Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey
Random House
ISBN: 1740512561, $45.00, 269 pages
Ann Skea, Reviewer
http://ann.skea.com
"Whatever you want to invent in the art world has been done", Peter Carey is reported to have said in a recent Sydney Morning Herald interview. So, is that why the main character in his new novel, Theft, is an Australian version of Gulley Jimson in Joyce Cary's The Horses Mouth?
"Theft", says the publisher's blurb, explores "ideas of art, fraud, responsibility and redemption"; and Michael Boone, who is the chief narrator of the story, is, like Gulley Jimson an "artist, con man and aging lover" (to pick at random from some Internet synopses of The Horse's Mouth). Like Gulley, he has just been released from gaol when he begins to tell his story. Like Gulley, he is scornful of normal, polite conventions and he lets nothing stand in the way of his art. Michael Boone's art is unconventional and 'Modern' and the masterpiece on which he works has the Biblical title 'I, The Speaker, Ruled As King Over Israel': Gulley Jimson, too, was painting a huge, modern work on a Biblical theme. And, like Gulley, Michael Boone (or Butcher Bones as he is called throughout most of Theft) is in dispute with his ex-wife over possession of his own work which, as Butcher Bones puts it, has been declared by divorce lawyers to be "Marital Assets".
More than anything else, it is Butcher Bones's attitude towards the law, art dealers, art collectors, fashions in art, the gullibility and ignorance of the general public, and his own unquestioning belief in his own artistic genius, which exactly reflects that of Gulley Jimson. Jimson's saving grace, however, is his Blakean vision, and his ability to see through the surface ugliness of the world and the people around him to the essential beauty beneath. Butcher Bones has no such spiritual depth. As his brother tells us, he does not believe in god or in miracles and he relies solely on his own judgment, especially in his estimation of his own worth.
In spite of all this, Theft is also very different to A Horse's Mouth. Most obviously, its narrator is as true-blue Aussie as any uncouth, foul-mouthed, alcohol-fuelled, football fan can be. If you choose to spend time with him as he tells his story, then there is no point in getting prune-face and prissy about his attitude to women or about his scorn for all those he robs, sponges on and deceives. In his eyes, they are all fools. His greatest admiration - his enduring love, as he proclaims poetically at the end of the book - is given to the equally ruthless and immoral young woman in whose art fraud he becomes embroiled, and whose own selfishness ultimately exceeds his own.
Theft is different to Joyce Cary's book, too, in that it not only raises questions of authenticity in art through the words and actions of its main character, but it also embodies them in its creation and publication. Peter Carey may, or may not, have stolen Joyce Cary's artist idea (this book is, after all, entitled 'Theft'), and perhaps a court case like that involving The Da Vinci Code is a possibility; and he may or may not have imitated some of Cary's brush-strokes, so-to-speak; but this book is also distinctively Peter Carey's own work. Much of this is due to his creation of Hugh, Michael's "damaged two-hundred-and-twenty-pound brother". "Hugh the poet and Hugh the Murderer, Hugh the Idiot Savant", as Michael describes him, is the second narrator in this book and he is a fine creation.
Hugh became Michael's responsibility after attempting to murder their father. He describes himself as 'Slow Bones' and much of the time he is lucid and amiable, but he is prone to uncontrollable fits of rage and he tends to speak in CAPITAL LETTERS. Hugh makes a wonderful foil for Michael, but both are mad in their own way (as was the whole family, it seems) and often their 'voices' are not easily distinguishable. At times I could only determine who was speaking by the sudden eruption of capitals in the text. Nevertheless, Hugh is uniquely valuable as an observer and as a recorder of family history which, in his parroted phrases and borrowed opinions, can be very funny. He may have spent his time from fourth grade on sitting on a chair in the school playground, but he knows that "MAKING ART" is very much like being a butcher (which was the family business in the small Victorian town of Bacchus Marsh): "the labour never ends, no peace, no Sabbath, just eternal churning and cursing and worrying and fretting and there is nothing else to think of but the idiots who buy it or the insects destroying TWO-DIMENSIONAL SPACE". Hugh's job, whilst Michael is painting his masterpiece in a borrowed, bug-infested studio on a New South Wales country property, is to remove the bodies of dead flies "the fluff and bumph and snot of life" from the Dulux-painted surface, and to fetch and carry and be, as he plaintively complains, "his MANSERVANT".
The third important character in Theft is the young woman, Marlene, wife of a famous artist's son and (due to her 'eye' and her husband's total disinterest in art) effective wielder of the droit morale by which paintings are authenticated. She erupts into the Bones brothers' lives, becomes Michael's lover, manipulates art sales and art thefts and art frauds, and in the end shows herself to be as untrustworthy and mad as they are.
As for being a love story, as the sub-title claims, there are many ways to interpret that. There is Michael's love of Marlene, which may be love in his terms but which seems very much more like lust, admiration and puzzlement. There is Michael's love for Hugh, which is equally often an onerous duty. And there is his love for his art; although he is not above forging a piece of work by another artist, copying his brush-strokes exactly, adopting and adapting his style, and then revelling in the art-world's acceptance of what he clearly regards as his own masterpiece. At least Gulley Jimson forged an early Jimson and could be rightly proud that it was all his own work.
The twists and turns of the plot in Carey's book keep you on your toes. The book's Australian flavour, too, is strong, although some of the action also takes place in America and Japan. But this book does Australia no favours, feeding instead a popular caricature of Australia as a cultural desert inhabited by ex-convicts, frauds and uncouth, boozy larrikins. Interviewers, so far, have concentrated on trying to establish a biographical link between Peter Carey and his main character (both were born in Bacchus Marsh, both are divorced, both have young sons, both are creators) but Carey has been fiercely dismissive of such suggestions. Maybe, however, Michael Boone is Carey's alter-ego in a rather different way. Maybe both are masters of artistic theft.
Wild Abandon
Ronica Black
Bold Strokes Books
430 Herrington Road, Johnsonville, NY 12094
ISBN: 193311035X, $15.95, 247 pp.
Arlene Germain
Reviewer
In Ronica Black's novel, Wild Abandon, we meet Dr. Chandler Brogan, a clinical psychologist and expert in the field of sexual dysfunction. As she and her brother Hank race their motorcycles down the highway, Officer Sarah Monroe pulls them both over for several traffic violations. It is this first encounter that sets the stage for the ensuing battle of wills that will carry each woman to levels of desire and intimacy which neither one has experienced before. Further complicating the situation are mutually dark secrets, a crazed ex-husband, and a myriad of conflicting emotions that set the stage for an exciting and fulfilling reading experience.
Black has managed to create two very sensual and compelling women. Each appears to be functioning quite well in a superficially impersonal way. However, their chance meeting creates that small fissure in their personalities which will ultimately either transform or destroy the selves they strive to be. These are not caricatures of perfect young and successful lesbian professionals which one all too often encounters in today's genre. They are three-dimensional, flawed, yet aspiring, women who, when confronted with the ultimate and inevitable crises that come with 'real' life, react and respond as credible, substantial, and appealing people. The dialogue flows easily and both Chandler and Sarah possess an honesty that is to be valued.
The backstory is intriguing, original, and quite well-developed. Yet, it doesn't detract from the primary premise of the novel—it is a sexually-charged romance about two very different and guarded women. Black carries the reader along at such a rapid pace that the rise and fall of each climactic moment successfully creates that suspension of disbelief which the reader seeks. The author satisfyingly manages to expound upon a few implicit themes about relationships and intimate interaction but manages to do so in a deft, not heavy-handed, fashion.
This reviewer is the first to admit that she was not particularly taken with Black's first novel, In Too Deep. However, the style, flow, and transition technique evinced by the author in Wild Abandon has grown tremendously. This is what this reviewer searches for when reading several works by an author. Black has a more mature and confident phraseology in this work. The plotting appears more fluidly constructed, more suffused with plausible dialogue, as well as convincing and intelligible characterization. Wild Abandon is a novel that displays the author's creative imagination while at the same time boldly exhibits the author's maturation as an author.
Mr. Touchdown
Lyda Phillips
iUniverse
2021 Pine Lake Road, Suite 100, Lincoln, Nebraska 68512
ISBN: 0595359000, $13.95, pbk
ISBN: 0595672884, $23.95, hc
Susan Marya Baronoff
Reviewer
Star athlete Eddie, his sister, Lakeesha, and two other "Negro" students, hand-picked to enter an all-white high school, are swept into the very heart of the civil rights movement in Memphis, 1965.
Chosen to integrate Forrest High by the NAACP – and his father -- we follow high school junior, Eddie Russell, as he encounters the viciousness of certain white students – the coldness of others – and grapples with the sheer unfairness of leaving his friends and teammates to come to this hostile and dangerous environment. But we also follow Eddie into his own heart, as he struggles to, in his father's words: "…look into the soul of your enemies and find in them something to love."
The richness of this wonderful book, however, doesn't arise simply from its depiction of Eddie and the other black students as they enter a strange new world; we also experience that world as old and familiar, through our other narrator -- popular, white, Forrest High cheerleader, Nancy Martin.
Nancy is smart and confident and just beginning to notice a few teeny, tiny fractures on the fault lines between her and her best friends. Her dreams are changing – expanding – catapulting her to New York and Paris, while theirs are still centered around getting married and settling down. But when it comes to the dreaded integration, Nancy hates the idea just as much as they do. At first, anyway. Because pretty soon, she can't ignore the indignities and humiliations meted out to Eddie and the others. And when the attacks become physical… That's got to be more wrong than integration… Doesn't it?
It's in the interplay of these two characters – solitary, stoical Eddie and impulsive, inquisitive Nancy, that the book becomes bigger and deeper and compellingly human.
Mr. Touchdown is a terrific read. Using vibrantly descriptive language, Lyda Phillips creates a living world of shop class and gym teachers, pep rallies and pompoms, and pulls us right into it. Middle-school students and even their older brothers and sisters will enjoy the breezy dialogue, fast-moving plot, and genuinely shocking twists and turns. Rooting her story of radical social change in the familiar routines of high school, the author gives us a book that never abandons its characters, and it succeeds as both social commentary and adolescent rite-of-passage.
It's also a warm and big-hearted book that honors each of its central characters, without robbing them of their flaws and rough spots. It celebrates the unimaginable courage of Eddie and, by extension, all the boys and girls who made history as they dragged an entire nation into becoming better than it was. And it also acknowledges the decency and grit of the Nancy Martins who witnessed that history, first-hand. And played their own small role in it. And grew up to write it down for the rest of us.
Country Conversations: Timeless Stories from the Legends of Country Music
Timothy Edward Jones
Publish America
Baltimore, MD
ISBN: 1413796338, $19.95, 143 pp.
Steve Bond
Reviewer
In the wake of the glitz and glamour of today's "hot new Country music" Timothy Edward Jones rekindles America's passion for the true essence of traditionalism in his latest book Country Conversations: Timeless Stories from the Legends of Country Music. Jones has compiled a very accurate and entertaining book containing the true and unabashed stories from some of Country music's most celebrated and iconic artists and songwriters. This book stemmed from several years of research and personal interviews from Country legends like Bill Anderson, Charlie Louvin, Hal Bynum, Ricky Lynn Gregg and the Bellamy Brothers. Country Conversations tells the tales of Country music in the words of some of the artists that made the genre great. It takes a look inside the minds of the masters of Country music and takes the reader backstage and behind the scenes.
Highlights of Country Conversations includes rare glimpses inside the lives of Country music legends and relates what it takes to reach the pennicle of stardom. But all that glitters is not gold. Jones has a way in his interviewing style that brings out the harsh realities of life on the road, conflicts personally and professionally and allows the artists to be real people, flesh and blood.
This book also contains interviews with such non-Country artists like John McCrea, lead vocalist and songwriter for the eclectic Rock group CAKE. McCrea tells of his infatuation for the music of the 1950's Country duo the Louvin Brothers. It explores the enormous impact that Country music has on other genres of music and artists that are best known for recording and writing everything from Rock to Pop to Hard Rock.
Did you know that Jerry Garcia was an avid listener of Bluegrass music? Did you know the Beatles loved the music of Buck Owens? Or that George Jones and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones recorded a duet together? You will find these interesting facts in Country Conversations and the complete stories behind them and more.
Jones's latest book shares priceless advice for wanna-be Country stars from the legends as well. Music fans in general will find Country Conversations an easy read that is hard to put down. Filled with Country music facts, trivia, history and entertainment, Country Conversations sheds new light on what it means to be a Country music legend.
The author Timothy Edward Jones is almost encyclopedic in his vast knowledge of "old school Country-Western" and this book, his second in two years is a huge departure from his debut collection of poetry titled European Confession (ISBN: 1-4137-2867-7). Jones's passion for the old Honky Tonk Country music from Nashville's famed Music Row shines through in Country Conversations. The most discriminating music scholars and fans alike should be impressed with Jones's latest book.
