IPhone 3G used's review (What a mob. . . .) 『There's a famous painting by Tuxen (reproduced on the jacket of this fat volume) of Victoria's family gathered around her at the time of her Golden Jubilee in 1887; the crowd fills the royal drawing room. During those celebrations, the women of the family filled ten carriages while the men, including a number of ruling and future monarchs, made up an impromptu cavalry troop. Aronson is an old and skilled hand at producing popular biographies of European dynasties and he uses Victoria's position as matriarch of a vast royal clan to construct an overview in the late 19th and early 20th century of Europe's ruling families on ten thrones, from London and Madrid to Athens and St. Petersburg. This is also a personal and domestic study, focusing on court life, rather than a political history, and it is limited to only the first generation, not their heirs to the present day -- which also means that, except for the future Edward VIII, the author is concerned mostly with Victoria's daughters and granddaughters who married into other royal houses. The author's style is easy and his insights and judgments are astute, making this a good introduction to the modern monarchies of Europe.』
(An excellent overview of the lesser know branches) 『This book has helped me on more than one occasion, to sort out Queen Victoria's huge family. The book only rates four stars, because I dislike the way it is organized. But the information, as well as the detailed lineage is wonderful. Many of Mr. Aronson's books are out of print, but I find them quite frequently at the Strand in NYC or other used bookstores.』
IPhone 3G used's review (A Great Woman Comes to Life) 『Too often, we tend to view historical figures as just that -- figures from the past, shadowy and vague, human but not really. Yes, they lived and died, and perhaps accomplished some things, but do we have anything in common with them? Too often, we don't realize we do. But in "The Queen's Husband," Jean Plaidy brings Queen Victoria to a lush, colourful, fiery swirl of life and being. Plaidy probes into the heart and mind of a young Victoria as she falls in love with her future husband, Albert, more every day (yes, I know, it's a cliche...give me a break!). This pair had an all-encompassing love for each other that dwarfs much of what we see today in films and yes, that thing we call real life. And Plaidy brings each emotion and feeling to the surface, so that readers cannot ignore the passion these two shared. This book is not only a fascinatingly accurate historical novel, but it can also serve as an example of what love should be between two people. If the Queen of a whole country could do it -- why not us?』
Kakaku：500 saved$5.00
NYU Press
Usually ships in 24 hours IPhone 3G used's review (Queen Elizabeth I (Historic Lives)) 『Elizabeth I (The British Library, Historic Lives Series) by Susan Doran is a really superb book! Though I have read many books about Queen Elizabeth this one, though concise, thoroughly captures the essence of the history of Elizabeth and her England. Susan Doran provides us a captivating glimpse into the complicated world facing Elizabeth both in her personal and majestic life as she confronts the dynamic political and religious world developing around her and the England she loves. Elizabeth I was a complex person ruling in a complicated world. In a very even handed way, Susan Doran presents how a dynamic Queen Elizabeth, at her best and worst, navigates as best she can, through the perils and complexities confronting her and England. Susan Doran gives us an Elizabeth who is real. She shows Elizabeth as a Queen who has human frailities, who is adept in propaganda, can be as cruel as she is rewarding, yet whose monarchy enthralls and inspires us to this day. Susan Doran's adept use of a superb collection of illustrations throughout the book really provides a wonderful dimension to her protrayal of Elizabeth as a dynamic queen of England. This is a book I recommend to anyone who has an interest in Elizabeth I, Queen of England.』
(An Excellent Overview) 『This slim volume is only 144 pages including index. Susan Doran has written a complete, if brief, biography of Elizabeth I that hits all the main points of her life and rule. Nothing important seems to have been left out, and the narrative seems unhurried. One could read this book in a fairly short time, and have an understanding of Elizabeth's reign. However, for those who would like a bit more elaboration, Doran includes a Further Reading List at the end.
Doran's style is clear, engaging, and very readable. This seems to be a book intended for an adult reader, but it would be an excellent introduction for high school students (or even precocious middle schoolers), as well. The only spot where the narrative jars is when Doran briefly compares Elizabeth to Diana, Princess of Wales. Charismatic celebrities exist in every generation, and in twenty years, this reference may seem dated.
