The Door in the Floor: The Screenplay

Book Description

The screenplay for the major motion picture The Door in the Floor, based on the #1 national bestseller A Widow for One Year by John Irving

In Irving’s introduction to Tod Williams’s screenplay, John Irving calls the script “the most word-for-word faithful translation to film of any of the adaptations written from my novels—including my own adaptation of The Cider House Rules.” Yet Williams has made a radical and insightful choice: namely, to tell only the first third of Irving’s long, dark novel.

In this part of the story, sixteen-year-old Eddie O’Hare, an aspiring writer, believes he has landed the perfect summer job when he is hired as the personal assistant to the successful children’s book illustrator and author Ted Cole. But the Coles are a family marked by tragedy. Their two teenage sons were killed in a car accident; Marion Cole, the boys’ mother, has never recovered from their loss. Ted and Marion have temporarily separated, and their living arrangements, which involve their four-year-old daughter, Ruth, are—especially to Eddie’s limited experience—baffling. Ted seems to be having an affair with his model, the acerbic Mrs. Vaughn, and Marion and Eddie increasingly find themselves alone together or alone with Ruth.

The Door in the Floor is a smooth and vivid adaptation of the darkest, most disturbing part of A Widow for One Year.

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The Door in the Floor: The Screenplay
Tod Williams
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OWDA0Q

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A real insight into the ork underground

A well written story

Excellent characters - so so story

Cool&Quick action
Shadowrun 06: Never Trust an Elf (Shadowrun)
Robert N. Charrette
Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Charrette, Robert N. | ( C ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Shadowrun 03: Find Your Own Truth (Shadowrun)

Shadowrun 02: Choose Your Enemies Carefully (Shadowrun)

Shadowrun 01: Never Deal with a Dragon (Shadowrun)

Changeling (Shadowrun #5)

Shadowrun 09: Shadowplay (Shadowrun)

ASIN: 0451451783

Customer Reviews:

A real insight into the ork underground.......2006-02-20

I must admit that i am somewhat biased about this book because i love orks and orc culture. I loved the whole book except the ending, kinda weak. still i love everything shadowrun so all n'all not a bad book. hell, charette set the whole thing off anyway huh ? how bad could it be ?

A well written story.......1999-01-07

it seems to me that the story was written to be a follow-up to his first story arc secrets of power. The characters seem to have developed and grown between the stories. It was nice to see a shadowrun author " stretch" out a story and show a different side of the characters. Hope he writes another story to continue the past four.

Excellent characters - so so story.......1998-09-12

The main character, an Ork, is excellent. He really gives you can idea of how life is for the poor and down-trodden in Seattle. The storyline was a bit lacking.

Cool&Quick action.......1998-07-15

A cool tale about an average runner trying to stay alive. A good story all around.

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Never Trust an Elf (Shadowrun)
Fanpro
Manufacturer: Fanpro
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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Fade to Black (Shadowrun)

ASIN: 0451452208

Amazon.com

The opening section of The Crossing, book two of the Border Trilogy, features perhaps the most perfectly realized storytelling of Cormac McCarthy's celebrated career. Like All the Pretty Horses, this volume opens with a teenager's decision to slip away from his family's ranch into Mexico. In this case, the boy is Billy Parham, and the catalyst for his trip is a wolf he and his father have trapped, but that Billy finds himself unwilling to shoot. His plan is to set the animal loose down south instead.

This is a McCarthy novel, not Old Yeller, and so Billy's trek inevitably becomes more ominous than sweet. It boasts some chilling meditations on the simple ferocity McCarthy sees as necessary for all creatures who aim to continue living. But Billy is McCarthy's most loving--and therefore damageable--character, and his story has its own haunted melancholy.

Billy eventually returns to his ranch. Then, finding himself and his world changed, he returns to Mexico with his younger brother, and the book begins meandering. Though full of hypnotically barren landscapes and McCarthy's trademark western-gothic imagery (like the soldier who sucks eyes from sockets), these latter stages become tedious at times, thanks partly to the female characters, who exist solely as ghosts to haunt the men.

