Book Description
The quintessential Southern writer, O'Connor wrote fiercely comic, powerful fiction. This anthology includes the masterpieces Wise Blood, The Violent Bear it Away, and Everything that Rises Must Converge.
Customer Reviews:
perhaps our most underrated author.......2000-12-18
Wise Blood (1952)(Flannery O'Connor 1925-68)
All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful. -Flannery O'Connor
Wise Blood is Flannery O'Connor's grotesque picaresque tale of Hazel Motes of Eastrod, Tennessee; a young man who has come to the city of Taulkinham bringing with him an enormous resentment of Christianity and the clergy. He is in an open state of rebellion against the rigidity of his itinerant preacher grandfather and his strict mother. So when one of the first people he encounters is the blind street preacher Asa Hawks and Motes finds himself both attracted and repelled by Hawks' bewitching fifteen year old daughter Lily Sabbath, he reacts by establishing his own street ministry. He founds the "Church without Christ":
Listen you people, I'm going to take the truth with me wherever I go. I'm going to preach it to whoever'll listen at whatever place. I'm going to preach there was no Fall because there was nothing to fall from and no Redemption because there was no Fall and no Judgment because there wasn't the first two. Nothing matters but that Jesus was a liar.
As you can guess the church is singularly unsuccessful, although he does attract a couple of other crackpots: Enoch Emery a young man who works at the zoo and longs for a kind word from anybody; and Onnie Jay Holy, yet another rival preacher who believes Motes when he says he's found a "new jesus."
While at first this cast of bizarre characters, ranging from merely repugnant to truly evil, and the scenes of physical, moral and spiritual degradation through which they pass all seem to be just a little too much, the reader is carried along by O'Connor's sure hand for dark comedy. The book is very funny. But as the story draws to a close, O'Connor's true mission is revealed; Motes loses his fight against faith and he achieves a kind of grace, becoming something like a Christian martyr to atone for his sins. O'Connor has something serious and important to say about the modern human condition and the emptiness of a life without faith. That she is able to disguise this message in such a ribald comic package is quite an achievement.
Reading the book inevitably called to mind Carson McCullers' dreadful book The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), which made the Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the Twentieth Century list. It too is a Southern gothic, populated by dismal misanthropes. But it is devoid of humor and has nothing to say about the characters and the world they've created. Wise Blood is a superior novel in every sense and really deserves that spot on the list.
GRADE: A+
The Violent Bear It Away (1960)(Flannery O'Connor 1925-68)
From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. -Matthew 11:12
Flannery O'Connor wrote with one of the most distinctive voices in American Literature; a kind of grotesque amalgam of Jonathan Edwards, Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Allen Poe, and William Faulkner. She perceived the world in starkly Manichean terms, as a struggle between the forces of Light and Dark, Good and Evil. The Violent Bear it Away is a psychomachia--literally a battle for the soul--the story of a backwoods Southern boy named Francis Marion Tarwater (see The Violent Bear it Away and The Bible by Angela Lucey for more on this). The boy's great uncle, an Old Testament style patriarch, kidnapped him away from an uncle, George Rayber, and has raised him to be a prophet of God. Upon his great uncle's death, Tarwater rejects the prophetic mission and heads to the city to live with his uncle, who tries to wean the boy away from the teachings of the great uncle. Through a series of increasingly violent actions Tarwater is eventual driven back to the woods and a final acceptance of God and his own role in God's plans.
This is powerful stuff, O'Connor felt that exaggeration and caricature were more likely to reach a modern audience than more subtle styles ever could. Combine that with her vision of violence as a sort of crucible which forces the individual to make a final choice between Good and Evil, and you've got the makings of a truly disturbing fiction. The book will surely not appeal to all tastes, but it is undeniably affecting and thought provoking.
