The Elephant Vanishes: Stories

Book Description

With the same deadpan mania and genius for dislocation that he brought to his internationally acclaimed novels A Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami makes this collection of stories a determined assault on the normal. A man sees his favorite elephant vanish into thin air; a newlywed couple suffers attacks of hunger that drive them to hold up a McDonald's in the middle of the night; and a young woman discovers that she has become irresistible to a little green monster who burrows up through her backyard.

By turns haunting and hilarious, The Elephant Vanishes is further proof of Murakami's ability to cross the border between separate realities -- and to come back bearing treasure.

Customer Reviews:

Good.......2007-09-27

Unlike most anthologies of short stories, those by Haruki Murakami are generally very interesting. None of the stories in this collection seemed like filler, chosen just to make sure that there were enough stories to fill a book.

Instead, I reached the end, and felt a bit sad that the ride was over already. Other reviewers will have, I am sure, talked about what the stories are, so I won't bother.

I will just say that you should not expect a normal story arc in any of them. Some have it, but if you expect it going in, you will only be disappointed. Instead, take Murakami by the hand and let him be your guide into his head and his worlds. And simply enjoy the ride.

Buy it, read it, lend it, keep it. It is a good book.

Harkius

Excellent!.......2007-07-28

Unfortunately short story collections too often seem the bastardized relatives of novels and I so seldom see them appear on any award or reading lists. Murakami's The Elephant Vanishes is a prime example of how perfect and well crafted short stories can be. His stories tend to follow the lives of the upper/middle class and a certain emotional distance or ambiguity and here and there an element will connect one story with a previous story. This perhaps was the first book that I couldn't wait to finish because I was so exhilarated to read it again. My favorite story in the collection (read it even if it's only in passing): "The Second Bakery Attack."

A Fluke?.......2007-07-09

Perhaps it is because this is a compilation of earlier works, or perhaps because the scope of short stories is limiting, I found myself a little disappointed with this book. While I am without a doubt a Murakami fan (I absolutely loved A Wild Sheep Chase; Dance, Dance, Dance; Hardboiled Wonderland; and Kafka on the Shore), I found the stories here lacked the complexity that I have come to enjoy from Murakami. I did enjoy some of the stories here, but, over all, I found the book a little lacking in depth.

Murakami and the absurdities of ordinary life.......2007-03-28

Acclaimed as a novelist, Haruki Murakami also shines as a writer of short stories. Having read his short story collections _After the Quake_ and _Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman_, I decided it was high time I checked out this one. I was not disappointed. In fact, the more of his short stories one reads, the more one begins to appreciate Murakami's skill in this capacity. While his novels are long, dreamlike excursions, his short stories are snapshots of everyday life, peppered with an appropriate amount of the mysterious and unexpected. The terms "absurd" and "surreal" come to mind, but what is so striking about the stories in _The Elephant Vanishes_ is how very real they seem. They cause the reader to reflect on the absurdities and surprises of life itself. Reading Murakami, who wouldn't believe that one day an elephant could vanish suddenly, without explanation?

Some of the highlights of this collection are "The Dancing Dwarf", a story narrated by an employee of an elephant factory, "The Second Bakery Attack", which involves a bizarre holdup, "TV People", a short story found also in a Norton anthology and my personal introduction to Murakami, and the remarkable "The Elephant Vanishes." "The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday's Women" is also mentionable as it was later expanded into one of his most memorable novels. This book is definitely worth checking out.

