Average customer rating:
- Underrated Novel
- History repackaged for fiction . . .
- Lightning on the Sun - Bingham
- Leave Your Backyard and Live a Little
- Been there, done that, got the heroin.
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Lightning on the Sun: A Novel
Robert Bingham
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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| Literature & Fiction
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Literary
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| Literature & Fiction
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Suspense
| Thrillers
| Mystery & Thrillers
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Similar Items:
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Pure Slaughter Value: Stories
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Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
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Icky Thump
ASIN: 0385488688
Release Date: 2001-07-17 |
Amazon.com
If you give your protagonist a name as terse and manly as Asher, you had better be writing a thriller. Robert Bingham's antihero in Lightning on the Sun is in fact called Asher, but the novel isn't quite sure whether it's a thriller or not. The material is right for suspense: Bingham demonstrates a working knowledge of Cambodia (where he was a reporter) and a deeper knowledge of the byzantine pathways of New York old money. It seems, too, that he has had at least a passing acquaintance with the pleasures of heroin--he died of an overdose in early 2000, and his novel is well dusted with white powder. You can see how a writer with this kind of stuff at hand would be unable to resist turning it into a thriller.
The plot is drug-deal boilerplate: Asher, eager to flee Phnom Penh after several years there, borrows money from a Cambodian loan shark and sends a huge shipment of heroin to his ex-girlfriend, who works in a topless bar in Manhattan. The hapless, blue-blazer-wearing reporter Reese is unwittingly tapped to transport the goods from Cambodia to America. Events, needless to say, do not go as planned. Bad juju travels back and forth between the two countries, and by the end, the Khmer Rouge are waving hoes around.
The plot is fairly creaky, full of exposition and coincidence, but the novel is written well enough to keep the pages turning. In fact, by the end, one wonders if Bingham really needs the trappings of suspense at all. His characters are maddening and complex, full of surprising heroism and predictable failures. And his details of life in both countries resound with rightness. He understands the way aid organizations and crime together propel the daily life of Cambodia. "The Russians were known for their criminal sociability and saw their stay in Cambodia as a financial boondoggle. They were thieves, and the UN was a great unguarded henhouse for the fox." And anyone who's spent any time in Southeast Asia will understand Reese's response to hearing a Cambodian band swing into a rendition of "Hotel California": "'Oh, Lord,' said Reese, placing his hand to his temples. 'Please. Not again.'" A great thriller Lightning on the Sun is not, but Bingham's textured depiction of expat life is worth a look. --Claire Dederer
Book Description
From the highly acclaimed author of
Pure Slaughter Value comes this latter-day literary noir about an ex-pat in Cambodia eager to get home but taking all the wrong turns.
Asher went to Cambodia to get away from Julie, his Harvard grad ex-girlfriend currently tending bar in a topless joint in New York. But when his UNESCO work cleaning bat dung from Khmer statues is finished, and he decides on a dicey heroin scheme as his means to get home with plenty of money to spare, it?s Julie whose help he solicits. She agrees, but plans go dangerously awry frighteningly fast. A pulsating plot and precise literary prose make
Lightning on the Sun a startlingly compelling and strangely poetic tale.
Customer Reviews:
Underrated Novel.......2005-03-19
I just read this and I loved this book. And I have also read all of the other writers to whom Bingham has been unfavorably compared. I have to say that the ability to recognize crushingly simple bits of convergence -- oh hey look, this is about an expatriate in Southeast Asia and that was too! -- is no substitute for actual cleverness or critical faculty. The problem with treading anywhere near the emotional or physical territory of cult figures (and they are that, more than they are Greats) like Hemingway and Greene, is that cult-devotees are very vicious about defending the tribal pooh-baa at the center of their dimestore religions.