But that opening is glorious, and the whole book finally transcends its shortcomings to achieve a grim and poignant grandeur. --Glen Hirshberg

Book Description

Following All the Pretty Horses in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy is a novel whose force of language is matched only by its breadth of experience and depth of thought.

In the bootheel of New Mexico hard on the frontier, Billy and Boyd Parham are just boys in the years before the Second World War, but on the cusp of unimaginable events. First comes a trespassing Indian and the dream of wolves running wild amongst the cattle lately brought onto the plain by settlers -- this when all the wisdom of trappers has disappeared along with the trappers themselves. And so Billy sets forth at the age of sixteen on an unwitting journey into the souls of boys and animals and men. Having trapped a she-wolf he would restore to the mountains of Mexico, he is long gone and returns to find everything he left behind transformed utterly in his absence. Except his kid brother, Boyd, with whom he strikes out yet again to reclaim what is theirs thus crossing into "that antique gaze from whence there could be no way back forever."

An essential novel by any measure, The Crossing is luminous and appalling, a book that touches, stops, and starts the heart and mind at once.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Turning point.......2007-10-01

The Crossing is so vividly written that you can smell the southwestern landscape and hear the haunting romance of the cantigas. If you have travel plans to Mexico, however, the tale is enough to make you think twice about going there.

I found the Spanish challenging, although it is simple. I still needed my Spanish-English dictionary, and felt sad about missing the author's point when my literal translations failed. The long passages of Mexican metaphysics were tiring at times because I lost the metaphor. Still, the relationship between the brothers Billy and Boyd was compelling.

It's hard to imagine the starkness of their home, their clothing, food, possessions, comforts and their prose--sometimes I laughed out loud at their dialogue. It makes me want to talk in cowboy language. Billy's plans always seemed to go awry, but he toughed through all kinds of adversities with a simple "tell the truth" philosophy.

The Crossing is not about the borders between Mexico and the US, but it is about boundaries--the boundaries that are within our psychologies--how we define them and how we manage them. It is about how memory creates myth and archetypes. It is about how our impressions of the past often frame our futures.

Reading this author is a real treat--you won't be disappointed. It's such a joy to read his prose.

Too much Spanish!.......2007-09-13

I looked forward to reading this book, since I considered "The Road" great and really enjoyed the breath taking description in"All the Pretty Horses"and "Cities of the Plain." However, I am so disappointed in "The Crossing" I doubt that I will even finish reading it.
A major complaint is that there is way too much Spanish. I early on stopped even trying to decipher the meaning and just skipped those passages, which are very numerous and sometimes a paragraph or two in length. What is probably an attempt to provide local color becomes merely irritating for those who do not know Spanish. (And I've yet to figure out what Mr. McCarthy has against punctuation.)
The interminable mountains and rivers which, after all, cannot differ much from each other, get pretty tedious after a while, too. As do the stories and philosophizing from people met on the journey. After a couple hundred pages, my feeling is let's get on with it! ( It being the saga of Billy and Boyd.)

Another Great Book from McCarthy.......2007-06-20

I confess that I am consistently impressed with McCarthy. Though "The Crossing" is not as robust as "All the Pretty Horses" nor as unique a literary experience as "Blood Meridian," it remains a heck of a good book.

In this novel there is perhaps less philosophy, fewer long, rhapsodic monologues exploring the inner lives and motivations of characters. There is more action, and that action leads to no less troubling places. The monologues are replaced to a certain degree with story. Within the narrative there are several smaller narratives told by lesser characters. Though these stories lack any sort of succinct moral, they none the less contain a certain resonant truth within the world of the novel.

The larger work and the shorter stories within that work all circle the idea of truth. The novel opens with the journey of Billy Parham. He captures a pregnant wolf and then attempts to bring the wolf back across the boarder into the mountains of Mexico. In this way, the narrative begins on familiar ground. One thinks of other journey stories, one also thinks of American wilderness stories (White Fang, Call of the Wild). But soon this journey story goes awry, and the narrative we expect turns in unforeseeable directions.

One of the things I find most remarkable about this particular novel and other McCarthy work is his courage. He sets the narrative in motion. He sets a fair path and direction. He lays the groundwork, and then, once things have been set into motion, he leaves the path he has established. Like one of his characters, he strikes off into the wilderness, he crosses roadless country on horseback trusting in the things and the people he meets.

