Book Description
From Alan Furst, whom The New York Times calls “America’s preeminent spy novelist,” comes an epic story of romantic love, love of country, and love of freedom–the story of a secret war fought in elegant hotel bars and first-class railway cars, in the mountains of Spain and the backstreets of Berlin. It is an inspiring, thrilling saga of everyday people forced by their hearts’ passion to fight in the war against tyranny.
By 1938, hundreds of Italian intellectuals, lawyers and journalists, university professors and scientists had escaped Mussolini’s fascist government and taken refuge in Paris. There, amid the struggles of émigré life, they founded an Italian resistance, with an underground press that smuggled news and encouragement back to Italy. Fighting fascism with typewriters, they produced 512 clandestine newspapers. The Foreign Correspondent is their story.
Paris, a winter night in 1938: a murder/suicide at a discreet lovers’ hotel. But this is no romantic traged–it is the work of the OVRA, Mussolini’s fascist secret police, and is meant to eliminate the editor of Liberazione, a clandestine émigré newspaper. Carlo Weisz, who has fled from Trieste and secured a job as a foreign correspondent with the Reuters bureau, becomes the new editor.
Weisz is, at that moment, in Spain, reporting on the last campaign of the Spanish civil war. But as soon as he returns to Paris, he is pursued by the French Sûreté, by agents of the OVRA, and by officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service. In the desperate politics of Europe on the edge of war, a foreign correspondent is a pawn, worth surveillance, or blackmail, or murder.
The Foreign Correspondent is the story of Carlo Weisz and a handful of antifascists: the army officer known as “Colonel Ferrara,” who fights for a lost cause in Spain; Arturo Salamone, the shrewd leader of a resistance group in Paris; and Christa von Schirren, the woman who becomes the love of Weisz’s life, herself involved in a doomed resistance underground in Berlin.
The Foreign Correspondent is Alan Furst at his absolute best–taut and powerful, enigmatic and romantic, with sharp, seductive writing that takes the reader through darkness and intrigue to a spectacular denouement.
Customer Reviews:
Molina nails the audio.......2007-09-15
I have read a couple of Fursts's previous novels, but this one I listened to on audio.
I don't believe anyone has yet talked about the audio edition.
The one drawback is that it is abridged. There are times that you sense that something is being left out--description or small details that would enrich the story.
But the reason to listen is for Alfred Molina's reading. It is nothing less than superb. I listen to many audiobooks a year. The reader can make or break a book, sometimes elevating it above its stature on the page. Mr Molina may well have done this. He brings a nuance and delicacy of expression to the character voices that brings them immediately to life. Unlike many audio readers, he handles the variety of accents--German, Italian, French, Scottish--with panache. There is an underlying sense of melancholy and urgency to his voice, reflecting the tone of the story about desperate men and women trying to fight the rise of fascism.
It is to be hoped that Mr. Molina will record more of Furst's catalog .
Furst has done it again.......2007-09-02
Alan Furst's novels are always first rate and this one is no exception. I have read them all and this one certainly is among his best.
Furst's skill is in giving you an accurate sense of what it was like to live through the Second World War in Europe. As he says himself, his characters could very much have lived through this period and have done the things they do in his novels.
If you like a novel that gives you an accurate sense of history, a bit of suspense, and is well written, any of Furst's books will do. Although you don't have to, my recommendation is to read them in chronological order (i.e. the year they are set in rather than the order in which they were written). This will help you to better set each one within the events that are taking place throughout Europe.
If you like a novel that has a definite beginning and ending, Furst's novels may not be for you. I have given copies to friends but not all have enjoyed them as much as I have. Furst's novels give you a "slice of time" and therefore don't end as neatly as most novels with all of the ends tied up. You are often left wondering what will happen next. However, for me, that is part of their charm, but some people find this a bit disconcerting.
