Choose Ireland for Retirement: Retirement Discoveries for Every Budget

Customer Reviews:

be warned.......2007-10-13

If you are looking at purchasing this book, keep in mind the date it was published. Alot has changed in ireland since 1999. Ireland is now on the euro, which means, your U.S retirement dollar will not go as far. Also, the housing prices have skyrocketed in ireland. The housing prices listed in the book just aren't there any more. The book does give alot of valuable iformation. Just keep in mind that it is a little out of date.

Choose Ireland for Retirement: Retirement Discoveries.......1999-12-15

Informative and fun to read. Offers loads of practical info on cost of living, climate, real estate, cuisine, and health care. Examines where to settle and suggests regions that provide the best climate and most affordable housing. Explores Irish culture, the role of the pub, the Irish view of people from the States, and how to contend with culture shock in Ireland. My mother is planning to retire part-time in Ireland and Patti Cleary's book has helped her and our family prepare for the adventure.

Good Practical Advice.........Worth buying........1999-12-02

I have always been drawn to Ireland and was pleased to find a book that provides lots of practical advice for someone who's thought about making this major move. The information about regions and climate is especially helpful, as is the guidance on how to find a place to live and adjust to driving on the left. The information about food, both the availability of products and the restaurant boom, is encouraging. Worth picking up even as a travel guide.

Everthing One Could Possibly Need to Know.......1999-11-24

This is an exceptional guide for the retiree who is thinking about where to retire. Because it is so beautifully written, it reads like a novel. It gives one a real taste of Ireland, as if one is actually there. The author has covered every possible thing that I can think of that one needs to know before making an educated choice about where to retire. An excellent read, yet extremely practical at the same time. I heartily recommend it even for those who are years away from retiring, as, obviously, that's when the planning needs to begin.

Customer Reviews:

Superb and unique.......2006-09-29

If only Ms. Bull would write more! Lots and lots more. A stunner of a book, with a premise that at first looks well-used but then turns out to be stranger than you can imagine. And really, really GOOD. The language is amazing, the characters real and intriguing, and every time I finish this I want a sequel. It should be back in print--if The Secret Country trilogy is freshly on the shelves, why not this?

Post Apocalyptic Gender Queers.......2005-12-26

"Bone Dance" is a really great thought provoking book. It's set in a near future post-apocalyptic Minneapolis, and for quite a while it's unclear if the narrator of the book, Sparrow, is hiding something about a mysterious past, or if memories of the past have been obliterated through nefarious means. It's hard to describe, but an amazing read even for those who aren't a fan of sci-fi or futuristic books. I would definitely suggest tracking down this book to read or give to others.

The Friendship of the Soul.......2005-07-07

Ms. Bull does not have very many titles to her credit, but each one of them is very unique, very different from the average run-of-the-mill fantasies that clutter up the bookstore shelves.

Bone Dance starts with a post-nuclear setting, but rather than a world of deserts and a civilization blasted back to stone-age technology, here we still have cities, electricity, even full-flavored showings of old movies and music clips intertwined in the best traditions of artistic DJ's. Of course, the infrastructure that produced the technological goodies needed to do such shows no longer exists, thereby providing employment for Sparrow, our first-person narrator, as he is one of the few that still has the necessary knowledge of electronics to repair this gear when there are the inevitable breakdowns.

Sparrow has a problem, however, of having `blank' spots in his memory, times when he can't remember what he did or where he went, only knowing that where he woke up is far from when his last memory says he was. Finding out the answer to these blank spots involves tarot cards, the Horsemen, the dictator of the city, a search for revenge on the person who helped instigate the nuclear war, hoodoo magic, and a cast of very well realized characters. Each of these characters have their own pasts and problems, and they all grow and change considerably during the course of this book's action. Some of the action is very `unpretty', almost gross, but provides a strong line of plot thread that well illuminates one of the main thematic points here, of the importance of friendship and community and that the means to find these things involves baring your soul a bit to others. The odd meld of magic and technology here is refreshing, with some interesting descriptions of the meaning behind the various tarot cards, something I don't normally subscribe to, but Ms. Bull makes them an integral part of the plot, and here it works well.

