Amazon.com
Fatal love and the ambiguous bond of brotherhood are central to Helen Dunmore's With Your Crooked Heart. Siblings Paul and Johnnie are born more than a decade apart in an East London tenement. Sworn to protect and nurture his brother, Paul elevates them both to a life of wealth and status through a string of dubious land-development deals. As a result, Johnnie has "what Paul never had: he'd had father and brother, all rolled into one, and a future that someone else had already paid for." But with his life mortgaged to his ever-loving brother, the impossibly beautiful Johnnie becomes as compelled by the possibilities of failure as his sibling is by success.
Paul, meanwhile, weds Louise, and his "passion of protectiveness" immediately draws Johnnie into the heart of their marriage. Needless to say, the bride may well wish for less of a ménage à trois:
He sat across the kitchen table from me, smiling, and told me there'd been a complete fuck-up over manufacturing acid in a farmhouse in Herefordshire. He would have made a million. It was always a million with Johnnie: some glittering amount of money that you couldn't really pin down.... We let ourselves think he was like a child. It was the angle we looked at him. When you see a cat play, if you can call it play, you thank God it's the size it is.
But after giving birth to a daughter, Louise attempts to drown her own secrets with drink, beginning a slow progression of loss that will drag down her family in its wake. "I could look back and show you each step of the way that's got us here," she recalls, mapping her melancholy journey. Yet when Louise is presented with one last chance to save Johnnie from himself, some sort of redemption seems in the offing.
Dunmore's success here, as in such earlier novels as Talking to the Dead and Your Blue-Eyed Boy, is her ability to combine sublime prose with a swift and sure-footed narrative. Yet With Your Crooked Heart also goes beyond this alchemy of poetry and plot: it delivers an understated, emphatic study of alcoholism, adult self-delusion, and the emotional relativity of all relationships in a world where "not being able to trust yourself is the biggest thrill of all." --Rachel Holmes
Book Description
In "sharp, elegant prose" (Publishers Weekly, starred review), With Your Crooked Heart introduces Louise, a tough and introspective Londoner trapped in a subtle battle between two brothers. Paul and Johnnie were born twelve years apart, in a one-bedroom flat in a dingy London suburb. Their ascent to money and power looks easy from a distance, but the seductive brothers burn those who get too close. When Paul marries Louise, Johnnie is part of the contract, and their daughter, Anna, is tangled in it from birth. Paul deals in the development of contaminated land; self-destructive Johnnie deals in crime. When Johnnie has to flee the country, Louise goes with him. Their trip sets in motion inevitabilities that have smoldered beneath the surface from the beginning, a dire and redemptive chain of events that devastates every branch of this crooked family tree. With Your Crooked Heart's sensuous, daring prose brilliantly exhibits Dunmore's "poet's ear for language and photographer's eye for images" (Newsday) and confirms The Guardian's claim that Dunmore is "an electrifying and original talent."
Customer Reviews:
With Your Crooked Heart.......2001-04-24
WITH YOUR CROOKED HEART is a journey into the feeling and lives of three exrtremely different people whose insides are torn and compelling. The book should be read and then the reader can go backwards and read TALKING TO THE DEAD. These two books are written by the most intelligent, decisive, and informative female author that exists today. It will be difficult to put either of these books down, so make certain you allow enough time to "get away" and delve into a strange and heartwrenching world.
Totally compelling.......2000-06-24
Once I got past the rather slow opeing chapters, I could not put this book down. It is beautifully written and interestingly constructed. Chapters are written alternately from the perspective of each main character and yet flow together nicely, providing an intimate portrait of the inner feelings of each character. The book is as painful as it is compelling. Each adult character is very human and flawed in some tragic way and events play out accordingly. Everyone wishes that everyone else were different, and then everything would be all right. Wishing doesn't make it so, however, and the plot continues relentlessly to its tragic conclusion. Dunsmore is a wizard with language. She has an incredible talent for making you feel that you've lived inside the heads of her characters. She can paint pcitures with words so vivid, they are almost cinematic. I definitely recommend this book!
