Shoes Books

This book and the rest of the series are easy reads and heart-felt stories of lessons we should all learn, not just at Christmas but every day.

The stories are simple but completely inspiring of how we should live and treat people every day. Miracles can happen even in moments of sadness.

I totally recommend this books and the others in this series.

I am not real weepy as a rule but every time I read this book I sob through the end. Yet, even though I hate to cry I come back to it year after year to read as I get ready for Christmas. It is an awesome story that is incredibly well written. Not to mention if you have ever heard the song you know what happens.

This book is one that you won't want to put down once you start. Every year I look forward to my Christmas shopping because I know I will be able to buy the next in the series of the Christmas Hope and the Christmas Shoes is how it all began. These books are hopeful, encouraging and inspiring all in one. You can laugh, cry & be happy through out a single book & not be ashamed of what your reading! I highly recommend the series to anyone looking for a book either as a gift or for themselves.

The Christmas Shoes is a well written lovely book. I enjoyed it so very much, and I hope you do too. Donna VanLiere does a great job writing. She really brings out the characters, and makes them truly alive.

Watch out this book is very touching. What a wonderful Christmas story though. Two families lives are touched forever, but they don't even know it.

I am sure other reviewers covered everything about the book, so I won't go into details but this book touched my heart and I will carry its message with me for a long time.

This author def knows her writing!

I have purchased this book several times over the years, most recently sent to my grandson, Airborne, fighting in the high Hindu Kush mountains of northwestern Afghanistan...where reading the ground can save your life.
He reccomends the book highly and hopes to, one day, meet Tom Brown, Jr.
Brown has taught Spec Ops also.
I also keep in my library his "Vision" and "Grandfather", among others.
The ancient skills he teaches are entwined with ancient spiritual wisdom, a valuable combination.
For those unfamiliar with Brown's life work and the ways of the ancient Apache - as 'bequeathed' to Brown by Grandfather (Stalking Wolf) - there are several YouTube clips.
Any skill learned can be valuable. The skills Brown teaches can save your life.

The Tracker is a great book that any one can enjoy. Tom Brown tels many wonderful stories from his childhood. However, I would recommend reading some of Mr. Browns field guides before reading any of his actual books. The field guides introduce you to his life and his ideas in a very smooth way. Once you understand those things, then you will enjoy this book, and others that he has written much better. Despite this, The Tacker is still a wonderful book that I believe every person should read.

I haven't yet finished reading this book but I read it every night. I am about 3/4 of the way through. If you are interested in Tom Brown then this is the book to start with. It tells the story of how he met Stalking Wolf as a child and then growing up he goes through all the lessons he learned and adventures he had in the woods.
Some people say Grandfather is a fictitious character, and since there is no evidence he ever existed it is quite possible, although I prefer to give Tom the benefit of the doubt and take him on his word. And yeah maybe he did invent a sort of an imaginary teacher as he grew up in the Wilderness of the Pine Barrens getting to know Nature and learning all the skills that he possesses today. I personally am inclined to believe him and it is very likely Grandfather did actually exist.
Even if Grandfather is imaginary the Philosophy contained in this book is awesome and Tom is a very wise man indeed. He inspires me. At any rate this book is a masterpiece and could only have been written by someone with a very deep and intimate knowledge of Nature and also of Spirituality.
I rarely give a book five stars, this one deserves all of them.

I read this book many , many years ago in grade school. It's a life changing book. It changes the way you think about the wilderness. It's a great story about Tom Browns education in the art of tracking and we get to follow him along thru his adventures. It's made all my time outdoors more interesting.

This book reads like a young boy's fantasy of living free, unencumbered by parental supervision, in a dense forest wilderness. In this case, that wilderness is the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. This is an incredible tale of a boy, his friend and the old Apache wiseman who teaches the two boys how to survive in the wild without modern conveniences, how to interpret the patterns of nature, and how to read the tracks, signs and traces that animals and men leave as they move within nature.

