Mark Woodland

A Chilton manual for your vehicle is an essential if you have mechanical skills and wish to do some of your maintenance yourself, and will guide you from the more simple chores to detailed, step-by-step instructions on more complex jobs. It's loaded with "exploded" sketches that show how a particular assembly is put together. I partially credit this book for my having kept my 1989 Bronco II running for over 15 years. I'd give it a higher overall rating but for my one serious criticism of the series: it assumes that you have a certain level of auto technical competence, which in my opinion is beyond the average car owner. It also lacks realistic advice for when you should have your mechanic tackle a problem rather than yourself. Again, it's a shop manual, not necessarily designed for professionals, but could be used by them. If you DO know anything about working on cars, this book can save you money.

"Fool" is one of the most drop-dead hilarious books I've ever read, and the first in a long time to make me laugh out loud. The Fool of the title is King Lear's Fool from Shakespeare, and the entire book is told in and around that play. You don't HAVE to know the play (and other various Shakespeares, for there are many references) to enjoy the book, but having read Lear is a major advantage, since you'd be familiar with what's being satirized so effectively. The Fool narrates the book in the first person, and the telling is wicked, funny, biting, and lacks the slightest respect for anyone or anything. Thus does Moore prove his complete understanding of the Shakespearean Fool. Having, an an actor, played a couple of them, I had a particularly riotous time. A couple of disclosures: I would rate the book "R" for language and content, and don't expect it to be 100% faithful to the original text (I shan't spoil anything for you, though). This is a book that anyone could enjoy, but particularly people who are fans of theatre and Shakespeare. I already hit the bookstore and bought two more Moore books. I recommend the book to one & all.

You may note that I've read (and own) most of the Stern series of dialect books; I teach stage dialects to actors. This is one of the better additions to the series, since it's very specific. I wish the author/publishers would come out with more like this one. Being from New England myself, I can attest that this book (get the CD that's available with it, it's essential) does a pretty good job in preparing you to sound like an upper-class Bostonian. Careful, though, don't assume that it's good for ANY upper-class New Englander. It may be next door, but people from Connecticut sound nothing like it. If you're really interested in dialects, collect this series, as well as acquiring the Lewis Herman and Jerry Blunt books.

Part of a useful series of books, but wholly inadequate in that there are so MANY shadings of Southern US dialects that one book is unlikely to carry them all. For instance, though they're close together, Texan is very distinct from Louisianan which is different from Mississippi, etc. For learners of Northern or Midwestern origin, it's a good place to start, and if you're not from the US it's a boon. I usually turn to movies for recorded material for Southern accents, as many of them pay close attention to this detail. There is a CD available to go with the book, and I highly recommend getting it if you're interesting in learning.

A good guide by one of the industry standards in the field. Stern's dialect guides are widely used, and if one has vocal training and an ear for accents, one can use this book by itself and get pretty good results. To maximize the usefulness of the book, you'll want to buy the CD that is made to go along with the book. The downside to this and any other accent guide is that it teaches a generalized accent; anyone who's familiar with New York City knows that there are a lot of distinct sub-dialects. The book doesn't cover all of them (it doesn't really attempt to), and additional source materials are recommended. I teach dialects to actors, and while this is a valuable resource, I find that I usually wind up making my own teaching CDs to be more specific and accurate. For new learners, it's a great one to start with.

Write a review...I read the DaVinci Code before I read this one, which is the first with the main character of Robert Langdon, and was curious to see how it compares to the new movie (haven't seen it yet). The book is weel-paced and a fast read for 700 pages, with all the action taking place within about 24 hours. That's hard to maintain, but Brown does a good job with it and it kept me reading. There are loads of reviews of this book, so I'm not sure what original thing I have to say except this: About halfway through, I suspected that I knew how several of the main plot threads would be concluded, and was a bit smug about it. I turned out to be mostly right, BUT- none of them came to happen in the ways that I imagined. Kudos to the author for staying a few steps ahead of me, especially since having read the other book gave me some basis on which to guess. Movie or not, this is a good read.

Neil Simon goes back to the "Suite" well for the third time, and it's not up to the level of the previous two (Plaza Suite and California Suite). The dialogue, for which Simon is justly famous, is reasonably crisp and clever, but as far as a reading experience goes, you're likely to be disappointed. There are four scenes in all, each set in the same London hotel suite. They're unrelated to one another, and therein may be part of the problem: There isn't anything unifying about the scenes except the setting, and it robs the play of having much to say. From a potential production standpoint, a really good cast could make an entertaining evening of it. This, I will hopefully prove out, as I'm slated to do this play later this year.

Contrary to popular belief, Art is NOT about an all-white painting. The painting, acquired for a large sum of money by one of the three characters, is merely the catalyst for the real action of the play: the destruction of a relationship. Three men, who have been close friends for years, discover the cracks and seams that their mini-society has as part of its nature. Until now, there has been a balance of the personalities, but when the painting in introduced, the dynamics shift, and the usually dominant Marc finds himself displaced and discomfited, while the other two find themselves in new positions relative to each other that are completely foreign to them. It's a process of alienation that's fascinating to watch, and when performed well, this is a dynamite play to watch. Unfortunately, many readers, audiences and whole productions fail to "get it", either by misunderstanding the true nature of the story, or getting artificially hung up on the painting. This is a very good read for anyone who'd like to see a keen observation on the relationships between men. All the more impressive, the author is a woman, and perhaps an "outside" perspective and the ability to step back from becoming too intimate with the characters was essential to the process. Her other writing is equally impressive. Translated from the original French.

This is a documentary book about the excavation of one of only two confirmed wrecks of pirate ships (the other being the Queen Anne). It's a bit dry and tedious at times, but it incorporates the story of the ship with which few are familiar (I'd never previously heard of the Whydah). If you find underwater archaeology of any interest, you'll probably like this book. There is some interest in a movie about the Whyday, which would lean heavily on the information in this book. It depicts piracy in a wholly different light than the movies, in particular the people who became pirates and why.

Cheap. Crass. Rude & crude. Without taste or class. Satiric & at times mean-spirited. If you're easily offended by language & sexual situations, you will be.

I loved it!

Set in an old Florida trailer park in Starke, Florida, which is home to the State Prison & Death Row. In fact, one of the characters' husband is there. White trash hilarity ensues. A lot of fun to read, and I'll be seeing it next year & am looking forward to it. If you have a chance to hear the soundtrack, that's a worthy addition to the experience. Not what you'd expect; it's only got some country-style music and a lot of it is rock-based.