Written in a single day, you can almost inhale its freshness; it contrives to sound like an oral tale shaped by a thousand mouths, rather than a lone man at his desk.
How I came to do so, working 600 miles south of Tokyo on a luxury yacht owned by a billionaire hedge fund manager, on an expedition funded by television, using a camera system created on a shoestring budget, was a convoluted tale shaped in large part by our national research priorities.
In this capacity the Nativity story has become a popular folk tale, shaping perceptions of pregnancy and childbirth.
Other pressing questions include Iran's reluctance to discuss a document found by inspectors — one that the Iranians were not willing to let the inspectors take out of the country — that sketches out how to shape uranium into perfect spheres, the tell-tale shape for a primitive weapon.
Here were the tell-tale shape-shifters.
By various opposing accounts, the peculiar tale may shape up as a battle for control over the actor between a Mafia extortion crew, which threatened his life, and Buddhist advisers who voiced concern for his afterlife.
That's why seeing professors of color is so important; it isn't just about the subjects they teach (but those are important too), but the fact that they've been through this trial by fire and survived to tell the tale and shape young minds.
From early black-and-white photographs in which she poses as a Hitchcock heroine in unresolved scenes from films we almost recognise, to later works that more violently transfigure her features with monster makeup, Sherman evokes the tales that shape who people become.
The tales took shape in a screenplay that went unproduced, and while the original actors are far too old or otherwise unavailable to bring a fourth "Godfather" film -- especially one set before the original -- to screen, Puzo's final Corleone story will be told within the confines of a new novel.
Here's how to know if the spider is a recluse: Look for the tell-tale violin shape on its back.
M. Ranelagh, the English schoolteacher who tells her harrowing tale in THE SHAPE OF SNAKES (Putnam, $24.95) with the help of newspaper clippings, police reports, personal letters, photos and other records, openly admits to being manipulative, and for much of the story Walters keeps us mystified about her motives.
