City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A strangely fascinating tale
  • Damn' good!!
  • Must have companion piece to The New York Trilogy
  • Exceptional, Horrific and Beautiful Fiction
  • a haunting graphic novel...
City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
Paul Auster , Paul Karasik , and D. Mazzucchellil
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ContemporaryContemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Auster, PaulAuster, Paul | ( A ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
GeneralGeneral | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:
  1. The New York Trilogy (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) The New York Trilogy (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
  2. City of Glass (The New York Trilogy, Vol 1) City of Glass (The New York Trilogy, Vol 1)
  3. Epileptic Epileptic
  4. In the Shadow of No Towers In the Shadow of No Towers
  5. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

ASIN: 0312423608

Book Description

Quinn writes mysteries. The Washington Post has described him as a 'post-existentialist private eye.' An unknown voice on the telephone is now begging for his help, drawing him into a world and a mystery far stranger than any he ever created in print. Adapted by Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli, with graphics by David Mazzucchelli, Paul Auster's groundbreaking, Edgar Award-nominated masterwork has been astonishingly transformed into a new visual language.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A strangely fascinating tale .......2007-09-23

The art is terrific. The story is a bit hard to describe. I couldn't put this book down, and yet,now that I'm finished, I'm not sure exactly what I read :) This book is akin to poetry. It builds emotions and feelings, nuances that are hard to describe (especially now that I'm trying in this review) with the written word. The blending of pictures and words is an amazing view into the potential of comic art.

5 out of 5 stars Damn' good!!.......2007-02-08

"City of Glass" is not a simple adaptation from the original book, but a real translation, from literature to sequential art. Mazzuchelli's drawings provides a very good trip to Auster's universe, his unusual characters, enlarging at same time the limits of comics language. One of the best comic books ever!

5 out of 5 stars Must have companion piece to The New York Trilogy.......2006-07-14

If you enjoyed (or more likely were haunted by) City of Glass then you owe it to yourself to read this graphic novel. Yes, it is essentially the exact same story as Auster's metaphysical detective novella. However, this is a fascinating and beautifully rendered interpretation of the source work. My only complaint: where are the graphic novels for Ghosts and The Locked Room?

5 out of 5 stars Exceptional, Horrific and Beautiful Fiction.......2006-03-24

City of Glass is the story of Daniel Quinn, a poet turned mystery writer, who is called one night by a person urgently seeking a detective. After several nights of "Sorry, wrong number," Quinn decides to impersonate Paul Auster, the detective the person wants to hire. Accepting the assignment leads to his ultimate ruin.

This story is primarily about Quinn's descent from depression into outright obsession and madness. Horrific abuse based on misinterpreted religion plays a big part in the book, as does the threat of murder. The perceived danger eventually disappears and the case fades away, but Quinn cannot return to his former life, and ends up completely delusional.

City of Glass is a book of unusual subtlety. Much of the tension is implicit, but is sensed through sections of extensive dialogue. The sparse artwork of the book, finally, highlights the dialogue by moving it along and filling it out, rather than distracting the reader from what is being said.

This is an exceptional work of fiction, even for readers unaccustomed to graphic novels.

5 out of 5 stars a haunting graphic novel..........2004-09-23

Reviewed by Elizabeth P. Glixman for Small Spiral Notebook

I never liked comics in any form. I avoided the syndicated Brenda Star and Pogo. I ignored Archie comic books. Batman was never on my reading list. Since I read the graphic novel, City of Glass, the 2004 adaptation of his 1994 story in New York Trilogy, all that has changed.

For those not familiar with this literary form, graphic novels are literary hybrids, a combination of film noir, and comic book. There are the same narrative sequential panels as in comic books, the same stylized images and icons; however, in graphic novels the comic form is no longer only funny. These novels are stories of loss, loneliness, and existential angst. They echo the tone of post world war film noir where suspicion, fear, alienation, and suspense fill the screen.