This is also an attractive book, apparently one of the first in a new series by The British Library. It includes many color photographs of portraits and documents throughout.』
『Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, reigned from 1558 until her death in 1603 and is remembered not only as a powerful, often ruthless and successful monarch but also as a virtuous, gracious, and caring ruler.
This new biography of Elizabeth I, by a leading scholar, reveals a tough and determined "Virgin Queen", whose education, wit, and wisdom enabled her to succeed in the often turbulent and hostile world of her reign. Charting Elizabeth's childhood, schooling, and family life as well as her relationships with her ministers and suitors, Susan Doran discusses her motivation and the personal qualities that sustained her as queen. Her years in power were often dominated by political intrigue, marriage proposals, disputes over the succession, plots against her life, and warfare. Elizabeth made clever use of events, such as the defeat of the Spanish Armada, and unique interests and attributes, such as her love of theatrical pageant, to enhance her reputation and status. In an era of political and religious upheaval, Elizabeth I emerges as one of the most skillful and formidable monarchs in history.
Illustrated throughout with portraits, rare historical documents, and letters in Elizabeth's own hand, this book provides an engaging, authoritative account of Queen Elizabeth I's life and times.
Kakaku：880 saved$8.80
Charles
In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. 『This work explores the lives and personalities of the monarchs, from pre-Roman to present day, and their involvement in and effect on major events of each age. It provides additional information on the spirit, traditions and innovations of the nation, including politics, arts, architecture and fashions. It is a magnificent visual feast, which guarantees to bring history alive for readers of all ages, through exciting narrative, renowned paintings and rare archive photographs.』
Kakaku：379 saved$3.79
National Portrait Gallery
Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks IPhone 3G used's review (Interesting history book.) 『I bout this book for my collection, but it appeared very interesting to read. I never expect history book be so fascinating. I recommend to buy it.』
(Excellent picture book with great information) 『I cannot express how much this book has taught me about the Kings and Queens of England. Although I had known about the more famous ones (Elizabeth I, Henry VIII&wives, Victoria) this marvelous book has now revealed the stories of the others to me. Not to mention the beautiful portraits of the royals themselves. The best thing about the book is the author's opinions of the King or Queen just slightly slipped in. Though, like others have said, the book doesn't go into great detail about anyone, you'll learn what really happened in the days of Mary I or Henry VI. The writing is definitely English, and while reading you may require a dictionary lying around. But although the hardcover could probably be classified as a "coffee table book," it's excellent reading, and is probably one of the most well written picture books I've ever read.』
(A Great Picture Book) 『For anyone interested in the monarchs of England, this is a great picture book. Although this book does not go into detail of each monarch, it does give a brief description along with a photograph of the monarch. This book is divided into chapters starting with The Anglo-Saxons and Danes to The House of Windsor. Each of the Kings and Queens who reigned during those periods are featured in the perspective chapter. Each chapter also has a genealogy family tree which helps untangle the web of marriages and remarriages.
It is a good picture book to walk the reader through the over 1000 years of the English monarchy.』
『This is a guide to the kings and queens of England from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II, illustrated with portraits of every monarch taken from paintings, coins, engravings, photographs and sculptures. Biographical entries give details of the most important historical events and dates in every reign, with each dynasty explained and illustrated in a family tree.』
IPhone 3G used's review (Hair, Hair, Hair, Our Wonderful Hair) 『It is a proven fact that hair plays an important role in the lives of African American women. Must often our hair or lack of it defines who we are. It is still up for debate whether this is a healthy psychological choice or not. This book is a pictorial guide of the lives of over fifty women and how they feel about their hair. Each woman interviewed talks about the importance of hair, why they wear their particular style, and how their hair has changed during the course of their lives. These women have bleached hair, relaxed hair, natural hair, afros, weaves, braids, and baldheads and they all feel comfortable in with their current styles.
