Books

North Shore Long Island: Country Houses, 1890-1950

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Beautiful...
Best Gold Coast book
FASCINATING ARM CHAIR VISITS
GOLD COAST

North Shore Long Island: Country Houses, 1890-1950
Paul J. Mateyunas
Manufacturer: Acanthus Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes Volume I
Houses of the Hamptons 1880-1930
Long Island's Prominent North Shore Families: Their Estates and Their Country Homes Volume II
Glitter That Was Once Gold
Carrere & Hastings, Architects

ASIN: 0926494376
Release Date: 2007-03-16

Product Description

NORTH SHORE LONG ISLAND: Country Houses, 1890 1950 covers 40 of the region s most noted homes, representing the breadth and variety of architectural design and the social and sporting life that characterized the North Shore in its golden age. Drawing on 15 years of extensive research and introducing dozens of never-before-published original photographs and social records, author Paul J. Mateyunas traces the stories of the grand estates and the people who built and occupied them. Each estate covered in the book was carefully chosen; many are written about in detail for the first time. Scarce source information, much of it provided by heirs of the original estate families, clarifies incomplete or misleading information offered by other books on the subject. Each estate is illustrated with both exterior and interior views of the residence, the outbuildings for service and sport, and lushly landscaped grounds that made Long Island famous.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful..........2007-04-15

Wow.

I grew up in Old Brookville and was drawn to this book. While I know some of the history, and remember bits of it from anecdotes and people and stories from my childhood, Mr. Mateyunas has done a compelling, well researched job of evoking a lost era of a magical time in American history. And even better, he has captured all of it in one beautiful book.

He has done a masterful job (and this from someone who writes for a living). I shall give this book as a gift and am proud to have it in my library.

"And so we beat on, boats against the current..." FSF

Best Gold Coast book.......2007-04-14

This book is absolutely amazing. It is by far the best book out there for this part of Long Island, in this particular time period. There are so many pictures that I've never been able to find anywhere else. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough information about the few houses in the back part of the book (one of them is my old house and I can't find any info about it anywhere!!). Finally someone has put all of the best info about the classic North Shore together in one place. Excellent work!

FASCINATING ARM CHAIR VISITS.......2007-04-09

Ever imagine what it might have been like to have dinner with F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, to attend one of the fabulous parties so vividly painted in his literature? Their time is often called the Gilded Age, and it truly must have been if the amazing homes featured in North Shore Long Island are examples of houses they frequented.

As most know, the North Shore of Long Island borders Long Island Sound and once boasted some 1,000 stately homes, more accurately mansions, earning that area the sobriquet Gold Coast. These were the homes of the rich and famous, the celebrated, and a gathering place for those who yearned to be a part of their storied existence.

In all probability, it is the setting for Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925) with its memorable descriptions of privileged lives. North Shore homes with their varied architecture, verdant gardens, pools, furniture and appointments once outshone any to be found elsewhere in America or in Europe.

Art historian Paul J. Mateyunas has selected 40 of these homes as the focus of "North Shore Long Island/Country Houses 1890 - 1950." He not only presents 350 duotones and floor plans in his beautiful volume but also traces the building of the homes and the lives of those who were in residence. All of this makes for a fascinating arm chair tour of another time in an unparalleled place.

Recommended.

- Gail Cooke

GOLD COAST.......2007-03-28

Acanthus Press rocks..and this is another great book from them..this book is fantastic. The North Shore of Long Island is the benchmark for high society living..the movie The Great Gatsby may have been filmed in Newport, but it was about the Gold Coast. This is the bastion of WASP high society of the turn of the century into the sixties. The book itself is perfect, scholarly text and crisp, vivid images. Highly recommended, you wont be disappointed.

500 Bowls: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design

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Inspiration from 500 beautiful clay bowls
Inspired!
beautiful simple bowls
Amazingly different
Bowl (n) 1. A hemispherical vessel...

500 Bowls: Contemporary Explorations of a Timeless Design
Lark
Manufacturer: Lark Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Potter's Guide to Ceramic Surfaces

ASIN: 1579903622

Book Description

Five hundred inspiring variations on the simple, functional bowl will fire any potter's imagination. Displayed on each page are bowls that reinvent and reinterpret the form, and use techniques from across the globe and through the centuries. More importantly, every piece, such as Kate Maury's wheel-thrown porcelain, Stephen F. Fabrico's slab-built bowl with handles, and Ruchika Madan's stoneware Fruit Bowl, testifies to the artist's boundless inventiveness. Captions give each bowl's size, with details on its material and glazes.

Customer Reviews:

Inspiration from 500 beautiful clay bowls.......2007-05-14

I'm a clay artist who does hand building...My teacher brought in this book to share with our
pottery class. I and the rest of the class were simply blown away by the originality and brilliance of these clay artists. We spent half the class passing the book around and saying to one anothr "how about THIS one?"
None of us wanted to put the book down and get back to working on our own pieces.

The book is quite reasonable in price and I was so captivated by these beautiful photographs that I went ahead and bought the the other two books in the series which are specific to animals and teapots...The photographs on each page are simply spectacular...memorable....something I wouldn't directly copy in my own work, but much of it is just insipirational...and informative. Description of how the piece was fired...the method for it's execution (whether hand or wheel built). These books are a collection of the most original works I've ever seen. Although I don't build animals of out clay, I'm as thrilled to own each book from this series as I am
"500 Bowls".