Dangerous Escapades: Furst is First in Foreign Intrigue .......2007-08-17
"The Foreign Correspondent" was my second novel by Alan Furst. In the days leading up to World War II, a foreign correspondent working in Paris, Carlo Weisz, an Italian ex-pat is sucked into dangerous sitations and adventures in espionage. One of the things I liked was how Furst is able to maintain maximum suspense without a lot of overt violence--but the dark threat of violence is always present. Furst writes believable scenes set in Spain, France, Italy and Germany. The reader can feel the inevitability of the war, and the events leading up to it. The minor characters are well drawn, especially Colonel Ferrara, the Spanish Civil war veteran. Furst writes evocative scenes of pre-war Paris with all the political factions jockeying for position. If you enjoy The Foreign Correspondent, you may also like the Polish Officer and Furst's other novels. The Polish Officer: A Novel
My first Furst - but not my last........2007-08-12
This was my introduction to Furst's novels, and it was satisfying. Based on the other reviews, I should have started with Night Soldiers, but I'll try it next. I was impressed with the detail presented in this novel, although I can't personally judge its accuracy. It did give me a good sense of the time and the place, and what it might have been like to be an exile in Paris then. The book definitely conveys the uncertainty, risks, anxiety, and sacrifice associated with being an exile, involved in a resistance movement, on the eve of war, and it made me wonder how I might handle that. The author is truly good at characterization, and as others have said he is strong on the description of scenes and atmosphere. I did not, however, find it "gripping"; in fact, it moved slowly for me. The book will appeal to those who like Paris, those who are interested in WWII, those who like mysteries and spy novels, and those who appreciate good writing - in short, a broad audience.
Not bad, but where was his EDITOR?.......2007-07-07
The guy is in LOVE with commas! Not, you know, just the occasional, sprinkled, judiciously, here, and there, but everywhere! At first I thought it was just a stylistic quirk, but it gets really annoying before long. I noticed some typos, too.
Beyond that, a pretty good WWII spy drama.
Average customer rating:
- Highly recommended: suspenseful, well-crafted and realistic!
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Left in the Care of: A Novel of Suspense
Dinah Kung
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Pub
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ASIN: 0786704942 |
Amazon.com
An accessible aura of intimacy with the lives of ordinary foreigners caught up in the Hong Kong changeover gives this first mystery by a journalist who spent many years there a definite edge. Dinah Kung captures the large by focussing on the small: her story mixes the fears of a new mother about her baby and her relationship with its father with the exotic politics and practices of a city in turmoil. Claire Raymond, anxious to get back to her job as a writer for an American business magazine, is looking for a nurse to mind her 6-week-old son, Caspar. Suddenly, her comfortable apartment enclave is shattered by the mysterious death of one little boy and the kidnapping of another. With the help of a Scottish priest, Claire starts an investigation of her own that is hindered by threats to her son's safety and to the delicate balance of her future with the Swiss diplomat who fathered the boy but still hasn't proposed marriage.
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended: suspenseful, well-crafted and realistic!.......1998-01-13
I found this book a real page-turner; I couldn't put it down. I lived in Hong Kong for 8 years, and I can tell you, this book describes the real Hong Kong, as experienced by expatriate Americans. The characters and settings are realistic. The suspense keeps you moving, and the mystery is beautifully crafted. The book has several layers of meaning, especially regarding mother-child relationships. I highly recommend this book! You'll enjoy it.
Book Description
GENEALOGIST TORIE O'SHEA FINDS THAT HER OWN FAMILY TREE IS ROOTED IN MURDER....The December annual O'Shea family reunion is just kicking off when genealogist and town historian Torie O'Shea discovers a bad apple in her family tree.Someone has sent her several newspaper clippings reporting a fifty-year-old unsolved murder.The dead man is her great-grandfather-shot on his own front porch while his family was trapped inside.Everybody knows great grandpa Keith died in a hunting accident. Or did he? Between fussing over too many house guests, husband, children-and the surprising news she's once again in the "family way"-Torie gets a sneaking suspicion the truth may be as deadly now as it was fifty years ago.Soon she's shaking the family tree, never anticipating the shocking truths ready to drop-along with a motive for murder that could mean it's history for Torie as well.REVIEW: "Torie's large, eccentric family provides plenty of entertaining characters.... There's much more than humor at stake in this heartrending tale of family pride and the cover-ups to keep it intact."(Publishers Weekly)REVIEW: "This thoughtful cozy explores an intriguing paradox: close families and small towns can hide big secrets." (Booklist)REVIEW: "A pleasant return to a charming series."(Library Journal)AUTHORBIO: RETT MacPHERSON lives in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri with her husband and three children.This is her third Torie O'Shea mystery.
Customer Reviews:
Maybe You Shouldn't Shake Your Family Tree.......2007-05-24
In this third outing, Torie finds that there has been a murder in her family tree, but could there also be a murderer? While hosting her annual family Christmas party / reunion, the whole clan turns up in New Kassel just the perfect occasion to find out who the killer could be and why. Both Torie and her mom have big plans coming up next summer so I can't wait to see what book #4 has to offer.