If this book suffers in any way, it actually suffers from the same disease that afflicts Robert Stone's recent books: idiot publicists determined to sell the books as thrillers, because the publicists -- or whoever makes the decision -- think that this will make men buy them. But these books are not thrillers, and readers aren't stupid. Unfortunately, too many readers also aren't quite bright or compassionate enough to see that the unfair sale is not the author's fault -- no way did the author have any intention of writing a thriller. Lightning on the Sun is a literary novel that happens to be about a heroin deal and set mostly in Cambodia. Read it as a literary novel and be amazed. I also wholeheartedly recommend Bingham's short-stories, which are nasty, dark, profane, and uplifting.
History repackaged for fiction . . ........2002-11-12
I read "Lightning on the Sun" about a year ago after having lived in Cambodia for several months (as an aside, during that I time I had learned of at least one young expatriate who died of alcohol poisoning and knew many others whose existences were consumed by alcohol, drugs and prostitutes; the depiction of the lifestyles of [specific members of] Cambodia's foreign correspondent community in "Lighting . . . " is not, strictly speaking, a work of fiction). I liked a number of things about the book. For starters, the title is just beautiful. In the wake of a tropical rainstorm, I once had the opportunity to witness lightning on the sun - it is not a sight one quickly forgets. As regards the substance, "Lightning . . . " is a stylistically-written and ultimately quickly read novel. The central character, Asher, is well-developed and sufficiently quirky as to provide for a fascinating character study. The book's closing is - if not necessarily unexpected given the sardonic, nihilstic sneer that pervades much of the narration - unusual and even somewhat strangely satisfying.
My biggest gripe, though, relates to the plot coincidences that many other reviewers have cited and the purpose they ultimately serve. It only took me a couple of months of living in Cambodia to realise the plot of "Lightning on the Sun" is simply a superimposition of Asher, Julie and their drug deal onto actual events that occured in Cambodia during the mid-1990s. The grenade attack in the park outside the National Assembly occured. The shooting out of the tires of a Royal Cambodian 737 by an infuriated (and very well-connected) passenger occured. And yes, among other events described in the book, a number of foreigners were actually kidnapped off a train outside the southern town of Kampot, taken to the top of a nearby hilltop by the name of Phnom Bokor (which still features the KR-effected remains of a Catholic Church and a Hotel/Casino) and, following the issuance and non-fufilment of ransom demands, executed. Many of the "characters" introduced in the book (the editors of certain Phnom Penh publications, the individual that shot out the tires of the Royal Cambodian Airlines 737) are also actual people (with slight modifications in the spelling of their names) who have have been known to behave in rather similar ways to that described in "Lightning on the Sun".
So, if the plot does seem to rest on some rather unlikely coincidences, then there's something of a reason for that - namely, to enable Asher and Julie to navigate themselves through some of the most sensational events and characters of Cambodia in the 1990s. "Lightning on the Sun" is to "Forrest Gump" what "The Tesseract" is to "Pulp Fiction". One can debate whether or not it was appropriate for Robert Bingham to re-dress actual events and characters for packaging in a novel or whether "Lightning of the Sun" is even honest story-telling, but hopefully his book should spur something of a greater interest in the recent (and continuing) activities of foreign expatriates and political elites in Cambodia. For those interested in pursuing that interest, a good (though ultimately flawed and commonly criticized) place to start is Amit Gilboa's gonzo potrait of expatriate Cambodia circa 1997, "Off The Rails in Phnom Penh - Inside the Dark Heart of Girls, Guns and Ganja".
Lightning on the Sun - Bingham.......2002-10-18
Lightning on the Sun delivers a fairly standard drug-deal-gone-bad story but its unique in that it takes place largely in Cambodia. Because of this unique setting, Lightning on the Sun becomes a highly-charged thriller. What truly separates this novel from others in the same genre is the fact that Bingham is obviously familiar with the historical, political and social intricacies of daily life in Cambodia. Add to that well developed characters and you're left with a powerful, fascinating story.