Inspired!.......2007-04-04

This book is beautifully photgraphed, like all the 500 series books, and weather you put it on your coffee table or in your studio, it lights up the imagination and inspires the artist.

beautiful simple bowls.......2006-12-06

It is the simplicity of the bowl on the cover that draw us in, though it is difficult, as there is no cover credit in the edition I own, to find who that artist is. Deep inside we find that bowl and another by potter/artist Judy Motzkin. Patient searching pays off. This elegant little book, with this elegant saggar fired bowl on the cover is a treasure.

Amazingly different.......2006-11-13

I am astonished that anyone could find this book a dissapointment! Only, not,when I read the reveiws that were not too great were written by people who wanted a more functional or traditional result,perhaps...
I like it.Once again,this book opened up an area in my own artistic approach-to "think outside the Bowl"! If you are an artist,or sculptor that has been at it a good 10 or 15 years,as I am,and you need a new vien to tap,this is a great book to get.Mostly,I found it treated the surfaces,interior or exterior,like a canvas.not a vessel to be filled with cereal or mashed potatoes,but as an object,to be viewed,and give the onlooker an "eyeful" It's again,one of the best in the lark 500 books.

Bowl (n) 1. A hemispherical vessel..........2005-08-21

I have a hunger for bowls. Objects that can hold other objects, particularly food, fascinate me. This book feeds my hunger with beautiful color photos of more bowls than my brain can hold in one sitting. Bowls that make me laugh, purr, gasp with amazement, and covet. Oh how I covet. Bowls that hold other bowls that hold other bowls...
And for the frustrated potter in me, the information on glazes and firing deepens my appreciation of each and every hemispherical vessel. I'll have this one, and that one, and the little one over there...

Average customer rating:

Triptych with a great center panel
Details, Details
Well written, but rambling
Memorable, well crafted language and characters. But nobody named "June."
good start, questionable ending

Three Junes
Julia Glass
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Whole World Over: A Novel
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ASIN: 0385721420
Release Date: 2003-04-22

Book Description

An astonishing first novel that traces the lives of a Scottish family over a decade as they confront the joys and longings, fulfillments and betrayals of love in all its guises.

In June of 1989 Paul McLeod, a newspaper publisher and recent widower, travels to Greece, where he falls for a young American artist and reflects on the complicated truth about his marriage. . ..Six years later, again in June, Paul’s death draws his three grown sons and their families back to their ancestral home. Fenno, the eldest, a wry, introspective gay man, narrates the events of this unforeseen reunion. Far from his straitlaced expatriate life as a bookseller in Greenwich Village, Fenno is stunned by a series of revelations that threaten his carefully crafted defenses. . .. Four years farther on, in yet another June, a chance meeting on the Long Island shore brings Fenno together with Fern Olitsky, the artist who once captivated his father. Now pregnant, Fern must weigh her guilt about the past against her wishes for the future and decide what family means to her. In prose rich with compassion and wit, Three Junes paints a haunting portrait of love’s redemptive powers.

Download Description

The 2002 National Book Award winner for fiction, Three Junes, is a vividly textured symphonic novel set on both sides of the Atlantic during three fateful summers in the lives of a Scottish family.

In June of 1989, Paul McLeod, the recently widowed patriarch, becomes infatuated with a young American artist while traveling through Greece and is compelled to relive the secret sorrows of his marriage. Six years later, Paul's death reunites his sons at Tealing, their idyllic childhood home, where Fenno, the eldest, faces a choice that puts him at the center of his family's future.

A lovable, slightly repressed gay man, Fenno leads the life of an aloof expatriate in the West Village, running a shop filled with books and birdwatching gear. He believes himself safe from all emotional entanglements -- until a worldly neighbor presents him with an extraordinary gift and a seductive photographer makes him an unwitting subject. Each man draws Fenno into territories of the heart he has never braved before, leading him toward an almost unbearable loss that will reveal to him the nature of love.

Love in its limitless forms -- between husband and wife, between lovers, between people and animals, between parents and children -- is the force that moves these characters' lives, which collide again, in yet another June, over a Long Island dinner table. This time it is Fenno who meets and captivates Fern, the same woman who captivated his father in Greece ten years before. Now pregnant with a son of her own, Fern, like Fenno and Paul before him, must make peace with her past to embrace her future.

Elegantly detailed yet full of emotional suspense, often as comic as it is sad, Three Junes is a glorious triptych about how we learn to live, and live fully, beyond incurable grief and betrayals of the heart -- how family ties, both those we're born into and those we make, can offer us redemption and joy.

Customer Reviews:

Triptych with a great center panel.......2007-06-03

This is a fine novel, giving an expansive account of a Scottish family at three points in time several years apart. The middle section is the most detailed and compelling, telling how son Fenno missed out on passionate love in his relation to a magnetic friend dying of AIDS; yet the measure of insight, and connected humanity, Fenno gains is genuine and redemptive, and informs the final "June." The two flanking sections provide back- and fore-story that add depth and connectivity to the entire history and other characters. All in all, the book reminded me of a medieval triptych painting, in which smaller side paintings point to and enhance a greater and more substantial central portrait, which is given its setting and context by the others. The writing is graceful and witty, for an excellent reading experience.

