Vendetta: An Aurelio Zen Mystery

Book Description

In Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen, Michael Dibdin has given the mystery one of its most complex and compelling protagonists: a man wearily trying to enforce the law in a society where the law is constantly being bent. In this, the first novel he appears in, Zen himself has been assigned to do some law bending. Officials in a high government ministry want him to finger someone--anyone--for the murder of an eccentric billionaire, whose corrupt dealings enriched some of the most exalted figures in Italian politics.

But Oscar Burolo's murder would seem to be not just unsolvable but impossible. The magnate was killed on a heavily fortified Sardinian estate, where every room was monitored by video cameras. Those cameras captured Burolo's grisly death, but not the face of his killer. And that same killer, elusive, implacable, and deranged, may now be stalking Zen. Inexorable in its suspense, superbly atmospheric, Vendetta is further proof of Dibdin's mastery of the crime novel.

Customer Reviews:

Vendetta.......2007-01-09

A very gripping, somewhat dark, mystery. Thankfully, Aurelio Zen has a cat's nine lives. It's a very atmospheric novel, and I plan to read all the Michael Dibdin books I can get my hands on.

Aurelio Zen in top shape.......2004-09-24

Vice-Questore Aurelio Zen, officer of the Criminalpol section of the Ministry of Interior in Rome, is entrusted with a video cassette connected to the sensational "Burolo Affair" about which Zen has to write a report summarising the case to date. Since Oscar Burolo had a mania of recording the highpoints of his life, the video tape shows a dinner party at his extravagant villa in Sardinia, when suddenly Oscar and his party reel away from shotgun blasts apparently coming from nowhere, the murderer having passed through the elaborate electronic defences of the property as if they didn't exist.
But when, sometime later, a pickpocket manages to steal the video cassette while Zen is boarding a bus and when Zen is summoned to the Palazzo Sisti and asked by "l'onorevole" to go to Sardinia and fake some evidence in order to withdraw the charges against the main suspect Renato Favelloni, the inspector is about to start one of the most dangerous investigation in his career.
Very good action-packed thriller with breathtaking scenes in Sardinia and an Aurelio Zen in full swing!
Michael Tudor Barnes delivers a stunning performance reading "Vendetta".

Middle book of 'trilogy'.......2004-06-08

The first three books of the Aurelio Zen series (of which this is the second) read as a trilogy.

Whilst enjoyable, and as engaging as its predecessor, Ratking, and successor, Cabal, I thought there were some MINOR plotting weaknesses (eg a luxury car whose steering didn't lock when being driven without the engine running).

The Sardinian setting was well-evoked.

I do recommend reading the Zen series in order, especially the first three, where character development builds.

Zen Further Explores the Oxymoron of Law Enforcement.......2002-10-31

In this second installment of Michael Dibdin's Aurelio Zen series, we re-encounter the Weltshmerz detective as he wades through an onion skin layering of vendettas that almost cost him his life. Firstly, we glimpse the case of the brutal murder of Oscar Burolo and his guests in his supposed-fortress-like luxury complex on the Italian island of Sardinia. Then, we are again made painfully aware of the infernally clogged(but precisely groomed and clothed) machinery of the Italian bureaucracy with its syncophants, favor mongers, payoffs, good old boy's club and nefarious double dealings with the less-than-desirable underworld. We realize that wealthy and powerful higher-ups in the Italian Ministry have a vendetta of their own---they hotly desire Burolo's murder avenged as Burolo's corrupt dealings lined their purses with the an ever-pleasant flow of cash. Dissatisfied with the currently held murder suspect,and pleased with little-known Zen's written conclusion that exonerates the said suspect, the Italian Ministry moves Zen to Sardinia to drum up a case against ANYONE who will fit the scapegoat bill. Before he leaves, Zen encounters yet another vendetta, one that may be directed solely at himself. Perturbed, but not scathed, Zen ferries off to the island in what he thinks is a sufficient undercover disguise. When he bungles his dealings with police-shy locals,he finds himself stalked by a killer who serendipidiously aids him in discovering the real murderer as he runs for his life over Sardinia's bleak interior. The luck that held for him in "Ratking" sticks with him during this foray; he returns to Rome in disheveled glory.
As in the first Zen mystery, the actual crime and its solution act as a compelling backdrop and springboard to Zen's real problems. In this case, his mother, his love life and his inability to fare well in the midst of the male society of the Criminalpol provide ample insight to an already enjoyable character of immense depth. The settings of Rome and Sardinia add glamour to the well-heeled image-conscious Italian populace which Dibdin allows us to view through Zen's accomplished and somewhat jaded eyes as he further immerses himself within the complex inner workings of Italian law enforcement.
Even thoughI read 'Cabal' and 'Dead Lagoon' before reading 'Ratking' and 'Vendetta', I would recommend reading the books in sequence so that the entire panorama of Zen's difficult life is laid out in front of you as it is intended. Zen's motivation become more understandable. When reading the books out of sequence,the reader has little information about Zen on which to fall back on and there is nothing but the mystery itself to fully engage the reader. Get the whole experience and start from number 1.