Many African American women use the beauty salon as a safe haven to get away from the world. At the salon you can freely discuss your problems, face your hair issues, and totally change your appearance by revamping your old hairstyle. Hair is your expression of self and how you feel about the world in general. There aren't many ways that African American women can be free but hair is our crowning glory.
QUEENS: PORTRAITS OF BLACK WOMEN AND THEIR FABULOUS HAIR is a coffee table book that will foster endless discussions of the state of African/African American hair. This is a primer combination of flowing narratives and impressive photos. Be free, be yourself, be bold, your hair is yours not matter the style you rep. Buy this book for yourself, your mom, your sister friend and laugh about all of the hairstyles you've rocked!
Deltareviewer Reviewing for Real Page Turners 』
(Locks, Braids,&The Natural.) 『I Found This Book To Be Quite Interesting. I Enjoy Reading All Of The Various Stories, About All Of The Beautiful Sisters, Wearing Hairstyles Of Their Choice. One Of The Women In The Storie "Lettice " I Will Call Her "The Silver Fox" Of The Bunch, For Some Reason Or Another Something Just Stood Out About Her.』
(Nonreview) 『I'd like to review this. However, it's been about six weeks since I ordered it&it hasn't arrived yet.』
(Another hairdo) 『In the late '60s, journalist A'Lelia Bundles waged a battle repeated in many households across the country: she decided to stop pressing her hair and start wearing it in an Afro. It didn't help that her father worked for Summit Laboratories, a manufacturer of hair-straightening products. "Who do you think pays the mortgage and tuition?" he demanded. But Bundles' consciousness was on the rise. The day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, she was elected vice president of her high school student council, and white parents were threatening to take their kids out of the school. While this was going on, Bundles was reading W.E.B. DuBois. She was also on the threshold of discovering the legacy of her great-great-grandmother Madame Walker, a pioneering activist, philanthropist and hair products entrepreneur. "I'm proud to say I have all of my ancestors in my hair," Bundles writes in "Queens," a fascinating collection of African-American hair lore. "But in the era I grew up in, people only valued whatever part of your hair that was straight." She got her Afro. "Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair" is the logical successor to photographer Michael Cunningham's "Crowns." The earlier book, a collection of stories and images of black church women and their elaborate hats, resonated so deeply with readers it was adapted into a musical production (now running in Lansing at the Riverwalk Theater; see review on p. XX). "Queens" pairs fifty Cunningham portraits with verbal histories, some in the subjects' own words and some told by co-author George Alexander. The gatefold of "Queens" depicts an outdoor salon in Ghana, where women and men laugh and talk under a huge tree. The image sets the tone for the mingling of social life and hair that runs through the book. Cunningham is well positioned document this world; he grew up with his mother and five sisters who turned his home into a salon every Saturday. Later, the photographer notes, "a prerequisite to dating some of the girls in high school was taking care of their weekly salon bills." Cunningham's restless and inventive eye keeps the book's fifty portraits from becoming monotonous -- even those photos meant to convey nobility, dignity and poise have a twinkle or wrinkle that kicks them up a notch. In some of the photos, subject and hair are seen in splendid isolation, while others pull back to reveal the subject at home or in a salon. But no hair book would be much fun without a wild side, and Cunningham is generous in serving up outrageous visions of self-expression. Tracy Poris, a hairstyling student, wears a vertical do about as tall as a flamingo, with a matching outfit itself made of hair. Angela Williams sports a Mohawk, which tells passersby "I don't care what you think." Corene Campbell colors her hair blue "to match her shoes." Jenelle Byron, a 23-year-old college student from Brooklyn, wears her hair in a literally towering do that mimics the burning World Trade Center, "flames" of curling hair rising from the top floors. The freaky dos are great fun, but more often, the