A very well plotted cozy mystery.......2005-08-18
This is definitely a cozy, because the small town on the Mississippi River and the extended family that MacPherson describes make you want to live that kind of a life. Her detective is Torie, who is a wife and mother particularly family-oriented: she has a major interest in history and in particular, her own family's history (genealogy). She is hosting the annual family reunion for her father's family when the book begins, and the mystery centers around copies of newspaper articles that she receives anonymously in the mail -- articles about the murder of her great-grandfather (who she thought died in an accident). Torie decides to try to discover what happened, but she's haunted by the fear that it will turn out to be a member of her family -- who are in town for this reunion.
I was genuinely surprised by the solution to this crime, although it all made sense. This is my second book by this author and I intend to read more.
A GREAT READ.......2004-09-03
This is a nice, easy-going read. The author continues the Tori O'Shea series in fine form. Again, we have wonderful character developement, nice twists...all presented with a wonderful wit.
I highly recommend this one and the rest of the series. Well done!
She Did It Again!.......2001-09-02
Rett has done it again, given us a great little mystery to enjoy. I felt right at home with Tori and her family. Cousins, aunts and uncles crawling all over Tori's house for a family reunion and her reactions made me smile. Of course, Tori's reunion wouldn't be complete without the family skeltons and a murder. I love this series and can't wait to read Misty Mourning. I am hooked!
As good as it gets.......1999-07-29
In New Kassel, Missouri, genealogist Torie O'Shea wonders why she agreed to host her family's annual Christmas Party. Seventy relatives will soon invade the small town to attend the festivities. However, Torie's troubles take a wicked twist when an unmarked package of newspaper articles arrives at her house. The clippings claim that her great- uncle Jed murdered her great-grandfather. This contradicts the family account that her ancestor died in a hunting accident.
Though the incident occurred in 1948, Torie feels compelled to learn the truth. Being an expert at shaking a family's tree, Torie investigates her own kin. The documented evidence points to her relative as being an abusive individual commonly hated by all. First hand accounts from her living relatives affirm that information and add even more grisly accounts to the growing facts in which anyone alive five decades ago wanted Torie's great- grandfather dead.
The third Torie O'Shea mystery is a fabulous tale in which the genealogist looks inside her family for answers to an old mystery. The story line lives up to the title, COMEDY OF HEIRS, as the support cast are an eccentric, often humorous bunch. However, the plot actually goes beyond just a simple comedy as Torie never loses sight that murder may have happened with a conspiracy by her beloved family to hide the facts. Rett MacPherson provides readers with an innovative and entertaining who-done-it that readers will fully enjoy.
Harriet Klausner 7/27/99
Book Description
A tale of stolen inheritance, murder and mistaken identity that began in 1863 Tennessee surfaces in the present day, wreaking havoc with debutantes, philanderers and rednecks as they prepare for a festival honoring their Confederate town heroes.
This wild, hilarious ride is full of plot twists, raucous characters and religious fanatics who worship a sweet potato they say displays the face of Jesus. A Comedy of Heirs is described as "a cross between Jan Karon and Dave Barry!" and a "laugh-out-loud page-turner!"
Customer Reviews:
ROTFLMAO - I couldn't stop laughing.......2003-02-26
I know every whacky character in this book. The ones I am not related to lived next door. I couldn't stop laughing. Bunkie Lynn knows Southern humor inside and out. This is the most hilarious book I have read in ages.
Hilarious, side-splitting wacky Southern fiction!.......2002-12-06
This is one of the funniest books I've ever read! I had tears streaming down my face after so many episodes! Not only does it have well-developed characters and wild plot twists, it is hysterically funny for my fellow Southerners and Yankees alike...you'll recognize your neighbors, your crazy family members and all the skeletons in your closet in this book! If you like "big reads" and fast-paced, wacky humor in the same vein as Dave Barry, you gotta read this book! It would make a great movie!
Customer Reviews:
Not bad - they are wonderful authors.......1998-08-27
Prof Mather treats 3 brilliant and unjustly-neglected women authors from the first half of the 19th century. Although none is quite as brilliant as Jane Austen the link is perceptive, and the delicious social comedy more pronounced. Delafield in particular is due for a big revival END
Book Description
This volume contains four representative French comedies of the period from the death of Moliere to the French Revolution: Jean-Francois Regnard's The Absent-Minded Lover, Philippe Nericault Destouches's The Conceited Count, Pierre Nivelle De La Chaussee's The Fashionable Prejudice, and Jean-Louis Laya's The Friend of the Laws.
