Terraplane: A Novel

Average customer rating:

One of my very, very favourite books.

A rewarding transtemporal love story

Like Maus?

Black Ship to Hell

Left me wanting more...

Terraplane: A Novel
Jack Womack
Manufacturer: Grove Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Heathern

Ambient (Womack, Jack)

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Elvissey (Womack, Jack)

ASIN: 1555841651

Customer Reviews:

One of my very, very favourite books........2001-10-25

I've fallen in deep intellectual love with this series, and this is my favourite of the lot (I've not yet bought Elvissey, but won't be long 'til I do.) It's the language style that makes this stuff so indescribably charming - and though the source gets all too little recognition, the Womack trademark "nouns-to-verbs" style of speech seems to actually be becoming a realworld phenomena here and there.

The story is - in a word - cinematic. This really should be a movie, hopefully with narration here and there to capture the lingo. I could see the people, places and changes of time's evanescent scenery through Luther's eyes and mind. Hollywood? Knock off the remakes and sequels and look to this man for a great movie book that's a great reading experience as well. Few cinematic stories touch me this way. This touched, shook, slapped, embraced and knocked me upside the head a few times in the process.

A rewarding transtemporal love story.......2001-02-01

"Terraplane," Womack's earlier novel, is a rewarding transtemporal love story that shares a great deal of its plot with "Elvissey": visitors from our future go back in time--not to 1950s Memphis, but to a deranged alternate 1930s where slavery was only recently abolished and the AIDS epidemic has been prefigured by an extraterrestrial virus that causes heightened dexterity, intelligence--and certain death. Womack's skewed look at our past is as frightening as any imagined future. "Terraplane" is a haunted examination of what it is to be human, laced with wit and sad romance. Definitely a trip worth taking.

Like Maus?.......2000-12-22

The complaints raised against this compelling and important work are meaningless. This novel is masterpiece, and the comments it makes about race history in America and slavery as part of our nation's serious underside are profound, important, and impossible for 99% of SF nerds to understand. Let them go back to the easy answers in Heinlein. For many people, "Maus" by Art Spiegleman brought home the horrors of the Holocaust. This novel did the same thing for slavery that Maus did for 1940's Poland.

Great SF is not writing about the future, it is a way to get us to start thinking about the present. For those with the courage to challenge themselves and their thinking, few books are going to go as far as this one. Like PKD and Orwell, Womack is a master who writes literature, not SF. Not sure of where genre ends and literature begins? Grow up and buy this book.

Black Ship to Hell.......2000-08-24

The buzzsaw prose, the narrative dash, the pure killing purpose, everything that made Womack's promising debut *Ambient* a terrific read and yet somehow...less, somewhat...rushed; too sloshed and unwieldy, scatterbrain and pretzel-plotted, with the jittery sense of a novel written under deadline. The book opens brilliantly, a near-future capitalist Moscow (*Terraplane* was written on the eve of Yeltsin's coup) blazing red neon like an outdoor casino (the fruits of *sozializtkapitalizm*), a wrathweary American general and his enforcer contracted for a zany bit of industrial-espionage, a Fourth World romp in search of bizarre and unlikely Teknologische. The narrative quickly snaps through its first of many tripwires, lurching from one burst of surreal violence to another, the meta-urban swagger hemmed in by some of the most pretzelled and overreaching dialogue we've seen in a "genre" novel since *Riddley Walker*. The time-travel premise, however shakily postmodern, has infinite promise. (The book is brilliantly subtitled A Futuristic Novel of New York, 1939.) The reader can already feel pangs of daguerreotype-laden nostalgia (the TB-infected annals of Old New York, so luridly sado-picturesque when you don't have to actually live through it) just by reading the jacket blurbs. But somehow the story rarely exceeds the narratological Rube Goldberg contraption of hack-and-slash plotting, a breakneck Shadow Run of brass-knucks humor steering jerkily through the cartoon planet of Womack's novelistic sound-stage. It must have been a hoot for the author to *conceive* of such a storyline, the imagineering triumph of actually making it work as a novel...an entirely different story. (If one were perverse enough to produce, market, and release "The Making of *Terraplane*: Behind the Scenes of Womack's Retro Timescape", we might imagine Mighty Jack slapping furiously at his laptop, multiple ceiling-mounted televisions tuned vicariously to CNN, the History Channel, Bravo, IFC, MTV, BET, and PBS, working the flows of these projections into the preposterous schizo-text we have before us.) What remains is some of the most robust, zestfully obscure syntax this side of Thunderdome, odd bits of futureal rhetoric that transcend the amateurishly calibrated narrative clockwork, as in this tidbit, relating the Russian new world order of forcefed consumerism: "Citizens passed as if on forced parade, many pushing red carts topful with freezers, washers, TVCs, copiers; all manner of technological flotsam. Staring into their puffy, bloodshot eyes disconcerted. Refugees' faces held similar looks in every land I'd troubled; the look of these fit naught but for breathing and running, forced by us to abandon home and race the roads before the other team, purposeful and timeshort, landed to steal their days away"(14).