Deep Wells, Burning Forests
C.K. Lucyk
Trafford
Victoria, CA
ISBN: 1412067588, $30.42, 336 pp.
Karen Bronshteyn
Reviewer
World War II remains the most intriguing war for scholarship and literary endeavors, with every story adding a dimension of both understanding and enigma. The historical novel Deep Wells, Burning Forests, a first novel by C.K. Lucyk, artistically weaves the survival stories of three different families. Avid readers of holocaust literature will be particularly interested in reading about the Ukrainian experience, told through the dramatic and effective story line of four young adults, three siblings and one without any family, choosing their path to survival with strong nationalist sentiment and a vision for the political future of Ukraine, even though it would be easiest, and perhaps safest, to flee. Parallel to their story is that of a successful artistic family with less interest in politics, and an even lower inclination to take up arms. All strong characters with varying talents and abilities, their paths and stories intersect at various points, culminating in the convergence of their families in their new home and religious community in northeast Minneapolis.
The title refers to "policies," or crimes, committed by both Bolsheviks and Nazis: innocent victims found in various unlikely graves including wells; and entire villages, farmland, and forests burned. This novel differs from other WWII memoirs and historical fiction in that it depicts a controversial and not frequently discussed internal political struggle between followers of two different factions of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists,) and the complicated situation of having essentially three enemies: the Red Army, the Nazis, and the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army), all of which held Ukrainian soldiers forced by circumstance to fight against one another.
"Maksym felt repulsed and wanted to tear off his uniform and run. In Kiev, he had thought himself a witness of what hell would be like… But something worse was now tearing away at his soul, fragmenting it into unrecognizable pieces… Having put on that uniform of his, he had believed that he stood on the side of those who fought for God and who respected the human need for freedom… Now, it was clear that he had made a Faustian deal with the Germans" (p. 28).
The situation of those who survived the war by escaping to Europe is also depicted in detail, through the challenges of postwar statelessness, the unwilling repatriation of many Ukrainians to the Soviet Union, and the difficulties of displaced persons in obtaining visas for immigration to North and South America.
Lucyk, an English teacher, former journalist, and second-generation Ukrainian immigrant, collected oral histories of Ukrainian immigrants in Minnesota, then conscientiously fact-checked and researched, and traveled extensively in order to write their story. The result is a novel rich with historical and geographical details, which includes even a background section, glossary, and endnotes; with Ukrainian words and place names that challenge and inform the reader. Lucyk explains that her impetus was a promise to tell the story of one survivor in particular, and implies that there are additional stories to tell. A marvelous storyteller and scholar to entrust with personal histories, her novel gives voice to a rarely heard but extraordinarily significant part of World War II.
The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100
Robert William Fogel
Cambridge University Press
40 West 20th Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10011-4211
www.cambridge.org 1-800-872-7423
ISBN: 0521808782, $24.00, 191 pp.
A. R. Cellura, Reviewer
www.cellura.net
A glass more than half-full?
Given that our vision is so heavily freighted with the moment, ideas of human progress are in short supply lately. Although not an easy ride, economic historian and Nobel Laureate Robert William Fogel's survey of the long-run, at least in respect to human morbidity, leisure and longevity, provides escape velocity from pressing concerns about war, pandemic, income inequality and the health of our ecosphere. It might be as another noted economist, Alfred Lord Keynes, said in a different context: In the long-run we are all dead. But, the long-run seems to be getting longer.
The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100 is an extension of Fogel's briefer 1993 Nobel Prize Lecture. It provides a synergistic view of the impact of increasing human environmental control on the demographic, economic and physiological conditions of successive generations over the past 300 years. According to Fogel, the interaction of these forces has over this period, and most dramatically over the last century, brought about a new stage of evolution - non-genetic "techno-physio evolution." He indicates this is evidenced by an unprecedented positive change during this period in caloric intake of about 250%, human body size of over 50%, and an increase in longevity of over 100%. Pointing to the future, Fogel's extrapolation of data over the last 140 years in optimal life circumstances, suggests that centenarians will be common by the last quarter of the 21st century. During the past three centuries there has also been an accompanying substantial decrease in the hours it takes each day to earn one's daily bread and increase in the percentage of discretionary income.
Although this is a "little" book, just 111 pages in the main body, it is densely packed with deep-mine data and illuminating higher-order concepts derived from a lifetime of concentration on economic development, particularly when Fogel was affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research as director of its Development of the American Economy Program and subsequently at the University of Chicago as the Charles R. Walgreen Professor of American Institutions and director of the university's Center for Population Economics. Metabolic indices, the thermodynamics of human physiological activity, Waaler curves, in utero effects on morbidity, protein-energy malnutrition, physiological capital, and Gini ratios are grist for Fogel's mill.
Fogel's treatment of the confluence of technological change, diet, morbidity, work demands, leisure and mortality extends beyond developments in Western society to include the rapid pace of technophysio evolutionary changes in third world countries whose per capita income increases piggybacked on Western innovations, consequently dwarfing the much slower pace of Western improvements a century earlier. In the process of his examination he emphasizes the need to recognize the optimal conditions for human adaptation rather than settle for standards such as daily caloric requirements derived from earlier phases of technophysio evolution. Policy issues in the areas of health care, personal savings and retirement are also discussed in the light of the demographic changes that are occurring.
Some data reported by Fogel and those from other sources are anomalous. For instance, in view of the technophysio evolution particularly of the past 100 years, it seems strange that Dutch males, who were on average about 5'5" in 1860 are now the tallest in the world at about 5'11" while over the same period US men, who were about 5'7" then, are only 5'8" now after the decline of the last few decades. One explanation derives from the widening gap between the rich and poor in the US (Gini = 45) compared to the greater income equality in the Netherlands (Gini = 30.9). (The Gini coefficient ranges from 1-100 with lower scores representing less income inequality). Also, there are data from millennia ago indicating a decline in average heights in the Eastern Mediterranean in the transition period from the hunter-gatherer economic regime to the first agricultural revolution (11,000 BC – 5000 BC). In John Kolmos (Ed.) Stature, Living Standards and Economic Development (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1994) there are a number of contributions that focus on such issues.
Professor Fogel touches very briefly on in utero, childhood and adolescence effects of economic status on morbidity and mortality, but his comment that "The exact mechanisms by which malnutrition and trauma in utero or in early childhood are transformed into organ dysfunctions are still unclear." (p. 32) is unwarranted. These relationships are detailed extensively in various chapters of the volume by Bruce S. McEwen and H. Maurice Goodman (Eds.) Handbook of Physiology: Coping with the Environment: Vol. IV (Oxford Univ. Press, 2001) for neuroendocrine abnormalities; in D. J. P. Barker's Mothers, Babies and Health in Later Life (Churchill Livingstone, 1998) and Fetal Origins of Cardiovascular and Lung Disease (Marcel Dekker, 2001) for specific organ effects; in Peter Gluckman and Mark Hansen's The Fetal Matrix (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2005) for more general morbidity effects; and A. R. Cellura's The Genomic Environment and Niche-Experience (Cedar Springs Press, 2005) for the confluence of genomic influences, economic regimes, ecological niches, caloric intake, stature, morbidity and mortality.
Robert William Fogel's The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100 is that rare species of research – longitudinal study. Unlike the cross-sectional snapshots whose importance often quickly fades, there is gold in these data mines that is so precious because it is so difficult to find and so hard to get to. It is must reading for those in human biology, medicine and the social sciences who are interested in the issues surrounding human adaptation. It will also appeal to life-long learners drawn to the interface between the biology, economics and history of the human condition.
The Conjurer's Bird
Martin Davies
Random House
201 E 50th St., New York, NY 10022
ISBN: 1400097339, $24.00, 384 pp.
Coletta Ollerer
Reviewer
This is a side by side story of people living in the 20th century, that story involving John Fitzgerald and done in the first person. A prominent naturalist of the eighteenth century, Joseph Banks, is featured in the other part of this narrative and is told in the third person.
John Fitgerald is a conservationist and taxidermist who also teaches Natural Science at a local university. Gabriella Martinez, an old friend of Fitz, introduces him to Karl Anderson, a collector of rare objects, who is in search of the mounted remains of an extinct bird, called the Mysterious Bird of Ulieta. Karl asks for Fitz' assistance since he is known as a scholar in the field. This bird was discovered on Captain Cook's second expedition to the South Seas in 1774. It was captured and preserved and came into the possession of Joseph Banks, an 18th century naturalist. A drawing made of it at that time by the ship's artist is all that can be seen of it today. It is thought that Joseph Banks gave the bird to a friend. No one knows its whereabouts. Fitz meets with Anderson but doesn't like him. His suspicions concerning Karl inspire him to find the bird first.
Joseph Banks is a young well-respected natural scientist of the 18th century. He is a somewhat conceited young man and rightly so. He is wealthy, gifted and energetic. He is asked to join Captain Cook's first voyage to the South Seas as resident naturalist. He does well and is widely acclaimed for his efforts. But, before he goes with Captain Cook on this voyage to the South Seas, Joseph comes upon a girl in a wooded clearing near his home who is an amateur artist. He admires her work and she tries to put him off but she finds herself taken with him. "When she looked up she saw his eyes fixed intently on the drawing in her hand, and the expression on his face sent a flash of joy to her heart." (p48) This chance meeting becomes a warm and romantic relationship as time passes.
Fitz rents out a flat on the top floor of his home to a Swedish student named Katya. Slowly they become acquainted and he finds in her a kindred spirit who likes solving puzzles. They set out to find the Ulieta Bird before Anderson does. They suspect Banks gave the bird to his mistress whom they identify as Miss Brown. ".....finding her was the key to finding the Ulieta Bird." (p190) He returns home one evening and finds that his house has been burglarized. "Looking around the overturned bedroom, I realized why finding the Ulieta bird was so important to me. Not for posterity, not for science, not even for the fame of being its finder. But for myself . . . . . . seeing it held in my hands in defiance of all logic would be my proof that even the most fragile things can sometimes cheat oblivion." (p193) His resolve solidifies.
This is an engaging trip into an earlier century where we meet the persons and customs of the times while still enjoying the frustrations and satisfactions of detective work in century twenty. A worthwhile and enjoyable read.
Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea
Nancy Atherton
Penguin/Viking
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
ISBN: 0670034762, $14.95, 256 pp.
If you like fun characters, and playful cozy mysteries without too much violence, you'll enjoy Boulder, Colorado author Nancy Atherton's "Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea." The book is part of an ongoing series, in which Lori, a lively mom and housewife, finds herself solving odd mysteries, with the help of the spirit of a departed relative, Aunt Dimity. Dimity communicates with Lori through magic writing in a big blue journal, which Lori opens whenever she needs advice, counseling, or a sympathetic ear.
In addition, Dimity has willed her cottage in the English Cottswold District to Lori. Lori now lives in the little house with her lawyer husband, Bill, who happens to work for an international law firm in London. The couple's five-year-old twin sons, Rob and Will, a cat, and some ponies round out the family.
In "Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea," somebody wants to get even with Bill for something, by harming Lori, Will and Rob. This person signs himself 'Abbadon' on threatening e-mails sent to Bill's office. There's nothing to do but whisk Lori and the boys away to an island on the west coast of Scotland, to a castle owned by an eccentric family friend, Sir Percy, while Bill stays in London to help Scotland Yard catch Abbadon.
Once on the island, Lori learns local legends about monks slaughtered by Vikings, and begins to see and hear mysterious things connected with the stories. She and two English aristocrat friends, also from the Cottswold District, uncover what might be a dark secret. That leads to an incident in which Sir Percy might turn out to be someone Lori never expected him to be.
But before she can grapple with any of this, Abbadon finds her hideout and kidnaps the boys during a horrific storm. Lori tears down a secret staircase in a rescue attempt. Then outside in the driving rain, the things she has discovered come together with Abbadon in a lighting flash that leads to both a thrilling ending befitting a mystery, and a fun twist, appropriate to a story where one of the characters communicates kindly from the Beyond.
Indeed, Aunt Dimity is a refreshing character, who offers a delightful twist on the occult. Nancy Atherton cleverly adapts the magic of having her spirit around to the every day world, making her different from Harry Potter, or Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, who live in carefully constructed, imaginary worlds.
Because of Aunt Dimity's presence, an ordinary person like Lori can have an aristocrat friend like Sir Percy. The right person or thing can show up to help solve the crime because Aunt Dimity will see to it from the spirit world. And Lori can tear down a secret staircase in search of her sons. Within the lighthearted parameters that Atherton sets, people can solve a mystery without a lot of blood and guts. They can laugh and enjoy fun settings, and all the swashbuckle of romance, without the action becoming a cliche.
