The Double Bind: A Novel

Keith Donohue's sparkling debut novel was first presented by the publisher as a "bedtime story for adults." Intrigued by comparisons to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and The Confessions of Max Tivoli, we dipped into the book, only to find ourselves transported into a strange and wonderfully rich story--a perfect blend of literary fantasy and realism that kept us captivated until the very end. Find out what our top reviewers have to say about The Stolen Child, and hear from Keith Donohue about about the origins of the story below. --The Editors

Early Buzz From Amazon.com Top Reviewers

We queried our top 100 reviewers as of April 6, and asked them to read The Stolen Child and share their thoughts. We've included these early reviews below in the order they were received. For the sake of space, we've only included a brief excerpt of each reviewer's response, but each review is available for reading in its entirety by clicking the "Read the review" link. Enjoy!

Harriet Klausner: "Keith Donohue writes a great novel that will have readers debating the impact of nurturing and naturing as both Henrys adapt and adjust, but never feel whole. This is a fantastic fantasy that readers will enjoy immensely." Read Harriet Klausner's review

W. Boudville: "An updated and realistic Peter Pan. Keith Donohue has produced an exquisite first novel. Exceedingly polished prose with a compelling and original twist on a classic theme." Read W. Boudville's review

John Kwok: "Inspired by the W. B. Yeats poem "The Stolen Child", Keith Donohue's novel of the same title is a fine addition to the fantasy literature genre, yet told with the ample realism one expects from great works of mainstream literature." Read John Kwok's review

A. Joseph Haschka: "The Stolen Child is a fairy tale for adults that transcends standard fare. An ingeniously crafted tale about hobgoblins, is a coming of age story and one about identities both lost and found." Read A. Joseph Haschka's review

Robert Morris: "Donohue brilliantly explores all manner of themes, many of which are found in the most popular fairy tales and nursery rhymes (e.g. fear of separation from one's family, especially from parents). " Read Robert Morris's review

Donald Mitchell: "What would it like to be adopted and have your head full of fantasies? It might feel very much like this story. However, I think a story about an adopted child without the parallel changeling world would have been more interesting. Perhaps I lack a sense of romance and sympathy for the strivings of the dispossessed. If so, the fault is mine, not that of the story." Read Donald Mitchell's review

Joanna Daneman: "I found the writing stunningly simple and gripping. Within minutes, I was completely drawn into this book. I am a very finicky fiction reader, and I was delighted by Donohue's incredibly ability to make sensory experiences real, to make conversations flow naturally and logically--yet leading to surprise after surprise." Read Joanna Daneman's review

Charles Ashbacher: "The book moves back and forth between the two Henry's, how the substitute Henry handles his assimilation into human society and how the original adapts to the society that kidnapped him. It is an interesting story, as both "boys" have different perspectives on the life of a "growing" boy." Read Charles Ashbacher's review

Lawyeraau: "This haunting and beautifully written debut novel had me compulsively turning its pages. I simply could not put it down! The author has created a fantasy world that exists on the cusp of the consciousness of humans. It is a world that is the stuff of fairy tales, only the author has turned it into one that is fitting for adults." Read Lawyeraau's review

Gail Cooke: "It has been called magical, beguiling, remarkable, and vividly imagined. The Stolen Child is all of that, and much more. Keith Donohue's debut novel is an intriguing mix of imagination and reality, a story that reminds us of the joys of being human and the transcendency of love." Read Gail Cooke's review

Grady Harp: "Longing to belong is but one of the essential facts of life that author Keith Donohoe weaves into his debut novel, The Stolen Child, a stunning work of fiction that brings alive an ages old myth involving faeries, hobgoblins, changelings and magical transformations to confront contemporary readers with food for thought about being careful of what you wish for!" Read Grady Harp's review

Lee Carlson: "The story is as much a celebration of memory as it is in belaboring its mysteries. Every character acts in concert to remind the reader of the subtlety of memory along with its power." Read Lee Carlson's review

Daniel Jolley: "Keith Donohue has brought forth a magical debut novel full of insights into childhood and adulthood and the seemingly endless longing that largely defines both. He conjures a world of ancient legend and places it on the outskirts of modern civilization, thereby casting an insightful eye upon both." Read Daniel Jolley's review

An Autobiographical Note from Keith Donohue

My dad used to call me, the middle child of seven, "the youngest of the oldest, and the oldest of the youngest." Being dead smack in the middle of a large Irish American family, it is no wonder that I have felt like a changeling myself now and again. We were just like the Kennedys, without the money or the power.

We lived in a cramped yellow house at the bottom of a steep hill in Pittsburgh. Climbing that street as a small child was like hiking up a mountain, but it instilled a sense of ambition and determination. In the mid-Sixties, we moved to Southern Maryland, to a town so small that there was but a single commercial crossroads with a High's Dairy Store across from Ben Franklin's Five and Dime Store. There were still enough woods and swampland available to allow for hours of exploration and getting lost nearly every day.

On a whim, I went back to Pittsburgh for college and began to write in earnest at Duquesne University, studying under the Pennsylvania state laureate poet Sam Hazo, and putting myself through school through two creative writing scholarships. My dream was to be a novelist, but there weren't any openings.

Upon graduation, and being unable to find a job in the city, I moved back to the Washington area to work for the National Endowment for the Arts, answering the mail for the chairman of the agency. Within four years, I was writing speeches for a new and different chairman, a job I held for the eight years that coincided with what some have called the culture wars. I wrote for the freedom of expression crowd.