A strong book with a taut plot that is not telegraphed, highlighted by characters that are very different but quite recognizable, a setting and a group of ideas that are not just a rehash of stuff seen hundreds of times elsewhere, all are very good. I had some quibbles with some of the minor characters not being presented with enough force to make them memorable when they reappear after fifty page gaps, and I found some of the descriptive work either over- or under-done, sometimes leaving me floundering about just what the scene was or wishing she would get on with the story. These are definitely minor quibbles, however, as the general prose is quite adequate, the story line engrossing, the main characters real. Recommended for all those readers who are tired of crumbling castles and yet another dragon quest.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

Unbelievably Good.......2005-06-02

If life held any justice, Emma Bull would be at least as famous and as (presumably) wealthy as Neil Gaiman. Anyone who enjoys his writing will positively revel in hers.

'Bone Dance' first caught my eye as a library book almost ten years ago and it was with vast happiness I bought a used copy from Amazon last summer. And really, it's the PERFECT book to read around St. John's Eve.

The protagonist is Sparrow, a mysterious but deeply engaging character with a shadowy past and a sudden tendency to black out, only to later meet characters who seem to know more about these episodes than poor Sparrow does. The greater plot concerns the Horsemen, supersoldiers created by a now-defunct U.S. government who had no bodies, gifted with the ability to seize any host body and destroy its owner's mind. Sparrow and friends (Sherrea, Theo, and many others, all finely and absorbingly drawn) are now living in a world after the Horsemen caused a nuclear holocaust, where folk magic has new credence and technology is precious.

I can't decide which I like better: the plot(which is dynamite), the characters (all of whom you'd love to spend time with), or the prose itself (witty, sparkling, and apt to make you lose whole hours while reading it). I generally don't go in for a lot of cyberpunk beyond William Gibson, simply because it's usually too invested in its own tragically hip and fiercely cutting-edge coolness to actually entertain the hapless readers who find it, but this is pure quicksilver magic. I'd give it ten stars if I could.

Please reissue this book!.......2004-08-07

"Bone Dance" (along with "Falcon") has got to be one of my favorite all-time books. Emma Bull is an amazingly gifted storyteller with a sure, deft touch. If you haven't yet discovered her, you are in for a treat: complex characters, layered plots, detailed world-building, humor, and, above all, a compassionate yet clear-eyed understanding of human weakness make this an outstanding story, which, in my opinion, far exceeds "War for the Oaks" (perhaps her best-known work.) While "Oaks" is a delightful story, it is in "Bone Dance" that Bull really hits her stride. If you like Lois McMaster Bujold, Diana Wynne Jones, or Tanith Lee, then you will probably like Emma Bull too. This is a book that will haunt you long after you put it down.

Bone Dance: New and Selected Poems 1965-1993 (Sun Tracks, Vol 27)

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Competive Force

Bone Dance: New and Selected Poems 1965-1993 (Sun Tracks, Vol 27)
Wendy Rose
Manufacturer: University of Arizona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0816514283

Book Description

A prolific voice in Native American writing for more than twenty years, Rose has been widely anthologized, and is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Bone Dance is a major anthology of her work, comprising selections from her previous collections along with new poems. The 56 selections move from observation of the earth to a search for one's place and identity on it. In an introduction written for this anthology, Rose comments on the place each past collection had in her development as a poet.

Customer Reviews:

Competive Force.......2000-03-26

Wendy Rose's "Bone Dance" has been an inspirational insight into the life of Native Americans. Imagery and musicality combine to elicit an internal competition for the reader. In comparison to her other works, such as "Halfbreed Chronicles" and "Going to War with All My Relations," "Bone Dance" shows that her strength grows with age. She speaks with truth and vigor, but at times lacks the edge of her earlier poems. Wendy Rose serves as a competive force in the voice of Native Americans and I recommend this book for all who have an interest in both Native American Literature and personal struggles in finding their identity.

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"Mixing potent ingredients"

Baptized to the Bone
Dave Johnson
Manufacturer: Dramatist's Play Service
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0822220679

Customer Reviews:

"Mixing potent ingredients".......2006-10-24

It was Dave Johnson's collection of poetry, The Marble Shoot, that lead me to Baptized to the Bone - this is the kind of author you want to find everything they've written, and then read them over and over again. As soon as I started Baptized to the Bone, I couldn't put it down. It's spot on and engaging; I was pulled into the world of these characters and did not want to leave - I could see it all so clearly. The man knows how to use words - not one is wasted in this amazing, funny, gripping play. Plus, religion, sex, intrigue - it's all in there, and it's delicious. Both Johnson's poetry and play I highly recommend if you value the combination of exquisite craft and scintillating content.