Dorothy Parker's Complete Stories
Dorothy Parker, author
Colleen Breese, editor
Penguin Books
New York
ISBN: 0140189394, $13.95, 447 pp.
Dan Schneider, Reviewer
www.Cosmoetica.com
Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was cute, sexy, witty, vivacious, delightfully vicious, and the only member of the infamously bad Algonquin Round Table that had even a modicum of real writing talent, and it's on full display in this collection of her finest short fictions. However, that all being said, Parker's short fictions are just that- fictions; not real 'stories' with narratives that anyone can dig their teeth into. They are moments, fugues, scenes with a single purpose to illuminate, and most do those things very well. It is social criticism as art. But, there is not much real depth to much of her prose work- beyond condemning this or that faux pas, and as a consequence of that artistic choice, just as her light verse lacked any heft, this prose corpus stands in direct contrast to the writer who was her most obvious literary forebear- Oscar Wilde.
In a sense, though, this is an unfair comparison, for Wilde simply was the greatest published witticist in human history, but there is the gnawing feeling, when reading Parker's 'scenes', that she could have been so much more had she been less the bon vivant. Still, compared to what passes for comic commentary today, she is a genius. The New York that she details might best be described as the wordly equivalent to the paintings of Edward Hopper, for under all the goofiness there are extremely lonely and desperate characters. Her heroes, but mostly heroines, all struggle with capital L Loneliness primarily- in the gray beglittered nights of Manhattan neon life in the Jazz Age. They are ordinary folk with extraordinary dreams. Yet, their dreams are all that is extraordinary about them. They are divorcees, wannabe divorces, boozers, whores, womanizers, palookas, and others from that lot, but that's all they are. The tales are too short to tell us much else.
The basic problem facing Parker, in this collection of her Complete Stories, though, is that there is a rote quality that infects each 'scene'. They are all about the four D's: drinks, dames, dilemmas, dinners; such as this Spillanean opener from Dialogue At Three In The Morning:
'Plain water in mine,' said the woman in the petunia-colored hat. 'Or never mind about the water. Hell with it. Just straight Scotch. What I care? Just straight. That's me. Never gave anybody any trouble in my life. All right, they can say what they like about me, but I know- I know- I never gave anybody any trouble in my life. You can tell them that from me, see? What I care?'
No matter how well laid out, and no matter how fiercely attacking she is on a certain prejudice nor wrong, the limitations of Parker's worldview scream at the reader, and pull the whole construct down from individual moments that endear, move, and touch, to a mere collection that stupefies with its sameness. Despite her physical location in the greatest metropolis of its day, and that the world had yet to see, there is no reasonable way that anyone, even her greatest champions, could call Dorothy Parker a cosmopolitan writer nor thinker.
A typical Parker tale has a simple plot: a couple of people, usually two females, discussing society or divorce or the low nature of men, or some portrait of hypocrisy, such as wannabe moralists who forsake drink getting drunk the night before. In Too Bad, some women are perplexed that the happily married Weldons have separated. When we get a peek at their home life the reasons are not so hard to understand. In Here We Are, a just-married couple travel by train to New York City, to begin their honeymoon at a posh hotel, yet the reader sees that the marriage is doomed, due to their immaturity and selfishness. In New York To Detroit, on the telephone, a man on a telephone call pushes a desperate lover out of his life. The 'bad connection' helps him weaselly dump her. Yes, there is not a great depth to be plumbed, but these tales do work in achieving their limited aims. What Parker has benefited from, and what has kept her in print over other competent, but forgotten writers of her day, is a cult of personality of the sort that has buoyed the careers of poets Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath. Not that Parker was not deserving of such devotion, even if not as good at what she did as the two poets were, but the consequences of that cultism must be considered in assessing her literary worth as distinct from that of her celebrity.
Parker's main narrative device is conversation, and she's very adept at conveying the New York brio of the interwar era. In her 'scenes', the conversation between characters often occupies perhaps ninety percent or more of the story, with background details seeping in, here and there, between quips and barbs. The speaker who is omniscient, every so often, is often a faux naïf. Revelations occur, but not in grand Joycean epiphanies, but in far subtler distinctions that lazy readers are likely to miss. The brevity of Parker's tales (most under five pages) also means that there is little fat, and all the words are there for a reason. They do work well and hard.
Parker was certainly not a careless artist, and this fact, revealed in scene after scene, only makes her ultimate corpus's heft and depth- or lack thereof- all the more distressing. Why did she not strive for more, when she was clearly capable of it? Yes, she was a celebrity, and reviewed for The New Yorker for decades, but is material success that damning an obstacle to the production of great art? Perhaps. Clearly, Parker was capable of greatness, but instead, ended up as an almost non-comic echo of her own gallery of female losers and loveless lasses. Yet, here is a woman who tackled abortion (in the 'scene', Mr. Durant, where the actual word abortion is never used at all), alcoholism, drug addiction, poverty, and racism decades before it was fashionable, and very well- as always. That some critics have called her a 'sentimentalist' seems, to me, absurd on its face. Parker's work is as shorn of such drippiness as one can imagine any writer being, and such idiocy only shows how little and closely most critics ever actually read their subject matter.
But, the charges of her ideological and artistic narrowness are not so easily disposed of, and perhaps Parker's prose clarity is part of the reason it damns so brightly and thoroughly. Had she been more baroque, poetic, ornate, she might have successfully obfuscated her limited purview. Ernest Hemingway, by comparison, was wise to disguise his utter lack of cosmopolitan tastes and writing with his real life globetrotting legendry. After all, when you've covered wars, visited Kilimanjaro, and run with the bulls of Pamplona, you have done nicely to insulate your rather predictable and narrowly macho words. Parker never did that, becoming almost a more famous version of the renowned hermit Henry Darger, whose own narrowness of outlook and personality eventually caved in his mind. Parker never fell that far, personally, but she never had the literary survival smarts of Hemingway to critically protect her work from its obvious shortcomings and limitations.
Yet, one cannot argue that Parker was not aware of her flaws, because her Complete Stories ends not with her already 'sketchy' short stories, but with works actually called Sketches, such as A Dinner Party Anthology or Our Tuesday Club, which are merely a litany of character descriptions, filled with bile and humor of the sort H.L. Mencken, Will Rogers, Mark Twain, and Ambrose Bierce practiced. Still, unfortunately, for every well sketched character there's an off the rack near-caricature: men who crude chauvinists and women who are vapid tarts, such as the lead character from A Telephone Call, one of Parker's most famous tales, who wails:
Please, God, let him telephone me now. Dear God, let him call me now. I won't ask anything else of You, truly I won't. It isn't very much to ask. It would be so little to You, God, such a little, little thing. Only let him telephone now. Please, God. Please, please, please.
Yet, I would love to have a Dorothy Parker around today- not just for personal purposes, but knowing she would join me in absolutely savaging Political Correctness. Her tales, however tasty as crumpets, simply lack the heft, overall, to propel her to greatness. But, she's still a good read, and an eternal cutie.
Diary of a Lost Girl
Kola Boof
Door of Kush
324 S. Diamond Bar Blvd. Suite 504, Diamond Bar, CA 91765
http://doorofkush.50megs.com
ISBN: 0971201986, $25.00, 441 pp.
In her dynamic yet controversial new book "Diary of a Lost Girl," author Kola Boof (known for admitting to being one of Osama Bin Laden's lovers) expounds upon her life's story. This includes her life in Sudan where she was raised by her light skinned, political Egyptian father and her dark skinned mother. Boof chronicles her life in Africa, tales of witchcraft within the village, and a host of other events, including the saddening murder of her parents.
Boof later goes on to describe what is was like to make the transition from Sudan to becoming the adopted daughter of a Washington D.C. family who learns of racism, music (especially hip hop) and even sex. The author discusses her no-holds-barred feelings on colorism, her family and the man who she believed would become her husband who turns out to be no more than a sexual predator. The author also recounts her life as an actress and model in Africa and discusses how she eventually came to become Osama Bin Laden's lover and managed to move on with her life to become one of the most controversial figures in black literature today.
"Diary of a Lost Girl" is the kind of book that book clubs will be dying to get their hands on. It is an amazing, thought-provoking, tour de force memoir that reads like a combination of the recent "Slave: My True Story" by Mende Nazir and "The Coldest Winter Ever Known" by Sister Souljah. The story is a raw, in-your-face look into the mind of a woman who makes no apologies for her contentious opinions. While it does have it share of editorial flaws and some may find a bit of it hard to believe, the book still packs a walloping punch and is definitely worth picking up and having a long discussion about. Highly Recommended.
Meditating with Mandalas
David Fontana
Duncan Baird Publishers Ltd
Sixth Floor, Castle House, 75-76 Wells Street, London, W1T 3QH
ISBN: 1844830543, $AU 39.95, 160 pp.
Rose Glavas, Reviewer
www.astrologyrealm.com
The blurb at the back of this book describes 'Meditating with Mandalas' as:
'A collection of beautiful new mandalas for meditation, all with new symbolism specially designed to be accessible to anyone practicing today. Embark on a voyage of self-discovery using 52 superb new mandalas for meditation – one for every week of the year. Grow in self-awareness and discover peace of mind. The ideal visual aid for everyone interested in meditation, including those meditating for the first time.'
Without knowing what a mandala is, or even what the book is about it is difficult to resist admiring the fabulous illustrations in this book. The urge to look at every single illustration is strong once you open this book at any page! So I have to agree with the blurb and say that the illustrations are truly superb (not to mention inspiring!).
Those of you who don't know what a mandala will need to know that these are highly decorative, symmetrical designs used as a focal point in meditation. In the Eastern tradition mandalas are often charged with an intricate religious symbolism based on representations of the cosmos. In 'Meditating with Mandalas' they are designed to appeal to Westerners. Some are based on traditional Tibetan mandalas, while others are inspired by nature. All are designed to be used even by those who are new to meditating.
The author, Professor David Fontana has been involved with meditation for more than 30 years and has produced many publications. One these is the bestselling 'Leant to Meditate' which has been translated into 25 languages.
'Meditating with Mandalas' is broken up into two sections: 'Introduction' and then 'Sacred Patterns'. The introduction is then further divided into subsections with many interesting headings – the following ones caught my eye: Stilling Body and Mind; Experiencing Stillness; How Mandalas Work; Patterns in Nature; The Self and Self Acceptance; Symbols of Love; Making Your Own Mandala; Symbolism.
The Mandalas themselves are broken up into six different sections: Sacred Patters; Nature; Self and Acceptance; Kindness and Love; Inner Strength; and Cosmos. Each of the mandalas is given a whole page of excellent quality illustration, with the facing page giving a description and ideas on how to use them. Each mandala and its instructions are unique.
If this is your first step in your exploration of mandalas and/or meditation then the author has given a list of suggested further reading, as well as providing an index and picture credits (what a great idea!). There is a general index and also an index to the symbols used, which is great if you are looking for a focus for a particular meditation you would like to try.
Personally I have been interested in meditation for many years but held a narrow view of what it actually was, so have not tried the alternative forms available. Through exploring this book I have discovered a method that I believe will help me to actually achieve a meditative state successfully.
I like the suggestion the author makes to start with a five minute meditation (for beginners) and to work up to a longer session that suits you – say twenty or thirty minutes. For some reason I thought that a session had to be at least twenty minutes long.
I would recommend 'Meditating with Mandalas' for people like me who need a focus for a session of meditation (that is, of course, if you can tear yourself away from the fabulous illustrations long enough to meditate!). This book would suit anyone who is interested in either mandalas or meditation.
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim
Mahmood Mamdani
Pantheon
1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
www.randomhouse.com/pantheon 212-782-9000
ISBN: 0385515375, $14.95, 320 pp.
Jonathan Fantini, Reviewer
www.collegiateforum.org
Mahmood Mamdani's Good Muslim, Bad Muslim is a theoretical analysis of the historical trends that have dominated the global events of the past half century. The book's central purpose is to conceptually link the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the world's subsequent reactions, to the imperialistic and Cold War conflicts that brought them about. The major obstacle that Mamdani hopes to overcome is the exceedingly narrow and simplistic view that the West, in particular, has taken with respect to foreign affairs. He argues that the Cold War divisions that justified "us against them" perspectives and "victory at all costs," have been maintained through time; the only thing that has changed is the characters involved in this conflict. The outward consequence of this shift in the post Cold War era, is that the battle lines are no-longer drawn upon overtly political or ideological grounds - like democracy against communism - instead, they have been drawn along "cultural" lines. The problem, as he sees it, is that these cultural divisions are ill-defined. The word "culture" has merely become a substitute for the more obvious differences that have justified "us against them" policies in the past.