Off hours, I went back to school, earned a doctorate in English literature, specializing in modern Irish literature. After stints working on federal child care policy and as a cultural policy analyst, I circled round again to that steep hill and wrote The Stolen Child, figuring that if I was to become that novelist, the time had come to stop dreaming and simply climb.

I'm married, have four children, and am back working at a small embattled agency that gives grants to archives across the country to preserve and publish the records of the American experience. In my spare time, I'm writing another novel about myths in America.

The Story Behind the Story

The very first image that came to me when I began The Stolen Child was of a young boy hiding in a hollow tree, face pressed against its wooden ribs, determined not to be found by anyone. His defiant wish to be alone struck me as a universal gesture--a striking out for independence that children make when frustrated by the confines of childhood. When the changelings come and get that boy, he becomes a victim of his own imagination. He is stolen away by his own worst nightmare.

As concerned as I was about the boy hiding in the tree, I also knew that I wanted to write about an adult struggling to remember the dreams of childhood. He had to be as trapped and frustrated by the strictures of his adulthood. And in order for any drama to exist, these two emotional states must clash.

That's why there are two narrators telling two intertwined stories--one adult trying to remember his "stolen" childhood and one child trapped in time at age seven. Since the conflict is primarily between the grown-up Henry Day and the child Aniday, the story needed some way to make both characters alive, have parallel and mirroring lives, joys and challenges, and allow them to confront one another. I needed some way to make the metaphorical be literal.

That's where the changeling folk myth came in. Changelings and faeries have been around for eons in virtually every culture. They are the mysterious beings flitting around the corner of the imagination, and in many places, faeries and changelings have the reputation of breaking into homes and replacing babies and young children with replicas. Or luring children away from their homes to come live in the wild and become part of their unaging magical tribe. The child is stolen by the faeries, and the faery changeling "becomes" the child.

In reality, the legend grew from real human predicaments dealing primarily with the inability of some parents to care for children with a failure to thrive. They explained away the unwanted children by claiming that they were not human at all, that the changelings had come and stolen their child and left one of their own in its place. Having a changeling rather than a real human made it much easier for parents to get rid of such a child.

Through our wild imaginations and fear of the dark and unknown, the changeling myth evolved into a spooky story. Careful, kid, or the changelings will come get you. Or, conversely, as an explanation for why you're so different from all the rest of the kids; you're actually a changeling.
"The Stolen Child" by William Butler Yeats, is one of the more well-known literary uses of folk legend to comment on the real world. Reading the poem, we get caught up in those wonderful images of "hidden faery vats" and the faeries "whispering to the slumbering trout," but then Yeats gives us, in the final stanza, an idea of the family life that the stolen child is leaving behind. But away he goes, "from a world more full of weeping than he can understand."

How perfect for a story about what it's like to be seven and to remember being seven.

So I asked myself: What if we make the changelings real? What if we have the boy out in the woods with a band of faeries, the flip side of the real world? What if he is replaced by a changeling who can grow up and become the adult, who fools everyone into thinking that he is indeed the real Henry Day, when he knows all along that the authentic Henry is out there in the woods?

That's when the fun began. The two narrators' stories spiraling around and interlocking like a Celtic knot. The changeling who steals Henry Day's life gradually realizes that he, too, was a real human boy once upon a time. He, too, was a stolen child and must struggle to dredge up that childhood and deal with his dreams and his own weeping world. The real Henry Day--now known as Aniday among the faeries--faces what it means to be a part of a fading folk myth at the latter half of the 20th century, and the struggle that all children have coming to terms with their mortality, leaving family behind, and leaving childhood behind in order to find some speck of love, happiness, and the road ahead.

Book Description

Inspired by the W.B. Yeats poem that tempts a child from home to the waters and the wild, The Stolen Child is a modern fairy tale narrated by the child Henry Day and his double.

On a summer night, Henry Day runs away from home and hides in a hollow tree. There he is taken by the changelings—an unaging tribe of wild children who live in darkness and in secret. They spirit him away, name him Aniday, and make him one of their own. Stuck forever as a child, Aniday grows in spirit, struggling to remember the life and family he left behind. He also seeks to understand and fit in this shadow land, as modern life encroaches upon both myth and nature.

In his place, the changelings leave a double, a boy who steals Henry’s life in the world. This new Henry Day must adjust to a modern culture while hiding his true identity from the Day family. But he can’t hide his extraordinary talent for the piano (a skill the true Henry never displayed), and his dazzling performances prompt his father to suspect that the son he has raised is an imposter. As he ages the new Henry Day becomes haunted by vague but persistent memories of life in another time and place, of a German piano teacher and his prodigy. Of a time when he, too, had been a stolen child. Both Henry and Aniday obsessively search for who they once were before they changed places in the world.

The Stolen Child is a classic tale of leaving childhood and the search for identity. With just the right mix of fantasy and realism, Keith Donohue has created a bedtime story for adults and a literary fable of remarkable depth and strange delights.

Customer Reviews:

A Story of Progress and of Stagnation.......2007-10-02

This was one of the best novels that I've read this year. What stood out for me was the importance of valuing one's life and appreciating the here and now--be it family, friends, or the community. The changes that Henry and the changeling experienced represented the immature human desire for the greener grass on the other side of the fence. Despite the moving ups and downs for Henry and the changling community, I could not help but wonder what would happen if the changelings decided to just grow up. There were so many unnecessary sacrifices because the changlings chose to hide and not to become apart of society. Through the use of the prose, The Stolen Child demonstrated the pitfalls of a lack of faith, low self esteem, and fear of the unknown. But all is not lost, we get to see the changlings grow into self actualized beings with peace for their station in life and hope for what they can become.