I am not sure if I am making much sense. I am thinking specifically of how this book began as a story about a boy who seeks to return a wolf, how that in itself could have been enough. But once that narrative track is established, McCarthy shifts the focus, he sets the boy off on a journey without direction or purpose, he returns the boy to a home that no longer exists, and then sets the boy off again on a journey that proves as misdirected and pointless as the first. Each time the character sets out on a track or narrative path, McCarthy soon erases the path and we are left to wander for a time in a narrative wilderness.

The narrative is given its form through theme and character. When the plot does emerge, it quickly dissolves. Nothing turns out as one would imagine. There is no foreshadowing or similar such devices. It is just character and layered narrative. Desire and thwarted desire. It seems to be exactly what I want to be reading right now.

McCarthy proves that he does humorous as well as grim - a review of "The Crossing".......2007-05-20

Well what can I say. More brilliant writing by a master AND for the first time I found myself laughing -a lot- while reading a McCarthy book. I know you might not believe me, but truly there are some extremely funny bits in this story. [My husband kept looking at me wondering if perhaps I had slipped the dusk jack for "The Crossing" onto another book. ]

And alas, lest you wonder, McCarthy was just leading me on. Up, up he took me. Wonderful story (expected). Humor (okay, not expected). But I was laughing and soaring and I was beginning to wonder if this book might be wildly different from the others. Certainly neither "The Road", nor "Blood Meridian" had me cackling: those were all grim fare. But rest assured. As high as McCarthy took me, that was where he dropped me from. It was a long plummet but finally I was back on familiar territory... heart torn out... feelings wrenched and twisted.

Five Stars. "The Crossing" is a McCarthy story that should make you laugh and then cry. Simply a wonderful tale with characters to care about. Exquisite prose.

stark, desperate country.......2007-05-09

once you are hooked on Cormac McCarthy's world of a desperate, stark west there's no going back..sort of like his characters..Billy Parham is innocent enough to believe he can set a captured wolf back in the mountains of Mexico but his journey there dispels him of that innocence and the people he meets along the way..he grows up like we all do..maybe disillusioned, a bit bitter and angry..but the lyrical prose of Cormac McCarthy makes the journey all worth it.

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5star book
Warriors who operate mobile machines of war and destruction
Testing Wolf's Dragoons
Charrette ROCKS!
What a wierd book.

Wolves on the Border (Battletech)
Robert N. Charrette
Manufacturer: Fasa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1555600875

Book Description

As a MechWarrior of the Draconis Combine, Minobu Tetsuhara was bound by Bushido—a code that demands loyal service—to the devious Warlord Grieg Samsonov. But when Minobu came upon a strange blue-and-gold Archer, Bushido also dictated that he not destroy the honorable but helpless warrior. And so he rescued Jaime Wolf. Minobu was then assigned as liaison to the Wolf's Dragons, one of the Combine's most elite mercenary units. But when the mercenaries refused to renew their contract with Samsonov, Minobu was instructed to destroy them. Now Bushido dictates that Minobu oppose his honorable foe, a man with whom he has served and who deserves far better than betrayal…

Customer Reviews:

5star book.......2003-05-02

Not much bad to write about this one.
I but I never expected the end, at least not the the
person of whom you least expect it.
Even though it only took me a little over 8 hours to finish, I
would definitely read this one again for the sake of the author ;)
He did one heck of a job. Characters aren't shallow and are
well thought out. Can hardly wait to get my hands on Wolf Pack.

In a nutshell, I highly recommand this one to all Battletech Fans who still don't know how the Dragoons and Draconis Combine
got set against each other.

Warriors who operate mobile machines of war and destruction.......2002-11-11

Robert N. Charrette's science fiction story about warriors who operate mobile machines of war and destruction, Battletech: Wolves On The Border is the abridged audiobook version and based on the famous science-fiction role-gaming campaign setting. MechWarrior Minobu Tetsuhara is bound by loyalty and the strict code of bushido to serve a manipulative warlord, yet when his commands pit him against an honorable foe he is trapped between duty and conscience. An exciting story that perfectly captures the far-flung and technology-heavy feel of the pencil-and-paper roleplaying game, Battletech: Wolves On The Border is dramatically narrated by Christopher Graybell, resulting in a 3 hour, 2 cassettes audiobook which is enthusiastically recommended listening for fans of mechanoid and robotech scifi.

