Christmas Day Books

Excellent collection of erotica stories, centered around the holidays. Most are very hot and good, totally sexy and fun to read. I read this one first, but might also get the first volume. A total recommend, along with Husband Swap and Roughing It: Two Dirty Stories.

This was my first taste of Truman Capote away from Breakfast at Tiffany's, and I have to admit that I was blown away by these stories. Rarely does a story pull at my heart strings anymore, but these stories practically left me in tears. Incredibly moving.

We shared this book at our Christmas book club and were touched by Capote's writing.

Beautifully bound and covered. Wonderfully written; an understatement. Got it as a present for my son's English teacher. Perfect.

There is a sadness that colors all of Capote's writing. And there's also a sweetness and innocence. Capote set high standards for himself and it shows in his virtually flawless writing. "A Christmas Memory" is a classic holiday story written in the distinctive Capote style. And like all of his writing it is sweet and sad and superb!

Also recommended: Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--an excellent Capote-like tale of enduring and prevailing.

I read "Children on their Birthdays" twenty years ago. I found so many peculiar characters in the story, but they were all innocent. Also I felt a small dusty town in the south. Peculiar, innocent, and dusty−they still impress on me. Three stories of literary calendar−two Christmas stories and one Thanksgiving in this book also take on peculiarity and innocence. Old cousins, dogs, and bullies they are all innocent. And so was Capote. However, I never found "dusty", but "breezy" in these stories. Capote is one of Haruki Murakami's favorite authors, and he translated some Capote's stories into Japanese. He translated them so good that we sometimes notice his original stories and his translation indistinguishable from one another.

This is a totally accurate view of the B-52 bomber operations leading up to and during the bombing of Hanoi. It shows what the bomber pilots were feeling and how SAC screwed up life for them. Totally real; I was there too.

I thought the book was great. Just because we lost a few B-52's during the first couple of days of bombing Hanoi, it made me want to jump out of my seat and continue it. Clearly the research and planning for this mission should have been better. I was also amazed out how the Secretary of Defense at the time dragged his feet when the President ordered the bombing! If Nixon were un-obstructed, I think he could have ended the war sooner and with greater returns than what happend after the Xmas bombings over Hanoi. A must read book.

This is a great read. I read this book in less than 24 hours because it was so interesting. Michel did a great job of detailing the Christmas bombing campaign of 1972. The B-52s (or BUFFs)were sent to take the war to the North Vietnamese. The target was Hanoi and Haiphong. The campaign covered only 11 days. THe North Vietnamese and their SA-2s and Fan Song radar shot down 15 BUFFs.

What is so interesting is how the SAC generals made lots of mistakes and then covered them up. The centralized approach to the war by SAC sounded like they were imitating Soviet generals. This centralized approach had a lot to do with how SAC was structured. Also interesting was the sharp turn following the bombing run. The bomber crews did this because we always did it this way. However this turn made the radar jamming inoperable during this activity. The first four nights of the bombing run were predictable and it was like a line of ants going to a picnic. The North Vietnamese practiced their skill at lining the missles up and shooting at the opportune time. The lack of missles was the only thing preventing more losses to the USAF BUFFs. General Sullivan commanding the Thailand base was the only one who voiced his opinion of these bad tactics. Once the losses were high, his voice was heard. He was subsequently put on the slow track and later retired.

This is a good book. Lots of great information on this last battle of the Vietnam War. The one thing distracting about this book is the poor grammar used throughout it. This book needed a good proof reader and unfornately this was not done well. However, the information and story within this book more than made up for this deficit.

Throughout the years I've read so many books written in English about the Vietnam War and I notice that they all so biased in favor of the U.S in virtually every aspect. From the Vietnamese point of view, this operation is called "Dien Bien Phu Tren Khong", which means "Dien Bien Phu in the air". This is a great victory for the Vietnamese side because they were able to force the U.S to agree to the demand that the Vietnamese had been demanded throughout the entire war, the demand was to withdraw all troops from Vietnam before any peace deal could be sign, other than that, the fighting would be carried on indefinitely. In 1972, the U.S agreed to the demand of the North Vietnamese that's why the North agreed to sign the peace deal. According to Vietnamese sources and eyewitnesses on the ground during this campaign, there were a total of 31 B-52 bombers that were shot down, not the 15 like the U.S or English sources have been claiming throughout the years and a combined total of 81 aircrafts were shot down. North Vietnam shot a total of around 540 missiles, not 1200 and at the end of the 11th day, missiles reinforcement was coming in masses from the city of Haiphong and it is not the myth that the North was running out of missiles. Furthermore, the total combined numbers of Migs fighters of the North throughout the war never exceeded 200 so it was impossible for the North to lose "hundreds" of aircrafts in air-to-air combat against the U.S that so many English-written sources have been claiming. In fact, the total number of Migs lost during the entire war including operational losses is believed to be no more than 50 because at the beginning of this Christmas bombing, the North still had around 150-160 Migs fighters left. I think history has to be examined from both sides, not just from the English-written sources only.

