Mi nombre es Sei Shonagon / My name is Sei Shanagon

Book Description

Above a small incense shop in modern Tokyo, a young woman who calls herself Sei Shonagon listens to men unburden themselves about their work-dominated lives. As a child, she moved to Japan from the US to live with her strict, tradition-obsessed uncle after the death of her parents. This exquisite novel tells the story of a woman's rebellion against the constraints of Japanese society, a woman who clings to the beauty of traditions and to the value of words as a means of spreading tolerance and kindness.

Description in Spanish: En la caótica ciudad de Tokio hay una habitación situada sobre una tienda de incienso en la que una misteriosa mujer escucha detrás de un biombo las palabras de cualquier desconocido que se acerque hasta ella. Y todos abandonan el lugar extrañamente reconfortados. Sólo un joven francés, apasionado por los jardines nipones, llegará a descubrir y a amar a la verdadera Sei Shonagon, una mujer de carácter independiente que se enfrenta a los designios del jefe de la familia.

Book Description

Above a small incense shop in modern Tokyo, where incense is still made slowly ground by hand, a young woman listens to men unburden themselves about their work-dominated lives. "Sei Shonagon," as she calls herself, is a young woman who, as a child moved to Japan from America to live with her strict, tradition-obsessed uncle after the death of her parents. This exquisite first novel tells the story of a woman's rebellion against the constraints of Japanese society, where the collision of twenty-first century Capitalism and a deeply traditional sexual morality conspire to keep men and women docile.

Sólo un joven francés apasionado por los jardines nipones llegará a descubrir y a amar a la verdadera Sei Shonagon, una joven que tras quedarse huérfana tuvo que trasladarse de Estados Unidos a Japón y aprender a adaptarse a la rigidez de su nueva vida.

Mi nombre es Sei Shonagon es la historia de una mujer que se aferra a la belleza de las tradiciones y al valor de la palabra como medio para propagar comprensión y humanidad.

Average customer rating:
My Name Is Sei Shonagon

Manufacturer: Overlook Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F5X6FQ

Product Description

fiction, ancient tradition & contemporary values in modern Japan

Average customer rating:

Contrast: tenth century and modern Japan
Some beautiful writing, but....
Experience the character's love of beauty.
A Story of Suspense and a Dream Rich in Ambiguities

My Name is Sei Shonagon

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0701176032

Book Description

This exquisite first novel tells the story of a woman’s rebellion against the constraints of Japanese society, where the collision of twenty-first century Capitalism and a deeply traditional sexual morality conspire to keep men and women in subservience.

Customer Reviews:

Contrast: tenth century and modern Japan.......2006-02-26

This is a well-written book, with careful evocations of place - sight and scent especially. It is enahnced by a little background browsing. Read the chapter on "Women of the Heiean..." in The World of the Shining Prince by Ivan Morris and browse a bit in his translation of The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon for a better grasp of the model for her evening chats with men friends (complete with traditional screen).

Some beautiful writing, but...........2005-07-13

The only reason I didn't give this book a one-star rating is that it starts off with some beautiful writing -- spare, lovely descriptions of beauty and Japanese traditions such as calligraphy and incense. There are also some interesting takes on Japanese society and life.

That said, the book relies too heavily on this and not enough on plot and character. I'm not a fan of totally plot-driven writing, but the conceit of this book -- that the author is in a coma, looking over her life -- is difficult to carry off even in the hands of a seasoned novelist. It's not impossible; I think of the biographical novel of Chang and Eng Bunker, the original "Siamese Twins," which starts with one of the twins waiting for his death. That, though, relays the events of their lives in a lively way, as if they are just happening, so you forget that the entire book is a flashback. In this case, though, the writing style is all reminiscent, a style that works all right for the first 40 pages but then becomes unremittingly flat. The main character never gets out of her own head, and the book never really comes alive.