Hobgoblins and Children.......2007-09-26

This is definitely a fairy tale, the story of a little boy, stolen from his family and exchanged with a "changeling" to give that once stolen child another chance at a life--even if it isn't theirs to have. As the old myths go, a changeling was the child of hobgoblins, switched from the child's bed while the family slept or worked, unaware of the evil deed going on right beneath their noses. This story has a different take though--the changelings were all once children themselves, who spend years in the forest forgetting who they once were and preparing to switch yet another child and take their life. No parents in the forest.

The author narrates the story from both points of view--the child and the changeling, alternating chapters. The writing is compelling and beautiful--descriptions of the "indifferent children of the earth" and their lives abound, and are lyrical and strangely beautiful, and sad.

All in all a great read, although I felt at the end the story lacked a real emotional connection for me. I grew to care for Aniday and Henry Day and their respective families; but the ending didn't provide the closure I felt the story really needed. Still, it was an interesting study of the changeling myth and what those stories could really mean.

Steals your Soul.......2007-09-25

The sometimes not-to-be-taken-too-seriously fantasy genre is served well by Keith Donohue's novel, "The Stolen Child." Using the changeling legend as a basis, Donohue explores complicated themes that may include growing older with a diminishing sense of self-worth, the search for identity, unhappiness caused by unrequited desire or restlessness attributed to middle-classed conformity. Whatever the focal point, Donohue does a magnificent job of entertaining even if none of the seriousness I perceive to be inherent within the novel's pages is intentional.

On face value, Donohue could just be exercising his whimsical side by revitalizing a well-known fairytale ala Gregory Maguire in "Mirror, Mirror," or "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister." If this is the case, he does this well, beginning his tale in the 1950s when a small child is kidnapped by a band of hobgoblins and replaced by a changeling who has waited for over a hundred years to leave the Peter Pan Never Never Land world of the fey to reclaim his former humanity in the smaller universe of a real family. Using the technique of alternating narrations, Donohue allows Anyday, the stolen child, and Henry Day, the changeling, to tell the story from both perspectives. As Anyday struggles with his forever child fate, bemoans the loss of his family and learns the ways of the wild, Henry is torn between successfully impersonating the boy he has replaced and remembering the child he once was long ago when he had been abducted a century earlier. With a deft assuredness, Donohue writes prose that moves the story along interjecting fantasy with reality while still maintaining a real feel.

Whatever his intention, along the way he uncovers issues that have little to do with the realm of the fantastic and much to do with living in general. As Anyday becomes increasingly fey, he grapples with his loss of memory and recalling one of the last skills learned as a human child, writes down his story to assuage his unhappiness and remember his one time identity. In almost the same way, the changeling evokes a talent from a previous childhood almost forgotten; he plays piano like a young Mozart. As he strives to forget the wild, he uses his artistry to assimilate into the conformity of life as a human. As he transitions, Henry Day regains his sense of compassion and through his music begs forgiveness from the person whose life he stole. Likewise, Anyday relishes his sense of freedom and forever childishness and literally runs away from something he can never have and really doesn't need.

On another level, Donohue allows the reader a glimpse at the human psyche, yet he doesn't compromise his story with an overabundance of metaphors and symbols. No underlying hackneyed meanings or moralistic message cancel out the magic that Donohue so effortlessly infuses within his work. Donohue could be commenting on the mediocrity of the middleclass lifestyle; Henry Day and Anyday may represent two sides of the same persona, simultaneously desiring the conformity necessary to make it in the everyday world and yet coveting the freedom of never having to grow up while living without rules in the wild.

Bottom line: "The Stolen Child" represents superlative reading. The mythical quality of the prose sends the reader into the realm of fantasy while the intense emotional confessions of each character resonate with a poignancy classic in its perfection. Highly, highly recommended.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"

Haunting literary novel about identity, loss, love, family.......2007-09-23

This has many markings of a successful novel. Fantasy element; check. But grounded in the world, check. Same events seen via two perspectives (aka The Time-Traveler's Wife), check. Insertion of a cultural motif like painting or music, check. One or several characters with a sad history and intense yearning as a result, check. Beautiful writing, check check check.

The title comes from WB Yeats' famed poem, "The Stolen Child." Changelings will often lure a child away from the real world into the faery one, and put in its place a changeling disguised as the stolen child. In Donahue's novel, a child is taken and, bereft of his true name and longed-for home and family, becomes a changeling himself, one who waits for the day he can return to the human world, but only as an imposter, and not before the rest of the changeling crew get their turns.

The novel speaks eloquently and often quite hauntingly of the loss of identity, love, family, and the great desire to belong. There were nights when I read certain passages and ached for the changeling who dreamed of the people and things he'd lost; surely we too - whether we did once upon a time or still do - dream of the people and things gone from our lives.

The Feel-bad Book of theYear.......2007-09-19

Take a story about fairies and remove all the magic, and you've got a pretty good idea of what The Stolen Child is like. Parents used to use stories about changelings to frighten children into behaving, but the story here is much more likely to bore than frighten. Both the stolen child and the fairy who replaces him suffer serious trauma that leads to severe identity crises, leaving one to lead a "normal" life that isn't any fun, and the other to lead a "magic" life that is even less fun. Rather than enjoying their magical powers, the fairies are reduced to a pathetic "endangered species" whose life become more and more miserable as their habitat shrinks, driving the survivors to suicide.

