Book Description
The Contortionist's Handbook is the story of John Dolan Vincent, an abnromally gifted child with a prclivity for mathematics beyond his years. However, he also bears a rare deformitypolydactylismand his genius is counterbalanced by a near absence of social skills and episodes of severe migraines.
As an adult his migraines occur with alarming regularity, and his repeated attempts at self-medication send him over and over to the emergency room. He knows that to visit twice is to risk being institutionalized as a suicide risk. So, following each trip to the hospital, he draws upon his skill as a petty forger, and reinvents a new identity for himself.
The Contortionist's Handbook is about the lengths people will go to in order to protect themselves from others and ultimately from themselves.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing debut........2007-07-10
Craig Clevenger, The Contortionist's Handbook (MacAdam/Cage, 2002)
I tend to shy away from MacAdam and Cage these days, since my last few tangles with them have been less than pleasant. With all the good things I'd been hearing about The Contortionist's Handbook, though, I figured I'd give them one more shot. I'm very glad I did.
The Contortionist's Handbook is the story of David Fletcher. Except he's not David Fletcher, we soon learn; he's John Vincent, a counterfeiter who doesn't want to be known as a counterfeiter. (Most, one would assume, don't.) The book is, for the most part, the story of how John Vincent became David Fletcher, with a number of identities in the middle. The whole thing is framed by Vincent's verbal sparring with a psychiatric evaluator after going to the hospital, having overdosed in order to try and stop a headache.
Given that most of the book is character study, don't expect too much of a plot; the frame story is a rather thin one. The meat of the book is the story of John Vincent, and that's where Clevenger concentrates. (As a side note, I didn't realize, until reading a review of the book that explicitly points it out, that John Vincent is supposed to be autistic.) Once the frame is set up in the first couple of chapters and we get into the real thing, this one is as gripping as anything I've read this year. Well worth your time. ****
Great story, great writing.......2007-06-21
The Contortionist's Handbook is a number of things. First, it's the life story of John Dolan Vincent, a man who has spent his life constantly shifting his identity. It's also an intricate character study of John Dolan that gets into his head and let's the reader get to know the character intimately. Finally, it's a very touching love story that's so much more sweet than your typical Hollywood fare.
I really can't say enough good things about this book. The writing is clean and enjoyable. It was definitely a book that I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. I also thought that the way Clevenger weaved the present day of the story in with recollection's of the protagonist's past was masterful.
And finally, the ending - the ending is beautiful. To me, it's the highlight of the whole book. The final page just underlines that this book is first and foremost (and obviously this is just my opinion and is how I read the story) a love story. Great ending to a fantastic read.
sincerely,
R.C.
Clevenger's has good future.......2007-06-19
Clevenger's debut book is somewhat in between The Buddha of suburbia and clockwork orange from a genre perspective (even though both are little better in class) -
The Contortionist handbook is extremely vivid and written in first person - sometimes the time journey of the protagonist is not that eloquent and lacks proper explanation but the description in between these time journey's are eventful and poignant. Daniel or John or what ever you may call him changes name and ID ever so often like we change shoes - every time he changes his ID - it is like a new start so time does not flow for him - it just lapses for a particular ID until that ID is useless - these IDs do get girl friends who fall in love with the person and not the ID
Clevenger's control over language reminds me of Graham Greene - he does not write like an Texan even though he is from Texas -
Some of the incidence in the book sound too easy - which are not actually that easy and needs much more persuasion - in any case it is hilarious and the jokes are little tTexan - not too subtle - but I enjoyed it.
Dissapointing ending.......2007-02-20
I'm not going to spoil the ending, but it just kind of left me hanging. Now if there is a continuation, great, if not, big let down. The story is very intriguing, with good twists and turns, but the ending just kind of lacking. An extra fingure and a talent for drawing can go a long way in this book. Check it out.
Very good........2007-01-27
I enjoyed this book. I'm not sure what else to put, but I really did like this book. The way he describes everything made it feel real to me.
Average customer rating:
- Riordan stays on the Beat in Widower's Two Step
- Great Sophmore Book
- Corruption and Country Music
- Keep Reading
- Starts slow, speeds up, but can't quite equal the first book
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The Widower's Two-Step
Rick Riordan
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Big Red Tequila
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The Last King of Texas
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The Devil Went Down to Austin
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Southtown
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Mission Road
ASIN: 0553576453
Release Date: 1998-05-04 |
Book Description
Tres Navarre has just hours of apprenticeship time to serve before he can go for his P.I. license. Staking out a musician suspected of stealing a demo tape should be a piece of pan dulce. But his attention wanders just long enough for fiddle player Julie Kearnes to be gunned down before his eyes. He should just back away and let the cops investigate, but backing away has never been Tres's strong point.
The missing demo and Julie's murder are just two of the problems besetting Miranda Daniels, a pint-sized singer with Texas-sized talent. She's the prize in a tug-of-war between two music hotshots who want to manage her career. One has a habit of making bad things happen to people he doesn't like. The other has just vanished without a trace. As Tres looks into the dirty dealings surrounding Miranda, it becomes clear he's stepped into a rattlesnakes' nest of greed, double cross, and murder—and he may be the next to be snakebit.
Customer Reviews:
Riordan stays on the Beat in Widower's Two Step.......2006-10-12
Tres Navarre has decided to remain in San Antonio and has been serving an apprenticeship. With only a few supervised hours left to work before he qualifies for his own PI license, Tres becomes obsessed with what started out as a simple case of some missing demo tapes, when a country musician is killed in front of him. Tres begins investigating, endangering his career and his own life.