Mamdani's approach is almost wholly conceptual; he does not, in general, offer concrete data to support his lines of reasoning because his aim is to link historical events, not dissect them. He explains, "Rather than offer the results of original research, this interpretive essay seeks to explain political events, above all 9/11, in light of political encounters - historically shaped - rather than as the outcome of stubborn cultural legacies." (Mamdani, 11). This causes Good Muslim, Bad Muslim to read like a long social treatise. Fundamentally, this method depends upon the notion that abstract understandings of terms like "culture," "freedom," and "evil" have been driving forces in global events. Accordingly, for Mamdani's analysis to be successful he must underline how these ideas have been misused or manipulated to generate conflicts that might otherwise have not existed. Obviously, this is a reasonably unique point of view to take - that historical events are largely conceptually driven - but it is grounded in Mamdani's grasp of the recent battles that have dominated the political setting of the past fifty years.
So if there is one political lens that Mamdani wishes to break, it is the perception that there are "good Muslims" and "bad Muslims." Superficially, it would seem, the idea bears so little merit that it is almost comical; however, the belief that the world can be drawn along these lines has manifested itself in very real struggles and violence. According to Mamdani, the Bush administration has made this point of view almost explicit by calling the war on terror a "crusade," and suggesting the idea of "good Muslims." He states that "this could not hide the central message of such discourse: unless proved to be 'good,' every Muslim was presumed to be 'bad.'" (Mamdani, 15). Basically, the war on terror ideologically calls upon good Muslims to unequivocally declare themselves on the side of the United States by identifying bad Muslims as the mutual enemy.
Specifically what fuels this modern political and social stance is what has emerged as "culture talk." Mamdani argues that attempting to understand the overarching conflicts of history through the divisions of culture is a grievously flawed method. The central problem with this concept is that while the history of political powers can be understood from the standpoint of geographic locations, culture is not clearly limited in such ways. Consequently, "We need to think of culture in terms that are both historical and non-territorial." (Mamdani, 27). The terrible mistake that other theorists have made, in Mamdani's view, is that they continually attribute contrasting cultural histories to distinct political events - like the crusades. He cites Bernard Lewis as having argued that the crusades were the result of two "incompatible civilizations," rather than decisive and pragmatic moves made my ambitious popes and European nobles (Mamdani, 26). Such is the recurring flaw in historical political and social theory. So it should not be surprising that, contrary to the image of Islam promoted by western mass media, the core beliefs of Islam endorse a society of peace, toleration, and equality; the code of laws centrally promotes these universally valued notions, and their full acceptance can doubtlessly be beneficial in the reconciliation of cross-cultural conflicts. Nevertheless, the supposed cultural incongruity of Christianity and Islam has been called upon time after time to justify warfare.
The natural progression of Mamdani's essay is to emphasize the point that history is not immutable. In fact, it has been written and rewritten with very particular aims in mind. Of course the crusades would be unjustified if they were launched because there were simply too many European nobles with no wars to wage; but if they were the unavoidable consequence of cultural forces, then they must be somewhat absolved from ethical condemnations. Mamdani writes, "Identities shift and histories get rewritten as a result of changing political agendas." (Mamdani, 35). This statement is almost undeniably true, but the full implications of it are only rarely recognized. One consequence is that if the history of the past half century can be written holding the idea that it was essentially "communism versus democracy," then Al-Qaeda is an ally of democracy. However, if it is reworked to be seen it as Western values versus Eastern values, then Al-Qaeda stands to be destroyed.
The ultimate result of this line of reasoning is that terrorism in today's world - at least that which occurs between the East and the West - must be thought of as a direct consequence of political affiliations. Currently, there is a substantial political divide in virtually all Islamic states; there are those who wish to adopt a form of government that is modeled after the West and changes through time, and there are those who believe that the Koran should continue to be used as the unalterable source of political theory. Mamdani asserts that modern terrorism is the unique product of Islamic intellectual theory, Marxist theory and democratic practice. Largely U. S. manipulation of internal struggles has broadened these conceptual fault lines and amplified the repercussions of conflict. However, this conceptual understanding has never garnered much backing in the West; instead, the idea that Islam is discordant with the modern world has become prevalent. This perspective "sees a necessary contradiction between Islam and modernity, this point of view also sees a necessary contradiction between modernity and democracy wherever Muslim populations reside." (Mamdani, 170).
Broadly, Mamdani's methodology is stylistically appealing; he does not fill his essay with anecdotes or personal experiences; he simply gets right to the heart of his argument and stays there with reasoned claims. The book also fits the role of an assault upon many other theories of political history - most frequently Bernard Lewis' - and it is in this capacity that it is most effective. Mamdani's strength seems to be in pointing out the grave flaws of competing positions; mainly, the idea is that Islam is wholly misunderstood. However, his complete argument is a bit meandering. He deconstructs conceptual terms but never satisfactorily offers substitutes. He stresses how political decision-making has significantly shaped our modern global setting, but he never fully dispels the idea that analogous political moves might have been inevitable due to inalterable historical undercurrents. For instance, it might be true that the particular political climate in Europe brought the first crusade about, but it could also be argued that the spread of Islam was a waiting scapegoat that European powers would eventually have taken advantage of regardless of political factors.
Additionally, although Mamdani manages to offer a relatively coherent theory of terrorism based upon the ideological manipulation of history, he fails to supply any realizable solutions. Even if the reader agrees with his central thesis, it would seem that there is little that can be done to change Western opinions of Islam on a wide scale. It is implied that the lack of autonomy in the United States press is one of the major culprits in the demonizing of Islam: "With the changing ownership of media giants, several have been taken over by corporations based in the defense or entertainment industry, reinforcing the tendency to treat news as marketable entertainment." (Mamdani, 239). Still, no course of action is suggested that could overcome this obstacle. So, though many are to blame for the current state of affairs in the world, it appears as if the only concrete step towards improving international relations, given by Mamdani, is simply to recognize that many are to blame.
The technical slant taken by Mamdani is very straightforward. He does not assail the reader with graphs or really any sort of statistical analysis. In fact, there are very nearly no statistics involved in his essay. This should not be surprising since it is very nearly a historiography of competing analyses of the modern international climate. The primary emphasis is conceptual; and as such, his illustration of how recent history has progressed must mirror this style.
I believe that Mamdani's central thesis is reasonably accurate. Namely, that subjective politics and ideologies have been, and continue to be, manipulated for specific ends by those in power. Yet, I cannot help but think that Mamdani's argument would have been stronger if he cited more detailed examples of how the government and media in the West have augmented the true face of Islam to produce an enemy. Although he certainly reveals how this progression came about through political policies, his argument would have been more substantive if he could have provided actual quotes from the president and the media, showing how their alignment with Islam has changed through time. Perhaps the most powerful lesson that Good Muslim, Bad Muslim gets across is that a cultural interpretation of history is not only insufficient, but contributes to biased or misinformed politics. Overall, Mamdani's book is effective, though flawed in parts and not as comprehensive as I would have liked.
The Sobs of Autumn's Violins
A.R. Homer
Llumina Press
8055 West McNab Road, Tamarac, FL 33321
ISBN: 1595264825, $16.95, 250 pp.
Carol Kellogg
Reviewer
In the spring of 1944, the BBC broadcast lines from a Verlaine poem which began "The long sobs of autumn's violins…;" it was the rallying cry to the French Resistance, alerting them to the imminence of the Allied invasion of France. The date of the invasion, which we know as D-day, was a secret, of course, but, as Homer points out in his gripping novel, "The Sobs of Autumn's Violins," it could have been narrowed down to a handful of possible dates depending on the tides, the moon, and the weather. It was where the landings would take place that is arguably the biggest secret of history: if the landing places were to be learned by the enemy, it would mean that the planned amphibious invasion, unlike any seen before or since, would result in thousands of Allied soldiers wading ashore into the barrage of Hitler's massed forces.
With over a million GIs waiting in England for the great day, how could such a secret be safeguarded, and how might it have been breached? In "The Sobs of Autumn's Violins" we learn the answer to these questions through the eyes, ears, and actions of characters who, wittingly or not, become caught up in the great saga of protecting the secret. While the characters are fictitious, the larger history in which they find themselves is grounded in historical fact or historical "what if" based on fact; in an Author's Afterword, Homer satisfies our urge to learn more and distinguishes between the two.
The novel opens with an anonymous diary entry: someone in England is out to steal the secret for the Fuhrer. While readers might assume that every German spy in England worth his salt would be trying to do this, we learn that, early in the war, all German spies in England had been captured and either "turned" or permanently put out of business. Consequently, the anonymous letter-writer, whose diary entries punctuate the story and arouse our suspicions in several main characters, is a historical "what if": what if a long-term sleeper spy had escaped England's spy dragnet? Could the invasion have failed, the war have been lost?
The central story involves Tom Ford, an American intelligence officer whose assumption that he will be in England comfortably sitting out the invasion gets pushed aside when he is recruited for a dangerous mission. German enemy boats have wandered into the middle of an American rehearsal for the landings off the coast of England, an incident modeled after a disaster that actually occurred but was hushed up for thirty years (Operation Tiger). Tom witnesses the bodies stacked up on the beach in the aftermath and sadly reflects: "none would ever again hear the thwack of ball hitting bat, would ever enjoy a beer with the guys in the bar, or would ever feel his girl's soft hand." But as tragic as the loss of life is, a more serious threat looms: an American officer who knows the details of the Allied invasion plan was captured in the raid and taken to France. Tom, it turns out, is the only man who can get him out, and what happens when Tom is dropped into France will astound you.
Meanwhile, Jeanne Busson, an English agent courier, is also sent into France, but on a puzzling mission she is loath to carry out: she has been ordered to assassinate a noted French Resistance leader, Philippe Josse. We watch as Josse swings between supporting the Allied cause and dealing with Richter, an odious but intelligent and highly motivated Gestapo chief. Josse, a devout man with aspirations to holy orders, despises Nazism but says he feels that it alone can stop the rise of the godless communists.
Embedded in the suspense and drama is a touching love story between the American Tom, who is married to a woman in his home town, and a mysterious Englishwoman. Tom sorely regrets his hasty marriage just before leaving for England: "All across America, young men of draft age and their sweethearts had rushed into churches, synagogues, and Justice of the Peace offices. Paradoxically, the same reasons were used to justify marriage as to argue against it: the uncertainty of the world in general and their lives in particular."
With so many American GIs stationed in England, there was an inevitable clash of cultures, and Homer beautifully captures this as well as life in 1940s wartime England. In a rigidly class-divided world, the aristocratic Sally Fortescue dons a naval uniform to work with her social inferiors. But she falls in love with a working-class naval officer, Danny, who harbors a profound bitterness toward his country for having evicted his and many other families from their farmlands, which have been handed over to the Americans to practice assault landings.
Eisenhower, Patton, and Hitler make appearances in this thrilling and poignant novel. But as with all great undertakings, success ultimately depends on those in the field, like Tom, Sally, and Danny. And then there's Celeste, a French orphan brutalized by war but still innocent, who determines the fate of all. Had there not been a war, none of these characters would have met and all would have led vastly different lives. But the war throws them together, and even as they try to sort out their personal lives in a world turned upside-down, they are suddenly all caught up in a life and death struggle to save the greatest secret in history.
The Last Disciple
Hank Hanegraaff & Sigmund Brouwer
Tyndale House Publishers
Wheaton, IL
www.tyndale.com
ISBN: 0842384375, $19.99, 395 pp.
Maurice A. Williams, Reviewer
http://www.lulu.com/maurice-williams
The opening scene in this adventuresome novel has Nero, disguised as Daniel's fourth beast, led on a leash into a garden hut by his fictional henchman, Helius. Nero is taunting four Christian prisoners with Daniel's prophecy, presuming the fourth beast refers to the Roman Empire. Three caged wild animals will soon be released to devour the prisoners. One of the prisoners is John the Evangelist, the last disciple, who, like Nero, is a real historical character. Approaching the hut is Gallus Sergius Vitas, Roman military hero recently returned to Rome to serve in Nero's inner circle. Like Helius, Vitas is a fictional character.
The authors, Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, have cleverly blended real historical characters and events with fictional characters and events to create a fast-moving, interesting, adventure contrasting good with evil. Vitas, a good man, has become disgusted with Nero's cruelty. While Nero feigns being a beast under the control of Helius, Vitas risks his life by entering the hut and telling Helius to release the prisoners. Before anyone can react, a sudden small earthquake jars the cages open. Nero and Helius dodge the released animals. Vitas leads the four prisoners, including John, to safety.