While this twist on a familiar fairy tale provides some intellectual satisfaction, nobody in the book is having a good time, making it difficult for the reader to do so. The "big revelation" never comes, and the "redemptive ending" is simply a matter of the characters resigning themselves to accept their lot and muddle through as best they can. Oh boy.

Average customer rating:

A shocking truth with many lives at stake.
Good Read
Another fast-paced thriller from Catherine Coulter
Great FBI Thriller
Plenty of Exciting Scenes and more!

Double Take: FBI Thriller
Catherine Coulter
Manufacturer: Putnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399154248
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Book Description

It's been more than six months since her husband's brutal death, and Julia Ransom is just beginning to breathe again. She loved her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom, but the media frenzy that followed his murder sapped what little strength she had left. Now, after dinner with friends, strolling along San Francisco's Pier 39, she realizes that she's happy. Standing at the railing, she savors the sounds around her-tourists, seals on a barge-and for a moment enjoys the sheer normalcy of it all. And then it comes to an end.

Out of nowhere she's approached by a respectable-looking man who distracts her with conversation before violently attacking her and throwing her the railing. If it hadn't been for Special Agent Cheney Stone, out to stretch his legs between courses at a local restaurant, Julia would have vanished into the bay's murky depths. Not only does he save her from a watery grave, but he senses a connection between her assault and her husband's death, and sets out to serve as her protector while reopening August Ransom's murder investigation.

Meanwhile, in Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble-last seen in Point Blank-still mourns his wife, Christie, who vanished hree years earlier. His life, too, is just getting back to normal when he learns of a San Francisco woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose shocking resemblance to Christie sends Dix across the country. Though he knows in his heart that she can't possibly be his wife, Dix is compelled to see her with his own eyes. Once in San Francisco, Dix and Cheney's paths inevitably cross. With the help of agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock, whose San Francisco connections prove essential in unlocking the mystery behind Charlotte Pallack's identity as well as the forces behind Julia Ransom's attempted murder, Sheriff Noble and Agent Stone push deep into a complex world of psychics and poseurs. As the stakes and the body count rise, Savich, Sherlock, Dix, and Cheney fight for answers-and their lives.

Customer Reviews:

A shocking truth with many lives at stake........2007-10-06

Catherine Coulter's DOUBLE TAKE enjoys a dual narration by veteran Sandra Burr and Phil Gigante and packs in a thriller revolving around murder, romance, and more. A sheriff's investigation of an unusual woman will lead to a shocking truth with many lives at stake.

Good Read.......2007-10-06

Received this book as ordered. Very good read, I can't wait until her next one!

Another fast-paced thriller from Catherine Coulter.......2007-09-25

I wasn't disappointed in this latest installment of Catherine Coulter's FBI series. It was wonderful to once again "meet up with" Dillon and Sherlock (and their son). I quite enjoyed it, and hope Catherine Coulter will continue adding more books to this series.

Great FBI Thriller.......2007-09-22

I loved Double Take. It is the latest book in the FBI Thrillers from Cauther Coulter. All are great.

Plenty of Exciting Scenes and more!.......2007-09-21

Sometimes I enjoy fast paced thrillers, but when I want a well-thought out mystery novels then I read a book by Catherine Coulter. I have enjoyed her FBI series books with Sherlock and Dillon and in "Double Take" is was good to see Cheney and Dix make their return after appearing in Point Blank, which happens to be one of my favorites.

Overall, I didn't think this was one of Ms. Coulter's best books. I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and almost got to the point of keeping a score card as to "who" was "who". For me this "family tree" of characters caused a lot frustration on my part. However, let me say that mid-way through the book the story moved along at a brisk pace giving me plenty of exciting scenes. Soon, I found myself reading page and page until I finished it. Except for a few "kinks" in the story Catherine Coulter didn't disappoint me in this terrific story. And as always I look forward to reading her next novel.

For you mystery readers, take a look at the gripping novel The Monopoly Factor by Robert L. Saunders. I have to shout out that this mystery was an impressive read and I wholeheartedly recommend it to those of you that are searching for a refreshing story and writing style. The story will keep you reading non-stop and you'll find that you can't help but cheer on Barry and Susan. Don't overlook this book you won't be disappointed.

Average customer rating:

The end of W.E.B. Griffin?
Double Agents
Worst W.E.B. Griffin book yet...
Horrendous. Simply horrendous.
Popcorn while waiting for the plane

The Double Agents
W.E.B. Griffin , and William E. Butterworth IV
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0399154205
Release Date: 2007-06-26

Book Description

W. E. B. Griffin's iconoclastic OSS heroes face a historic challenge in the brand-new volume of the New York Times-bestselling series.

Critics and fans alike welcomed the return of the Men at War series with The Saboteurs. Now Canidy, Fulmar, and colleagues in the Office of Strategic Services face an even greater task-to convince Hitler and the Axis powers that the invasion of the European continent will take place anywhere but on the beaches of Nazi-occupied France. "Wild Bill" Donovan's men have several tactics in mind, but some of the people they must use are not the most reliable-are, in fact, most likely spying for both sides-so the deceptions require layer upon layer of intrigue, and all it will take is one slip to send the whole thing tumbling down like a house of cards. Are the OSS agents up to it? They certainly think so. And then the body is found floating off the coast of Spain. . . .

Filled to the brim with action and character, The Double Agents is irresistible storytelling from a military master.

Customer Reviews:

The end of W.E.B. Griffin?.......2007-10-07

No action = no thriller = no good.

Add me to the legion of Griffin fans who found trying to get through this one to be pure drudgery. Being one of the devotees who have read everything this man has published, how could I not read it, even with the initial negative reviews? If the torch is being passed to junior, I'm afraid that this could be the end.