Once again Rick Riordan takes the reader on a spin through San Antonio, this time via Austin and the Texas music scene. Is a seemingly naive and sheltered about-to-be-the-next-big-thing country singer as innocent as she looks, or is she calling the steps in this dance? As usual with Riordan, I hated to put the book down and finished it in less than two days, but while the plot kept me reading, it's the depth of characterization and description that keeps me wanting to spend more time in Tres' life.
Riordan introduces intriguing new characters and revisits some older ones, fleshing out Tres' past as well as suggesting interesting potential for his future. This book is best read in conjunction with the rest of the series but could work on its own. Tres and the supporting cast have begun to seem like real people I know and care about. I look forward to spending more time with them.
Great Sophmore Book.......2005-10-04
This is Rick Riordan's second book and second of the Tres Navarre series. Another thrilling tale woven by a true master. While this book is not quite as strong as his first novel it is right there with it and will be sure to trap all who read it. Be sure to read Riordan's other great works as well. This is one of America's best mystery writers of today.
Corruption and Country Music.......2005-04-28
Texan Tai Chi master, private detective in training, English Phd holder and cat owner Tres Navarre returns in The Widower's Two-Step, following on from his introduction in the harrowing Big Red Tequila. Author Rick Riordan provides us with a tangled mystery based around the budding career of a promising country singer and the creeping corruption that lurks behind the lure of success.
Tres is within 10 hours of finishing his apprenticeship before a P.I. license is his when the case he is working, a simple surveillance job goes horribly wrong. When the dust clears he's on the verge of quitting with very few prospects on the horizon. Holding a degree in English Literature, he lines up a job teaching English at UTSA, thanks to his mother's pushiness. But before stepping into a life of academia, he still has some unfinished business to attend to.
Old school friend and now a partner in a talent agency, Milo Chavez makes Tres a huge offer to find his partner Les Saint-Pierre who has been missing for two weeks. Saint-Pierre had been involved in a tug-of-war battle with Tilden Sheckly over the right to represent up and coming country singer Miranda Daniels. What Tres uncovers is more than simply a couple of would-be agents squabbling over an up and coming musical talent. It's more about the money that can be made by the music industry through black market dealings. It's a tangled web that just gets worse when the nose of Tres Navarre is shoved in the middle.
In his search for Saint-Pierre, Tres finds himself drawn into Miranda's world, forming an emotional attachment that reveals a more sober, thoughtful Tres Navarre than we have seen in the past. His involvement with the singer and her family threatens to distract him from the main game. Fortunately, Tres is a talented guy who is able to juggle the problem of the missing agent, the turmoil of the singer's family and the shady dealings of a marginally scrupulous agent.
The story starts off at a solid clip as Tres is up against a deadline, both in the missing person case and in his bid to find a new profession. Rick Riordan writes with an engaging style which is complemented by the breezy first person delivery from Navarre. I felt as though I am being welcomed back to San Antonio after visiting when reading Big Red Tequila, such is the familiarity with which the city and the South Texas customs are described.
The only minor problem I had while reading the book was a flat spot mid-way through where the investigation tended to lose momentum and the story tended to drift along without anything of interest happening. It didn't last overly long, but I found it difficult to maintain my attention through it and was then struggling to pick the pieces of the plot back up again.
I've found Tres Navarre an extremely likable protagonist with a roguish wit and quiet confidence (very reminiscent of Elvis Cole in the early books by Robert Crais). Riordan returns a few of the more memorable characters from Big Red Tequila such as Ralph Arguello his invaluable pawnshop owning friend who fought his way out of the slums and now carries a lot of weight on the streets of San Antonio; his barely in control, wheelchair-bound computer genius brother Garrett; and, of course, his neurotic cat Robert Johnson. They're all becoming charmingly familiar, slightly off-beat and a reason to return to the series.
The Widower's Two-Step is a fine follow-up to Big Red Tequila bringing all the down-home good nature of Texas to life while taking us through a well constructed mystery. The fact that at the end of it all, Riordan has given us the odd punch in the gut with a sudden unexpected revelation only adds to the enjoyment.
Keep Reading.......2003-02-15
Although not nearly as good as the Last King of Texas, my first introduction to the series, The Widower's Two-Step was a good addition. I'm not usually a mystery/cop novel lover but Tres Navarre is a great character, and I've liked every book with him so far. Some other reviews said that there were too many characters to keep straight, but I don't agree at all. This is a series with reoccurring characters, and all of the non- reoccurring ones have an important role in the mystery. Another reviewer said that this isn't award material, and I won't begrudge someone their opinion, but perhaps these books are just not for everyone. I personally find them funny and smart. A PI with an English Phd who practices Tai Chi? Can't you see the humor in that?
Starts slow, speeds up, but can't quite equal the first book.......2001-10-20
In this second book in Rick Riordan's Tres Navarre series, PI-in-training Tres gets off to a bad start when the person he is tailing dies before his eyes (murder? suicide?). From there, our hero finds himself pulled into the worlds of drug dealing, family politics, and -- most deadly of all -- country music.
This title, like 'The Last King of Texas' (the third book in the series) starts off with a literal bang. But I found both 'Big Red Tequila' and 'Last King' easier stories to get into than this one was. Once the story starts moving, 'Widower's Two-Step' bears all the hallmarks of the Tres Navarre series: a plot that twists and turns, lots of characters (most with complex and hidden motivations), dramatic fights and confrontations, and truckloads of South Texas character. This book also introduces the Manos Detective Agency -- the employees of which have become regular characters in the Navarre series.