The authors describe many other adventures, involving both historical and fictional situations. Vitas has a brother, Damian and a friend, Maglorius, both fictional. Damian is a close friend to Titus, a historical person who will later lead the Roman army to destroy Jerusalem and The Temple. The four of them interact in a rescue of an unwanted newborn infant left outside by its father to die of exposure, a common practice in ancient Rome. The mother died in childbirth. Her slave nurse, Sophia, plans to rescue the infant after dark, but the father had posted guards. Vitas noticed the infant and picked it up, only to be confronted by the guards. Damian, Titus, and Maglorius rushed in to help. Vitas, because of his high level connections, convinced the guards to release the infant to Sophia.
Vitas and Sophia, now friends, soon fall in love and marry. Because Sophia is Christian, they keep the marriage secret. In the meantime, John, the last disciple, has been writing about things soon to come and has been warning about someone given the code name 666. Helius and another fictional henchman of Nero, Tigellinus, plan to capture John to stop the coded messages before Nero hears of them. They hire Damian, Vitas' brother, a successful escaped slave hunter, to capture John. Damian captures someone he was tricked into thinking was John, while other men kidnap John.
When Helius and Tigellinus realize that Vitas has married Sophia, they inform Nero. Nero, incensed, invites Vitas to a banquet, making sure that Sophia is there also. To humiliate Vitas, Nero invites Sophia to accompany him to a private room where all his guests know he will forcibly seduce her. Vitas, seeing the fear on her face, pounces on Nero and starts choking him. Guards arrest Vitas and Sophia. Nero sentences both of them to death, Sophia by opening her veins, Vitas in the Arena, tied to the tusk of an enraged elephant.
Powerful men in Rome conspire to save Vitas from the Arena and John so he can assist Vitas. They have both men secretly placed on a boat headed for Alexandria. They gave Vitas one-third of a coded scroll, written in Latin. They gave a one of the crew a second portion of the scroll written in Hebrew with instructions to give it to John. When the ship reaches Alexandria, there will be a final portion of the scroll for Vitas. The novel ends with John and Vitas on the ship. The year is about A.D. 65. Nero is still alive, and The Temple is still standing.
Projecting what will happen next: Vitas will arrive in Alexandria and read the entire scroll. He will realize that powerful men want him to lead a coup against Nero to save the Empire. Historically, a man named Piso made such an attempt a few years prior to this scene. About five years after this scene, the Roman Senate will proclaim Nero an outlaw and order his execution. One can see how cleverly this novel is woven into the real history of the time.
The authors, Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer, believe Revelation was written to warn the early Christians what will soon happen. They also believe John wrote Revelation before A.D. 70 because Revelation makes no mention of the fact that The Temple has been destroyed. The authors are writing The Last Disciple series to present a long-held tradition that many of the predictions in Revelation have already taken place. The authors do not believe that most of Revelation will be fulfilled at a time future even to us in the twenty-first century.
The Good I Stand On
David Tucholski
iUniverse
2021 Pine Lake Rd. Suite 100, Lincoln NE 68512
ISBN: 0595368247, $15.95, 233 pp.
Barb Radmore
Reviewer
A debut publication of a new author is always a cause for festivity and joy. The dream of writing is one that haunts many but few can claim to have attained. But when the novelist also understand the writing craft, the power of the written word and the strength of a story it is an occasion to celebrate. David Tucholski's first novel, The Good I Stand On, is one of those moments.
Ben is the good boy, the big brother every boy would love to have, the little brother grown boys want to have. He has a quiet life in the his corner of rural Virginia, never straying far from home, accepting the world around him as he has always known it. But when he and his brother Christopher begin to explore farther and farther with their new friend Martin, all that changes. Martin is a lonely boy, living with only his remote mother after his father dies. He encourages the boys to explore farther and farther in areas the boys have never been. It is on one of those adventures that Ben's life explodes into a nightmare of mammoth dimensions. <>
It is not only that strong story line that moves this story. Tucholski has interwoven the plot fabric of a child's lost innocence with threads of loss of father's love, betrayal and loves thwarted. Not only Ben loses his innocence by the end of the book, but an entire village is tossed into the upheaval. In a stunning, unexpected waves of disclosures rock the village and the pace of the novel, the reader is drawn into the demise of peace in small town America. <>
The characters that inhabit this novel become very real for the reader. While some of them are sharply detailed, others wander through out the novel, not a large part of the story but on the periphery. A fascinating example is the deputy who dogs Ben's heels, causes the final outcomes but is never clearly described. But it is these peripheral characters that ultimately come into focus by the end, that affect the turn of events, just as they do in real life. It is the people who wander on the edges of our daily life who can often have the most dramatic effect on our futures. Tucholski understands and portray this in a forceful explosion of an ending. <>
In this age of developing publishing resources where the larger publishing houses no longer control the market, The Good I Stand On is a shining example of the power of the smaller presses. iUniverse deserves applause for recognizing and supporting this talented newcomer. Other publishers will lament not obtaining the talents of this up and coming author. Now we just await his next work.
A Drug-Free Approach to Asperger Syndrome and Autism: Homeopathic Care for Exceptional Kids
Judyth Reichenberg-Ullman, N.D., L.C.S.W., Robert Ullman, N.D., and Ian Luepker, N.D.
Picnic Point Press
131 Third Avenue North, Edmonds, WA 98020
www.drugfreeasperger.com (800) 398-1151
ISBN: 0964065460 $22.95 US $27.95 CAN, 290 pp.
Shari Maser, Reviewer
http://www.blessingway.net
Homeopathy is an alternative treatment for autism/Asperger Syndrome. Homeopathy in general is strongly supported by scientific evidence; as a specific treatment for autism spectrum disorders, it is strongly supported by anecdotal evidence from kids who have been treated and their parents, doctors, and teachers. Furthermore, homeopathy has virtually no complications or adverse side effects.
You will definitely be interested to learn more about this treatment if you are the parent, grandparent, teacher, child care provider, or pediatrician for a child with autism/Asperger Syndrome. Luckily, this informational tome is available to explain the who, what, when, where, why and how of homeopathic care for these children. The authors provide several case studies, lovingly presented, along with clear answers to the above questions. A Drug-Free Approach to Asperger Syndrome and Autism: Homeopathic Care for Exceptional Kids is a book that is both uplifting and useful!
Before We Get Started
Bret Lott
Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345478177, $13.95, 224 pp.
Zinta Aistars
Reviewer
When Bret Lott writes "I don't know" or "I know nothing" about the feel-your-way-as-you-go approach to the literary arts, he does it so eloquently that one can only say he "doesn't know" so very well. But he's right. Writing, art in general--there's no manual for it. And if there was, it would no longer be art. It would be reduced to a technical skill. And while skills can be learned, the extra mile beyond that gives life to a work of art can only be accomplished by the attitude Lott describes in his "practical memoir of the writer's life": approaching the blank page, the blank screen, with an openness and acceptance for the wonder to come.
"What knowing nothing means, finally, is that one must strip himself of all notions of what he believes he knows about the world and the way it works," writes Lott. "...now it's new terrain, undiscovered, left to this new explorer, the one who knows nothing and who now, armed with this ignorance, stupidity, and tendency to stare, sees things newly... what this explorer will ultimately discover is his own heart, who he is in the midst of all the know-it-alls of the world."
Finding one's own way is the only way. From the beginning, Lott expresses his reverence for the written word. As a small child, he holds his first book--Book of Psalms, puzzling over how the words "somms" could be spelled so strangely. He writes his name, several times, for the first time, on the title page of this book, and in that moment of writing, making claim, and connecting with the written page, the writer is born.
Lott warns, even while reminding us that writing must be done in solitude, that crawling too deep into one's cave of solitude has its own dangers. We must know the world, and explore it fully, to write about it well. We must be a part of it. There is a balance to be achieved, with involvement, acceptance, immersion, and then withdrawal again. In short, one must live fully in a world with others, but one must write about it alone.
Chapters included in this book are each one crucial to the writer, a light in the dark to the beginner, but a healthy reminder to the well practiced and established, too. Lott's chapter on remembering the reasons for writing is priceless. One enters the horrors of writer's block only when one forgets the purpose for writing--and mistakenly gets caught up in the false pursuit of publication. While acknowledging that it is quite human to wish to share one's story once it is written, wanting that connection between writer and reader, if the writer becomes too obsessed with it, too caught up with it while writing, then the art quickly becomes bogged down and stalls hopelessly. The cause of writer's block, he says, is the writer him or herself. Writing is its own reward. The rest is another story.
The importance of simple words, character detail, narrative and passage of time, pitfalls of technique, risking failure, accepting rejection, these are all topics Lott addresses. Perhaps the best chapter is on rejection. Lott has published 9 books, one of them rescued from oblivion by American icon, Oprah, but even so, he keeps counting up rejections (he's up to 597 at the writing of this book) and he keeps each and every one (except one, that he threw away in a temper tantrum, but later admitted, he learned from this one, too, as he did from all of them). Rejection, he reminds us, is inescapable in the arts. No use fighting it. All the more reason not to become obsessed with it. The writer must be, he says, "moved to write not by a will toward fame or fortune or even posterity, but because the work of writing is good work, and the reward inherent to writing is the writing itself." Lott writes candidly and honestly about how much he feels the hurt of the pink slip, and in some ways it never gets easier, but he also presents a system that works for him. Basically, to keep submitting. He keeps a careful log of where his work has been, is being, will be submitted, and makes a point of sending out his submission the very day it lands back in his mailbox rejected. There is always reason to hope.
Lott's memoir of his own writing life is one of the most practical, yet most beautifully and honestly written books on writing I've read in many, many years. He writes with wisdom even when he is being most humble (and therein lies his charm). He writes with a down to earth voice on a level with all of us, no matter what our level, and in doing so, inspires.
Cooking Basics from the Maran family is a superbly illustrated introductory "how to" guide for creating easy, quick, and tasty foods. Presenting essential food preparation and cooking techniques with helpful, step-by-step full-color photographs, Cooking Basics explores how to create delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes (all with ten ingredients or less), along with information on all the appliances and cooking equipment necessary, as well as expert advice for purchasing and organizing the ingredients for each featured recipe. Cooking Basics is very highly recommended, especially for all new and novice cooks for its exceptionally helpful , "user friendly" presentation and diversity.
The Plank Grilling Cookbook
Dina Guillen, et al.
Sasquatch Books
119 South Main Street, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98104
1570614741 $18.95 www.sasquatchbooks.com
Collaboratively authored by Dina Guillen, Michelle Lowrey, Maria Everly, and Gretchen Bernsdorff (all of whom are members of the Sacramento-based Kitchen Table Cooking Club), The Plank Grilling Cookbook is an outstanding introduction to the innovative cooking style focused on the creatively culinary use of the wood plank. Featuring wonderfully delicious and easy-to-prepare recipes ranging from Beef Tenderloin Steaks Topped With Butter Spread; Gorgonzola And Spinach Chicken Rolls and Chicken, Artichoke, And Sun-Dried Tomato Panini, to Salmon Fillets With Mango, Peach, And Pineapple Salsa; Hot And Spicy Duck Breasts; and Beef Tri-Tip Roast With A Cherry Tomato Festival, The Plank Grilling Cookbook provides readers with recipes for a series of tasty and appetizing dishes. Enhanced with color photography, The Plank Grilling Cookbook is very highly recommended for all readers who are searching for new and different approaches to evening and weekend cookouts.
The Complete Book Of Vegetarian Grilling
Susann Hadler
Fair Winds Press
33 Commercial Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
1592331351 $19.95 www.amazon.com
The Complete Book Of Vegetarian Grilling: Over 150 Easy And Tasty Recipes You Can Grill Indoors And Out by Susann Hadler is an impressively creative compilation of visually appealing and appetite satisfying vegetarian meals. With recipes ranging from Grilled Bing And Queen Anne Cherries; Crostini With Grilled Zucchini And Eggplant; and Pizza With Garlic Tomato Sauce, Ricotta, And Fresh Greens; to Soft Tacos With Grilled Tofu And Pickled Jalapenos; Asparagus, Shiitake Mushrooms, And Tofu en Papillote; and Honey-Ginger Marmalade, The Complete Book Of Vegetarian Grilling is a well rounded and diverse collection of great vegetarian recipes suitable for any and all dining occasions. A core addition to personal and community library cookbook collections, The Complete Book Of Vegetarian Grilling is confidently recommended for kitchen cook's when preparing wonderful meals to be enjoyed by vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.