I am very impressed with this book. It is a combination of history, great story telling, and analysis of the huge air battle fought over N. Vietnam during Nixon's "Christmas bombing." And if you like the mighty B-52, its even better.

It gives a brief background of SAC, and how LeMay's thinking carried over into the Vietnam War. He was, like anyone, flawed at times, and he left SAC in something of a tight spot. It only did things one way. Flexibility was lacking when it would have been very helpful. The bombers over North Vietnam did things in a set pattern, and that went back to SAC, and the days of LeMay. Someone should have been able to look ahead, and change the path of the bombers as they left their bomb runs.

It also gives the reader a good look at the bureaucratic bungling, micro-management, and political thinking which increased the losses of the B-52 crews. That is hardly new in war. It still hurts and frustrates to have to see the results. Lives could have been saved with a realistic response from those who should have known better. Careers can end up being more important than lives. Too bad it has to happen in the military, where some wonderful people risk so much for their country.

This was a huge, and terribly dangerous undertaking. The B-52 crews flew into some very tough air defenses, and risked a great deal to help bring the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to an end. One cannot help but wish it had been done years before. Think of the lives and heartache decisive action could have saved.

It also made me miss the good qualities of Nixon--and yes, he had them. The man was willing to show great courage when he finally unleashed the B-52s, and let them do their work. If only it had been done much, much sooner.

A great read--techinical details which interest and add, political backgrouind which is useful, and a damned good story as well. First rate.

I agree with the review of J. Arena that this book is a wonderful, warm introduction into the world of books. It has an uplifting family message featuring colorful and cute artwork that holds my children's attention. It's among many of the books my children ask me to read to them. I'm also happy to know that it's helping the food bank.

This is a great picture book. It's a fun book to read to your kids.

Since retiring, I love reading to my grandchildren (kind of a new hobby) and this book is one of their favorites. The book has an important message of the love a family provides. My grandchildren like the end of the story when the baby bug is thinking about her family. In my opinion, it's great for toddlers to first grade. Cute artwork, too.

My daughter that just turned 3 loves this book. She loves looking at the pictures and when she sees a ladybug outside, she says "Look, it's ladybug baby bug". I know it's a bedtime story, but I read it to her at breakfast. It's a nice family book.

This book is so cute. My kids love ladybugs and this book. It also is helping the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Whimsical illustrations hold your children's attention. A very sweet story. Highly recommended.

Excellent resource of holiday projects. No doubt, this is my number one favorite of several Eleanor Burn's publications. This book includes removable template preprinted patterns; conveniently spiral bound, easy to follow directions and the photography is excellent! Very pleased with this book, as it is a most welcome addition to my quilting project library. Well worth the investment. By far, Ms. Burns is one of the finest teachers for all levels of quilting. Looking forward to her next book! A+ and an apple for this great teacher!

This is an exceptionally easy book to follow directions and everything is wonderful. I will definitely buy from this author again and again.

Fantastic transaction. Books received were even better than described. Received my order quickly. I am looking forward to seeing more items by this seller.

I love to quilt, but don't have a whole lot of time, so this book was perfect for me. The instructions were clear and easy to read, and the pictures were great. I like that the book lies flat when opened. There are even projects that the kids can do! This is one of my favorite quilt books.

What a wonderful book. The instructions were so clear and very easy. Made 2 of the stockings the day after I received the book. Love it!!!

I'll admit, there were times in this book where I wasn't quite sure what the author was driving at, yet I still got a kick out of what he was saying, if that makes any sense. And the book never got off its track, keeping with the message of how to improve upon things if you're not that happy with the status quo. Some of Joe Redden Tigan's ideas I get, some I don't, but the humor of the book kept me coming back. The golf bet I thought was a clever way of getting this message across, and I'm a golfer so that helps, but I wouldn't call this a "golf" book. Tigan's descriptions of golf are definitely spot on and then some, but they are mostly background. Other than some parts that are a little out there, I enjoyed reading it.