Devotees of the series will definitely want to read this title. I would recommend newcomers start with the first book ('Big Red Tequila') instead of dropping into the middle of the series, like I did. But even on its own merits, this interesting and atmospheric mystery is definitely worth a read or two.
Average customer rating:
- Entertaining and delightful!
- A wonderful book, and a wonderful series
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Aeromancer
Don Callander
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Callander, Don
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Aquamancer
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ASIN: 0441004725 |
Customer Reviews:
Entertaining and delightful!.......1999-09-29
Callander does an excellent job, especially with his various characters.All of the books in the 'mancer series, this is #4, are charming and fun! This is extremely easy reading, if you haven't read any of these, do so. You'll enjoy them.
A wonderful book, and a wonderful series.......1998-06-14
I have read this whole series, and all of it is wonderful. In a simple seeming world, of familiar and simple names.... wonderful things occur. The author makes an unbelievable household of Wizards High, and makes you wish you lived in this world.... read this series... very good
Amazon.com
Radical Healing: Integrating the World's Great Therapeutic Traditions to Create a New Transformative Medicine--the title sounds like an impossible undertaking. Yet Ballentine, an American physician and psychiatrist trained in many of the world's healing traditions, succeeds. He introduces the principles of holistic healing and presents an integrated system combining the awareness, tools, and practices taught by a variety of healing disciplines, including Ayurveda, homeopathy, and herbal medicine. Ballentine explains the principles of "nature's medicinals," based on the herbal traditions of China, India (Ayurvedic), Europe, and Native America. He presents several self-assessment techniques, including body maps and mind/body types. He describes the use of exercise, nutrition and cleansing (detoxification), and holistic techniques for working with energy and consciousness. Extensive resources for integrating holistic healing approaches into your daily life let you continue after the book ends. Radical Healing is not a quick fix--it's intelligent, philosophical, and detailed, best for those who are interested in learning about different schools of holistic healing approaches, open to new insights and skills, and willing to devote time to learning to use them. --Joan Price
Book Description
This extraordinary book offers nothing less than a new vision of medical care. Rudolph Ballentine, M.D., has created a unique, integrative blending of the primary holistic schools of healing that is far more potent than any one of these alone.
Like Deepak Chopra and Andrew Weil, Rudolph Ballentine is a medical doctor who became intrigued by the workings of mind-body medicine and looked beyond the West in his search for understanding. Drawing on thirty years of medical study and practice, Dr. Ballentine has accomplished a singular feat: integrating the wisdom of the great traditional healing systems--especially Ayurveda, homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, European and Native American herbology, nutrition, psychotherapy, and bodywork. Melded together, the profound principles buried in these systems become clearer and stronger, and a new level of effectiveness becomes possible. Healing and reorganization are accelerated and deepened--physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The result is transformation. The result is radical healing.
Radical Healing harnesses nature's medicinals--plants and other natural substances--with commonsense essentials such as diet, exercise, and cleansing, as well as the most profound principles of spiritual and psychological transformation. In Dr. Ballentine's synthesis, illness is an opportunity for growth that can go far beyond recovery. Through radical healing old habits and attitudes that supported the development of disease fall away, to be replaced by the clarity that comes with a whole new way of being in the world.
Customer Reviews:
a great doctor.......2004-12-26
there are few books which i can recommend more than this one.
[only recommended for those who already are a bit in the field of "alternative medicine"]
diet and nutrition [from the same author]was an eye-opener for me- many ,many years ago -and i still highly recommend this book -as a first choice -for anybody interesting in nutrition [to start with]
i am speaking as a physician.
Not to miss...!.......2002-12-08
This book is written in a lively fashion. The author is intelligent, thourough and the text is approachable and flowing.
Unlike other self-help guides this book does not "preach" or ground itself in mysterious conventions without explanation. EVerything makes sense- if you're open to some adjustments- and it's a great book not only to heal certain diseases, but also to provide tools to customize your diet, habits and excercise so they would suit your type, helping you to feel better and healthier.
Not to be missed !
A holistic approach to holistic medicine.......2002-04-30
It's fair in that it accomplishes what the title indicates - it does indeed integrate "the World's Great Therapeutic Traditions" - but it fails to adequately incorporate the world's greatest therapeutic tradition - traditional modern medicine.
Not all causes of illness arise in the mind. Case in point: using the book, since I have a sore throat now, I looked up "sore throat" and did the recommended "Lion" yoga exercise - I also even tried a little bit of the "cold wet cloth around neck". The "Lion" actually caused my throat to dry out, which actually aggravated the situation. The cold wet cloth didn't feel right so I stopped. Also, the stated possible cause of "Holding in anger, not expressing yourself" really didn't seem to fit the bill - I was too tired to feel like expressing anger, even in the "Lion" pose. (As a certified yoga instructor, I would have thought that something that massages the throat, such as the Cobra, would have made more sense.)
My point is that not all causes of illness arise in the mind. Certainly some do, and even those that don't might have an effect on the mind, but I think it's just plain impractical to believe that illness is all about attitude. If you do believe that, you wind up thinking (as religious types sometimes do) that everything bad that happens to you happens because of something you did wrong or believed wrong. That isn't the case. Bad stuff happens to even the best of us. Don't always be blaming yourself for your illnesses, and don't always think you've got to change your life around just because you sneezed. (I'm exaggerating to get my point across.)
So far, it hasn't become a "New Transformative Medicine" for me, but maybe it will grow on me. In the meantime, I'll only seek "alternative" health care when "traditional modern" health care doesn't cut it for me.