Double Agents.......2007-10-01

First W.E.B. Griffin book that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. Something missing as compared with his other books. Half the book was a rehash of the "Man Who Never Was" book written 40 years ago, about a great deceiption to help convince the Nazis that the Allies weren't going to land on Sicily after pushing the Germans out of North Africa. The rest of the book lacked the usual flow and seemed very disjointed. First Time Ever I'd have to give a W.E.B. Griffin book a do not bother to read recommendation.

Worst W.E.B. Griffin book yet..........2007-09-29

Never have so many pages told so little story. Perhaps the worst part of the book is the incessant back stories that fill page after page. I realize there are people who will pick up the sixth book in a series without reading the previous five but seriously every time a reoccurring character comes into play we're treated to pages of 'what has gone before' and if that character thinks of another player in the story we get THEIR back story too. Even a CAR got more than a page of back story. I found it to be mildly insulting. I will give Griffin points at least for not pulling complete chapters out of previous novels to flesh out this book; something he's done too often in the past.
The story is slow paced. In some places PAINFULLY slow paced. The entire Whitbey House arc of the story with actor/soldiers David Niven, Peter Ustinov and author Ian Fleming which takes up approx. half of the novel could have been trimmed down to a couple chapters without losing anything important.
I was disappointed, once again, to see the issue of the German submarine pens has yet to be resolved and only received a brief mention in this novel. We've been waiting for several books for this to finally happen and I now wonder if it ever will.
Alcohol, another of Griffin's favorite plot devices, once again plays a major part of the story. I'm honestly amazed we were able to win the war as apparently the majority of our military leadership was as drunk as they could get as often as they could lay hands on a bottle.
All in all this was a very disappointing read and makes me wonder if future novels from Griffin and his son will be worth bothering with which truly saddens me as I've been a long time reader of his work.

Horrendous. Simply horrendous. .......2007-09-17

Wow.

I almost NEVER throw in the towel when reading a book, no matter how bad. Hey if I start, I want to see it through to the end.

But about 2/3 the way through the story was still struggling to find it's feet enough to actually get started. In the last 1/3 of the book there was simply no way the story could kick off, become engaging, and wrap up nicely. So I threw in the towel.

The dialogue is especially bad - long long drawn out conversations that are stiff beyond belief, sharing very little information with ther reader. You know within a few sentences what the next 15-20 pages are going to ramble about.

The book has the vibe of a term paper written by an uninspired high school student who has 2000 words to write, and only 500 on paper. Just because they stretch those 500 words to 2000 doesn't make for quality content.

This is an absolutely worthless book, that has tricked us into thinking it was written by a famous author, rather than a famous author's son. This is not meant to be rude or hateful - this is simply a realistic assessment.

Popcorn while waiting for the plane.......2007-09-13

What with shoe searches and all, we have to get to the airport earlier and earlier and now we can't even smuggle a couple little bottles in our carry-ons or a knife to cut some fruit. Oh well, kill some waiting time reading the Griffins. No pretense to great literature here and the historical spatterings have descended into trivia. This tale of the second man who never was is a fanciful concoction unworthy of the dry martinis stirred up in it. Maybe we need nore old-fashioned Eastwood style in your face Kelley's Heroes if the Griffs are going to do comedy. This was a bit too close to Marx Bros seltzer epics. Then it was topped off with a screen romance amnesiac "Oh, that's who I am! Oh I must have been bombed by the blitz or blitzed by the bomb." Oh well, we all know what to expect, once we expected better stuff, but this really is pop history and patch work at that. It will pass the time.

The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit: How You Can Double Your Income By Investing in Real Estate on a Part-Time Basis

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The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit is a Thorough Reference Book
Not Enough
Realistic Advice for Newbie Real Estate Investors
Enlightening
One of the best!

The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit: How You Can Double Your Income By Investing in Real Estate on a Part-Time Basis
Thomas Lucier
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471756539

Book Description

In The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor’s Kit, noted author and real estate expert, Thomas J. Lucier provides detailed information, step-by-step instructions and practical advice for both beginning and experienced investors, who want to join the ranks of America's real estate millionaires!

You get Tom Lucier’s lifetime of real estate investing expertise and experience in twenty-three meaty chapters. You also get all of the nitty-gritty details on five proven strategies for making money in real estate today. You’ll learn all of the fundamentals of successful investing and get the guidance that you need on these and many more vital topics:

Choosing the right investment strategies
Financing your deals
Limiting your risk and liability
Earning tax-free income from the sale of real estate
Setting up and operating your own real estate business
Investing in undervalued properties
Following state and federal real estate related statutes
Negotiating the best possible deal for yourself
Buying properties at below-market prices
Performing due diligence, inspections, and estimating property values
Preparing purchase and sale agreements

The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor’s Kit is as close as you can get to a graduate degree in real estate investing without ever going to college. It arms you with the specialized knowledge that you need to compete successfully against the seasoned real estate professionals in your local real estate market. And this book comes complete with FREE downloadable and customizable forms to help you get started on the fast track.

Customer Reviews:

The No-Nonsense Real Estate Investor's Kit is a Thorough Reference Book.......2007-08-04

One of the most thorough real estate investment books one can get. Lucifer covers a lot of topics with a very readable style. There was actually too much information for me to take in on the first reading of the book. I find myself going back to the book to browse sections I missed the first time through. You can read it on a need-to-know basis, like I do. If I come across something that I need more information on, I can often find the answer to what I am looking for in this book.