If you lament there will be no more.......2000-08-09

No Author will ever replace Mario Puzo; his body of work featuring the Corleone Family is a literary, as well as a cinematic classic. For those readers in search of material that is as excellent in its own way, and takes place entirely in Italy, Michael Dibdin's "Aurelio Zen" series will take its own place in the genre Mr. Puzo introduced to so many readers years ago.

"Vendetta" is the second book in this series and the setting is Sardinia. A dinner party is interrupted when someone with a shotgun appears, and abruptly ends the evening's festivities. A man who said, "If anyone gets in, I will believe in ghosts", designed the security system. No ghost handles a shotgun, and after Italy's equivalent of SWAT Teams can find no way in, the enigma is set.

I have commented at length on why I find Mr. Dibdin to be such a talented writer when I reviewed his newest book "Blood Rain" and his first book "Ratking". I will not be totally repetitive, but I will note that one of the keys to enjoying this Author's work is his ability to sustain your interest with a variety of possible outcomes to the very end. His stories are constructed like a maze, and as Sardinia is a maze both above and below ground, the setting is perfect.

A very, very good series!

Vendetta - An Aurelio Zen Mystery
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Vendetta - An Aurelio Zen Mystery
Michael Dibdin
Manufacturer: Vintage Books / Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K048WQ

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
Average customer rating:

In the night garden

fairytale/ fantasy

Lush and layered

First class work

I have not been able to put this book down.
The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
Catherynne Valente
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Epic | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Saffron And Brimstone: Strange Stories

The Grass-Cutting Sword

The Lies of Locke Lamora

Un Lun Dun

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories

ASIN: 0553384031
Release Date: 2006-10-31

Book Description

A Book of Wonders for Grown-Up Readers

Every once in a great while a book comes along that reminds us of the magic spell that stories can
cast over us–to dazzle, entertain, and enlighten. Welcome to the Arabian Nights for our time–a lush and fantastical epic guaranteed to spirit you away from the very first page….

Secreted away in a garden, a lonely girl spins stories to warm a curious prince: peculiar feats and unspeakable fates that loop through each other and back again to meet in the tapestry of her voice. Inked on her eyelids, each twisting, tattooed tale is a piece in the puzzle of the girl’s own hidden history. And what tales she tells! Tales of shape-shifting witches and wild horsewomen, heron kings and beast princesses, snake gods, dog monks, and living stars–each story more strange and fantastic than the one that came before. From ill-tempered “mermaid” to fastidious Beast, nothing is ever quite what it seems in these ever-shifting tales–even, and especially, their teller. Adorned with illustrations by the legendary Michael Kaluta, Valente’s enchanting lyrical fantasy offers a breathtaking reinvention of the untold myths and dark fairy tales that shape our dreams. And just when you think you’ve come to the end, you realize the adventure has only begun….

Customer Reviews:

In the night garden.......2007-05-29

The orphan of the title reads from tales tattooed on her eyelids, and her strange appearance makes her an outcast from the sultan's palace. So she hides in the palace gardens, foraging for food, and deciphering the tales on her eyelids, until one day a boy from the palace approaches her and asks her to tell him one of her tales.

The tales she tells are labyrinthine, a series of interlocking stories within stories, as each new character encountered must tell their own tale, in their own words.

Through these tales, we find the threads which weave together to form something much greater, a world which contains a cosmology of a mare that fills the sky and stars who wander the earth; the tale of a necromancer who seeks out witches and magical creatures to steal their powers and to increase his own, and the tales of wronged women, who seek restitution and revenge. But, most of all, there are the tales of monsters who are far from monstrous, who are outcasts, yet who band together bothy out of need and out of a sense of camaraderie.

And throughout all these tales, there is the the act of telling, and the different voices of each story tell. But there is also, in the night garden, the tale of a girl with inked eyelids, and her growing friendship with the boy who is enthralled by the stories which she can tell.