authors weave images and stories around social and political dimensions of African-American life. "There are no Black stars," writes Harriett Indira Odei, lamenting the persistent domination of European beauty standards. "They see the white hair and they like it." Odei is photographed by Cunningham in a Ghanian hair sculpture that defies verbal description (it looks like a windblown beach fence with mossy seaweed curled beneath). Author Tonya Lewis Lee, whose hair color is gold verging on "carrottop," recalls her mother rinsing her hair with tea when summer sunshine made it too light and brassy. "You looking too much like massa," she told her daughter. Some of the most interesting subjects in the books are hair stylists themselves. Their accounts reveal salons as not only social anchors, but sources of empowerment for both stylist and client. "The hairdo is secondary to having someone focus on them," says Sonia Mullins of her clients. "These women are busy hustling for the dollar, trying to take care of their families, and they don't have time to address themselves." Whether the end result is whimsical, rebellious, exotic or no-nonsense, "Queens" demonstrated the degree to which self-worth and pride are bound up in these women's hair. "When I see myself in an Afro," says actress Thoundia Bickham, "I feel more powerful." Or, as A'Lelia Bundles concludes, "the older I get the more I realize that what endures is 'strong,' not 'cute'."』
(Let's Talk About Hair Baby) 『I found "Queens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Hair" to be a wonderful book. I enjoyed the photographs and the stories that went along with them. Hair is such a loaded issue for Black women that it's refreshing to see a book that glorifies all manner of hair and hair styles. As India Arie sings, "I am not my hair" meaning I am more than my hair. However, there's a very real part of us that is our hair and Michael Cunningham has captured that part.』 『Crownsphotographer Michael Cunningham and author and journalist George Alexander have captured the marvelous trinity of black women, hair, and beauty salons in the gloriousQueens: Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair.
Angela Garner says that“The beauty salon is the one great thing we get to share as African American women. It’s therapeutic.” Tisch Sims says that wearing fantasy hair makes her feel “like a goddess, a queen.”
From the afro to the ponytail to dreadlocks to braids to relaxed hair to fantasy hair; from“good hair” to bad hair days, in this stunningly designed book black women from the United States, Africa, and London explore the fascination with hair and beauty that has long been a cherished part of African American culture.
In fifty gorgeous photographs accompanied by vivid, personal narratives,Queens, by turns moving and funny, is the ultimate all-occasion gift book, perfect for Christmas, Kwanzaa, Mother’s Day, and birthdays.』
IPhone 3G used's review (Very Good--Try it, you'll like it) 『A young Elizabeth, pre-Rex is involved in this, the first of the series. Recently discovered in the vaults under my bed, eagerly I read it again. So you know it has to be good.
Historical fiction should be adequately researched and Harper has done her homework! But not only that--she has woven an engaging tale of murder and mystery where you can feel the crisp chill of morning air in your nostrils and the fine slip of silks and brocade against your skin.
I look forward to buying all of her other novels in this series and playing catch up.
』
(A Good Read!) 『While not historically correct in all parts, this was a very good read. I read it in pretty much one sitting. You really are made to like QE and come to really like her friends she meets along the way. I like the way the book was made before she was Queen and how she had to deal w/ not getting the due respect she deserved as a princess and how hard it must of been for her.
Of course alot of what happened I am sure wasn't real but come on... this was fiction! Its suppose to be made up! Its an author taking a new twist on a great lady of her time.』
(The best book of the series) 『I've read all the books in this series and I believe that The Poyson Garden is the best one. I felt it had the most suspense, tension, and the best plot. Also, unlike the other books in which Elizabeth is Queen, in this book she's still just the Princess Elizabeth (or merely Lady Elizabeth, which her detractors call her)).