Other than that, the book is great - it's well written, has interested anecdotes, is easy to read, is structured in an easy to use and intuitive manner, and has more than adequate illustrations to emphasize important points. This is the first book on holistic medicine I've ever read, and I'm glad it is, because it helps me see the "big picture" of the field of holistic medicine.
So as a book I'd give it 5 stars, but I'm taking off one star for the nature of the content and another star for the failure to truly integrate "traditional modern" health care.
A must read for those seeking common sense in health.......2001-09-13
The author uses his large range of experiences over 25 years and his very lucid writing style to detail the workings of herbal medicines, homoeopathic remedies & flower essences. I recommend these chapters to any lay person wishing to get an introduction to these areas. He deals with self diagnosis and detoxing, nutrition and diet, finally addressing health in terms of energy, which I find very thought proviking
Radical Says it Mildly.......2001-04-23
Ballentine brings synthesis to integrating the historic healing systems of the world. I am an alternative practitioner specializing in bodywork and the mind-soul connection. He says plainly what I have struggled for years to explain to my clients who truely seek wholistic healing. It's all in there and it's definitely all connected. This writing allows the reader to extract information and gain understanding in an applicable manner. I refer to it often and always discover something new and timely to aide me and my clients.
Amazon.com
Georgeanne Brennan became enamored of the concept of the potager, or kitchen garden, while living in the south of France, and has created potagers everywhere she's lived in the nearly three decades since then. The potager, explains Brennan, is more than a garden: it's a chance to observe the seasons, a provider of ingredients for signature local dishes, and a great social democratizer that keeps neighbors in touch as they share their bounty with each other.
One of the main features of a potager is that it is intended as a year-round garden, rather than just a summer, or harvest, garden. To that end, Brennan explains which plants do well in different seasons and how to stagger the plantings during seasonal transition periods so as to use the space efficiently throughout the year. The garden itself can be quite small--9 feet by 12 feet can keep a family of four in fresh produce. Like a potager, this guide is small and sweet. It's attractively illustrated with Melissa Sweet's watercolors, and includes 25 easy recipes that make stars of simple, fresh ingredients. --Barrie Trinkle
Book Description
The tradition of the kitchen garden, or potager, has for centuries been a cornerstone of the French country way of life-a year-round communion between the kitchen and the garden culminating in simple, gratifying meals prepared fresh with the flavors of the season. Taking up where the very popular Potager left off, In the French Kitchen Garden is a lovingly written, beautifully illustrated guide to cultivating a potager. Georgeanne Brennan imparts her passion for the potager while offering advice on adapting a kitchen garden to any climate or space. Punctuated with impromptu recipes for delicious dishes incorporating the fresh produce of each season, this book encourages everyone to adopt ?the creative, relaxed style of the French country cook.
Customer Reviews:
Great value for the price...........2003-03-23
At first glance you might think IN THE FRENCH KITCHEN GARDEN is nothing more than a good door prize. This pretty little book is not very expensive and whereas cheap and beautiful often suggests a void, FKG is packed with all sorts of good ideas for creating your own little kitchen garden. From Ms. Brennan's perspective, the French kitchen garden is a soup garden or potager where one grows vegetables, herbs, strawberries, melons and "cutting flowers, such as zinnias and nasturtiums." She also suggests that although the proper garden would not include trees which shade vegetable plants and flowers and reduce production, occasionally, one includes a fig tree or some other small fruit tree. Generally, the produce grown in the potager is consumed as the season progresses (soup to soup so to speak) with nothing leftover for canning or preserving although some items such as winter squash and potatoes might be stored in a cool dry place for a short while.
The concept of a year-round garden is European, and therefore a foreign idea for most Americans whose only spring crop consists of daffodils. So among other contributions, Brennan encourages the reader/gardener and/or novice potager to think differently about the use of space heretofore only used to grow a few tomato plants and pole beans. I have been a 3 season flower gardener most of my life (spring-summer-fall) but in recent years have attempted to have a good-looking winter garden. My winter "crop" has been more structural than not, consisting of dried grasses, dried sedum and other "interesting" plant forms that are decaying and bird friendly. Ms Brennan has inspired me to rethink my approach and seek out more information about four-season vegetable gardening. Winter for example is a great time to plant onion sets and grow leafy items in a cold frame. If you're thinking about growing the old-style Victory Garden, or want to know more about the soup garden, Brennan's book is a good place to begin.
Great Illustrtations & Explanations.......2002-01-13
My wonderful husband just bought this for me for my birthday and my thumbs are glowing green. (Oh, to be an Alaskan and have a gardening book bestowed up on me in the dead of winter!) The author explains many ideas for gardening in great detail, often explaining what could happen if you do things different ways (for instance, what happens when radishes are grown in hot soil in warm climates vs. in cooler ones.) The illustrations are also efficient in that they are in water colour and show detail where needed and show adequate lay-out.
A delightful read, and some sound advice.......1999-04-24
If you are lucky enough to ever meet Gerogeanne Brennan, you know that she is the real thing: down to earth, a gourmand who gardens. You can trust that Brennan speaks from her experience, not from the experience of her "experts."
In this book Brennan does something unusal that you do not usually find in gardening books, especially ones that are geared for begining gardeners. There are no lists of 10 fool proof plants, nor strict instructions to plant something a specific way on an absolute date or face certain failure. (Honestly, why Martha thinks you have to plant peas on St. Patrick's Day is beyond me.) Brennan instead wants you to understand the philosophy of the potager, and then make your own rules.