Leave Your Backyard and Live a Little.......2002-07-16
I live in Cambodia. Nothing in Binghams 'Lightning on the Sun' is unusual. Everyday life outside of a salary-contract mode is a wild cocktail of unimaginables. It didn't take a good writer. Just a stenographer. If you live here without an Aid organization behind you, possibly left behind by the UN storm and down on your luck, the book won't tickle you at all. I read it as a lament slash requiem for dear Rob who I had actually known. Cambodia in comparison to Africa is tame. Its everyday aggravation is actually slightly insulated with a bit of humor. Never in my rough and tough days pitching tents for troops, or hauling timber with a motorcycle through a twelve inch dirt road did I really feel that anyone could just kill me. But then again I've been around. Every incident in Cambodia is good material even with plain words. You have to come and live here and attempt to survive here to see what I mean. The reason that dear Rob actually got to write this one down is he wasn't busy fixing his bike's clutch cable in the middle of nowhere like the rest of us.
Tim Page's 'Uncle Ho's Victory Garden' rocked totally because he was narrating a part of Indochina that very few can claim to have experienced. He has such a way with words too. Too bad his photos don't rock as much. Go read this one and you'll see what makes us 'locals' excited.
Been there, done that, got the heroin........2001-11-02
This is a book about heroin, Cambodia, topless bars, bad relationships that you cant get out of, and the New York Racquet Club. I am willing to bet that Robert Bingham was familar with all of these. We will never know for sure since Robert Bingham died of a heroin overdose in 2000.
The story is the fairly usual tale of a drug deal that goes wrong. Asher, working for the press in Cambodia, is looking to score one last deal to help facilitate his travel and adjustment back to the USA. He involves his old girlfriend in New York and an unwitting straight laced courier to make it happen. In the meantime, he has to borrow some cash from a Cambodian crime boss to make things happen. Things dont go as planned, and there are complications, both in the US and in Cambodia.
This is not Robert Ludlum. The plot is a bit erratic and so are the characters, but that is why I loved this book. Bingham did a great job of keeping me in that mindset that left me thinking I knew what was going to happen, but wasnt sure. The characters comments and insights about Cambodia, drugs, even the New York Racquet Club made me feel like I was hearing from someone that knew about the nasty side of all three.
Book Description
The legend of El Q'anil, the "Man of Lightning," stands alongside such classic Maya literary artifacts as Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam but has been preserved only through the oral tradition of the Jakaltek Maya. Víctor Montejo, who was raised in Maya culture and knows its lore intimately, compiled several versions of the legend in Guatemala during the height of paramilitary operations in that country in the 1980s. His contemporary reconstruction lovingly preserves this legend and reflects concern for the survival of Maya culture in the face of oppression. In this volume, the text is presented in English, Spanish, and Mayan.
Book Description
Karl von Wultendorf, though a vampire himself, is completely under the power of his maker, Kristian, who demands total servitude. Karl is determined to kill him. But vampires, as Karl well knows, are almost indestructible. Charlotte Neville is the daughter of a Cambridge professor. She has grown up questioning all that she sees and because of this, is seen as a wall flower by British society. She lives with her father and assists him with his experiments at his laboratory. When Karl meets, and falls in love with, Charlotte, he realizes that he must find a way to kill Kristian. For Kristian has decided to teach Karl a lesson in power, by devouring Charlotte.
Customer Reviews:
You'll remember this book Forever..........2004-07-06
Freda Warrington's vampires are sensual individuals, exotic and beautiful; also terrible as their predatory natures must never be forgotten.
Here we have vampires that evolved from new age concepts; they shift through space by moving through the Crystal Ring - a reality along side our own that is linked to the astral plane and the subconscious mind. Through the ring, much like the mythical vampire that by becoming mist can enter any room; the vampires of Warrington's trilogy can not be barred from any place...in the Crystal Ring, nothing of the world is solid and stone walls are but water colours painted on air.
These vampires are not troubled by sunlight; moving about by night or day and they sleep but rarely and then only within the unreachable realm of the Crystal Ring.