Average customer rating:
- A Failed Effort
- "Bitch of a view, ain't it," said the gargoyle.
- I loved this book!!! But it is not for kids!
- I'm asking my library to pull this off the shelves
- Bleak, cynical, disjointed, disappointing novel
|
The Iron Dragon's Daughter
Michael Swanwick
Manufacturer: Avon Books (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 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
Swanwick, Michael | ( S ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
-
Tales of Old Earth
-
Vacuum Flowers
-
Gravity's Angels
-
Stations of the Tide
-
The Dog Said Bow-Wow
ASIN: 0380972336 |
Customer Reviews:
A Failed Effort.......2007-09-14
Not being a frequent reader of SF/Fantasy, I don't have many yard sticks to compare this novel to. Having said that, this atypical SF/fantasy novel simply doesn't do it for me. I have read the author's Stations of the Tide and was not impressed with it either but that's another story. I've no problems with the nihilistic nature, the bleak tone, or the lack of heroic quality of the protagonist, Jane. I'm generally not avert to pornographic description in a novel, but here it simply doesn't do anything useful to the storyline nor is it titillating in the least bit. It is not a difficult read as mentioned by others, just boring. The beginning where Jane toils in the dragon factory starts well enough but it goes precipitously downhill quickly once the narrative switches to the high school setting. The denouement, which I shall not spoiled, is pretty obvious to me from the high school storyline.
The novel reads very much like the equivalent of an Afternoon Special of a young girl's journey to womanhood, only rated NC-17, and inhibited by aliens and fantastic creatures. The mix of technology and magic is very intriguing but it is cursorily introduced and barely explored. Unfortunately, the author didn't build a fully realized alien society or bother to explain any of the new words and terminology, but the events and objects are so transparently of our world that he didn't need to explain them. In another word, the author doesn't so much as transport readers to another world (which is a hallmark of great SF/fantasy) as simply substituting strange or made-up words for something in our own world. The characters eat pizza, go to the mall, snort drugs, etc. The effects are mundane and banal. I understand that great SF/fantasy fictions are supposed to illuminate real world conditions but the executions here are not clever or interesting enough to make the alien tableau meaningful or even necessary.
The thing is, novels not being a visual medium, the set up needs to be very well established so readers can continue to see the alien world in their minds' eye. If not, then everything reverts back to the equivalent objects of our world and all the wonderment is gone. Sadly, this is what the novel fails to achieve: a sense of wonderment, not to mention a misfired attempt to tell a prosaic coming-of-age story.
"Bitch of a view, ain't it," said the gargoyle........2007-07-22
As he showed so expertly in _Jack Faust,_ industrialism and medievalism are two sides of the same rusty coin. Jane is a mortal changeling, kidnapped by the powers of a very unpleasant version of Faerie to be a "breeder," producing half-elf pilots for the iron dragons. Until she's old enough for that, though, she's put to work in a dragon factory, working twelve hours a day and living a dreary, dangerous existence with other children, none of whom are human. But that's just the beginning of her life, which will take her through a sort-of high school and then to the university in The Gray City, and which will turn on her talents as a thief, her carefully nurtured cold-bloodedness, her discovery of sex, and especially on her relationship with a slightly insane rogue dragon. While it's common enough for female authors to create thoroughly believable male protagonists, the reverse, for some reason, is much less often the case. Swanwick, however, does a first-rate job with Jane and with the supporting cast that haunts her life. A bleak, disturbing, and mind-grabbing book you will reread periodically -- I guarantee it.
I loved this book!!! But it is not for kids!.......2007-06-10
I aquired this book by accident, and started reading it- Wow! It is dark, complex, ispired, and rough. It is not a book for kids, and I get the feeling that somehow it ws promoted that way, thus all the negative reviews below FrOM KIDS! it does not deserve the low star rating it has. If you are looking for an engrossing, bizarre, imaginative, fast pacedand fun sci-fi escapist read, check this out.