It was, in fact, Bruce Sterling himself who wrote the first and most influential review of *Terraplane*(NYRSF, #3, Nov.'88), applauding the brave gamble of Womack's vast and promising sensibility, yet equally peeved by the matte-black two-dimensional futurity of the book's postindustrial trappings. "It bores Womack to see people cope, even if they do it cleverly. In *Terraplane*, prosperity and security of any kind is essentially unthinkable. There are divorces but no weddings; sex but no children; laws but no justice; politics but no hope for change"(3). The human relationships which thread and splint this violent text seem ridiculous against the forced backdrop of bloodspattered concrete pillars, characters raging and storming through this black-toothed libretto of futuristic Gallows Opera, the narrative snags universally resolved with a pre-Tarantino passion for machine-pistols and assault weapons, jargonautical dialogue leading up to the Big Splatter. Sterling perceived Womack's narrative voice as symptomatic of science-fiction's long-standing disruption of dramatic authenticity (i.e. a moving "human" story) with its over-the-top ecophilosophical speculations (i.e. balderdash SF cartooning). "There's a general genre difficulty in mounting the pulpit to denounce the iniquities of an imaginary world. It's hard to make this carry any serious moral authority.... One cannot join Amnesty International to defend the human rights of hobbits....[!] Concentration camps happened; concentration camps for Martians are not compelling emotional realities, but merely unpleasant conceits"(3). Caught in the sticky clutches of this old-school genre Catch-22, Womack's characters are gasping for life, for a humanistic depth beyond the plastic of the postmodern. Meanwhile, the reader is forced to treat the text as just another clever piece of Mall Mythology, a tongue-in-cheek post-Pynchonian "black comedy" chewing the ashes of literary belatedness.

But despite all obstacles and shortcomings, I am fascinated enough to continue reading Womack, to see whether the demonry of this confused little book finds a tighter and more credible narrative weave in the Dryco novels to come.... If the rumors are true, I will not be disappointed.

Left me wanting more..........1998-03-19

I was enjoying the heck out of this novel, and all the sudden it was over! Womack creates a dark and detailed alternate past, drops in some interesting characters from an equally dark future, makes up an original lanquage, throws in some ultra-violence and a famous Blues musician, then seems to have given up on it all tacked on a Deus Ex Machina ending. Did his deadline come up, or what? There was so much more that could have been done with the story. Personally, I thought we were going to the Worlds Fair to consult Tesla on time travel. Womack seemed to have it all set up and it could have been really interesting, but then...nothing. I still recommend this book for its rich texture and some nice surprises, but it should be twice as long as it is.

Book Description

This trade paperback reprint of the Boskone 38 Book contains a sampling of Bokone 38 Guest of Honor, George R.R. Martin: three stories and one teleplay. Introduction by Melisssa Snodgrass. Dustjacket art by Charles Vess.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2006-03-12

I am a huge George R.R. Martin fan but I was disappointed by this book. I expected a collection of stories and novellas, but instead got only one novella. The other three "stories" were actually a partial novel, a screenplay and excerpts from "A Game of Thrones." The most enjoyable parts of this book were George R.R. Martin's introductions to each story. Save your money!

AWESOME!!.......2002-11-12

I give this book 5 start because of it's uniqueness.