Neither do most of the characters, most of whom are cardboard cutouts: distant husband (disposed of in three pages from marriage to divorce), evil uncle, saintly mother. We don't see what motivates the uncle to do what he does, even though it's pivotal to the book; and even though the character suddenly has enough spine to stand up to her uncle and husband, we don't see where it came from in her life.

And the ending! It's such a quickie, tacked-on ending that it almost makes me think the author had a page limit and had to end the book within that. She badly needed a discerning editor, or good reader, one who wasn't overly charmed by her (often) well-done descriptions of Japan into mistaking them for successful fiction.

As a long-term resident of Japan, I also became irritated by the book's tedious focus on depicting modern Japanese life, often heavy-handed and frequently cliche. It was nearly possible to check off every modern cliche about Japan, especially towards the end: Hello Kitty, train suicides, gropers. The author was using these images to substitute for those essential building blocks of a real novel: plot, character development, resolution.

Some very beautiful writing here, almost painfully lovely. If the author could match them up with a bit more action and more complex characters, she'd probably have a best-seller.

Experience the character's love of beauty........2004-10-02

This is a novel about a woman in modern Japan. In an ingenious plot device, the woman, as a favor to a friend, converses with the friend's depressed and shy father, using a screen to separate them visually, kind of like a psychiatrist's couch. This turns into something of a career, but also echoes the writings of a famous medieval Japanese woman author, at a time when noblewomen led secluded lives. The love of beauty unites the two women, and is an important element in both historic periods, however unsatisfactory other aspects of the periods are. Now Blensdorf had lived in Japan only 2 years when she wrote this book, and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of some of her commentaries on modern Japanese life; certainly, she isn't very artful or subtle in conveying them. Nor is Sei Shonagon's general plot line very artful or subtle. What Blensdorf does remarkably well is to make the reader experience the woman's love of beauty, and its powers of sustenance.

A Story of Suspense and a Dream Rich in Ambiguities.......2004-02-27

Many have written of the otherness of Japan, about its history and culture but few have managed to get inside its soul in the way Jan Blensdorf has done. My Name is Sei Shonagon is no mere travel book.

The story itself is set in contemporary Tokyo and emerges via a series of intriguing memories and flashbacks recounted by a near-comatose woman known as Sei Shonagon. Even as the tale gets beneath the skin of the modern city, it is revealing the contrasting threads of beauty and violence that run through the whole of Japanese history. Whether one knows much about Japanese life or not, this book floods the mind with colours, sounds, odours and images of the daily theatre that is Japanese life. You emerge from reading as if from a dream rich with ambiguities.

Jan Blensdorf spent two years in Japan and inevitably her direct experience must have been as a foreigner, an expat, but she has said in interviews that gradually she came to internalise many of the Japanese attitudes, customs and forms of daily life. For me that is also what makes the character of Sei so fascinating - that she is somehow suspended between two cultures: she has the inside knowledge available to a Japanese together with the detachment of a critic. Her struggle for personal survival - in many senses - is only one part of a complex tale that deftly interweaves the lives of various people Sei comes to know at a level of extraordinary intimacy.

My Name is Sei Shonagon is a multi-layered experience - a story of suspense, a celebration of beauty and, above all, a meditation on the search for personal identity.

Average customer rating:

An exctiing adventure to a land of magic

what is wrong with you people?

Excellent.

Dickson brings new life to Jim Eckert's continuing Adventure

Rather disappointing after his other books.
The Dragon & the Gnarly King
Gordon R. Dickson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Dickson, Gordon R. | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Dragon and the Djinn

The Dragon in Lyonesse

The Dragon, The Earl, and the Troll

The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent (Dragon)

The Dragon at War

ASIN: 0812562704

Customer Reviews:

An exctiing adventure to a land of magic.......2000-09-09

This book deffinatly gets you back on pace from the dragon and the Djinn. This time suspense fills your mind as you try to guess what this small creature is that Hob befriends. The land of Lyonesse is very exciting to read about and grabs your attention from the very beginning. This time Jim has to deal with another magic that may or may not be more powerful than those of the land above. Also interweeved into this book is an old foe than must be dealt with once again. Another exciting book to read and love from Dickson. As an interesting side note I would have rated this a 4.5 star book but that isn't possible to do. This is another must read book.