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The missing heirs,: A comedy in three acts,
Robert St. Clair
Manufacturer: The Northwestern press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007HX0OY |
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The case of the missing heirs,: A mysterious comedy in three acts,
William D Fisher
Manufacturer: The Heuer Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
ASIN: B0007GU6FG |
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A Comedy of Heirs
Manufacturer: St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GLP5UI |
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Pinocchio's Quest
Robert Rogland ,
Vic Lockman , and
Michael J. McHugh
Manufacturer: Christian Liberty Pr
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ASIN: 1930367554 |
Average customer rating:
- Great Book
- great, thoughtful book with lots of extras
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From China With Love: A Long Road to Motherhood
Emily Buchanan
Manufacturer: Wiley
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ASIN: 0470093447 |
Book Description
Although Emily Buchanan had a highly successful career in broadcasting and a loving husband there was something missing from her life: she desperately wanted children. After the trauma of three miscarriages, Emily and her husband Gerald were forced to accept the knowledge that they would not be able to have children of their own and decided to look into adoption. Their desire to have a very young baby led them to consider an adoption from abroad. As a journalist Emily knew only too well the sad plight of many children in the world trafficked to desperate couples and determined that her child had to come from a country where adoption was properly regulated.
In this touching story Emily describes their first meeting with Jade Lin, who had been left on the steps of an orphanage in a small town in Inner Mongolia just after she had been born. Unlike many of the thousands of less fortunate babies abandoned each year in China, Jade Lin had been placed with a foster family before being approved for adoption and allocated to a family. It was love at first sight for Emily and Gerald, but they still had obstacles of language and culture to cross, as well as dealing with the reaction of friends and family back at home. This diary tells in vivid detail the highs and lows of Emily’s journey to motherhood.
"extraordinarily brave and honest, and written with great clarity. I can't remember reading anything on the subject that was as open,... or done with as much dignity. ...neither of us could puit it down, and we were both very moved by it.
John Simpson
"A delightful and candid account of a quest for much wanted children."
Kate Adie
"A factual and honest account of a mother's journey in adopting two daughters from China."
Adeline Yen Mah
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-05-07
I loved this book. It was a great look into the adoption system and the process of adoption. It also showed the challenges facing adoptive parents of children of a different race. Great story, very touching!
great, thoughtful book with lots of extras.......2006-08-18
it was a good look at an insider's perspective on adoption. captures a new mother's heart as well as someone interested in world travel and politics.
Book Description
From the expert who promises to avoid winespeak comes an unfussy guide that focuses on American wines and on up-and-coming wineries from around the globe.
For novices and afficionados alike, Anthony Dias Blue's Pocket Guide to Wine 2006 will lead you to the best choices -- and values -- without pretense or hyperbole. With a special eye for American wines and those that are unheralded yet not to be missed, Blue makes the process of choosing wine in a store or restaurant simple. He provides:
- Extensive listings of wineries on six continents, from Mexico to South Africa, from Long Island to Israel, and even from China to India
- Outstanding and cult wineries -- and wineries to watch
- Profiles of each region that focus on key characteristics and varieties
- Ratings, succinct descriptions, and opinions about each producer
- Updated vintage reports
- Advice about what to drink now
Download Description
"From the expert who promises to avoid winespeak comes an unfussy guide that focuses on American wines and on up-and-coming wineries from around the globe. For novices and afficionados alike, Anthony Dias Blue's Pocket Guide to Wine 2006 will lead you to the best choices -- and values -- without pretense or hyperbole. With a special eye for American wines and those that are unheralded yet not to be missed, Blue makes the process of choosing wine in a store or restaurant simple. He provides: Extensive listings of wineries on six continents, from Mexico to South Africa, from Long Island to Israel, and even from China to India Outstanding and cult wineries -- and wineries to watch Profiles of each region that focus on key characteristics and varieties Ratings, succinct descriptions, and opinions about each producer Updated vintage reports Advice about what to drink now "
Customer Reviews:
save your money.......2006-09-17
was hoping for reviews of individual wines, and this is so not that. rather, an alphabetical listing of wineries, with generic mutterings about what varieties of wine they produce.
for the same money, get a bottle of J Lohr Monterey Valdigue, leaves a much better taste in your mouth.
insightful and educational.......2006-07-19
i take this guide with me every time i eat out, go to the wine shop or even the grocery store. It gives insightful and useful info on a wide variety of wines. If you like the Zagat guide you will love this guide
Book Description
The great postwar modern furniture designs are classics, because they are still great. Herman Miller, the company that led the office revolution, is a name synonymous with the best modern residential as well as contract furniture. Classics by super-designers - Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Isamu Noguchi - can still be purchased from the Herman Miller for the Home collection. Their designs, plus the work of more than a dozen other important Herman Miller designers, are described here in detail and shown in color and black and white photographs, plus original drawings by Nelson and the famous Frykholm picnic posters, all from the Herman Miller archives. This book is essential for collectors, dealers, curators, designers, and other devotees of modernism.