Testing Wolf's Dragoons.......2002-09-05

This book, which is probably one of the best Battletech novels out there, gives us a look at how House Kurita and Wolf's Dragoons became enemies. Minobu Tetsuhara is the Combine's liason officer with the Dragoons after House Kurita hires the vaunted mercenaries. Tetsuhara must learn from the Dragoons as the Coordinator of the Draconis Combine, Takashi Kurita, orders him to create a unit that mimics the Dragoons' style. Events come to a head when the Coordinator arranges to keep the Dragoons contract and Tetsuhara must choose between facing off with the Dragoons or dishonoring himself as a samurai of the Draconis Combine. Set before the coming of the Clans and the just-finished FedCom civil war, this is Battletech still at its best (before major word limits cut out the legs of many novels). Highly enjoyable, especially if you read the Warrior Trilogy, Blood of Kerensky Trilogy, Heir to the Dragon, and Wolf Pack, a sequel to this novel also by Mr. Charrette.

Charrette ROCKS!.......2001-07-17

This book ruled. I couldn't put it down. I liked how Charrette picked his characters; taking the mysterious Wolf's dragoons and the Bushido bound Minubo Testuara and created this plot of friends torn apart by the hatred the Draconis Combine has for Jamie Wolf and his mercenaries. Really a great book.

What a wierd book........2000-03-10

This book left me looking for books to go along with the story. I could not find any.It left a strange feeling with me.The people who wrote it seemed to forget what they were writing about.The shift from preasent-time to past-time Would loose me. Maybe that is what they wanted but not me.

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Tales come alive with the undeniable spirit and enthusiasm

Border Wolves
Walt Coburn
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0843953683

Customer Reviews:

Tales come alive with the undeniable spirit and enthusiasm.......2003-11-15

Border Wolves collects under one cover three of author Walt Coburn's western novellas: "The Block K Rides Tonight" (which was filmed as "The Return of Wild Bill"); "Rusty Rides Alone" (which was filmed as a movie of the same name); and the title piece, "Border Wolves" (set just after the war long the border with Mexico and encompassing the deadly realm of whiskey smuggling). Gritty, sometimes violent, but always captivating tales come alive with the undeniable spirit and enthusiasm of the Old West under the pen of a consummate and talented writer.

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Battletech Collection II
Coleman, Robert, Loren Charrette
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B0009A1Z5K

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Battletech: Wolves on the Border
Robert N. Charrette
Manufacturer: audible.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Download
ASIN: B0006IU65A

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Border Wolves
Walt Coburn
Manufacturer: Dorchester Publishing Company, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J4JIVE

Thorndike Western - Large Print - Border Wolves: A Western Trio (Thorndike Western - Large Print)

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Thorndike Western - Large Print - Border Wolves: A Western Trio (Thorndike Western - Large Print)
Walt Coburn
Manufacturer: Thorndike Press 2004
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MCLX0W

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wolves on the Border

Manufacturer: Roc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HNBF4U

Book Description

With more than 250,000 copies sold so far in its previous editions, The New Diabetic Cookbook is a must-have cooking classic for people with diabetes! Newly revised and updated, it contains more than 200 healthful and delicious recipes, as well as the most recent food exchange lists, greatly expanded nutritive tables, and concise information on saturated fat, fiber, and cholesterol. Also new to this fifth edition is a chapter explaining how you can prepare your own mixes for a quick batch of cupcakes, cookies, cakes, or bread.

Customer Reviews:

Average.......2007-06-28

There is nothing wrong with the recipes in this book but they are boring. I could (and have) put them together without the expense of this book. If you are new to diabetic cooking, this book may be helpful. However, if you are an old hand, forget it!