Details, Details.......2007-05-10

Like a travelogue full of detailed descriptions of places, this novel will take you on location with characters that seem very real.

Well written, but rambling.......2007-04-25

I read this based on other people's recommendations and glowing reviews.

The book is well crafted, and serves as a sort of travelogue. The descriptions of places are excellent. From the expanse of a Greek island to the aisles of a tiny bookstore, you can imagine how every thing looks, feels and smells.

Somehow, this does not extend to the author's character development. If you are looking for a book where the characters have a moment of redemption, or epiphany, or even purpose then this is not the book for you.

I found that disjointed story lines rambled to unsatisfying conclusions, and that characters who appeared in overlapping story lines were just coincidental.

To say that the book reached a conclusion is a stretch. It would be more accurate to say that it rambled to an ending.

Memorable, well crafted language and characters. But nobody named "June.".......2007-03-12

This book was recommended to me by a friend, who also loaned the book to me to read. I am fairly certian that I would not have purchased the book on my own, but I really enjoyed it, and was grateful to have a friend who did not underestimate my taste in books. At the beginning, not having read any reviews, I wondered where the title came from, since the book was not really about women or relationships among women. I finally realized that the JUNE refered to the calendar month, not a name.

I thought that all of the characters -- the mothers, fathers, brothers, lovers, relationships, -- were real, complex and interesting. THREE JUNES is appropriately hailed as a "dazzling portrayal of family life," but it isn't really an exciting book, but rather an insightful one. The characters really see and analyze and dissect the their lives and the events around them, and their thoughts give the book a beautiful substance.

Although the families and connections are memorable, my favorite thing about the book is the language. Glass has a great way with words, which came through the most vividly in the middle "June' of the book, in which the character Fenno shares his story. (From another view, I could say that the other characters of the book served only to help me understand and appreciate Fenno. His "June" clearly stood out among the three.)

The ending was thoroughly unsatisfactory, but I suppose that is what critics like. I wanted to know more about Fern as that point, I feel that I knew what happened to Fenno and to his father, but Fern's story was left dangling. I was really enjoying her story, and was disappointed not to have at least more clues as to how her situation played out.

good start, questionable ending.......2007-02-15

At first, I was drawn into Ms Glass's luscious narrative and couldn't wait to get back to it. By the middle of the book I became irritated with Fenno's negative narration. Mal was unrelentingly angry. I was relieved when that section ended, then the third narrative about Fern didn't round out the book in a satisfying way. Why the hell doesn't Lillian ask Dennis for his sperm-did I miss something? Dennis seems much more obliging and besides, he's her husband's twin. Why wasn't the connection illucidated between Fern and Paul? You don't have to be obvious and heavy handed, but obtuse seems worse.

Average customer rating:

Re-read this book (when you've grown up)
Oh I'm so rich. Oh my friends are so rich.
Pretty Good look at Rich Excesses
The GREAT Gatsby
I would read this again

The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684801523

Amazon.com

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald's finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

It's also a love story, of sorts, the narrative of Gatsby's quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan. The pair meet five years before the novel begins, when Daisy is a legendary young Louisville beauty and Gatsby an impoverished officer. They fall in love, but while Gatsby serves overseas, Daisy marries the brutal, bullying, but extremely rich Tom Buchanan. After the war, Gatsby devotes himself blindly to the pursuit of wealth by whatever means--and to the pursuit of Daisy, which amounts to the same thing. "Her voice is full of money," Gatsby says admiringly, in one of the novel's more famous descriptions. His millions made, Gatsby buys a mansion across Long Island Sound from Daisy's patrician East Egg address, throws lavish parties, and waits for her to appear. When she does, events unfold with all the tragic inevitability of a Greek drama, with detached, cynical neighbor Nick Carraway acting as chorus throughout. Spare, elegantly plotted, and written in crystalline prose, The Great Gatsby is as perfectly satisfying as the best kind of poem.

Book Description

This is the definitive, textually accurate edition of a classic of twentieth-century literature, The Great Gatsby. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan has been acclaimed by generations of readers. But the first edition contained a number of errors resulting from Fitzgerald's extensive revisions and a rushed production schedule. Subsequent printings introduced further departures from the author's words. This edition, based on the Cambridge critical text, restores all the language of Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Drawing on the manuscript and surviving proofs of the novel, along with Fitzgerald's later revisions and corrections, this is the authorized text -- The Great Gatsby as Fitzgerald intended it.

Customer Reviews:

Re-read this book (when you've grown up).......2007-06-20

I had forgotten how delightful and evocative this book is--or perhaps it just all went over my head back in high school.

It has made me think of three things: devices that compel the reader forward, the way a story folds, unfolds, and reveals, and death in the novel.

The thing that propels the book forward--the mysterious Gatsby--is introduced at the very beginning. Although this initial mystery does not take us to the end of the novel, nor is it even a particularly revelatory device, the mystery does get things going, giving Fitzgerald the space to lay out his characters, their place and time, and the voice of his narrator.

Once we get to the bottom of the Gatsby mystery, once we learn Gatsby's history and motivation, the story continues to unfold. And the real telling of the story, the real events, surround the characters and their clashes with one another, with their desire and the things that either get in the way of their desire, or the things that the satiated desire reveals. And it is in this wanting and getting that the real story takes shape.