Do not buy Lederhosen in Hamburg!.......2006-11-10

I am normally not much inclined towards short stories, but HM may have converted me here.
There are some damned good stories in this volume!
"Sleep" is one of my favourites, a tale about a young wife's and mother's insomnia and hallucinations. Scary.
The little green monster of the story with the same name is a truely tragic figure. You can't but sympathize with it.
Never read a better story on disenchantment than "Lederhosen", though I have my doubt about the claim that the best Lederhosen shop is somewhere near Hamburg. Poetic licence, for sure.
HM is a master of the short story art form. None better.
I fail to see the parallel to Raymond Carver, though Altman's movie Shortcuts is one of my favorite movies, and it is based on Carver short stories.
There is an essential difference between Carver's and HM's short stories: Carver is unerringly going downhill, his stories are always turning to the worst possible outcome. HM is different. You have no sense of direction with him. There is no meaning to the direction of the stories. They are what they are, not upwards or downwards.
The collection shows that the man is versatile. Let me try a typology of HM short stories:
1. fantasy worlds (dancing dwarf)
2. real world with invading fantasy (green monster, TV people, vanishing elephant)
3. real world, fairly extravagant (raging winds, Tuesday's women, perfect girl)
4. real world, fairly real (last lawn, silence, slow boat to China)
5. mindbenders (sleep)

Average customer rating:

Gerritsen Rocks
easy excitement
Beyond the medical thriller
Another Fantastic Gerritsen Read
Highly Recommended Thriller

Vanish (Jane Rizzoli, Book 5)
Tess Gerritsen
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0345476980
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Book Description

A blessed event becomes a nightmare for pregnant homicide detective Jane Rizzoli when she finds herself on the wrong side of a hostage crisis in this timely and relentless new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Body Double.

A nameless, beautiful woman appears to be just another corpse in the morgue. An apparent suicide, she lies on a gurney, awaiting the dissecting scalpel of medical examiner Maura Isles. But when Maura unzips the body bag and looks down at the body, she gets the fright of her life. The corpse opens its eyes.

Very much alive, the woman is rushed to the hospital, where with shockingly cool precision, she murders a security guard and seizes hostages . . . one of them a pregnant patient, Jane Rizzoli.

Who is this violent, desperate soul, and what does she want? As the tense hours tick by, Maura joins forces with Jane’s husband, FBI agent Gabriel Dean, to track down the mysterious killer’s identity. When federal agents suddenly appear on the scene, Maura and Gabriel realize that they are dealing with a case that goes far deeper than just an ordinary hostage crisis.

Only Jane, trapped with the armed madwoman, holds the key to the mystery. And only she can solve it–if she survives the night.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

TESS GERRITSEN left a successful practice as an internist to raise her children and concentrate on her writing. She gained nationwide acclaim for her first novel of medical suspense, the New York Times bestseller Harvest. She is also the author of the bestsellers Life Support, Bloodstream, and Gravity, as well as The Surgeon, The Apprentice, The Sinner, and Body Double. Tess Gerritsen lives in Maine. Visit her website at www.tessgerritsen.com.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Gerritsen Rocks .......2007-09-19

An exciting surprise page after page. The excitement jumps off the page. She thrills you, makes you empathize with the victims, makes you angry at the bad guys, join forces with the supercop, lust after supercops husband and champion Mila. I can't wait to read some of her other novels.

Chi town reader

easy excitement.......2007-07-30

At times I couldn't put this book down. It was very exciting, very cookie cutter. The story and plot were well-developed. I felt like the ending was very rushed into..and the books were ok as far as character development..,you end up not caring very much what happens to the characters.

Beyond the medical thriller.......2007-06-22

After making her mark in the medical thriller realm, Gerritsen expands her reach into the realm of standard police procedurals with "Vanish." In typical Gerritsen style, the prose flows smoothly, the characters are richly drawn, and more than one woman loses her life in support of the plot line.

Speaking of plot, the conspiracy theory seemed a little far-fetched to me, and the loose threads left at the end of the book kept this from being a four-star review. But lovers of Gerritsen's medical thrillers will enjoy the return of old favorites like Isley and Rizzoli, and fans of conspiracy theories will enjoy seeing the government guys turn out to be the bad guys -- and get their just rewards.

Another Fantastic Gerritsen Read.......2007-05-19

I love her stories and her characters. I love the fast pace action while learning the intimate details of the central characters past and present personal stories. I highly recommend it.