City of Glass, named one of the 100 best comics of the century, is the story of mystery writer Daniel Quinn. Since his wife and young son died he has become a recluse. One night in his solitude the phone rings. It is the wrong number. The phone rings again. The caller Virginia Stillman is looking for Paul Auster of the Paul Auster Detective Agency. She wants to hire Auster to protect her mentally disturbed husband Peter from his father who will soon be released from prison. Peter received a threatening letter from his father. Peter Stillman Senior was incarcerated for abusing his son (he beat him when he spoke) while using him as part of a linguistic research project. Quinn decides with the encouragement of the fictional detective Max Work, the narrator of his own mystery novels, to take on the case pretending to be the detective Paul Auster.

Quinn finds the senior Stillman. He follows him, waits outside his hotel in an alley to make sure he does not get to the son.

Quinn spends days watching. Stillman never leaves the hotel or does he? Quinn grows disheveled, eats little, loses weight, does not sleep, or bathe. He runs out of money. He finds the real Paul Auster and asks him to cash the check Virginia Stillman gave Quinn at their initial meeting as an advance. But the Auster Quinn finds is not the detective. He is the author Paul Auster. Regardless, he will cash the check. Apropos for a book where reality is hazy.

Eventually Quinn gives up. He learns the senior Stillman killed himself. Virginia and Peter Stillman are nowhere to be found. Quinn returns home to find his apartment has been rented. Quinn's previous life as he knows it disappears; people are now dead or missing. Emptiness prevails. Identities are fragile. The stark graphics echo this disintegration.

The illustrations by Paul Karasik, whose work has been in the "New Yorker" (also former associate editor of "Raw Magazine"), and David Mazzucchelli, internationally known comic book artist, create moods and interior emotions that raise comics to the art of serious fiction for adults.

In this new introduction to City of Glass, Art Spiegelman, the guru of comic book artist and recipient of The Pulitzer Prize for his graphic novel Maus, says Mazzucchelli and Karasik: "have created a strange doppelganger of the original book" and a "a breakthrough work."

Paul Auster's City of Glass
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • A very interesting novel!
  • Example of the search for meaning
  • it's come full circle
  • Brilliant adaptation stands shoulder-to-shoulder with novel
  • Excellent image-with-text and image-as-text treatment
Paul Auster's City of Glass
Paul Auster , David Mazzucchelli , Paul Karasik , Bob Callahan , and Art Spiegelman
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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  1. City of Glass: The Graphic Novel City of Glass: The Graphic Novel
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ASIN: 038077108X

Amazon.com

I cannot possibly offer enough praise for David Mazzucchelli and Paul Karasik 's adaptation of City of Glass. While some critics found it to be a dry choice of books to turn into a comics, I think the interplay between image and text only heightens the original metafictional narrative. The treatment of the first speech by the crazy antagonist, Peter Stillman--in which the word balloons trail from random objects such as a broken television and a bottle of ink--is brilliant. Neon Lit: Paul Auster's City of Glass deftly illustrates why comics is a perfect format for exploring fictions about text: the words become visible objects of the story.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars A very interesting novel!.......2004-05-03

After "Moon Palace" I had to read another book by its talented author for my English class. "City of Glas" by Paul Auster is a very interesting novel. It was written in the middle of the 80's and for the author it was the first big success. This short postmodern novel is about a disillusioned writer pretending to be a detective. Chance is one of the main topics in this book. The author has the rare talent to conjure up tension and it's also his intension to play with the reader's expectation and to destroy them little by little, so one never knows what is going to happen next. All in all it's not called a masterpiece of postmodernism without a reason. It really should be read by everyone who likes surprising stories and everyone who likes detective storties as well although it's not really typical of that.

5 out of 5 stars Example of the search for meaning.......2004-03-24

I thought that this was a very well written thoughtfull book about the questions we must answer living in a postmodern society. This book deals with questions about how everyday life can become meaningless and how once we find meaning in something it can distract us from the reality which surrounds us.

