Evelyne and Terry Donaldson - opinions anyone?

Yeah, this Yule seems promising. Not only I found "THE SPIRAL DANCE" in the famous bookshop yesterday - I started a thread about it in Spirituality - but I also learnt of some nice translations and editions of Tarot books in my native language.

I have lent my Spiral deck to a friend who wants to get started with Tarot (yessssss, she might also join the boards soon ), but I am having such a hard time trying to find decent italian sources where she could start learning the basics.
I have directed her to www.learntarot.com, to the basics here and some other places, but she is proceeding slowly because her english is not that proficient (no matter how hard I try, there's no good site about tarot in my tongue )

In the bookshop, apart from the usual crappy italian books, there were among others two by the above authors - I have investigated and the original titles are "Principles of Tarot" and "Tarot". I read briefly through and both seemed good, unlike the rest.

I was considernig getting one of the them - "Tarots" - but she is really just a starter and I have no idea how *really* good they are or which is better, if any is...

Do you have these books?
Are they good at all?
And are they good for a beginner?
What's your opinion of them?

Come on, come on... Thanks in anticipation for your reply.

'Principles of Tarot' was the first book I ever read on Tarot, and it is what got me into it. Story coming up:

One of my friends at work used to visit a Tarot reader, and she came from a reading seriously freaked out. Statements such as :
'You will only get married if you find someone this year'
'You will never have children'
'You will be unsuccessful at work'
and whatever.
She said it must be true because of the things this woman knew about her. I told her about cold reading, and she was still worried.

I had to travel on business, and spotted 'Principles' in a WH Smith on the station. I read it on the way back and was engrossed: I didn't know Tarot was like that! And then I was hooked, bought decks, eventually found this place, etc.

My friend's response (interestingly) was 'So it's all rubbish! That woman couldn't predict my future.'

So yes, as a beginner I found this book very useful. It paced my skeptical nature very well by not making extravagent claims while providing me with something very useful. The meanings attributed are generally positive, and there's a nice bit about your responsibilities if reading for other people. I haven't been back to it much since, because I now have far meatier books on my shelf.

Aerin

I can't speak about the books, I don't have them, but I do have an old book by Terry Donaldson called 'step by step Tarot'.

I always found at least half of it 'beyond' me at the beginning, although it was very well written and explained, but over half of it just didn't click with me. Left it to simmer for five years, went back and understood every word.
I find him a very knowledgable and accessible writer, but maybe one who may be a bit beyond the tarot virgin!
By the way, his book was the one that promoted and got me to look for the 'story' in a reading, and brought my readings a new dimension of connectedness. Can't read single cards in a reading forever.

allibee