Highly Recommended Thriller.......2007-05-14

A corpse suddenly comes to life in the cold storage of the Medical Examiner's office. A Boston policewoman, nine months pregnant, goes into labor when the Diagnostic Imaging department becomes the set of a hostage situation. A hospital security guard, killed by the reanimated corpse who turns out not to be dead after all, isn't registered as a hospital employee. Neither, it seems is the doctor who was tending to her. The hostage taker calls the local radio station as the cop's FBI husband watches the scene unfold from outside, and issues the statement that "the die is cast." An unidentified man, dressed similarly to the Tactical Operatives surrounding the hospital, walks into the building without being stopped.

This is just the begining of Tess Gerritsen's latest thriller, and the story gets better with every page. As a conspiracy gets uncovered the lead characters get thrust into more and more danger. Another winner, VANISH is a wonderful police thriller.

Monsieur Monde Vanishes (New York Review Books Classics)

Average customer rating:

Psycological novel
"Let's take a boat to Bermuda
Businessman's Vacation
A Wonderful Imaginary Diversion
Beautifully understated, impressively human

Monsieur Monde Vanishes (New York Review Books Classics)
Georges Simenon
Manufacturer: NYRB Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1590170962
Release Date: 2004-07-31

Book Description

Monsieur Monde is a successful middle-aged businessman in Paris. One morning he walks out on his life, leaving his wife asleep in bed, leaving everything. Not long after, he surfaces on the Riviera, keeping company with drunks, whores and pimps, with thieves and their marks. A whole new world, where he feels surprisingly at home—at least for a while.

Georges Simenon knew how obsession, buried for years, can come to life, and about the wreckage it leaves behind. He had a remarkable understanding of how bizarrely unaccountable people can be. And he had an almost uncanny ability to capture the look and feel of a given place and time. Monsieur Monde Vanishes is a subtle and profoundly disturbing triumph by the most popular of the twentieth century's great writers.

Customer Reviews:

Psycological novel.......2007-05-07

This is a great book but one would never read it if one merely read the back cover copy which is totally inaccurate -- so inaccurate that one suspects the writer of the copy has never read the book. I have read M. Monde Vanishes many times in French (La Fuite de M. Monde) and given dozens copies of this excellent English translation to friends and acquaintances. M. Monde learns, in the course of his adventures after he flees his unhappy existence, that true freedom comes from inside -- one does not have to tear one's life apart, one can to change one's perspective. In Simenon's usual concise, brilliant style.

"Let's take a boat to Bermuda.......2007-04-04

Let's take a plane to Saint Paul.
Let's take a kayak to Quincy or Nyack,
Let's get away from it all."

I have to admit that Frank Sinatra version of "Let's Get Away From it All" kept entering my consciousness as I read George Simenon's "Monsieur Monde Vanishes". The upbeat nature of the song is not remotely like the dark, reflective tone of Simenon's story but if you have ever sat in your office on a dreary day or sat in your home on a humdrum evening and just wondered what it would be like to just walk away from your life and start fresh somewhere else then you will have some understanding and, perhaps, sympathy for a man who wakes up one morning and decides to get away from it all.

Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he could only write twelve novels in the twelve month period in which they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). As with many of his contemporaries such as Chandler and Hammett, Simenon's books were marketed and sold as popular, almost pulp fiction. Also like Chandler and Hammett, Simenon's books have stood up well over time. The New York Review of Books publishing division has reissued much of Simenon's books. They are well worth reading and "Monsieur Monde Vanishes" is an excellent place to start.

As with virtually all his protagonists in these hard stories, Monde is a stolid, middle-class member of the establishment. Based in Paris, Monde runs the family export/import business. His is a life of regular habits, from the time he wakes up, through his work day and then through the evening. He is married (a second wife) and has children. Beneath this surface regularity lies a yearning to get away, to just leave everything behind and as the book opens Monde does just that. The rest of the novel explores Monde's journey, his new identity, the places he goes (the French coast) and the people he meets. He sheds his stolid identity like someone sheds their clothing at night and finds himself in a world entirely different from the one he leaves behind. The reader witnesses this transformation in what can be best described as something of a voyeuristic fashion.