GRADE: B-
One of the best and most unsung American authors..........2000-11-23
...can be found in Flannery O'Connor. But don't be deceived, she is not an easy read. Her stories are disturbing and her characters are often grotesque, yet the reader undoubtedly knows that the author loves her characters very much. We never feel that a bitter, misanthropic creator is behind the stories, and this is the same view that O'Connor has of God that is put forth in her stories. Reading Wise Blood feels like going fifteen rounds with Mike Tyson, and making it to the final bell. Although the reader feels battered and beaten up afterward, you also feel saved. This is the feeling most of O'Connor's stories leave with the reader, and it is a result of her deeply held faith. These stories are some the strongest affirmations of faith to be found in a disturbing, modern world.
Granted, some stories do not leave the reader with the idea of grace that Hazel Motes attains at the end of Wise Blood. O'Connor, herself, said that the old man in "A View of the Woods" is pretty as close to damned as any of her characters. But most of characters, we know, are saved, no matter how pretentious (the woman in "Revelation" for example), or misguided in thought.
The stories, despite their ugliness, are almost transcendent in where they leave the reader. In short, they are beautiful, and a testament to her faith.
She Ain't a Easy One but She Pays Back Plenty!.......2000-06-27
O'Connor did not write for celebrity, impressive money, or so that she could look glamorous, sleekly pasted on the back jacket photo. Maybe she knew one day we'd have Danielle Steele for that. As it was, her photos of herself were not something she admired. She wrote because she had talent, and she felt to do less would be do to a disservice to her gift. She wrote for love, but not for sex. She writes characthers who search for love, for understanding of identity, wisdom, or redemption. As Ms. O'Connor knew, all of us who inhabit creation are weak and flawed. She turned her creative and spirtual sights to showing us how we flawed creatures do what we do and how we damage ourselves. O'Connor writes of suffering and love and faith, in spite of all that seems crude, awkward, and yes, grotesque, in our world. She isn't EASY to understand the way a romance novel is, or an adventure story. She's not writing that kind of book. What she writes in multi-layed, but it was not, to O'Connor's mind, subtle. Still, O'Connor writes prose that pulls you along as a reader, that she manages to encompase a tone or atmosphere in places that feels as though it would explode. That's not bad writing--that's good, because you read it, and you know that you're getting something profound, even if you're not sure what that is right at that moment. O'Connor believed in God, in that kind of love. She knew how sickly we humans approach it. She attempts no less than to draw us to an eternal message. She's not anti-religious in that message because she's writing about the weaknesses of those who fail in their station, in what they were called upon to do, with what gifts they were given. That type of message may not be in fashion now, no more than it was when O'Connor wrote, but that does not make this fiction "poorly written." O'Connor was not a fast, sloppy writer. She honed her craft. These works will give you as much as you can put into them, and then some. The purchase price on this one is more than repaid by the intense value in the meaning of the work.
Do yourself a favor.......2000-01-18
Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were God and you had the ability to punish people justly and adequately for their actions? This author certainly did, and it turned out to be some of the most original art since cubism. If Flannery O'Connor hadn't died so young (39) her name would easily role off the tips of people's tongues just as easily as Faulkner or Hemingway. Many call her the greatest American Woman to write prose, yet some how that description seems to fall a bit short. Discussing themes of destruction of the person by way of religion, the horrifically beautiful way people touch one another, and the devout karma that will attack those in need of it, O'Connor transcends any labels that might beset her.