I'm asking my library to pull this off the shelves.......2007-03-13
Here's a sampling from "The Iron Dragon's Daughter"
"Behind the bar was an enormous glass tank, lit by harsh fluorescents, where the rest of the club was bathed in red and purple. A horse was drowning in the tank. Legs churning up clouds of bubbles. Eyes bloodshot and wild, it craned it's neck to lift agonized nostrils above the thrashing surface. The music was slow and romantic, but just loud enough that the horse struggled in silence."
That is obscene. It made me physically ill to where I was sweating and sick my stomach. And we wonder why violence and abuse are becoming excepted/excusable behaviors. This sort of stuff, imo, doesn't help.
Swanwick ought to be ashamed of himself for even having such thoughts let alone putting them in a book where 70% of its readers will be kids.
What's a kid, or anyone for that matter, suppose to make of that bar w/ drowning horse scene? What's MS trying to say? That hey! slowly KILLING an innocent creature is COOL entertainment. All it said to me was just how much of a sick SOB Swanwick is.
Everybody in this book uses the "F" word along with every other foul word you can think of, copiously. The higher the page# the higher the "F" count.
I don't care what you're trying to do with a story, foul language will destroy, not enhance it. Just like in real life, foul language demeans and destroys. That's what it's all about.
In class one day Jane's teacher ("fat old Grunt") "Thrust his hand between her legs and snatched up at her crotch. The class convulsed with mirth, all of them braying, snorting, snickering, laughing as if they had never seen him pull this joke before."
Huh?
This is the rudest, crudest, foulest sci/fi fantasy book I've ever read. AND to top it all off .. THERE IS NO STORY! There is no rhyme nor reason.
Whether Swanwick likes it or not, as an author of mostly kid read books he has, imo, some moral and social responsibility. He dropped the ball here.
I've never given censorship a thought until this book. But I'm asking my library to pull it off our shelves. I admit, I don't want anyone, especially kids, to read this book. It's pure ugly evil. It shats on you. It's an insult to your intelligence.
Of course Swanwick is laughing all the way to the bank.
Bleak, cynical, disjointed, disappointing novel.......2006-07-30
The concept of a faerie realm where technology and magic exist side-by-side is an intriguing one. I've read some of Swanwick's short fiction and found it enjoyable enough, so on a friend's recommendation I gave this novel a try.
It failed for me on many different levels. In tone, the novel is unremittingly cynical and bleak. Swanwick depicts a thoroughly corrupt fey society with no apparent redeeming qualities. It is a dark mirror of modern western society with the grunge dial turned up to eleven, cyberpunk with pixies and dragons. Unfortunately Swanwick does not convey any sense of how or why this mish-mash of sorcery and science came to be or is supposed to work. There aren't any apparent ground-rules governing what technology works and what does not. Along the same lines, there aren't many clear principles of magic outlined either.
Even the structure of faerie society is inscrutable. You don't get a glimpse into WHY the powers that be are acting as they do, no sense of a guiding principle other than simple but pervasive corruption and cruelty for the sake of cruelty. Just when a rule or a law is presented it is shown that it means nothing. I could relate to this if those in charge were at least clever in their manipulations and observations. But they're simply opaque.
I have no idea of what is NOT supposed to be possible in this setting, no sense of the boundaries that might limit character's choices and thus make their decisions more meaningful. Most of those characters seem to make their choices based on one of two driving motivations--they are either supernaturally doomed to a certain fate or they are greedy, grasping bastards. The amoral main character often drifts about, guided only by a fate that seems largely out of her conscious control. She seems to break free at the end, but that's unclear as well. Even the sex lacks empathy--most of it is literally a mechanical ritual, and much of that has a dirty feel to it. Not the dirtiness of pornography so much as the sensation of finding a used condom in a wastebasket.
The result is that this world resembles a chaotic stage peopled with caricature after caricature of creatures from fantasy and folklore dressed in leather jackets and snorting magical drugs until one form or another of deus ex machina emerges from off stage (again literally, the Iron Dragon itself) to shove the plot along. It is surrealist more than it is either science fiction or fantasy. In fact, it reads more like an attack on certain types of heroic fantasy.