Brennan suggests what you might want to plant in each of the four seasons (wherever you happen to live) and tells you what typically would be planted in a true French potager at the same season; Brennan gives you sources to find these plants; Brennan even gives you an idea of what size pot you would need if you are restricted to balconey gardening. Very thoughtful. Though I have not tried any of the recipes in this book, they are similar to others you can find in her well-received cook books.
The book itself is small and well made; the paper is heavy. It feels good in your hand. The illustrations are charming without being too cute, and often they illustrate a garden layout that actually makes sense. And of course Brennan's writing is rich and clear.
This is a good book for a beginning gardener. You will not be dissappointed.
Customer Reviews:
The Smithsonian Treasury of 'American Quilts.......2007-06-09
I really like this book. The text is easy to read and follow. The information is complete. The pictures are clear.
Book Description
Getting dressed every morning probably causes more trauma than anything else we do on a daily basis. No one understands this better than Betty Halbreich. She's seen firsthand that putting on clothes is as much -- if not more -- about the mind as it is about the body. Each day, her dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman is filled with women searching for something. They may think they're merely shopping for a new dress, but as Betty knows, sometimes they're really shopping for a whole new life. Whatever these women are seeking, Betty is sure to help them find it.
With simple instructions and witty asides, Betty takes her experience out of the dressing room and puts it into readers' hands. Follow her through the years and through the stores as she sheds light on such fashion conundrums as how to break up with the color black, what to wear on "Casual Friday," what "black-tie" really means and how to wear just about any accessory.
Betty elevates shopping and dressing to an art form, yet she makes you realize how simple it really is to look fabulous. She is truly a fashion therapist, dispensing wisdom, wit and advice on how to enhance your natural beauty, build a more confident self-image, and, most of all, have a little fun while doing it.
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The Critical Perspective: Early Victorian (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
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Victorian
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ASIN: 0877547963 |
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The Critical Perspective: Edwardian (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 1555467741 |
Customer Reviews:
Great book!.......2004-10-15
Summary: Includes bibliographies of the 296 authors covered in the Critical Persepctives series, a complete table of contents of each chapter in the series, an alphabetical index to the authors covered, and an index to the critics.
Average customer rating:
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The Critical Perspective: Elizabethan-Caroline (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 0877547920 |
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Critical Perspective: Georgian (The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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ASIN: 0877547947 |
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The Critical Perspective: Late Victorian (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Harold Bloom
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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ASIN: 087754798X |
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The Critical Perspective: Medieval--Early Renaissance (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
Manufacturer: Chelsea House Publications
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Binding: Library Binding
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The Critical Perspective: Mid-Victorian (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
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The Critical Perspective: Restoration-Early Georgian (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
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The Critical Perspective: Spenser and Shakespeare (Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism)
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- Buildings presented in 'cut-away views' like dollhouses.
- Architectural Revelations!
|
The English Country House in Perspective
Gervase Jackson-Stops ,
Peter Morter , and
Brian Delf
Manufacturer: Grove Pr
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Customer Reviews:
Buildings presented in 'cut-away views' like dollhouses........2001-11-24
Hardcover; 160 pages; 9.5" x 12.3"
Small map of Britain to locate buildings. Featuring Bodiam castle & 11 grand English country houses. All have beautiful color cutaway views, detailed floorplans of most levels of every house, and the history of the houses. This is refreshing because so often with other books I've read there are floorplans of only the first floor. This is one of very few books that contain enough content whereby a drafter could re-construct plans of the buildings.
Not all of the featured buildings have the following: some show landscape drawings; some show original renderings; some have photos of the interior; some have detailed drawings; some only have the artist's rendering of the homes.
Great value if price remains discounted.
Architectural Revelations!.......2000-08-29
The concept of a "Birds Eye View" of houses, was a revelation. That is why when I first saw this book, I bought it immediately!!! It features 12 of the richest houses in England, and gives you another view that in many ways is far more revealing. This Birds eye view shows us how the house fits the site; but it is much more than that. It shows the surrounding gardens and parks. Full of magnificent watercolors, this book gives the reader a lot of detailed information about not just the great architectural details, but how these people lived. Anyone who is interested in architecture or even landscape design will greatly benefit from having this book.
Average customer rating:
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William N. Copley: True Confessions, Paintings And Drawings
William Copley
Manufacturer: Hatje Cantz Publishers
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Release Date: 1998-05-02 |
Book Description
Copley's importance to the American Dada surrealist movement is for teh first time properly studied in this, the first publication examining his complete work since his recent death in 1996.
Customer Reviews:
Great Read but one Author had me in hives!.......2005-07-18
This is a wonderful book..and something every mom and woman can relate to. All the stories were detailed and you can picture the story as if you were watching it in a movie theater...but this one author had a way of writing that can be compared to fingernails on a chalboard. To be fair to her I have never read any of her other stories or books...so maybe she does not write this way habitually...she can't possibly be doing that...because I see she is quite popular..but in this book Elizabth Beveraly's writing style can be compared to the style of a children's writer...ie..the author who wrote the If You give a Mouse a Cookie" series. She repeats herself over and over expressing the exact same thing paragraph after paragraph, uses the same words, to the point I was cringing through the whole story..simply because her writing style was so childlike as the narrator for her characters. Overall the book is an easy beach read...but that last story by the above mentioned author can really grate on your nerves unless you are prepared to read it as if you were reading "If you give a Mouse a Pancake" to your child...because that is the writing style this famous author chose. Hives aside...the stories are very fun, light and sweet...an enjoyable read....the first two stories would make great Lifetime Television movies..and so would the last story if you eliminate the repetitive narrartion style.
Average customer rating:
- Wow! Excellent, funny, incisive!