Average customer rating:
|
O'Connor, Three by Flannery
Flannery O'Connor
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
O'Connor, Flannery
| ( O )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0451025245 |
Average customer rating:
|
O'Connor, Three by Flannery
Flannery O'Connor
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
O'Connor, Flannery
| ( O )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0451081595 |
Average customer rating:
|
O'Connor, Three by Flannery
Flannery O'Connor
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
O'Connor, Flannery
| ( O )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0451097920 |
Average customer rating:
|
O'Connor, Three by Flannery
Flannery O'Connor
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
O'Connor, Flannery
| ( O )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0451089456 |
Average customer rating:
|
Three
Flannery O'Connor
Manufacturer: New American Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000VF6SD2 |
Customer Reviews:
From Back Cover.......2005-11-15
Bartender Shandi Fossey is mixing cool cocktails temporarily at Hush - the hottest hotel in Manhattan. The place practically oozes sex...has sexual fantasy written all over it. For Shandi, it's a stopover on her way to finding her dreams. And a very long way from pulling beers at the Thirsty Rattler in tiny Round-Up, Oklahoma. So what's a girl to do when sexy Quentin Marks comes by every night offering to buy her a drink?
To music producer Quentin, Shandi is one part sweetness and two parts sass with a dash of the unexpected thrown in. He wants to taste every inch of her...bury himself in her soft skin. He can open a lot of doors for Shandi, yet the only door he wants to lead her through is right upstairs...at Hush.
But will everything change the morning after...?
3rd in the Do Not Disturb series
Romance in Manhattan.......2005-08-26
Shandi Fossey works tending bar at Hush, the sexy new hotel in Manhattan, until she's able to finish school and find that dream job as a makeup artist in the theater or film industry. Quentin Marks, in town on business, visits the bar every night after spotting Shandi working there, repeatedly offering to buy her a drink. He is drawn to Shandi in a way he has never been drawn to a woman before. Shandi feels that same pull, but in her determination to get her career on track, she does not want to look beyond a brief affair.
When Quentin's business is concluded in New York, he is determined to take Shandi with him to his home and the quiet life he misses in Texas. Convincing her to go with him for a short visit proves difficult. She is fearful of establishing a deeper relationship with Quentin, not wanting to compromise reaching her career goals.
Alison Kent once again brings her readers the unique, sensual characters that they have come to expect from her and a high recommendation comes easily.
interesting contemporary romance .......2005-08-09
Shandi Fossey left her home tending bar at the Thirsty Rattler in Round-Up, Oklahoma to find fame and fortune in Manhattan. While she waits for her break, Shandi tends bar at Hush, a Manhattan luxurious hotel.
Music producer Quentin Marks visits Hush every night that Shandi is on duty offering to buy the beautiful Sooner a drink. She sweetly declines each time, but does so with an impish hint of brazen fire that turns Quenti on. He muses that he probably would have a heart attack when she finally says yes as he sees desire for him flash in her eyes. He knows he can help her career, but does not want the gratitude of a roll in her sack as her remittance. Shandi's fears are similar that if he gives her career a boost, he will misinterpret her need to make love with him as payment in kind instead of truly coming from the heart.
KISS & MAKEUP is an interesting contemporary romance because of the lead female character. Shandi is sweet and hot as the hunk Quentin will testify. The story line is somewhat common with the small town sweetheart and the big city dude falling in love though both have doubts about the other's motives since he can make her career. Alison Kent steps away from her exciting Smithson group thrillers to provide readers with a heated modern day Manhattan romance.
Harriet Klausner
Average customer rating:
|
Morgoth's Ring: The Later Silmarillion, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 10)
J.R.R. Tolkien
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
British
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| Classics
| Contemporary
| General
| Historical
| Humor
| Letters & Correspondence
| Middle
| Old
| Poetry
| Renaissance
| Shakespeare
| Short Stories
Epic
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Series
| Fantasy
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Tolkien, J.R.R.
| ( T )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Hardcover
| Tolkien, J.R.R.