Mangoes And Curry Leaves
Jeffrey Alford & Naomi Duguid
Workman Publishing
708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
1579652522 $45.00 www.workman.com
Expertly compiled and co-authored by food culture experts Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, Mangoes And Curry Leaves: Culinary Travels Through The Great Subcontinent is a 381-page coffee table sized book that showcases the culinary art and artistry of the Great Indian Subcontinent, including the dishes and "kitchen cultures" of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Featuring a mouth-watering wealth of recipes ranging from Rajasthani "Buttermilk" Curry; Bangla Slow-Cooked Beef With Onion; and Nepali Green Bean-Sesame Salad, to Zinet's Chicken With Tomato And Greens; Sri Lankan Fenugreek Dal; and Andhra Spiced Eggplant, Mangoes And Curry Leaves is enhanced with the inclusion of succinct and entertaining stories associated with the diverse feasts presented within its pages. A welcome addition to personal and community library cookbook and multicultural culinary reference collections, Mangoes And Curry Leaves is very highly recommended for its presentation of remarkable, flavorful, memorable culinary particulars of the Eastern Subcontinent cuisines.
Cool Tools
Kate Klippensteen, author
Yasuo Konishi, photographer
Kodansha America
575 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10022
4770030169 $28.00 1-917-322-6219 www.kodanshaamerica.com
Superbly enhanced with full color photographs from Yasuo Konishi, Cool Tools: Cooking Utensils From The Japanese Kitchen by Kate Klippensteen is an impressively informative introductory exploration of the kitchen cookware and tools employed in the culinary aspects of Japanese culture. Presenting readers with a stunning collection of photographs and knowledgeable explanations for Japanese utensils ranging from the oni oroshi or "devil grater" (which is a useful grating tool for the daikon radish), the saibashi or cooking chopsticks, and the yanagi-ba (which is a long sashimi knife), to the yukihira-nabe (which is a hand made and highly crafted aluminum cooking pot), Cool Tools deftly details a complete selection of the beautifully shaped and functional tools of the Japanese kitchen. A welcome addition to any personal or community library reference collection, Cool Tools is enthusiastically recommended as a simply beautiful compilation of photographs and informative briefings for the many decorative particulars of the Japanese kitchen.
Custom Kitchens
Melissa Cardona & Nathaniel Wolfgang-Price
Schiffer Publishing
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310
0764323962 $29.95 www.amazon.com
Deftly co-authored by Melissa Cardona and Nathaniel Wolfgang-Price, Custom Kitchens: Fifty Designs To Satisfy Your Appetite is a fun and inventive introduction to fifty different kitchen design ideas and innovations. Creatively presenting an innovative and picturesque compendium of precision-crafted kitchens, Custom Kitchens is a superb introduction for selecting detailings and designs for kitchen setups, themes, materials and much more. Profusely illustrated in full color, Custom Kitchens is a very strongly recommended reference for interior designers and "do-it-yourself" homeowners searching for a beautiful and functional design ideas for finely crafted household kitchens.
One Stitch Quilting
Donna Dewberry & Cindy Casciato
KP Books
700 E State Street, Iola, WI 54990-0001
0896893189 $22.99 www.amazon.com
Co-authored and compiled by quilting experts Donna Dewberry and Cindy Casciato,. One Stitch Quilting: Twenty Fun Projects You Can Finish In Half A Day is a fun and easy-to-follow workbook showcasing many creative one-stitch quilting projects. Providing aspiring quilters with twenty original needlecraft projects and their variations including bags, throws, table accessories, and pillow jackets, One Stitch Quilting is enhanced with more then 300 instructive illustrations and full-color photos, block and applique patterns, and thorough reference selections which detail the tools, terms, and techniques for the "One Stitch" quilting method. A welcome addition to personal or community library needlecraft collections, One Stitch Quilting is very highly recommended for its unique approach to quilting and its innovative style for all readers searching for a new and promising ideal for quick and easy quilt production.
Alternacrafts
Jessica Vitkus
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011
1584794569 $19.95 www.stcbooks.com
Writer, crafts expert, and television producer (Martha Stewart, Craft Corner Deathmatch, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Pop-Up Video) Jessica Vitkus draws upon years of needlecrafting expertise in Alternacrafts: Twenty Plus Hi-Style Lo-Budget Projects To Make to provide needlecrafters with a simply outstanding introduction to the fun and inventive world of modern crafts and style. Guiding readers through innovative and creative projects that will showcase artistic perspectives of the "Indie" trends capturing the attention and participation of so many young people today, Alternacrafts features fun and easy projects ranging from shaggy dog rugs to veggie print pillowcases and cowboy curtains. A welcome and original contribution to personal and community library needlecraft reference collections, Alternacrafts is enthusiastically recommended for its active and engaging exploration into the wonderful creation of accessories, clothes, and household items.
Tabletop Gardens
Rosemary McCreary
Storey Publishers
210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247
1580178375 $16.95 www.storey.com
Tabletop Gardens: 40 Stylish Plantscapes For Counters And Shelves, Desktops And Windowsills by gardening expert Rosemary McCreary is profusely illustrated with photographs by William Holt. Tabletop Gardens is an informative introduction to creating and maintaining an indoor miniature garden. Guiding readers through a all the germane issues for watering, fertilizing, pruning, repotting, and propagating plants suitable for a miniature garden, Tabletop Gardens deftly reveals a remarkable understanding of the exotic flowerings and plants that it contains. A unique and original addition to any personal, professional, or community library Gardening Studies reference collection, Tabletop Gardens is especially recommended for its innovative ideas and sound advice for those wishing to incorporate more serenity and nature into their personal household or business office environment.
Fifty Common Birds Of The Upper Midwest
Nancy Overcott & Dana Gardner
The University of Iowa Press
100 Kyhl House, Iowa City, IA 52242
0877459835 $34.95 www.uiowa.edu
Fifty Common Birds Of The Upper Midwest features an informatively descriptive text Nancy Overcott enhanced with beautiful watercolors by Dana Gardner and is an impressive showcase for fifty of the most frequently observed birds in America's Upper Midwest region. Delving deeply into the details of birds ranging from the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus), the Red-Eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus), and the Mourning Dove (Zenaida macoura), to the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), the Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), and forty-five others, Fifty Common Birds Of The Upper Midwest provides readers with a remarkable coverage of the birds routinely observed in the multistate area. A beautifully presented showcase for Dana Gardner's superb watercolor paintings, Fifty Common Birds Of The Upper Midwest is very highly recommended as an informative addition to personal and community library bird identification and birdwatching reference book.
Susan Bethany
Reviewer
Betty's Bookshelf
Where There's a Will
Aaron Elkins
Berkley Prime Crime
c/o Penguin Group USA
345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
ISBN: 0425200264, $23.95, 284 pp.
When former physical anthropology professor Aaron Elkins isn't traveling around the world getting ideas and background information for future books, he and his wife Charlotte live in Washington (on the Olympic Peninsula). When he is in town, he spends his time writing: short stories, magazine articles, stand-alone historical novels, and mysteries. So far he's written three different series, one which features Chris Norgren, a Seattle art curator; one with Lee Ofsted, a female golfer, and her cop boyfriend, Graham Sheldon (written by Aaron and Charlotte together); and one with his best known sleuth, Gideon Oliver, Professor of Physical Anthropology at the University of Washington's Port Angeles campus.
I've read and enjoyed each of his series, but don't take my word for it. His books have been given the Edgar, the Agatha, and the Nero Wolfe literary awards; chosen as selections by the Book-of-the-Month Club, the Literary Guild, and the Reader's Digest Condensed Mystery Series; made into an ABC TV series; and translated into a dozen languages. This man can write!
Personally, the series I've enjoyed the most has been the Gideon Oliver series. This is probably because I'm a big fan of TV shows like NCIS, in which a person's sex, age, and occupation, as well as the cause of death, is eventually figured out by an examination of their corpse. Therefore, Gideon Oliver is my kind of guy.
Actually, I'm not alone. Oliver has been dogged by fans in this series ever since the first time he used his extensive knowledge of the human skeleton to figure out the age, sex, height, handedness and smoking habits of a random body he was asked to examine. At that point, his astoundingly correct pronouncements caught the attention of the press, which promptly (and much to his chagrin) dubbed him "The Skeleton Detective".
Ever since, he's wanted to shake the name, but that doesn't seem too likely to happen. After all, he loves his work and he just can't resist continuing to mystify and amaze people by telling them things that seem impossible to determine just from bones. Too, many of the cases he's asked to sit in on are murder cases, so he and his wife, Julie, keep getting dragged into one dangerous situation after another. No wonder the press loves him!
In Elkins' latest Oliver book, Where There's a Will, the professor and his wife (along with their native-born Hawaiian buddy, John Lau, who's also an FBI agent) end up traveling to Hawaii, where a submerged plane containing the bodies of a man and a woman has been discovered on the ocean bottom. The Torkelssons, a wealthy Danish ranching family with extensive Hawaiian properties, think it may be their family's plane and they want Oliver to ID the corpses.
Could the man be Axel Torkelsson's Uncle Magnus? According to family lore, Magnus killed his twin brother ten years ago and then took off in the family plane and was never seen or heard from again. If the man in the plane is Magnus, it's high time he was brought home for a decent burial. If it isn't Magnus, who is it? And either way, how did the plane end up in the water? In fact, it may not be easy to make a positive identification, even for "The Skeleton Detective"; the plane and the bodies have been in the water a long time and there isn't much left to identify. But Oliver will do his best, even if it means exposing something no one really wants to know.
Meanwhile, it begins to dawn on everyone that identifying the bodies could make a major difference in the disposition of the Torkelssons' property and wealth, and no one wants that. Can Oliver and Lau figure out what's going on before someone silences them?
If you've never read anything by Elkins, what are you waiting for? Run, don't walk, to your nearest bookstore. His writing not only holds your attention right to the last page, it makes you laugh along the way. The next Gideon Oliver book, Unnatural Selection, is due out in June. I can hardly wait!
Designer Knockoff: A Crime of Fashion
Ellen Byerrum
Signet
c/o Penguin Group USA
345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
0451212681, $6.99, 325 pp.
I'm all for today's new woman, who can do whatever she sets her mind to do. Heck, I am that woman. I've never been one to say, "Oh, wait, I can't do that, it's a job for a guy." Well, except for taking out the trash. And doing the windows. Oh, and mowing the grass. (It makes a husband feel needed, you know?) So I like to read mysteries that feature women who take on killers and kidnappers and the like and come out of it without so much as a bent fingernail. OK, it's unrealistic, but I still like it. After all, if I wanted realism, I could go argue with my kids.
I was therefore thrilled to run across Ellen Byerrum's Crime of Fashion Mystery series, set in Washington, D.C., which stars Eye Street Observer fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian (no relation). In the first book of the series (Killer Hair), Lacey takes on and subdues a killer named Razor Boy, in her favorite hair salon, armed only with a pair of scissors and some major chutzpah. You go, girl!
In Byerrum's second book, Designer Knockoff, a double mystery surrounding two DC women who've gone missing gets dumped on Lacey when she appears at a Congressional hearing wearing a vintage designer suit inherited from a favorite relative. The disappearances are separated by sixty years, but both women have ties to the same fashion house and its famous (and footloose) founding designer, Hugh Bentley. Are they both dead, as Lacey suspects, or did each of them go into hiding to avoid trouble with the Bentley family? Maybe wearing another of her Great-Aunt Mimi's inherited treasures to a fashionista gathering in Bentley's honor will bring out the truth about the disappearances. Or will Lacey end up joining the missing women - wherever they are?
I love mystery series that have non-professional female sleuths in them. You know - chefs, caterers, housewives, bed and breakfast owners - women who have jobs not normally involved with crime. Byerrum's series has joined my list of books to watch for. OK, maybe the premise seems a little odd, even if DC is a crime capital. Fashion reporting? In DC? But the fashion scene, even in a style-challenged city like DC, is full of newsworthy items that have more meaning than what appears on the surface. As Lacey's column "Crimes of Fashion" proclaims, "You are what you wear - aren't you? Your clothing is a clue to your personality, your lifestyle, your many moods." So it makes sense that fashion clues such as a pair of matching silk scarves or an outrageously expensive pair of heels could help bring down a murderer.
True, fashion reporting may not be the most interesting - or dangerous - job going in DC, but Lacey's threats and close calls make it obvious that people who feel passionately about something (even something as seemingly trivial as fashion) can be very dangerous. Passion brings out both the best and worst sides of people. Byerrum's motto for this series could well be "Never underestimate a fanatic!"
I like the supporting characters Byerrum has come up with, too. Stella the goth-dressing hairstylist, Tony the cowboy-booted cop reporter, Mac the editor who won't let Lacey out of the fashion ghetto, Gary the FBI agent who dresses like an undertaker, Brooke the attorney with a flair for conspiracy, Damon the webmaster for DeadFed.com - you just know they'll be fun to watch as they develop.