Customer Reviews:
A GREAT BOOK!!!.......1998-08-01
WHAT A WONDERFUL NEW PUBLICATION. LOTS OF GREAT INFORMATION & PHOTOS. WE NEED MORE FINE BOOKS LIKE THIS!
Book Description
A social, cultural, and literary history of the New York literary scene between 1833 and 1857, The Raven and the Whale focuses on the long and acrimonious battle between the conservative Lewis Gaylord Clark, the editor of the influential Knickerbocker, and his camp, and the democratic Evert Duyckinck, a Wiley and Putnam editor who commissioned works by both Poe and Melville, and the "Young America" over the direction that American literature should take.
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A Reader's Guide to Herman Melville (Reader's Guide Series)
James Edwin Miller
Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0815604955 |
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The Raven and the Whale: The War of Words and Wits in the Era of Poe and Melville
Perry Miller
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press Reprint
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0837167078 |
Book Description
This is the first edition of Typee to place its most riveting features—the highly charged and complicated accounts of sexuality, tattooing, cannibalism, and taboo—in a broad historical context. Twelve rich selections from the writings of Melville's predecessors and contemporaries, along with eight illustrations, will help readers develop a fuller sense of where Melville's treatment of these topics is unconventional and why it matters. The volume also includes a complete list of the excisions and revisions insisted on by Melville's American publisher, further proof of how much his text was pushing the boundaries of acceptable literature of the day. Typee offers an alternative for instructors wishing to teach briefer Melville fiction.
Download Description
At one time the most popular of Melville's works, Typee was known as a travelogue that idealized and romanticized a mysterious South Sea island for readers in the ruthless, industrial, "civilized" world of the nineteenth century. But Melville's story of Tommo, the Yankee sailor who enters the flawed Pacific paradise of Nuku Hiva, is also a fast-moving adventure tale, an autobiographical account of the author's own Polynesian stay, an examination of the nature of good and evil, and a frank exploration of sensuality and exotic ritual. This edition of Typee, which reproduces the definitive text and the complete, never-before-published manuscript reading text, includes invaluable explanatory commentary by John Bryant.
Customer Reviews:
"Too Romantic to Be True" .......2007-08-18
Melville's famed magnus opus, "Moby Dick" should not be tackled without this adequate introduction to his work and dazzling literary adroitness. Do not have any apprehensions animated by a seemingly simplistic or bromide plot, for once a reader foreign to Melville's work grasps the exquisite prose and sincere romanticism ingrained in all of his novels, you're soon to become a captive of it's pages bound by an aroused imagination. Soon to learn the fame and notoriety surrounding Herman Melville is certainly not without reason and like many noble literary giants that have gone before us, his masterpieces withstand the test of time deservingly of the title, "Classic."
The quixotic idea of emerging as a castaway on a dissolute tropical island hidden from the world, deep in paradise with only the company of an exotic but mysterious native people should not deter you from believing "Typee" is of any similarity to other inferior postdating stories of the like. Melville combines a brilliantly adventurous travelogue accompanied by earnest philosophical reflections balancing it all out with anthropological observations of the Island's primitive peoples, as well as recollections of his own home. This famed novel was an ebullient endeavor during it's day which hints the emprise of such modern films as "Castaway" while engrossing the empathy of multiculturalism found in "Dances With Wolves." It is feasibly the first accurate portrait painted of South Pacific life through the eyes of a Westerner, influencing many travelogues to follow focusing on the region in the same fashion of Stevenson and Becke.
Numerous editions have been published since the original. The Penguin Classics Edition provides an introduction by author John Bryant who puts the story into context and Melville's conclusion of the supporting character's fate, written two years prior to the first edition in "Sequel: The Story of Toby."
When first published in 1846, "Typee" was an immediate hit. Readers of the era in the US and even in Europe already knew to expect stupendous things from the then obscure author. This is exemplified by the book's quantum leap to stardom. The original draft was submitted to be published in New York but was rejected supposedly because it was "too fantastic" to be true. The apparent fact that after more than a century and a half of being published readers still have an appetite for Melville's original work, must persuade even the most discriminating of literary tastes of the caliber of his writing. Do not be deceived by the age of "Typee." You needn't be a diehard classical literature enthusiast nor scholar to appreciate this very readable, gracefully written novel. Which is contrary to the sometimes unfathomable rhetoric of the bygone antebellum era. It remains still just as amusing and captivating to readers today.