Of particular value is his online Resource List at the end of the book. The author has listed email addresses for many useful websites. I liked the online Property Sales Information, where I first learned about Craigslist as a great online source for finding properties for sale. I like to search specifically for homes with guest houses, and Craigslist makes it easy to do that type of "specialty" search.

I also like the fact that he recommends useful products to make our investment businesses run more smoothly. It shows that he's a down-to-earth guy who has been down the same path that we travel. For example, on page 65 he recommends the Desk Apprentice (designed by 2 participants in Donald Trump's The Apprentice TV show) to keep your office desk organized, and on page 66 the Cab Commander for your car seat office. Lucifer knows that we have to spend a lot of time behind the wheel searching for properties, conducting drive-by property inspections, and driving to appointments.

This book is packed with useful information. Many books are called real estate investment reference books, but this book truly is one.

Terry Sprouse - author of the forthcoming book, "Fix 'em Up, Rent 'em Out: How to Start Your Own House Fix-up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time."

Not Enough.......2007-07-30

When I started reading this book, I thought I was going to learn everything about how to be a profitable real estate investor. There is just no way you can cover everything this book tries to cover in 300 pages. Each chapter leaves you with too many unanswered questions. Though, I could see how this book might be a good starting point for anyone interested in investing in real estate.

If you haven't heard of Tonja Demoff, you should give her book Bubble Proof: Real Estate Strategies that Work in any Market a look. Her book is a very easy read and it's packed with information that will help you get started with the right mindset and the right information to begin investing in today's market.

Realistic Advice for Newbie Real Estate Investors.......2007-06-21

Thomas J. Lucier is one of the best real estate writers in the business today and he comes through with another winning book here. His advice is far from the "get-rich-quick" nonsense so many authors and pseudo-investors peddle in books on this site and elsewhere. As a real estate lawyer and investor for almost 25 years, I admire this man's work greatly. Lucier is a genuine real estate investor and his clear, straight-forward, easy-to-follow, and honest investment suggestions always put his books a cut above so many others out there. The best part of his writing is how he breaks complex subjects into simple-to-digest pieces best designed for newbie investors wanting to get started in the real estate business. This book in particular debunks many of the get-rich-quick so-called "creative" real estate techniques like subject-to GET THE DEED buying and offers real world reasons why you should not do it, as opposed to so many authors that base their whole careers around such dangerous nonsense. I can't praise this book enough for its clarity and practical information. There is not a single wasted page in the entire text. This is by far one the best real estate books being sold today in print.

Enlightening.......2007-06-17

Fabulous, Real Eye Opener. Everyone with a brain should read this book

One of the best!.......2007-05-12

This is the second book I've purchased from Thomas Lucier, and I wasn't disappointed by either one. He has a no-nonsense, matter of fact style that is full of usefull information without the "fluff" or other bragging other authors of real estate books seem to use to fill the pages of their books. I would recommend any of his books to the beginning or even experienced investor that wants to have a reference book handy and learn the details of how the business works. And no bull-spit!

The 25% Cash Machine: Double Digit Income Investing

Average customer rating:

You derserve better than 2%
Investing For Dividend Payout
Useful but redundant
Beware: Book not up front enough about risk
Thin Book with Thin Ideas and No Attention to Risk

The 25% Cash Machine: Double Digit Income Investing
Bryan Perry
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0470095520

Book Description

Praise for THE 25% CASH MACHINE

I've been using great income-investing ideas from Bryan Perry for a long rime, always with exceptional results. Whether you run hundreds of millions of dollars or a few thousand dollars of your own, I guarantee you'll find new ideas you can use in The 25% Cash Machine."
— Dan Frishberg, CEO, BizRadio Network

"Bryan Perry's book is a must-read for anyone that invests their own money and knows the value of a dollar. The 25% Cash Machine isn't alchemy; it is sound financial advice from someone that doesn't just talk the talk; Bryan walks the walk. he breaks down in pain English how to achieve 25% returns by running with the sectors that are outperforming the market. By dynamically moving into the sectors that have the most favorable business conditions rather than sticking with dead sectors or dead stocks, Bryan shows how and why his proven system can work for any investor, in any environment. I heartily endorse the 25% Cash Machine."
— Jon"DoctorJ" Najarian, cofounder, www.optionmonster.com

"Our national radio audience always reacts strongly and positively when Bryan Perry is a guest on our programs. They want high-yield strategies, and Bryan has knowledge, experience, and integrity to generate a 25ash machine. All investor should consider this maximizing yields minimizing risk strategy, I highly recommend this book; it's terrific!".
— Steve Crowley, Executive Producer and host, American Scene radio, WallStreetCast Television

"A bird in the hand and two in the bush. That's what many have achieved. Here is your chance to be one of them with Bryan Perry's new book, The 25% Cash Machine."
— Gabriel Wisdom, syndicated radio host, Business Talk Radio Network, and founder, American Money Management LLC

Customer Reviews:

You derserve better than 2%.......2007-09-08

Income generating securities can and do pay 10%. How? By returning the lions share to the unit holders. What a unique concept.. Read on.

Investing For Dividend Payout.......2007-05-13

Wow! This book is amazing. I had no idea there were actually companies that paid very nice dividends. By that, I mean dividends capable of generating a nice cash flow. That's what the title means, generating a 25% return in the form of dividends. I've taken the book to heart and invested in some of the companies that do this. Trust me, a few hundred dollars in dividends is much better than the palty couple of bucks per share that even blue chip companies pay. Great book and easy to understand. Highly recommended for anyone who wants cash flow from their investments.