| ( T )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion, Part Two (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 11)
-
The Peoples of Middle-Earth (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 12)
-
Sauron Defeated: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Four (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 9)
-
The War of the Ring: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 8)
-
The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6)
ASIN: 0395680921 |
Book Description
In Morgoth's Ring, the tenth volume of The History of Middle-earth and the first of two companion volumes, Christopher Tolkien describes and documents the legends of the Elder Days, as they were evolved and transformed by his father in the years before he completed The Lord of the Rings. The text of the Annals of Aman, the "Blessed Land" in the far West, is given in full. And in writings never before published, we can see the nature of the problems that J.R.R. Tolkien explored in his later years as new and radical ideas, portending upheaval in the heart of the mythology. At this time Tokien sought to redefine the old legends, and wrote of the nature and destiny of Elves, the idea of Elvish rebirth, the origins of the Orcs, and the Fall of Men. His meditation of mortality and immortality as represented in the lives of Men and Elves led to another major writing at this time, the "Debate of Finrod and Andreth," which is reproduced here in full. "Above all," Christopher Tolkien writes in his foreward, "the power and significance of Melkor-Morgoth...was enlarged to become the ground and source of the corruption of Arda." This book indeed is all about Morgoth. Incomparably greater than the power of Sauron, concentrated in the One Ring, Morgoth's power (Tolkien wrote) was dispersed into the very matter of Arda: "The whole of Middle-earth was Morgoth's Ring."
Book Description
Like Dead Man Walking and The Cloister Walk, this stirring book is a story of spiritual transformation, one that is all the more remarkable because that transformation took place late in life. For nearly thirty years, Mother Antonia has lived in Tijuana's La Mesa prison, where she ministers to some of the most maltreated inmates on earth. But before she took up her calling at age fifty, the Catholic nun was a Beverly Hills socialite who had been married and divorced twice and raised seven children. In chronicling her journey, The Prison Angel demonstrates the power of radical kindness to change the human heart.
Customer Reviews:
A Saint amongst us.......2007-10-11
I read this book in several sittings which is unusual for me. I just couldn't stop and wanted to read some more of this fascinating story. It is a feel good story for the modern ages. If you are reading this you probably know about the former Beverly Hillls mom , twice divorced who was unable to receive Holy Communion from the Catholic Church, circumvented any road blocks and began her service for mankind(the most down and out of low people in La Mesa prison near Tijuana)and our Lord at age fifty. She produced her own habit and eventually was recognized by an official order. She has worked amongst the biggest drug dealers of Mexico, the murderer of Presidential candidate Colosio, the bloodiest of assasins and the peons who are just to poor to live in society and seek refuge in jail(now that is desperate)and the mentally ill. A prison in Mexico is unlike an American prison. Torture is common. She got involded in prison reform as well as changing men. Mother Antonia is unafraid of the toughest and meanest because she is a righteous woman and all who encounter her love and admire her. She lives in prison. She lives the same way the prisoners do. She walks and talks to the hardest of hard core. She gives them hope and transforrms many of their lives through the miracle of faith. This is an inspirational story that will leave you pondering your own existence; it is truly an amazing story that all should read as it will make you feel better about mankind. She is truly a living saint. Oh yes, there is a large print edition of this book available for the visually handicapped. God bless Sister Antonio and all who she touches.
Truly living a Christian Life.......2007-06-10
This is a very inspirational book and helps people see how they can still be useful as they get older.
Great read!.......2007-03-20
The Prison Angel is one of the most inspiring books I've ever read. Mother Antonia is so amazing that one would question the truth of her story if it weren't for the consistent witness and corroboration provided by all those who come into contact with her. She loves and ministers to everyone without distinction. This is a great book for teaching the golden rule.
Inspirational Life.......2007-02-24
Mother Antonia is an inspiration for us to see all people as fellow humans with similar needs - to be cared for, loved, and accepted. I appreciate that she paved the way to be valuable at an "older" age, and she welcomes women in their later years as valuable and able to serve others. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and passed it around among many friends.