"Typee" was the first of a trilogy of autobiographical novels set in the South Pacific dealing with Polynesian life. Readers of the author's lifetime couldn't get enough of his masterpieces still acclaimed today. Although not quite as well known as "Moby Dick" is to modern day readers, "Typee" is no less gripping or eloquent.
Eden Gone Bad.......2007-05-04
(This review is based on the Library of America edition)
Melville's first book - and you can call it a novel, because it is - is quite an impressive work. I have to admit that during my reading of it, I didn't know how much was non-fiction and how much was fiction. In the case of a non-fiction book, I would have been rather astonished by Melville's work. But the fact is that this isn't a non-fiction book, and that as a reader you should think more of a literary work. But do not be sad!
For what Melville does remains awesome. The book begins like a novel; the narrator seeks to escape his whaler and remain some time on one of the Marquesan Islands. After numerous adventures, he's eventually caught by the Typees, and from that point on, the book becomes close to an anthropological study of the exotic habits of the tribe. Melville is very insightful and witty, and more often than not, funny. His prose is rich and wonderful. A pure pleasure to read.
"Typee" is a peek at some kind of long lost Eden, where no one has to work for a living - fruits can be plucked any time - and where there seems to be no evil. The Typees all have perfect beautiful skin, due to countless bathings during the day, and they're seldom seen to either cause or receive any harm. However, things aren't so dream-like, and the narrator is constantly haunted by the ghost of cannibalism, especially as he has no clear idea of why his captors detain him and yet treat him kindly.
The author manages to produce some very interesting comparisons between the exotic "savages" and the Western Man, and this reminds me of many a sociologic book. Society, culture, humanity, all of these - and more - are considered from a very unique perspective in "Typee". Life among the cannibals, in an Eden of sorts, that is, in short, what the novel is about. Excellent read from a master of literature.
No Metaphysics, Just a Review.......2007-01-28
Realizing that at least some people might want to know if the book is a good read or not, I'll write a review that hopefully wont read like the opener to a thesis on early american literature: Here goes...
I liked it! I thought this Mellville guy writes and interesting and egageing story. Perhaps he does go into details that the story doesn't need, but even his tangents on trees and fruits, etc. are well written.
Worth the money, worth the time, and worth the attention. Plus, there is the added benefit of acting like a literature snob on a review.:)
Its a book, people. Relax, and enjoy.
Typee.......2006-09-12
Typee was a difficult book to read but worth the effort. There isn't much plot beyond "Tommo's" rehabilitation at the hands of the Typee and his fears that they might be cannibals. Is he being nursed back to health or fattened for a future supper? As with Moby Dick, the bulk of the text is in the form of essay and commentary. There are lengthy discussions on the language, the architecture, the music (or lack thereof), taboos and tatoos, and diet of the Typee. These extra chapters though don't have the humor that is present in Moby Dick. They are still an interesting observation on one subset of Polynesian culture.
Symbolism and Imagery........2006-01-17
All things considered, Typee is an excellent book considering it was Melville's first. The themes hidden inside a simple voyage onto the Nukuheva island are utterly breath-taking. Although Meliville states that "He has stated such matters just as they occurred, and leaves every one to form his own opinion concerning them,"(xx), we all know that the truth was stretched out such as the fact that, in reality, he was only on the Islands for four weeks, not four months. But his imagery, symbolism, and entire demise of the meaning of "civilization," is what makes this novel, a remarkable one.
The magnificent scenery and what it stands for is the readers first see as Melville's first main themes in Typee. Melville's imagery is what catches the attention of his readers. They delve deep within the picture he displays with the words he selects. The entire island that is described constantly through the story gives a sort of reference to the garden of Eden, but of course has a hidden meaning. Some critics interpret the reference to the garden of Eden as a symbol for innocence. But when Tommo first hears of the dreaded Typees, he only believes in their cannibalism. After living with them for four months, he always has that first reaction of the Typees in the back of his mind. Other critics would argue that the injured leg that Tommo is mysteriously diagnosed of only comes and goes according to his true feeling of the Typees at that moment. The Garden of Eden is known for it's beauty, it's tranquility, and it's innocence. All these things are attributes of the island but yet they also show that there cannot be innoncence without violence. The Typees are figured out in the end and the sayings are true but not how the rumors are spread. Tommo figures out that the "savages" are more civilized than the white men are back at home. Those French that landed to come take over are not helping the savages; they are destroying their villages and culture, like "savages." Ever since the beginning, Tommo notices that the savages are probably the truly more humane of the two. "'Yet, after all,' I quoth to myself, 'insensible as he is to a thousand wants, and removed from harassing cares, may not the savage be the happier man of the two?'" (29) This quote demonstrates two things. The undoubtable influence Shakespeare had on Melville and the remarkable foreshadowing that was to display the complete way of life, even of those most "savage," the Typees.