I don't doubt that Tom Brown is a wilderness survival expert (they are not that rare) or that he has extraordinary tracking skills. These achievements only require time and dedication. The level of skill Tom Brown displays as an adult could certainly be achieved by adulthood by any young boy with the intensity of obsession with wilderness survival and tracking and with the opportunities and freedom it appears Brown may have had as a child.

Stalking Wolf (the old Apache), if he existed, gave Brown a pre-scientific, mystical point of view towards nature, and Brown never misses an opportunity to show himself superior to those who don't share his viewpoint. A tone of arrogance and contempt for those outside his religion pervades the book, and he has fashioned his biography in a way to suggest his life has transcendent meaning that the more mundane lives of others cannot have. There are so many things wrong with this as a biographical memoir, a full discussion would extend this review beyond the length amazon accepts.

Brown has had 30 years to answer skeptical objections to the details of the narrative (first published in 1978), and I don't know that he hasn't already done so. It wouldn't be difficult for him to satisfy some of the doubts. The boyhood friend, Rick, certainly has a full name and attended schools in the same district as Brown. If he has died, he is buried somewhere. Stalking Wolf is Rick's grandfather (p. 5) so he is traceable in conjunction with Rick. And so on and so forth.

I would have loved this book as a boy. As an adult I distrust the simplicty and tone of it.

My grandaughter and I are reading it together. It has some substance, great for a change!

This book is very confusing and mis leading. The author first went wrong with charicters with names like underware or perfume brands enough said. Please consider this reveiw and buy a different book please the last thing this book needs is five stars. :( ;( 8(

I loved this book! It is the story of three orphans, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy, who are adopted by an older man who is gone during most of the book. After going through most of the money that he has left for their care until his return, the three sisters attend a special school of the arts. There they can learn to act, dance, and sing; then they can get jobs in different performances making money. Pauline falls in love with acting, Posy is a natural dancer, and poor Petrova would rather fix cars and learn to fly planes than be on stage. All the characters are wonderful and a joy to read about, the story is unique and charming. I simply didn't want it to end. The sisters are fun characters that children will love to read about. Adults will enjoy this story just as much.

What I love the most about this book is that it reminds all of us, especially young girls, that being different is beautiful and special. Some of us may be actors, others dancers, etc. In the end the most important thing is to follow our hearts. This is a great book for girls today- growing up in a time when the media continues to suggest that we should all "follow the crowd".

This was my favorite book growing up; I read it over and over and over again. Whether it was because I was one of three sisters, or because I loved dancing, or simply because of the incredible world Streatfeild created, I don't know. I wanted to have the magical life that Pauline, Petrova, and Posy shared. This is a great read for any young girl, and might even be appreciated by not-so-young girls as well. I'm sure I'll keep rereading it throughout my life. I loved that it got the recognition it deserved in "You've Got Mail."

Also good: Children on the Top Floor. Not strictly a "shoe" book like the others, but just as good.

WE ALL KNOW THAT STATISTICS IS A METHOD OF INTERPRETATION.
THERE ARE DOZENS OF BOOKS NAMED "LYING WITH STATISTICS"

The professional historians faint as prominent mathematician Doctor Fomenko et al research the known historical data and come to fairly controversial conclusions.

For example, the English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. As the sign of recognition of the special role of the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Russian historians brand it as pseudoscience because Dr Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by over two centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called `Tartars and Mongols' were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a trilingual state and aspiring Global Empire with Arabic and Turkic spoken as freely as Russian.

The ancient proto-Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities and the hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called `blood tax'). Their `invasions' were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion.

Fomenko proves for a fact that official Russian history is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scholars brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs. Their ascension to the throne was the result of conspiracy, so they charged these German historians-imports with the noble mission of making Romanov's reign look legitimate.

Dr Fomenko et al prove Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. These rulers represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate Godounovs and the ambitious Romanov upstarts.