Along with spectacular characters, individuals to haunt your dreams and infect your every waking day dream; Warrington supplies the most beautiful, imagery filled writing...exotic landscapes come alive, handsome features are expertly painted with words that have far reaching impact.
You'll not soon forget a Warrington vampire, vivid colours that burn into the memory and stay with you forever.
powerful supernatural tale.......2003-05-12
Five years have passed since Kristian, self proclaimed God of the vampires, allowed rebellious Karl van Wultendorf to go his own foolish way. Now he demands his subordinate return to his castle overlooking the Rhine to genuflect to his creator. Karl knows he must adhere to the summons, but remains defiant refusing to worship Kristian, as he will visit on his time not his "master's" schedule.
Karl meets with Cambridge science Professor Neville to help him study vampirism in order to eradicate Kristian. However, a distraction in terms of Neville's reticent daughter Charlotte surfaces as he and Charlotte begin to fall in love but Kristian learns of her and her family. He has a new weapon better than banishment into the cold Crystal Ring dimension for he believes he can force his disobedient rebel to kneel or watch the Neville's drained of blood one at a time with Charlotte being the ultimate pawn caught in his web.
Fans of vampire tales with a strong romantic subplot will appreciate A TASTE OF BLOOD WINE. The story line provides an exciting, but different approach to much of the mythos and that requires some worthwhile but slower pacing explanations. Kristian is quite a superego maniac, but his use of the Nevilles as cannon fodder in a chess game of life and death makes for fabulous reading especially with the dilemma confronting the hero. Charlotte is a fine protagonist especially as a hostage in the great war between two powerful supernatural creatures whose rivalry makes the species seem genuine which leads to a fine time for fans.
Harriet Klausner
Best Vampire book ever!.......2003-02-08
I had been waiting forever for this book to be in print again. I have the 2nd and 3rd book of the series (Dance in Blood Velvet and the Dark Blood of Poppies). People who have enjoyed Anne Rice novels will love this one! In my opinion, Freda Warrington is even better. The vampire world she creates is imaginative. All the myths about vampires (eg. cannot be in the sun) are gone. This is a refreshing look at the vampire world. The central characters of Karl and Charlotte are compelling. They engage the audience and you want to know more about their relationship and how it develops. "Dance in Blood Velvet" furthers their relationship and I recommend you read that one after this excellent book!
A great vampire love story.......2002-09-25
A Taste of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington
From the cover: "Karl von Wultendorf, though a vampire himself, is completely under the power of his maker, Kristian, who demands total servitude.
"Charlotte Neville is the daughter of a Cambridge professor. She has grown up questioning all that she sees and because of this, is seen as a wallflower by British society. She lives with her father and assists him with his experiments at their home.
"When Karl meets, and falls in love with, Charlotte, he realizes that he must find a way to kill Kristian, for Kristian has decided to teach Karl a lesson in power, by devouring Charlotte."
Shy, backward, but incredibly strong and stubborn Charlotte meets the man of her dreams. But there's a problem. Does Charlotte let the fact that her lover is a drinker of human blood sway her from his love? Not in this story. Charlotte never even blinks as she makes choices that lead to the deaths of family members and perhaps even the one closest to her. Karl never hesitates in making decisions that bring harm to Charlotte's family and danger to himself. These characters are absolutely uncompromising in their love for each other and for what they're willing to endure - and cause others to endure - to be together.
I'm not sure exactly what I find so unusual about this story. At the heart, it's a love story, perhaps not so unusual from what we've read in "vampire romances" before. And yet, it rises above almost every other vampire romance I've read, with its strong characters, uncompromising love story and perhaps in the brutalities committed against characters we've come to like. I do recommend it - highly. I eagerly await the sequels and hope they live up to the beginning of this original story.