- Now more than ever
- Brave, informative and really really funny!
- Blah, blah, blah
- We care about Tabloid Baby!
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Tabloid Baby
Burt Kearns
Manufacturer: Celebrity Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1580291074 |
Customer Reviews:
Wow! Excellent, funny, incisive!.......2005-12-04
I got turned on to this through the new blogsite www.tabloidbaby.blogspot.com.
This is a real, excruciatingly honest, and side-splittingly hilarious skewering of the tabloid TV era--and it's very funny to see what current stars pop up from the closet of skeletons!
Right on!
Now more than ever.......2001-10-06
In light of recent events, this deconstruction of the television news business and revelations about its turn toward poignant and personal stories is especially relevant.
In light of recent events, it also provides a refreshing diversion.
Brave, informative and really really funny!.......2001-03-26
Tabloid Baby by Burt Kearns is well worth a read! It shows how television news turned into tabloid television and how tabloid television turned into "reality television." It also shows how a guy like Bryant Gumbel went from being a newsman who opposed Tabloid TV to a shill for "Survivor" every morning. Kearns's focus on a handful of renegades who ran Tabloid TV gives Tabloid Baby a novelistic feel. And even though he is biased and sometimes savage in what he writes, he is brave for doing so and is also very very funny!
Blah, blah, blah.......2000-09-29
This book covers the birth of tabloid television journalism from its seemly beginnings in the 80's. I have always found these type of shows to be a guilty pleasure. I found that the people behind the shows are indeed as uncontrollable and uncouth as I imagined. This testosterone fueled book is impossible to read. It jumps from one story to the next, the language is over the top and it commits the very worst sin of tabloid reporting....it is boring! Way too long.
We care about Tabloid Baby!.......2000-09-02
We're glad to see that Tabloid Baby is still getting under the skins of network newsies! After almost a year, it's "required reading" among us producers and obviously its given a few pointers to the network newsies! Tabloid Baby is the funnest book I've read this year and the ones whod call it petty are the real little petty ones! Viva tabloid baby! Viva! Viva! Tabloid Baby!
Average customer rating:
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Maternity Leave: Tabloid Baby/ The Nine-Month Knight/ The Paternity Test (Silhouette)
Candace Camp ,
Cait London , and
Sherryl Woods
Manufacturer: Silhouette
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 037348366X |
Customer Reviews:
Two out of Three Hits........2000-06-05
"Tabloid Baby" by Candace Camp. Movie producer Jackson Prescott arrives just in time to get a very pregnant Beth Sutton to the hospital. When a tabloid calls Beth his mistress and her baby his lovechild, Jackson and Beth are thrown together. Beth must look past her worry about publicity to accept a future with Jackson. A lovely tale that leave you wanting more about the Sutton men.
"The Nine-Month Knight" by Cait London. Widow Daisy Hewson discovers debts and bad memories aren't all her reckless husband left behind. She's pregnant. She's also falling for her boss, baby food tycoon Ethan Saber. Ethan convinces Daisy to marry him as research subjects for new products. Ethan actually wants Daisy in his life, but his cold upbringing hasn't left him prepared to verbalize his feelings. He uses business terms for personal acts. Ethan is adorable and Daisy is just the woman for him, yellow sticky notes and all. My personal rating for this story is 4 stars.
"The Paternity Test" by Sherryl Woods. Jane Dawson wanted only to stay in the home she had grown up in. Mike Marshall wanted a high paying job that meant security. They loved each other, but Mike's job was in San Francisco and Jane's home was in Virginia. Reluctantly, they broke up. When Jane's biological clock starts ticking, she visits Mike and they make love. Yet nothing has changed. Mike still has his job in San Francisco and Jane still refuses to move. Now there is a third party involved, Jane is pregnant. Jane tricks Mike to get pregnant and expects him to make all the compromises in their relationship. This makes it difficult to sympathize with her.
Book Description
The supermarket tabloids have been the strongest influence of the past hundred years on the overall direction and philosophy of America's mass media. Tabloid veteran Bill Sloan tells why it happened, how it happened, and who made it happen. He explains how the supermarket tabloids have affected all of us--even if we've never so much as picked one up on our way through the checkout line.
Customer Reviews:
Inside View Of Tabloid Journalism.......2007-03-04
"I Watched A Wild Hog Eat My Baby" is an inside account of the rise of the supermarket tabloids in American culture, written by a veteran of tab editorial staffs. No doubt because of that, it suffers from the same flaws, full of innuendo and rumor-mongering, giving you a juicy if never solid story.
At the heart of Bill Sloan's book, published in 2001, is Generoso Pope Jr. In 1952 he bought a nearly-defunct Hearst paper called the New York Enquirer. Remaking it into a scandal sheet called the National Enquirer, he made a mint by printing stories no respectable newspaper publisher would want and paying reporters and editors well above the market norm to ease any pangs of conscience they might have.
Pope was a mysterious guy with reputed connections to the CIA and Mafia. What precisely those connections were, or what they might have meant, is one of many things Sloan leaves unexplored. In many cases, as when he discusses Pope's involvement with the attempted assassination of Mob boss Frank Costello, Sloan raises the question only to firmly assert: "No one will know for sure, of course."
Sloan does this a lot in the book. He also quotes numerous unnamed sources when discussing the most salacious details of his story, something he no doubt picked up from his years writing for the Enquirer and wanna-bes like Midnight (now the Globe). He allows himself the unusual device of quoting people like Pope not from interviews or even memories of past conversations with them, but conversations he was told about by third parties, now dead. Once a tabloid writer, always a tabloid writer.
