thank You Ms Winslow for keeping romance alive.

Bravo to the author, this was what I call a Real Romance story. It was fresh and it kept me reading. I found myself even crying at times. I can really say that I LOVED this book! I would like more of this, and this writer has a great way of making you feel the story, Please give us more.

When Tarzan became a household world, readers of Edgar Rice Burroughs began to pester him to write about a more personalized, more gossipy side of the apeman. ERB obliged his fans by writing a dozen stories that detail his growing up in Africa during his teenage years. In JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN, ERB portrays a Tarzan that might have fit in well in any number of television sitcoms or domestic dramas. This Tarzan shows a side to his development that is only hinted at in the events of the first novel of the series, TARZAN ON THE APES, in whose events it runs concurrently.

Many of the same themes and plot devices that run through the entire series are explored here, several of which show ERB at his literary best and worst. Plotting and pacing are ERB's strongpoints. He constantly captures the interest of his readers with exotic yet believable storylines. Yet, his insistence on coincidence to make his plots mesh combined with more than a touch of blatant racism intrude to the point that if ERB published his books today, a formidable array of political correctness would howl for his scalp.

The first story, "Tarzan's First Love," describes a teenage Tarzan who has a love crush on a lovely gorilla female named Teeka. Tarzan declares his love for her, and battles a childhood chum for her favors. By the story's end, Tarzan recognizes the genetic differences and reluctantly gives her up. What is of interest here, is the psychological battle that he goes through. More than once, ERB mentions the impact that Kala, Tarzan's foster ape mother, has had on Tarzan, an impact that endures throughout the entire series. There is a strong Oedipal undercurrent as Tarzan compares the love for Teeka with that of his love for the deceased Kala.

In several of the stories, ERB describes blacks in such a manner that he constantly harps on what he sees as their physical, emotional, and intellectual shortcomings. In "The Capture of Tarzan," the apeman singlehandedly fights off more than fifty black cannibals. In "Tarzan and the Black Boy," ERB is unabashedly racist as he notes, "Imagination it is which builds bridges, and cities, and empires. The beasts know it not, the blacks only a little." Tarzan often baits blacks in this book and others by killing them at random or playing gruesome jokes on them. In "A Jungle Joke," ERB explicity suggests the low intelligence of the cannibal blacks by making it seem as if Tarzan could metamorphosize himself into a lion at will.

If racist themes turned off some readers, other more universal ones attracted generations of readers. When Tarzan was not involved in the day to day affairs of the reality of jungle life, his human side forced him into a philosophical contemplation of the mysteries of the universe. In "The God of Tarzan," the apeman attempts the age-old human quest for the meaning of life. He attempts to track down God in the same way that he would follow the spoor of a wounded deer. In "Tarzan Rescues the Moon," Tarzan sees a lunar eclipse and in his efforts to rescue the moon, shoots arrows into the moon until the moon re-emerges from the eclipse. In both stories, Tarzan goes through the same mental anguish that his human forebears must have endured. And like them, his conclusions about his place in the universe are tentative at best. It his Tarzan's reaching out to further distinguish himself from his anthropoid tribe that makes him as fascinating to today's readers as it was to past generations.

"Jungle Tales of Tarzan" is the sixth volume in the Tarzan series by Edgar Rice Burroughs and pretty much goes back to the beginning for a collection of short stories set in the time when Tarzan still lived among the great apes. Tarzan has learned how to read from the books he has found and it is opening his young mind to new questions, like where do dreams come from and where he can confront Goro, the supreme being that is the moon. There is also the love triangle between Tarzan, his first love Teeka, and their rival Taug, as well as his adventures tormenting the people of the local Mbonga tribe. "Jungle Tales of Tarzan" is actually a nice companion volume to the original "Tarzan of the Apes," provide more depth and detail to the early years of the Lord of the Jungle. It also marks a coda to what we would now consider the original story arc of the Tarzan novels. Burroughs would write another 21 Tarzan novels but they would become increasingly formulaic. In many ways this is the last time we would see the original Tarzan; you can think of "Jungle Tales of Tarzan" as sort of being the "deleted scenes" from the original "Tarzan of the Apes" novel.

The customer review written here is about the ERB tarzan novel. All the used books being sold here are nothing but ERB tarzan novels. I put in the ISBN number and as you can see this is the jungle tales of Tarzan the big 10 by 13 book illustrated in comic book forum by the great Burne Hogarth not the tarzan novel by ERB. The people that wrote comments and the sellers of so called used copies are confused they are referring to a different book. I know I own the real one.