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Chapters: Noam Chomsky, Kirk Douglas, J. Michael Straczynski, Michael Douglas, Lisa Kudrow, Leon Czolgosz, Michael Mukasey, Murder of Russel Timoshenko, Janice Dickinson, Gary Vaynerchuk, Martin Berkofsky, Natalia Mishkutenok, Alexander Artemev, Max Kahn, Radasłaŭ Astroŭski, Andrei Gotsmanov, Jan Stankievič, Jazep Sažyč, Jan Zaprudnik, Belarusian American, Nikolai Sudzilovsky, Ivan Yermachenka, Metropolitan Iziaslav, Debbie Dickinson, Vladimir Artemev, Dimitry Elyashkevich,. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 149. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Avram Noam Chomsky (pronounced or /ˌnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and political activist. He is an Institute Professor and professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Chomsky is well known in the academic and scientific community as one of the fathers of modern linguistics, and a major figure of analytic philosophy. Since the 1960s, he has become known more widely as a political dissident and an anarchist, referring to himself as a libertarian socialist. In the 1950s, Chomsky began developing his theory of generative grammar, which has undergone numerous revisions and has had a profound influence on linguistics. His approach to the study of language emphasizes "an innate set of linguistic principles shared by all humans" known as universal grammar, "the initial state of the language learner," and discovering an "account for linguistic variation via the most general possible mechanisms." He elaborated on these ideas in 1957's Syntactic Structures, which then laid the groundwork for the concept of transformational grammar. He also established the Chomsky hierarchy, a classification of formal languages in terms of their generative power. In 1959, Ch...http://booksllc.net/?id=21566 ... Read more

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When a Hollywood location scout comes to Applewood, Long Island, and announces that the local elementary school might make the perfect backdrop for an upcoming George Clooney movie, the PTA’s decorum crumbles like a cookie from last week’s bake sale.

Enter Maddie, Ruth, and Lisa, three women who become the glue that holds the project together . . . and wind up forging a bond of friendship stronger than anyone could imagine.

A good thing, too, because each one of them is about to come apart. Maddie Schein, an ex-lawyer trying hard to fit in and save her marriage, gets knocked off balance by Jack Rose, an old college friend hell-bent on seducing her. Ruth Moss - rich, sexy, and outspoken - has more to give and less to enjoy than most people think. Indeed, since her husband’s stroke left him embarrassingly uninhibited yet completely impotent, she’s more of a caretaker than a wife. And modest Lisa Slotnick, a loving parent who wants nothing more than to fade into the scenery as she tends to her children, must deal with the humiliation of being thrust into the spotlight by her scandalous, alcoholic mother.

When these three get together, a powerful alliance is formed. But is it strong enough to overcome the obstacles to getting the movie made in their town? And will their friendship be enough to mend their hearts and homes? Join them as they reach for the stars . . . and try to pull off a Hollywood ending of their own.
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Customer Reviews (27)

I HAVE A CONFESSION...
Ellen Meister's debut novel, SECRET CONFESSIONS OF THE APPLEWOOD PTA is a feast for the senses.I laughed, cringed and even shed a tear or two as these women plotted, connived and blackmailed their way to George Clooney. Now, I'm wondering how I can get my own PTA to snag Gerard Butler!Read it!Seriously, like NOW!!

Could have been a winner....
I am by no means a prude, but the continuous vulgar language made me too uncomfortable to continue reading this book. The extreme cursing in front of her child really got to me. With the "f" word left out, it would have been a pleasant read.
Lots of others will love it, but it just too much for me.

Juvenile and vulgar characters make up this half mature, half childish plot
The plot is mature in the sense that it features the adult issues of marital woes in all sizes and stripes: infidelity, possible infidelity, infidelity, possible infidelity, and on and on. Other adult issues include naughty twin boys, recovering alcoholic mothers, emotionally rigid fathers, and a possibly learning disabled toddler. But mostly, it's about sex. And very descriptive sex, at that!

Now, the immature plot is the possible filming of the new George Clooney movie at North Applewood Elementary School. Every stay-at-home PTA mother gets overly excited at the prospect of meeting the handsome actor. Childish sexual fantasies involving the main characters and their leading man are swapped back and forth. (Are they 30something or 13???) The movie executives must build a stadium as part of the movie set. A stadium!?!?! Just what the PTA moms of North Applewood always wanted for their little ones- a stadium. They'll be the envy of Applewood South. Sadly, this plot does not turn out to be a satire of PTA moms in suburbia. No, the movie becomes less and less the focus of the book. More and more are the unlikeable characters' lives brought forth, ruining the book.

None of the adult characters are likeable. Maddie is so insecure that she assumes her husband is having an affair with his cousin. (Yes, cousin!) She can't confront him, so instead she takes up Jack Rose's offer of an affair. He is an absolutely wretched man, handing her line and after line. He was so despicable that I did not believe his "true love" for Maddie nor did I really care what happened to his character. Maddie and best friend Beryl just love to gab about George Clooney's hotness. I wanted them to shut up and focus on the real issue- Maddie's insecurity.