5 out of 5 stars it's come full circle.......2001-01-17

I don't know how Neon Lit fared with the rest of the project, but this graphic novel version of City of Glass by Paul Auster is terrific. In a sense it brings the story full circle, because in the original novel Auster used the conventions of the private eye story to explore the issues implicit in film noir : identity, fate, good and evil, randomness, etc. Since many of the great hard boiled dicks first appeared in pulp fiction, it seems only natural to have this most modern (or post-modern) riff on the genre end up back in comic book form, however glorified.

Actually, Auster himself indulges in so many games with language, shifting identities and allusions to other works that the comic book format is especially well suited to his playfulness. And, like William Goldman's Princess Bride, that sense of fun serves to lighten what can often be most ponderous in post-modern literature, the way in which its practitioners act as if their metafictional techniques are revolutionary and profound. This work is such a throwback that it unabashedly wears its antecedents on its sleeve; never mind the obvious nod to mysteries of the 30's and 40's, it even goes so far as to discuss Cervantes and his metafictional innovations in Don Quijote.

I tend to doubt that Paul Auster's brand of existential musings will appeal to all tastes and I'm sure some will simply find the idea of reading a comic book to be beyond the pale. But if you're an Auster fan, a private eye or noir enthusiast, or just haven't outgrown comics generally, it's well worth tracking down a copy. I realize it says more about me than I should be comfortable revealing, but I actually think the best part of the book is the section on the criminally insane Professor Stillman's religious theses--they're frighteningly close to my own views and make for quite compelling speculation, adding to what is already a fun and unusual reading experience.

GRADE : A

5 out of 5 stars Brilliant adaptation stands shoulder-to-shoulder with novel.......1999-03-01

The real magic here is that, in reworking Paul Auster's original novel, Karasik and Mazzucchelli have done what so many had deemed impossible: they have produced a true literary adaptation in comics form. This is no "Classics Illustrated"; this is a comic that strengthens its source material rather than diminishing it. The original book's concern with the gap between language and meaning is given further depth and resonance in the comic, which finds a visual language equivalent, and does it in a way that no other medium could have. This is no mere illustrated text, but comics as a formidable language and medium in itself. Interestingly, when the original book and the comic are read together, the comic itself almost becomes a physical character, another in the story's proliferation of literary doubles.

5 out of 5 stars Excellent image-with-text and image-as-text treatment.......1997-03-19

I'm reading The New York Trilogy right now. It seems to focus on the lives of authors--how rapt in observations they are. How they might feel that being observed themselves is the only way to prove that they exist--and to validate what they do all day--observe. That said, This comic book / graphic novel brings us an author, Daniel Quinn, caught up in role playing as a detective, sent to observe an old man (who is himself an author). The old man has a wild theory about Adam and pre-language and feral ch
D20: Sea Of Worlds - Glass City
Average customer rating: Not rated
    D20: Sea Of Worlds - Glass City

    Manufacturer: Mongoose Publishing
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

    GeneralGeneral | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books
    ASIN: 1905176716

    Book Description

    A new scenario and setting book for Mongoose's original Sea of Worlds (d20).

    Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
    Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
    • Is it a Lemon? (No. It's NOT a clunker car; it's a WINNAH!) Is it Lemonade? (Maybe. Yum.) Is it Hot? Is it Cold?
    • Enjoyable enough
    • Light Frothy Gardening Mystery
    • An enjoyable read!!
    • Definitely Not Her Best Work...
    Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
    Jill Churchill
    Manufacturer: William Morrow
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Hardcover

    United StatesUnited States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
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    ASIN: 0380977354
    Release Date: 2000-11-21

    Book Description

    No one could ever accuse Jane Jeffry or her equally green-thumbless best friend Shelly Nowack of being modern reicarnations of Luther Burbank. Their ineptitude in all things vegatative has inspired them to sign up for a botany class at the local community center, even though the gods of gardening seem to be warning Jane to steer clear.

    Jane trips on a curb and badly bangs up her foot, but his gamely hobbles to class on crutches and in a cast, only to learn that the glamorous and celebrated microbiologist teacher, Julie Jackson, has been beaten into a coma by a person or persons unknown. But the class must go on, even though the substitute teacher, Dr. Stewart Eastman, is the arrogant creator of his patented plant species and more interested in his personal ambition to achieve botanical fame and fortune than imparting knowledge or a love of gardening. He's propaganding only his ego and his latest floral coup.