Another main part of Typee is the theme of forbidden romance. Tommo falls in love with the beautiful Fayaway and in the end, he could not even console her as she sobbed while he escaped in a row boat home. Melville proves in his writing that even though Tommo was entirely happy at times, there was always a moment of doubt. Here he demonstrates that even though this is "paradise" or "utopia," man will always miss his own culture no matter how violent they can be. Even though Tommo degraded the white man at every sign of native compassion to each other, he still wanted to go back. Don't forget that he was a prisoner in this peaceful place, and he escapes the island through the one thing that he feared, violence. Was it that he had learned the way of the Typees or had it always been there?
Book Description
A charming gift book by two of Potter's best-selling authors, which celebrates the varied uses of the heart motif in American handcrafted country antiques, from cookie cutters to chairs.
120 full-color illustrations.
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Mary Emmerling's American Country Hearts
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Mary Emmerling
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ASIN: 0517570629 |
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Number 57: The History of a House
Maxwell Hutchinson
Manufacturer: Headline Book Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
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General
| Europe
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General
| England
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19th Century
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General
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Social History
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General
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Customs & Traditions
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ASIN: 0755311477 |
Book Description
Number 57 is the story of a house and its inhabitants. Accompanying the six-part Channel 4 series, Number 57 will be restored to its original 1779 condition and then updated to show how our homes have changed through the Georgian and Victorian eras, the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco movements, to post-war Britain and finally to the 21st century. The house and its occupants act as a manifestation of the social history of each era, and this book goes beyond just documenting the history of the house itself. Rather it is a history of the changes in attitudes and technology that have affected the changes in our domestic arrangements. It also includes a comprehensive directory for home owners wanting to recreate the style of each period.
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Iniciacion Al Dibujo de Historietas
Ariel Olivetti
Manufacturer: Ancares Editora
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Drawing
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Drawing
| Instructional & How-To
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Spanish
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Dibujo
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| Arte
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Dibujo
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No-Ficción
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| Automotriz
| Ciencias Sociales
| Crimen y Criminales
| Educación
| Estudios de la Mujer
| Feriados
| Filosofía
| Gobierno
| Hechos Verídicos
| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
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ASIN: 9871120052 |
Book Description
Marvin Gaye was a twentieth-century icon, one of our greatest pop singers.He made his name with the Motown sound of the sixties, but went on to become a musical revolutionary with the release of What's Going On -- an album that tuoched on war, ecology, racism, violence, and poverty. It perfactly capured the spirit of the times and changed people's perceptions of what soul music could achieve.
Behind the songs, however, Gaye's was a troubled life: drug dependency, tortured personal relationships, and ongoing financal and legal difficulties led inexorably to the final fatel meeting with his father. Since his tragic death, his stature has increased rather than diminished. His musical legacy has endured that his popularity and influnce will endure and continue to win new generations of fans.
Trouble Man, based on exhausive and exclusive new research, is the definitive story of the turbulent life and violent death of an American icon. Steve Turner probes beyond the undying magic of songs like"I Heard It Through the Grapevine," "What's Going On," and "Sexual Healing" to trace the jagged contours of Gaye's life and examine the man behind the legend. Turner's detailed exploration of Gaye's childhood and his relationship with his family, his religious upbringing, and his meteoric professional success and ultimate descent into drug abuse and financial instability offers a new look at a beloved American musician.
Customer Reviews:
I luv this book 2 death!.......2005-01-25
This is a MUST read for any Marvin Gaye fan who wants to figure out this man's legacy. I'd admire him for how well he acheived. Even tho he's gone now he still lives on. There's nobody like him but just 1 Marvin Gaye. Marvin Gaye is such a Genius I inspired growing. 2 me I'm learning what he had left off from his career. To me if u love the sound of him or never even heard of him, u must pick this up. 'Cuz it'll take u on 4 journies.
This is incl. along w/ Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, Miles: An Autobiography, and Revelations: There's a Light After the Lime.