And then I wonder about death in the novel. I suppose I wonder this because I just finished Moody's "Ice Storm" and I feel as though the death in that book was somehow unnecessary--not that I can imagine the novel completing itself without the death. In fact, I don't know what else would complete the book. But in the particular instance of Moody's novel, the death seems too convenient. Even in Gatsby, death comes not in the messy, senseless way of real life, but in the meaningful (if only for the protagonist) way of fiction. But of course, that it exactly what it is.

Oh I'm so rich. Oh my friends are so rich........2007-06-15

Man, what self-indulgent rubbish.

"I am so rich...I am so observant...My friends are so rich...My friends have great parties...Gatsby is so rich...Gatsby is so neat..."

So it's a great story about the Jazz era. It wasn't that great an era.

If I wanted to read about lame, rich, full of themself people going to parties, I'd pick up People magazine.

A bore.

Pretty Good look at Rich Excesses.......2007-06-13

This famous novel mixes a serious critique of the excesses of the 1920's Jazz age with a tragic tale of hypocrisy, jealousy, ambition and greed. Narrator Nick Carraway views his ritzy neighbor Jake Gatsby with a mix of disdain and admiration. Gatsby enjoys the good life of high society parties and fast living, plus pursuing a non-admirable woman (Daisy) who happens to be married. Not surprisingly, events come to a head later in the book. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) had a strong feel for the excesses and hypocrisy of high society, and one suspects the story's modest anti-Semitism and racism reflect something Fitzgerald both disdained and indulged in. Readers are advised that this book is better understood with a basic knowledge of the 1920's with its booming postwar economy, riches, prohibition, and new inventions.

Some say the author was his own Gatsby, a talented young writer with a society wife (Zelda) whose fast living and alcoholism led to an early demise.

The GREAT Gatsby.......2007-06-12

The Great Gastby is honestly one of the greatest books out there these days. Despite the infamous spellin errors, Fitzgerald really pulls off a complicated relationship that truly reveals the true ideals and values of the new American Dream.
Dedicated to his wife Zelda, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a quick compilation of his passion for her, pouring out every single rush of emotion from pen to paper. After Fitzgerald's rocky relationship with Zelda, he decided to embed his experience into a book replete with mistakes as a result of his burst of emotion and fervor.
The Great Gatsby argues that even if an individual is determined enough to chase a dream to the ends of the earth by any means necessary, his social status would remain the unchanged. Left with no choice, Gatsby is forced to perform illegal actions, like bootlegging, in order to gain monetary success. With this wealth, Gatsby can successfully compete with Tom and win Daisy over. However, Daisy cares not only about the wealth of her husband, but also the reputation and social status. However, the only way Gatsby was able to obtain that much wealth in a short period of time was to bootleg, an illegal action that would lower anyone's social standing. In the hierarchy of society, an individual is rarely able to move up on the social ladder. Because Gatsby had to earn his wealth through illegal means, his reputation was thus undermined. Because his goal was to win Daisy's heart, he cared less about his appearance to his contemporaries and thus sacrificed his image for his goal. Despite his determination, he was unsuccessful in that he died before he could fully experience Daisy's love, ultimately coming up short.
Even though he had gained the wealth he needed, his goals were eventually hindered and obstructed, as he died without his dear love. Because the story ends as a tragedy, Gatsby represents a low social standing individual who failed to reach his goal, despite his quick path to financial success. Though he came close, he still could not hold back the repercussions of a society, in which reputation mattered as much as wealth.
I recommend this book, because it's ideas are intriguing and realistic and can potentionally happen to you.

I would read this again.......2007-06-12

I was essentially forced to read the book, and I am glad I was. While I was reading this book, I thought I was watching a soap opera. It has everything you could want in a interesting, action packed story, everything from love triangles and murder to back stabbing and philosophical enlightenments.

The book gave me a pretty clear and convincing perspective about the early to middle 20th century obsession with the American dream, otherwise known as the great, ideal, promising American dream. The tragic story of Jay Gatsby exemplifies the flawed aspects of the American dream, warning readers even from modern day of the danger and sacrifice demanded from the pursuit of the American Dream. And because we are a growing society still pursuing financial success in most matters, the book applied and will apply in the near future.

Average customer rating:

My first Russell Andrews book
Not another Justin Westwood Story?
A Great One to Read
Extremely well done thriller
Excellent Thriller

Hades
Russell Andrews
Manufacturer: Mysterious Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0892960213

Book Description

Content to escape his big city past in sleepy East End Harbor, former homicide detective Justin Westwood is nothing less than a magnet for dark times. When a Wall Street tycoon is found murdered in his Hamptons estate, common sense would implicate his adulterous widow as the murderer, except Westwood's the man she's been seeing on the side. As his investigation takes him to the bowels of corporate corruption, he is forced once again to return back to his hometown of Providence, Rhode Island. It's there where the tragic death of his own wife years earlier and the disappearance of his brother-in-law haunt him. It also brings him face-to-face with an ex-secretary of state who just happens to be the murder victim's father. Adding further turmoil into his investigation is Regina Bokkenheuser, the FBI agent who's broken his heart once before. It's up to Westwood to connect the dots from his tortured past to his present plight and restore order to his disorderly world, before he too falls prey to circumstance.

