Book Description
Praise for Magdalen Nabb:
"Every word should be savored."-Washington Post Book World
"The best mystery news in ages is that Soho is restoring to the canon Magdalen Nabb and her tremendous creation, Marshal Guarnaccia of the Italian Police in Florence."-Chicago Tribune
"Exquisite."-The New York Times Book Review
"Nabb continues to extend conventions of the police procedural to suit her own intriguing vision and purpose."-Philadelphia Inquirer
Customer Reviews:
How not to write a mystery.......2007-01-05
I was very disappointed with the two "Marshal" books that I bought. Yes, it is fun to re-visit Florence, but that is the end of the attraction. The author seems to have failed the basic class in mystery writing--developing plot and character through action. Long explanations substitute for action. I did not feel I knew the characters and did not care much about them.
Marshal Guarnaccia and other people's little problems.......2004-02-21
The best time to murder someone in Italy is during its brief but sweltering summer, when all the sensible people have left for the coast. Those who are left, like Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia of the Florence Carabinieri, keep to the margins of life - the shady side of the street and the edges of the day.
It would be easy to dismiss the suicide of a neighborhood "crazy" as just another sad chapter in the life of the urban poor. But Crazy Clementina lives in a close-knit traditional Italian community, which makes sure that the unfortunate neighbor has a daily bowl of soup with bread or enough gas to feed her little stove.
The Marshal and the Madwoman was first published in Britain by Penguin Books in 1988. It's one in a series about the phlegmatic Sicilian investigator, who (to his supervisor's constant irritation) tends to get involved in "other people's little problems". This is a re-issue by Soho Press.
I've read a number of the books in the Soho Crime series and there hasn't been a dud amongst them. The writers are all first-flight: van de Wetering, Lovesey, Qiu, Matsumoto and so on. I can recommend them all.
An excellent book to read during the dog-days of summer.......1998-06-25
If you've never read a mystery by Magdalen Nabb I envy you the treat you're about to enjoy. This is one in the series of Marshall Guarnacia novels set in Florence Italy. It is one of the hottest days of summer. The city is mostly empty since everyone has left on holiday so the Marshall decides to take advantage of the calm to teach his wife to drive. They have barely begun the lesson when there is an outcry in the next street. In the space of a moment, the Marshall's wife and his dreams of peace are left behind. Magdalen Nabb has filled the book with so many details you feel the street burning the soles of your feet. The characters are three-dimensional down to the lowest ranking man in the office and they grow and change with each book. It may be hot where you are but it is even hotter in Florence with the Marshall and following his troubles will take your mind off your own. I heartily recommend all the books in this series.
Average customer rating:
- The Face in the Frost
- a good read
- Quintessence of Fantasy
- Charming Yet Spooky
- Dissapointing for a casual reader.
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The Face in the Frost
John Bellairs
Manufacturer: Olmstead Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Bellairs, John | ( B ) | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Bellairs, John | ( B ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 158754105X |
Download Description
The Face in the Frost is a fantasy classic, defying categorization with its richly imaginative story of two separate kingdoms of wizards, stymied by a power that is beyond their control. A tall, skinny misfit of a wizard named Prospero lives in the Southern Kingdom a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Both he and an improbable adventurer named Roger Bacon look in mirrors to see different times and places, which greatly affects their personalities and mannerisms and leads them into a myriad of situations that are sometimes frightening and often hilarious. Hailed by critics as an extraordinary work, combining the thrills of a horror novel with the inventiveness of fantasy, The Face in the Frost is the debut novel that launched John Bellairs' reputation as one of the most individual voices in young adult fiction.
Customer Reviews:
The Face in the Frost.......2007-08-27
Interesting story! It doesn't fit other Bellairs books but it was intriguing to read and to see how Bellairs began his writing.
a good read.......2005-09-07
I'm not a huge aficianado of the fantasy genre but I enjoyed this 1969 novella by John Bellairs. The writing is above-average, the principal characters have some personality, and there is some enjoyable chemistry between the characters. (Often the banter between Prospero and Roger Bacon reminded me of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.") Like Lois Lowry's THE GIVER, it is a book that can be enjoyed by adults as well as older children. I'd recommend it to Harry Potter fans as well as to readers who loved The Lord of the Rings. One aspect that I liked was that the scarier parts of the book were written to creep out the adults more than children, as it was mostly the implication of a pervasive, world-altering evil that provided most of the chills, rather than big, scary, nightmare-inducing monsters.
Bellairs himself admitted that he was inspired by The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and wanted to write a book about a character similar to Tolkien's Gandalf but with a little more depth to his personality. I think he succeeded. The wizards in his book, especially Prospero, possess only limited magical powers, and thus have weaknesses, fears and even phobias. They are more like a endearing pair of elderly, absent-minded professors.
