Average customer rating:
- Not so good
- Not as good as I expected
- it gets 1 star for the cover of the book, which I liked
- Not a fan of Oates
- Joyce Carol Oates wrote this as Rosamund Smith!
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Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang
Joyce Carol Oates
Manufacturer: Plume
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0452272319 |
Customer Reviews:
Not so good.......2007-09-01
I wanted to like this book. It started out good. As I read on, I started to get bored. Borrow it from a library if you can. Save your money.
Not as good as I expected.......2007-01-21
Reading some of the reviews for this book led me to believe that this book would be a good read. I was wrong.
One of my biggest pet peeves is authors who ignore good grammar and proper punctuation, and Joyce Carol Oates is one of those authors. This novel reads like it was written by a kid in junior high. All the switching between first and third person narrative left me confused. The book is written from the perspective of the adult Maddie, but tends to read like someone observing the girls of Foxfire from afar, rather than a member of the girl gang telling how things were.
The characters, with the exception of Legs, get very little development and come across as one-dimensional. As the narrator, Maddie should have gotten more character development, but instead, she is used as little more than the voice of and for Foxfire.
The concept of a girl gang like Foxfire in the 1950's is ridiculous. This book would have been more believable had it been set in a different time frame.
If you've seen the movie, stick with the movie. At least the idea of a girl gang in the 1990's isn't so far-fetched.
it gets 1 star for the cover of the book, which I liked.......2006-08-02
This book was so horrible. It was given to me by one of my friends for Christmas. I'm so glad I didn't actually part with legal tender for this putrid novel. I forced myself through the book, not caring what happened to any of the characters who were flat and boring. It was the biggest waste of time (like something you'd read in a WGS class). And why is it that the only story I ever come across in anthologies by this woman is "where are you going, where have you been"? Is this her best story? How pathetic...
Not a fan of Oates.......2006-01-10
I have tried to read the work of this amazing writer and more often than not find myself closing the book completely uninterested in the characters and/or the story. Technically, I can appreciate and even admit to the awe she inspires. But for some reason her writing leaves me cold.
This was only the second of her books which I managed to finish and I genuinely enjoyed this novel very much. The narrator is flawed and vulnerable, tough and offensive, and I wanted to know what would happen to her and to her gang.
I like this book. I will continue to try to read Oates whenever the impulse presents itself. But I will also forgive myself if I am unwilling to finish what I start.
Joyce Carol Oates wrote this as Rosamund Smith!.......2005-12-18
Sometimes you see this book by Rosamund Smith, which is Joyce Carol Oates by another name!
Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 1994. The length of the article is 1053 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: Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang.
Author: Ronald Curran
Publication:
World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 1994
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v68
Issue: n3
Page: p570(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Product Description
Reviewer: Ellie Reasoner (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA) - See all my reviews
A member of a 1950's girl gang from upstate New York defies her blood oath and breaks the code of silence after forty years. She describes the time and place of the gang's formation and reveals who the others in the group with her were. She then tells secrets.
At first the activities of Foxfire, the name of a club and later a gang, begin almost innocently but its deeds become more and more serious. The narrator reveals how this group of teenaged girls from the wrong side of the tracks in a down on its heels Great Lakes factory town became involved in "hooking" vulnerable, sexually-perverse men and playing on their fears of public exposure to exploit them for money. She informs us of Foxfire's involvement in lodging violence against those branded public enemies, and tells of the gang's Robin Hood like deeds of good will on behalf of the poor and out of luck. She also tells how things begin to go wrong even as the ambitions of Legs, the streetwise leader of the girls, plots the kidnapping of a millionaire industrialist.
Oates produced Foxfire in a five-year stretch of particularly dark novels that included Zombie, and Black Water. By the mid-nineties she wrote one of her most publicly well-received works, We Were The Mulvaney's, and seemed for a time to emerge into a lighter vein of fiction, but for this novel at least, Oates' pessimistic theme of society diminishing the spirit of those who do not conform to it rings loud and clear.
Average customer rating:
- You Think About This One For Several Days After.
- Like a couple on the eve of a divorce, not a marriage
- Maddie drove me Mad!
- boy was someone having a bad day
- Good finish Liz!