This is a fabulous novel, in all senses of the word 'fabulous'. It draws me in and would not let me go until I have read through to the end. At which point I wanted more, but I must wait for the the second and final installment, which will not be available until late October. I am counting the days.

fairytale/ fantasy.......2007-03-14

I agree with the reviewer who found the first 50 pages of the book irritating. There is so much description and over-the-top sensuality that you start to wonder if you are going to be reading a romance novel instead of a fairytale/fantasy novel. Keep reading. It is more than worth your while. The author has created an unforgettable world which, while recognizable to lovers of myth and fairy tale, manages to be intriguingly different--at times tragic, at times hilarious. The author shows you the same story lines from different angles. Characters appear in the threads of other characters where you least expect them. The book is intricate and colorful and extremely sensual. If you enjoy Susanna Clark, Neil Gaiman's novels, George R.R.Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, and Jane Yolen's fairy tales, there is a good chance you will like this book as well. That is not to say that this author's style resembles any of these authors, rather that the subject matter and story-telling skill is similar.

Lush and layered.......2007-03-06

Stories within stories within stories... this book is to be savored like fine chocolate. Reminiscent of Arabian Nights, these tales swept me away into the world created by the author. If you love dark fairy tales, this book is for you! Definitely not a children's book, but it reminded me of the books I loved growing up, like the colored fairy books and the original Grimm's fairy tales. Very much recommended, and there is another book on the way!

First class work.......2007-03-06

I should start with a confession: I didn't buy this book from Amazon. My local Barnes & Noble has a guy who shelves the genre sections. He won my heart by trying to hand-sell me my own book, and ever since then, I read whatever her recommends.

He recommended this one.

Damn, but he was right.

The Orphan's Tales is beautifully written and structurally brilliant. Unlike the 1001 Arabian Nights (to which it will, I think, always be compared), the different stories and layers of stories interpenetrate, so instead of just pushing and popping from one level to the next, Valente makes a community of narratives where the details of one illuminate the action of another. It's always new, and it's always engrossing. Seeing the pieces of the larger narrative fit together is the best proof that we are in the hands of someone who knows what she's doing.

If there's any justice, this book and its companion will be winning awards.

I have not been able to put this book down........2007-02-07

Tales within tales within tales. Poetry and prose and magical language weaving spells through my mind.

I've loved reading the stories of this book, but what I really want is to hear them read aloud to me. If "In the Night Garden" gets released as a CD.. I will be first in line to buy it.

If you are a fan of fantasy or fantastic fiction, you NEED to own and read this book.

Average customer rating:

The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden
Catherynne Valente
Manufacturer: Spectra
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O50WVS

Amazon.com

"I fell for the great American dream, female version, hook, line, and sinker," Marya Hornbacher writes. "I, as many young women do, honest-to-God believed that once I Just Lost a Few Pounds, suddenly I would be a New You, I would have Ken-doll men chasing my thin legs down with bouquets of flowers on the street, I would become rich and famous and glamorous and lose my freckles and become blond and five foot ten." Hornbacher describes in shocking detail her lifelong quest to starve herself to death, to force her short, athletic body to fade away. She remembers telling a friend, at age 4, that she was on a diet. Her bizarre tale includes not only the usual puking and starving, but also being confined to mental hospitals and growing fur (a phenomenon called lanugo, which nature imposes to keep a body from freezing to death during periods of famine).

Book Description

Why would a talented young woman enter into a torrid affair with hunger, drugs, sex, and death? Through five lengthy hospital stays, endless therapy, and the loss of family, friends, jobs, and all sense of what it means to be "normal," Marya Hornbacher lovingly embraced her anorexia and bulimia -- until a particularly horrifying bout with the disease in college put the romance of wasting away to rest forever. A vivid, honest, and emotionally wrenching memoir, Wasted is the story of one woman's travels to reality's darker side -- and her decision to find her way back on her own terms.

Download Description

Why would a talented young girl go through the looking glass and step into a netherworld where up is down and food is greed, where death is honor and flesh is weak? Why enter into a love affair with hunger, drugs, sex, and death? Marya Hornbacher sustains both anorexia and bulimia through five lengthy hospitalizations, endless therapy, and the loss of family, friends, jobs, and ultimately, any sense of what it means to be "normal." By the time she is in college, Hornbacher is in the grip of a bout with anorexia so horrifying that it will forever put to rest the romance of wasting away. In this vivid, emotionally wrenching memoir, she re-created the experience and illuminated that tangle of personal, family, and cultural causes underlying eating disorders. Wasted is the story of one woman's travels to the darker side of reality, and her decision to find her way back--on her own terms.