Most of Sloan's quotes seem to be pulled from articles published in mainstream newspapers and magazines, making it a bit of a clip job when its not pulling quotes out of thin air. Only 12 people are listed by name as being interviewed, though Sloan assures us this is because American Media Inc., the publisher of all supermarket tabloids today, will not allow anyone in their employ to talk to him on the record.
The only thing that kept me from giving this book one star is a hilarious middle chapter, which describes how a series of drunken story meetings at one tab facing the scrap heap and deciding what the hell led directly to the most outré element of supermarket tabloids, what became the UFO, Bigfoot, and Elvis subculture cornered today by Weekly World News and referenced in this book's title. That part shows Sloan had a better book in him if he only worked harder at it.
The stories contained here are more icky than fun. Whatever insight offered on the tabs' dominating focus on celebrities, and how that focus trickled up to mainstream media, isn't anything you can't see for yourself watching Entertainment Tonight or clicking on The Drudge Report. For the most part, Sloan is content to tell you everything you already know, and nothing else he bothers to pin down with any authority.
Where is the CIA info.......2004-05-25
"I Watched a Wild Hog EAT My Baby!!!" by Bill Sloan, reviewed by Tim
Cridland
I just speed read the new tabloid book published by Prometheus Press. I
checked it out from the LA Public Library and read most of it in one day.
The name of the book is I Watched a Wild Hog EAT My Baby!!! and it is
written by Bill Sloan, who apparently worked for a few of the tabloids in
the 70s.
There a few things that are in this book that I haven't seen elsewhere. One
is a thorough background of Generoso Pope Sr., showing his strong ties to
both the Mafia and support of Mussolini and Fascism.
In case you don't know, Pope Sr. is the father of Gene Pope Jr., founder or
the National Enquirer and inventor of the supermarket tabloid.
Sloan also verifies beyond all doubt that the National Enquirer was started
with money given or loaned by long time Pope family associate and mobster
Frank Costello.
Sloan also verifies that the Mafia influence of the National Enquirer
continued well into the 70s
Sloan doesn't give any new insight into the Pope Jr.'s CIA background. He
also seems to know little of Midnight publisher Joe Azaria's Mafia
connections, other than saying that there were reports that he had casual
contact with the Montreal Mob. In fact, there is an article from the
Montreal Gazette about Azaria where he openly admits his mob connections,
and claims to be working on a book about it. I have this article in my
files.
Sloan gives a huge amount of information about the group of tabloids that
were published in the Chicago area, of which the National Tattler is the
most remembered. Strangely, there were no connections to the Mafia or CIA
here.
on page 106 Midnight editor John Vader describes how he faked a photo for
the Midnight issue with the headline: JFK IS ALIVE ON SKORPOIS! I mention
this because the Gemstone File claims that this is actually a photo of the
kidnapped Howard Hughes. John Vader says it is staff writer on top of Monte
Royal in Montreal at sunset.
One strange thing is that Sloan makes no reference to James Randi. Randi
used to work for Midnight when he was working as a phony psychic in Montreal
nightclubs. Randi wrote and astrology column and apparently designed the
masthead for Midnight. His name is clearly seen as the artists signature on
the earliest edition of Midnight that I could find at the Quebec Library.
When I E-mailed Randi about his tabloid days, he E-mailed back saying that
it was so long ago that he hardly remembered anything. However, in an
interview with Randi in Skeptic Magazine, he was able to vividly remember
his teenage years, a time presumably before he worked at Midnight.
Prometheus Books, Sloan's publisher, also publishes several books by Randi,
making Randi's omission all the stranger.
All and all, it is a good book with lots of hard to find info and well worth
checking out from a public library.
http://(...)
The horror of learning the truth.......2003-10-03
The true horror about this book was learning how The National Enquirer, Star, etc. are now not only not competitors, but all housed in the same building. Then it gets even grimmer when you read how The National Enquirer is trying to go legit...It's all so shocking and sickening. Who wants to read about death as a result of idiot guidance and ownership? Just turned my stomach and, quite frankly, made me sad. Honestly, I'd noticed for quite some time that the Star was losing its edge and this book explained why. It's a case of "fixing something that ain't broke." The owner and his team are trying to change what the rest of the media is trying to copy. Shadow-boxing with what?
Most current, and comprehensive, history of tabloids.......2001-10-14
This extensively-researched history of American tabloids was released in 2001, the only post-1999 tabloid book so far. That's relevant, because since 1999 all major tabloids (Enquirer, Star, Globe, Examiner, Mira, Sun, Weekly World News) have been under single ownership. Some tabloid critics lament that this has undermined the tabloids' traditional competitiveness, and significantly altered their editorial policies and news coverage.
Anything written about tabs a decade earlier would be woefully out-of-date. As Sloan comments, the 1990s have seen the "tabloidization" of mainstream media. The major media have usurped the tabs' turf, creating what Sloan calls an "identity crisis" among tabloid editors and reporters, who must now compete directly against major media in search of scandalous type celebrity news, whereas in the past the major media shunned such stories.
Sloan analyzes how such 1990s news stories as OJ, the death of Princess Di, and "Bill and Monica" affected news coverage by the tabloids and their mainstream competition.
There are some other good tabloid books, several written by "insiders" like Sloan, but this is the only tabloid history that's up-to-date, and relevant to today and the near future.
Author Bill Sloan was an editor at the Globe and Enquirer, and a Pulitzer-nominated reporter for the Dallas Times-Herald.
