Book Of The Week: The Memoirs Of Cleopatra

5 Stars

This book is such a treasure, and I am so glad that I was able to sit down and read it.

The latest novel to join the few in the five star category is ‘The Memoirs of Cleopatra’, by Margaret George. A great historical novel (if not the best I have yet to read), and so well done, that even after the weeks I have finished it, I find that I still think about it. That is the mark of a good author.

While it has flown under the radar for a while, this is a magnificent novel, both in size, historical accuracy, characters and the plot. All very, very well done.

While I love historical fiction, the reason that this tops the list is the sheer depth; this novel explains everything, yet is historically accurate, the characters well developed, and everything in place. And, of course, my favourite was the fact that it was in first person.

I also liked the ideas presented. The facts put together. And the emotion that was poured into it. Everything is very vivid, which includes the emotions, characters, descriptions. You feel like you are actually there.

The only thing that could possibly bring this down to 4 ½ stars would be that towards the end, you almost put it down. However, once you persevered through, it was worth it. That and the ending, which was a slight bit off, but I still really enjoyed it; it was not a complete turn off like some of the other novels I have read.

What originally caught my eye about this novel was the size. That and I had heard about it from who knows where about how well written Margaret George’s novels were (this was before I remembered that I had read a novel of hers already…). The cover is nothing special I admit, but I have always wanted to know about Cleopatra; she is linked to famous names, and has quite the history, after all. She lived in interesting times.

Overall, a tremendous work, where the effort in writing shines through to make a novel that once read, will make it’s mark.

Cleopatra. Julius Caesar. Marc Anthony. Written about countless time, from novels to plays. There is something about these people, especially Cleopatra that has a strong hold on our history, and the love for dramatics.

In a tale that tells of love, power, and a deadly combination of the two, this is a novel that glittering with mesmerizing writing.

Because Cleopatra was not just a queen of Egypt. She was the Queen of Egypt.

Author: Margaret George

Published: May 15th 1998 by St. Martin’s Griffin

Page Count: 976

ISBN: 0312187459    (isbn13: 9780312187453)

Books on My Growing List to Read: Hush

And here is my first novel to add to the growing pile of books to read this summer (now that it is here for me!) now that I can actually sit down and read. I think that a library trip sometime next week would be lovely…especially with an upcoming trip to Phoenix coming up!

So, the book that is going on this pile is Hush, by Donna Jo Napoli. It’s only three years old, as it was published in 2007.

It is supposed to be a ‘fairy-tale-retold’ novel, based on an Irish fairy tale. Sounds great.

But apparently this is not any happy fairy tale. This one is supposed to be gritty.

This is supposed to be like a Brother’s Grimm fairy tale, and not the Disney versions. The Grimm tales were – excuse the pun – grim. For example, in Cinderella, one of the step-sisters actually cuts off her toes when her foot does not fit into Cinderella’s shoe. Guess they had to leave that part out of the story when they wrote it for Disney.

So I am exited. After all, there have been too many happy-go-lucky novels out there, filled with princesses who want to find their prince, and somehow do. This is not supposed to be a novel that is like that, and for that, I am grateful.

To tell you the truth, I have absolutely no idea how I came across this novel. The most likely place is Goodreads, that much I now, otherwise I am clueless. I am writing about it now, becuase it was on my to-read shelf, and I clicked on it. And voila, it looks so very interesting.

I love the whole princess thing, and I love that it is based on a legend. And, if you couldn’t quite tell, I love the fact that it’s supposed to be different than the other novels I have read lately. Dark. Sad. I like it.

Not that I am a dark and sad person; I am just sick of the whole happy paranormal teenagers who fall in love, and everything is such a happy ending.  I am a little done with that.

Anyways, Goodreads stats. 863 ratings, a 3.44 average rating, and 229 reviews. The majority of people have voted this novel 3 stars, with a close 4 stars. But that might not mean anything. Just becuase only a few people like a book does not mean that I won’t, or you won’t. So there.

I am excited to get my hands on this…let’s hope that I get it soon!

Fifteen-year-old Melkorka, an Irish princess, is kidnapped by Russian slave traders and not only learns how to survive but to challenge some of the brutality of her captors, who are fascinated by her apparent muteness and the possibility that she is enchanted.