Readers who are intrigued by the mysterious, enciphered book of spells featured in THE FACE IN THE FROST may be interested to know that it is based on the real-life Voynich Manuscript. (Bellairs even names one of his characters after a real-life English scholar-monk who has been linked to the Voynich Manuscript, Roger Bacon.) This medieval manuscript, written in an unknown language or ciphertext, has never been decoded despite the efforts of scholars and professional cryptanalysts over several centuries.
If I had to level criticism at THE FACE IN THE FROST it would be that the ending is brought about with a sort of deus-ex-machina plot device. But really I was sorry that the book was so short and over so soon, because it was a fun, stimulating read.
Quintessence of Fantasy.......2005-08-02
This is fantasy reduced to its purest form. From a laugh out loud first few pages you are plunged into nightmare and horror through to a purely satisfying ending. In decades of reading fantasy I know of no story that better illustrates the form. Something different than Tolkien's idealized fairy-tale, and something better than mere horror, this is a superb book.
Prospero - and not the one you are thinking of, either - and Roger Bacon must solve the riddle of an unreadable book before that riddle and a more powerful wizard kills them. The threat is all the more real because neither you nor the characters understand it; we understand the side effects well enough. But Bellairs lets you guess what might happen unless Prospero and Bacon act. Nameless horrors can be the most frightening of all.
Bellairs died far too young, leaving only a handful of children's books, outlines for a few more and this tale. We can only wish there were more.
Originally published in paperback by Ace in 1969, that early edition was brilliantly illustrated by Marilyn Fitschen. Her perfectly apt, child-like illustrations didn't make it to this new hardbound edition, so you miss the macabre heraldic device of Melichus, and the spooky illustrations of Bellairs' scenes. It's a loss only partially made up for by the fine Anton Pieck cover drawing, completely appropriate to the story's secret. The paperback was printed, unhappily, on typical Ace cheap paper, and is now browned and brittle. Finding it isn't easy and may no longer be worth the effort.
Still, despite the missing drawings, it is wonderful to have The Face in the Frost back in print. This should be on your short list of the best fantasy stories written. It's a story you will read again and again Highly recommended; simply superb.
Charming Yet Spooky.......2005-06-10
This splendid little fantasy gem, the only adult-oriented fiction by children's author John Bellairs, mixes two rare moods. Bellairs's genial and charismatic protagonists, wizards Prospero (no, not that one) and Roger Bacon, contribute warmth and wit to the novel, while the nameless horror that begins to stalk Prospero is every bit as creepy as anything H.P. Lovecraft or W.H. Hodgson ever dreamed up.
As it turns out, the kind and simple heroes and the vile and alien villain are two great tastes that taste great together. The delightful characters involved me in the story in a way the flat ciphers who generally inhabited Lovecraft's stuff never did, enhancing the eerieness. And the fact that these lovely characters were battling such disturbing phenomena increased my respect for them, enhancing their charisma.
Bellairs also has a terrific writing style -- simple, spare, yet highly evocative, and with an unsurpassed eye for detail. And the book features cute illustrations by Marilyn Fitschen (the one of Prospero's house is worth the price of admission all by itself). The Face in the Frost is either a minor classic or a major one -- I'm just sorry it took me this long to get around to reading it.
Dissapointing for a casual reader........2005-06-06
I never made a connection with this book. After reading the story, I know very little about any of the main characters, and thus I didn't care what happened to any of them. The "rules" of this fantasy world were never explained, so it was often difficult to gauge how much danger or horror the characters faced (they were wizards powerful enough to shrink themselves, after all).
The descriptions of things and surroundings are quite verbose, but for all the effort, the language used did not paint a very clear picture. Instead, the descriptions often seemed to be a tedious break in the story. The author also makes several mythological and historical references too obscure for this reader to be of much use.
The story itself is similar to the character development, in that I felt that there was much more background information that the book never shared with us. At the end of the book, the mystery was never fully explained. I should also point out that had I not bought the book, I would never have read past the first quarter of the book; the story begins very slowly and only picks up a little in the second half.
Clearly there are many reviewers here who hold this book in high regard, but if you're just looking for a fun book to read, you may want to skip this one.
Customer Reviews:
Seriously underrated........2007-08-05
This is a world class fantasy novel with elements of horror in it. Super good. I read it as a kid and it transported me. I can read it as an adult and it transports me both within the book and back to my childhood.
This book is every bit as good as the classics like Wizard of earthsea, the last unicorn, tolkien books, seriously. It's that good.
Not only is it fantasy, it's scary. Sneaks right up and scares the crap out of you.
Enchanting, frightening, and original.......2006-10-20
"The Face In The Frost" is a richly imaginative tale of two wizards, Prospero (not the one you're thinking of) and Roger Bacon, who must overcome a third wizard, the evil Melichus before he destroys them, and a lot of other folks as well.