George R.R. Martin is the greatest author ever, and he knows it. Not many authors could put out a book with an incomplete story, a screenplay, and 2 materials that have already been published (one being just an exerpt from Song of ice and fire). But this book works here becasue of the intoductions and explanations to the stories...too often we forget that there is a real person writing our stories and that they have problems and concerns in life too..this book gives us back this precious insight...

the story "black and white and red all over" is an incomplete jack the ripper mystery and is the best of them all.. it is 100 pages with no ending that ends mid-sentance!!! but when finished i was dying for more....now i will probably never get more but in some cases that is what reading is all about...

Buy this book, (Especially the awesome limited edition hardcover)

Relic113

Glimpses of Genius.......2002-11-09

George R. R. Martin is my favourite living author, and having met him a few times in conventions, he's also a really great guy. That Quartet is a frustrating read has nothing at all to do with Martin's truly great writing prowess, and everything to do with the problematic selection of material.

Frankly, there are two possible audiences for 'Quartet', and the book is a somewhat scysophrenic appeal for both.

For the die hard fans such as myself, the collection offers 'Black and White and Red All Over', the beginning of an unfinished novel, and STARPORT, an unproduced pilot for a television series.

For the newbies, the collection features The Skin Trade, Martin's fantasy award winning werewolf novella, and Blood of the Dragon, an exerpt from 'A Game of Thrones'.

Thus, no matter in which category you belong, the collection is only half for you.

'Black & Whiteý begins with a classic Martin line 'On that dump April Morning Ned Cullen started his day with a glass of cheap champagne gone flat, a cup of cold black coffee, and a Murder'. Merely reading that line made chills run down my spine. This, I knew immediately, was going to be top notch Martin.

And it is. The story of three journalists trying to solve a Jack the Ripper style Murder in later Victorian New York City is so obviously among Martin's best works that one is left amazingly frustrated to know that there is no ending, that the story ends in the middle of a scene, with a note from Martin which says, effectively 'that all I've got, sorry'.

As great as 'Black & White' is, though, you can see why it was rejected. The complicated structure, and the detailed description of NYC (Martin has a knack for the Historical narrative, and it is a pity he doesn't do it more often. Even more than in his Fantasy and Science Fiction, Martin has a way of making the past come alive) carries through a hundred pages in which, plot-wise, little yet happens. Martin is setting the base for the larger scheme, but, like Fevre Dream and A Storm of Swords, the build up is slow and meticulous and careful, unlike A Game of Thrones, where the action begins immediately. This is hardly a bad thing for itself, and Black & White handles the exposition superbly, but as exposition, you cannot see where he's going yet.

The Next piece is 'The Skin Trade', the werewolf novella. Willie and Randi are among Martin's most memorable characters, and the tale of haunted hunters is among his best. The only weakness might be the slightly too complicated plot - after several readings, I'm still not one hundred percent sure I know exactly who did what and why.

But there is so much great writing there, such a powerful and nonchalant description of the paranormal, and Martin's wonderful way of making the exotic into common life, without losing any of the majestic beauty

So you admit you're a werewolf?"
"A Lycanthrope... . So Sue Me. It's a medical condition. I got allergies, I got asthma, I got a bad back, and I got lycanthropy, is it my fault?'

But than, a different character describes himself "Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me... . My fur is white now, pale as snow, but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me... We are the dire wolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires."

An unproduced Screenplay, STARPORT, is a pilot for a series that never happened. As such, it is a shame that Martin doesn't tell us something of what he had planned for the series. It is difficult to judge the story on its own. For example, is Kim, the Nazi girlfriend of undercover cop Aaron, a character that was supposed to return again? If not, she gets much too much screentime.

STARPORT follows a police force in near future Chicago, where an alien constructed base exists. The screenplay does a good job of introducing some memorable characters, but the plot suffers. Usually, Martin is a masterplotter, his tales brilliantly conceived and excecuted. Here, however, the plot is little more then a mechanism to get the characters to meet and interact. Particularly weak is the solution to the mystery, which is obvious and expected, and robs us of a character which could have been a very effective source of conflict for the series.

But STARPORT is a great piece of writing anyway, and would have made a very good introduction to what might have been the best SF TV show in recent memory.