Customer Reviews:

hummm I see.......2007-10-09

Well I've made it half way threw. I found it was really hard to get into this book. However one I started reading it was a little better. I find the way she writes to be a little all over the pace at some parts. It's so far an okay book we'll see once I'm done.

Ok Book.......2007-10-04

This book was a good read, but I would not call it a page-turner. I brought this one to Book Club with around 10 moms and we all said the same thing.

Very unhealthy reading for anyone with an eating disorder.......2007-08-31

This book has become the "Bible" for many of those with eating disorders. Many share in groups and on eating disorder websites how they use this book as to motivation get sicker or to stay ill. It is full of tips on not only how to engage in ED behaviors but also how to hide that behavior from not only loved ones but professionals trying to help. The fact that she was not recovered when she wrote this book means it was written from a very unhealthy perspective.

My personal opinion is that this book was an ode to her eating disorder and was written at a point where she was still very mentally ill and still very much in love with her eating disorder. Like many, I read this book when I was very ill, and while I did not learn any new "tricks" from it I devoured every word because it fed my mental illness.

Having re-evaluated it as someone fully recovered from an ed I honestly believe that this book serves no other purpose other than to brag about how "sick" and non-compliant she was, very much the MO of anyone who is still very mentally ill and in the depths of an eating disorder.

I also think that if we could be a fly on the wall (an emotionally healthy fly on the wall) that most would feel that her perception of the truth and what was reality are not exact matches. When someone is so entrenched in their illness it is easy to perceive anyone who tries to pull them out of it as abusive in one form or another. I believe had she written this book in a healthier state of mind her view and understanding of certain events and conversations would probably be very different.

Honestly, this is a book I wish would disappear. I have never known a professional or anyone who was fully recovered who would recommend this book to anyone.

Love it.......2007-08-31

I love the way this book was written. I never get bored of reading it over and over again.

Ick - Zero Stars Would be More Appropriate.......2007-08-29

This book is poorly written and rather boring. The author is very self-absobed and somewhat pathetic. I think all she really wanted to emphasis just "how bad off" she was/is. Was she looking for sympathy? I just wanted to shout "grow up and get over yourself" while I was reading this. The footnotes made the book appear to be a poorly-written thesis (I don't think she went to college - too worried about her weight.) She also contradicts herself. She claims that she's a feminist yet all she really wanted was to be the thinnest. Thinness was the only important thing to this person. It probably still is, or she wouldn't have written her memoir. She seems to want to immortalize it.

Wasted : A Memoir of Anorexia And Bulimia

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Wasted : A Memoir of Anorexia And Bulimia
Marya Hornbacher
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OES5IQ

Average customer rating:

Wasted : A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
Marya Hornbacher
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF25VI

WASTED : A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia [ 1st ]

Average customer rating:

WASTED : A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia [ 1st ]
Marya Hornbacher
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0060994495

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Wasted
Marya Hornbacher
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Japanese | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Nonfiction | Japanese | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All Japanese Books | Japanese | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: B000O5M9MS

Product Description

A serious look at Eating disorders in teenagers and women.

Delightful Brazilian Cooking
Average customer rating:

Disappointing

Brazilian Cooking

Very good, easy to follow cookbook!

Best easy Brazilian cookbook

if you like brazilian food...

Delightful Brazilian Cooking
Eng Tie Ang
Manufacturer: Ambrosia Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Latin American | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Cooking the Brazilian Way (Easy Menu Ethnic Cookbooks)

Brazil: A Culinary Journey (Hippocrene Cookbook Library)

Brazil: A Cook's Tour Brazil: A Cook's Tour

Eat Smart in Brazil: How to Decipher the Menu, Know the Market Foods & Embark on a Tasting Adventure (Eat Smart in Brazil)

South American Food & Cooking: Ingredients, techniques and signature recipes from the undiscovered traditional cuisines of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, ... Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela.

ASIN: 0962781029

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing.......2007-05-29

I ate in a Brazilian restaurant and liked it, so I bought this book. But it does not have the good stuff they served like plantains.

Brazilian Cooking.......2006-03-14

While I am no expert on Brazilian cooking, I found this book to be easy to use and understand. I am currently hosting a Brazilian exchange student in my home, and she pointed out some of the recipes found in here to be ones that were commonly used in her city. It is probably a very basic book for Brazilian cooking, but it really is a nice guide to add some culture into your cooking.