Even if you think you've heard this story before, you've never come across a variation like this one. The closest analogue that I can come up with is "Howl's Moving Castle" for its eccentricity, but `Face' outdoes `Howl' is this respect as well as in its fear quotient. The scary scenes approach M.R. James in intensity, and they are always preceded by migraine-like aura. Prospero senses that something is slightly off about the inn where he is staying. He is still trying to figure out what is bothering him at four in the morning:
"Strange thoughts began to come to him now: locked boxes and empty rooms. Four dials and a black hole. Four cards and a blank. And a dead sound on the stroke of four. Why did that mirror bother him?
"Quietly, Prospero got dressed, took his staff from the corner, and opened the door of his room. The hall was dark and silent...He lit [a candle] and tiptoed down the stairs to the place where the mirror hung. Prospero stared and felt a chill pass through his body. The mirror showed nothing--not his face, not his candles, not the wall behind him. All he saw was a black glassy surface."
Prospero explores further and finds his landlady standing fully-clothed in her room, with a butcher knife in her hand. "In her slowly rising head were two black holes. Prospero saw in his mind a doll that had terrified him when he was a child. The eyes had rattled in the china skull. Now the woman's voice, mechanical and heavy: "Why don't you sleep? Go to sleep." Her mouth opened wide, impossibly wide, and then the whole face stretched and writhed and yawned in the faint light."
Prospero manages to escape the inn and town that was nothing more than an elaborate trap set up by Melichus to destroy him. He is reunited with his friend, Roger Bacon and they continue on their quest to find and destroy Melichus's evil magic.
There are delightfully eccentric set-pieces in `Face:' a king who builds elaborate clock-works of the universe; a monk who collects strange plants; a talking mirror that divulges scores from a 1943 Cubs-Giants baseball game. I suspect the author wove his fantasy out of migraines, nightmares, and a love of mechanical oddities and spells that turn tomatoes into squishy red carriages. Prospero himself has a "cherrywood beadstead with a bassoon carved into one of the fat headposts, so that it could be played as you lay in bed and meditated...On a shelf over the experiment table was the inevitable skull, which the wizard put there to remind him of death, though it usually reminded him that he needed to go to the dentist."
I'd better put an end to this review before I quote the whole book. It's so good, it sucks me in every time I open it---Enchanting, in the original sense of the word, and frightening, too.
Average customer rating:
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Clown face (TWiG books, set A)
Miriam Frost
Manufacturer: Wright Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Children's Books | Subjects | Books | Baby-3 | Ages 4-8 | Ages 9-12 | Animals | Arts & Music | Books on Cassette | Books on CD | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Computers | Educational | History & Historical Fiction | Issues | Literature | Obsessions | People & Places | Popular Characters | Reference & Nonfiction | Religions | Science, Nature & How It Works | Series | Sports & Activities
Reading | Elementary School | Education | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1559117087 |
Average customer rating:
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The Face in the Frost
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0788702092 |
Product Description
Hailed as one of the greatest stories in all of modern fantasy literature, The Face in the Frost is an echanting blend of magic and mischief, laughter and tears, terror and joy..... Prospero and Roger Bacon are wizards. Not very good wizards, mind you, but they know the seven runic alphabets by heart, and if you have the patience to wait long enough, they can usually concoct some pretty impressive lightning effects. No one would have considered them a threat to a truly powerful sorcerer like Melichus. But when Melichus turns his powers to evil, these two rumpled wizards are the only ones who can save the kingdom from ruin. Together, they set off on a fantastic journey to find Melichusand destroy the source of his power.
Average customer rating:
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The Monster with a Thousand Faces: Guises of the Vampire in Myth and Literature
Brian J. Frost
Manufacturer: Popular Press 3
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Teens | Subjects | Books | Authors, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Health, Mind & Body | History & Historical Fiction | Horror | Literature & Fiction | Manga | Mysteries | Reference | Religion & Spirituality | School & Sports | Science & Technology | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Series | Social Issues
Popular Culture | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0879724609 |
Book Description
Brian Frost chronicles the history of the vampire in myth and literature, providing a sumptuous repast for all devotees of the bizarre. In a wide-ranging survey, including plot summaries of hundreds of novels and short stories, the reader meets an amazing assortment of vampires from the pages of weird fiction, ranging from the 10,000-year-old femme fatale in Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Conqueror to the malevolent fetus in Eddy C. Bertin’s “Something Small, Something Hungry.” Nostalgia buffs will enjoy a discussion of the vampire yarns in the pulp magazines of the interwar years, while fans of contemporary vampire fiction will also be sated.
Average customer rating:
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Murder Saves Face: A Reuben Frost Mystery
Haughton Murphy
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0671706632 |
Average customer rating:
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To Face The Sun
Joni Frost
Manufacturer: Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UL7GS8 |
Book Description
Here is a proven program to cleanse your body in 30 days!