Waggle doesn't merely set out to describe suburban complacency and say "See how awful suburbia is?". This book has remedies, not only for suburbia, but for anybody that still gives a dam. Joe Redden Tigan has used the backdrop of a far western suburb of Chicago being ravaged by commercial and residential real estate development to set the stage for consumerist blindness and all it can come with. His set-up is winding and subtle, but convincing, and very funny. Things have finally hit Waggle hero real estate appraiser Conny Bromenn in a deep enough spot to where he may want to actually do something about it. Like get involved. Seek enlightenment. His challenge is to convince his long-time friends and golfing buddies that they should join him in his quest to do things like participate in preserving the environment, beat back commercialism, outfox governmental bureaucratic oppression, and learn how to play musical instruments, just to name a few. Conny knows the only way he could get these guys to participate is if they lost a golf bet. And that's Tigan's ploy for driving his message and his book to a temporary resting place. The ploy may work for some but not all readers. Ditto Tigan's writing style. But they did for me.

This could have been a good book. Really. It has a story that could have been really entertaining.

Unfortunately, the author has a quirky, sometimes ridiculous writing style. As long as he sticks to the golf, we're fine. He does a good job explaining things for the non-golfer without boring people who already know what he's talking about. Still, things get odd when he tries to get clever or funny.

You won't laugh when a golfer suggests that we should have spent money from the space program on teaching people to be like the Amish. If you're like me, you'll reread the section thinking you missed the joke somehow. It won't make sense the second time either.

Likewise, you'll be reaching for your dictionary trying to figure out words like 'aurae' and 'stamen' both misused over and over again throughout the book. To get an idea what I mean, use the Amazon search function to find 'aurae' in this book and check out the bizzaro sentences you get back. You can't even use contextual clues to figure out what word the author meant to use. Sentences with 'stamen' are downright indecipherable. Joe Redden Tigan needs a dictionary.

At one point, without any real connection to the story, the author writes, "Trees are not humid blue but are actually green and bright green." Huh? Get used to it.

This should have been a fun golf book but it is not. Use the couple of hours you'd have spent skimming this novel to work on your short game. You'll be happy you did.

I don't golf but many of the men in my life do...and some are pretty good at it. That aside, I loved this book! Hillarious, touching, colorful and intelligent, it is a thoughtful novel about life...on the golf course and off. This is an author who gets the whole notion of wanting to really amount to something in the grand scheme of things. Buckle up for this one! It's a great ride!

Waggle is a novel written by golf lover Joe Redden Tigan, for fellow golf lovers and suburbanites everywhere. One ordinary day in the summer of 2003, real estate appraiser Conny Bromenn decides to inject some change and meaning into the self-absorbed life he shares with his community. He decides to motivate his Saturday morning golf foursome by replacing their usual wager per hole with certain "pacts" that the loser pledges to adhere to. Hole by hole, the group of 40-year-olds is forced to reexamine their place in the world, and what they need to do. An involving novel about an awakening sense of social responsibility, highly recommended.

The song is inaccurate. I bought this because this is my favorite Christmas song and was wowed by the art work, yet disappointed that the song was botched! Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven Pipers Piping, Ten Lords a Leaping, and Nine Ladies Dancing were all mixed up in this edition. Very disappointing.

My grandson's were in awe over this book and loved the last page where the Christmas tree lights up.

I purchased this from Amazon some time ago and it's a lovely book. Another great work of Robert Sabuda's.

One can't help singing along with the wonderful illustrations. Robert Sabuda is a pop-up maven without peer.

Let me first say that I did NOT purchase my copy through Amazon. I did, however, purchase from a reputable merchant. I carefully looked through our copy. We have several of Sabuda's other books and they're excellent, so I knew the quality to expect. This copy had spots where the color was transferred to other pages and what seemed like glue was showing in various places throughout. The main disappointment, however, was the Christmas tree on the last page. We opened it carefully, but it was not possible to fold the page back down to close the book! We had several adults try and no one could close the book!

This appeared to be an effort to rush through to get the volume out in time for Christmas. Very disappointing. It COULD have been another beautiful volume of Sabuda's!

This is a wonderful story for any Christmas book collection. I like the example of gifts coming from the heart and out of a spirit of love, not the mall. In a season manipulated with marketing, this story reminds me of the joy and simplicity of giving.

Does not disappoint. I have a 2 yr. old and 4 yr. old and they enjoyed the story and illustrations. It'll mean more to them as they get older. Helps them understand the farm life of their grandparents. Highly recommend.