From http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/765584.Hush_An_Irish_Princess_Tale (No synopsis on the author’s site)

Author: Donna Jo Napoli

Published: October 23rd 2007 by Atheneum

Page Count: 320

ISBN: 0689861761    (isbn13: 9780689861765)

Mulling on Monday #12

   3 Stars 

   So, here we are again, at another week. As of tomorrow, it will be three weeks until the official start of summer. The crowd cheers…yay. 

  Anyways, so for my ‘Monday Mulling’ moment, I have chosen to go a little outside of the box and go with a play, rather than an actual novel. Still. It is a classic, and is part of a few school English curriculum. 

  No, not Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (though that could be a valid option), rather, it is The Merchant of Venice. 

  A classic in any means, with a beautiful story line and marvelous speeches (The quality of mercy is not strain’d,/ It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest…) that are inspiring, and, once you can get past the Shakespearian wording and phrasing, then it is quite the story. 

  What I like about it is the dramatics. My, oh, my, how they go on and on in the most entertaining way, the sighing and everything that you have come to expect from a classic Shakespearian piece. The characters are not necessarily relatable, but they do represent somewhat of the population in that era. 

  The commentary! The presentation! (See? Dramatic.)And Shakespeare’s nerve to publish such a work is great.   

  What I did not like about this work was the fact that none of the characters are the sharpest tool in thy tool shed. Not really like-able, and they have the tendency to actually make you really upset, like the girl in the horror film that you scream at to not open the door. But what does she do? Open the door. This can be increasingly frustrating, especially when you just know what is being door number one. 

  I know that I had little to no issues reading the regular script, but I do know that many people struggle with the dialogue and the hidden meanings. 

  I realize that this was written hundreds of years ago, when racist and sexist were not words, but I did struggle with the way some of the characters were treated. This is also part of why the characters were not likable. 

  I also did not like the ending. I wish that it could have been a little more twisted, a little more un-predictable. But no, I did not get what I wanted. 

  Overall, a good work, but lacking in some essential areas. 

A classic work from Shakespeare.   

This is the tale of what friends will do for friends, what enemies will do to their enemies, and what lovers will do to their heart’s desires.

This is the battle for love, for allies, for enemies. It tells us how bitterness will lead us nowhere but ruin, and love will bring a smile to one’s eyes.  

It was a simple deal that was supposed to result in love and happiness, but instead triggered a landslide of anguish and dashed hopes. A debt to be paid. A pound of flesh. The chain of events that lead up to the moment in court when the deal must be followed through, and a friend must save another.  

 

  

Author: William Shakespeare

Published: January 1st 2004 by Washington Square Press (first published 1600)

Page Count: 228

ISBN: 0743477561    (isbn13: 9780743477567)

Quick Series Review: Earth’s Children

4-5 Stars

Alright, so I have finished this series for the second time, and I have decided that this series is a keeper, and absolutely magical, even if it is really for adult only, due to the adult content.

It is the series that started in the 80′s, by Jean M. Auel, and continues through to now, with another book, possibly two, coming out soon.Thus far, the novels that have come out are

They are an epic series (yes,I used the word epic) of great magnitude full of beautiful landscapes, people and problems. It is a very unique series in the way that it is presented, even if the idea of cavemen and people in prehistoric time has been used before. However, the information is apparently very accurate, and these novels are considered to be very informative.

What I love about this series is that information. The way it is applied, and the way that when it is put together, it makes up for a great series that you can learn from.

But it is just not the information that makes it; it is the lovely descriptions that encapture you and you can almost see wherever they are around you, and you are in the story. It is beautiful, and I applaud any author that can accomplish this feat.

It is the characters that top this tall totem pole of compliments. They are the head of it, and they control the story with such command that it is hard to believe that they were not actually people, becuase they are so rounded out, so defined that they are a constant that makes the story flow with ease. They control the reader’s emotions without flaw.  Especially the two lead characters, that have the most control over a reader that I have trouble finding in other novels.

I also love how they can make emotions run so high, so quickly, and ultimately make you want to jump right in the story with them.

What I do not like about parts of this series is that it can lull a little in some parts, lagging and dragging, but this is not a huge issue, and other factors soon make up for this. I also do not like that sometimes I want to throw the book across the room when emotions run high and I hate what the characters are doing, but again, this is contradictory to what I have liked. The emotions are part of it, and it is a love/hate thing.