Average customer rating:
- 'A Taste of Blood Wine' is a gothic Dracula with heart
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A TASTE OF BLOOD WINE
Freda Warrington
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Alternate History | Anthologies | Arthurian | Contemporary | Epic | General | Historical | History & Criticism | Magic & Wizards | Series
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
ASIN: 0330325787 |
Customer Reviews:
'A Taste of Blood Wine' is a gothic Dracula with heart.......2004-03-06
Charlotte Neville is a wallflower. Unlike her married eldest sister Fleur and her vivacious younger sister Madeline, she's a scientist, and she hates parties. When her young sister brings a man she met in London home with them to Camebridge as a houseguest, Charlotte is horrified, especially when her scientist father announces that the stranger, Karl Von Wultendorf, will be working with them in the lab. Her instinctual fear of Karl is fueled by mind-bending feverish nightmares that give her a view of the alien world he inhabits, but he is fascinated by her and pursues her against his better intentions. When Karl is revealed to the Nevilles as a vampire in a night of blood and violence, Charlotte, once his lover, now his hostage, learns more about his past than she was prepared to know, and must decide if she will give up everything to join a world that has beckoned all her life.
This is hands down the best novel I've ever read. Find it somewhere, read it, re-read it, share it with friends and neighbours and family and people you meet on the street. Well, maybe don't go quite that far. :D
Average customer rating:
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A TASTE OF BLOOD WINE
Freda Warrington
Manufacturer: Pan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Alternate History | Anthologies | Arthurian | Contemporary | Epic | General | Historical | History & Criticism | Magic & Wizards | Series
Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Adventure | Alternate History | Anthologies | General | Graphic Novels | High Tech | History & Criticism | Series | Short Stories | Space Opera
ASIN: 0330328468 |
Average customer rating:
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Through Eyes of Shiva
R. A. Hawkins
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
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ASIN: 1401063756 |
Amazon.com
There are herb gardens, and then there's the Herbfarm, both an award-winning restaurant with an award winning chef, Jerry Traunfeld, and an herb farm--literally. Over the past 14-years Traunfeld has had a farm's worth of herbs to work with in his commercial kitchen and at home. He opened the doors to his commercial kitchen with The Herbfarm Cookbook. And now he takes us home with The Herbal Kitchen. Here's a hint: It's all about heightened flavor through the creative use of herbs.
There's the humble roasted oyster, for example. Traunfeld makes a sauce of fresh sorrel, butter, shallots, cream, and lemon juice. Each oyster sits in its half shell atop a dollop of the sauce and bakes until plump. They are served topped with fine strips of fresh sorrel. Briny oyster meets tart sorrel gentled with cream and butter. Does it get any better? You bet it does. Roasted Oysters with Sorrel Sauce is but an appetizer, along with Minted Lentil and Goat Cheese Strudel, and Spicy Verbena Meatballs.
After a brief introduction to herb basics, Traunfeld moves on to appetizers and drinks (the Rosemary Gin and Tonic sounds intriguing). Chapters that follow cover soups, salads, fast suppers, meals for a crowd, intimate feasts, vegetable dishes, breads, and desserts. Consider the Shiso Crab Cocktail, or Black Olive Roast Chicken, Sides of Salmon Slow-Roasted in Dill, or Lavender-Rubbed Duck Breasts with Apricots and Sweet Onions.
These are precise, carefully thought-out and executed recipes, and they are all built around the masterful use of fresh herbs. You will want to attend to your gardening as much as your cooking with this book as inspiration. Work through The Herbal Kitchen from front to back and you will transform your relationship with herbs. The food you cook and eat will never be the same. And that's a delicious gift from one of the mighty. --Schuyler Ingle
Book Description
The secret to transforming easy dishes into extraordinary meals? Fresh herbs.In
The Herbal Kitchen, IACP award-winning cookbook author and acclaimed Herbfarm Restaurant chef
Jerry Traunfeld presents simple dishes using herbs straight from the market, windowsill, or garden.
Until recently, the fresh herbs available in supermarkets were limited to parsley and maybe dill. Today, thyme, rosemary, basil, cilantro, mint, and sage are among the many fresh herbs as close as the produce section or the farmer's market. Not to mention marjoram, lovage, tarragon, lavender, shiso, and so many others.