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Three Little Secrets
Liz Carlyle
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Devil to Pay
ASIN: 0743496124
Release Date: 2006-03-21 |
Book Description
National bestselling author Liz Carlyle concludes her scandalous new trilogy with a sensuous novel of two star-crossed souls who share a secret or two . . . or three.
Once upon a time, they eloped. But then dashing Scotsman Merrick MacLachlan accepted payment from Lady Madeleine's father to have the marriage annulled. Or did he?
Two times, Maddie has wed. Once for love, once for comfort. Yet once more she is alone with only her beloved son and his haunting visions for company. Until fate thrusts her back into the arms of her first love.
Three little secrets dance between them. One is that he desires her as much as ever; another is that she's never forgotten his touch. But the scars of their youthful passion run deep, and the third secret will either mark their undoing . . . or spark the sizzling reunion they dare not dream of.
Download Description
"National bestselling author Liz Carlyle concludes her scandalous new trilogy with a sensuous novel of two star-crossed souls who share a secret or two . . . or three. Once upon a time, they eloped. But then dashing Scotsman Merrick MacLachlan accepted payment from Lady Madeleine's father to have the marriage annulled. Or did he?
Two times, Maddie has wed. Once for love, once for comfort. Yet once more she is alone with only her beloved son and his haunting visions for company. Until fate thrusts her back into the arms of her first love.
Three little secrets dance between them. One is that he desires her as much as ever; another is that she's never forgotten his touch. But the scars of their youthful passion run deep, and the third secret will either mark their undoing . . . or spark the sizzling reunion they dare not dream of.
Customer Reviews:
You Think About This One For Several Days After........2007-08-19
Tragic. Anguish. Anger. Passion. Fantastic intimacy. Pride. Overcoming false information. Undying love. Characters well developed with great depth. Written on a mature leve. Their story stays in your mind for several days.
Like a couple on the eve of a divorce, not a marriage.......2006-08-25
I'd heard bad things about Three Little Secrets and I thought...no, certainly not, Liz Carlyle is too good to write a really bad book. I was wrong. Three Little Secrets is awful.
The worst thing about the book, what struck me as being unforgivably sloppy, is how ham-handed the plot is.
Madeleine's son Geoff has "fits" and "strange notions" - but neither she nor anybody around her nas noticed that he manages to tell the future through his fits, averting peril to life and limb numerous times. It is staggeringly obvious whatis happening, but nobody has put two and two together. Since Geoff saves Merrick's life twice during the book with his visions, I was pretty stunned that it took him 300 pages to figure out what was going on.
Or, alternatively, Madeleine believes that her marriage to Merrick was annuled. Now, apparently at the time of her marraige she didn't know what an annulment was; fine, I'll buy that. What I had a hard time believing is that at the age of 30 she still doesn't know what an annulment is - or what the conditions of getting one are.
She's perfectly stunned when Merrick tells her they're still married, and that a couple who have married and consummated their marriage would have an almost impossible time getting an annulment. So she tells Merrick that he's lying, leaves, vows to find out the truth herself...yet days and maybe even weeks go by and she hasn't found any way to figure out what annulment is or how to get one. This means that during subsequent meetings she can continue to insist that Merrick is lying, and their marriage was annuled.
There are plenty more examples. The plotting is just sloppy, and unbelievable enough to make it hard to get into the novel.
I was also really unsatisfied with the romance. Madeleine comes across as a meek coward, very timid and unhappy after a life of being bullied by one person after another. She occasionally has flashes of backbone - when she mostly seems brittle and cold.
And Merrick very quickly steps into the role of a bully - yelling at her, controlling her, taunting her. Madeleine does her fair share of taunting in return, but she is so fragile and weak, while Merrick is so confident and strong, that all of these exchanges were depressingly lopsided.
Merrick and Madeleine do nothing but fight. They have those really painful, no-holds-barred fights that leave deep internal wounds. They seemed to me like a couple on the verge of a divorce, not a reconciliation - and I didn't want them to get together. If it meant anything like a continuation of what was happening in the novel, it would be a truly miserable marraige.
I liked Merrick well enough; he's a hard, ruthless, brilliant man who only thinks about making money and is very good at it. He comes across as self-controlled, emotionally deadened, but the demons of his past and their lingering effect on his present are believable.