This book is FICTION. It does not pretend to be anything else. It's for entertainment purposes only, so I'm not sure why it got bad reviews for being "inaccurate". We all know the history of Elizabeth's exile at Hatfield House. What Karen Harper has done here is create a fascinating, fun to read, ficional account of Elizabeth's time in exile. I found it quite enjoyable and recommend this book to all fans of historial mysteries and certainly to fans who enjoy the Tudors.』
(disappointing..) 『Tedious details repeated over and over, an unlikable main character, and historical references not fully explained, make for a rather disappointing "Elizabethan mystery" novel. The secondary characters were far more interesting (and sympathetic) than Elizabeth, but alas!--we, as readers, do not get much more than a few fleeting pages in their points of view. Also, a final reference page noting what was historical and what was fiction would have been greatly appreciated.』
(THE POYSON GARDEN) 『Could not put down the book once I started. Took every opportunity to continue reading and was transported to the era of Elizabethan countries I so love. At once ordered the next few in series. Excellant work by Karen Harper.』
IPhone 3G used's review (Loved It!) 『This was my second Shannon Drake book and I really enjoyed it. The history of it was great as it revolved around the rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth. I would recommend!』
(Beautiful Book) 『I loved this book, it was both historical fiction and told the story of the rise and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots and was a beautiful love story of one of her ladies in waiting. It is a book I will reread in the future.』
(strong historical fiction) 『As a child she left Scotland for France accompanied by the four Mary Ladies in Waiting. Finally in 1561 recently widowed nineteen years old Queen Mary, no long the Queen of France, has returned to Scotland to sit on the throne. Accompanying the young Queen is her close friend Lady Gwyneth MacLeod. Gwyneth listens closely to Mary's desires and offers sage advice to go carefully with her heart as there are many who resent losing power with the monarch's return. However, as she warns her regal friend, Gwyneth ironically struggles to heed her own advice. Instead she is attracted to Lord Rowan Graham, whom she is not sure she should trust.
Mary sends Gwyneth and Rowan on a mission together in which their allure for one another openly ignites as desire tugs at both of them. However, treachery places the pair in danger with Gwyneth forced to choose between the love of her heart and the love of her friend; either choice may lead to execution.
THE QUEEN'S LADY is a strong historical fiction enhanced by a wonderful romantic subplot. The story line hones in on the political instability and overall country-wide chaos caused by Mary's return to Scotland. The difficult relationship between the lead couple augments Shannon Drake's entreatingly profound look at the fifteenth century furor caused by Mary Queen of Scots homecoming.
Harriet Klausner
』
(Pet Peeve: Starting a story with the almost ending) 『I love Shannon Drake's stories as well as those she writes another another name. So this review isabout the way she write the story not the story itself. It was probably a great story. That era seems to instill alot of intrigue.
What I absolutlely don't like is to to start reading a book that begins with the ending... Knowing that the main character went through a summarized list of horrors, was seemingly betrayed by a lover, yadda, yadda, I am sposed to turn the page and go back to the beginning and start all over again? I don't think so.... I skipped to the last chapter and of course all ends happily etc. Why should I suffer through the intrigue?
I don't like that kind of story writing and I don't care to read it. It is just part of my reading preference. So for those of you that were determined to read it through, good for you. I admire you...』
(This one is a keeper) 『I have to admit, I have a soft spot for Shannon Drake's books, eventhough some of them were not that great. Luckily 'The Queen's Lady' is Shannon Drake's best book yet. This book is well researched and well written, with characters that are believable and lovable. Even their trials and tribulations, and their actions, are never out of sync with their characters and time period. I love both Gwen and Rowan. Gwen is headstrong, loyal to the very end, and very passionate about what she believes in and loves. Rowan is every bit a Knight in Shining Armor of the time past. Their love for each other is constant and very heartwarming in such a shaky and violent era they live in. Read this book, you'll love it!』 『She desired him above all others . . . Would he now be her executioner?
Lady Gwyneth Macleod has staked her fortune and her reputation to help Mary, Queen of Scots take her rightful place on the throne. But her struggle to guide the reckless, defiant queen has put her at perilous odds with Rowan Graham, a laird dangerously accomplished in both passion and affairs of state. And the more Gwyneth challenges his intentions, the lesshecan resist the desire igniting between them. Now, with her country in turmoil and treachery shadowing her every step, will Gwyneth's last daring gamble lead her to the ultimate betrayal -- or a destiny greater than she could ever imagine?
Don't miss this dramatic new historical romance from the incomparable Shannon Drake!』
大満足！北国のホタテ・いくら・ボタンエビがぎっしり！