Best Book I have Ever Read.......2006-10-07
This book touches your soul and uplifts your spirits. You would dare to judge another person after reading this book about a woman who could forgive and love the "unlovable." Very touching
Book Description
This digital document is an article from National Catholic Reporter, published by Thomson Gale on October 7, 2005. The length of the article is 846 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: Mother Antonia, visitor of prisoners: a Beverly Hills mother transformed her life to serve those in jail.(THE Prison Angel: Mother Antonia's Journey from Beverly Hills to a Life of Service in a Mexican Jail)(Book Review)
Author: Chris Byrd
Publication:
National Catholic Reporter (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 7, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41
Issue: 43
Page: 6a(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
There's no better way to get to know the land, the people, and the food-especially the food-of Provence than on a bicycle. It's an experience that Sarah Leah Chase, author of Nantucket Open-House Cookbook and Cold-Weather Cooking and, since college, a bicycle tour Guide for Butterfield & Robinson, celebrates in Pedaling Through Provence Cookbook. Like its sister book, Pedaling Through Burgundy, this personal cookbook contains a select but dazzling selection of recipes and is illustrated throughout in full color. Peppered with anecdotes, travel writing, cooking tips, and wine notes, it brings to life the sunny, olive-oil-based cuisine of Southern France: Sweet Potato Aoli, Roasted Eggplant Soup with Rouille, five lamb dishes including Roast Rack of Lamb with Lavender Honey and Herbes de Provence, and Bountiful Berry Clafoutis.
36,000 copies in print.
Customer Reviews:
Our "most-oft-used" cookbook.......2003-05-21
Bottom line: this is absolutely worth having.
If you look at the food stains on all our cookbooks, this one will have the most food stains on it -- meaning it's the one we refer to the most. The recipes are very provencal, emphasizing fresh ingredients, well matched and well prepared.
But there are some pleasant contrasts to many other provencal cookbooks. Chase doesn't go overboard on obscure meats that you can't easily find in the US (or can't make for finicky dinner guests). Though not in any way designed to be a "health cookbook," the recipes are mostly all just fine when it comes to the health component. Like Jacques Pepin, it's light on saturated fats, but doesn't unnecessarily work to eliminate lovely things like olive oil & butter when needed to make things taste good.
Plus, it's the kind of cookbook that is full of little things that add huge amounts. Example: I have a dozen recipes in other books for Pissaladiere. But in Chase's, she adds a anchoiade spread under the onion topping that makes all the difference, and gets guests asking "What's that flavor in this? It's so good!"
The only time I read the prose (about biking) was when I bought the book. Lovely to read, nice context in which to place a cookbook. But in the end, buy this for the cooking contents.
Pedaling Through Provence Cookbook.......2001-07-26
I have made many of the recipes in this book and have been delighted every time! Her anecdotes bring back my own memories of this lovely area. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.
Wonderful prose, but sometimes short on directions.......1999-02-18
What a beautiful book, for beautiful cuisine. I have tried many of the recipes, and although they taste good, I have found a few 'glitches' -- for instance, everything sticks to the pan, or the recipe calls for ingredients but then the directions never say when to use them!
I am now living in Maussane - one of the towns mentioned in the book - it is nice to have the names of the restaurants so I can taste first-hand without having to cook!
A culturally adept, culinary delight!.......1998-06-19
This book will absorb you into the culture, the setting, and the food, in a way that you will feel you were there yourself. Sarah Leah Chase is great at giving proper cooking tips to ensure success with her recipes. I've tried many myself, and I've loved them all so far. It's not only pleasant to follow her clear instructions, but it's a learning experience in itself. Every recipe is introduced with a specific time and place of her life experienced in Southern France. I have learned about the culture, the people, the "paysage". Every time I finish one of her recipes, I feel like marking the place on my "to visit" vacation list. You will fall in love, not only with the food, but with its quality of a rounded learning experience as well.
Amazon.com
So you've had Great-Grandma's old oil painting appraised (you're a devotee of Antiques Roadshow) and, to your amazement, it actually is worth a pretty penny. Now that you know it's valuable, you want to store it properly. But how? According to Caring for Your Family Treasures, paintings are best preserved by keeping them out of direct light in a comfortably heated room (72 degrees with 50 percent humidity is ideal) and by handling them very carefully. By following the preservation guidelines laid out in Caring for Your Family Treasures, you can keep your precious heirlooms safe for generations to come.