Very good, easy to follow cookbook!.......2006-03-08

I really enjoy this book. It's easy to follow the recipes, and as a person who lived in Brasil, I can attest that they are very good! :)
If you want to try some excellent cuisine, buy this book and cook a few things--you'll enjoy them!

Best easy Brazilian cookbook.......2001-09-29

My husband and I lived in Brazil and Portugal. The recipes are authentic and easy to follow. I make the beef kebobs with onion and pepper and the brazilian black beans whenever I have a party. Everyone loves them. The flavors are different and the recipes are in general fairly healthy.

if you like brazilian food..........2000-09-22

Great book, easy instructions to follow!

Average customer rating:

Delightful Brazilian Cooking -
Eng Tie Ang -
Manufacturer: Ambrosia Publishing -
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QS6NCU

Book Description

"This admirable little puppy helps us to see past our busy daily lives and to focus on what's enduring and important. Guiding Eyes for the Blind enthusiastically recommends this work…" — Richard Abbott, Vice President Guiding Eyes for the Blind

Customer Reviews:

Moving Story about Guide Dog Puppy in Training.......2007-01-10

Moving story about a puppy in training to be a guide dog. Wonderfully moving text and absolutely beautiful pictures. As a puppy raiser for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, I truly appreciate the beauty and accuracy of this story which follows a puppy from the arrival at the puppy raiser's home until graduation as a working part of a guide dog team. A true classic that is appropriate for all ages, this book tells lovingly about the joys, laughter, love and pain of raising a puppy that will some day give another the gift of independence and mobility.

From one working dog to another.......2006-06-12

As the author of "Coco the Love Dog" and a pet therapy partner, we have read Through Otis' Eyes many times while reading with children as part of the "Reading to Dogs program. A wonderful, endearing, uplifting book!

Sue Grundfest, author, "Coco the Love Dog"

Must read for any service dog puppy raisers.......2003-10-11

I am a puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence and love this book. Any puppy raiser can relate even if you don't raise pups just for the blind (like me).

A great gift as well.

Fantastic book!.......2003-03-02

This is a wonderful book! I read it frequently -- whenever I want to remember what is REALLY important. Of course, my face is wet with tears by the time I'm done, but they are tears of gratitude. Read this book when you need to remind yourself that what matters in life is not fame or fortune, but love. Once again, animals show us how it is done.

Through Otis' Eyes.......2003-01-01

I love this book!!! It is not only an inspiration for puppy raisers, but also a look at life in general. Everyone should read it. I am a puppy raiser in FL and raised a puppy who looks just like Otis - what a bonus for me.

Why is this book out of print? It is so magnificent!!!...

Customer Reviews:

Recommended by Debby DuBay Author of Antique Limoges.......2004-02-16

I found this book after I went to a appraisal in Dallas Texas where author Debby DuBay was speaking on antique Limoges porcelain. I purchased DuBay's book Antique Limoges at Home and then purchased American Limoges by Ms. Limoges to help me with my American Limoges pottery. I found out by reading these reference books every thing I needed to know about my grandmothers "Limoges" Thank you to two wonderful authors who have published two very useful and valuable reference guides on the subject.

Recommend American Limoges and Antique Limoges at Home.......2003-01-27

I found American Limoges after reading Debby Dubay's "Antique Limoges at Home". If you want to know the difference between antique Limoges and American Limoges I highly recommend Antique Limoges at Home! For more info on American Limoges recommend this book.

Good basic reference on American Limoges.......2001-05-30

Full-color photos on every page and current price values for each item are the pluses in this book. Many items are not actually identified, however, and names given to the pieces have been coined by the author. Even so, this one serves as a handy reference and guide to those wishing more information on American Limoges, the history and major pieces. I wish there'd been more examples of Viktor Schreckengost's connection to the company and designs made by him for American Limoges but that is a personal preference.

A necessary tool for the collector of American Limoges china.......1998-07-08

Do not purchase any Limoges China, (american) without this book. It is a priceless resource to be carried with you as you explore antique shops. I wish that I had it with me before I gave away my American Limoges China, thinking that it was worthless. Raymonde Limoges has done a great job in assembling this book.

The Cross Stitch Kit: 25 Elegant and Easy-To-Make Projects for Every Room in the House : Includes : A Complete Starter Kit With Cross-Stitch Fabric, Embroidery Needle, and
Average customer rating:

A wonderful book for beginners!