Simenon's hard novels are often referred to as psychological novels but I find that term a bit misleading. Simenon does not analyze. He does not delve deep into his protagonists' minds. He presents the reader with a slice of the human condition and lets the reader deal with the implications, the psychoanalysis if you like. They do offer glimpses into his protagonists' lives even though (or perhaps because) he does not fill in the blanks for you. His character's actions speak for themselves and what they have to say is not always pleasant. In "Monsieur Monde" we are not presented with an explanation for Monde's acts. They are simply provided to the reader. It is up to us to judge them or analyze them if we so choose. In a world of fiction filled with happiness and redemption and the ultimate triumph of good against evil, Simenon is a breath of fresh (if pessimistic) air. "Monsieur Monde" does break away from this mold a bit as I found there was a bit more `closure' (a hackneyed word to be sure but it seems suitable for use here) in "Monsieur Monde" than in some of his other works. Unlike some of his other books we see someone reclaim some of the responsibility he walked away from. However, the question that Simenon poses is a critical one, is the Monde that reenters the world left behind the same man?

"Let's take a trip in a trailer
No need to come back at all.
Let's take a powder to Boston for chowder,
Let's get away from it all."

"Monsieur Monde Vanishes" was an enjoyable book to read. Highly recommended. L. Fleisig

Businessman's Vacation.......2007-03-17

One of the values of Amazon's recommendation software is that you are directed to authors with whose work you may not be familiar and who are not carried on the shelves of most bookstores. This is how I found Monsieur Monde Vanishes. It is an economical and very visual book even though the visuals are of mostly unremarkable venues: cheap hotel rooms, the back office of a nightclub, train stations, etc. The narrative value, however, lies partly in bringing such sites to life.

The largely passive Monde exits his successful life in Paris to allow another life in Nice to happen to him. In the end, this change enables him to return to his prior existence possessed of enhanced stature with his business, his wife and his son. The breaking of his life pattern, even though he is compelled to return to it, seems to give Monde additional power over his environment.

Read this book and get swept up in the rhythm of an unspectacular life that is likely different than your own in detail but not in method.

A Wonderful Imaginary Diversion.......2006-03-23

A good friend of mine recommended Simenon books to me. This story is about a successful, middle-aged man who, obsessed with pursuing another life, one day decides to remove himself from everything that he has called his own. Leaving no trace of himself, he uproots himself and heads off in no particular direction. As he continues on his adventure, he encounters a number of enemies and companions all of whom help him realize a new self-awareness. But in the midst of this new comfort, his old life invades. He must then decide not only which life to embrace, but which self he will be.

Though this is the only book I've read so far from Georges Simenon, I'm certain it will not be the last. I appreciated his ability to write with a great economy of words and yet penetrate deep into my imagination. His style is simple, his story is believable, and the questions he raises are not easy to answer. All around, a good, challenging book.

For a full review go to my blog in my screen name and click on the Readings category

Beautifully understated, impressively human.......2005-03-26

Norbert Monde, a fourth-generation bourgeois Parisian businessman, "comes to his senses" on the afternoon of his forty-eighth birthday, withdraws 300,000 francs from his bank account, and promptly vanishes, abandoning his second wife, gay son, and money-grubbing daughter to their own devices. He surfaces in Marseilles where he is quickly drawn into a domestic crisis at a hotel and winds up living a new life among gamblers, drunks and prostitutes in Nice. He's happy, for a while, in realizing his lifelong ambition to be nobody other than a man in the street. But when his work at a nightclub brings his first wife, Therese, into his orbit, Monsieur Monde finds himself drawn back into the world of moral responsibility. Beautifully understated and impressively human, Simenon's take on the familiar "walking out on your life" tale is one of the better examples. In its empathy for the desperation of middle-class life, and for a man whose childhood values have fed into a lifetime of limited scope, it reminded me of that slim European classic, Patrick Suskind's novella "The Pigeon".