The European historians fume not only because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History but for asserting that all medieval European Kings and Princes were but breakaway vice-regents and vassals of the Global Empire who badly needed glorious and very `ancient' past in order to legitimize their new independence from the Empire.

Dr Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one: the Ancient Rome: the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the 14th century A. D., the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, the Ancient Egypt: the pyramids of Giza become dated to the 11th to 14th century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global Empire, no less.

The civilization of the `ancient'' Egypt is irrefutably dated to the 11th to 15th century A. D. following the breakthrough in decoding of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone and painted on the temple walls.

Arabic historians may find some consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire as a part of the Global empire in the 15th - 17th century. The trouble is that this Empire was initially a proto-Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, but built in 1550-1557 A.D. by Sultan Suleiman according to Fomenko and Islam with all its key figures is datable to 15th 16th century A. D.!

The Chinese historians are also an unhappy lot because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such history. Period. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the 17th 18th century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation.

The Divinity excommunicates Dr Fomenko because the history of religions according to Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the 11th century and Jesus Christ ), Bacchic Christianity (11th to 12th century, before and after Jesus Christ), Jesus Christ Christianity (12th to 14th century) and its subsequent mutations (15th to 17th cy) into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on..; and The Old Testament written after the New Testament in xiv-xvi cy A.D., if you please! Everybody served? Saint Augustine was quite prescient when he said: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

this book is absolute garbage. the author has no concept of history and completely disregards the archaeological and historical record. If you you want to know more about ancient history, go to the experts. heck, even Livy is better than this guy!

Looking through this book reminded me of the movie "A Beautiful Mind". A brilliant mathematician constructs a fantasy world complete in every detail. The only problem is that it doesn't exist, and that he's as mad as a hatter.

Just two examples of the many "possibilities" suggested by our schizoid author:

(1) The Biblical flood and the Trojan War were the same event because Noah was Aeneas, who fled Troy to found Rome. (Noah and Aeneas had names that sound alike. Thus it is proven.)

(2) Nine kings fled the fall of the Tower of Babel and seven kings founded Rome. Therefore, Rome was founded by the kings who fled the fall of the Tower of Babel. (In the author's words, the Biblical figure of nine is "close enough" to the Roman figure of seven.)

Need I go on?

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RAZQNMXM4M9CL Has history been tampered with? Yes, it has! Did events and eras such as the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Roman Empire , the Dark Ages, and the Renaissance, actually occur within a very different chronology from what we've been told? Yes, they certainly did!

The history of humankind is both drastically shorter and dramatically different than generally presumed.

Why is it so? On one hand, it was usual custom to justify the claims to title and land by age and ancestry, and on the other the court historians knew only too well how to please their masters. The so called universal classic world history is a pack of intricate lies for all events prior to the 16th century. World history as we learn it today was entirely fabricated in the 16th-18th centuries. It's likely that nobody told you before, but

there is not a single piece of firm written evidence or artefact that is reliably and independently dated prior to the 11th century.

Naturally, after what you've learned in school and university, you will not easily believe that the classical history of ancient Rome, Greece, Asia, Egypt, China, Japan, India, etc., is manifestly false.

You will point accusing finger to the pyramids in Egypt, to the Coliseum in Rome and Great Wall of China etc., and claim, aren't they really ancient, thousands of years ancient? Well, there is no valid scientific proof that they are older than 1000 years!

The oldest original written document that can be reliably dated belongs to the 11th century!

New research asserts that Homo sapiens invented writing (including hieroglyphics) only 1000 years ago. Once invented, writing skills were immediately and irreversibly put to the use of ruling powers and science.

The consensual chronology we live with was essentially crafted in the 16th century by the Jesuits.

The world history was compiled from contradictory mix of innumerable copies of ancient Latin and Greek manuscripts and other irrefutable proofs delivered by late mediaeval astronomers that were cemented by the authority of writings of the Church Fathers.

Early in life, we learn about ancient history. Children love the magical lessons of history - they are like fairy tales. Teachers recite breathtaking stories; very soon We learn by heart the names and deeds of brave warriors, wise philosophers, fabulous pharaohs, cunning high priests and greedy scribes.