The other thing I really like about this series so far is that Lacey has her hormones under control. Although she's been dating a ruggedly attractive cop named Vic for a number of months, she still hasn't hopped into bed with him, despite their chemistry and the fact that they're both single. When Vic spends part of Designer Knockoff taking care of personal business in Colorado (which may or may not include his ex-wife, Montana), Lacey starts to wonder where their relationship is heading.
While she waits for Vic to come back to DC, she dates a member of the fashion house family. Jeffrey's quite a package, even if he is related to the designer family; he's gorgeous, interesting, fun to be with, rich, and definitely interested in her. However, she doesn't hop into bed with him, either. And when Vic returns, she doesn't end up there with him, even though her best friends tell her she's crazy not to sleep with him. Finally, a modern woman who doesn't think that female equality has to include bed-hopping! I hope Byerrum keeps Lacey out of the bedroom until she's been down the church aisle. A fun modern mystery series that has some moral fiber - what a great idea!
Scent to Her Grave: A Bath and Body Mystery
India Ink (Yasmine Galenorn)
Berkley
c/o Penguin Group USA
345 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.penguin.com
ISBN: 0425205339, $6.99, 260 pp.
India Ink (pen name of author Yasmine Galenorn) has come up with an interesting addition to the newest mystery twist: mysteries set in commercial surroundings such as antique shops, bed & breakfast establishments, needlework shops, and restaurants, and dotted with recipes, factoids, and craft tips. Scent to Her Grave is set in a Gull Harbor, Washington, bath and body shop called Venus Envy (a slightly suggestive play on words), owned by the main character, Persia Rose Vanderbilt.
Besides an interesting story, it also includes beauty and spa tips and several recipes for oils to be used in massage, perfuming, and aromatherapy. She mentions crystals and mental energy and the like, but the overall feel is one of "...new age ideas may or may not be true, but oils are useful anyway. It's up to you to decide." I'll be reading Galenorn's next book for sure. I hope she can keep the interest level going.
Deadly Collection
Elaine Flinn
Avon Books
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53 Street, New York, NY 10022
www.avonmystery.com
ISBN: 0060545828, $6.99, 336 pp.
Carmel, California antique dealer Molly Doyle is back and this time, she's been hired to assess and sell the entire contents of a house formerly owned by well-known Hollywood set designers. Molly hates estate sales, since they're usually way more work than they're worth, but this one is different - the house is crammed with priceless antiques, art, and collectibles, and if Molly can sell them to the right people, her twenty-five percent commission will bag her a small fortune.
A fortune, no matter how small, would be welcome, too; ever since her sister's abandoned twelve-year-old daughter, Emma, showed up on Molly's doorstep and became a (loved and welcomed) part of her household, costs have been piling up. There's one major catch, though - the designers were the parents of local artist Frances O'Brien, and she's a pain in the -ummm, behind - to work with.
Then Molly discovers a mummified body behind a fake wall in the house, which attracts the attention of the murderer who put it there. Despite the protests of family friend (and possible love interest) Chief Randall, Molly sets out to discover the identity of the killer. However, the killer is willing to murder again to protect some long-hidden secrets. Will Molly, Emma, and Randall figure out who the killer is, in time to keep him - or her - from killing again? Or will one of them be the next victim?
As always, Flinn grabs your attention and hangs onto it as she takes you from one plot twist to another. Along the way, she also manages to tuck in a few tidbits of antique lore, too. Nice to read an exciting book that doesn't automatically have the heroine hopping into bed with the hero or use dozens of four-letter-words to hype the action. (A few cuss words, when dealing with cops, is understandable, of course…) I hope Flinn writes fast; I can't wait for book number four!
Betty Winslow
Reviewer
Bob's Bookshelf
After The Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire
Mark Klett, with Michael Lundgren
University of California Press
ISBN: 0520244346, $24.95, 140 pp.
"After The Ruins, 1906 and 2006" offers graphic proof that in the ruins of the past the seeds of the present are sown. A photographic retrospective, the book presents 48 historic photographs of the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and then new photos of each view today.
Taken from the same vantage point as the vintage shots, the recent photos show what buildings and monuments have withstood the test of time and what has replaced the ruins and rubble of the devastating trembler. Published to tie in with the centennial of the 1906 quake which struck on April 18, the book is accompanied by an exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum of California, Legion of Honor, which will run through June 4, 2006.
By bringing the past and present into dynamic juxtaposition, Klett's photography not only underscores how San Francisco's urban landscape has changed but it challenges our preconceptions about time, history, and culture. Klett writes, "I find it haunting that details still exist that seem to prove that the two spaces and times are related. Buildings, monuments, objects that are the same can be found in each photo pair…There's an edgy reminder of the continuity."
In one pair of photos the viewer looks down Clay Street and sees smoke billowing in the background as the 1906 residents flee from the oncoming fire. From the identical perspective a century later, parked cars line the same thoroughfare and the 853-foot-high Transamerica Pyramid skyscraper looms where the clouds of smoke once were. Another set of photos show a Jackson Street home virtually unchanged. The only noticeable differences are new landscaping and the years of the autos parked in front of the house.
Along with the photography, the volume contains essays by Philip Fradkin and Rebecca Solnit. Fradkin discusses the events surrounding and following the 1906 earthquake while Solnit considers the meaning of ruins, resurrection, and the evolving geography and history of San Francisco. Paging through this collection of photos the reader will be not only be surprised to see how little the basic footprint of downtown San Francisco has changed since 1906 but also how many architectural remnants of the pre-earthquake city survived in one form or another.
Built to Win
John Schuerholz
Warner Books
ISBN: 0446578681, $24.95, 272 pp.
With an unprecedented 14 straight National League East Titles, the Atlanta Braves are one of the most successful franchises in professional baseball. In "Built to Win" Braves' general manager John Schuerholz shares the philosophy that has led the team to the playoffs year after year.
The secret of Atlanta's success is simple, Schuerholz says. Select the right people, invest in them, and listen to them and the victories will follow.
Looking at his tenure with the Braves, the general manager discusses some of the team's successful pitchers. Certainly the careers of standouts Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz get a lot of attention, as does the downfall of John Rocker. Schuerholz also includes a detailed account of the 2005 acquisition of superstar Tim Hudson. There's also an interesting rebuke of the "Moneyball" theory of management made popular by the Oakland A's where a player's worth is determined by his stats.
Written with Larry Guest, "Built to Win" is filled with fascinating anecdotes about a host of Brave players and staff, including third baseman Chipper Jones, scout Buck O'Neil, pitcher Millwood, and manager Bobby Cox. There's even the inside scoop on how Barry Bonds was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates and why the deal fell apart in just 15 hours. From beginning to end, "Built To Win" explains the ins and outs of how to create a winning baseball organization and do it with only an $80 million payroll.
The Only Game In Town
Fay Vincent
Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0743273176, $26.00, 243 pp.
Former Commissioner of Baseball Fay Vincent has brought together ten lively and informative narratives from some forty interviews that have been taped by the Baseball Hall of Fame as part of their ongoing oral history project. "The Only Game In Town" contains the colorful portraits of baseball stars of the 1930s and 1940s. The group includes Elden Auker, Bob Feller, Tommy Henrich, John "Buck" O'Neil, Dom DiMaggio, Johnny Pesky, Warren Spahn, Larry Doby, Ralph Kiner, and Monte Irvin.
The tales these men share include numerous stories about some of the game's fabled players like Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Satchel Paige, and Joe DiMaggio. For example, both Auker and Henrich remember playing with Hank Greenberg and provide an account of when Greenberg took on the entire White Sox clubhouse after suffering anti-Semitic slurs from the Sox bench.
Auker also offers an account of a post season exhibition tour of Japan in 1939 and the mysterious behavior of catcher Moe Berg on the trip. Years later it was revealed Berg had been spying for the U.S. government at the time. In reacting to the coddling of pitchers today, Spahn said, "Everything today is predicated on preventing a sore arm and the five-man rotation and counting pitches. Well, we get more sore arms now than we ever had in history. And it's because pitchers never get their arms into shape."
A refreshing and candid look at the past, "The Only Game In Town" provides a look at baseball through the eyes of some of the players who took the field during this "golden age" of the sport.
Bob Walch
Reviewer
Buhle's Bookshelf
Marking The Land
Brian Dibble & Jim Evans
UWA Press
c/o International Specialized Book Services (ISBS)
920 NE 58th Avenue, Suit 300, Portland, OR 97213-3786
1920694463 $26.95 www.isbs.com
Ably compiled and co-edited by academicians Brian Dibble (Personal Chair in Comparative Literature at Curtin University) and Jim Evans (Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Agricultural Communications at the University of Illinois), as well as featuring the landscape photography of Richard Woldendorp, Marking The Land: A Collection Of Australian Bush Wisdom And Humor is an engaging, entertaining, and occasionally inspiring anthology of colorful of quotes and sayings drawn from the frontiers of the Australian Outback. With a wisdom and humor ranging from random analogies of life to sheep shearing advice and worldly acceptance, Marking The Land contributes a wide range of Aussie excerpts taken from advertisements, newspapers, songs, books, colleagues and friends of the authors. Highly recommended to all intrigued with the Australian culture and its creative sense of humor, Marking The Land is a work of enduring value that will be appreciated by generations of readers.
The Must-Have Customer
Robert Gordman
St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Jane Wesman Public Relations (publicity)
322 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1702, New York, NY 10001
0312351690 $24.95 www.stmartins.com
The Must-Have Customer: Seven Steps To Winning The Customer You Haven't Got by Robert Gordman (President of the Gordman Group) with the assistance of professional author Armin Brott provides a powerful and persuasive understanding of an expertise developed through over thirty years of business consulting and executive management for retail companies. Introducing readers to the tactics and wisdom from Gordman which helped dozens of companies improve their sale range from about ten million to eighty billion, The Must-Have Customer comprehensively provides readers with "user-friendly" and persistently informative guide to productive and securing utilization of the business and consulting process for any company. The Must-Have Customer is very strongly recommended for all business executives, consultants, managers, and productivity assessment officers for its exclusive and complete mapping of the entire system.
The Language Of Elk
Benjamin Percy
Carnegie Mellon University Press
PO Box 6525, Ithica, NY 14850
0887484549 $16.95 www.cbltd.com
The Language Of Elk by Benjamin Percy (Visiting Assistant Professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an eclectic collection of character-base short stories rooted in the diverse and desolate frontier territory of Oregon. Deftly carrying readers through the intricate world of taming the wild that so boldly summons its inhabitants, The Language Of Elk vividly depicts the mystical persuasion and haunting terrain of the Oregon front with eight memorable tales enhanced with an evocative dialect. The Language Of Elk is very highly recommended for all general readers of fiction for its unique and engaging style an the deeply insightful stories it tells.
Black Elk In Paris
Kate Horsley
Trumpeter Books
c/o Shambhala Publications
Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
1590303296 $19.95 www.shambhala.com
Black Elk In Paris by Kate Horsley is an engaging and thought-provoking story of a young woman and her developing relationship with a distraught physician. Taking place in the year 1888, Black Elk In Paris follows the lives of Phillipe Normand and the young Madou Balise as their decision to help the poor state of an Oglala Indian named Choice which they encounter at a Wild West show touring Europe. Black Elk In Paris carries readers through the transitions which Phillipe and Madou experience as they seek to help Choice learn of his legendary Native American background. Black Elk In Paris is very highly recommended reading as an engaging and entertaining novel replete with metaphors drawn from Native American cultural beliefs.
The Europe Quiz Book
Helen Meade
Dufour Editions
PO Box 7, Chester Springs, PA 19425
1903464781 $15.95 www.dufoureditions.com
The Europe Quiz Book: Test Your Knowledge Of The EU, deftly compiled and expertly authored by Helen Meade is an informed and informative collection of questions for students of the European culture ranging from the roots of European history to the current events. With questions like: In what city was the heir to the Austrian Throne, Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in 1914?; In Spain, what is an omelette made from eggs, potatoes and garlic called?; and What Romanian dictator was overthrown in a coup in 1989 and later executed?, The Europe Quiz Book is a compilation a great multitude of questions from the categories of mixed bag, entertainment, sports, cities, writers, famous people, food and drink, artists, and much more. The Europe Quiz Book is very highly recommended as a fun and informative collection of European information and trivia.
Superior Death
Matthew Williams
Avalon Books
160 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10016
0803497687 $21.95 www.myterymatt.com
Superior Death by Matthew Williams is a gripping and evocative new thriller depicting the life of the small-town reporter Vince Marshall and his hot-pursuit of the truth and justice in his evermore secretive town. With a potentially cheating wife, a degrading and extremist boss, and the police deciding his mother to be the prime suspect for the mystery of a local woman's death, Superior Death deftly maneuvers the language and plot for a highly mystifying tale as Marshall delves deeper into the terrifying truths encumbering his small town. Superior Death is very strongly recommended for its unique structure and fascinating and intricately woven story for all fans of mystery fiction, and most particularly those familiar with the northern Upper-Michigan Peninsula.