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Confusing Visions
Bone Dance / Martha Brooks
A great book!
Buy this one immediately!

Bone Dance
Martha Brooks
Manufacturer: Groundwood Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Lying Awake

ASIN: 0888993366

Amazon.com

"All things are bound together. All things connect." As far as Alexandra is concerned, that quote, attributed to Chief Seattle, doesn't do enough to explain the strange way that the good and bad in life always seem to get tangled up together. Her father, a man she's never even met, dies and leaves her with a cabin on a prairie, near an almost-forgotten Native American burial mound. What secrets await her there? And, as if she doesn't have enough to worry about, Alex meets Lonny LaFreniere there; he is haunted by even more ghosts than she is. Martha Brooks weaves a subtle tale of land, love, belonging, and forgiveness. Alexandra and Lonny are smart, real characters: they are both careful to protect themselves, and that's what makes their blossoming relationship especially moving.

Book Description

“Life is full of surprises, and sometimes the good and the bad get all bunched up together.” Alexandra’s beloved grandfather said this often. But nothing could have prepared her the death of her father – a man she never knew – and his legacy – a cabin on prairie land near an ancient Native American burial ground. It is at the cabin that she meets Lonny, who seems more troubled than Alexandra. Lonny’s stepfather had once owned that very same cabin and land and always wanted it to go to Lonny. But Lonny, tormented by guilty memories and disturbing visions, refused to take it. Who would have thought it would it end up in the hands of a city girl like Alexandra? He tries not to like her, but is drawn to her nevertheless.

As their story unfolds, Lonny and Alex are haunted and guided by spirits that draw them to the land and to each other in this moving and tender tale about two unforgettable teens.

Customer Reviews:

Confusing Visions.......2007-02-18

Alex has never known her father. He left when she was born, leaving her mother and her Aunt Francine and her grandfather to take care of her. She was especially close to her grandfather all of her life. He was a spiritual man, speaking like the Native Americans did of the spirits in the land and its objects. Then he died, leaving Alex lonely, although he still visits her in the very vivid dreams she has.

Shortly after she turns seventeen, Alex finds out that the father she never knew has died. Furthermore, he has left her seventeen thousand dollars and a piece of land near a lake with a cabin on it.

Lonny lives with his stepfather on the land next to Alex' cabin. His stepfather usd to own the land Alex's father bought, and was disappoined when Lonny didn't seem to want it. He has bad feelings about the land, though. His mother died years before, and Lonny still thinks it was his fault, for digging up the bones of ancient Native Americans from a burial mound close to Alex's cabin. He also has strange dreams like Alex, dreams in which the Native Americans from the burial mound come out of the ground again.

In the middle of the summer, Alex finally comes to the cabin, to live there alone for a week and try to come to terms with her father's death and the fact that although she never met him, he left her this land. Lonny also has issues of his own to work out. Will the two of them be able to help each other?

I liked the parallelism of Lonny's and Alex's lives, especially the relationship each of them had with his or her single parent. I sometimes found myself lost in the story, though. It wasn't always clear what was a vision or a dream and what was reality, to I had trouble sorting out the plot sometimes.

Bone Dance / Martha Brooks.......2001-05-01

Between anguish and rebirth lies closure, a spiritual crossing point where healing takes place. In this evocatively told tale, author Martha Brooks offers an exquisite insight into the family circumstance and spiritual connections of Alexandra Marie Sinclair, and Lonny LaFreniere, the travellers on this journey.

The Lacs des Placottes Valley area of Alberta has been the site of the homestead for the LaFraniere family for several generations. Tom LaFreniere plans that Lonny, his stepson will one day own this land. This is also the place of an ancestral Indian burial mound, and once, Lonny disturbed it. Hard times and a need for money become the reasons that Tom LaFreniere accepts that he must sell it. The buyer is a solitary man who has spent his life on the move from one prairie town to another. He writes a letter that Lonny is supposed to mail, but doesn't. Unexpectedly the stranger dies and the land is left to a daughter he has never seen. Lonny is tormented in dreams by the spirt of his mother, and those whose bones are buried in the Indian mound. He is also disturbed by the image of a girl who sees straight through him!