The final selection is an excerpt from A Game of Thrones, telling the story of Dany, the princess lost in the wilderness, wed to a barbarian but fearsome warrier. It is, of course, a very fine piece of work, the Dany narrative being one of the best realised parts in Martin's brilliant novel, but it is the least valuable in the bunch, because I doubt many readers of this book have not read it before. and I have the feeling that the amazing climax to the story is more effective as the end of A Game of Thrones, than as a conclusion for a supposedly self standing novella.

Ultimately, I greatly enjoyed Quartet, both the fiction and Martin's wonderful introductions, but as the selection of pieces included is problematic, I can only recommand Quartet to die hard -got to have everything- fans such as myself. If you are a casual reader, one who only read few if any Martin stories, you'll be much better off picking A Game of Thrones, Fevre Dream, the anthology Sandkings, or Robert Silverberg's Legends, which contains Martin's The Hedge Knight among much other great fiction, as introduction to one of today's greatest writers.

A Splendid Collection........2001-12-27

As the title implies, Quartet is a collection of four of George R. R. Martin's earlier works, two of them previously unpublished, the other two previously uncollected. "The Skin Trade" and "Blood of the Dragon", both previously published, are award winning works, the former a horror story, the latter high fantasy; "Black and White and Red All Over", the initial selection in the collection, is an unfinished historical novel regarding Jack the Ripper's exploits in New York around the end of the nineteenth century; the most interesting piece in the collection is the script for the unproduced television show, "Starport." Introducing the collection is a short piece by long time Martin collaborator, Melinda Snodgrass, and Martin introduces each of the selections with brief biographical notes, all of which are rather interesting as he plots his transition from novelist to screenwriter to novelist again, spanning nearly a decade. The collection, for both Martin enthusiasts and novices alike, holds quite a bit of worth, although "Black and White and Red All Over" provides a bit of a barrier to the rest of the collection.

While interesting, Martin's historical recreation of the Ripper's supposed exploits in New York, based in part on the mysterious, and historically accurate, death of a prostitute by the name of Old Shakespeare in emulation of Jack the Ripper is rather difficult to overcome, possibly because the reader knows that the novel, and the mystery, remain unfinished. Although entertaining, and well crafted, simply knowing that the mystery has no solution, like Charles Dickens's The Mystery of Edwin Drood, makes intellectual investment in the narrative and the characters rather difficult. If the novel is ever completed, it will surely stand with the best of Ripper fiction, alongside such works as Alan Moore's From Hell (2000), as well as among the best of Martin's own work.

Martin's werewolf novella, "The Skin Trade", is the most engaging of the collection's work: It's a traditional page-turner horror novella, with the pacing of a well-plotted action film. The characters are interesting, the mystery well constructed, if not slightly transparent, and Martin handles lycanthropy with aplomb. Like the equally well-plotted "Blood of the Dragon", a novella that factors in to Martin's high fantasy opus, A Song of Fire and Ice, which won a Hugo for best novella in 1997, "The Skin Trade" is a wonderful read for both Martin fans and not. But having both been previously published, it is the script for "Starport" that makes this collection worth owning.

As Martin details in his introduction to the 168 page script, which comprises the most space of any of the selections in the collection, "Starport" was the proposed SF series to replace Alien Nation on Fox in the early 1990s. Explicitly a cop drama, much like Hill Street Blues, but more in line with Alan Moore's recent Top 10 comic book series, "Starport" concerns a near future Chicago police department that concerns themselves with the vast influx of alien races that have begun trade with Earth, with Chicago acting as one of the three "starports" on Earth to facilitate such. The cast is an ensemble of characters, most of which are human police officers and detectives, but accentuated with alien diplomats, merchants, and workers. The sheer inventiveness of the fictional world that Martin created in "Starport" is amazing, more so than his carefully constructed alter-Earth in the Wild Cards series, and while reading the script, it's hard not to mourn the loss of such an amazing entry into SF television. Engaging, funny, intelligent, the only aspect of "Starport" that is a little trying is the Klingon-esque Angels that play alien foils to the human cops with their arcane honor based culture. But "Satrport" is an amazing piece of work, and hopefully one day Fox will realize their loss. But until then, at least "Starport" is published, alongside some other outstanding work from Martin's most important phases of development.

A Hit-and-Miss collection.......2001-11-24

Martin's latest collection contains some excellent work, but also some pretty second-rate stuff. Fans of Martin's ouevre will already be familiar with the excerpt from his exceptional novel _A Game of Thrones_. While the excerpt stands on its own quite well, it's still an excerpt from a popular novel, so most of the readers of this collection will have read it already.