We learn of gigantic pyramids and sinister castles, kings and queens, dukes and barons, powerful heroes and beautiful ladies, emaciated saints and low-life traitors.

Ancient history is based documents, manuscripts, printed books, paintings, monuments and artefacts - called primary sources.

The problem is that neither these ancient documents, nor events described therein can be irrefutably dated, moreover they contradict each other for the most part.

When a school textbook tells us that Genghis Khan in year X or Alexander in year Y, have each conquered half of the world, it means only that it is so said in some of the written sources.

There are no answers to simple questions:

When were these primary sources written?

Where and by whom were these sources found?

It is wrongly presumed that ancient and medieval chronicles, written by Genghis Khan's or Alexander the Great contemporaries and eyewitnesses, are readily available. Actually, only sources written hundreds or even thousands of years after the events are there, compiled mostly in the 16th 18th centuries, or even later.

As a rule, these sources suffered considerable multiple manipulations, falsifications and distortions by editing. At the same time,

innumerable originals of ancient documents under various pretexts were destroyed in Europe under various pretexts.

The names of persons and geographical sites often changed meaning and location during the course of the centuries.

Geographical locations became clearly defined on maps only with the advent of printing.

This made possible the circulation of identical copies of the same map for purposes of the military, navigation, education and governance tasks.

Historians from Oxford say: "hey, everybody knows that Julius Caesar lived in the first century B.C.

`Julius Caesar' statement is only a point of view as

there is simply no irrefutable documentary proof that Julius Caesar or any other great name of antiquity ever existed.

Better than that - extremely rare sources that can be reliably dated back to the 10th-14th centuries A D, do not show the polished picture of classical history.

They show a picture both contradictory and confusing.

All methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts are erroneous:

Radio-carbon C14 method produces dating with exactitude of plus minus 1500 years, therefore it is too crude for dating of events in historical timeframe!

The Almagest tractate, which lies as corner stone contemporary chronology, compiled in the 2nd century A D by Ptolemy, the founding father of astronomy, contains astronomical data of 9th to 16th century!

The Bronze Age,that has supposedly began 5000 years ago. Bronze is made of 90% copper and 10% tin, but the technology for tin extraction dates back to 14th century A D!.

All eclipses contained in manuscripts, like Thucydides one, relating 'ancient' events have exclusively medieval dating. All horoscopes cut in stone or painted in Egyptian temples, like Dendera have exclusively early medieval dating solutions.

Not quite what you have learned in school? Open your eyes, and, you will find sufficient proof to reach step by step the inevitable conclusion that the classical chronology is false and therefore, that the history of ancient and medieval world universally accepted today, is also false. Have a fresh outlook on everything said or printed about "ancient" and "enigmatic" Roman, Greek and Egyptian, medieval as well as all other "lost and found" civilizations.

Antiquity and Dark Ages are phantoms invented in the 16th 18th and polished in 19th 20thcenturies. Human civilization is in fact barely 1000 years old!

This book will change your perception of History forever!
What if Ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt were invented during Renaissance?
What if The Old Testament was a rendition of events of the Middle Ages?
What if Jesus Christ was born in 1053 and crucified in 1086 AD?
Sounds Unbelievable?
Not after you've read "History: Fiction or Science?" by Anatoly Fomenko, the genius mathematician.
Armed with astronomy and computers Anatoly Fomenko turns History into a rocket science.

While we did not use this book as much as we did the Baby version, it still had some good information. The companion website is also invaluable.

I haven't had time to read through it yet. But the Baby Bargains book was pretty helpful (though too dependent on the anecdote in some cases). I'm hoping this will be similar.

I downloaded the 2007 edition from the Baby Bargains website since the print version offered at Amazon is 3 years out of date. The eBook is in PDF format and readable by any computer with a recent version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. It's also cheaper than the paperback.

