The Ball Book (Modern Curriculum Press Beginning to Read Series)
List Price: $8.95
Price: $8.95
List Price:
Price: $8.95
|
Ball Margaret
Duchess of Aquitaine: A Novel of Eleanor
 List Price: Price: $12.78 You Save: $2.17 (15%) DescriptionBeautiful and brilliant, Eleanor is the daughter of the duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering court is the twelfth-century birthplace of courtly love. For all of the duke’s boasts that Eleanor has the brains of a man and the soul of a warrior, everyone knows that a girl of fifteen cannot possibly hold the richest dukedom in France. Everyone, that is, except her dying father, who insists on leaving Eleanor his most valuable provinces---and making her prey to the first baron who rides in to kidnap her. Eleanor, though, is not content to sit idly by and let herself become a victim, and devises a plan to marry the heir to the throne of France. While her alliance to Louis VII may be a dazzling one, her husband is a cautious man whose wit and courage do not always match Eleanor’s own, and she ultimately finds herself seeking an even greater match with Henry II of England. Sweeping from the courts of Paris to the perils of the Crusades, Duchess of Aquitaine gloriously illuminates the life of one of the most powerful, resourceful, and fascinating women in all of history. Customer ReviewsDuchess of AquitaineDelightful story! I love reading about women (especially historical women, even if they are fictionalized) who are strong, smart and witty. Eleanor of Aquitaine was all of these things and more. This is a book that I will read again and again. A mystical and diluted Eleanor of Aquitaine I've never read a non-fictional book about Eleanor of Aquitaine but I know something of her life story and I've read a number of novels in which she featured (by authors such as Sharon K. Penman, Pamela Kaufman, Annette Motley and others) and from this I have gotten a very strong impression of her character. She was strong, uncompromising, smarter then most of the men in her age and didn't know when to back down. This novel tells the story of Eleanor's life from when her father died and she had to marry the King of France to keep her lands, to when she ditches the queen for Henry Plantagenet, the future Henry II of England. And I just didn't get the same impression of the character of Eleanor from this book. This is an interesting novel though. It has a slight pagan slant to it, starting off with a description of a dance to bring on the spring equinox which makes a pretty clear statement about the divinity of women. Then the first chapter is told from the point of view of a saint, and throughout the book there are visions and slight hints of a sort of catholic/nature magic mix which is helping Eleanor's destiny. But these things are so slight in the novel that they don't really make an impact. If the angle had been explored more I think this would have been a far better and definitely more different book. As it stands this a run of the mill historical novel with some mystical imagery thrown in. And Eleanor, as smart and politically canny as she is shown in this book, just didn't fit with what I know about her, and certainly didn't jive with the "other" fictional Eleanor's I have read about. This could be a deliberate attempt for verity on the author's part, or just how the author viewed her, but when a character is so firmly established in history, and historical fiction, any variation always seems weird. Like you're reading about someone else who happens to have the same name and history as the person. Basically, I did enjoy this novel. I learned some things from it (for example, apparently the Knights Templar were not to bathe as part of their holy orders and could easily be identified by the stench one emitted) and it wasn't badly written. But I felt Eleanor was diluted in character and the mystical angle could have been explored more. Three stars. Light weight Eleanore This is a romantic novel written for a teen age reader. The author does poor justice to one of the great women of history. I got tired of the soap opera and didn't finsih the book. Mediocre Eleanor of Aquitane is one of the most fascinating figures of medieval history. A woman of legendary beauty, strength and intelligence, she carved out a position of power in a era thoroughly hostile to women. And created a dynasty of kings whose names are legendary. With that said, this book presents her as more of a perky "cheerleader" who relies on binding men to her by her beauty and possessions. There is no character development or depth-the characters remain as one dimensional as cardboard cutouts. If interested in historical fiction concerning Eleanor, try Sharon Kay Peman. A far better writer, her books "When Christ and His Saints Slept" and "Time and Chance" (and her mystery series "Queen's Man", etc) capture not only the essence of the this period, but also