The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition In December 2007, J.K. Rowling unveiled The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a very special book of five fairy tales illustrated by the bard herself, embellished with silver ornaments and mounted moonstones. Amazon was fortunate to come into possession of one of the original copies, and it was our privilege to share images and reviews of this incredible artifact. Now J.K. Rowling is giving millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide cause for celebration with a new edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, available December 4, 2008. Offering the trademark wit and imagination familiar to Rowling s legions of readers--as well as Aesop s wisdom and the occasional darkness of the Brothers Grimm--each of these five tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling s new introduction also comments on ...

Ken Follett has 90 million readers worldwide. The Pillars of the Earth is his bestselling book of all time. Now, eighteen years after the publication of The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett has written the most-anticipated sequel of the year, World Without End. In 1989 Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England centered on the building of a cathedral and many of the hundreds of lives it affected. Critics were overwhelmed--it will hold you, fascinate you, surround you (Chicago Tribune)--and readers everywhere hoped for a sequel. World Without End takes place in the same town of Kingsbridge, two centuries after the townspeople finished building the exquisite Gothic cathedral that was at the heart of The Pillars of the Earth. The cathedral and the priory are again at the center of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge, but this sequel stands on its own. This time the men and women...

#Brillant (2008-08-24) J avais lu Pillars of the Earth il y a plus de dix ans et j ai retrouvé Kingsbridge avec bonheur! Ken Follett nous donne une description passionnante et foisonnante de la société médiévale anglaise du XIV ème siècle sans aucune lourdeur. Le récit est haletant, peut-être plus captivant encore que celui de Pillars. . . . Il pose aussi des questions intéressantes sur la façon dont était considérée la femme par la société civile (urbaine et rurale) de l époque, par l aristocratie et par l Eglise. Un sacré conteur que voilà!! Faites-vous pla...

#I am not disappointed (2008-01-18) Had it been the first Ken Follett s book on Dark Ages, I would have given the highest mark. But, as Pillars of the Earth s sequel this medieval world is now not so new to me. I mean, Follett in his first novel made us discover a new society with its own rules, customs and people quite different of course from our present world albeit sometimes as foolish and violent. So, in World Without End, this dimension, this newness are no longer there but, all the same, it s still very captivating and enthralling to follow the fate of the main characters. Esp...

#I had some concerns (2007-12-15) I am happy to report that my concerns were unfounded. The book is long, but it has a lot going on and is not at all bloated. There are several stories being told, but they all interweave and the elimination of one would be a loss. Although it is set in the same location and refers back to some of the original characters, reading or remembering Pillars is not required. I enjoy learning about the construction and medical theories of the day and wish this aspect had been further expanded, but if a reader does not, there is not so much of it that it wou...

Softly he brushed my cheek, then held my face between his marble hands. Be very still, he whispered, as if I wasn t already frozen. Slowly, never moving his eyes from mine, he leaned toward me. Then abruptly, but very gently, he rested his cold cheek against the hollow at the base of my throat. As Shakespeare knew, love burns high when thwarted by obstacles. In Twilight, an exquisite fantasy by Stephenie Meyer, readers discover a pair of lovers who are supremely star-crossed. Bella adores beautiful Edward, and he returns her love. But Edward is having a hard time controlling the blood lust she arouses in him, because--he s a vampire. At any moment, the intensity of their passion could drive him to kill her, and he agonizes over the danger. But, Bella would rather be dead than part from Edward, so she risks her life to stay near him, and the novel burns with the erotic tension of their dangerous and necessarily chaste relationship. Meyer has achieved quite a feat by making this scen...

#J adore! (2008-10-10) Au début je me suis dit que ça allait être une véritable déception, et puis, malgré mes 30 ans sonnés, je suis tombé amoureuse de ce livre, en particulier du vampire!!!! un peu copié sur anne rice je l accorde (pandora par exemple) mais quel bonheur! une lecture facile et amusante, pour tous les ages!

#Ce livre ne sera pas un classique du genre (2008-04-06) L auteur a le mérite d avoir dépoussiéré le mythe du vampire : adieu cercueil, eau bénite et autre couronne d ail. Mais ce livre est loin de révolutionner le genre. L histoire d amour au coeur du roman n a rien de bien original et sent même carrément le déjà-vu. Elle prend complètement le pas sur le côté fantastique du livre où les vampires ne sont finalement que des pretextes à cette romance. Les personnages adolescents me font soupçonner que c est ce public qui était exclusivement visé. Le livre en lui m...

#Un roman pour ados... (2008-01-20) Après avoir lu un tas de critiques élogieuses sur cet ouvrage, j avoue que mes attentes ont été déçues. Loin du petit chef d oeuvre espéré, Twilight n est finalement qu un livre pour ados, de bonne facture sans doute, mais qui n a pas réussi à me convaincre en tant qu oeuvre littéraire. L écriture est linéaire, simple et rapide pour un contenu passablement creux, l intrigue est cousue de fil blanc, et les personnages sont un amalgame de clichés. Ca se lit vite et bien, d où peut-être le succès du livre. La base de l histoire, c ...

#un livre de vampire comme un bonbon acidulé (2007-12-28) fabuleusement bien écrit . . . . voici un livre doux-amer sur l adolescence et ses errements écrit avec une grande délicatesse. C est un livre qui n offre qu un point de vue, celui d une ado de 17 ans capable d user du vocabulaire le plus varié et subtil et de tomber amoureuse d un vampire à la beauté éthérée! ce livre est magique . . . on s y croit immédiatement, on sent l humidité de la région suintait des pages comme la sensualité naissante de l héroine qui s éveille graduellement ! C est délicieux de lire ...

#5 étoiles, même plus! (2007-12-27) Si je dois vous conseiller UN livre, ou plutôt UNE série, c est bien celle-ci, on est pris dans l histoire dès les premières lignes, et on ressent tout. En quelque sorte c est un livre intéractif, très sensuel, le touché, les odeurs. . . et une très belle, très intense et très compliquée histoire d amour. A lire absolument!