Overall, a very, very good series. However, this is not for anybody under sixteen I think, becuase it is a very mature series.

The Clan of the Cave Bear

Ayla is five when the devastating earthquake hits home and kills her family. Not that she remembers any of that. When the same earthquake hits the Clan, a different type of people, they have to find a new home, and they just happen to find Ayla.

She seems like a strange child, with noises coming out of her mouth, and she cannot ‘talk’ properly; that is, with her hands.

Ayla struggles to fit in with the Clan, but they have trouble accepting her and her powerful, male totem of the cave lion. But acceptation of her is almost all she asks.

Can Ayla survive the trials that are given to her, including the Clan accepting her tall frame and blonde hair? Or will she always be on the fringe?

Published: June 25th 2002 by Bantam (first published 1980)

Page Count: 480

ISBN: 0553381679    (isbn13: 9780553381672)

The Valley Or Horses

Ayla is alone, and desperate. With everything she knows gone, she struggles to move on, and survive, though the ways of the Clan still nip at her.

On her quest to find people like her, the ‘Others’, Ayla finds a valley of horses where she decides to winter. Using her skills and forbidden prowess of a hunter, Ayla is able to fend for herself. In doing that, she ends up living with a horse, and strangest of all, a cave lion.

But when a stranger man is injured Ayla has to overcome barriers…and the shock of meeting one of the ‘Others’.

Can Ayla break down the walls of language and differences?

Published: June 25th 2002 by Bantam (first published 1980)

Page Count: 512

ISBN: 0553381660    (isbn13: 9780553381665)

The Mammoth Hunters

Ayla has now completed her quest of finding one of the ‘Others’. But how will she cope will a whole cave of them? With new people, customs, and ways, the Mamutoi hold a whole new challenge in the way of meeting people like her.

Customs are not the only thing that Ayla has to struggle against. Between her worries once renewed about acceptance, and her strange ways that are hard to understand, Ayla is an outsider once more.

Will Ayla ever find a place to fit in? Or is she destined to always be on the fringe?

Published: June 25th 2002 by Bantam (first published 1985)

Page Count: 656

ISBN: 0553381644    (isbn13: 9780553381641)

The Plains of Passage

Ayla’s journey continues, and she has made her choice. Leaving the culture that she was beginning to understand behind, she travels into the unknown, and the unknown is starting to take it’s toll, as is the constant strain of travel.

Worn by the unforgiving journey, Ayla is beginning to question all that she knows, as well as the unknown.

Ayla soon learns that the vast and unknown world can be difficult and treacherous, but breathtakingly beautiful and enlightening as well. The people she meets, both enemy and friend are different, but nothing has yet shown to be somewhere to stay forever.

The long journey for a home is a strain. Will Ayla ever find that place she can call her own? And will the man she loves ever settle?

Published: June 25th 2002 by Bantam (first published 1990)

Page Count: 768

ISBN: 0553381652    (isbn13: 9780553381658)

The Shelters of Stone

With a home in the horizon, the dangers of travel are also overlooked. But Ayla soon learns that perhaps the most frightening part of the end of the journey is just that…the end.

With a place to stay forever, and the chance to meet the man she loves parents, she is once again worried about acceptance and her strange ways.

With plenty of danger and thrill, any step towards home could soon be their last, with the dangers that llay between her and their final destination.

Will Ayla finally find a home and a place where she belongs?

Published: April 27th 2004 by Bantam (first published 2002)

Page Count: 789

ISBN: 0553382616    (isbn13: 9780553382617)

I highly recommend this book to people who love historical fiction, or any adult who has the time to sit down for lenghly periods of time to enjoy such an immense novel.

Alright, so that is it for that so called quick review. Enjoy.

Book of the Week: The Stone Angel

4 Stars

For the book of the week, I had to go through my shelves and find something different. This is what I unearthed. The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence.

I remembered reading this a while ago, and I found myself liking it again. So, here it is, this week’s novel. 7

What I like is that the characters are strong, and stay very consistent. There are no weird changes in them that make you wonder where they whipped that out from, so I have no complaints there whatsoever.

The story line is good, the flashbacks essential, even if the tone of the story was a little…heavy.