clothe the players in layers of personality. So much so that they seem to reach out to us across the centuries and seem real. deep look at a woman of ambition At 15, Eleanor knows as the heiress to Aquitaine and Poitou, men will come out of woodwork to claim her as their bride upon the death of her father. She believes that no one less than a king should be her husband. Her goal is to become the Queen of France and not the wife of some duke or worse. The Duchess achieves her objective when she marries King Louis VII, but finds her spouse a loser especially after the disastrous Second Crusade. Concluding he is not worthy of her Eleanor looks across the Channel where Geoffrey of Anjou reigns. However, following her divorce of Louis VII, it is the son Henry Plantagenet that catches her attention. Biographical fiction fans will receive immense pleasure from this deep look at a woman of ambition who marries to achieve her political objective of ruling as a queen. Eleanor sets her mind to become the monarch early on and chooses Louis, who she dubs a loser so she turns to the English throne. The descriptions of the era in France, the Holy Land, Byzantine, and England run deep while the key characters come alive. Margaret Ball provides a powerful look at the twelfth century through the escapes of Eleanor, queen of two countries. Harriet Klausner
Play Ball (Modern Curriculum Press Beginning to Read Series)
 List Price: Price: $8.95 DescriptionThis collection features 96 books to give primary students varied book choices in a wide range of reading levels. Many of the books by well-known author, poet, and former first grade teacher Margaret Hillert. The series is divided in to four child-centered collections. Reading levels 1.1-1.3.
Mathemagics
 List Price: $5.99 DescriptionA mild-mannered suburban mom in this world, a warrior woman in an alternate reality, Riva Konneva is determined to secure her daughter's proper Earth education, but old otherworld enemies make the process difficult.Customer ReviewsA flawed but entertaining story.The story has a number of good things going for it. The world the author has created is interesting enough to propel the reader forward even while some of the characters are sadly left undeveloped. I read this book in high school and while it wasn't a particularly memorable novel it was engaging enough that once a year or so I check if the author has released anything similar. The only bad thing about this book is that many of the characters are underdeveloped. Really there are only about five characters who really get to be introduced to the reader and I would say that only 2 of those characters are explored in any detail. This is not a book that claims to be high fantasy, its a sometimes tongue in cheek romp through a humorous contemporary fantasy setting. The only real problem i have with the book is that sadly it seems that there will not be any further adventures in the same world, as one of the best thing about the story is the way it develops and expands its setting. My favorite Margaret Ball book Margaret Ball is a terrific writer for so many reasons, which this book highlights to her greatest advantage. This book is (as is typical for her) fascinating, funny, intelligent, thought-provoking, emotional, and quite imaginative. As usual, she portrays women in a way that far too few authors do: unique, strong, and intelligent. Even better, she doesn't feel that she has to make the men look stupid and weak, which is a crutch that many "strong heroine" authors use. One thing that especially struck me was that the main character didn't see any need to tell her daughter "that's your father", when she met him. She didn't agonize over it, she didn't even consider it an option. Since the father would as soon sell his daughter as look at her, I think that's a wise choice. Still, I think it shows strength to be so untroubled by what I would find to be a troubling circumstance (i.e. daughter and father in the same room, when she doesn't know who he is). Being a mathematician, I naturally enjoyed all the references to math, although I find it hard to believe that an 11-year-old would have even heard of Linear Algebra, let alone understand its basic principles. Yes, even growing up with a math teacher. Both my parents are math teachers, and I didn't know about Linear Algebra until college (FYI, linear algebra is far beyond regular algebra, beyond calculus and differential equations, even.) Anyway, the chapter numbers were also a great draw for the mathematician in me. Being a great fan of sci-fi and fantasy, I also got a thrill coming across the various incarnations of my favorite books. It was a lot of fun guessing the titles before Dennis (the main character's boyfriend), especially the first one (a man with a very young face but very old eyes, who looked completely at ease, gazing around him with as much fascination with the sky as with the people