I ordered this book for a friend who was unfamiliar with Amazon. It was given as a gift for Christmas to her father. After using Amazon and receiving the merchandise, she was very pleased and will be using Amazon in the future. As for the book, it was a treasure to her father and it in her words is sure to be a family treasure and tradition at Christmas time. She encouraged me to seek a copy for my family and myself. Amazon has it all.

Pearl S. Buck does it again...catches the essence of human caring! I gave this book to a family of friends who are milk farmers. My friend is a new grandmother, and she loved it! I just couldn't keep it for myself!

I love anything thatis authored by Pearl Buck. This is a sweet story of sharing a gift that can't be bought with money - only love and kindness. I would recommend it to child or adult alike.

Bonnie

This book is the awesomely beautiful TRUE story of what the title truly meant -and means! I think this book should be read by every Christian and especially every child. SUPER!

Yes, it was illegal to be a Catholic, ordered by King Henry VIII following the imprisonment of Queen Anne. It has been illegal to be Catholic/Christian in more than one country at more than one time. There have been many symbols over the years to practice Christianity in secret as there are today in the Middle East. What a terrific education for today's Christians and/or Catholics to not take Christianity for granted.
This book is a wonderful lesson in religious tolerance.

This book is absolutely wonderful! It will bring a whole new meaning to your Christmas celebration. The book, giving an explanation of the traditional song, truly identifies the important elements of our faith. I plan on using each year with my class as we prepare for the birth of Christ.

I have read this book, done some research, and have found that there is no basis for this meaning of the song. It supposedly was sung by Catholics at the time to celebrate their faith in disguse, but nothing related in the book could reveal the person to be Catholic, even if you knew the "hidden meaning". Also, it was never specifically illegal to be Catholic in England, although for a time it was unwise. Just wanted to set the record straight.

lovely illustrations, and good childrens book & ideas, but the basis of the story is an "urban legend".

My name is Heather Lawson and my grandpa Claude Lawson was the one who found the bodies that morning and when he told me the story there was nothing in there about incest! I think the author should have gotten his facts straight before publishing this book!

I have become extremely, and excessively intrested in this story.
Charlie Lawson was my Great Grandfathers first cousin, and ever since I read this book in march, I have become more and more fascinated and perplexed by this story.
Some how I did not read the last part of this book where it tells
you about the incest.(don't ask how I could miss it)
I was going through the book recently and noticed it, and
in my opinion it makes at least some scence of the terrible event that happened that day.
I see that some people take the side of not believing the incest told
in this book as being true, but they don't give any proof otherwise.
It was known by close
friends, and neighbors that the Lawson family was having serious troubles
in their home, so if not what is told in this book by people with first hand experience, and
testimonials then what was the problem? I tend to believe Stella Lawson.
If it is not true why would Stella lie?
She would not want to make such a scandulous lie about her own family!
I saw that someone mentioned how he was hit
in the head with the maddock, but the docter who examained him said there
was nothing that would cause him to do this. Another mentioned that her grandpa
Claude Lawson told her the story, but did not include the incest. In the book
it says Fannie only confided in her three sister in-laws, so it is possible he did
not know or maybe he didn't want that part of the story to be spread. I personally have no DOUBT that Stella Lawson is right. That is just what I believe.
I will be in
NC in september, and I hope to talk to some family while there. I would love to hear anyones opinions and thoughts on this story. And I will definetly visit the grave site.

If this man who wrote this had his facts straight he would know Charlie Lawsons fathers name . Charlie was my grandmother first cousin. His grandfather and grandmother was Flynt and Sally Hill Lawson. I do not appreciate the incest that was told in this book. I feel our family has been insulted by lies and not taking the time to get the facts. THe Lawson family is a very good family. Charlie hit his self in the head with a mattock when he was building his basement. My grandmother told me he was very caring but he would have something like siesures and not remember what he did, but was aloving man. You would have to be a true Lawson to know the strong feelings we have about our immediate family and alot of us have strong temper.

I am from the area where the murders took place. I have to say, if you know anyone from the area, they are probably related to Charlie Lawson. There was a time in Stokes county where the Lawson family made up for a large population of the entire county. I have visited the grave site many times. (All being in daylight) Nothing has actually happened while I was there, but you do feel an overwhelming feeling of grief just looking at the massive burial plot. This is a very good book. If you are local to the area, make sure you have plenty of time to read it in one sitting, because it is very hard to put down.

I am related to Charlie Lawson. General Lawson was my grandfather. My parents (Jess & Trudie Pruitt) told me the story when I was younger and the book tells the same exact story. My mother was interviewed for this book.