    When a murder occurs, there's and abundant crop of suspects in the class, Is the perp who plants a body in Dr. Eastman's compost pile the conspiracy nut Ursula Appledorn, who's' convinced that they are being stalked by a cabal involving the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Queen Elizabeth, and the French Dauphin? Or maybe the obsessively tidy computer nerd Charles Jones? Or the milquetoast widoer Arnold Waring? Perhaps it's the terrifying knowledgeable Miss Martha Winstead with her strong opinions on gardening?

    Jane's beau, police detective Mel VanDyne, who admits to a secret longing to drive dieselpowered earth-moving equipment, is on the case, but hasn't seen the gardens the classmates have created -- wherein flourishes the floral clue to the grimy crime. Jane's afraid he'll pluck out the wrong suspect.

    And Jane, her nuisance injury ignored, is willing to get her gardening gloves, and Shelly's as well, dirty to uneath the gardener who's responsible for one bashing and one buried.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars Is it a Lemon? (No. It's NOT a clunker car; it's a WINNAH!) Is it Lemonade? (Maybe. Yum.) Is it Hot? Is it Cold?.......2005-11-17

    It's Jane Jeffry, Amazon housewife!

    Mulch has it all. Hot toddy for your soul; cool for your jets. This author covers your escape reading bets (and includes satisfying sleuthing).

    The lemon yellow cover with stalking cat captured my winter-edge need to slow down and do nothing.

    When I picked up my copy of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, the sunny yellow cover stuck to my soul craving dawn. A happy surge flooded the dark spots in my mind when I decided to temporarily table the "earn-my-keep" work in progress, and begin reading that book. I had missed Jane and wanted her light touch with fun, snarly undercurrents, and the play in quirky friendship with her neighbor, Shelley. The notes exchanged on their houses' doors gave an intriguing, quick entry into the story, and the irony of a wrong delivery (of flowers) and the machinations from that were genius plot ploys. The tension building between Jane, Shelley, and Mel were great stick-to-ribs for enhancing and percolating the story as well.

    Loved the side-plots of Jill's solving mood problems, her own and her kids (sending Katie to a cooking school), and the compassion Jill shows for Arnie's grieving his late wife, even though she had to stretch her own views to realize his experience with death of a spouse was different from hers.

    Insights into gardening were well beyond 101. This side(sub)-plot dug into genetics and patents for new breeds, and it excavated with entertainment rather than trenching the reader in ennui. Not being a gardener, I was surprised at how interesting the green thumb stuff could be, and how it tunneled through the plots, like ground-hogs in hay days. Ah, ah, ahchhooooo.

    Of course, Churchill always gives the reader enough subplots to keep the story percolating, always at the edge of the pops, gurgles, and hisses of a drip coffee pot ending its cycle, giving sound to the anticipation of a fresh, hot drink craved with every surge of hope which comes with sunrise and spring.

    Another of these subplots, one upon which much of the plot percolation pivots, launched with Churchill's usual spicy, easy flow syntax:

    >> "They're (the flowers) probably evidence, Jane said, turning on her heal dramatically to get back into the car. She tripped over the curb and came down hard on her right foot, and her shoe turned sideways with a sickening popping noise that made her yelp involuntarily. Mel set down the flowers and he and Shelley rushed to scoop her up. < <

    Throughout this plot Jane was on crutches with a cast reaching almost up to her eyeballs. At first she openly relished being able to soak up sympathy and give herself a break, using the cast as an excuse, and it was certainly a legitimate one. A TV in the bedroom was the main side effect splurge, after which she slipped into a heroine mode of getting around the crutch & debilitation, carrying on with her life and responsibilities at near full speed. Then the other characters got the bashes and bruises (from getting in the way of Jane's flying crutch).