Alexandra Marie Sinclair is loved and supported by her mother, her aunt, and her Cree grandfather. From him and his friend, the Old Raven Man, Alex is guided by a vision that sends her on a quest in search of truth about the man who was her father. As she sets foot on the former LaFreniere homestead, Lonny feels the spirits of the ancients moving him to reveal truths he has long suppressed.

This is a well written story that will remain in memory long after the final scene is read, and felt!

A great book!.......1998-04-17

This book was beautiful, and I have to say that Martha Brooks is one of my favorite authors. The strong sense of connection is part of what makes this book so good- and as a teenager, I have to say that Alex and Lonny are characters that I don't find at all hard to relate to. All in all, I loved it.

Buy this one immediately!.......1998-02-20

This is one of most magical, moving, beautifully written novels I've read all year. I recommend it highly to adult readers as well as teenagers. It's a little gem.

Dancing in My Bones (Harper Growing Tree)

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Great Rhythm!!
We love this book!

Dancing in My Bones (Harper Growing Tree)
Sylvia Andrews
Manufacturer: HarperFestival
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0694013161
Release Date: 2001-08-21

Book Description

Your 21/2-year-old is full of bouncing, dancing energy.

Tips for reading and sharing:

Recite portions of the text as you dance with your child

Point to and identify the body parts mentioned in the story

Make up playful extensions to the text, such as "I've got teeth in my mouth; I've got hair on my head."

Customer Reviews:

Great Rhythm!!.......2007-07-23

I found this book at our local library and my 2yr old son loves it. The words rhyme and the musical rhythm keeps me humming the lines for hours.

We love this book!.......2003-08-21

Wow, I have to disagree with the School Library Journal review above. I'm a children's librarian and we just love this book for storytime. It absolutely begs to be sung to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It." It gets kids moving, one body part at a time, so it's great for kids who are getting restless. They love the song, and the pictures too.

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Beto and the Bone Dance

Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374317208

Book Description

A fantastic encounter on the Day of the Dead.

Today is Beto's favorite holiday -- the Day of the Dead. First, he and his father craft an altar at home in honor of Beto's recently departed grandmother, filled with the things she loved in life. Later, it's off to the cemetery, where at midnight all the dead souls will come to visit the living. It's a celebratory occasion, but Beto is distraught because he isn't able to find a perfect gift for Abuela's altar. The answer to his dilemma is found in a wild dream, in which Beto joins a conga line of dance-mad skeletons.

Through her effulgent paintings and rhythmic text, the author conveys all the excitement of this unique Mexican fiesta, as well as a comforting message for children who have lost a loved one.

Where Bones Dance: An English Girlhood, An African War

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A Girl Comes Out During Wartime

Where Bones Dance: An English Girlhood, An African War
Nina Newington
Manufacturer: University of Wisconsin Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

In this stunning debut novel, a child dissects the darkness at the heart of her British diplomatic family. Living in Nigeria on the brink of civil war, Anna—also known as Jake—becomes blood brothers with Dave, the Korean American daughter of a C.I.A. operative. They do push-ups, collect pornography, and plot lives of unmarried freedom while around them a country disintegrates. Luscious, terrifying, and raw, Nigeria itself becomes a lesson in endurance, suffering, love.
Stories are layered upon stories: Anna's grandmother tells stories about life as a white woman on the Gold Coast; the clairvoyant and closeted "Aunt" Elsie gives Anna a story of transformation to hold onto in the coming tumult of adolescence. Yet Where Bones Dance also spirals down to the stories that are not told—sexual abuse, the myth of benign colonialism, the chaos of postcolonial Africa. Sensual and fantastical by turns, this moving, funny, immensely readable book delivers an understanding of the interplay of sexuality, gender, race, and war that is sophisticated beyond the years of its intrepid narrator.