Useful but redundant.......2007-05-12

Brian has a short story that he has turned into a novel. Basically, the good is that he tells you where to look for outsized dividend paying stocks but the bad is that he doesn't back up the 25% assertions with any recent performance statistics. I could probably have found the same information (stocks) with a good stock screener. However, if I subscribe to his investing service, he will tell me which ones to buy (as basket of 25 stocks is a lot), when to buy them and when to sell them (their sector goes out of favor).

But, on the other hand (if I had some performance information), even if he gained only 15%/year and didn't lose anything on the underlying stock price, it would still beat Wall Street.

I would wait until the book goes on sale to buy it or buy it used.

Beware: Book not up front enough about risk.......2007-04-11

The risk involved is severely downplayed.

If you want a 3% return on your investments, the risk is almost zero with a CD or money market account.

If you want a 7% return on your investment, you can go low risk with bonds and fixed income vehicles, but you usually have to take on some stocks, which always carries risk. But the downside is also fairly minimal. At least you can mirror the returns of the market indices.

If you want a 12% return, the risks increase. You could lose 12% as easily as gain 12%.

If you shoot for a 25% return as your goal, you are in grave danger of losing much more than 25% if you guess wrong. You have to take chances with dubious practices such as lack of diversification, leveraging your assets and trying to time the market. High risk stuff indeed.

Read this book and practice its teachings at your own risk.

Thin Book with Thin Ideas and No Attention to Risk.......2007-03-26

In The 25% Cash Machine, Bryan Perry of Changewave Investing, focuses on investing high yield equities. It's not 25% annual yield, mind you. The investments he recommends yield about 10% per year and he says you can then also get 15% annual capital appreciation for those investments.
The primary investments he recommends are: business development companies (BDCs), Canadian business trusts, Canadian energy trusts, closed-end funds, convertible securities, master limited partnerships (mostly pipelines), oil/shipping/tanker stocks and real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Only in passing does he mention (just a couple of sentences really) the high risk in high yield investments. Any equity which can appreciate 15% in one year can also lose 25% of its value quite quickly - as the Canadian energy trusts did recently. Never does he consider the main goal of most income investors - preservation of capital. Never does he present evidence (backtesting, anyone) of the validity of his claim to 15% annual long-term capital appreciation from the equities he recommends.
The style of the book is unrelentingly promotional. The book reads more like an e-mail promotion for Changewave Investing than a legitimate attempt to educate investors. In fact, the book mentions his Changewave advisory service innumerable times.
Finally, the book contains more typographical errors than any book I've read in the past five years. Shame on the publisher John Wiley & Sons.
Bottom line: It's a thin book, thin on ideas, with substantial hype and little regard for risk, written more to promote Changewave advisory services than to educate the reader.

Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Profit (or More) With Print on Demand and Book Marketing on Amazon.com

Average customer rating:

Aaron tells you all the secrets he learned the hard way!
Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Pr
An invaluable reference guide
So good if you are a competitor I hope you don't read it!
Helpful

Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Profit (or More) With Print on Demand and Book Marketing on Amazon.com
Aaron Shepard
Manufacturer: Shepard Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 093849743X

Book Description

There has never been a self publishing manual like this.

Aiming at Amazon is NOT about getting your book into bookstores. Instead, it lays out an innovative approach focused almost entirely on sales at Amazon.com. It tells exactly how to make a nonfiction book sell well online, with tips never before offered in print.

This book is also NOT about working with a "self publishing company." It introduces the printer/distributor used by almost all those companies themselves -- the one they keep secret so they can be middlemen and charge you double.

Forget bookstores. And forget self publishing companies. Let Aiming at Amazon reveal to you the NEW business of self publishing.

Customer Reviews:

Aaron tells you all the secrets he learned the hard way!.......2007-09-28

Planning to self-publish your book? Aaron teaches you how to bypass all the middle-men. Believe, I know - I published my first book through a publishing service (you'd know the name), and it was so easy. And it was FREE. BUT, by using them my book had to be priced too high to sell: $21.98 for a 228-page paperback novel. After reading Aiming at Amazon I learned how I could cut my retail price in half, yet still make a decent profit. I have just published the second edition of my first mystery novel, along with my second and third novels using the advice in this book. Check out one of them here:Hideaway Hospital Murders (Greg Tenorly Mystery Series, Book 2). I highly recommend Aiming at Amazon. Frankly, I'm surprised he's sharing the information instead of just keeping it to himself for his own use. So, if you're planning to self-publish your book, don't do anything else until you read this book!

Aiming at Amazon: The NEW Business of Self Publishing, or How to Publish Books for Less, Sell Without Hassle, and Double Your Pr.......2007-09-19

I have reread this book three times and plan to go thru it a couple of more times. Enlightening!

An invaluable reference guide.......2007-09-04

I have recently gone through the process of publishing a non-fiction book now listed on Amazon. Fortunately I came across this book just as I had completed my writing. Throughout the roughly six-month process of defining a market strategy and implementing it, Aiming at Amazon has been sitting next to my desk rather than on the bookshelf. Aaron Shepard is one of those rare "self-help" authors who provide common-sense, practical advice rather than just rah-rah bromides and useless pep talks. If you are self-publishing, start here.

So good if you are a competitor I hope you don't read it!.......2007-09-01

I am an experienced publishing exec with numerous NYT bestsellers in my past, but Aaron Shepherd has changed the way I look at publishing. A truly great book.

Oh, and did you notice that to scroll down to the customer reviews you first had to get past the best Amazon page you have ever seen? And that's just one reason to buy this book.