But I did not like Merrick with Madeleine. I couldn't see how Merrick's disciplined and dominating personality could do anything but oppress Madeleine's much weaker one. I didn't understand what Merrick saw in Madeleine, other than her looks - he occasionally says that he loves her for being a strong and capable woman, but he's delusional if that's his reasoning.
All in all, the worst Liz Carlyle yet.
Maddie drove me Mad!.......2006-08-14
The biggest problem with this book is the heroine, a bland bitter...I don't know what. I also don't know what the hero saw in her to begin with. Up until the last chapter the couple is completely at odds about virtually everything. There really was no "believable" attraction or longing because in every conversation b/w them they were fighting or disagreeing about something. There are only 4 sex scenes: 2 of them b/w the hero and prostitutes and 2 with the hero/heroine, of the latter both were subpar. This book is defninitely not worth the $. I even returned it to the bookstore and got a refund.
boy was someone having a bad day.......2006-08-06
when they wrote that review claiming this book was boring and hackneyed.
I liked it a great deal, interesting story, interesting characters and quite a good read.
Good finish Liz!.......2006-07-31
I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book after reading all the different opinions on it, but trust me, this is probably the best of the three. It was compelling from start to finish; I loved the marital twist and yes, Merrick is my kind of dark, brooding main man. Maddy is sweet, they are perfect together and it was a fun, fast read. Kudos again, Liz!
Average customer rating:
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Secret Garden, Little Princess, Little Lord Fauntleroy: Three Complete Novels
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Burnett, Frances Hodgson | ( B ) | Authors & Illustrators, A-Z | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0517147483
Release Date: 1995-09-25 |
Customer Reviews:
VeRy oUtStaNdInG!.......2003-05-13
I feel that the boog was wonderful. I laughed, I cried, and I smiled not knowing what was going out. I loved the book more then a pugy child likes his/her cake!
Product Description
fiction, romance
Average customer rating:
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Seaserpents!
Gardner R. Dozois , and
Jack Dann
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Dozois, Gardner
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ASIN: 0441756824 |
Book Description
The consumption of herbal products continues to increase, with an estimated sales growth of 10-15% per year projected through the end of the 1990s. As more and more consumers use herbs, it becomes that much more important to ensure that the herbs are used properly and safely. While herbs generally have a safe consumption history, information relevant to specific herbs and particular populations has not been easily available. The Botanical Safety Handbook provides readily accessible safety data in an easy-to-use classification system for more than 600 commonly sold herbs. The handbook also features additional information regarding international regulatory status, standard dosage, and certain common toxicity concerns. The editors of this book are among the most respected leaders in the herbal products industry. Their experience includes years of clinical practice, manufacturing and industry governance, and significant writing and lecturing about herbs. The Botanical Safety Handbook is for manufacturers of herbal products, health professionals who prescribe herbal remedies, and the consumer. This is a valuable resource for the safe dispensation of herbal products, and will help ensure the safe consumption of herbs through the 1990s and beyond.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing Information from such an August Body.......2005-09-11
I feel somewhat presumptious criticising this publication of the American Herbal Products Association as a mere student. However it is not as comprehensive, or as easy to check, as I had hoped. The main body is a dry listing in botanical binomial categorisation only. Part of the chemical reactions of the active constituents have then to be extracted seperately from the text of appendix 2 (which are the herbal constituent profiles). Though it has a simple list of herbs inadvisable during pregnancy - which should be useful. I was also disappointed to see that feverfew merely mentions the potential mouth ulceration capability of fresh leaves (and gastric disturbances) but not that it can possibly cause increase photosensitivity in combination with other drugs.
Personally, within my limited experience of relevant publications, I prefer the Natural Standards Herb & Supplement Handbook by Basch and Ulbricht. Though this includes common supplements such as fish oil. This I have found far more comprehensive, for the herbs it does include, and more user friendly.
Handy reference for clinicians on herb safety.......2003-12-03
This book is a must for any practitioner of botanical medicine. It is a quick, concise guide to herbal safety. It clearly discusses controversial issues, rather than just randomly trashing herbs based on rumor and innuendo, as so many books in the mainstream medical establishment seem to do. A great work. The appendices at the back discussing important issues in more depth are particularly well done.