Ruth is awful. She seems to have forgotten her marriage vows for her husband, who has become impotent from a stroke. Ruth chases after the Applewood superintendent- it's absolutely pathetic. She's also a budding songwriter... with awful lyrics. (I think the author wants us to believe Ruth is a gifted songwriter, which she isn't. Not with those lyrics!)

Lisa has leftover baggage from her childhood. Raised by an abusive, alcoholic mother with a career in lounge singing, Lisa never really believed in herself. (Lisa's story would make a good book.) She's got a secret passion for singing, but she is too afraid to perform.

Other characters include the other vile mothers of the PTA. These ladies are supposed to be the bad girls. But, for me there weren't any good girls for me to dislike the other mothers. Maddie, Ruth, Lisa, and Beryl are supposed to be the ones we feel sorry for. We're supposed to think Suzanne and her minions are the bad girls, the ones with no morals or values. But no, all of these characters are degenerate. The ending, which is wrapped up with a saccharine bow, doesn't do the book justice. All problems are easily solved, no true reprecussions for ANY of them. Jack Rose is supposed to have been redeemed, but really, I disliked him enough not to care what happened to him! Ruth, in my opinion, makes a fool out of herself at Lisa's party. Maddie doesn't deserve her happy marriage, not after how sneaky she was! Yeah, Lisa's okay and that's just great. But really, I don't think too highly of her 'cause she's still friends with this sorry lot!

Seriously, read this book if it's the only novel left in your library or bookstore!

Secrets of the applewood PTA disappointing
Shallow plot lines and vulgar language abound in what had to potential to be a delightful read.The premise is the Applewood PTA's need to build a sports stadium for their school and the fact that a movie producer wants to use their school as a setting for a new George Clooney movie.Intrigue abounds as the towns founders memorial is stolen and three unlikely friends pull together to find it...or risk losing the movie deal that will allow them to have the needed stadium.If the story had focused on this, it would have been a smashingly funny read.Unfortunately, the personal lives of the women are described in suchshallow terms and the language used to describe the sexual needs and activities of the women is vulgar enough that the plot line becomes unfocused and lost in the sexual references and vocabulary.Overall a very disappointing read.

The audio book is wonderful!
I listened to the audio version of this narrated by Lisa Kudrow.I thought it started out a little slow, but once I was about 1/3 of the way through, I was hooked.One minor annoyance is that there are flashbacks weaved into the story, but once you get used to Meister's style of storytelling, you fall in love with each character.Kudrow does a great job of using different voices for each character, adding to their personalities.After I finished this one, I immediately went to search for other titles from Meister, so I'm excited to start the Smart One. ... Read more

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Chapters: Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, Adam Carolla, Laraine Newman, Tress Macneille, Lisa Kudrow, Conan O'brien, Kathy Griffin, Will Ferrell, Janeane Garofalo, Cassandra Peterson, Phil Lamarr, Jon Lovitz, Pat Morita, Bob Saget, Michael Mcdonald, Kristen Wiig, Jennifer Coolidge, Julia Sweeney, Maya Rudolph, Joe Ranft, Chris Parnell, the Groundlings, Mary Scheer, Cheryl Hines, Arden Myrin, Will Forte, Ana Gasteyer, Annie Mumolo, Michaela Watkins, Chris Kattan, Daniele Gaither, Kaitlin Olson, Eve Plumb, Cheri Oteri, Andrea Savage, Nicole Randall Johnson, Mindy Sterling, Edie Mcclurg, Christian Duguay, Rachael Harris, Dax Shepard, Joey Arias, Mikey Day, Michael Hitchcock, Kathryn Fiore, Stephanie Courtney, Nasim Pedrad, Wendi Mclendon-Covey, Jeremy Rowley, Karl Yune, Abby Elliott, Brooke Totman, John Paragon, Jim Wise, Hayes Macarthur, Susan Yeagley, Kevin Ruf, Alex Kapp Horner, Steve Little. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 347. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Paul Reubens (born Paul Rubenfeld; August 27, 1952) is an American actor, writer, film producer and comedian, best-known for his character Pee-wee Herman. Reubens joined the Los Angeles troupe The Groundlings in the 1970s and started his career as an improvisational comedian and stage actor. In 1982 Reubens put up a show about a character he had been developing during the last few years. The show was called The Pee-wee Herman Show and it ran for five sellout months with HBO producing a successful special with it. Pee-wee became an instant cult figure and for the next decade Reubens would be completely committed to his character, doing all of his public appearances and interviews as Pee-wee. In 1985 Pee-wee's Big Adventure, directed by the then-unknown Tim Burton, was a financial success and, despite receiving mixed reviews, it d...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=23916 ... Read more

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8.5" x 11.5"; 192 pages ... Read more

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Features: A photo-article on Lisa Kudrow, readers' homes, and a female chain gang, plus small features on Andrew McCarthy, Rosie Perez, Spike Jonez, Chamique Holdsclaw, Taye Diggs, and much more! ... Read more

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568 page, oversized fashion magazine featuring Kate Moss on the cover and in a photo-interview inside! Also in this issue: a photo-interview with Lisa Kudrow, Isabelle Huppert, Valerie Steele, Nadja Swarovski, and much more! ... Read more