    Prior to Jane's "slip, fall, crash, and burn" her pride had been heated so badly, she had leaped out of a blush-inducing, stainless-steel frying pan into a hotter, heavier, cast-iron one (this is a metaphor mixed into the other cast, not of characters, but the one covering Jane's foot, shin, and thigh). The pushed pride thing had hit the fan full swing after Mel snapped at Jane when he found her at a murder scene, and snarled that her presence at a crime scene was "gawking." Of course, on THIS rare occasion Jane & Shelley had been innocently and sweetly delivering flowers to a neighbor who (as the ladies didn't know yet) just happened to be dead (flowers which would blossom into the gardening prime-subplot and which had been delivered to Jane's address by mistake). Who knew?

    Literally and figuratively on the ground for all the above reasons, Jane was provided (by Jill) with her usual self-honesty:

    >> Jane felt like crying, not because her foot was hurting horribly, but because she had made a big fool of herself by flouncing off like that. < <

    Love the precision of the word, "flouncing," and its alliteration with "fool."

    These are the types of descriptions which Jill so naturally slips into the flow of things, they give their effects effortlessly; Churchill's plots don't plod, they percolate. Like that drip coffee pot popping its cycle end mentioned above.

    What with all my metaphor mixing, I really should get an electric beater, the kind with the huge, heavy bowl held-in-place by a swivel plate. This hand grinder is probably giving me carpel tunnel, or whatever you call that ailment, especially when I'm using the heck out of the hand beater simultaneous to typing like the mad woman I am. I, too, can use it or lose it. If I'm able to figure out what it was I was using, or losing. Probably my long lost train of thought.

    Whoo, whoo. Toot. Toot.

    Okay. That was enough. I'm done tooting my horn now. Back to the coffee pot. Ahhhh... Sip.

    Check my review of Cleo Coyle's "On What Grounds," for proof of my insanity. Slurp. That novel would be a great follow-up to Mulch; you could put pink daisies in your coffee pot, then weed the roses and drink the steaming brew vicariously, like I live life.

    I'm not really here in any fleshy, breathy sort of way. Lost my Proof of Existence Papers the other day. They went "Poof!" into the ozone during one of my nearly continuous flights there (I made the hole once when I sneezed). So bear with me as I bare my soul while I'm trying to relocate my ID, as I munch vicariously and precariously one of Joanne Fluke's chocolate chip cookies. Her Cookie Jar shop is right around the corner (where I'm holding as hostage one of my reviews on the Hannah Swensen series, trying to find my cached X-Files spotlight).

    Well, what do you expect, this is a culinary review of a cozy mystery. Both came out of the oven, fresh, hot, and ... burning my hands! Oooochhhh! Those pot holders are for what?

    Gotta go reread my reviews on EO's (Essential Oils) to find out what works for burns. Oh, yeah, aloe. Need to put that in my Listmana.

    I should issue a warning to not get used to my silly, sudsy, dud-ly humor.

    I live on the edge of the banana peels littering my kitchen tiles, but as a moody person, sometimes I get tired of slipping, and execute some serious housecleaning (in my dreams). So, as soon as you get used to something in my many modes of style (and the high class syntax up my a..); as soon as you begin craving more of something, that's exactly when my mood will change and I'll leave you high, dry, and pounding the table. Chust (I review Amish, too) don't go to Amazon and rip my off-base moods, already. I can be as dangerous as Stephen King to people who don't praise my work to high heaven, though low heaven is acceptable once in a while. Believe me. I'm BAD. Yes. (At 58 yrs old it isn't easy to maintain a bad-gal facade, especially when I'm hiding such a genuinely sweet sensitivity.)

    Asides simmering aside (in my witch's cast-iron kettle; I do curses, too, but I make them fizzle before they flop), this is another delightful read from Churchill with an entertainingly fascinating sideline of gardening genetics, which is explained and dramatized with just enough depth to be comprehended easily with a kick of advanced flavor (it's not labor intensive, no plucky or puky puns are intended). Yum.

