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I enjoyed Travers' Mary Poppins. I was surprised how different it was from the movie. Only a few of the stories from the movie were in the book and vice versa. I would not be surprised if many of the other stories in the movie came from the rest of the books, but I want to read them and find out. returnreturnIn particularly I liked the stories featuring the twin babies who I don't even recall being in the movie. They spoke to each other and the birds and al the animals understood them but the grown ups didn't, except of course Mary Poppins. Certainly an interesting idea. returnreturnI also enjoyed the "trip around the world" where they quickly traveled around the world using a compass and met all kinds of animals. I heard the first edition had them meet all kinds of stereotyped children from around the world, and I have no idea how that would work but would love to get my hands on a first edition and find out.

This book was fairly well written, though he did get repetitive a few times. Having listened to the audio book I always seem to note repetition more than when I read dead trees. This audio book not having good transitions from CD to CD also can lead to it being halfway the second time through Track 1 before I realize I'm back in track 1 and he's not just being repetitive again. returnreturnIt wasn't as exciting nor humors as I had expected it to be. A lot of what it is was over reaching big government police getting into to private citizens life. The KKK is an awful organization and from Stallworth's story most of them are idiots. The part where Stallworth talks about having to be a body guard for David Duke as himself a black cop, rather than as the undercover "white" guy he's been talking to on the phone for months. returnI am left wondering what Duke and others involved thought once this book was release

It is incredibly long. A bunch of stuff happens but it doesn't seem to really have a plot. even the ending is like the author just stopped writing.returnreturnThe protagonist Scarlet is a real piece of work, incredibly dumb and naive, and I would like to punch her in the mouth.

The Emerald City of Oz was...interesting. The first depression of the 20th century hits Kansas hard and Uncle Henry is about to lose his farm. returnreturnEasy solution, move the whole family to Oz to live forever. Princess Ozma gives Princess Dorthy and her people on a tour of Oz. Meeting a whole new set of people including the paper-doll snip-n-clips and the fast talking wizzywigs. returnreturnBut the fun doesn't last because the Gnmoe king decides he needs to dig a tunnel into the Emerald City to blast the place and gets the help of all the other evil beings of the land to help him out.

This story was so much better than I expected. The movie "Return to Oz" was awful. "The marvelous land of Oz" on the other hand was a great trip down the red brick road. returnreturnThe story begins with Baum telling us how we never intended to make an Oz sequel, but so many kids had contacted him, including one little girl named Dorthy who risked everything to travel to his house and ask for more, that it became impossible for him not to. returnreturnHis Dorthy isn't in this story, this is instead the "continuing tale of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodsman in OzreturnreturnWe get a new protagonist, Tip, who created a Jack O'Lantern to scare the mean old lady whose been controlling him for years. After it scares the hell out of her she decides to punish him by making it come to life. This was a dumb idea because that evening Tip and this new Jack Pumpkin head run away to their own trip to the Emerald city. returnreturnIf you liked the Wonderful WIzard of Oz, you should pick this up.

This abridged audio collection was well produced. That being said it was a very odd collection, and it wasn't what I was expecting. I'm not sure what lead me to believe this, but I had expected an unabridged Full Cast Audio book like the Scripner Juvenile series by Heinlein I loved so much. returnreturnThis was actually a collection of radio shows and not actually the audio books. No narrator, so the character had really odd conversations to tell the listener what was happening. returnreturnThe oddest part though was the collection of the 1st, 2nd and 5th book in the series. Even worse that the end of "The Marvelous Land of Oz" we are told "Join us next week for Ozma of Oz" which we never got and without the in between books some stuff really doesn't make sense in "The Emerald city of Oz"

I received this book as part of LibraryThing's early review project. returnreturnWe are a home school family so having books like this available is always a big plus to us. That being said my oldest is currently in 2nd grade so it will be a time before we use this reference regularly. returnreturnIt says its visual guide to acing math in grade 4-9 but there are some topics in here that I never touched until 10th grade geometry, so your miles may vary. returnreturnFrom the description I had hoped we would be able to use this as a curricular from middles school math, but alas its more of a reference book than a curriculum. But for what it is, it's well put together, though quite heavy.

The fifth book in this series is a bit of a change. Again Slippery Jim finds a world that is even more immoral then him. He needs to save it. This time he finds a despotic world that the rest of the universe is fine with necessary it's a democracy. So after rubs in with police somehow the tiny resistance movement convinces Jim to run for president, by pretending to be a local recklous. I find it interesting to see a dirty ejection as a humerus adventure story. But all and all airtight.