Your body may be so overwhelmed that it's sending you distress signals…
* Learn why you are at risk for suffering from cancer, heart disease and diabetes. * Discover why you don't feel well and why you're always tired. * Examine the Sick Building Syndrome. * Explore spiritual and physical aspects of fasting.
Dr. Don Colbert provides an easy-to-understand and comprehensive explanation of the toxic battle you're in. He also exposes risk factors and provides alternative solutions for living free from cancer, heart disease, liver disease, diabetes and more. You may be an average American who is overfed and undernourished, which means you are probably toxic, but there is hope. Detoxify your body with Dr. Colbert's medically sound and proven program of juice fasting.
Deep cleansing your body right down to the cellular level will renew your vitality, restore your energy, reclaim your health, shed toxic fat, lengthen your life and give you a healthy glow you haven't had in years. Let Dr. Colbert escort you to healthier living-body, mind and spirit, and experience toxic relief today!
Get ready to experience powerful relief!
Customer Reviews:
good information.......2007-08-23
Don Colbert is an excellent source of spiritual and nutritional advice. This book is loaded with both. If you want to improve your health spiritually, mentally and physically, you want to read this book.
Good Info.......2007-08-13
This book has a lot of good information but I have to keep second guessing Dr Colbert because some of this is from left field. The book also made me feel very paranoid about everything consumed by the body, whether it's light, liquid, solid or air. I want to live in a bubble.
Good Theme, But Overdone.......2007-08-11
I purchased and read this book at the recommendation of a good friend. While I agree with Colbert's basic assertion that we need to eat healthier and avoid added chemicals, he goes off the deep end with a myriad of recommendations for organic food, juices, and other products to add to our diets. This title would have been MUCH better had he kept things simpler, not overwhelming the reader with so many radical changes.
Colbert's work here is definitely Christian in content and tone, but I deeply appreciate that perspective. In fact, the best part of the book is the final section "Detoxing Your Whole Person," which gives detailed instructions on the many benefits of spiritual fasting. I plan to keep the book in my library simply because of this important section.
This title isn't for everyone. If you're looking for some new, unashamedly Christian insights on improving your diet and taking care of your body however, you'll find something of use here.
Supergreens is = to 6 servings of veggies. In terms of KILOBYTES........2007-07-01
I have been fasting, on water alone, for 17 days now, and I plan to withdraw to consumption again when my body tells me I should. On every page, the wealth of Colbert's ignorance astounded me. What he has written is secondhand drivel from health books popular in the 80s, which advised readers not to drink water during a meal, because it would "dilute the digestive enzymes and interfere with digestion." Anyone who has opened a middle school level Biology book knows otherwise. How is this guy a doctor?
He is FUNNY, however. I often found myself laughing out loud reading this. He appealed to the Bible and yet obviously prefers juice fasting in almost all cases, and even prohibits absolute fasts (which I've done dozens of times).
None of the fasters in the Bible "juice fasted." Many of the spiritual leaders in the Bible did "absolute fasts," which Colbert expressly prohibits, even if God calls you to it. So I wish Colbert would make up his mind. Why does he advocate fasting? Because of science, or religion? He seems to fill the book with both (watered-down forms of each), but NEITHER support his juice-fasting dogma, as far as I can tell.
Three times he wrote, "Supergreens is equal to 6 servings of vegetables." Huh? Equal how? In calories? In antioxidants? In fiber? In phytonutrients? In KILOBYTES? In toxins?
He leaves it to the reader to make of it what the reader likes.
If you want a summary of what science has to say about fasting, better look elsewhere. If you want anything concerning religion, better fast and pray before reading this quack. He's just telling us what his grandma told him what Benny Hinn told her what Jesus told him what the Father told Him.
Clear & easy toxic relief manual.......2007-02-18
If you wanted to juice, know how to combine juices for optimal health, were curious about how to get rid of the toxins in your body, this is the book to read. Dr. Colbert writes in a very clear and easy to understand method the how's and why's. He also makes it very easy, with no strange or weird foods how to acheieve your goals. I personally found some great juicing combos that I use practically every day. I highly recommend this book.
Books:
- The Mike Hammer Collection, Volume 2: One Lonely Night, The Big Kill, Kiss Me Deadly
- The Moving Finger: A Miss Marple Mystery (Miss Marple Mysteries)
- The Quality of Mercy
- The Raven in the Foregate (Brother Cadfael Mysteries)
- The Riddle of the Traveling Skull
- The Samurai's Daughter
- The Siren Queen (Mystery at Queen Elizabeth I's Court)
- The Watcher in the Pine (Soho Crime)
- Thieves Dozen (Dortmunder Novels)
- Tropic of Night
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