On the plus side you can do immediate text searches within the book and you could print out just the relevant info for your shopping trips. On the negative side, you won't have a copy to casually flip through. Everytime, you'll need to boot up your computer or PDA (or PSP running a homebrew PDF reader).

A great book to have if you want to be smart about what to buy, when there are so many baby products out there. Please note that this is for toddlers aged 2-5. If you have a younger child, it's better to buy a "Baby Bargains" book. Great info on various brands and ratings of both domestic and imported baby gear and apparel, including clothing, shoes, strollers, etc. Some of the information is not necessarily about saving money, as the authors also review posh items, but they also give you great tips on when to buy discounted stuff and get brand name things for less. Overall, a useful book.

I started with Baby Bargins and moved on to this one, I love it...as a new mom it saves me so much time and money.

I hated the baby bargains book but this one is WORSE. My pediatrician gave it a hands down and his only comment was "a few authors trying to make a buck."
They obviously have no research in this book because they recommend products that are not even age appropriate. These authors have little credibility in my eyes and according to other reviewers, it seems the same. I was never a bargain shopper, really, I mean who is unless you have to be! But, if I was, I don't see this book as a bargain.

I bought this as a gift for someone else but had to wait and give it to her after I read it. I originally bought it as a gag gift because the recipient loves shoes, but the book is really very informative and has some great pictures. It was interesting to see what some women will endure in the name of fashion.

What a cute little book. I received it as a gift and it was full of informative details and beautiful photographs of shoes from the old to the new. I loved this book.

I bought the book for my mother-in-law, but as I flipped through it, I wished I had gotten a copy for myself. Now I'm actually looking forward to visiting my mother-in-law so I can flip through the book. (heh heh)

very fun gift for the shoe -lover. Some content, some varying photos that are fun to look at and browse through.

Got my shoe junkie wife a picture book fix. Saving me money? Not sure yet!

The book seems nice though; take that with a grain of salt. This is a husband who owns 4 pairs of shoes.

You have to put all logic aside when you read this book. Steve Martin is not known for logic, he is famous for being so hilarious. Now once you put your normal brain aside, read this book. It is truly brilliant and hilarious. I picked this up at a local book store for 5 bucks, and I was glad I got it. This is a really good read and a must have for any Steve Martin fan!

This book contains a lot of pictures of Martin at a typewriter looking sad, disillusioned and suffering from a creative crisis. It also contains a series of short pieces written in the usual absurd Martin style. The title comes from a clerk at a shoe store who coaxes people into buying "cruel shoes", shoes so bad that they make your feet bleed.
Sometimes even the titles are absurd, as in "Sex Crazed Love Goddesses" which is a story about a boy going to the store to buy stamps. There is nothing other than that in the story. "The Boring Leading the Bored" is about a meeting of logicians and metaphysicists where things go extremely wrong. Absurd and occasionally hilarious in the Martin style, this is a comedy book unlike any other.

"Cruel Shoes" by Steve Martin is one of the funniest books I have ever read, and I've read hundreds, maybe thousands of books. Highlights include the title piece, actually about cruel shoes, which are both left feet, one of them is too short, and the other is curved inwards with razorblades to hold the feet in place (I think this is right, it's been awhile since I've read it...), the story of the women without bones (Humanus de filet), the story of the Diarrhea Gardens of El Camino Real (self-explanitory), and the acknowledgements page (yakkity yak yak yakkity yak yakkity). The only downside is the poems, which seem to be totally random and aren't really humorous at all.
If you lie wacky, goofy humor, and remember the year winter lasted nine minutes, this book is for you. At whatever price, it's a steal!

As a literary gem, this first Steve Martin book stands out for its ability to provoke many reactions--belly laughs, quiet smiles, wistful ponderings... Sit down in your favorite chair and prepare to satisfy your Inner Child!