what is wrong with you people?.......2000-07-02

I really do not get you reviewers who are short changing this book by far. Dickson's Dragon Knight series is one of the best set of books out there! In this book I admire his development of the character of Hill, who changes from an anonymous play-thing of the Sea Devil, to one of the most key characters of the book. Also, I like the fact that in this book, Jim learns that his Master in Magick, Carolinus, is not invincible, and that he can be caught in a magickal situation that he is helpless to get out of.

I would definitly reccomend this book to all of my friends. In fact, I already have.

If you are a Fantasy reader, and you HAVE NOT READ Gordon R. Dickson's Dragon Knight series, you'd better get cracking! There are already nine amazing books in this series.

Excellent........1999-04-29

I have just reread this book for the third time, and still found it enjoyable. It is a light, easily read book. It does have slight connection to a previous book but this does not detract from its readability or enjoyability. Anyone wishing to have a light, humorous read, and can cope with fantasy, should not go past this excellent series.

I found this series on par with Christopher Stasheff's 'wizard in rhyme' series.

Dickson brings new life to Jim Eckert's continuing Adventure.......1999-01-17

In "The Dragon and the Gnarly King" Gordon Dickson explores a new fantasy world. Jim Eckert, the Dragon Knight is forced to pursue his enemies into a mystical realm. This book will create a word in your mind than continues after you've stopped reading. You'll forgot you're reading and begin to live it.

Rather disappointing after his other books........1998-09-22

Unfortunately, not up to the standard I've come to expect from Mr. Dickson. He left the issue unresolved. Too many loose ends that need tying up. If it is to be a lead-in to the next story, fine, but give some hint that it is to be continued. Otherwise it makes people hesitant to buy the next book.

Also, Jim Eckert is displaying a dismayingly fragile ego in the last two books. He didn't have such a tendency towards 'fear of being found out to be a fraud' in the earlier stories. After all, he is doing quite well for someone suffering from severe culture shock (which should be wearing off after this many years [hint, hint]).

Average customer rating:
THE DRAGON & THE GNARLY KING
Gordon R. Dickson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTWGHC

Average customer rating:
DRAGON KNIGHT: The Dragon and the George; The Dragon Knight; The Dragon on the Border; The Dragon at War; The Dragon the Earl and the Troll; The Dragon and the Djinn; The Dragon and the Gnarly King; The Dragon in Lyonesse; The Dragon and the Fair Maid
Gordon R. Dickson
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books; Ace Books; Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NRX74G

Book Description

Earthlight and Other Stories is the second chronological volume in the collected stories, to which Fantastic Audio has acquired exclusive audio rights. In addition to the title story, included in this volume are "Nemesis," "Time's Arrow," "The Road to the Sea," "The Sentinel," "Holiday On the Moon," and the first of the White Hart stories "Silence Please."

Average customer rating:

Not User Friendly

I love this book!

Great Bread Book!

The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

Excellent book

The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook
Beth Hensperger
Manufacturer: Harvard Common Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Bread | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Special Appliances | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine

Biggest Book of Bread Machine Recipes (Better Homes & Gardens)

Betty Crocker's Best Bread Machine Cookbook: The Goodness of Homemade Bread the Easy Way

Bread Machine Magic, Revised Edition: 138 Exciting Recipes Created Especially for Use in All Types of Bread Machines

Progressive International Clearly Fresh Bread Keeper

ASIN: 155832156X

Book Description

A master baker's 300 favorite recipes.

Customer Reviews:

Not User Friendly.......2007-10-02

This is a huge recipe book filled with hundreds of bread recipes for every type of bread you can think of and a whole lot that you never knew existed. I have tried several of the recipes and they have all turned-out reasonably well.