Of much more interest are the other three stories. The first selection is a portion of an unfinished Martin novel from the 1980s. I was quite taken with the 100+ pages that are already written and would enjoy seeing a finished product. Unfortunately with Martin wrapped up in his current epic series, any continuation of _Black and White and Red All Over_ will be some time in the making. This excerpt is the story of a Jack-the-Ripper type killer in America. Martin attempted to sell the novel but didn't find any takers. He points out that in the early 90s, Caleb Carr's _The Alienist_ was a best-selling novel with a similar theme and writes, with a tinge of bitterness, that there apparently was a market for such a novel after all!

The unproduced teleplay "Starport" for a proposed Fox television series is very difficult to read. I've always found scripts to be mind-numbingly dull and this was no exception. Although I have faith in Martin's efforts to create a compelling world, I think we're better off never having seen this one.

Finally, the World-Fantasy-Award winning werewolf novella "The Skin Trade" was an enjoyable piece. I believe this is it's first appearance in a Martin collection. I wasn't engaged in this story, which is a common problem that I have with World-Fantasy-Award winners. But that's my problem.

Martin fans will particularly enjoy his 2-3 page introductions to each story. He writes about the events leading up to the creation of the story. The story behind the genesis of his epic 'Fire & Ice' saga is quite interesting. On the whole this is an enjoyable book, one that I think is well worth the low purchase price if only for the unfinished novel excerpt alone. I hope that in the future, Mr. Martin makes time to finish this promising novel.

Average customer rating:
Quartet - Four Tales from the Crossroads - SIGNED COPY
George R. R. Martin
Manufacturer: NESFA Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000QDH680

Average customer rating:
Quartet - Four Tales from the Crossroads
George R. R. Martin
Manufacturer: NESFA Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKGSNQ

Book Description

Including the start of Denny O'Neil's and Dick Dillin's run onJUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, this hardcover reprints JUSTICE LEAGUE OFAMERICA #61-66, and 68-70 (plus the cover to #67, which was a reprintAnnual)!

Customer Reviews:

Classic tales of teamwork, friendship, and justice.......2007-09-21

I held off buying the DC Archive editions for years because of the hefty price. Then I bought a couple used and I saw that they are worth every penny. At least they are worth it if you grew up with these titles. It was amazing how many of these stories (and specific panels) that I personally remembered after nearly 50 years.

Volume eight contains stories originally published in Justice League of America #61-70. The highlight of this volume is the appearance of the Spectre (only the third Silver Age appearance, I believe.) The low point is that Mike Sekowsky left after issue #64, and Gardner Fox after #65.

These stories look better on the high-grade, glossy paper than they did when first printed- and much, much better than they look on old, yellow newsprint. The maroon leatherette covers (with the Justice League of America logo embossed in silver) are first rate- though I would never take the heavy, glossy jackets off of them.

This is probably the last of the Justice League Archives that I will collect. It completes the Fox/Sekowsky years- the true classics. Even as a kid I recognised that a powerful magic had been lost. As far as I am concerned this marked the begining of the end of the Silver Age.

Treat yourself to the end of the age of true heroes.

Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03

Justice League of America Archives, Vol. 8. The comics are changing, as is the artwork, to be vaguely more realistic. Things happen that have consequences, more than the happy go lucky comic to comic adventures.

This can be seen, for example, when Wonder Woman leaves the league.

A necessary evil.......2005-11-10

We now hit the slow issues of JLA.

The middle issues of the series running from about 74 to about issue 90 featured some of the worst stories of the series. This volume hits at the begining of that slow period.

There are a few notable stories such in terms of historic events in the JLA timeline but the only reason why I'll be buying this issue and the one that follow it is to keep the run intact for when the good stuff starts returning.

If you don't have any of these books yet DONT start with this one.

Sekowsky's Last Stand on the Justic League of America.......2005-01-24

Its sort of ironic that the Justice League of America are holding hands on this Archive's cover, because this is the volume that signals the end of the silver age League.

Mike Sekowsky puts done his pencil midway through this volume and turns it over to Dick Dillin (one of the silver age's most under appreciated artists). Dillin would draw the League through the end of the sixties and into the seventies.