The Best audio book I have listened to in a long time. returnreturnBook 9 returns to the "current" timeline, no more prequels. returnreturnThe "goes to hell" is about how Angelina and her friends get caught up into some religious cult that is all about going to heaven (a relatively "new" idea that has all but disappeared in this future context). If you give the "church" enough money you can take a special trip to heaven to prove its real and know you can go there when you die if you are loyal to the church. returnreturnAngelina goes on to investigate and Jim has to follow after when she goes missing. returnreturnof course its internal universal transporter that goes to "heaven" and "hell" returnreturnLike all the books in the series its great fun without a whole lot of fun without taking themselves too seriously. I really appreciate the jokes where they make fun of hard Science Fiction when Dr. Koupou starts explain how these various things work an inevitable Jim interrupts with "OK, whatever, lets just go already"

The Stainless Steel Rat is a Sci-Fi crime thriller. It took me some time to realize that the protagonist is not, in fact, a rodent. Though that is never made completely clear, nor is it if the time line is some long time in our future, some other galaxy far away, or another universe altogether, but I think it most likely to be a 200 or so years in our future. returnreturnJim is a criminal. One of the few because the government has made it where people have the ability and desire to commit crime taken from them at a very young age. He's an outlaw in every sense of the word, until one day he is finally caught. How can he avoid being reassigned a new personality? Well become an undercover cop of course! Have to be a criminal to catch a criminal. returnreturnGoes on to find a battle ship that is being built, and the criminally has secretly gotten the government to pay it for him. Jim falls in love with the antagonist though, so the end may surprise you.

IF this audio book had been released in the 21st century rather than in '85 it would have been called a prequel. Definitely better than the sequeles to the Stainless Steel Rat, focusing on how Slippery Jim became a a criminal mastermind, rather than how he uses his criminals mastermind to keep criminals in check. returnreturnStarts out with robbing stores for candy bars, selling those to other kids, and then getting caught on purpose robbing a bank in hopes of learning from a true master. returnreturnFinally finds such a master and they make a humorous journey through procu-swine burgers to a far off planet.

This studbook was fun, but in a different way than the others in the Stainless Steel Rat series. The 7th overall book in the series, chronologically it comes immediately after the Prequel "The Stainless Steel Rat is born" returnreturnOur hero slipper Jim is to avoid being brought back to him some planet to face bank coppery charges and gets dropped off on a military planet. He finds out his nemises is the now the general of the whole damn army and he finds his way to get drafted. Ends up on another new planet that has no government, and the military doesn't know how to deal with that. Its inhabitants seem to practice anarcho-mutalism, which the author calls Individual Mustalism. Here it gets kind of preachy, similar to out how Little Brother gets about Free Software, and the apparent "leader" (as much as their can be in anarchist society) is even named Sterner, though he claims to have come upon IM the same way everyone else did, from a super intelligent AI. returnreturnThere is a little problem with continuity as Jim is used (willing or not) as an agent of The Leauge, but if this had happened in a Pre-existing timeline, why no mention of that when he's first captured by the League in Book 1?

This audio book was not good. A romance novel that contained almost no romance. 5 hours of "blah". The whole book is "are they going to get married or not" well the title of the book gave away the ending to the book. returnreturnEntirely unbelievable. Long term fiancé falls in love with lady whose car broke down in town and the fiancé encourages them to get married. Then she is distraught but her long term friend and father's ranch hand supports her at her previous fiancé's wedding. Now the whole town is sure they are going to get married and the feed store is taking bets on when. returnreturnDumb, small town Christian novel. But its not even marketed as Christian fiction so I have no clue how it made the New York Times best seller list.

WOW! not only is that the initials of our protagonist, but about everything I can say about this audio book. Pop culture, futuristic, distopian, romance, like everything anyone could ever want from a book. The emotional responses generated by this audiobook was out of this world. Wil Weaton is less annoying than usual. The man who invited the oaysis, an online video game that is so dominate in the market that it has become synonymous with the intent, passes away without any heirs. His video will indicates he has left everything, including control of the oaysis itself to whomever is the first player to find an Easter egg he has hid in the oaysis. That's only the beginning.

This audio book was not very memorable. Like I listened to it half-way and was like "wait, I've listened to this before" returnreturnWould not recommend, still get's two stars because the audio production is fantastic like all Star Wars audiobooks.