This Is A Must.......2001-10-26
The issuing of BSH is a landmark event. The book contains demonstrations of what the botanicals people consume in their health food products really mean while alerting those in the industry to the issues surrounding their use. This book should be recognized formally by the government. The labeling recommendations presented are meaningful, complete and based on the best of science.
If you are a consumer of supplements, or, more importantly, if you are in the business (whether you are a retailer, a broker a a seller of raw materials) this book is a complete reference that must sit on the shelf only occasionally. Otherwise it should be in your hands for consult.
Excellent Book!.......2000-07-08
I have this book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to have a key reference to using herbal products safely. It is not the only reference book I consult when looking up the safety of herbal products, but it is one of my main ones. I simply wouldn't think of being without it.
I congratulate the American Herbal Products Association for publishing this book and being on the forefront of wanting consumers to have access to accurate information about the safety of herbs when looking to purchase Herbal Products.
Book Description
From international dishes such as a pinto bean and pumpkin casserole from South America to everyday favorites with a delicious twist, these all-vegetarian meals will tempt even die-hard carnivores. Chef, author, and committed vegetarian Rose Elliot, who has 40 books to her credit, brings her vast experience to these new and exciting recipes, solving daily cooking conundrums for non–meat eaters. There’s something for every occasion, whether it’s an after-work meal to make in less than 30 minutes, leisurely barbecue, al fresco celebration, or festive holiday dinner. Dieters will even find a host of delectable recipes for staying slim and healthy. Goat Cheese and Cranberry Parcels, Grilled Polenta with Roasted Tomatoes, and White Chocolate Ice Cream with Summer Berry Sauce: are all mouthwatering.
Customer Reviews:
Vegetarian haute cuisine?.......2007-06-15
I bought this in a bargain bin for $1. In hindsight, that was probably a fair price, since many of the recipes in Vegetarian Supercook are very labor-intensive and some contain hard-to-find ingredients. Also, this may be "vegetarian," but it is absolutely *loaded* with butter and cream. Examples include Croustade of asparagus hollandaise (2/3 cup butter in main recipe, 1 cup butter in Hollandaise sauce).
The recipes are arranged rather haphazardly, being divided into several sections: Dinner Party Solutions, Classics With A Twist, No Time To Cook, Slim for Life, World Food, Al Fresco, and Celebrations.
However, the book does offer a nice selection of Asian-themed dishes such as kedgeree, banana curry with cashew rice, Vietnamese spring rolls, chickpea tagine with fruity couscous, and falafel, among others. If you're tired of tired vegetarian standbys, this is worth a look, particularly if you're interested in Asian (mostly Indian) cooking.
The desserts are inspired: chili kulfi, cappuccino merengues, chilled rosewater rice pudding, and spicy vegan carrot cake.
I honestly have a hard time recommending this, not because it is not a beautiful cookbook, but because there are simply too many recipes that I will never prepare, and for me, that doesn't justify the $19.99 list price. I was looking for healthy, exotic options that are easy to prepare, and too often, Vegetarian Supercook relies on large amounts of cream and butter, uses exotic ingredients that I can't find in my local supermarket, and is simply too labor-intensive to be practical.
I would label this as "vegetarian gourmet." Many recipes are laden with cream and butter, include expensive, hard-to-find ingredients (quail eggs, tamarind puree, cardamom pods) or are labor-intensive. If you're looking to impress with fancy, exotic dishes, this is the vegetarian cookbook for you. If you want down-to-earth, easy dishes for weeknights, look elsewhere.
Love this cookbook!.......2007-03-25
This cookbook is really terrific! I have a large collection of cookbooks and by far this is one that I use many recipes out of. I highly recommend it! Whether or not you are a vegetarian, the food is great and easy to prepare. Her recipes are easy to follow and the color pictures in the book are bright and colorful!
What an amazing cookbook.......2007-03-14
I've been a vegetarian for 16 years and this may be the best all-around cookbook I have ever owned.
The food is very tasty, looks nice, and is easy-to-prepare. I particularly love the Croustade of Asparagus and Cashew Nut Korma and can't wait to try the Spicy Bean Cakes and Crispy Nut Balls Coated in Polenta.
Vegetarian Supercook can help you make many delicious soups, main meals, breakfasts, appetizers and desserts. In addition to the classic dishes, it also offers recipes for some Indian, Italian and Asian meals. Even non-veggies think the food is delicious.