But before Mike Sekowsky left he did leave some gems in this volume. Of particular intrest is issue #61's story, "Operation Jail the Justice League." In which heroes and villians swap identities. Something that would be touched upon three decades later in Identity Crisis (the comic limited series).

In issue #69 Wonder Woman shows up depowered and leaves the League (due to events in her own title drawn and edited by former League artist Mike Sekowsky) but its okay because the woman who will replace her Black Canary (plus future JLA member Red Tornado) make appearances in the Justice League/Society crossover in issue #64.

Also of note is the Creeper's guest appearance (ala Metamorpho's early appearance) in Justice League #70.

We begin to see the shift from cosmic classic hero epics to social issues something that becomes more and more the League's stock in trade as they try to become relevant in the 70's.

This is a good volume filled with many milestones as silver age begins to draw to a close.

As for the quality of the book itself, this is part of the DC Archive series so everything from paper to binding is top draw.

Average customer rating:

I love Deborah Madison's work

Caution

Oh, the joy.....

Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen.

Inspiring

Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen
Deborah Madison
Manufacturer: Broadway
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Soups & Stews | Meals | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Vegetables & Vegetarian | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

Local Flavors: Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets

This Can't Be Tofu!: 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would--and Love Every Bite

The Greens Cookbook

ASIN: 076791628X
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Book Description

When I said I was working on a soup book, the response was often, “Oh, I love soup!” People enthuse about soup in a way that’s so heartwarming it makes me feel as if I’m in the right camp... The soups in this book are based on vegetables, and many of these recipes are new ones for me. But some are soup classics, by which I mean some of those that have stood the test of time in my kitchen, (Quinoa, Corn, and Spinach Chowder) and those that are classics in the culture (Boston-Style Black Bean Soup). I’ve tried to streamlined these dishes as much as possible without sacrificing goodness, so that you can easily enjoy them in your own kitchen. I hope you do enjoy making these soups and add them, one by one, to your repertoire.

—from the Introduction

In Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen, America’s favorite vegetarian cookbook author presents more than 100 inventive and straightforward soup recipes guaranteed to satisfy appetites all year long.

Deborah Madison has shown millions of Americans how to turn vegetables and other healthful ingredients into culinary triumphs. In her newest collection of recipes, She serves up a selection of soups ranging from stylish first courses to substantial one-bowl meals.

Madison begins with a soup-making primer and streamlined recipes for vegetable stocks and broths (such as the Hearty Mushroom Broth), which serve as the foundation for many of the recipes that follow, for those who wish to make their own. Soups like the Mexican Tomato Broth with Avocado and Lime can start a supper or stand alone as a simple, light meal. Cooks looking for heartier choices will find satisfying dishes such as Potato and Green Chile Stew with Cilantro Cream or grain-based soups like the Wild Rice Chowder. Organized by seasons, the recipes make the most of the produce–from a springtime Fennel and Almond Soup with Saffron and Ricotta Dumplings to a deeply flavorful autumnal Roasted Squash, Pear and Ginger Soup. When time just isn’t available and prepared soups take the place of home made, Madison offers a battery of suggestions for how to make them your own with simple additions from delicious oils and herbs to an invigorating Cilantro Salsa.

Featuring fifty stunning full-color photographs by Laurie Smith, serving suggestions, wine notes, and a host of ideas for creative finishing touches including caramelized pear “croutons” and souffléd cheese toasts, this friendly soup lover's guide gives the reader a hundred delicious ways to enjoy the benefits and flavors of vegetables by the bowlful throughout the seasons.

Customer Reviews:

I love Deborah Madison's work.......2007-07-04

When I first bought this cookbook, we lived from it. I love the clear broths, the roast vegetable soups, the bean soups (although I think some of the lentil soups in Deborah's big vegetarian book are better), the fennel and chestnut soup (better than the earlier version) ... And, now my brother's moved house, I've bought him his own copy.

Caution.......2007-05-18

The layout of this book is terrible. The recipes don't start at the top of the page. Rather, they run onto the pages... in a jumbled mess. It takes away from this cookbook significantly. Why did they print it this way? To save on paper, printing costs? Whatever the reason, we the buyers have to turn the pages just to get the whole recipe... inconvenient. There are other great vegetarian books on soups... that are much better to cook from.