What I did not like was the strangeness of who Hagar was, is and how she treats others. I mean, at times it was really confusing. I did not like it. I also found the ending to be disappointing, and awfully a buzz kill.

I also did not like that the story was violent, and the way that everything was tied up. But that was just me, and trying to put certain feelings to paper (keyboard) is a little tricky.

Overall? A good, read, but not one to take lightly.

Hagar Shipley has lived through hell, and now her life is drawing to an end. It’s the late 1960′s and Hagar finds herself being drawn back into the past, replaying over the events that made her the bitter woman that she finds herself to be today.

With that, comes the sad consequences and questions that cannot be answered. But there is one last grope at freedom before her ninety years plus years are up.

In a novel that it questioning and deep, The Stone Angel is a book for those who have their own lives to question, and what the consequences might be.

Author: Margaret Laurence

Published: January 1st 2004 by McClelland & Stewart (first published 1964)

Page Count: 344

ISBN: 0771047088    (isbn13: 9780771047084)

Mulling on Monday #11

2 Stars

Late, I know, but here it is, another Monday.

And while I know that I banned myself from any Nicholas Sparks, this is from a while ago, and I just forgot to put it up. So there. Yet another reason as to why I should go on a Sparks boycott for the time being.

Alright, so I am back and have just finished yet another Nicolas Sparks novel, one that I was unsure if I wanted to read because of who it was half inspired by; yes that would be Miley Cyrus.
So this novel gave me mixed emotions. It was overall written well, as in the Nicholas Sparks brand, but it seemed to slug through certain parts, and yet in some chapters you were bewildered as to where the time went.

Then there was the story line itself.

I am not 100% sure of what story Sparks was trying to tell here. The different elements of the story could have been good plot lines themselves. However, they were all put together in a giant, emotional mixing bowl. It felt at times like you were reading three different stories, and you just happened to know the characters.

What was most disappointing for me was the fact that I was able to put down the novel after, and just read another book. It was a “yeah, okay, that books done.” moment, which is something no author should be looking for.

I also found it awfully predictable. I knew what was going to happen chapters in advance.
Overall, it was an okay novel, though I am glad that I only borrowed it and did not buy it as I had originally planned.

Ronnie’s life is a mess, and it just keeps getting worse.

A shop-lifter in New-York, with slipping grades and a blind hate towards her father, things cannot get any worse when she is condemned to spend the summer with him, in a small town. It’s her own personal hell, come to life.

Things don’t get better fast. That is, until she meets a guy. And from there, everything changes into a different angle.

From the award-winning author Nicholas Sparks, comes a novel that tell of the power of summer love.

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published: September 8th 2009 by Grand Central Publishing

Page Count: 405

ISBN: 0446547565    (isbn13: 9780446547567)

Quick Series Review: Wildflowers

4 Stars

I admit, I am very hesitant to write a review on this series, as most days when I sit down to attempt a review of this novel, I can never really get anything concrete on the page. There is so much to say, and most of it seems contradictory to everything.

The Wildflowers series is by V.C Andrews. She is known to write novels that are a little…different. Because of this, perhaps even in spite of, here is the review.

I like this novel…when I am in a certain mood. The subject matter is a little iffy, so I am going to say that this is definitely an adult book. Then again, it’s hard to say, becuase I have read worse in the young adult section. It is just that it deals with big issues and realistic ones too, specifically dealing with teens. So while I say it is an adult novel, I am also going to say that it is suitable for high-school kids, or mature kids who can handle the subject matter and the graphic scenes, which occur every part.

What I like is the realism, and the way that Andrews gets her point across. Sure, it gets a little graphic for some scenes, but I have a feeling that people see worse on TV every night. It is just becuase it is very strong, I suppose, and that is what makes me wary to share this.

However, it is real in a good way. The characters are rounded out, and you really get into the story when you read it. It can hit close to home to those who have parents going through a divorce. It is also written so that you feel like you have stepped into the characters shoes. The descriptions and everything is well done.

What I could have done without was the graphic scenes. The stories are all quite short as well.

I have also heard that this does not seem as V.C Andrews’see as it was, becuase it was partially (?) written by a ghost writer. I have not had a chance to read any of her originals, as I have also heard that they can be pretty iffy, and a lot worse than this series. (Though I do admit, I also really enjoyed Ruby.)