who were watching him...can you guess who he is, even before he speaks?). The ones I didn't know, I searched out after reading this book, and discovered that I enjoyed them as much as Ball did. I was disturbed by the portrayal of the Star Trek characters, but it was the *books* they were characterizing, not the T.V. shows or movies, and I must agree that the books are terribly substandard. The one thing that truly disturbed me was the sexual abuse. Thankfully, she didn't go into much detail, but it was still quite disturbing to me. Most of her books do include a female character who is sexually abused, and although I understand why, how they fit into the plot, I do not like it. At least it all gets resolved in the end, and not just by revenge, which would hardly help the girl. I love that the girl finds her strength, her power, and a place where she belongs--where she's HAPPY. On a personal note...it gave me hope and inspiration. One doesn't have to travel to another dimension to find a place where she belongs, is strong, and is happy. Finally, in reference to the other reviews I've read here...I just don't get where they see the characters as 2-dimensional. Except, of course, the ones who literally are 2-dimensional. Our main characters, however, are not like that at all. The heroine, for example, is a warrior, a student, a loving mother, and an amazing cook. She grew up in "the hills", thinking herself to be "dumb" when she was actually quite intelligent. There's more, but I think that's enough to dispel the "2-dimensional" rumor. As for her boyfriend, he is a mathematician/teacher (not necessarily the same thing as "math teacher"), but he is not drawn as a geek. He is drawn as sexy & sensual, with a fine sense of humor and a full range of social skills. He, too, is an amazing cook. (As an aside...I like the way he refers to Salla as "my daughter", without any conditional statements--he has accepted all the responsibilities of a father and loves her and worries about her every bit as much as her mother.) The daughter, Salla, is a brilliant mathematician and reads and writes far above her grade level, but is not snobbish about it at all, and still talks with "like" and "totally" interspersed liberally in her statements. She doesn't fit into any stereotype. I think I've made my point. In summary, I would highly recommend this book as (a) a fun read, (b) great fantasy, (c) an interesting guessing game for sci-fi fans, (d) enjoyable for mathematicians, and (e) one of the few non-sexist books out there. Good light reading This is an excellent example of fun, light reading that doesn't take itself or its genre too seriously. In this amusing book, a warrior and her daughter from another space/time place have taken up residence in Austin, TX so that the girl can get a solid education. The mother has a nice math teacher boyfriend. The two of them take on villains from the other dimension, people from a science fiction writer convention, romance novel characters, and (shudder, whimper) school bureaucrats. I gather from the reviews that some folks don't care much for this book, but I found it charming. I recommend it for a vacation book; a day of light reading; a pick-me-up when depressed. What's with the math? Sure a Laplace transform should move people around, but it is not the inverse of a Furry-R transform (that should turn people into furry animals). Mathemagics is pretty good. Okay, so the characters are a little uni-dimensional, and the storyline kind of meanders, but aside from all that it's a pretty good book for light reading. I liked the subtle in-jokes about popular science fiction that Margaret Ball threw in. Some of them sailed clear over my head, thanks to my not being a rabid reader of hard sci-fi, but the ones I got had me chuckling out loud. I like Reva Konneva's live-in boyfriend Dennis and his brainy (instead of brawny) heroics and the fact that he's got a huge collection of science fiction books. I like the fact that Reva's daughter Salla is such a precocious and spunky little kid who can do just about anything with an enchanted Palm Pilot and three spare minutes. And for all their one-dimensionalness, every one of the characters is pretty darned unique. For example, Reva's friend, mother of an ADHD child, who takes it all in matter-of-fact stride on discovering Reva is a warrior woman from another dimension. Or the ADHD child (my apologies to Ball, I cannot for the life of me remember his name at the moment -- was it Jason?? -- sorry, it's been a while) who notices everything when he's off medication and consequently is able to provide Reva and Salla with crucial clues to stopping the evil bad guys. Or Reva herself, tough, no-nonsense, and naive all at the same time, who takes it as a compliment when a bunch of knife-wielding thugs try to jump her (key word here is 'try') in her own living room. One thing that pulled the book down, however, was