At the top of each recipe are bullets that state preparation time, cooking time and how many people it serves. It may sound obvious, but it's great having the prep/cooking time breakdown - especially if you're a person whose day is scheduled to the minute.
It's also beautiful to flip through. The pictures of the food are so vibrant and colorful they they practically leap off the page. In fact, my one "complaint" would be that not every recipe has a photograph to accompany it - though the vast majority of them do.
Another nice aspect is that every so often the author adds a tip beneath the recipe. For example, "For a lighter version, use half coconut milk and half water, which is better value than buying 'light' coconut milk when you're simply paying for the water - read the ingredients on the label!"
Here are the chapter headings to give you more info:
~ Dinner Party Solutions
~ Classics with a Twist
~ No Time to Cook
~ Slim for Life
~ World Food
~ Al Fresco
~ Celebrations
~ Notes on Ingredients - tips on what to look for in certain items and where to find them
Vegetarian Supercook is also great for those who are dairy-free as more than one third of the book's recipes are vegan (though non-vegans won't feel even slightly deprived). There's even a chart on the next-to-last page that lists substitutions to make more of the recipes work for you.
But regardless of whether you're vegetarian, vegan or a carnivore looking for a way to add some healthier food to your diet, Rose Elliot will not let you down.
Highly recommend. Five stars.
Average customer rating:
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Vegetarian Supercook
Manufacturer: HAMLYN PUBLISHING (O
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GYZQOK |
Book Description
This in-depth review of Christmas history and traditions in the United States covers a period that most Americans remember well. Everyone will appreciate this nostalgic look at Christmas decorating customs, electric lighting innovations, and tree decorations, all of which changed drastically as a result of World War II. This period of Christmas history witnessed the advent of machine-produced glass ornaments, bubble lights, Italian miniature lights, Matchless Stars, and a proliferation of decorations produced in Japan, Europe, and the United States. With many historical photos, color pictures of decorations from each decade, a detailed text, and a price guide, this book will be thoroughly enjoyed by collectors, holiday enthusiasts, historians, and anyone fascinated with Christmas itself.
Customer Reviews:
Perfectly Nostalgic.......2007-09-24
This book is excellent! The author does a great job balancing impressive information with warm memories of Christmases past. I have found that element lacking in so many other "collectors" types of books. This book will definitely remain one of my all-time favorites!
Thanks for the Memories.......2005-10-19
I love Robert Brenner's Christmas collectors' books! I bought Christmas Past some time ago because it not only told you values and showed photos of the old ornaments and candles/lights, but it also included photos of how the trees were decorated and memories from people who lived in that era. When I saw this volume, for the years 1940-1959, I opened the pages and nearly cried: the photos looked just like those of my relatives' homes when I was a small child or photos from my mom's or dad's childhood. The descriptions are quite detailed as well and there are many, many photos of the beautiful ornaments of the time.
COULD NOT DISAGREE MORE WITH PREVIOUS REVIEWER.......2004-12-02
What book were they reading? This period of 1940 to 1959 really defined what our modern Christmas has become. This was the period when things such as christmas lights and mass-produced ornaments took off...Names Like Noma and Shiny-Brite were the rage...
Bubble Lights, Glass Ornaments, Aluminum trees, etc...this is a wonderful and nostagic step back in time to a more innocent era of Christmas in the U.S. Brenner does a great job of looking as the customs that have defined our holiday and the decorations that have disappeared in the sands of time.
Well done!
Boring.......2003-08-12
This book was exceedingly dull. I wanted to scream "get a life" throughout most of it. I can't believe he's an English teacher -I'm glad he's not mine - I'd be bored outta my mind!!!!
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2007-01-10
This book has lots of really neat projects and ideas. I was pleasently surprised at how much I liked. I gave it to my dad for Christmas and everyone was putting in their orders before the night was done.
Book Description
1001 Ideas for Windows offers homeowners, decorators, and drape makers a comprehensive guide to all possible window dressing from drapes and blinds to curtains, cascades, and sheers. Information is also provided on fixtures, accessories, tiebacks, trimmings, headings, and valances. There is also full guidance on fabrics and materials, measurements and yardage. Visually presented information makes it easy to come up with the right window scheme for any decor.