A must read for ANY Marvin Gaye Fan........2002-10-10
I have studied extensivly the life and music of one of histories most fascinating and interesting artists. I have already read Divided Soul five times over, and Trouble Man uncovers some of the mysteries of Marvin's Life. Trouble Man picks up where Divided Soul leaves off. One of the most interesting facts about Marvin, is that he is the Biological Father of his and Anna Gordy Gaye's adopted son Marvin Jr. Until this book was published, that was a bit of information that few in the musical circles that I run in, knew about. Also the relationships that Marvin kept open with his former wives is informative. In my opinion, the man was a very talented, shy, introverted person, who just happened to also be a star. Women loved him in part because of his sensitivity, and the fact that Marvin acknowledged that he possesed a soft side. Marvin was prophetic, loving, and was years way ahead of his time. It is also reiterated in this book that there was no type of romantic relationship between Marvin, and Tammi Terrell. For anyone who believes that, listen to the end of the song "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" whereby Tammi sings, "Oh Marvin!" If you are a true Marvin fan, you will not be able to put this book down until you are finished reading it!
Trouble Man.......2002-05-13
To the outside observer, Marvin Gaye had it all. Millions of adoring fans around the world, a seemingly endless money supply, a loving family, and the presence of mind to deprive himself of no desire no matter how sexually deviant or socially inappropriate.
Many people would jump at the chance to trade places with Marvin Gaye during the height of his career. As fans we tend to fixate on the accomplishments of those we admire while overlooking any shortcomings they may possess until we've created the image of a perfect icon who probably never existed. These perceptions changes of course, as his fans watched his glamerous world come crashing down. In retrospect, what we are left with are countless questions and an incredible string of shocking circumstances that the music world has never recovered from.
"Trouble Man" gives readers the joy of actually knowing not only the history of Marvin Gaye but an astounding vision into the type of person he was, the lives he touched, and the inner demons that haunted him until the day he died.
The author brings us back to the upbringing of Marvin's father and his father's role in the church as a minister. The issue of religion was key in young Marvin's struggle between gospel and secular music. That battle with his family and his conscience would be the first of many struggles that ultimately defined the man we knew as Marvin Gaye.
"Trouble Man" is easily the best biography I have read to date. Readers will be taken along on a life full of so much change and up's and downs that I was left awestruck
Trouble Man - a dissenting opinion.......2001-02-14
Despite the involving history of its freakishly dualistic and tragic subject, author Turner misses the mark here. After catchingx a couple of filmed performances from late in Gaye's career on cable - a thrilling rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" at a Lakers Game and an incandescent in-concert performance of "Sexual Healing", I realized how completely the author fails to convey the Gaye's mastery of his art . Both of these performances came after an extended period of slumping sales and inactivity and marked a final, ultimately failed attempt at a rally. Yet these brilliant appearances get scant mention in the book. As does Marvin's breakthrough appearance in the T.A.M.I. Show lineup. Often quotes by family and associates are riddled with Britishisms (the author is English) that are incongruously sprinkled into the speech of these urban African Americans. I believe that when biography writers take broad liberties in paraphrasing the words of those he interviews, it calls into question the overall accuracy of their work. (Couldn't the guy have used a tape recorder?) The book is riddled with minor errors of fact. For example, Turner refers to a town as being in "Upper California" and he often gets the names of venues wrong. I plan to read David Ritz's biography in the hope that he has done a better job in recounting this tragic soul man's life and work.
A difinitive look at The Prince of Soul.......2001-01-06
As a fellow author on soul music and as something of a historian on Motown and its artists, I thought I knew everything there was to know about Marvin Gaye. Mr. Turner's book quickly proved me wrong. Trouble Man turned out to be a difinitive look at one of the most talented, and obviously one of the most troubled artists in the history of modern popular music. Drawing on exhaustive research (particularly about Gaye's father) and utilizing first hand interviews (most notably with Gaye's second wife, Jan), Turner crafts a tome that has you coming away from the book with a clearer understanding of what made Marvin tick. Although not quite as in-depth as Divided Soul, Trouble Man moves quickly, and is entertaining without being scandalous. This is a must-read for all Marvin Gaye fans.
Books:
- The Forest Lover
- The Forty-Seven Ronin Story
- The Glass Palace: A Novel
- The Great American Bathroom Book, Volume 1: Single-Sitting Summaries of All Time Great Books
- The Harmony Silk Factory
- The Invisible Ring
- The Manolo Matrix
- The Morning Star 3-Volume Boxed Set
- The Myst Reader, Books 1-3: Three Books in One Volume (The Book of Atrus; The Book of Ti'ana; The Book of D'ni)
- The Naked and the Dead: 50th Anniversary Edition, With a New Introduction by the Author
Books Index
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Suite Francaise