I was going to call this novel undisciplined, but I get the feeling that all of these choices were made very deliberately by the author in service to an ultimate goal that honestly, as a reader, I could not understand. I can accept a story that sacrifices sympathetic characters to explore a milleu in detail, or a story driven by character that has limited plot, or even a suspenseful plot filled with twists and turns that gives little of plot or setting. But a story that seems to strive to be disorienting is beyond me.
Customer Reviews:
Docter Who: Legacy of the Daleks.......2004-05-25
This is the best of all the Doctor Who novels that John Peel has written. It has the feel of the tv series. Something that many novelists of the Docter can't create. Peel explores what happened to Earth in the aftermath of the Dalek Invasion of Earth, and shows that humanity can act pretty stupidly at times. He also lets us see what became of the Doctor's granddaughter Susan after thirty years living on Earth. As someone who interviewed Terry Nation, the creator of Daleks, I think he would have approved of this story.
Better than WAR OF THE DALEKS, but still not very good.......2001-08-02
LEGACY OF THE DALEKS is a better written book than WAR OF THE DALEKS. The Daleks appear to be much more of a threat, the Doctor acts with greater intelligence, and the continuity references are slightly less annoying and confusing. Unfortunately, it's still not a very good book.
The beginning of the story has a lot going for it. Set thirty years after the end of the Dalek invasion, we see Earth gradually putting itself back together after years of occupation, death camps and war. There's a strange mix of technologies and customs as modern tools and weapons are used alongside cultural throwbacks from centuries ago. England has again become a land of bickering Lords; knights roam the countryside doing good deeds. Of course, since this is the 22nd Century, the knights are armed with futuristic weapons and machine guns in addition to their more traditional accompaniments. There is some interesting development at the start where we see some of the power struggles that are going on as the factions of surviving humans battle it out for dominance. Resources are scarce. The production and selling of energy is a major factor in how much power and influence one has. So far, so good.
It's the moment in which the Daleks first appear that the story starts falling apart for me. Up until this point the book had the potential for a lot of interesting political and military maneuvering as the different Lords vie for control. But once the Daleks show up, that goes out the window and all we are left with are some long, pointless battle-sequences and Daleks issuing reports to each other. The interest that had been built up surrounding the remaining humans and their plight is quashed and we're left with extended battles and overblown scheming from shallow villains.
As in WAR the characterizations are extremely poor. The Doctor appears more like the eighth than in WAR, but he has frequent lapses into his third and fourth personas. The secondary characters are almost universally poor. These aren't people - they're vessels for the plot (what there is of it) who have no reason for existing other than to say things that drive the story forward. There's no consistency about them either; they say or do whatever is needed of them at the time regardless of how much it jars with their previously established character. At no point did I feel that I was reading about human beings.
The poor characterizations would not have been as inexcusable had there been an absorbing plot going on around them. Unfortunately, this book is pretty much a complete runaround with very little in it to inspire interest. The Doctor and company run around, get locked up, escape, get threatened by men with guns, escape again, run around, etc. There is not much substance here.
All in all, it would probably be better to skip this book. Although it takes place in the middle of the Sam Is Missing story-arc, the related threads are only at the beginning and end of the book. You won't miss anything important or entertaining if you decide to read something else.
The Doctor finally looks in on Susan...sort of.......2001-05-15
I was delighted to read that the Doctor finally decided to look in on Susan, and was therefore dissappointed that they never actually meet. There is only one brief scene where they barely make eye contact. The point of conflicting continuity is raised by some, but that has always been one of the endearing qualities of Doctor Who. Like the Doctor himself, it never abides by the rules. And who really cares as long as the story works? There is a nice bit of story linking that explains how the Master became the decaying wreck he was in The Deadly Assassin. As for the ending, I hope it leaves open the possibility of bumping into Susan somewhere in future. Maybe she and her "Grandfather" can actually exchange a few words.