"We know we cannot keep everything," says Heritage Preservation President Lawrence L. Reger, "and deciding what to keep is not easy. In the end, the things we choose to hold onto become that more precious to us, and it is important that we care for them properly." Caring for Your Family Treasures includes sections on books, scrapbooks and albums, photographs, home movies (film and video), paintings, fabrics, furniture, silver, jewelry, ceramics, musical instruments, and dolls and stuffed animals. In addition, there are chapters on how to recognize agents of deterioration, how to combat them, and where to go for help (both professional and do-it-yourself).
Caring for Your Family Treasures is thorough, well written, and filled with over 150 color photographs. The authors explain in detail how to recognize organic and inorganic materials and the best way to care for them (our favorite tips: never put a rubber band around a book--it'll eat into the often fragile pages; and never use magnetized photo albums as they discolor and the photos may rip if you try to remove them). This is a book for the serious conservator who is willing to spend time and money safeguarding his or her treasures. Follow their advice and your great-grandchildren will still be enjoying that antique oil painting. --Dana Van Nest
Book Description
Few of us think to preserve our family treasures until it's too late. Now, this practical guide shows just how to safeguard cherished photo albums, a fragile wedding dress, antique furniture, and numerous other precious family heirlooms for future generations.
Clearly written care instructions accompany a lively visual presentation that includes information boxes, checklists, and full-color pictures showing how to preserve leather-bound books, scrapbooks, family documents and other treasures on paper, home movies and videotape, clocks and watches, holiday ornaments, silverware, jewelry, musical instruments, military mementos, dolls, teddy bears, toy soldiers, and more. The text identifies organic and inorganic materials, items that are sensitive to humidity, and the special care required for each. Security and insurance issues, and the best materials and tools for cleaning, display, and storage, and where to find them, round out this immensely useful volume.
HERITAGE PRESERVATION, currently chaired by professional art conservator INGE-LISE ECKMANN, is a national, nonprofit organization working to preserve America's collective heritage for present and future generations. Its programs and publications gather and share information from respected preservation professionals on caring for photographs, historic documents, books, works of art, buildings, natural-science specimens, and family heirlooms.
JANE S. LONG, former coordinator of special projects for the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, is director of the National Task Force on Emergency Response and a consultant for Heritage Preservation.
RICHARD W. LONG has worked with the Brookings Institution, the Commission on the Operation of the Senate, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He now writes and consults.
160 illustrations, 140 in full color, 73/4 x 9"
Customer Reviews:
Super How To Do It Book For Preserving Your Past !!.......2001-05-31
This is a most useful, new (year 2000) 164 page, fully illustrated guide to preserving your family treasures. All of the information in this lovely guidebook was approved by a panel of experts. Topics range from protecting photos, film and videos, movies, paintings, clothing, furniture, glassware and musical instruments, to dolls, toys, natural items and military things, and more. The chapters are very concise, yet complete. Instructions are complete, and simple to follow. It even covers security and insurance of items. The time to begin preserving the items is now, and this book really shows you how. Add it to your library.
I saved my family treasures.......2001-05-25
This book is a treasure and a saviour. I was able to preserve my family heritage using advise and techniques I learned from this book. It describes how to salvage and protect everything from paper items to military mementos. I cannot recommend it enough for anyone who is interested in keeping their family's keepsakes in good shape. Kudos to those who put this book together. It was as if they were talking to me!
Book Description
The Victorians adored florals, and these cross stitch designs evoke the era beautifully. Here, you will find William Morris-inspired borders and motifs of larkspur and violets, while the delicate lily-of-the-valley plant makes a simple yet pretty picture. Romantic pink and white lilies appear as a charming motif, and finally there is a home-sweet-home message, bordered with entwining roses and colorful daisies, which would have been the perfect addition to any Victorian home.