Oh, the joy............2006-12-30

.....Of my whole family thinking I am the "Soup Goddess" since I bumped into this book in my local library.I am a vegetarian, but my husband isn't, and neither is his family, but I do love to cook for them,but they are all too easy to scare with tofu, tempeh,roots and twigs they haven't even heard of.(things I do enjoy though.)But ever since I have been cooking tasty soups from this book, they love everything I make.It is not a 15 minute meal book,thank god, because there is something to taking one's time, and cooking with love and care.The fall and winter soups,especially the roasted vegetable ones are sooo goood!They do require fresh veggies, but you can still use canned tomatoes, if you don't have fresh, canned beans occasionaly, and the food comes out great.The idea of making the stock from the trimmings is great too,since most of the time they would be thrown away anyway, so why not make the soup tastier with them.I have a small kitchen and no place for gadgets,but I was able to use this book without those,and the outcome was always delicious, fragrant, wholesome food. And I have not found one single recipe in this book that was not superb.I mean, how many times does it happen, that you buy a book, and most of the stuff is either too complicated, too simple, too blah?Even Goldilocks would be happy with this one!Every single thing I have tried,which is most of the cold weather soups came out even better than I thought it would.Of course I had to get my own edition because I could not bare to part with this book when it was time to take it back.Since than I got a few more books from Ms Madison, but this was the first and so it is special.Good luck,and enjoy!

Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen........2006-11-10

Very nicely illustrated and laid out however for anyone in smaller towns some of the ingredients may not be available. It would be helpful to give a directory of the more unusual ingredients,a description of them and perhaps a buying guide.

Inspiring.......2006-03-10

I'm not a vegetarian but I found this book a great inspiration. Lots of practical information and clever recipes make this book much better than average. In fact, great.

Average customer rating:

nothing really good

Recipes are basic; no photos

Nancys Candy Cookbook: How to Make Candy at Home the Easy Way, Second Edition
Nancy Shipman
Manufacturer: Rayve Productions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1877810649

Book Description

ENJOY . . . more than 100 excellent candy recipes
HAVE FUN . . . learning how to make candy easily and quickly
SAVE MONEY . . . making candy at home at a fraction of candy store prices

Candy specialist Nancy Shipman guides you step-by-step in the candy-making process and shares her favorite recipes, from Grandma's old-fashioned cocoa fudge to modern day molded specialty candies. You'll be surprised how easy it is to make fantastic confections at home.

You'll savor Melt-in-Your Mouth Fudge, Penuche, Maple Nut Creams, Macadamia Nut Brittle, Lollipops, Fruit and Nut Eggs, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Chocolate Espresso Truffles, Honey Divinity, and dozens more. Over 100 recipes.

Customer Reviews:

nothing really good.......2001-09-28

the book don't have picture,and really waste you time and money
to buy it...many time time is the same base recipe with chocolate or peanut batter.

Recipes are basic; no photos.......2001-06-03

This book is ok. The recipes aren't spectacular; you've probably already come across most of them because of how commmon they are. But they are good. There are no photos in the book; only little pictures. And I didn't understand why it costs ($) when it resembles a book you might have made using your own computer printer, some plain white paper, and color ink.

Average customer rating:

Very Well Researched!

American Antique Furniture: A Book For Amateurs, Vol. 2
Jr. Edgar G. Miller
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Furniture | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Field Guide to American Antique Furniture: A Unique Visual System for Identifying the Style of Virtually Any Piece of American Antique Furniture

The Antique Hunter's Guide to American Furniture: Chests, Cupboards, Desks & Other Pieces

Antique Trader Furniture Price Guide

ASIN: 0486216004

Customer Reviews:

Very Well Researched!.......2005-03-16

My sister-in-law has gotten me interested in antiques, something that I never thought would happen.While checking out some books in the library, I came across this one.
Although it was published in 1966 the information in it is still very true and the descriptions of American furniture are very good and should easily help you to identify different pieces.
Author Edgar Miller put over 2,000 illustrations in the book which is a super aid in identifying a piece.
This maybe an old book, but it in itself is a treasure for the antique furniture hunter. You can still purchase it on Amazon and if you are a serious antique hunter you will want this book. I recommend it.