The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia

Average customer rating:

First rate
Fabulous
A rare gem
WOW.
Stuff of History, Stuff of Nightmares

The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin's Russia
David King
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Amazon.com

In Stalinist Russia, it was commonplace for Soviet history to be rewritten with inconvenient participants removed--often men or women who had aided the Communist Revolution in the early days and then had somehow fallen afoul of Stalin himself. In The Commissar Vanishes, English art historian David King assembles an impressive body of photographs and artwork that shows the process whereby a hero could overnight be made into villain. "The physical eradication of Stalin's political opponents at the hands of the secret police was swiftly followed by their obliteration from all forms of pictorial existence," King rightly notes: in one noteworthy sequence reproduced on the cover, a photograph of Stalin with three revolutionary leaders is airbrushed and cropped and clipped until, one by one, those leaders disappear and only Stalin is left--conveying the message that Stalin carried the Russian Revolution by himself. Another photograph from the 1920s depicts a meeting of dozens of trade-union and Bolshevik leaders; by the late 1930s, all but a handful of them had been murdered at Stalin's orders. King's work restores some of these men and women to history and illustrates the essential inhumanity of totalitarian thought.

Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book, 1997

The lavishly illustrated and often darkly hilarious retelling of Soviet history through the doctored photographs under Stalin.

The Commissar Vanishes has been hailed as a brilliant, indispensable record of an era. The Commissar Vanishes offers a unique and chilling look at how one man--Joseph Stalin--manipulated the science of photography to advance his own political career and erase the memory of his victims. Over the past thirty years David King has assembled the world's largest archive of doctored Soviet photographs, the best of which appear here, in a book Tatyana Tolstaya, in The New York Review of Books, called "an extraordinary, incomparable volume."

Customer Reviews:

First rate.......2005-07-11

Splendid blending of text and photographs. I gave this book to my teenage son as he was reading "1984" for a school assignment. He was impressed with the book on its own merits. The pictures draw you in, and I think this is especially true for teens. I could also see that it helped my son understand that Orwell's fiction was everyday life for the people of the Soviet Union.

Fabulous.......2003-09-27

A terrific historical document. Graphically captures the paranoia and retroactive history making that was Stalinism.

A rare gem.......2002-06-11

A true gem of a book, dealing with a subject that is much overlooked. As the inspiration for Orwell's 1984 revising history, it is a chilling look at early Soviet attempts to rewrite history by erasing people from photos. Watching a photo of 5 men dwindle down to a picture of one as the others are disgraced, imprisoned, killed and then erased is just mindblowing!

Whether you are a fan of Soviet history (i'm not) or not, the cold war touched us all and this book documents it in the entirety

WOW........2002-04-05

I saw this book just today, in History class. Like another reviewer, i had previously read 1984, and thought it was great, but a little far fetched. would they *really* go to all those lengths to distort history? Well, "The Commissar Vanishes" answered my question. I don't think i've ever seen something so... wow.

Stuff of History, Stuff of Nightmares.......2001-11-11

What would it take to make Hell on earth seem real to you? This profoundly disturbing book had that effect for me.

It might be possible to view this book as humorous. Mr. King's years of patient scholarship have unearthed unmarred originals of photographs that he presents with little or no comment next to what are frequently crudely butchered falsifications of those who fell out of favor with Stalin. Particularly in the age of computer photomanipulation, the alterations are initially comical to twenty-first century eyes.

As one works through the book, however, the comic effect is obliterated by mute evidence of the sheer numbers of people who were expunged year after year from the historical record. Particularly frightening are the official portraits self-censored by relatives of the now-deceased in hopes of forestalling the same fate.