Book Description
With her first book, Use What You Have Decorating, Lauri Ward introduced the most accessible and affordable approach to interior design ever. Now, the pioneer of one-day decorating takes readers into the creative cauldron of one of the most innovative decorating firms in the country and reveals hundreds of designer secrets that will help readers transform their living space-on a budget that won't break the bank.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of Quick, Easy, Effective Tips.......2006-01-12
For those of us who are short on time and cash, the ideas in Lauri Ward's Trade Secrets are a life-saver (or rather, a room-saver!). The chapters break things down into sections on how to get a decorator look when displaying accessories, which tricks pros use for making artwork look great, etc.
No glossy photos here but they are not missed. Instead, there are dozens of smart tips in every chapter that can be implemented immediately without buying stuff. Overall this is quite a useful book that can help answer decorating questions and actually teach us some of the secrets of the trade.
A very good follow up to Ward's 'Use What You Have Decorating,' which is one of the best decorating books around.
Helpful but a little bossy..........2005-10-17
While I enjoyed most of the suggestions in this book, I did not enjoy the way it was presented. I felt a little like a new recruit in bootcamp! Yipes! And what to do about my beautiful leather loveseat? Throw it out? I did however rearrange my living room so that my fireplace in the corner AND television nearby are both focal points. HELLO... we are real people with real homes and YES we do occasionally watch television in our real home. Color pictures would be great too. Maybe we have all just been conditioned by glossy magazines companies to expect pretty color pictures with our text. Well, we are the demanding and drooling public and WE WANT PICTURES! I'm glad I borrowed this one from the library and didn't purchase it first!
Good book, though more on organization than decorating...........2005-08-24
This book consists of lots of tips, think Martha Stewart's "Good Things" but with no pictures. Most of the tips don't need pictures, but some tips definitely could have used them. The tips are all over the map and not necessarily decorating related.
I'm sure I wasn't the only one hoping for more "before and after" room arrangement pictures, but you're not going to get any in this book.
In a way, it suffers from a sense of being old-fashioned, as when she suggests putting a desk behind a sofa, and not facing it against the wall. Well, unless you are willing to spend big bucks to re-wire and re-carpet to hide electrical cords, you are NOT going to put a desk facing the middle of a room any more because of the tripping hazard, since even if you do bundle the cords up, they still have to be plugged into an outlet. What she suggests might work for the "kiddie table" that lots of people have in their living room, but no sofa is going to "hide" your computer, printer, etc. She seems to be oblivious to the idea of the modern home desk with the need to plug in the computer, printer, modem, phone, task light, etc.--the days of the executive desk with nothing on it but perhaps a blotter and pen are LONG gone.
I liked this book, but not in the same way as her first book. I did not really see it as a follow-up to her first book, but really a totally different book. I hope she writes another book that is a true follow-up to her first book, dealing with all the other rooms she left out.
Useful but flawed.......2003-11-04
Ms. Ward once again presents a useful tool for those struggling with such basicdecorating dilemmas as furniture placement, window treatments, light & color, and floor coverings. In her first, invaluable, book she noted the ten most common decorating mistakes and how to solve them. This book recaps much of what was said in her first. The best points in this book are her true-life examples of problem solving. The primary flaw is the lack of photographs or detailed illustrations. Ms. Ward prides herself on giving useful decorating advice, which she does extremely well, as opposed to those coffee table decorating books that require huge outlays of money to achieve anything like the proposed results. Nevertheless, photographs would greatly enhance the text and the reader's understanding of the principles she espouses. Another flaw with the book is the title "Trade Secrets" - it is hardly a trade secret that Hold Everything sells organizers. A better title would be "Tips from Use What You Have Decorating." This book reinforces whot one has learned from the first, and I must say that "Use what you Have Decorating" is one of the best books in this genre.