Many of the recipes in the book require a great deal of manual intervention and shaping, so sure you can make croissant dough in your automatic bread machine--if you transfer the dough in and out of the machine several times, coat butter bits with flour and freeze them, roll out the dough and shape it--but should you? There are also a lot of quick-bread recipes that are often easier to just mix and bake traditionally. In the end, it seems like 75% of the recipes are either so manually intensive that your automatic bread machine is essentially just a nice place to let dough rise or they are so simple without using a bread machine that the machine is just an unnecessary step.

While there is no shortage of recipes in the book, there is a shortage of a few other things: the cheap paperback binding won't lay flat, there is not a single picture in the book; and, most serious, the index is horrible and simply a listing of the recipe names. This is a huge problem in a nearly 700-page recipe book. You cannot find recipes by main ingredients: for instance "Orange Bread with White Chocolate, Apricots, and Walnuts" is listed in the index under "orange" but it is not listed under "white," "chocolate," "apricots," or "walnuts."

If this book were limited to only recipes that are both reasonable to make in an "automatic" bread machine and that benefit in some way from doing so; and also contained a usable index and maybe a few pictures, I would give it a much higher rating.

I love this book!.......2007-09-30

I'm a newbie to bread making via machine and this book is a God-send. The author goes into detail as to the "why" you need to measure accurately, how your machine does what it does, different types of flours, and general trouble shooting for breadmaking. Yes...great recipies too, but what I really appreciate is understanding HOW great bread is created and finding the secret tips to doing fantastic bread baking. She also includes recipes for things like pasta making (on the dough setting) and other fun things to try. Highly recommended! It's the bible of bread making!

Great Bread Book!.......2007-08-01

Great book, I have tried several recipies..they were all great in my new bread machine! I loved the parker house rolls! Awesome book.

The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook.......2007-07-23

The book was a birthday gift for my sister who just retired and uses her bread machine all the time. She absolutely loved the book and has used it many times already. The illustrations were great and the directions very easy to follow. We've all benefited from this cookbook with lots of delicious breads.

Excellent book.......2007-06-18

My husband and I have used breadmachines for years. But this book is wonderful. It explains everything there is to know about grains, baking and bread machines. And the recipes are excellent! They really do work. I've tried recipes in other books that just don't seem to work properly, but this book is different.

The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook - A Master Baker's 300 Favorite Recipes For Perect-every-time Bread - From Every...

Average customer rating:

The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook - A Master Baker's 300 Favorite Recipes For Perect-every-time Bread - From Every...
Beth Hensperger
Manufacturer: Harvard Common Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TW2ITU

Average customer rating:

Book Description

Cows and horses, donkeys and mules, sheep and goats, pigs and fowl, even llamas are living on small farms and in backyard barnyards throughout the United States. But how and where are these critters being housed?

Author Carol Ekarius knows. In How to Build Animal Housing, she provides dozens of plans--with illustrated, step-by-step instructions--for species-specific shelters that are well ventilated, safe, appropriate for the animals, appealing, convenient, and a solid value for their owners.

The book is essential reading for anyone interested in animal health and welfare. It includes complete plans and step-by-step, illustrated instructions for sheds, coops, hutches, multipurpose barns, and economical easy-to-build windbreaks and shade structures. Ekarius covers new high-tech, portable structures made of plastics and fabrics, such as hoop houses and hen spas, as well as more traditional alternatives, such as straw-bale structures. Always practical, she enumerates the advantages and disadvantages of ready-to-build kits and modular barnyard buildings and includes designs for watering systems, feeders, chutes, stanchions, and more--the essentials that help owners keep their animals healthy and happy.

Ekarius wisely emphasizes the importance of careful planning, choosing an appropriate housing site, and complying with local zoning regulations; pest control, basic housing maintenance, and insurance costs are also discussed. Real-world advice from farmers and veterinarians on the types of housing and facilities animals like best enliven the text throughout.

How to Build Animal Housing is the most comprehensive and useful guide of its kind. For small-scale farmers, hobby farmers, do-it-yourselfers, and animal lovers, this book is indispensable.