Overall, good for those who like reading novels with grit in them. This is a good series, it is just different from what people might be used to.

Four girls. Four secrets. And all the worse.

Four girls are in therapy for their school when tragic accidents happen to them, causing concern – enough even to go to a ‘shrink’ where they tell their tales to other scared girls.

But they all bear scars that cut deep.

Misty’s mother does not care about her, only herself and her mission to look young. her father left her mother for a younger woman.

Star is a girl whose mother was an alcoholic and her father out of the picture when he walked out. She and her little brother Rodney now live at their grandmother’s.

Jade is a rich girl who has all she could want. Except her parents, who use her as a pawn in their messy divorce.

Cat has a mother who hates her, and a father who loves her a little too much.

All look normal on the outside. But it’s the inside that counts, and it’s where they harbor deep, dark secrets.

In a novel that has the ability to scar and make you question our society, The Wildflowers is sure to make a lasting impression.

Author: V.C Andrews

Published: May 22nd 2001 by Atria (first published 1999)

Page Count:592

ISBN: 0743437373    (isbn13: 9780743437370)

Mulling On Monday #9

2 ½ Stars. (Oooh, recently I just cannot get a simply fantastic novel to share with all of you!)

Oh, yet another Monday. A boring one at that, but hey, it could be worse.

This is number nine here! Almost double digits, exciting!

Today I had to really think about what novel to review.  I did not get much time to read over the weekend. Sad, I know. So. What novel does one mull over on such an important date? (Not really, but hey).

So, hello Daughter of Fortune, by Isabel Allende.

It’s a novel that made Oprah’s book club, for any of you who really care. (I personally think that awards don’t really matter; sure they can cover the book with medals and quotes and stars, but it is what’s inside that counts.) The author has written plenty of novels, and has gotten plenty of awards and ‘read-it”s.

This is one novel that I was not impressed with.

I have read it before, actually. But what made me pick it up again (promptly forgetting my disgust with it the first go-round) was me trying to remember another book about a Chinese man and how he met an interesting Englishman while trying to make a living by using acupuncture. Then, bing. Hello. That would be this novel. So I picked it up, wanting to find a story I had loved that was really only two or three chapters in this novel. Oh. Well then.

Let me say that those two or three chapters is what I liked the most out of this novel. The rest seems mashed, mixed, and not well put together overall. The characters are a little hazy, and the story line not really there. Little makes sense in this novel between it jumping around different character that by the end have little to do with anything.

I don’t like it when authors lose their way in their own works, and just randomly wander off with the story until they can fill up a few pages to make themselves feel better. That is what this book seemed like. Just a filler with all the backstories and flashbacks.

What I did like. Well. It’s a love hate relationship, becuase some of the flashbacks/backstories were really good. I mean, some of them were even better than the wanderings of Eliza and the randomness of everything else.

Overall, perhaps a beach read, or even the dreaded ‘read on a airplane’ novel. Ouch.

Eliza is an orphan living in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile. Found in a box by Miss Rose Summers, Eliza is raised in a Victorian way, filled with music, parties and glamor that tries to live up to far away England. But there are secrets the family harbours, each more dangerous than the last.

And Eliza has a secret that could possibly destroy her family, if it does not kill her first.

At sixteen, Eliza is headstrong, stubborn, and in love with the wild Joaquín Andieta, a Chilean clerk who works for Jeremy. Soon she finds herself over her head when she is pregnant with his child, and her lover has caught a ship to California where gold fever is taking over all of the men’s heads. But when Eliza decides to follow him as a stowaway on a ship, leaving all she knows behind, everything is not as it seems.

In a novel that is proclaimed as Isabel Allende finest work, this will take you back to an era where love was inappropriate, England was master, and gold was the currency of America.

Author: Isabel Allende

Published: May 1st 2006 by Harper Perennial (first published 1999)

Page Count: 432

ISBN: 0061120251    (isbn13: 9780061120251)

Quick Review: Dear John

  2 ½ Stars

So I sat down with this novel after being promised that it was an amazing novel and that the movie was superb and that it had everything Nicholas Sparks had offered before.

  I should not have been surprised that after reading The Last Song, that I would not enjoy it.