Customer Reviews:
For Ideas Only, Not a How-To.......2005-12-07
This is an excellent book if you want ideas on possible window treatments for almost any type of window. I was delightfully surprised to see all kinds of unusual shaped/styled windows. Many of the window styles are not covered in most window books (Arched, Cathedral, Celerestory, Portholes, Bay, Bowed, you name it and it's probably in here). If you are a decorator, have sewing skills to be able to construct from a picture or can hire someone who can, this is a wonderful book.
If you need step by step instructions on making curtains, I would still recommend having this book as a resource and picking up a different book on how to make curtains.
1001 Ideas for Windows.......2005-12-06
Most books about curtains are primarily geared toward teaching the reader how to make the curtains. For those people like myself, who aren't interested in making the curtains and just want some ideas on how to decorate their windows, this book is ideal. The author has many different suggestions (including curtains, draperies, blinds) for every type of window and even for french doors.
How to pair home with window treatment, how to work within a limited budget, and where to locate fabrics and accessories.......2005-08-05
1001 Ideas For Windows: The Ultimate Sourcebook For Curtains, Blinds, Fabrics, And Hardware by Anne Justin: illustrations and photos pack in the ideas for window dressings which range from interior shutters to swags. Home atmosphere will help determine appropriate choices: chapters tell how to pair home with window treatment, how to work within a limited budget, and where to locate fabrics and accessories. Finally, use the essential templates to 'try out' the feel of a window covering before you go further.
Book Description
Eat Me showcases the most delectable international food packaging graphic design: from designer lines such as Phillipe Sarck's bottel watter to the pop kitsch of Japanese sweet wrappers, and from super-branded icons to in house lines and own brands.
Eat Me features insights from professionals working within food-packaging graphic design, and essays exploring the practical and psychological issues governing successful work. It also takes three international design groups working in the field as case studies for in-depth analysis, following the designers through the process, from brief to launch.
This is a must-have for designers working in the field of food packaging, as well as for those in the wider field with a hunger for visual stimulation.
Customer Reviews:
meh.......2006-06-02
it does have some good examples of packaging design, but the book itself wasnt exactly designed well nor was it printed as idealy as i'd like it to be. but all u really need is the examples right? that's how i justify it :/
Sophmoric Presentation, The elite in package design. .......2005-07-12
If you can get past the babe with the big red lips and her toungue, its not a bad book. The cover, presentation and chapter pages do little justice to the great design examples contained therein.
How dare I, but I took a razor blade an 5 minutes and improved the book so I can now leave it out for my clients.
I would like to have seen success/failure results. Did the package/product sell?
GREAT EXAMPLES!.......2004-12-31
This book includes food packages from the US, UK, Korea, etc. Big images and hidding secrets behind packaging design are very helpful. The design of the book itself is also nice.
Amazon.com
Historian Darden Asbury Pyron's engrossing biography of Liberace (1919-87) pays America's most popular and pilloried pianist the one tribute he probably never expected: it takes him seriously. "Liberace seemed to me a kind of emblem of modern America," Pyron writes in his preface, "overflowing with both [its] virtues and [its] vices." He makes a persuasive case for this idea in a text that smoothly blends critical theory, historical background, and a lucid narrative of his subject's life. Born Wladziu Valentino Liberace, the youthful piano prodigy chose to become a showman rather than a serious musician, livening up the classical repertoire with pop favorites and attracting swooning female fans who adored his outrageous costumes and garish accessories like the famous candelabra. He was flamboyantly swishy yet never publicly admitted he was gay, even when dying of AIDS; he genuinely believed in the conservative, Catholic, Midwestern values of his immigrant parents, even as his private life belied them. Pyron dismantles the façade of lies and evasions behind which Liberace concealed his driving ambition as well as his sexual orientation, but this is a fundamentally sympathetic portrait. Refusing to acknowledge the boundaries between high and low culture, conducting his life with a weird mixture of hypocrisy and sincerity, Liberace, the author concludes, "was born and died an American boy." --Wendy Smith
Book Description
More people watched his nationally syndicated television show between 1953 and 1955 than followed I Love Lucy. Even a decade after his death, the attendance records he set at Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl, and Radio City Music Hall still stand. Arguably the most popular entertainer of the twentieth century, this very public figure nonetheless kept more than a few secrets. Darden Asbury Pyron, author of the acclaimed and bestselling Southern Daughter: The Life of Margaret Mitchell, leads us through the life of America's foremost showman with his fresh, provocative, and definitive portrait of Liberace, an American boy.