Customer Reviews:

Love this book!.......2007-09-09

This book is absolutely fantastic for those who are just starting out. There are plans and pictures for every style and taste you may be searching for. It's easy to read...with great graphics.

handy.......2007-08-10

As a hobby, I enjoy capturing wild animals and putting them in cages. But I am fairly new to this hobby, so I do not own a lot of cages. This book has helped me learn how to build my own animal cages.

As a child, I enjoyed going to the zoo. But something was always missing in the zoo experience. Now that I am an adult, and capturing my own wild animals, I feel more fulfilled.

When I see an animal in a cage, it makes me feel important and powerful, especially if I'm the one who captured the animal.

Important details left out........2007-08-08

This is a great book for ideas. It falls very short on important details.

This book is about building animal shelters, but none of these plans
have a listing of the parts needed. This is doubly important because
these are complicated plans. I would like to build the rabbit house,
but now I am having to approximate what I need. The author needs to
remember that someone wanting to use this book might live 20 miles away
from the hardware store.

A little bit of everything, not enough details on any specific group of live-stock.......2007-07-24

I was looking for a book on how to build satisfactory chicken and duck housing. This book has a couple of plans for chicken coops, but not enough to buy the book. Why did I give it four stars then? Because the book is designed to give you building plans for various types of live-stock (pigs, hourses, cows, chickens, goats, rabbits, and others). The book does give you 60 plans like it says it does, but there is never more than 2 and at the most three on any specific animal.

This book does have a lot of good information in it beyond the housing plans. It has minimal spacing for your animals, safety and health of your animals, plus it has lots of good pieces of advice throughout the book that has been picked up over 30 plus years. If your like me and are looking to build housing for a specific type of live stock then this is probably not the best book for you (for chickens I would suggest "Poultry House Construction" by Michael Roberts). However, if your looking to build housing for various breeds of live-stock then this book would be a wise purchase. However, a materials list would have been nice (not enough books give them).

A little disappointing.......2007-07-16

I was a bit disappointed to find the plans in this book are USDA plans from the 1970s and were not in my view very creative or innovating or interesting. The rabbit house was just a shed of small cages, aimed at someone raising rabbits for food, I suppose, and not in any way pleasant for the rabbits.

Customer Reviews:

Lovely Photographs, Little Detail.......2000-03-26

Reference books on doll collecting are a must for the serious collector! However, most of us collect on a budget and want to spend our dollars wisely on dolls as well as on our reference books. I was not pleased with Patricia Smith's book on Alexander dolls. While her book includes a wide array of pictures, I found it not at all helpful in identifying my dolls. Ms. Smith gives brief, often incomplete descriptions of the dolls photographed. These are included under each picture. She fails to give detailed information on the dolls, and the photos are usually not close-ups. I, like most collectors, use these books to identify dolls, or untagged costumes, and this book is not much help in that area. It would be a nice addition to a collection, if you just like to look at pictures, or if you collect only Alexander dolls and are looking for that particular doll's photo in print. She may be in this book! However, this book is not a comprehensive book on Alexander dolls and leaves the collector on a quest for detailed information wanting to know more about the lovely dolls in the pictures.

Book Description

Colorful collection includes 12 Mesozoic monsters in natural habitats: Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Spinosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and 8 more.

Book Description

This volume deals with the Dominicans at Oxford University from 1300-1350. It describes the history of the Oxford friary, who the friars were, who were there, how they were chosen and the intellectual life they created. It develops the idea of the friary as a "conversational community." The theology of four friars is dealt with in depth: Hugh of Lawton, Arnold of Strelley, William Crathorn and Robert Holcot, relying often on unedited manuscript sources. The focus is on their response to the modal theory of Duns Scotus and Ockham. Discussions of necessity, contingency, divine foreknowledge, a deceiver God, invincible ignorance, and God's absolute power, are highly ingenious. Several develop an "obligational theology" based on the technique of obligational debate.

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