ON THE LOOSE, BUT NEVER FREE.......2001-05-03
WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
THE LEGACY OF THE DALEKS is the tenth adventure featuring the Eighth Doctor, but not Sam (having been lost in THE LONGEST DAY, part one in a three part book adventure - T.L.O.T.D. is an intermission), and is a far cry better than the previous book - but not by much. I'm not exactly sure why the Terry Nation Estate feels that only John Peel can write Dalek novels (he was the only author allowed to write them even under the VIRGIN imprint as well), and the only conclusion I can come to is that - he's safe. He won't color outside the lines, and he always tries his best to remain failthful to the Dalek spirit - while at the same time, trying to tie 30 years of continuity together into a pretty bow. And once again, it doesn't work (see THE WAR OF THE DALEKS for a full review). While there are some mild moments of interest, there is little here that you haven't seen or read somehwere else before. It's a very bland and fast paced read that offers so very little (and yet manages to cough up some disturbing moments, the worst being found in the many references to sexual torture)... but promised so much. There is a cracker jack scene between David and Susan early on that I felt could literally explode this book apart (and I won't give it away), and I hoped that Peel would explore this idea more in the book... but, he dosen't... in fact, he will reference it, only to solve the problem by simply killing off Susan's husband... shocking. The Third Doctor's Master makes his final show here (his performance here has the feel of the Fifth Doctor's adventure - THE KINGS DEMONS, in both style and plot). We learn at the end of this story how he came to look the way he did in the Fourth Doctor's adventure THE DEADLY ASSASSIN and I'll tell you up front right now - it's all Susan's fault (and here again Peel tries to tie up loose ends in the television history - and it doesn't work). And speaking of Susan - the Doctor and she only met ONCE in this entire story - and that is when David is killed while saving the Doctor - after that THEY NEVER MEET AGAIN! - making the point of this entire adventure a waste of time and a rip off. Not only does it contridict the set history in THE DALEK INVASION OF EARTH, but it also introduces a few new impossible elements that make the reason behind the Dalek invasion of Earth pointless... just like this book. Not a total lose, but what might have been will haunt me for days after. As always, these early adventures seem to not have found their footing. The Doctor is uneven, and the stories try to be adult while holding onto the sense of fun and whimsy of the series - and they need to make up their minds. A good book to have in the collection (and the prices for the PEEL/DALEK books are going up all the time), but just a mild read. Next... DREAMSTONE MOON, and the return of Sam...
First Dalek book I ever REALLY liked!.......2000-01-03
I've read other John Peel books and like anyone else, some I like better than others but I've never disliked anything the man writes. He's outdone himself here. What a good book! Keeps you interested and never gets boring or bogs down. Well done, John!
The Doctor FINALLY decided to check on Susan, his granddaughter, while looking for Sam - but problems crop up. Susan, for her part, has seemingly adopted Earth and humans as her home now that she has married a human. But problems crop up.
The characterazations are perfect and you care about or hate the proper people throughout. There is one character that does a total 180 about-face which I had a little problem with because normally people don't change. But, for the sake of the story I shelved my disbelief.
Other than that, it is great. A good read, and you don't really need to know the history of the Doctor to enjoy this story. It would be a good book to recommend when introducing a newbie to DW. I just wish I could give this book 4 1/2 stars. The only reason I couldn't give it five stars was because of the Barlow character, but that's my problem.
Book Description
The Politics of Myth examines the political views implicit in the mythological theories of three of the most widely read popularizers of myth in the twentieth century, C. G. Jung, Mircea Eliade, and Joseph Campbell. All three had intellectual roots in the anti-modern pessimism and romanticism that also helped give rise to European fascism, and all three have been accused of fascist and anti-Semitic sentiments. At the same time, they themselves tended toward individualistic views of the power of myth, believing that the world of ancient myth contained resources that could be of immense help to people baffled by the ambiguities and superficiality of modern life.
Robert Ellwood details the life and thought of each mythologist and the intellectual and spiritual world within which they worked. He reviews the damaging charges that have been made about their politics, taking them seriously while endeavoring to put them in the context of the individual's entire career and lifetime contribution. Above all, he seeks to extract from their published work the view of the political world that seems most congruent with it.
Customer Reviews:
Any Mythologist knows the risks.......2007-09-22
As am academic who has indulged himself in the mystical insights that are commented upon in this text, I can only say that the academic who has taken his time to write about his interpretations is welcome...much as the other academics who have wrestled intellectually with these icons of the mystical nature of psychology, sociology, and religion.