an odd attempt to bring more serious matters to light with an underdeveloped child sexual harassment subplot. It's a serious issue, but the rest of the book was so light and fun that that part of the story was really out of place. Aside from that, everything was fantastic. I picked up this book because I'd read the short stories about Reva Konneva in the Chicks 'n Chainmail series and I thought the book version would prove to be as interesting. I didn't expect any greater depth or a huge amount of development; I just wanted a bigger dose of Reva Konneva and her unique perspectives on the Planet of the Paper-Pushers. I was looking for light humor, fun characters, fairly simple solutions to complicated problems, and great entertainment. And that's what I got! A+
The Shadow Gate
 List Price: $5.99 DescriptionCustomer ReviewsA Great Fantasy -- The Shadow Gate by Margaret BallI found this book under "Books for Chicks". But it is a great story which just happens to have women as the key characters. Men, you will enjoy it also, it is a good fantasy story. If you enjoy Andre Norton or Jody Lynn Nye you will enjoy Margaret Ball's "The Shadow Gate". This is my favorite Margaret Ball book I've read all of Margaret Ball's books that I've been able to get my hands on (well, all her fantasy novels, anyway ... but I may start reading her romances because I've become such a fan). I love the blend of history and fantasy that is present in Ball's books, and the answer to the mystery of what happened to the missing elven queen had me guessing right up until the end!
Embeadery
 List Price: Price: $29.95 DescriptionEMBEADERY takes a fresh look at bead embroidery by showing how to create new beadwork stitches based on classic embroidery stitches. Over a hundred stitches and variations are shown with clear step-by-step instructions, diagrams, and color illustrations. Projects include a beaded doll, a mermaid necklace, a crazy quilt block, and other items.Customer ReviewsSometimes you CAN judge a book by its' cover!I guess it was the combination of my favourite color combinations, beads and crazy quilts on the cover that grabbed my attention. Then looking through the book confirmed this was another 'keeper'! Interesting ideas, good layouts and well written. I think you'll get a lot from this book. Extreme Disappointment! This is the first book I have ever considered returning. Having purchased several hundred books on various art and crafts subjects, I have come to see standards among them that artisans expect in reference and instruction material. Eye candy and high quality color photographs are two of those standards. With the advanced technology we have today, the price of quality is reasonable. Artists do not mind spending their good money on high quality publications. It only makes their art experience more enjoyable. This book is a cheap backroom publication with a great cover. The few color plates near the back of the book would have been more enjoyable if they had been interspersed throughout the book, included in their respective chapters. The few examples of beadwork are nothing more than what you see on the front and back covers. How sad! The written content may be worthy, but the presentation fails to inspire the artist. Perhaps a revised, inspired version would be worthy. Beading I LOVE this book. It is clearly written and very well illustrated. The book provides lots of examples to follow. I highly recommend this book to everyone who may be interested in embroidering with beads. pleasantly surprised I didn't know exactly what to expect so was pleasantly surprised. The book uses great diagrams to show how to combine embroidery stitches with beads. It has an extensive number of examples that are described in easy to follow pictures. Would suggest this to anyone wishing to combine embroidery and beading for beautifuly embellished fabric. Nice but disappointing The stitches are well explained and very nice. I was disappointed when I received the book and discovered the only color pictures were on the cover. I would have enjoyed it much more with a few examples of the finished work in color. Ball Margaret News
B DirectoryForeign exchange news and charts. Find all FOREX data online.
Margaret Ball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Ball's books and art
Amazon.com: Ball, Margaret: Books
Margaret Ball (writer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Amazon.com: Ball, Margaret |
|
After four years in exile, many Hurricane Katrina evacuees really Meanwhile, Margaret Chopin became what Ball-Arthur calls "the Mother Teresa" of Renaissance Village, starting bingo and open-mike events to keep residents and more »
BBC NewsEvans's wife, Margaret, and his family have accepted his return to the ring. "He's experienced and he knows what he is doing," said his son Matthew. El Inglés, Salford's bullfighting star, returns to the ringall 40 news articles »