The Best Book!.......2003-09-09
This is the most useful home decorating book yet! It explains how to correct the most common mistakes (I made them all!) and how to make a home look just like the ones in magazines. The chapters about furniture placement, lighting and accessories are real eye openers and supply loads of fast and easy ways to make rooms look really pretty. Anyone who loves decorating will love this book. (My living room, dining room, foyer, kitchen and master bedroom all look amazing now!)
Product Description
Redecorate in one day using what you have? It sounds too good to be true, but this was the basis of Lauri Ward's revolutionary and successful home-decorating business, started in 1981. Ward thought that many people simply wanted a prettier place to live without spending thousands of dollars on new stuff and living in a construction site for months during the process. Then she took it a step further by training decorators in the one-day business, and so the Interior Refiners Network® was born. Ward and her network are at your disposal in this how-to book, offering their best advice, tips, solutions for all rooms in the house. There are the ten most common decorating mistakes, a section everyone will turn to. They include ignoring the room's focal point, using upholstered furniture of different heights, using lighting incorrectly, and hanging artwork improperly. Once you've decided if you've committed any of these sins, move on to the room-by-room suggestions.
Book Description
This gorgeous volume examines the lucrative, competitive, and challenging world of catalog design. Profiling some of today's most beautiful (and controversial) catalogs including Neiman Marcus, Habitat, Martha by Mail, Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch, and more Catalog Design examines how the best catalogs forge emotional connections that make us not just comfortable but eager to buy. Filled with full-color photos and intriguing historical and descriptive text, it demonstrates the how, why, and what-if of great catalog design.
Dianna Edwards specializes in creative writing for and about graphic design and advertising. She is a contributor to Step Inside Graphics and Oz Magazine. Edwards teaches creative writing and ethics at the Portfolio Center, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Robert Valentine has provided strategic brand positioning for clients ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, to the White House to Target. His work is part of the permanent collections at the Cooper Hewitt Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution. The Valentine Group is headquartered in New York City.
Customer Reviews:
Recommended reading for students of American business.......2001-05-18
Dianna Edwards and Robert Valentine effectively collaborate in Catalog Design: The Art Of Creating Desire to showcase some of the most effective and trend setting developments and examples of the catalog as an American art form in service to the business of selling goods through promoting images. Of special interest is the opening chapter on the history of the catalog and its impact on the popular culture as well as individual aspirations. Profusely illustrated throughout, Catalog Design is highly recommended reading for students of American business, catalog designers, and anyone who ever picked up and leafed through a mail-order "dream book".
Average customer rating:
|
The Scorsese Picture: The Art and Life of Martin Scorsese
David Ehrenstein
Manufacturer: Carol Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Entertainers
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Direction & Production
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Movies
| Entertainment
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1559721529 |
Books:
- Three Day Road
- Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me
- Tumble Home: A Novella and Short Stories
- Unconsoled, The
- Under the Glacier
- Whalestoe Letters
- What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal: A Novel
- White Mans Justice, Black Man's Grief
- Woman on the Edge of Time
- ...y no se lo tragó la tierra / ...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It
- Wonderland: King of Diamonds
- The Human Fossil Record, Terminology and Craniodental Morphology of Genus I Homo/I
- The Geometry of the Word Problem for Finitely Generated Groups
- The Yellow House: Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Nine Turbulent Weeks in Arles
- Women, Law, and Social Control
- Wire Fox Terrier: A Complete and Reliable Handbook
- Portrait of Picasso As a Young Man: An Interpretive Biography
- The Dessau Bauhaus Building 1926-1999
- Three To Get Deadly
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty
Native Son
A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories
The Complete Stories
Understanding The Scriptures: A Complete Course On Bible Study (The Didache Series)
![All the King's Men [2006 Movie Tie-In Edition]](http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000V5WH7S.01.THUMBZZZ.jpg)