Look for a recent publishing date...not this book.......2007-06-20

I bought this book hoping I could eat a little better, since I have "elevated blood sugar levels" but I think most recipes in this book would give me "elevated cholesterol levels" instead. At its publishing date I'm sure it was better than what most people were using to cook with, but we now know that margarine is full of the bad stuff that clogs our arteries, and just about every recipe seemed to have that as an ingredient. So if you're looking for healthy cooking, this isn't the place to start. I suggest finding a book with a publishing date of the last few years, that would have taken into consideration trans fats and our need to eliminate them.

Gives good information for new diabetics.......2007-06-15

I have yet to make anything from the recipe section of this book, so I cannot rate the results. However, the first part of the book gives a great overview for those newly diagnosed with diabetes. Being someone who loves to cook, I also like that the information given has taught me how to adjust my old favorites to fit my new lifestyle. A good purchase thus far.

Not great for me.......2007-04-21

I was recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. My nutritionist basically told me to watch my carbs, but dont limit my fat/salt/etc at this time. I bought this along with a Betty Crocker Diabetic Cookbook Everyday Meals Easy as 1-2-3. I am glad I bought the other one. It has pictures and is much easier to navigate. In my case the New Diabetic cookbook spends too much time on diabetes information and isn't as appealing for meals. Great for someone else, just not me!

Disappointed...........2006-11-01

I wanted a diabetic cookbook because my husband and my mother (who lives with us) are trying to eat healthier. I thought following some of the diabetic recipes would be a good healthy, sensible way to eat. I didn't realize that about 1/2 of this entire book is information about diabetes.... the other half is recipes. We don't need all the technical information on diabetes. If you are looking for info on diabetes, then this is definitely the book for you. But if you are looking for healthy diabetic recipes only, this is NOT the book. I wish I had known before I had purchased this book that it is an information first/recipes second book.

The New Diabetic Cookbook, Fifth Edition : More Than 200 Delicious Recipes for a Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Low-Cholesterol, Low-Salt, High-Fiber Diet

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The New Diabetic Cookbook, Fifth Edition : More Than 200 Delicious Recipes for a Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Low-Cholesterol, Low-Salt, High-Fiber Diet
Mabel Cavaiani
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The New Diabetic Cookbook: More Than 200 Delicious Recipes for a Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Low-Cholesterol, Low-Salt, High-Fiber Diet {FIFTH EDITION}

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The New Diabetic Cookbook: More Than 200 Delicious Recipes for a Low-Fat, Low-Sugar, Low-Cholesterol, Low-Salt, High-Fiber Diet {FIFTH EDITION}
Mabel Cavaiani
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A wonderful book full of delicious soups....

More inventive soups than one can digest in a lifetime.

Souper Skinny Soups
Yolanda Fintor , and Carla L. Henry
Manufacturer: Pelican Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Soups & Stews | Meals | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Medicine | Subjects | Books
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Skinny Soups (Skinny Series)

Saved By Soup: More Than 100 Delicious Low-Fat Soups To Eat And Enjoy Every Day

Foods That Cause You to Lose Weight:: The Negative Calorie Effect

ASIN: 0882899546

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful book full of delicious soups...........2007-08-24

This book only has 2 flaws:
1.) No pictures (I'm the type of person to judge food how it looks, and it's kinda trial and error because of this.) I feel even with black and white pictures, you could get an idea on the final product if they had them.

2.) Does no list the sodium values for the various soups.

The book does however talk about what you can use to substitute FOR salt, but for a young cook like myself, it's sort of confusing, and more trial and error.

Below each recipe you only see how many calories, fat grams and cholesterol values. But anyone who is trying to eat healthy knows, you must also keep track of carbs, fiber, protein, sodium, etc.
With some quick math work you can figure this out for yourself and write it in the book by hand (which is what I've done for easy reference, as there is some room to write below these values.)

I also wish it listed Chowders in their own category or in the index.

This is still a GREAT book for anyone who loves soup and is looking to cut calories from their diet. Just be sure to watch how much sodium actually goes into it. Some of these go past your daily value in one serving if you don't substitute an ingredient!