Providing insider's insights into the strange business.......2001-05-19
We all let our eyes at least wander to tabloid newspaper headlines in the supermarket; but ever wonder who's behind them? Finally: here's an expose of the personalities who built the tabloids, with interviews by Bill Sloan providing insider's insights into the strange business. From roots of the tabs in soft-core smut to their current focus on celebrity sensationalism, pop culture is presented at its best - and most outrageous - in a zany story. I Watched A Wild Hog Eat My Baby: A Colorful History Of Tabloids And Their Cultural Impact is especially commended to the attention of students in Journalism, American Popular Culture, and anyone who has ever plucked one up while in a supermarket checkout counter.
Book Description
Tabloid reporter Sara Joslyn will go to any lengths to scoop her former employer at a rival rag. This means heading to Branson, Missouri, the home of big hair and snakeskin boots, to cover the trial of a country-western star accused of rape and murder. Donald Westlake's comic journey through "the new Nashville" is equal parts courtroom thriller and pop satire, and another gem in the Westlake canon.
Customer Reviews:
Hearken to this, or not, I really don't care.......2004-01-06
An open letter to all those who assumed that they were cheated by Mr. Westlakeke's " Baby Would I Lie". Westlake has been writing for more years than you have drawn breath. Exit criticism 1. "Trust Me On This" was so fun that I gave it to some Journo pukes to lighten them up. I,Phil, did want to know what happened afterward, the drama queers had no interest. I,(fanfare of trumpets) would seldom criticise (sorry about the spelling, but sometimes an "S" is better than a "Zed") a man who has afforded me so much thought provoking entertainment. "The Winner" is the finest human drama story that I know. "Nackles" is the creepiest. Loose your venom on a worthy target, you little coney-catchers, Read "Anarchaos" or a little Parker and shut up. Pinkyprime
Funny and biting look at murder, country music, and tabloids.......2002-07-13
_Baby, Would I Lie?_ is the sequel to Donald Westlake's _Trust Me on This_. That book concerned Sara Joslyn's time working for the Weekly Galaxy, a sleazy tabloid. At the end of that book Sara and her editor, now lover, Jack Ingersoll, manage to escape to New York and respectable journalism, in the form of Trend, a weekly modelled as far as I can tell on the New Yorker.
As this book opens, Sara is on her way to Branson, MO. Her latest assignment is to cover the murder trial of Ray Jones, a middle-aged country music star with a theater in Branson. One of Jones' employees was found murdered and dumped in Table Rock Lake, and Ray's car was seen with incriminating bloodstains. The evidence against him is purely circumstantial, and fairly weak, but the trial is also being held in the court of public opinion.
As Sara arrives, she encounters to her dismay some of her former colleagues from the Weekly Galaxy. Naturally, they too are covering this celebrity trial. And before long Jack is in Branson as well, chomping at the bit to nail the Galaxy at their nefarious journalistic tricks.
The story is told from several points of view, but mostly those of Sara and Ray Jones. We soon learn that Ray is also in trouble with the IRS, and we get hints that he is not guilty of the murder but that he knows more than he is letting on, and that he has some curious scheme afoot. Much to the dismay of his legal team, which is confident they can get him off if they can keep him reined in. Meanwhile, he is mysteriously letting Sara have significant access to his legal preparations, much to the further consternation of his lawyers. Is he setting up Sara somehow?
The resolution is pretty clever with a nice twist or two. Westlake's portrayal of Branson, a town I know reasonably well, is not bad. (There are one or two missteps, and it's rather out of date. (The book was published in 1994, and depicts the town as it was in perhaps 1990 or so.)) He tries somewhat to avoid stereotyping Midwestern tourists, with limited success. He is pretty sound (and on the whole, sympathetic) on the country musicians themselves, though. The lyrics to Ray Jones' songs are all by Westlake, and they are quite good country pastiches. Ray Jones himself is well depicted -- not exactly a nice man, but not a monster, either. And the book is quite funny.
Unabridged Audio Tape is delightful.......2000-10-03
Like a book you can't put down, this audiodisc is one I couldn't turn off. Nicola Sheara (Reader)brings a unique -- and believable -- voice to every character and enthuses the prose with a sense of lively anticipation. Other reviewers have commended the writer; I want to be sure that audio tape/disc listeners know that they won't be disappointed in this rendition of a very entertaining tale.
Westlake always makes me feel guilty!!.......1999-09-19
Donald Westlake writes books with characters that you just can't help but like. They can be, as in the great Dortmunder series, felons, burglars, kidnappers, but they are all likable. In this book, his characters are tabloid journalists, who are only a step above the lowest of the lows, defense attorneys. He skewers them, but some of them, DARN IT, you can't but help liking.
Very enjoyable mystery with a country-western setting.......1998-11-04
Extremely enjoyable mystery with a country-western setting. Contains the full lyric of "If it ain't fried, it ain't food", itself worth the price.
Does anyone out there know the name of another Westlake book in which the main character, a film critic and college teacher of film courses, inadvertently causes the death of his date for the evening in his apartment. The book features a running gag in that all his books have titles in the familiar modern vein, Title: Subtitle, for example, "Gaza Strip: Breeding Ground for Terrorism". You get the picture. Can anyone help? Thanks.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from American Journalism Review, published by University of Maryland on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 956 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: A Treasure Trove of Tabloid Tales.(Brief Article)
Author: Carl Sessions Stepp
Publication:
American Journalism Review (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Maryland
Volume: 23
Issue: 2
Page: 69
Article Type: Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
|
Tabloid Baby
Burt Kearns
Manufacturer: Celebrity Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NQIMEM |
Books:
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- The Mad Cook of Pymatuning: A Novel
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- The Mistress of Spices: A Novel
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