Liberace's career follows the trajectory of the classic American dream. Born in the Midwest to Polish-Italian immigrant parents, he was a child prodigy who, by the age of twenty, had performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Abandoning the concert stage for the lucrative and glittery world of nightclubs, celebrities, and television, Liberace became America's most popular entertainer. While wildly successful and good natured outwardly, Liberace, Pyron reveals, was a complicated man whose political, social, and religious conservativism existed side-by-side with a lifetime of secretive homosexuality. Even so, his swishy persona belied an inner life of ferocious aggression and ambition. Pyron relates this private man to his public persona and places this remarkable life in the rapidly changing cultural landscape of twentieth-century America.
Pyron presents Liberace's life as a metaphor, for both good and ill, of American culture, with its shopping malls and insatiable hunger for celebrity. In this fascinating biography, Pyron complicates and celebrates our image of the man for whom the streets were paved with gold lamé.
Customer Reviews:
Liberace Unveiled.......2007-02-28
Unquestionably there are few authors in the historical profession who write biography as impeccably as Darden Asbury Pyron. Pyron once orated in class "In order to write biography you must eat, sleep, and breath the person's life." Pyron's biography of Liberace is a masterpiece. Some critics find his style dry and lacking in substance. Those readers themselves achieved only a superficial understanding of the pianist and of the author's prose. Pyron offers a balanced perspective of the artist and manages to allow readers not to judge Liberace, but to understand his life, circumstances, and the atmosphere in which he existed under duress and pressure for so long a time. It is a wonder that Liberace remained free from the ill-health effects usually suffered by those under immense personal and societal pressure. Only his contraction of HIV and brief scare from potential renal failure significantly derailed the artist. This biography reveals the tragedy of the pianist's life and piecemeal assembles the development of a real entertainer, a genuine American "hero" or sorts. Liberace was not a sexual hero as so much of his identity seemed suspended in air and never definitively revealed, but he was a man of integrity and someone of true character. Pyron magnificently illuminates the many shades of Liberace, the different gradations of his soul, and allows readers to take the journey of Liberace's life and times with him.
The DEFINITIVE Liberace Biography.......2001-05-22
Carefully researched and well written, this extensive volume details the life of Liberace, peeling away the layers and layers of half-truths, deceptions, and publicity machine myths. A well-loved and talented entertainer, Liberace lived a double life protecting his public image with a fierceness that caused much private agony. Liberace could not even tell the truth in his own biography, lest he be labeled as a liar and countersued by publications he had sued when they reported he was gay. This book details his relationships with friends, family and lovers. Pyron also gives wonderful detail on how Liberace got his start, tracing his career from his start in sleezy Wisconsin dives to his lavish Las Vegas productions. Liberace was smart enough to know his limitations and to exploit his strengths. This books gives a balanced view of the man and the entertainer; in addition, the author gives a detailed historical/sociological background about the lives of gay men in general, which provides an informative backdrop and better understanding of how and why Liberace functioned the way he did. The book may seem rather monotous and dry at times, but that is the author's style; this is a serious, intelligent book, not some gossipy tell-all. Unlike many biographers who write about celebrities, Pyron has great regard and respect for his subject. A must for all Liberace fans and for those interested in the lives of famous gay entertainers.
An Uninspiring Read.......2000-10-13
Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts, comments and reports from the time, package them up in his own rather uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and add a few of his own little presumptions/subtly snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.
An Uninspiring Read.......2000-10-13
Darden Asbury Pyron has a rather dry style which made this a rather boring and long-winded read for me. He has done little but assemble historical facts and comments and package them up in his own uninspiring style - rather reminiscent of school history textbooks - and added a few of his own little presumptions and snide remarks about Liberace's ambitions, achievements and lifestyle.
too much too much.......2000-08-11
if this book were half of it's 420 pages, it would've been an excellent read. overall, i think the book is a great study of America in mid-century and especially of gay culture at that time. Anecdotes and quotes are repeated frequently in the book which gave me a sense of deja-vu as I was reading it.
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