Although not strictly a falsification, of particular interest to me was a picture of the document officially expelling Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party, complete with angry annotations in the margin by Comrade Trotsky himself.

I'd like to believe that the very existence of this book and its photographic record, despite the Soviet attempt of many years to rewrite history, proves that no regime can stifle all unflattering facts about itself for all time. But then I wonder in how many cases, about how many people, they might have been successful. By all means, read this book. Be a witness. Remember the dead. But be warned. The stuff of this history is indeed the stuff of nightmares.

The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes: Paradox and Creativity in Psychoanalysis (The New Library of Psychoanalysis, 39)
Average customer rating:
The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes: Paradox and Creativity in Psychoanalysis (The New Library of Psychoanalysis, 39)
Michael Parsons
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415211824

Book Description

The nature of psychoanalysis seems contradictory - deeply personal, subjective and intuitive, yet requiring systematic theory and principles of technique. The objective quality of psychoanalytic knowledge is paradoxically dependent on the personal engagement of the knower with what is known.

In The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes, Michael Parsons explores the tension of this paradox. As they respond to it, and struggle to sustain it creatively, analysts discover their individual identities. The work of outstanding clinicians such as Marion Milner and John Klauber is examined in detail. The reader also encounters oriental martial arts, Greek Tragedy, the landscape painting of John Constable, a Winnicottian theory of creativity and a discussion of the significance of play in psychoanalysis. From such varied topics evolves a deepening apprehension of the nature of the clinical experience.

Illustrated throughout with clinical examples, The Dove that Returns, The Dove that Vanishes will prove valuable to those in the field of psychoanalysis, and to those in the arts and humanities who are interested in contemporary psychoanalytic thinking.

Average customer rating:

A big disappointment
A paranormal murder mystery
sometimes a rose isn't a rose
Too noisy
Very good, Kept me guessing

Vanish with the Rose
Barbara Michaels
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425138984

Customer Reviews:

A big disappointment.......2006-11-02

Diana needs information. So she poses as a landscape architect to gain access to the main house and all the secrets it holds.

If this sounds vague, that's because that is about all the reader knows for the first 150 pages. There is no question or hint at what Diana wants from the people of this small town. Eventually, the reader learns that Diana's brother Brad has not been seen or heard from in months, since he was at that house. The family already suspects that Brad is dead, but Diana needs answers to what really happened to her brother and if he is dead, where is his body?

Mixed with this is the paranormal angle of a ghost story that only adds more of an unrealistic view to the story and demonstrates how the author is unable to derive suspenseful twists to the plot without going outside the realm of reality. It is not that I don't enjoy a good paranormal novel, but the ghost story was secondary and pointless.

Is it worth buying?
No. It was difficult to get into and although it had a little bit of a surprise to the reveal, the characters were underdeveloped, uninteresting and the ending was out of context with the rest of the story line. Not worth the money.

A paranormal murder mystery.......2005-09-11

Vanish with the Rose is an astounding murder mystery with a twist of paranormal. My sister recommended this book and what a wonderful adventure. The basic story is about a lawyer who pretends to be rose expert to solve a haunting mystery. You have mix of murders, ghosts and amazing friendships. She finds herself falling love with the old house and developing compassionate friends. I would recommend this book and I would also suggest The Ice House by Minette Walters.

sometimes a rose isn't a rose.......2005-07-23

I'm not a romantic suspense reader, so perhaps I shouldn't comment on a book in a genre I'm not familiar with. But I am a novel reader, and as a novel this one is junk. The plot is both creaky and preposterous, the logic of the murder mystery ridiculous, the constant (and tedious) squabbling of the lovers-to-be a bad omen for their various futures, the "psychic" prognostications too silly for words. Even worse are the epigraphs invoking roses at the beginning of each chapter: clearly the author opened her Barlett's and simply typed them out in sequence without any attempt at relevance to actual events about to take place.