A very funny classic Steve Martin! A work of comic genius! Steve Martin's short stories are definately a way to kick back on the weekend and have a good laugh. In one memorable story
"some of tubbies flesh flew off and nourished a sunflower."
You cannot beat Steve, on the cover of the book he looks pensive in a fedora and tan suit, with a specter smoke cloud above a carefully tilted cigarette, a crooked smile,and reflective sunglasses glinting in the light. You just have to know that it is going to be completely hilarious.
If ever you were unsure of soup-folding proceedure, or needed some cruel shoes, or were not knowledgeable on what to do if you call a wrong number...this book is for you.
If you have been missing insightful stories on Poodles, shopping men, cows or anything else that's seemingly arbitrary pick up this book. Relax sit back in your chair and pick this up. It's got humor, is well written and lighthearted.

Miss Meghan's oeuvre opened my eyes to the real depth of the gap between mine and her generations. She discerns several different "shoe styles" where I can see, at best, a single footwear category, though I would not ascribe to all these sneakers and bowling, running or basketball shoes the attribute "style". On the other hand, where I recognize numerous styles, each available for view in my closet, Miss Meghan can't distinguish more than "high heels". Well, that much for the direction the taste in clothing takes in the young generation. Even more interesting is outlook on life, expressed primarily in the professions Miss Meghan selects for her readers. Positions in the media and marketing dominate the selection. There are few occurrences of the legal occupations, corporate ranks, non-profits, full-time mommies and housewives. There is even a waitress and a lab worker and perhaps a teacher and a fashion designer. What is missing: medical doctors, engineers of all kinds (chemical, electrical, mechanical), technology workers, trades women - not a single lady welder or lady carpenter, for example! - university professors, pilots, military women. Shortly, all the professions important in the life of each society are neglected, with all the marginal and decorative occupations as the recommended careers for the modern woman. Return to Victorian times, shoed in sneakers? After all, those Victorian shoe styles were not glamorous, and after factoring in the difference in manufacturing technology they were more like sneakers or hiking boots than high-heel sandals with ankle straps.

Miss Meghan has it together! A must have for anyone who loves shoes or wonders why others love them. I look forward to more from Ms Cleary.

Really disappointed to see the stereotypes this author connects to different styles of shoes. She was totally off the mark on several styles I wear, connecting them to personality traits that aren't even close to how I am. Judging by the other reviews I read, this book may just unfortunately reflect what "the masses" assume about certain people who wear certain styles. Sad to say that this book will likely cause wrong impressions and even discrimination against people who wear certain styles by those who read this book and buy into it. Could be a generational thing in that the author makes assumptions that date the book, reflecting a limited age range's view of others. Alarming thing is that readers may give more credence than they realistically should only because of the author's credentials.

I went to a showing at Macy's and one of the gifts in the
giveaway bag was this book "the perfect fit, what your shoes say
about you"
on top I got to meet the most charming young lady who wrote the
book. I got to meet Meghan Cleary! The book is filled with little
quizzes and with the whole idea is to help you discover your Shoe
Sun sign and even tells about what you shoes you didn't buy
says about you!! Its the cutest little book and a great gift for
anyone who is a bona fide shoe freak! Now who do you know who is
a shoe freak? Maybe yourself? Want to know why you bought those
stiletto's when you know you won't be wearing them but just had
to have them?
Get today the perfect fit and may you find out what your shoes
say about you!! I am not saying what mine say about me...
At least my copy of the book is signed by Meghan herself!

This book has great insight. I now look at people's feet when we meet. This book is a really fun read!

I liked every word of it!!! It made me remember the docks of the Yacht Clubs of the Caribbean and Acapulco, where I met many similar characters that he describes so accurately. I lot of fun to read and an interesting and truthful and enjoyable good read. You'll enjoy all of it!!! Even if you are not a yachtman.

A nice easy read with a real "boatie" feel. Although I'm a cabin cruiser owner, not a sailor, it's great to read these cruising stories. Easy book to pick up and read whenever you have a spare bit of time. Peter (Australia).