Customer Reviews:

A Girl Comes Out During Wartime.......2007-03-01

Coming of Age During Wartime

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Nina Newington's fictional autobiography looks into the inner being of her British diplomatic family during the Nigerian civil war. We meet Anna, also known as Jake as she tries to find way through the maze of family, culture, place and gender. She reaches no conclusions--the world remains a mystery, which seems dominated by betrayals and losses.
We meet Africa though childish eyes, beautifully written prose, and carefully drawn characters. Written in short and scattered
chapters which tell of the rapidly blossoming of youth, we get an insider's look at Nigeria before the election and war. It was during those same years that Anna felt the pangs of adolescence. She lives in a world that is predominately dark and to while away her leisure time, she teams up with Dave, the daughter of a C.I.A agent. They became "blood brother and work out together, watch porn movies and plan freedom for their future. Meanwhile the country that they live is disintegrating. The country, Nigeria, herself becomes ultimately a symbol of love, suffering and endurance.
Stories give rise to other stories. Anna's grandmother tells of how she was the only white woman on the Gold Coast. Anna's aunt was clairvoyant and a closeted lesbian. It is Aunt Elsie that gives her the hope to hang on. Anna's mother was socially above the rest but was not a good parent. Her father was abusive and not around when Anna needed him. Neither parent really provided upbringing for the child. She had been a sheltered child and she and Dave try to make sense of the world from which they have been sheltered.
This is a beautifully written novel. The prose is magnetic and electric. It is not an easy trick pulling someone into the consciousness of a character but Newington manages to do that, The book is fresh but replete with the wounds of war. Seeing history through the eyes of a child is always a treat--it is a double treat when it is well written.
There is such depth to this book that it is hard to be objective about it. It is a tender study of coming of age during wartime and if for no other reason this book is worth a read.
_________________
Amos Lassen
what's new?

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One of the most disappointing books I have read

Stormy Monday: The T-Bone Walker Story
Helen Oakley Dance
Manufacturer: Louisiana State Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0807113557

Customer Reviews:

One of the most disappointing books I have read.......1998-05-02

The subject of this book is one of the most amazing musicians/artists/showmen of all time. Unfortunately the writer treats the subject in a disjointed, disorganized, almost incomprehensible manner. There is no chronological methodology to the story, characters appear from nowhere with no clue as to who they are or what role they play in this man's life. One third of the way into the book a son all of a sudden appears at 14 with no indication of where he came from, who his mother is, or what role he has played in Walker's life. The book is authored by Helen Oakley Dance and it appears that she has spent time with Walker . She attempts to recall stories and anecdotes that have been told her by Walker, his associates, and family. Those stories are thrown together in a haphazard and incongruous fashion that, frankly, more often than not, just leave you confused. She will recall a story and then in the middle of it she is onto something else that may have happened years earlier or later. Extremely frustrating reading. It is obvious that she has alot of knowledge of this fabulous artist but unfortunatly she does not have the ability to write a book. If you are a Blues fan or a fan of T-Bone Walker I would reluctantly reccomend the book to you because there is alot of valuable information and interesting details contained therein. Unfortunately you will become very frustrated trying to make any sense of it. She's got the facts there, she just doesn't know how to relate them.

10 Anita Blake Stories[hardcovers] (anita blake,vampire hunter, 1-10[burnt offerings/blue moon/cerulean sins/incubus dreams/guilty pleasures/laughing corpse/circus of the damned/lunatic cafe'/bloody bones/killing dance)

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10 Anita Blake Stories[hardcovers] (anita blake,vampire hunter, 1-10[burnt offerings/blue moon/cerulean sins/incubus dreams/guilty pleasures/laughing corpse/circus of the damned/lunatic cafe'/bloody bones/killing dance)
laurell k hamilton
Manufacturer: berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000SWSIK4

Product Description

this is the bestselling vampire series by l.k.hamilton!!omnibus's,2/1 and 3/1 stories,singles.whichever you get,you won't be disappointed in this collection of one of the best written series this decade.....

4-book Set (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series); Blue Moon; the Lunatic Cafe; Burnt Offerings; the Killing Dance; Bloody Bones By Laurell K. Hamilton

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4-book Set (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series); Blue Moon; the Lunatic Cafe; Burnt Offerings; the Killing Dance; Bloody Bones By Laurell K. Hamilton
Laurell K. Hamilton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V2BVGO

Product Description

Anita Blake, vampire hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton.

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