More inventive soups than one can digest in a lifetime........1995-11-30

I used to think soup was just something that came in a can, but this book changed my mind and lent new a new fervor to my soup-making. There are literally hundreds of soups here, and thousands of possibilities for varying the recipes. Soup is definitely good food, but you're a fool if you don't make it yourself from one of the recipes in this book

Book Description

Twenty years of Country Living knowledge, and a glimpse into real renovations, shows home decorators how to complete their own projects, and redo their own houses, in a style they’ll cherish for years to come.

Drawing on more than two decades of architectural documentary, Country Living has created this visually dazzling guide offering practical, elegant ideas for home decoration projects both large and small. Every residence shown is real, and the profiles of actual renovations range from a converted barn to a log cabin to an updated Greek Revival Home. Insider’s Advice tip boxes feature everything from sprucing up aging wood floors to reglazing vintage pedestal sinks. Go room by room, enjoying the creative ways of intensifying color and style, preserving period detailing, adding space to a too-small place (while melding the old with the new), salvaging mantels, choosing window treatments, installing lighting fixtures, painting stenciled finishes, repairing the roof, hiring contractors, and lots more.

Better Homes and Gardens: Living Room Makeover & Project Book

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Better Homes and Gardens: Living Room Makeover & Project Book
No Author
Manufacturer: Murdoch Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0864118090

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Living Room Makeovers
Salli Brand
Manufacturer: Tuttle+publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Readers can choose from six living room makeovers: pastel tones, versatile yellow, clean white, neutral brown, classical cream and bleached blue. They'll learn how to use color to enhance a room, the secrets of paint effects and how to combine materials to create the kind of atmosphere that is right for their home.

They'll also find clear, concise decorating techniques, 25 creative step-by-step projects and a handy reference guide to materials.

Download Description

El presente trabajo tiene por objeto enumerar y detallar algunas pistas para el dibujo didactico, fundamentalmente aplicado a la construccion. Comprende una mezcla de reglas del dibujo tecnico y otras del dibujo plastico, pero utilizadas en forma simple y sencilla. No niega las normas de la tecnica ni la fantasia creadora: por el contrario, las funde en una sola, para lograr una tecnica rapida y de facil confeccion.

Dibujo de perspectivas, asistido por computador, utilizando dispositivos trazadores grafico (Monografias del Instituto Eduardo Torroja de la Construccion y del Cemento)

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Dibujo de perspectivas, asistido por computador, utilizando dispositivos trazadores grafico (Monografias del Instituto Eduardo Torroja de la Construccion y del Cemento)
Alfonso Recuero Fornies
Manufacturer: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

This compelling and richly researched book presents a fascinating portrait of Mary Robinson–darling of the London stage, mistress to the most powerful men in England, feminist thinker, and bestselling author. Though one of the most flamboyant free spirits of the late eighteenth century, Mary led a life that was marked by reversals of fortune. After being abandoned by her father, Mary was married, at age fifteen, to Thomas Robinson, whose dissipation landed the couple and their baby in debtors’ prison. On her release, Mary rose to become one of the London theater’s most alluring actresses, famously playing Perdita in The Winter’s Tale for a rapt audience that included the Prince of Wales, who fell madly in love with her. Never one to pass up an opportunity, she later used his ardent love letters for blackmail. After being struck down by paralysis, apparently following a miscarriage, she remade herself yet again, this time as a popular writer who was also admired by the leading intellectuals of the day.
Filled with triumph and despair and grand accomplishments, the amazing life of “Perdita” is marvelously captured in this stunning biography.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating transformation.......2007-10-04

The late 18th Century is a fascinating period of contradiction. The circumspect lives of George III and his wife are at odds at the so-called crème de la crème of society, including the Prince of Wales. Mary Robinson's life story reveals the opulent lifestyles, decadence, and life of privilege of England's aristocracy and nobles. A great commentary on this period.

A Woman Of Her Time..........2005-11-11

For the eighteenth century, I suppose you could call her a great 'beauty' as she was privileged to be painted by the famous Gainsborough and other artists of that time. She was a social climber who had her own opera box complete with mirrors. As the actress portraying 'Perdita' in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale" she captured the fancy of George,the Prince of Wales, and became his mistress at the risk to her reputation and career. Had it happened in today's society, she could have married him and become royalty.