I do not expect any academic to capture the full range of the ideas that these authors have authored. But, I do respect the academic who finds the time, energy, and passion to try...to engage the range of thought, experience, and emotions that these authors have offered for consideration.
Have you ever tried to factor analyze the soul? Such an endeavor is to be encouraged, regardless of the inevitable inability to do so. There is a certain joy in engaging these authors who worked so hard to engage the conundrum that modernity presents to a 500 year or so old ego.
Did they get it "right"? No way. Of course they did. They engaged. And the author of this text...for all the criticality presented...does no more than those whom he engaged.
Joyfully, I suppose.
Steady at the helm.......2007-07-24
Frequently a scholar's review of other scholars work carries a personal bias, usually unintended, but present nonetheless. Professor Ellwood's progressive exploration of Jung, Eliade and Campbell lives and works as influenced by the political climate of their days is as evenhanded an effort as it has been my pleasure to experience.
For example, he (rightly) examined the varied interpretations of Campbell's mantra, "follow your bliss", without citing the 'correct' one which Campbell himself seemed to leave vague intentionally in accord with the best of human imperatives; e.g., "do unto other..." or "do not do unto others...".
As a bonus, the references are wide ranging and appropriate to the task. What a pity I was never his student, but I can read his work. That the used copies of this work sell for the "new" price may be the best review availble.
Ian Myles Slater on: Three World-Views.......2003-10-21
Professor Ellwood very properly informs the reader that he was himself a student of Mircea Eliade at the University of Chicago, so I suppose that I should mention that I am an acquaintance of Professor Ellwood (although not a student, but a fellow Tolkien-fan). However, I am taking the time to review the book mainly because I enjoyed it tremendously, and learned a great deal from it. I would suggest it to anyone who has read a little of any, or all three, of the writers it presents, and is considering reading more. Doing so should reduce arguments about these sometimes-controversial figures, or at least put them on a better intellectual foundation.
"The Politics of Myth" analyzes the political and social thought -- or lack of thought -- of three influential writers of the middle and late twentieth century. It provides enough biographical detail to keep the reader grounded in reality, and just enough information on their theories of mythology to show how much, or how little, they are related to the cultural and political environments in which the three men worked. The story of their influence also receives some coverage, particularly in connection with the Bollingen Foundation's publications of Jung and Eliade, and Campbell's role as editor for the Bollingen Series.
Eliade and Jung both have had large readerships for relatively difficult writers on often esoteric subjects, and simplified versions of their views are widely distributed, not always accurately, or with attribution. The large number of people who became familiar with Joseph Campbell through Public Television will here discover something of his place in the intellectual world.
The book is neither an indictment nor a defense of these writers on mythology (among other subjects). I finished my first reading with some definite impressions. Eliade, sometimes dismissed as a Romanian Fascist, comes off as a disturbingly unpolitical man in an age of totalitarianisms, never quite grasping that his early literary celebrity in his native country made him a valuable asset to any movement which, even falsely, claimed him as a supporter. Jung appears as a hearty Swiss peasant, deeply provincial despite his vast learning and (flashes of) genius, unable or unwilling to see beyond the symbolic exterior of the Nazi movement for a very long time. Campbell, fortunate to live in a more benign political environment, is seen rejoicing that he has freed himself of his Irish Catholic background, not noticing that his disdain for Judaism, distrust of England, and sympathy for Germany, might have something to do with his upbringing. A second reading reminded me that this short book is packed with telling details, and will probably suggest other interpretations to other readers
Rot.......2003-01-09
This is an excellent example of a critic making a name for himself by "reading into" & interpreting (misinterpreting) other hugely respected authors according to one's own projected ideology. Since not one of the three famous & brilliant mythologists studied would agree with Ellwood's assessment of him, why should we assume his oh-so-sensitive political perspective & believe he & his particular judgmental frameworks have more insight into the workings of their minds than they do themselves? We shouldn't. Each of them would be aghast at this so much smaller intellect misreading him for its own ends. I implore you: If you wish to understand Jung, Eliade, or Campbell, read Jung, Eliade, or Campbell themselves. The three together complement each other nicely. If you must read Ellwood, be fair & read some of the great ones he "demythifies" for us *before* you venture into his abuse of them.