    So, what do you do with mulch? Use it, or lose it (as it decays into Sacred Fertilizer, which is my lady's term for Holy S...). Scarab Beetles do know what they're about as they burrow into their own dung. How could they not? Being from Egypt should give anything an edge in the ancient-wisdom, sphinx games, due to proximity to The Great Pyramid. Maybe I should go there to write my next mystery series? (And not return until I get a grip on my keyboard?)

    Going, going, gone. Lost it. Maybe I'll find whatever "it" is before I write another review. Maybe I should snooze a while first. But, isn't that when you're supposed to lose?

    What's that white corner over there under the leg of my bar stool, which is perched on my black-and-white, ceramic tile, fictional floor? Oh. Wow. It looks like the Proof I've been looking for, the geometric one which will give me a clue, maybe even two. Who am I? That Paper says it all!

    Burp. Bending over. Streeeeeettttcchhhing...

    CRASH!

    Oh no! Oh dear. Oh my.

    I'm NOT getting a type cast, or an iron cast (or would that be clad?), or a ... whatever. Thank heaven I just ran out of words.

    Read Jill Churchill's Jane Jeffry. You'll never run out of anything you need. A Staple. That's what she is. Like sugar for your coffee. Cream for your tea. Lemons for your ade. And I don't mean that tool for holding pages together, though she has that, too. It's called a publisher. That's what I need. Jill? Don't run and hide! I'm CHUST kidding!

    But, I'm serious when I rave Jane Jeffry. I'm deadly serious when I rave any murder mystery. You'd better believe it. That's a threat by Stephen King's apprentice.

    Shut my mouth! Before I spout a curse and regret it.

    Gritting teeth, clamping lips (that makes a grimace, not a grin), oh man, I've gone too far.

    Off the edge, I leap,
    Linda G. Shelnutt

    P.S. You may never hear from me again. Don't ask if that's a warning, a curse, or a threat. I'm not Stephen, yet. He, he, he. Heh. So mote it be (all in good fun).

    3 out of 5 stars Enjoyable enough.......2002-02-24

    Todd was at soccer camp, the cooking lessons were to keep Ursula away, who cares what Shelley's husband was doing? Or Jane's in-laws? Or if a murder doesn't actually happen until late in the book? It's still got a mystery in it! I liked Shelley's and Jane's gardening solutions, too!

    4 out of 5 stars Light Frothy Gardening Mystery.......2002-02-14

    If you like light, frothy and cozy mysteries, this is the book for you. I enjoy Jill Churchill's books even though I have been able to guess the murderer in each, but this does not deter me from further reading.

    Jane and Shelly are best friends living next door to each other. Jane (not unlikely for a cozy mystery) has a detective boyfriend named Mel. So when a murder does happen, he is conveniently there to help her and her friend solve it.

    In this book, Jane and Shelly enroll in a gardening class, but the teacher has bludgeoned and lies in a coma. A stuffy plant researcher takes over the class but instead of teaching the basics of gardening, he immediately delves into plant patents by showing off his pink marigolds.

    The class itself is made up of an odd assortment of garden "lovers" who want to show off their particular gardens to the others--some of which are very good and some horrid.

    Then, the substitute lecturer is found dead in his own compost pile, and Jane and Shelly are off to find who in the class did him in.

    Mulch is an enjoyable and quick read with many humorous touches thrown in by the author. Plan to read Jill Churchill's books if you want to be entertained, and you won't be disappointed.

    5 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read!!.......2002-02-02

    I picked up this book at the grocery store when I was desperate for something to read while visiting relatives. What a joy! Although this was my first Jan Jeffry novel, it's not my last!

    Jane Jeffry and her friend Shelly Nowack offer some laughs while they work to solve a crime. In this case they signed up to take a gardening class when the instructor is attacked and the substitute instructor is killed. While Jane juggles house work, raising children and a gardening class, her and her friend work to solve a the murder.

    If I could rate it a 4+ I would have done that or a 5-. Mainly because I thought the ending was a little bit abrupt. However, it was a great read and I'm buying more of her books today.