Born in a former monastery in Bristol, England, on November 17, 1757, she was a notorious figure of society, theatre, and literary circles. She derived from Irish roots, she was the perfect 'Juliet.' After her betrayal (in which she produced letters to negotiate a future), she became ill with rheumatic fever and turned to writing Gothic novels. Living in the old ruins of a catheral as a lonely, introverted, sad child, she had a vivid imagination and used it in her books.

She was a product of her time and used whatever wiles she had as a female to further her activities, whether in theatre, politics, royalty, celebrity writers or just her own poetry and fiction. She wrote a memoir of her sordid beginnings and sham of a marriage, which had allowed her to live a fashionable life in London for a short time, then to fall to the bottom of the ladder in debtors' prison. Her early years were one of abandonment and marriage one of infedilities. She had good teachers along the way.

This was well researched and much effort put forth to show the truth, no matter how bad. Her triumphs were greater than her failures.

A must for lovers of Regency history and this period.......2005-07-24

For those who enjoy the Regency period and life of George IV, this is one of the most perfect books to introduce you into the life of the period. It was a brief, intense and fascinating life which pushed the established mores to their limits.

The Prince of Wales (lat to be George IV) became enamoured of Mary Robinson in her portrayal of Peridita in Shakespeare's, A Winter's Tale. She was a young actress, escaped from a bad marriage and strange father. She took to the stage for some income (as many women of the period did instead of taking up prostitution as such)

The Prince of Wales became known as Florizel to Robinson's Perdita and she was his first 'major' mistress. Their lives intertwined for a brief period in his early adulthood - the beginning of what is known as the 'extended regency'. Robinson was then mistress to many of the influential peers of the time, and was even friends with Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire;

At a time when Georgian morals were of questionable value (everything in private, nothing in public)- when profligacy, spending, appearance and general splendour were the order of the day - Mary Robinson orbited on at the perimetre of acceptability. An actress, an abadoned wife, a mistress, and more.

I found this book overlong, but worth the effort to read. It is one of a series of books about women on the edge of society in this period, and has been great to build up a picture of life and living in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The author has gone to enormous efforts to track down information on Robinson, and it has paid off. There seems to be a good depth of research to back up the work. Overall a good read and well worth making the effort

An excellent biography of an outstanding woman. BUY IT !.......2005-04-20

I'll confess I would never have looked at this book if it hadn't been for the fact that I decided to read the 10 nominations for Richard and Judy's Best Read 2005.This book has been the biggest surprise of the lot,because, to be honest, I was not really looking forward to it.
How wrong could I be ? This is a dazzling story of a fascinating woman. I am afraid to say the other biography in the Richard and Judy list,"Feel" by Chris Heath, which is all about pop singer Robbie Williams, comes off a very poor second when compared to this volume. Sadly of course there's no doubt which book will sell more.I wish all Robbie Williams fans, or indeed the fans of any of the over-hyped celebrities of today, would read this book and find out that maybe their hero's or heroine's exploits are not so special after all when compared to what the subject of this biography got up to.
Mary Robinson, whose nickname was Perdita, was married at 15 and her marriage was something of a disaster and included spending some time in prison with her husband. She then made herself into one of London's most celebrated actresses and was a friend of the outstanding theatrical figures of the day.She became a leading figure in the glamorous high society of the city, reputedly being the most beautiful woman in Britain.She voluntarily gave up her theatrical career to become the mistress of the Prince of Wales, thus heightening her celebrity even further. Reading about this time of her life it appears that she was just as famous or infamous as any contemporary celebrity.Maybe more so.There are many obvious similarities.
In the second half of the book the plot changes almost completely as Mary, after being ditched by her royal lover, re-invents herself as a writer. She is so successful in this enterprise that she becomes one of the leading lady literary figures of the era. She is primarily a poetess, but also writes plays, novels and political tracts and she becomes friendly with both leading political and cultural figures.
It is an absolutely fascinating tale, made more moving perhaps by the fact that she was not lucky in love, suffered a debilitating illness for many years and finally died young at the age of 43.
All this is retold in an easy and entertaining way by Paula Byrne and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone.

Perdita - Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life Of Mary Robinson

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Perdita - Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life Of Mary Robinson
Paula Byrne
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M3OKXI

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