  Sparks has veered off into a different realm, it seems, than the great novels like A Walk to Remember, and The Notebook.  Those were heart-wrenching romances.

  This was just…dull.

  I admit, the first part of the novel was promising, if not familiar to The Last Song. It seemed like it could work up to a steady, heart-pounding climax.

  Dull.

  Also, the novel promises a ‘life-changing decision’. Okay. Waited for that, and it was not untill I passed a few pages that I had to flip back and realize ‘oh. That was it’. See? So well hidden I missed it.

  And the ending. That was awfully dull too. And so easily foreseen. I guess, though that it was realistic, and therefore, it made the ending a little more down-played than a big shablam ending, but, I wished for a twist. Some sad twist of fate. A long lost-something-or-other. No. Just what he had and what he did. The end.

  This novel really, really let me down. One of my first thoughts after finishing was ‘I’m done with Nicholas Sparks for a while’. Sadly, this remains true, and will for a while. Though I suppose I could visit his old stuff, when it was actually good. But for now, I am going on a Nicholas Sparks ban.

  I liked the characters though. thoughtfully developed, and rounded out by the end, but they can only do so much in a story such as this.

  I think that everything just needs to be re-worked. A bigger climax (eh-ehm.  How about a more noticable one?), and a story that is way more deep than this.

John Tyree is an angry rebel wanthing nothing to do with school, planning or his Dad. And he is half-sick to death with the only thing his father will share with him in his boring, everyday routine; coins.

 So when he gets out of high-school, out of the party zone and into the real world, surfing and drinking is about the most he can see himself doing in this life.

Until two marines jog by.

Without much of a thought, John enlists in the army, with very little regrets. He is fit, he has good buddies, and he gets to see the world.

 But when he returns home from Germany on leave, all that changes when a girl drops her purse in the ocean.

The two young people soon find themselves falling for each other, their lives tangling, and love forming. But that all changes when John’s leave is up, and it’s time to go back to to Germany.

 However, the two write letters back and forth, love sealed into each of them, scalding, hurting, and John and Savannah are counting down the days untill John comes home.

That changes on 9/11.

In a story that is truthful and realastic, Dear John is a novel that seems heart-felt.

 

 

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Published: October 30th 2006 by Warner Books (first published 2006)

Page Count: 276

ISBN: 0446528056    (isbn13: 9780446528054)

Mulling On Monday #7

 2 Stars

  Alright, another Monday. Another book to mull over. Another day down untill summer and some time to sit at the beach and read.

  I have just finished a book that had a lot of hype behind is, and was recently made into a movie. The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold. I was told it was a great book, and that it was simply a must read.

  I feel like my time wasted.

  First of, all the action took place in the first few chapters of the book. Then, the rest of the novel is about Susie looking down at her woe-ridden family and friends and their issues. That’s it. Oh, unless you count Susie’s dad having suspicions about the creepy neighbour who we know for a fact killed her. But, I suppose you could count that as an issue.

  It was so drawn out also! The idea was good, okay, but it’s dragged on and on and on, to the point where I almost put the book away so I would not have to read it any longer.

  What I did like…the idea, perhaps? Even if it was not all that original?

  The characters were mostly developed, I guess, but the story threw any good that they would have done out the window.

  I also had issues with the ending (no, hugely this time). It was undeveloped, and the sudden irrelevent twist that really was not a twist at all just deepened my dislike for this already drawn out novel. That and a little other thing that happened at the end (no spoiler here…if you read it, you will know what I mean.) between Ray and Susie/Ruth. Weird, creepy stuff.

  Overall? The novel is a train-wreck of a messy plot and undevelopment.

  Susie Salmon was murdered…in her own community…in an era when these things were not supposed to happen. But now, she is in her own version of Heaven, when all you have to do is wish for something to have it – but even that is limited. Forced to watch her family and friends go through grief and questions, Susie knows all. But all is not enough for the pain she knows her family is goiong through.

This novel follows Susie and her family and friends as they go through the life and lies that would not happened if Susie had not died.

 The Lovely Bones is a novel that will expose other ideas of heaven…and perhaps one’s own personal hell.

Author: Alice Sebold

Published: September 1st 2006 by Little Brown and Co. (first published 2002)

Page Count: 328

ISBN: 0316166685    (isbn13: 9780316166683)