    Enjoy.

    2 out of 5 stars Definitely Not Her Best Work..........2002-01-23

    I was very disappointed when I read this book. I wouldn't miss a Jane Jeffry mystery novel, but this is something that even a fan like myself can pass on. This book is lacking in plot and concentrates too much on the gardening. The mystery is mentioned in the beginning, and seems to falter off as the story slowly wears on. With a few mentions every twenty pages or so, the mystery seems to be forgotten. Suddenly, the reader is hit in the face with the solution and the killer. It comes to an almost abrupt end, and is definitely not Jill Churchill's best work.
    Mulch Ado About Nothing - A Jane Jeffry Mystery
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Mulch Ado About Nothing - A Jane Jeffry Mystery
      Jill Churchill
      Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co, Inc.
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Hardcover
      ASIN: B000W7NDJ6
      4 HBs: Groom with a View, House of Seven Mabels, Mulch Ado About Nothing, War and Peas (Jane Jeffry Mystery)
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        4 HBs: Groom with a View, House of Seven Mabels, Mulch Ado About Nothing, War and Peas (Jane Jeffry Mystery)
        Jill Churchill
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover
        ASIN: B000WN1H4I

        Product Description

        Hardbacks
        Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
          Jill Churchill
          Manufacturer: Avon Books
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback
          ASIN: B000J01YTC
          Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Mulch Ado About Nothing (Jane Jeffry Mystery Series #12)
            Jill Churchill
            Manufacturer: William Morrow
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover
            ASIN: B000O6DG7Y

            Five Star Science Fiction/Fantasy - And Don't Forget To Rescue The Princess (Five Star Science Fiction/Fantasy)
            Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
            • Best Book in Years!
            • lighthearted fantasy
            Five Star Science Fiction/Fantasy - And Don't Forget To Rescue The Princess (Five Star Science Fiction/Fantasy)
            Marc Bilgrey
            Manufacturer: Five Star
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover

            GeneralGeneral | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
            ASIN: 1594143854

            Book Description

            Al Breen is an unemployed New York actor who wants to spend a quiet summer on Cape Cod writing a play. But his plans are interrupted by a talking cat who zaps him into a medieval world where Al is mistaken for a brave warrior (hey, it could happen to anyone). Al is then forced by a king to undertake a dangerous quest to rescue a beautiful princess. (Why don't beautiful princesses have better security?) Al and his new partner, Nigel, an inexperienced knight, must battle a whole host of horrifying creatures, including evil trolls, a monstrous dragon, and other scary things too numerous to mention. So jump into your boots, strap on your sword, and join our heroes as they journey to a nail-biting, sweat-provoking, edge-of-your-seat, fast-paced climactic conclusion you'll never forget.

            Marc Bilgrey has written many short stories that have appeared in numerous anthologies, including Slipstreams, Merlin, Crafty Cat Crimes, The Ultimate Halloween, and Far Frontiers. His stories have also appeared in magazines, been used by comedians, and on television.

            Customer Reviews:

            5 out of 5 stars Best Book in Years!.......2005-11-24

            This tale is absolutely fantastic. Written by a real pro -- every word sings and the story just hums along from one clever episode to the next. It's a rollicking adventure in some of the best writing I've seen in years, as well as a terrific sense of humor that just never hits a wrong note./ I look forward to many more great works from Mr. Bilgrey.

            4 out of 5 stars lighthearted fantasy .......2005-11-21

            While sitting at home, thirty year old failed actor Al Breen sees a cat on his window ledge. He is shocked when the feline talks to him and he follows him outdoors into a nearby shack where he loses consciousness. When he comes to he is in another world and the cat has changed into its true shape of master wizard Merv, the advisor to Castle Furley in the land of Flemp.

            The king had the wizard summon a knight (the wizard obviously made a mistake) to travel to the kingdom of Mornnnnnnn to rescue his kidnapped daughter Megan from the ruler of that realm. Accompanying Al is Megan's betrothal Nigel the nervous who leads him into the enchanted forest where they are almost eaten by trolls, taken prisoners by the fairies, agree to kill the dragon in exchange for their freedom and gets help from a witch who helps them make hot air balloons to take them to Mornnnnnnn. Once there, they team up with the rebel leader Baldric who guides him past the many traps of the castle, praying that they won't get caught or killed in one.