Jerry shows you how to incorporate these fresh herbs into your everyday home meals. So whether preparing a workday supper for the family, a special dinner for two or four, or a feast for a table of guests, using fresh herbs in your cooking will result in fresh and vibrant food.
The Herbal Kitchen includes some recipes that are home variations of the innovative dishes Jerry prepares at the Herbfarm, while others are fresh takes on familiar classics such as Herb Garden Lasagna or Shrimp in Garlic-Sage Butter. All are uncomplicated and prep time is minimal -- with the emphasis on spontaneity and the unmistakable flavors of fresh herbs.
Start off with Asparagus and Lemon Thyme Soup, Spicy Verbena Meatballs, or Rye-Thyme Cheese Straws before moving on to Cinnamon Basil Chicken, Side of Salmon Slow-Roasted in Dill, and Root Ribbons with Sage. Delectable desserts include Warm Lavender Almond Cakes, Rhubarb Mint Cobbler, and a sinful Chocolate Peppermint Tart.
Once you're hooked on cooking with fresh herbs, you'll want to grow them yourself.
The Herbal Kitchen is filled with important tips for growing, harvesting, and handling each of the herbs used in the recipes. Valuable information on the varieties of each herb is also highlighted, such as how to tell the difference between Greek oregano and Italian oregano, why you always want to choose bay laurel over California bay, and what type of lavender is best for cooking.
Filled with stunning photos of the herbs, the techniques for handling them, and the finished dishes, Jerry's definitive guide is sure to be a classic, reached for again and again.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Info on Herbs-Recipes, Cultivation, and Deliscious Photos!.......2006-11-13
This books has wonderful herb cultivation tips, as well as recipes using those freshly grown herbs! The photos are a bonus! The book, "Flavoring with Culinary Herbs: Tips, Recipes, and Cultivation" by Mary El-Baz would be a great companion to this book!
A green kitchen.......2006-04-15
If you've always cooked with herbs, but always rushed off to the grocery store to get them fresh for your recipes, now is the time to stop and pick them fresh out of your own garden or pot! This book has a lot of great detailed information about how to grow, cut and cook with herbs. There are also a lot of pictures so you're not left wondering what something, you may never have seen before, should look like. The recipes are easy and tasty, the information is simple and this book makes a great gift or center piece on any coffee table. You'll be entertaining guests with your new recipes, indoor herb pots and wonderful cookbook, while explaining it all, in no time.
One of the best cookbooks published with simple recipes!.......2006-02-23
I have a bookcase full of great cook books. This is one of the best I have ever used because the recipes are simple and so full of flavor and one is better the next. Most recipes have no more than seven or eight ingredients and the photos included really represent the final dish.
Even Better than The Herbfarm Cookbook.......2006-01-19
I have both of Traunfeld's cookbooks. I have had great success with the Herbfarm Cookbook, and did not think that there could be a better effort, but the Herbal Kitchen is even better. They are different books and I will use both, but the Herbal Kitchen includes more fabulous dishes that you can put together on a weeknight. The Herbfarm Cookbook is a much more thorough compendium of recipies and herb growing/properties information. Get them both.
Accessible and Divine!.......2005-12-02
The recipes in Jerry's new book are well-written, easy to follow, novel, and delicious. Every single recipe is worth serving to guests, yet simple enough to make for a weeknight meal. Anyone with access to fresh herbs - and who appreciates the creative spirit of cooking - should buy this book.
Book Description
The essential dog compendium; a complete and comprehensive overview of everything dog.
Customer Reviews:
SECOND ONLY TO THE DOG ATLAS.......2007-09-21
This book has everything about dogs. EVERYTHING. Breeds, how to raise a puppy, how to treat a sick dog and such as that. It even has little info boxes throughuot the whole book. It even has 101 activities you can do with your dog. It even has over 200 breeds of dog in the breed section. It even has EVERYTHING. A VERY good resource!