Customer Reviews:

My first Russell Andrews book.......2007-06-28

Pros:
Easy to read, well written. Andrews appears to be a intelligent writer, you can tell he's an intelligent author by the way he describes peoples, actions or events in the book. What I'm saying is that most authors populate their books with pretty simple characters, you have your basic good and bad guys, your comedians, your tough guy with a good heart etc. Andrews' book has more complex characters, and you have to be aware of such characters before you can write about them.

Cons: Plot talks too much about older books in the series. Since I never read the other books, this was very annoying to me. Each book should stand on it's own! And if the book refers to other events, it should describe them so the reader doesn't have to read the other books!

And a few parts didn't make a lot of sense, for example

(Spoiler here -------------------------------------- How Justin defeats Togo by forcing his face into the burner just isn't realistic. Anyone who is as good in martial arts as Togo would know 100 ways to get out of a hold like that. Platinum deal didn't make a lot of sense to me. - Spoiler ends)

One plot device I really hate is the assistant Superman, in this case Bruno. Assistant Superman is the supporting character/friend who is basically a level gazillion fighter and the easy way to write out of any problem. You got a tough enemy? No problem, send your unkillable assistant Superman in and he takes care of the enemy and the writing.

All in all, I'll give Russell Andrews another chance. Good writing, easy to read, but could have a better plot.

Not another Justin Westwood Story?.......2007-05-25

I read the author's previous Justin Westwood (the East End Sheriff) novel (Midas), and was not terribly interested in reading another one as that book was disappointing. Having read the rave reviews on this book I decided to see if I could stomach more of the unorthodox Mr. Westwood. This book is a little bit better than its predecessor but not much. Westwood again drinks up a storm, gets branded a criminal by the legal authorities, chases after anything in a skirt (or if she is wearing pants), uses his mob connection (Bruno) to do illegal activity, makes lists of all the info he knows and tries to draw patterns, and finally needs to call in his father and his father's friend Roger to sort through the complicated business world that seems to be the root of the bad people in the story.

In this one there are a pair of Asian assassins lurking that seem to have no problem disposing of any of their victims but get real sloppy when it comes to Westwood. The book also dredges up FBI agent Wanda Chinkel (who now is working on her own "renegade" operation) and his former turncoat partner Jessie. If you read into all of the Westwood novels you would think that every big money white collar criminal operation will end up in the quiet Suffolk town of East End, like nothing could ever be focused in Manhattan.

It will take an awful lot of positive reviewer responses to get me to read another Justin Westwood novel. I give this one 3 and a half stars.

A Great One to Read.......2007-05-13

As always, Russell Andrews has written a gem. This was a really good one to read and I love the way he keeps you guessing right up to the end.

Extremely well done thriller.......2007-05-08

Russell Andrews has written a couple of police procedurals before this and, unfortunately, refers to them a bit too often for comfort. Too bad, for the references tarnish this otherwise stellar thriller.

Justin Westwood is police chief in a sleepy Hamptons town. His current bedmate is a married woman. Too bad Justin gets a call one evening from one of his cops and has to turn to his lover and tell her that her husband has just been found murdered.

The wife is immediately labelled a suspect by an aggressive district attorney as is a local contractor, who was also having an affair with the woman. Justin is suspended from his job and a finger of suspicion points at him as well.

With that we are off and running on one heck of a thriller. Mysterious Chinese assasins are murdering people, though we don't know why. Titans of high finance are involved as is the Chinese People's Republic. The FBI shows up as does the Mafia.

Justin Westwood carries a lot of baggage. His wife and child were murdered. His relationship with his wealthy parents is strained. His one-time sister-in-law doesn't like him either. Neither do the two female FBI agents Justin has to deal with. He is not a popular guy.

But Justin is a determined man. He is going to get to the bottom of the first murder and the second and the third and . . . well, all of them.

Author Andrews takes us on a fun ride filled with plenty of plot puzzles. And the plotting is tight. No big holes and lots of suspense as the action and tension build. Justin Westwood is a belivable character though he doesn't attain the level of Jack Reacher or the pre-wimp John Rain. He's a bright guy, a diligent detective and frequently doesn't have much use for the rules.

Some of the devices are unintentionally hilarious, such as the use of the handy teenage computer "genius", but such episodes are few and don't rob anything from the story.

Russell Andrews is just plain good. He delivers one unexpected surprise after another. "Hades" truly merits the description "page-turner". It is.

Jerry

Excellent Thriller.......2007-04-11

Just when you let your breath out, another suspenseful episode unfolds. Not one boring page in this thriller.

Average customer rating:

Houses of the Hamptons
Paul Goldberger
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0394542606
Release Date: 1986-05-12

Atlantic Cruising Club's Guide to Long Island Sound Marinas (Book & CD-ROM)

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Atlantic Cruising Club's Guide to Long Island Sound Marinas (Book & CD-ROM)
Elizabeth Adams Smith
Manufacturer: Jerawyn Publishing Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

The Cruising Guide to the New England Coast: Including the Hudson River, Long Island Sound, and the Coast of New Brunswick, Twelfth Edition
Atlantic Cruising Club's Guide to New England Marinas (Book & CD-ROM)
Waterway Guide Northern 2006: Jersey Shore, New York, Hudson- Erie, Long Island Sound and New England Waters to Canada (Waterway Guide Northern Edition) (Waterway Guide Northern Edition)
A Cruising Guide to Narragansett Bay and the South Coast of Massachusetts: Including Buzzard's Bay, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Block Island
The Coast of Summer: Sailing New England Waters from Shelter Island to Cape Cod

ASIN: 0966402847

Book Description

Facts, Facts, and more Facts + 1,800 Photos, Rates, Ratings, and Reviews Absolutely everything you need to know to decide where to tie up for a night or a week, packed into the only objective consumers' guide to marinas and marine facilities.