As someone who is a long time reader of books having ANYTHING to do with sailing, I really haven't found many that have been written exclusivly from the point of a charter boat captain. That is what made this book so interesting to me. I have read plenty of ones who have been stranded, or books on famous explorers etc, but not so much on the everyday people who own and operate charters. I liked how it showed you that it was not all just people who had huge amounts of money to plunk down on a boat, and not just people who felt they were raised up higher than everyone else on the water, but just down to earth people and the stories that happen aboard their ships. I would reccomend this to anyone who loves to sail, because it gives a sence that someday, it could be me behind the wheel of that ship giving orders and exploring to my hearts whims.

The Author is a sailor turned businessman turned sailor. This is a collection of short stories spanning his 9 years as the skipper of a beautiful wooden boat, the Ring Andersen, as he takes charterers to visit the Leeward and Windward Islands of the Caribbean. It is fun reading and it provides an 'in' into the apparent glamorous and adventurous life of men called 'Captain' that hold the fate of vessel and crew at their decisions and skills. I admit that I find some of the stories hard to believe (I.e. "the US is in war with the USSR now") they are simply too good to be truth, but they have high entertainment value. Other stories are hilarious and people may be wondering why you laugh so hard while reading or remembering them in public. Entertaining and informative.

GREAT GREAT GREAT !
anyone who loves boats and has spent any time cruising will love the stories and the characters ... and will relate to the silliness of some of the situations ...
jan degroot has captured the camaraderie of cruising ... the beauty ... the craziness ! the willingness for people to give a hand ... or give advise.
wonderful book ... made me smile !

Jaine Austen is a copywriter and part-time investigator. Lance, her neighbor, decides Jaine's elastic waist pants must go and gives her a makeover. He takes her to Passions, a hip boutique, where nothing fits. But she gets an interview to be the new magazine ad writer for Passions.

When Jaine arrives for her interview, she finds out that Grace no longer owns Passions. Giselle, aka Frenchie, now does, and she isn't someone Jaine wants to interact with. But she needs a job. So she arrives early one morning to pitch her ideas to Frenchie, but she finds Frenchie dead with a Jimmy Cho stiletto in her neck. There are plenty of suspects, and Jaine sets out to wade through them to find the killer.

This is one of my all-time favorite series. Jaine is such a fun character. I love the L.A. setting. The author puts plenty of humor into each book that I just devour them. Her neighbor Lance and the various other characters in this book really add to the story. The plethora of suspects provides enough red herrings to keep the reader guessing right up until the end. I highly recommend this book.

Ms. Levine has a great sense of humor. This book is a quick, fun read if you are looking for something that is completely mindless. I would have preferred to see a little more substance...to say it is the proverbial cotton candy for the brain might be assigning too much nutritional value.

This was the second Jaine Austen mystery I have read. It was very witty. I enjoyed reading about Jaine's class and her student Mr. Goldman. He is such a funny and believable character. Reading her emails from her parents are also a hilarious subplot.

The mystery was solved eventually by Jaine in the nick of time. Although the culpret was not Jaine's first choice, she eventually figured it out.

This series is refreshing and cleverly written. You will enjoy it too!

"Shoes to Die For" is the fourth book in Laura Levine's Jaine Austen mystery series. I have read the prior three, but you don't need to read them in sequence. Jaine Austen is a freelance writer of business slogans, resume's, and brochures. She is single and likes it, and lives in L.A. with her cat named Prozac. When she goes in a trendy boutique to see about an advertising job, someone is murdered in the shop that night. An employee, whom Jaine likes, is accused and asks Jaine's help to exonerate her. Characters are well done and hold your interest. The plot is good. Hardly a page goes by without a laugh, or at least a smile. This is a light, fast read that keeps you turning the pages 'til the end. Good climax. I enjoy Ms. Levine's wonderful sense of humor, but I thought in this book there could have been a little more. This is one series you can count on to entertain.

This was a fun book; it had comedy, mystery, and a little bit of everything...even made me hate a few characters, which usually doesn't happen. It's a good, funny read, with lots of twists.