Everything you ought to know.......2007-07-23
I am a new dog owner, never had any experience with any dog ever. So naturally I was a tad uninformed about the subject. This book changed all that. This book is an incredible resource. It covers every conceivable thing about dogs. From A to Z. Plenty of color pictures and charts. This is a great resource. So good it's worth it's weight in gold, to me at least. I learned so much. I took the time to read the whole dang thing--iyt took a while--and I know I will return back to it in the future as I need to. This is a great reference if you know nothing about dogs. You won't be disappointed.
Very good product.......2007-05-06
The book is a good guide for dogs. This book includes must know infomations about dogs.
SO HELPFUL.......2007-04-09
If your a dog expert or a dog beginner this book is a must have! It has an answer to every dog queestion!
Excellent reference.......2007-03-24
I am a first time pet owner and find this book to be very good. Very complete reference guide for dog owners. Has detailed information covering dog types, dog health, diet, and training. The book has lots of illustrations, which are very helpful.
Book Description
Written by America's #1 consumer advocate and coin dealer Scott Travers, this price guide is completely updated for 2004 with the latest, most accurate data. It provides comprehensive facts on all U.S. coins, advice on collecting trends, and a complete listing of the fair market value of your coins today.
This is the one guide you need! Don't be overcharged when you buy, don't be shortchanged when you sell.
Average customer rating:
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Kingdom Crafts for Kids: Includes Projects for Children from Preschool to Sixth Grade : Colorful Projects With a Royal Castle Theme, Reproducible Awards and Certificates
Kim Sullivan Fiano
Manufacturer: Gospel Light Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0830721843 |
Book Description
This Third Edition of the popular 100 Designers' Favorite Rooms series gives you an insider's look into 100 of the most fabulous and lavish interiors created by 100 of the world's finest designers. Whether from the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East or other regions around the globe, these outstanding interiors will inspire you with many a splendored interior to behold. An index/contact directory is also included, making 100 Designers' Favorite Rooms your total sourcebook for locating the designer or architect of your choice as well as an invaluable encyclopedia of exciting new design ideas.
Customer Reviews:
100 Designers' Favorite Rooms.......2000-06-27
This is a great book, providing pictures of rooms that were created by designers all over the world. There is a very interesting pool, and some cool lighting and floor designers. There are some pictures of about every style from traditional to eclectic.
Average customer rating:
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Nuevo Diseno de Carteles
Russell Beastley , and
Ian Noble
Manufacturer: Editorial Gustavo Gili
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Spanish
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ASIN: 9688874094 |
Book Description
“From the outside, no matter what the gradations of my mixed heritage, the shadow of Indian brown in my skin caused others to automatically perceive me as Hindu or Muslim. . . . Still, I trekked through life with the spirit of a Jew, fleshed out by the unique challenges and wonders of a combined brown and white tradition.”
In the politics of skin color, Carmit Delman is an ambassador from a world of which few are even aware. Her mother is a direct descendant of the Bene Israel, a tiny, ancient community of Jews thriving amidst the rich cultural tableau of Western India. Her father is American, a Jewish man of Eastern European descent. They met while working the land of a nascent Israeli state. Bound by love for each other and that newborn country, they hardly took notice of the interracial aspect of their union. But their daughter, Carmit, growing up in America, was well aware of her uncommon heritage.
Burnt Bread and Chutney is a remarkable synthesis of the universal and the exotic. Carmit Delman’s memories of the sometimes painful, sometimes pleasurable, often awkward moments of her adolescence juxtapose strikingly with mythic tales of her female ancestors living in the Indian-Jewish community. As rites and traditions, smells and textures intertwine, Carmit’s unique cultural identity evolves. It is a youth spent dancing on the roofs of bomb shelters on a kibbutz in Israel—and the knowledge of a heritage marked by arranged marriages and archaic rules and roles. It is coming of age in Jewish summer camps and at KISS concerts—and the inevitable combination of old and new: ancient customs and modern attitudes, Jewish, Indian, and American.