Wonderful debunker of running myths........1999-12-23
A refreshing read that gives the details about the lives and times of these three brillian men. It helps to debunk all the soot that has accumulated upon their work from the burning fires of conservatives and the religious right. The attempts to tarnish their names with accusations of anti-semitism and other prejudices fall flat in front of the facts. This book shows that people must deal with the political waves of their own times, but it does not necessarily make them of the same dogmatic ilk.
Average customer rating:
|
Making European Breads: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-172 (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-172)
Glenn Andrews
Manufacturer: Storey Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Bread
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| Subjects
| Books
Bread
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Baking
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Cooking, Food & Wine
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Grow the Best Tomatoes: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-189 (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-189)
-
Grow 15 Herbs for the Kitchen: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-61
-
Building & Using Cold Frames: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-39
-
Food Drying Techniques: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-197 (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin)
-
All the Onions: Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-204 (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-204)
ASIN: 0882669982 |
Book Description
Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.
Average customer rating:
|
Antique Phonograph: Accessories & Contraptions (Schiffer Book for Collectors)
Timothy C. Fabrizio , and
George F. Paul
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Antiques & Collectibles
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Electrical & Electronics
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Stereo & Audio Equipment
| Electronics
| Electrical & Electronics
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Stereo & Audio Equipment
| Electrical & Electronics
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
| Engineering Economics
| Ergonomics
| General
| Industrial Design
| Industrial Technology
| Machinery
| Manufacturing
| Packaging
| Production, Operation & Management
| Productivity
| Quality Control
| Safety & Health
| Systems
History of Technology
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Applied
| Physics
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Discovering Antique Phonographs
-
Antique Phonograph Advertising: An Illustrated History
-
The Talking Machine: An Illustrated Compendium 1877-1929
ASIN: 0764317636 |
Average customer rating:
|
The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India
K. Zvelebil
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
General
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Interior Design
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
General
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Relations
| International
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Foreign Languages
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9004035915 |
Average customer rating:
|
Pre-Raphaelite Prints: The Graphic Art of Millais, Holman Hunt, Rossetti and Their Followers
Rodney Engen
Manufacturer: Lund Humphries Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
History
| Subjects
| Books
| Africa
| Americas
| Ancient
| Arctic & Antarctica
| Asia
| Audiobooks
| Australia & Oceania
| Europe
| Gay & Lesbian
| Historical Study
| Large Print
| Middle East
| Military
| Military Science
| Russia
| United States
| World
General
| Graphic Arts
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Printmaking
| Graphic Design
| Design & Decorative Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0853316562 |
Book Description
Al-Kemi recounts the story of the eighteen months that André VandenBroeck spent in daily contact with the remarkable French philosopher, hermeticist, and Egyptologist, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz (1887-1961).
It provides a passionately felt, personal, and dramatic introduction to the startling world of this contemporary alchemist.
Customer Reviews:
Make that 10, 15 Stars!.......2003-11-19
Two of the century's most amazing minds met & interacted in an initiatic/alchemic/esoteric give & take for 18 months some 40 years ago in France...these men were De Lubicz, the cautious, controversial, mind-bogglingly brilliant Egypt-inspired theorist/Adept, and Vandenbroeck, the 'burning', younger, bounteously-gifted apprentice. Their time spent together has been revivified masterfully, the conversations recreated compellingly, and the overall effect achieved in this portrait/memoir/esoteric 'thriller' is revelatory...I'll be re-reading these authors & passing copies to friends the rest of my life! (PS: WHO was Fulcanelli?)
classic.......2003-01-28
This is the only biography of R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz available in English and as such would be an absolute necessity even if it did not contain rare insights and information regarding the man. Unfortunately the book is a little inaccessible upon the first reading, as the prose is highly compressed. But it gets better each time you read it, as most true spiritual classics do. And this is indeed a classic.