Too noisy.......2004-10-20

I didn't like this one as much as Michaels' Victorian-era gothics. It was too noisy, the 4 main characters, who are only half likable, were always sqabbling. The protaganist and her friend were both *itches and treated the men very rudely. In real life, these guys probably wouldn't have stuck around unless they were masochists. The older characters and some of the side characters were likable and interesting. The mystery and some of the other stuff--antiques, vintage clothing, stories about roses, were beautiful, and really kept me going. But it had to be read in small doses because of all the noise.

Very good, Kept me guessing.......2001-04-27

Well, I am not the best mystery reader, but I was kept in suspense until I FINALLY figured it out ie when the author disclosed exactly "who-dun-it." So you can imagine the state of my household while I gasped with horror and terror at every turn of the page---neglectfully letting babies cry and starve and laundry unwashed as I nervously continued on, determined to find out who killed----what if------surely not Miss Emily!! Etc... All in all---very good story. An eccentric couple wins the lottery and purchases and renovates their dream house in Old Virginny. In steps our heroine, a lawyer undercover as a rose expert, there to help the couple replant the old family garden. The couple goes away, three "suspects" move in, a love story in the background, gosh, what else could there be? A little "lecture" on how hard it is to get funding for historic preservation, good one, Ms Michaels, and overall, you have one delicious novel! This is one of her good ones. Read it!

Lady Vanishes: A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)

Average customer rating:

Great writing makes it a great read!

Lady Vanishes: A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)
Carol Lea Benjamin
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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The Wrong Dog: A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)
A Hell of a Dog (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)
Fall Guy : A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries (Hardcover))
Without a Word : A Rachel Alexander Mystery (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)
The Dog Who Knew Too Much (Rachel Alexander & Dash Mysteries)

ASIN: 0060762349
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Book Description

Dash, Rachel Alexander's pit bull terrier, has come to be known as half a sleuthing team. But when not called upon to solve crimes he has another very important job: that of a therapy dog, working with people who are developmentally challenged.

Lady, a mop–coated puli, was the therapy dog at Harbor View, a Greenwich Village home for "throw away" people. But now lady has vanished...and the owner of the home has been killed in a bizarre and mysterious hit–and–run accident. Rachel and Dash are the perfect duo to tackle this mystery: she can find the answers and Dash can bring a sense of calm and order to the residents.

As the pieces start coming together, Rachel and Dash not only expose an ugly plot, but also help some innocent victims find justice in a world that too often ignores them.

Customer Reviews:

Great writing makes it a great read!.......2007-02-09

I love the whole series by Benjamin. Great writing makes the story flow well - no stumbling over words or grammar to pull you away from an engrossing story line. Then, of course, both Rachel and Dash are solid, interesting characters. I appreciate the fact that there is enough personality development to make the protagonists, and other characters, really interesting.

Average customer rating:

Photoworks: When Pictures Vanish

Manufacturer: Museum of Contemporary Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0914357441

Sigmar Polke: Photoworks : When Pictures Vanish

Average customer rating:

Sigmar Polke : Photoworks : When Pictures Vanish

Sigmar Polke: Photoworks : When Pictures Vanish
Sigmar Polke , Maria Morris Hambourg , Paul Schimmel , John Alan Farmer , Sue Henger , Calif.) Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles , and Site Santa Fe (Gallery)
Manufacturer: Scalo Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1881616657

Customer Reviews:

Sigmar Polke : Photoworks : When Pictures Vanish.......2000-03-18

This book shows his master of the darkroom, making all his works unique to themselves. If you are into black & white photography and printing this book is a revelation of what is possible.

Average customer rating:

WAITING TO VANISH (New Fiction)
Ann Hood
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Properties of Water
Ruby: A Novel
Somewhere Off the Coast of Maine: A Novel
THREE-LEGGED HORSE (Bantam New Fiction)
Do Not Go Gentle: My Search for Miracles in a Cynical Time

ASIN: 0553345214
Release Date: 1988-06-01

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