American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs (2 Vols.)

Average customer rating:

American Antique Furniture: A Book for Amateurs (2 Vols.)
Edgar G. Miller
Manufacturer: M. Barrows & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IF1Z92

AMERICAN ANTIQUE FURNITURE: A Book for Amateurs (2 Volume set); Vol I; Vol II

Average customer rating:

AMERICAN ANTIQUE FURNITURE: A Book for Amateurs (2 Volume set); Vol I; Vol II
Jr., Edgar G. Miller
Manufacturer: Dover Publications, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IWXIT0

Book Description

For over 10 years, an ever-growing audience in the West has been using the ancient Eastern science of feng shui to improve every area of their lives. Feng Shui Fusion is perfect for anyone who has longed for a feng shui program to take them through the year, offering simple rules to follow season by season, according to the elements of the feng shui cycle: water/winter; wood/spring; fire/summer; metal/autumn; and earth/transition. Jane Butler-Biggs, best-selling author of Feng Shui in 10 Simple Lessons, has created an easy-to-follow workbook that helps readers apply feng shui guidelines to organize both their living space and day-to-day schedule. Arranged in five easy-to-follow chapters-one for each season and its affiliated element, plus one for the transitional period between seasons-this unique guide provides a straightforward explanation of the elements, and how they can affect and improve everything from your diet and exercise program to your emotional well-being. Readers will discover the ways feng shui principles can shape their personality-and use them to boost strengths and compensate for weaknesses. They'll also discover unique feng shui recipes for feeding their "water energy," or emotional well-being; encouraging creativity with bright colors like yellow, orange, and red; cultivating patience and tolerance; and much more. With the time-proven help found in this resource, readers can get back in touch with their inner energy and improve their life from the inside out every single day of the year.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting.......2007-06-01

There are some complicated things in this books, very true. The illustrations are enjoyable, and some of the material is nice, some of it get's very involved, and seems like you have to know a lot about feng sghui already. It's not in the best order either. But, still some positive messages in this book, and interesting concepts.

Simple ideas presented in a complicated way.......2003-06-21

"Feng Shui Fusion" is a beautiful book. Throughout, many colors are used. There are amusing illustrations. There are fancy, scrolly fonts and plain, sans-serif fonts. There are useful bits of information set off on their own from the rest of the text, in little boxes or circles. Unfortunately, all of these features make this book very difficult to read.

Imagine Brad Pitt walks up to you on the street and tells you to eat more vegetables, then walks away. Are you going to think, "I should eat more vegetables," or are you just going to watch Brad Pitt walk away, and think "omigosh! That Brad Pitt guy with the nice buns and stringy hair just talked to me!"

Well, it's kinda like that.

I found "Feng Shui Fusion" in the yoga section of my local bookstore. This book integrates Feng Shui principles with yoga, emotional wellbeing, and food. Five chapters discuss the five elements of Feng Shui as they relate to the seasons of the year, and to our own bodies and experiences. The chapters are Winter/Water; Spring/Wood; Summer/Fire; Earth Transience, which somewhat relates to the harvest season of the year, Indian Summer; and Fall/Metal. This integration of Feng Shui with different aspects of life is interesting and potentially very useful. I think more attention should have been given to the actual content of the book, though, and restraint exercised with the design elements of it.

Book Description

Nearly sixty years after his death, the name of Will Rogers is still magic. His observations on politics and human nature were profound and original, his talent enormous.

A one-man entertainment industry, he made over seventy movies and wrote a daily column syndicated in more than 450 newspapers. He was the most widely listened to radio performer of his day as well as its most popular after-dinner speaker. During the Great Depression, he was the voice of America's helpless and homeless and the conscience of the country's political leadership.

Where does a man like Will Rogers come from?

This book answers that question in the words of the "Indian Cowboy" himself, in letters never before made public.

Average customer rating:
Will Rogers. Courtship and Correspondence of the World's Greatest Catch, 1900-1915
Will). COLLINS, Reba (ROGERS
Manufacturer: Neighbors and Quaid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VARJJY

Average customer rating:
Will Rogers: Courtship & Correspondence 1900-1915
Reba Collins
Manufacturer: Neighbors & Quaid
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OM03NI

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