For more than a decade, the Atlantic Cruising Club has been providing highly detailed, objective marina information to the East Coast boating consumer. The latest Guide - the Seventh Edition - has now grown to nine regional volumes covering Bar Harbor, ME to Padre Island, TX in the East, and Point Roberts, WA to Chula Vista, CA on the West Coast. The Guides are being published sequentially over the next year. The first regional volume, the Atlantic Cruising Club's Guide to New England Marinas was very well received and the second regional volume, the Atlantic Cruising Club's Guide to Long Island Sound Marinas, is now complete. 232 Marina Reports and 1,800 photos cover Block Island, RI to Cape May, NJ, including the Fishers Island Sound, the Connecticut River, the Peconics, Long Island's South Shore Inlets and the New Jersey Inlets.

These are consumers' guides - marina advertising is neither solicited nor accepted and there is no charge to the marinas for inclusion.

The new edition has been expanded to an 8 ½" x 11" format to accommodate the addition of both photographs and 50% more information -- up to 300 facts on each marina. Every facility is now rated on three scales - 1 to 5 Bells for cruiser services, 1 or 2 Travelifts for boatyard services and a Sunset for very special places. Marina information covers contact info, marina operations, rates, services, facilities, megayacht services, navigation information, boat supplies (chandleries, propane, ice, CNG, bait), and boatyard capabilities (rates, certifications, specialties, etc.). The very detailed "what's near by" sections cover restaurants (names & price ranges, too), lodgings (rates), recreation (from golf and tennis to swimming and bowling), entertainment (cinemas to museums, tours, and live theater), provisioning (including the nearest chain supermarkets, gourmet shops, farmers' markets, fishmongers, etc.),general services (from bookstores and hardware stores to full-service laundries), transportation (rental cars, courtesy cars, airports and limos, cabs, bike rentals, water taxis, ferry services, local busses, rail, etc.) and medical services (from 911 and hospitals to massage therapists and vets). The "Review" section is comprised of three densely packed paragraphs (Setting, Marina Notes, and Notable), each chock full of even more useful information.

The Atlantic Cruising Club's Guides to Marinas are delivered in both print and CD-ROM formats (in one package). Each volume includes 1,600-2,000 photographs - one of each marina in the Book, and 4-9 full-color photos of each on the CD-ROM. The easy-to-use CD-ROM allows boaters to search on over 100 fields—location, rates, ratings, reported depths, etc., etc., etc - and it stores in a sturdy clear vinyl sleeve in the back of the book.

Book Description

September 11, 2001, did not represent the first aerial assault against the American mainland. The first came on July 17,1996, with the downing of TWA Flight 800. This book looks in detail at what people saw and heard on this fateful night.

First Strike explains how a determined corps of ordinary citizens worked to reveal the compromise and corruption that tainted the federal investigation. With an impressive array of facts, Jack Cashill and James Sanders show the relationship between events in July 1996 and September 2001 and proclaim how and why the American government has attempted to cover up the truth.

Customer Reviews:

plausibility.......2007-01-29

sanders and cashill present a quite plausible hypothesis to the downing of twa 800. this book is an easy read and pulls in the reader. the text builds up to the conclusion / hypothesis presented in the final pages. the fact that the military had so many resources within a few miles of the incident at that moment is unusual; but, given the, then, recent bombings, international threats, and the new york based court hearing of the wtc bombing #1 leader, the elevation of the nation's security risk to the highest it had been since the cuban missile crisis made sense. the brisk departure from the area by the navy would make sense given the downing, regardless of whether a missile had been fired or not. if, indeed, there was an unidentified boat, it, more likely than a u.s. navy resource, would, without constitutional restriction, have fired a missile within our airspace and, perhaps accidentally, brought down twa 800. this hypothesized scenario re-plays itself, in a fashion, on 9/11/01 with regard to who has the authority to fire at a civilian aircraft during a terrorist attack? the authors' question about why boeing and twa might accept responsibility should have been followed up with actual information on subsequent liabilities and offsetting government contracts. i wonder to what degree the nation's dependence on oil, both political parties' appreciation for / benefit from middle-eastern campaign contributions and favors, the 1996 election, and the White House's "explore and discuss" approach all may have contributed to the subjective need to develop a plausible cover / smokescreen in this case and not overtly recognize the situation or deal head on with the underlying political, economic, and military issues. if our military and intelligence agencies might have had knowledge of a terrorist in a small plane, it would have been nice if the investigative journalists who wrote this book would have followed up on those possible leads - who? where from? why? the credibility of international acceptance of blame from terrorist networks ... sanders, understandably, wrote with great passion about his trial for conspiracy to obtain materials from an accident scene ... i didn't see what happened in the end, but, i surmise, he survived if he is writing this book ... were the u.s. attorneys who prosecuted sanders ever "rewarded"? briefly, how did this event relate to the other events occurring internationally? while, frankly, this was an interesting conspiracy theory book, it identified interesting flaws in the official stories and it proposed an intriguing explanation for what may have happened to twa 800, few new facts were presented that haven't been discussed already on the internet. for those readers interested in conspiracy theories, this is a very good book.

First Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America.......2007-01-13

This is a very intriguing book. It is a book that is very hard to put down. I read it in two settings, albeit, almost two months ago.

If the events described in this book really took place, and they seem to be very well documented, and the theory presented here is correct, then shame on the NTSB for falsifying it's reports, shame on the airline industry for not speaking up, shame on Boeing for accepting the blame (and probably the liability) for the tragedy; shame, shame, shame, on the Clinton administration for yet another lie and cover-up, shame on the Navy for their sloppy interdiction, and shame on the media for their crappy investigative reporting.

Having handled a lot of JP-4 jet fuel in the military, and because and because I know commercial jet fuel, known as Jet-A, is pure kerosene and has a flashpoint of 120 degrees F, plus the fact that Boeing never made any meaningful modifications to it's 747 aircraft as a result of the crash of Flight 800, I never did buy the spark induced exploding middle fuel tank explanation for the cause of the crash. But, the idea that our very own United States Navy took this plane down, while unsuccessfully trying to defend it from a terrorist attack, never occurred to me at the time, much less was it mentioned by the liberal media who hung on every word from the corrupt; "I did not have sex with that woman", Clinton administration.

This book brings into question, the need for investigations by the NTSB; the public would be better served by a private agency (without political baggage) investigating aviation accidents and providing objective non-bias reports. It also brings into question, once again, the integrity of all of our political military and industrial leaders, many of whom profess to have the best interests of America at heart. Lastly, after reading this book one must wonder who is in charge in matters involving national security such as we have here, the military, the FBI, CIA, the white house? Who decides who is in charge, and which of these agencies can bungle things the worst?

This is a good book for conspiracy theorists as well as those who have faith in and trust our leaders. It's a grippingly interesting and recommended read.

Yes, but..........2006-05-26

This book takes you through the whodunit, gathering evidence, etc. and arriving at a plausible explanation at the end. The other major story here is the coverup. The Navy, the NTSB, the FBI, the CIA all were involved in the coverup, so the order had to come from the White House. No one else had the authority to order all those different branches of government.

The question is one of motive. If it was terrorists, their real objective was undoubtedly economic. Who cares about one commercial airplane? But with airports all over the nation, if any flight was vulnerable to the kinds of missles used against Russian helicopters in Afghanistan, no flight would be safe. If it had gotten out that TWA 800 was brought down by a terrorist missle, there would have been an immediate catastrophic drop in airline passengers. This would have been an economic disaster for the airline industry and for the USA.

A responsible press would not have allowed itself to be coopted into such a terrorist scheme, and the government would have tried to thwart it. Hence, the news blackout and the cover-up. This is the most parsimonious explanation for the coverup. There is no need to posit evil Presidents or a corrupt press. Of course, there was a little more to it than that.

However, indicting James Sanders AND HIS WIFE! (who had nothing to do with the investigation) is another matter. Sanders was only doing his job as an investigative reporter. What is worse is that the jury found them both guilty! In that chapter, Sanders presents all the evidence and testimony presented by both prosecutor and defense, so you can judge for yourself. That twelve jurors found them guilty in this case is shocking (and this can't be blamed on the President).

By the way, the explanations presented in the reviews here are only half-truths. Read the book and you'll know what happened.

THE US NAVY DID IT .......2006-03-13

THE UNITED STATES NAVY DID IN FACT SHOOT DOWN TWA FLIGHT 800 BY NAVY SHIP AND FIRED 2 MISSILES AND THEN FLEED THE SCENE AT 30 KNOTS AND RADAR CAPTURED IT AND THAT SHIP WAS NEVER FOUND AND WHEN PIERRE SALINGER CAME FORWARD HE HAD INFO FROM A FATHER WHO HAD A SON IN THE NAVY HE SAID TO THIS FATHER WE SHOT IT DOWN MEANING ABOUT TWA FLIGHT 800 CRASH...

Another JFK type Cover-up?.......2005-12-01

As a person that worked as a mechanic for TWA for almost 35 years, I can say that the US Government's explanation of the cause for TWA 800 to fall from the sky is highly suspect. I worked on the aircraft in question; 17119, 100's of times and many times on the systems that the government claims to have malfunctioned. It did not happen the way the government claims.

How it did happen is spread before you like a fictional mystery novel by the author in "First Strike". It is tragic that it is not fiction, because once again, our elected government has seen fit to lie to the electorate.

If the truth had been released about TWA 800, maybe 911 could have been averted. We will never know. I do know some things: More than a hundred people saw the missiles headed for TWA 800 and airplanes do not gain altitude after being blown up. The government's case relies on saying that all those people had simultaneous illusions of rising streaks of light and then asks you to suspend physics in order to make their case plausible.

The authors of "First Strike" tell you what really happened.