Carmit Delman’s journey through religious traditions, family tensions, and social tribulations to a healthy sense of wholeness and self is rendered with grace and an acute sense of depth. Burnt Bread and Chutney is a rich and innovative book that opens wide a previously unseen world.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting story, so-so writing.......2005-07-03
This is a very interesting book! Talk about your culture clash and your family secrets! Like many children of mixed cultural backgrounds, Carmit found it a bit difficult to fit into either. But it was more difficult because she was a minority within a minority, a dark-skinned, South Asian who "didn't look Jewish", and an Indian whose family had a different religion and different traditions from the Hindu majority. As a child, her grandmother makes her promise that she will always return to the Bene Israel, and she does.
Her family history, too, set her apart. Her grandmother was betrothed to a man who turned out to be an alcoholic. This put an end to the engagement, but it also made her grandmother practically unmarriageable. Until her sister's husband offered to take her as his second wife. He treated her and her daughter very differently from the way he behaved towards his first wife, being abusive, forcing her to live in poverty while her sister lived in luxury. The family's condescension towards Nana-bai and her descendents continued into the author's generation.
While I wasn't terribly impressed with the author's writing style (I thought she jumped around a lot, among other things), the book is well worth reading for an understanding of the difficulties of growing up in a multi-cultural household, of being "odd girl out", as well as to learn a little bit about this small, perhaps dying, segment of Judaism. I would, in fact, have liked to have learned more about Bene Israel, its history, how its practices differ from mainstream Judaism, but I guess that would be another book!
I didn't finish and threw it out........2005-02-10
horrible, self-involved memoir, supposedly about growing up Indian Jewish American, but really about me me me. Nasty family skeleton I didn't want to know about from grandmother's generation. I didn't finish and threw it out - something I never ever do. I didn't even want to give it to the library.
Horrible read.........2003-10-01
The book itself was very unappealing to me and the text is rather bland. Overall the book was just not as well written as it could have been, sometimes contradicting and overworked. I would not recommend this book. Readers Beware.
Fantastic, intriguing novel!.......2003-02-08
This book was a wonderful read, and introduced me to the overlooked Indian Jews. Her descriptions of living in virtually a dual lifestyle were very vivid and educational to say the least. I look forward to more releases by Carmit Delman.
Beautiful Book.......2002-12-29
Burnt Bread and Chutney is at one level a biography of a girl/woman who is ethnically and culturally half Bene Israel (Indian Jewish). But it is much more than that. It is also an intimate portrayal of a woman-dominated household where a table full of spicy curry is a traditional Shabbat meal and where women tell stories while men make music. Indeed, it is through these stories as much as through a recounting of her life's many adventures that Carmit Delman explains to us, the readers, who and what she is. For in a book that is ostensibly her biography you will find tales of the generations who preceded her. Here you will find the legend of how the Bene Israel came to India; here too is the story of the Bombay mango that altered destinies; here are the stories of pogroms and miraculous escapes in Eastern Europe; here is the story of Carmit's parents who never considered their bi-racial marriage special or revolutionary; and here too is Carmit's own story. Here, amidst the tales of generations, we find the story of a girl growing up in two countries (America and Israel) and in many worlds. And somehow, all those stories blend into one tale of impossibly varied and unique hues.
Reading this tale was, for me, like listening to a Doors album. For just as it seems impossible that the blues, classical music, traditional tunes, and stories can be blended into one music and one theme, so it seems impossible that so many stories on so many levels can create one unique and varied tapestry. Yet somehow both happen... and reading Carmit Delman's work, like listening to the Doors, helped safeguard me against the wholesale automation of human beings. Against Disney and against automated call centres. For in Burnt Bread and Chutney ageless wisdom not only survives but flourishes. And in an age where our very identities have collapsed into a by-now-all-too-familiar jumble, this wisdom and a safeguard we desperately need.
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