Willis M. Buhle
Reviewer
Burroughs' Bookshelf
Pleasure
Gary Young
Heyday Books
PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709
1597140236 $12.95 www.heydaybooks.com
Pleasure is an eclectic and vivid account of the many aspects of the persistence of pleasure presented by the delightful poetry of Gary Young set down in a true and comely prose poems. From deviant to cherishing to subtle, Pleasure tactfully and sensitively presents the inevitable aspect of human nature at its greatest. A woman kneeling at our table began to tell a story. It was my birthday, she said, I was ten, and I rode my new bike through a pasture on a dare. I was almost across when a bull charged from the far side of the field. I climbed a fence just in time, but the bull mad a wreck of my bike. She paused, and I could see that her neck was much whiter than her shoulders or her face--I suppose her hair had just been cut. It's strange, she said, the things you never forget. --Gary Young, Pleasure (p. 70)
Death Stars, Weird Galaxies, And A Quasar-Spangled Universe
Karen Taschek
University of New Mexico Press
MSC11 6290, 1University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
0826332110 $17.95 www.unm.edu
Death Stars, Weird Galaxies, And A Quasar-Spangled Universe: The Discoveries Of The Very Large Array Telescope by Karen Taschek is an informative and easy-to-follow study of the Very Large Array (VLA) as constructed by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in in San Augustin, New Mexico. Ably authored, and historically concise, Death Stars, Weird Galaxies, And A Quasar-Spangled Universe presents the story of Karl Jasky and his discoveries, and continues on to share a wealth of fun and interesting finds attributed to the VLA's research. Beautifully illustrated throughout and a welcome addition to school and community library Astronomy reference collections, Death Stars, Weird Galaxies, And A Quasar-Spangled Universe is very highly recommended as a complete, active, thorough, and exclusive coverage of the fascinating world of the discoveries made with the technology of modern astronomical sciences for readers of all ages who are interested in the science of astronomy.
The Oatman Massacre
Brian McGinty
The University of Oklahoma Press
2800 Venture Drive, Norman, OK 73069
0806137703 $14.95 www.ou.edu
The Oatman Massacre: A Tale Of Desert Captivity And Survival by Brian McGinty is the historical study of the killing and capturing of the Oatman family at the hands of Native Americans. Motivated by his religious beliefs as a dissident Mormon, Roys Oatman set off for Gila and Colorado rivers' intersection with his family of nine and followers seeking to settle in a fertile country he called the "Land of Bashan". The Oatman Massacre is the descriptive story of what came to be called the "Oatman Massacre" in the mid-nineteenth century when all members of that doomed family were killed except for eight-year-old Mary Ann and thirteen-year-old Olive Oatman, and their wounded fourteen-year-old brother Lorenzo Oatman. The young women's captivity amidst the Mohaves tribe, and the experiences of Olive throughout the eight years prior to her rescue is ably recounted. The Oatman Massacre is a remarkable account and a welcome contribution to understanding the Mohaves culture, Mormon history, and a particularly harrowing event on the American frontier.
While Washington Burned
Joseph Whitehorne
The Nautical & Aviation Publishing Company Of America
2055 Middleburg Lane, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464
1877853186 $28.95 www.amazon.com
While Washington Burned: The Battle For Fort Erie by Joseph Whitehorne (Historical Consultant and teacher at Lord Fairfax Community College in Middletown, Virginia) is a descriptive study of the hard-pressed American forces against the British at Fort Erie. Recounting the first US victory on the land against organized British forces after the burning of their burning of the American capital in Washington DC on August 25, 1814, While Washington Burned provides the reader with an expansive understanding of the attacks and counterattacks which took place in the midst of Fort Erie, and a complete accounting of the results -- including the use of genealogical research and archeological discoveries. While Washington Burned is enhanced by the inclusion of maps, appendixes of the armies involved, strategies and tactics used, and knowledge of the every particular of the terrifying battles. A work of impressive scholarship and a thoroughly "reader friendly" text, While Washington Burned is very strongly recommended for personal, academic, and community library American History supplemental reading lists and reference collections.
An Informative Guide To Breeding And Raising Angelfishes
Ed Stansbury
TFH Publications
One TFH Plaza, Third & Union Avenues, Neptune City, NJ 07753
0793805635 $14.95 www.tfhpublications.com
An Informative Guide To Breeding And Raising Angelfishes by tropical fish expert Ed Stansbury is an informative introduction to the selection, maintenance, and nutritional care for angelfish. Descriptively exploring variations of angelfish and particulars of genetics, Breeding And Raising Angelfishes knowledgeably presents details of water quality, dietary aspects, reproduction, and diseases with respect to the quite beautiful and enduringly popular angelfish. An Informative Guide To Breeding And Raising Angelfishes is very strongly recommended as introductory reader for anyone searching for a "user friendly" guide to assist them in the proper care and assessment of health and longevity of their angelfish.
Mental Health Care For Urban Indians
Tawa M. Witko
American Psychological Association
750 First St, NE, Washington, DC 20002
1591473594 $69.95 www.apa.org
Expertly compiled and professionally edited by clinical psychologist Tawa M. Witko, Mental Health Care For Urban Indians: Clinical Insights From Native Practitioners is an extensive documentation of the cultural and historical impact of colonization on Native American cultures and the resultant psychological repercussions still present in the Native American population. Introducing a basic understanding of the history surrounding Native American urban migration and boarding schools, Mental Health Care For Urban Indians identifies the link between traditional healing methods and progressive psychology and advocates the practical use of both in treating mental health conditions manifesting in urban dwelling Native Americans today. With significant insights drawn in part from native practitioners, Mental Health Care For Urban Indians is very strongly recommended reading for psychologists, counselors, and health care professionals working with Native American clients in American cities today.
John Burroughs
Reviewer
Carson's Bookshelf
Woman Behind The Painter
Rosalie Hook
The University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2EI
088864437X $49.95 www.msu.edu
Expertly edited by Juliet McMaster (Professor Emerita in English at the University of Albert and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada), Woman Behind The Painter: The Diaries Of Rosalie, Mrs. James Clarke Hook by Rosalie Hook presents the life, observations and comments of the wife of the artist James Clarke Hook. Presenting the full narrative details of Rosalie Hook domestic partnership with her artist husband, Woman Behind The Painter begins with the fifth day after the young couples' marriage in August of 1846, and continues through their travels to May of 1848. Hallmarked with her vivid and tangible dialogue, enhanced throughout with both color and B/W illustrations, and featuring three appendices ("Index of Artists", "Burton Family Tree", "Hook Family Tree from Adam Clarke"), a list of cited works, and an extensive Index, Rosalie Hook's Woman Behind The Painter is very highly recommended for Women's Studies, Art History, and Travel Diary supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.
Make Your Own Woodworking Tools
Mike Burton
Fox Chapel Publishing
1970 Broad Street, East Petersburg, PA 17520
1565233069 $19.95 www.foxchapelpublishing.com
Make Your Own Woodworking Tools: Metalwork Techniques To Create, Customize, And Sharpen In The Workshop by carpentry and woodworking expert Mike Burton is an informative and superbly organized introduction to making, modifying, and altering woodturning and woodcarving tools. Methodically guiding readers with a "user-friendly" text on woodworking's most intricate particulars, Make Your Own Woodworking Tools covers such issues as steel and other raw materials equipment and tools, safety, tools without blacksmithing, simple blacksmithing techniques, heat treating, dressing and sharpening tools, handles and mallets, special purpose tools, and five innovative projects. Enhanced with five fund and easy projects, as well as being an ideal reference compendium of highly useful tips and techniques, Make Your Own Woodworking Tools is very strongly recommended reading for aspiring carpenters and craftsmen, and an invaluable addition to school woodshop and community library woodworking reference collections.
Screenwriters' Masterclass
Kevin Conroy Scott
Newmarket Press
18 East 48th Street, New York, NY 10017
1557046921 $19.95 www.newmarketpress.com
Ably compiled and edited by Kevin Conroy Scott, Screenwriters' Masterclass: Screenwriters Talk About Their Greatest Movies is an exclusive compendium interviews, commentaries and writings from professional screenwriters about their most famous film projects. Included are interviews with Ted Tally, Carlos Cuaron, Darren Aronofsky, Jim Taylor, David Russel and a great many more. Screenwriters' Masterclass offers an in-depth and "behind the scenes" look into the world of professional screenwriters, as well as a fun and informative background into the making of so many amazing and well known films. Screenwriters' Masterclass is a very strongly recommended addition to professional and film school screenwriting and film production reference collections.
Tools And Techniques For Character Interpretation
Robert Blumenfeld
Limelight Editions
512 Newark Pompton Turnpike, Pompton Plains, NJ 07444
0879103264 $22.95 www.limelighteditions.com
Tools And Techniques For Character Interpretation: A Handbook Of Psychology For Actors, Writers, And Directors by New York actor, dialect coach, and writer, Robert Blumenfeld is an informed and informative study of the interpretive science of psychology and the methodical analysis of acting and character interpretation on stage or before cameras. Presenting a superbly written instruction manual on the performance art of acting, Tools And Techniques For Character Interpretation provides readers with a thematically appropriate interpretation of the great psychologists Freud, Klein, and Jung, as well as a practical understanding of the applications of psychological analysis in acting. Tools And Techniques For Character Interpretation is to be given high praise and strong recommendation for all aspiring or practicing actors, directors and screenwriters for its remarkable coverage of the psychology involved with the art of acting. Also very highly recommended by Robert Blumenfeld is "Accents: A Manual for Actors" (Limelight, 2002) and "Acting with the Voice: The Art of Recording Books (Limelight, 2004).
A Study Of Major Political Thinkers In France From The Seventeenth To The Twentieth Century
Nigel A. Addinall
The Edwin Mellen Press
PO Box 450, Lewiston, NY 14092
0773465294 $99.95 www.mellenpress.com
A Study Of Major Political Thinkers In France From The Seventeenth To The Twentieth Century: From Absolutism To Socialism by Nigel A. Addinall (Professor in the French Department at the University of Wales, Swansea) is a scholarly introduction and study of the political thought as from the perspective the French. Following political philosophy and progression from the rise of Absolutism, the Age of Enlightenment, and Robespierre. A Study Of Major Political Thinkers In France From The Seventeenth To The Twentieth Century analytically surveys the French Revolution, Liberalism, Socialism and Maurras, as the French ideals took on effective attributes and influences. A concise and scholarly documentation of French political philosophy between seventeenth and twentieth centuries, A Study Of Major Political Thinkers In France From The Seventeenth To The Twentieth Century is a very highly recommended addition to college and university Political Science reference collections.
Pup Parenting
Lynn Lott, Jane Nelsen, & Therry Jay
Rodale Press
400 South 10th St, Emmaus, PA 18098
1594860815 $14.95 www.roadalestore.com
Collaboratively authored by the team of Lynn Lott, Jane Nelsen, and animal behaviorist Therry Jay, Pup Parenting: A Guide To Raising A Happy, Well-Trained Dog is an informative and "pet owner friendly" guide to selecting and training the perfect dog for a family. Providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the many and varying canine breeds, Pup Parenting can be invaluable in determining which one is best for a particular family, as well as assessing the personality of the new doggy pal, and curing the immediate obedience troubles which might be encountered. Pup Parenting diligently and knowledgeably carries its readers through the wonderful world of canine companion ownership and the positive effects which dogs might have on familial relationships. Pup Parenting is very highly recommended for all readers wanting to make sound and informed decisions with respect to puppy selection and care for themselves and their families.
Ash Divan
Enis Batur
Tailsman House
PO Box 3157, Jersey City, NJ 07303-3157
1584980494 $15.95 www.amazon.com
Ash Divan: Selected Poems Of Enis Batur is a masterful collection of poetical rhetoric in the form of a poetry that whispers of gallant philosophy and wisdom. The words of this great poet are made available in English through ably translations by Clifford Endres, Saliha Paker, Selhan Savcigil-Endres, Mel Kenne, and edited by Saliha Parker. Ash Divan majestically traces the vivid demeanor of the Turkish poet's most intuitive and provocative creations with slight of inquiry of human nature and progressive luxury. Balcony: "Sweetheart, my darling, my Heloise, come/to me, jump in my lap." Sweet-talking guy,/in his voice that odd soft tone/we keep for newborn babies: "What nonsense/wasn't it for me to give you a name like that,/what nonsense wasn't it?" He laughed/from deep down and went on silently:/What nonsense Heloise and Abelard, History/ and Time, What nonsense Life and Death,/cats and words and poems.//And Heloise? Long