Average customer rating:

Excellent
Preston & Child write GREAT cliff hangers!
More thrills and chills!
Brimstone
Just Right

Brimstone
Douglas Preston , and Lincoln Child
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Dance of Death
The Cabinet of Curiosities
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Reliquary
Relic

ASIN: 044653143X
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Book Description

Agent Pendergast returns in a new suspense thriller from New YorkTimes bestselling authors Douglas Preston and LincolnChild. Art critic JeremyGrove is found dead, his face frozen in a mask of terror. His body temperature is grotesquely high; he is discovered in a room barricaded from the inside; the smell ofbrimstone is everywhere....and the unmistakable imprint of a claw is burned into the wall. As more bodies are discovered-their only connection the bizarre but identical manner of death-the world begins to wonder if the Devil has, in fact, come to collect his due. Teaming with Police Officer Vincent D'Agosta (The Relic), Agent Pendergast is determined to solve this case that appears to defy everything except supernatural logic. Their investigation takes them from the luxury estates of LongIsland to the crumbling, legend-shrouded castles of the Italian countryside, where Pendergast faces the most treacherous and dangerous adversary of his career.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-06-20

The character of Pendergast is a calm, collected, masterful character such as is rarely seen in literature or movies these days. He is the sort of hero that it is a delight to identify with. Make no mistake- he struggles with the adversities he faces, but no matter how insurmountable the obstacles he keeps a "cool head." He is reminisent of the classic James Bond, Superman, or Phileas Fogg.
The story is intruiging and the characters are extremely well done. Preston and Child blend mystery/supernatural with modern concepts and technology brilliantly.The same holds true for all of their works that I have had the pleasure to read. Bravo, gentlemen!

Preston & Child write GREAT cliff hangers!.......2007-06-14

Brimstone is another seriously good thriller, mystery book from Preston & CHild. These guys are better than Crighton!

More thrills and chills!.......2007-05-31

My wife and I have read several books by Preston and Child, and we're totally hooked. These guys know how to write a page-turner. In this case, "Brimstone" was too intense for my wife, who had to put it down after a few chapters. I read it all the way through, however, despite the creepiness and sheer terror of so many scenes. FBI Special Agent Pendergast is one of the best continuing characters in fiction today, sort of a combination of James Bond and the Saint. His partner in "Brimstone" is Vincent D'Agosta, who he teamed with in "Relic" and "Reliquary." As much as I enjoyed both of those books, "Brimstone" is even better, a long, tumultuous story of solving gruesome mysteries that take place on two continents.

"Brimstone" is definitely a page-turner. It's not for the squeamish, but if you like thrillers and mysteries, this is a great read. To say too much would be spoiling the suspense, but suffice to say that if you've enjoyed reading other stories by Preston and Child (or the books they've written individually), you'll love "Brimstone."

Brimstone.......2007-05-17

Super suspense. A roller coaster ride through all the twists and turns of this intriguing plot!

Just Right.......2007-05-16

The book as an 1890's feel to it but is set in the present. The case the hero investigates has a preternatural aura but the hero (almost a superhero) and his more ordinary side kick attack it as an ingenious crime and not the work of the devil. This is the first Prendergast novel I've read and I enjoyed it. There are details that really resonated with me, Prendergast has what looks like an abandoned mansion in Harlem that is picture perfect on the inside. It's just a cool idea that someone would do that (only in a novel, I don't think it would work in real life). Such quirks scattered throughout the book just make the whole thing more interesting. Near superheros and near perfect bad guys make the book a fun read.

Waterway Guide Northern 2007: Jersey Shore, New York, Hudson- Erie, Long Island Sound and New England Waters to Canada (Waterway Guide Northern Edition) ... Edition) (Waterway Guide Northern Edition)

Average customer rating:

Full of information, pictures, and helpful hints.

Waterway Guide Northern 2007: Jersey Shore, New York, Hudson- Erie, Long Island Sound and New England Waters to Canada (Waterway Guide Northern Edition) ... Edition) (Waterway Guide Northern Edition)

Manufacturer: Waterway Guide
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

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Waterway Guide Mid-Atlantic 2007: Chesapeake Bay and the ICW to Florida
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A Cruising Guide to New Jersey Waters
Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book 2007 (Eldridge Tide and Pilot Book)

ASIN: 0976806665

Customer Reviews:

Full of information, pictures, and helpful hints........2007-04-05

Dozier's has done a great job compiling extensive data about harbors and presenting it in an easy-to-read format with pictures and charts. This Guide provides an overall perspective on a harbor's surroundings before delving into navigation, dockage and anchoring specifics. At the top of the page, nearby marinas are listed detailing phone numbers, slip and floating dock accommodations, which VHF channels are monitored, approach/dockside depths, fuel, repairs, electrical service, lifts and cranes, laundry/pool/showers, pump-out stations, and whether or not there are nearby grocery stores, motels, and restaurants. All this information about the marinas is presented in a chart-like form, taking up very little room on the page yet making it easily readable at a glance. This, in turn, leaves the rest of the page to be filled with helpful hints including a history of the area and what you can find if you go ashore.

Aerial photographs are in abundance with digitally-added dashed lines to show the channel routes. There are, of course, numerous advertisements throughout the Guide, and they only add to the helpful information already presented. I am very impressed by the details on dockage and anchoring - it tells you where you can and cannot anchor and what to expect once you are there.

An often-overlooked yet extremely handy feature is that this 492-page book is spiral-bound, making it easy to read on a flat table. There is still much, much more to this Guide, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to plan some overnight cruises to area harbors.

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