            Readers who like a lighthearted fantasy filled with slapstick humor, witty repartee and a hero who knows he is a nerd will adore this unusual, original and charming tale. The protagonist makes no bones that he is a coward and wants nothing more than to go home and it is not bravery that leads him from one victorious adventure to another but pure luck and a little help from a mostly absentee wizard. Marc Bilgrey takes readers on a wacky trek where danger lurks around twist in the road.

            Harriet Klausner

            Making Connections: Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals
            Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
            • add another dimension to any movement
            • No opinion
            • Excellent Source
            Making Connections: Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals
            Peggy Hackney
            Manufacturer: Routledge
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Paperback

            GeneralGeneral | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Theater | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
            Psychotherapy, TA & NLPPsychotherapy, TA & NLP | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
            GeneralGeneral | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
            AnatomyAnatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
            All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            Arts & PhotographyArts & Photography | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            ScienceScience | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
            Similar Items:
            1. Laban for All Laban for All
            2. Beyond Words: Movement Observation and Analysis Beyond Words: Movement Observation and Analysis
            3. The Body of Life: Creating New Pathways for Sensory Awareness and Fluid Movement The Body of Life: Creating New Pathways for Sensory Awareness and Fluid Movement
            4. Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering Wisdom of the Body Moving: An Introduction to Body-Mind Centering
            5. Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy

            ASIN: 9056995928

            Book Description

            Human movement influences an individual's perceptions and ability to interact with the world. Through exercises, illustrations, and detailed anatomical drawings, this remarkable book guides the reader toward total body integration. An experimental approach to movement fundamentals involving the patterning of connections in the body according to principles of efficient movement, the process of total body integration encourages personal expression and full psychological involvement. Such work, begun by Irmgard Bartenieff and now known as Bartenieff's Fundamentals, is developed by Peggy Hackney, one of Bartenieff's close colleagues, in Making Connections. By examining what is truly fundamental in human movement, Hackney's pioneering study explores inner connections through specific body movements and shares the process for releasing the sensations and feelings that such movements bring forth.

            Customer Reviews:

            5 out of 5 stars add another dimension to any movement.......2007-03-14

            This book makes any movement--whether it be yoga, Pilates or just walking down the street--better understood and the analogies to how one carries one's self in the world and relates is interesting. It is also very well written and easy to follow. I like it because I came to Pilates etc from being more of an athlete... this can make anyone feel like a dancer and can lend to the practice of any movement, even by athletes!! (You will also see that what some of your teachers in whatever mind-body discipline you are studying might not be attributing to Bartinieff/Laban are well just that!)

            5 out of 5 stars No opinion.......2007-03-08

            This book was purchased for my granddaughter who is attending Texas Womens University. So I can't help you.

            5 out of 5 stars Excellent Source.......2007-01-19

            Coming from the background of a dancer and Bachelor of Science in kinesiology, I found that this book was an excellent source to further combine and enhance my knowledge in both of these fields. Presently, I am in a graduate dance program and assisting with Bartenieff Fundamentals. This book works perfectly for any Bartenieff Fundamentals, Experiential Anatomy, Technique, and/or Pedagogy course. It is easy to read, and I can quickly find simple and beneficial exercises to use in the classroom and to prepare my body for dance and daily life.

            Books:

            1. Classic Japanese Porcelain: Imari and Kakiemon
            2. Creativity & Madness: Psychological Studies of Art and Artists (Creativity & Madness)
            3. Criminal Minded: A Novel
            4. Cry No More
            5. Darkness, Take My Hand (Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro Novels)
            6. Darwin's Radio
            7. Day of the False King: A Novel of Murder in Ancient Babylon
            8. Death by Darjeeling (Tea Shop Mysteries)
            9. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
            10. Drop City

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