The sublime and the rediculous.......2000-12-12
Dispersed among pages devoted to small-minded pettines and pendantic diction there is enough rarefied subject matter to warrant reading and re-reading this fascinating exposé of the hermetical mind of Schwaller de Lubicz. One cannot ignore the rare biographical information imparted on the Fulcanelli milieu. Well worth a place in your library. Silvio Pan
"Ye are the salt of the Earth...".......2000-03-30
Andre VandenBroeck's "Al-Kemi" is much more significant than a memoir (as described by the author), and far beyond a simple collection of biographical data pertaining to the life of Rene Schwaller de Lubicz. Not that these points are absent. To the contrary, VandenBroeck depicts with great lucidity his understanding of the events and personalities involved his relationship with "Aor" late into the 1950's. Al-Kemi's more vital value however, resides in the fact that reads as a microcosmic course in Hermetic Philosopy, challenging the readers established ways of thinking (even reading!), and offering alternative perspectives. Despite VandenBroeck's knack of utilizing the printed word economically (or, perhaps due to this talent), he effectively communicates profundity through brevity. Hence, the reader will note two predominent ideological threads woven into the memoir: Rene Schwaller's metaphysics of perception (derived mostly from his interpretation of Pythagorean and Pharaonic geometry, or "symbolique", and ultimately spurring all modern philosophical controversies. The battle of "Archemides vs. Pythagoras", the question of two as the result of increase, or as the result of division of the one thing). Secondly, de Lubicz's stress placed on the role of Alchemical Salt. Thus, Rene Schwaller's extention of the Hermetic doctrine of Salt as the matrix of manifestation sends the reader on a mysterious and alluring journey. Absent of any chronology in this Hermetic adventure, back, forward, and simultaneously the trek visits the Parisian Alchemical world of the 1900's, complete with Fulcanelli, whose relationship with Schwaller often reminds one of John Dee and Edward Kelly's work together. This "fixing" of Salt moves behind the temple walls of Pharonic Egypt, finds testimony in the Gothic Cathedrals, presents us with the stormy climate of right-wing, monarchist, and elitist brotherhoods of post World War I France and Germany. And it is this Salt, that our perception inscribes experience upon, circulating eternally throughout nature, more critical, stable, and reliable than DNA in the course of esoteric "evolution" (if such a word can be used without detracting from Schawller's arguement), and providing the key to the Adepts' secret of Palingenesis.
-make that 10, 15 Stars!.......1999-05-10
Two of the century's most amazing minds met & interacted in an initiatic/alchemic/esoteric give & take for 18 months some 40 years ago in France...these men were De Lubicz, the cautious, controversial, mind-bogglingly brilliant Egypt-inspired theorist/Adept, and Vandenbroeck, the 'burning', younger, bounteously-gifted apprentice. Their time spent together has been revivified masterfully, the conversations recreated compellingly, and the overall effect achieved in this portrait/memoir/esoteric 'thriller' is revelatory...I'll be re-reading these authors & passing copies to friends the rest of my life! (PS: WHO was Fulcanelli?)
Books:
- You Know Better: A Novel
- Zachary's Wings: A Novel
- A Burning in Homeland: A Novel
- A House at the Edge of Tears (Lannan Translation Selection)
- A Little Piece of Sky
- A Near-Perfect Gift (Michigan Literary Fiction Awards)
- Aaron, Approximately: A Novel
- Adultery and Other Diversions
- ALL THAT IS GONE
- An Outline of the Republic : A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Firebrands: Building Brand Loyalty in the Internet Age
- Dragon Sea: A True Tale of Treasure, Archeology, and Greed off the Coast of Vietnam
- Basic Concepts of Environmental Chemistry, Second Edition
- Aunt Dimity: Snowbound
- Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project
- Biological Wastewater Treatment
- Brothers And Sisters: 100 Reasons Our Relationship Is Like No Other
- The Big Book of Noir
- Amedeo Modigliani: Paintings, Sculptures, Drawings
- Angiogenesis: The Growth of the Vascular System