Helpful.......2007-08-23

Aaron Shepard's Aiming at Amazon book is a light read full of helpful tips on tailoring your publishing endeavors at one of the best sources of online book sales: Amazon.com. In this how-to, Shepard meticulously shows how to get your book put together and "optimized" for online shopping. Along with his friend, Morris Rosenthal's book on POD book publishing Print-on-Demand Book Publishing: A New Approach To Printing And Marketing Books For Publishers And Self-Publishing Authors, any new publisher can have their books online making money in under a month (approx.)Highly recommended.

[...]

The Situation Is Hopeless, but Not Serious (The Pursuit of Unhappiness)

Average customer rating:

A little disappointing.
A really amusing and tale-telling reading
Funny and insightful!
LAUGHING YOURSELF OUT OF UNHAPPINESS
Hilarious

The Situation Is Hopeless, but Not Serious (The Pursuit of Unhappiness)
Paul Watzlawick
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Self-Help & Psychology | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0393310213

Customer Reviews:

A little disappointing........2007-02-08

Paul Watzlawick has written some really exceptional material, but I found this book to be less so. I did finally get a very useful insight near the end, but I felt like I was going through a lot of repetitive material. Kind of like a long run for a short slide. For a more enjoyable read by the same author, try "Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution." For me his best was "How Real is Real? (An Anecdotal Introduction to Communication Theory)" , now out of print and a classic.

A really amusing and tale-telling reading.......2005-07-11

The author extracts from his extensive practice and writing in the field of communication theory an amusing list of "technics" people use to make their own lives miserable. They span from the avoidance of things that could solve one's own problems to the dual tendency to insist focusing on what cannot be reached; to projecting one's prejudices on others like when one wants to ask something fearing it will not be given and thus putting in act behaviours that forster just that reaction.

All in all the feeling that one gets from the book is that we do not need terrorism, wars, discriminations, torture, presidents of the United States or Osamas... all that is needed to make ourselves unhappy is already inside ourselves - thus, and here comes the positive message, it is there that it may, and must, be cured.

Funny and insightful!.......2003-02-08

This book is such a joy to read! It is one of the funniest books I have read and yet we learn so much about ourselves with it! It shows us how we create much of the unhappiness that we experience and in an indirect way, how we can step out of it. If you want to learn more about consciousness and how it relates to our happiness, read "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It is not as funny but it tells us more about how consciousness works in a simple way. I think you will like it.

LAUGHING YOURSELF OUT OF UNHAPPINESS.......2002-11-02

A review by the marqueeofburano: A wonderful, witty, exposé of our endeavors to live a more miserable life by Watzlawick, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University. The treatment of the subject will surely make you laugh at yourself and thus, perhaps, contribute to make you a better person.
W. deals with the fundamental, painful, necessity of the human being to be unhappy (in order to be quiet). And in fact, he contends that the best chapters of universal literature dwell with disaster, tragedy, guilt, madness, etc.
Dante's Inferno-W. writes- is very superior to his Paradise; same case as Milton's Paradise Lost compared with his Paradise Regained; Faust I's greatness is proportionally inverse to the tediousness of Faust II. So the author embarks hilariously in a methodic introduction to the best and more verifiable mechanisms to achieve unhappiness. Samples:
Always be truthful to yourself. A principle, from Polonius in Hamlet,of the outmost necessity for us ( its application is what gets the guy killed by Hamlet like a rat). So then, we must resist any temptation to yield to any other criteria or opinion, apart from ours. Never compromise or accept someone else's advice. The author then addresses the issue of the old saying: "time cures all wounds"..... According to W. four sound mechanisms exist if you want to avoid time's healing effects and transform the past into a present source of suffering. In the exaltation of the past we find those that only remember the good things about their youth and not the years of insecurity and anxiety. In so doing, they have a consistent reserve of sadness about their miserable present...... Also, this fidelity to the past, impairs our ability to enjoy the present and fully dedicate our efforts to the endeavors of the moment. Another mechanism is to consistently dwell with the guilt complex that past errors create, finding excuses or scapegoats (our parents, God, chromosomes, teachers etc.) while doing nothing to avoid committing the same mistakes again.
The author drives his point with practical examples. For instance the story of the hammer. A man wants to hang a painting. He has the nail, but not the hammer. Therefore it occurs to him to go over to the neighbor and ask him to lend him his hammer. But at this point, doubt sets in. What if he doesn't want to lend me the hammer? Yesterday he barely spoke to me. Maybe he was in a hurry. Or, perhaps, he holds something against me. But why? I didn't do anything to him. If he would ask me to lend him something, I would, at once. How can he refuse to lend me his hammer? People like him make other people's life miserable. Worst, he thinks that I need him because he has a hammer. This is got to stop ! And suddenly the guy runs to the neighbor's door, rings, and before letting him say anything, he screams: "You can keep your hammer, you b......"
Watzlawick not only discussess techniques to create false problems, but also the ones that make it actually possible to avoid solving problems and conver them into eternal torments. Here we get the example of the man that claps his hands every ten seconds. Asked why he does that, he answers: "to drive away the elephants..." -"But why, there are no elephants here"- The guy says: "Precisely".
This is a very funny book. It deals, with a fresh and delightful approach, with many of our karmas and mind bothering mosquitoes.......

Hilarious.......2001-10-28

Brilliant. When I wasn't laughing out loud, I was pierced by his trenchant obervations. Shows us how we choose unhappiness without even thinking about it. He is no Pangloss, the world is a tough place, but Watzlawick shows us how we make it worse than it has to be for ourselves. Highly, highly recommended for anyone with a sense of humor who wants to know more about him/herself.

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