The Cross Stitch Kit: 25 Elegant and Easy-To-Make Projects for Every Room in the House : Includes : A Complete Starter Kit With Cross-Stitch Fabric, Embroidery Needle, and
Juliet Bawden
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Cross-Stitch | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Needlework | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0823011275

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful book for beginners!.......1999-06-24

I'm not really a beginning stitcher but I was interested in what this book could offer as projects. The charts are mostly simple and the instructions quite clear. I've finished one project and have started another! The fabric, floss and needle make it easy to get started right away. My only wish is that it included more fabric and floss so I could do the larger projects too! This book is a great way for a beginner to practice their skills on smaller charts and has some good finishing ideas as well.

Book Description

Transform the bath into a relaxing retreat! Create your own at-home sanctuary with this book of 17 handcrafted luxuries, perfect for a refreshing pick-me-up or a wonderful way to wind down.

• Several scented creations include bath tablets, translucent soaps, body lotions, and lip balms.

• Accessorize with a daisy shower curtain, embellished towels, a trimmed bath mat, and a beaded wastebasket.

• Complete most of these projects in a few hours or less!

Amazon.com

The artwork in The Symbolist Prints of Edvard Munch is so beautifully reproduced that one might be tempted to tear out pages, frame them and hang them on the wall. Munch's work, which constitutes some of the 20th century's greatest printmaking, is presented through the lens of an extraordinary private collection that includes almost every one of his prints along with alternate versions and early sketches. Elizabeth Prelinger's essays provide background on Munch's life, printmaking techniques, and the development of his symbolist aesthetic. An exciting element of the book is an evocative essay by renowned critic, Peter Schjeldahl, who, in inimitable style, likens Munch's effect on the viewer to that of listening to the early work of a favorite rock-star. Published on the occasion of an exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario in early 1997, this book provides excellent documentation of an artist whose work remains vital more than fifty years after his death.

Customer Reviews:

La douleur, la couleur et le criard.......2003-12-19

Il montrait sa soeur Sophie qui mourait jeune, entouree de toute la famille. Mais il montrait chacun a l'age qu'il avait a l'epoque de la peinture, et non pas a la mort de la jeune fille. Car la douleur durait a jamais et unifiait toute la famille pour toujours. Puis avec des tetes d'une femme et d'un homme, gravees et multicolorees, il cessait de suivre le style repandu des japonais de faire une seule couleur d'un seul troncon de bois. Son prefere de tout son oeuvre etait Sick Child II, en tant que sa premiere lithographie en couleur. Mais son Scream est le plus reconnu, en tant que l'image la plus frappante du 20eme siecle.

The Print and the Darkness.......2001-08-15

He was bound determined not to paint people reading and women knitting, but instead to show people who breathed emotions into his darkly suggestive prints. "Death in the sickroom" showed family members at the ages when they were painted, not when his sister Sophie died; it expressed unity in grief as one of death's longlasting effects by seemingly overlapping planes flowing together across bleakly empty areas, starkly B&W contrasts, and stiffly posed mourners frozen in misery. "The mirror" heads of a disembodied man and woman was his first woodcut to give up the Japanese method of printing each color with a separate woodblock; instead, he jigsawed blocks into pieces according to compositional design, linked each piece with a different color, and put everything back together into a multicolored print. He considered his "Sick child II" his most important print: his first color lithograph, it focused on the diseased upper chest and the head in profile facing right against a large pillow in order to gaze with tragically meditative resignation into the flatly patterned looming void on the far right. However, his "Scream" became the most compelling image for the late twentieth century: it expressed terror before the universe by powerfully decorative lines reverberating through the starkly opposed black lines and bleakly white voids of pulsing land and sky. Elizabeth Prelinger and Michael Parke-Taylor have applied reader-friendly illustrations and text to their catalog of the Vivian and David Campbell exhibition. Their SYMBOLIST PRINTS OF EDVARD MUNCH goes down good with PROGRESSIVE PRINTMAKERS by Warrington Colescott and Arthur Hove, PRINTS AND PRINTMAKING by Antony Griffiths, EDVARD MUNCH by Josef Paul Hodin, and THE PRINT IN THE WESTERN WORLD by Linda C Hults.

Symbolist Prints Of Edvard Munch - The Vivian And David Campbell Collection

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Symbolist Prints Of Edvard Munch - The Vivian And David Campbell Collection
Elizabeth & Parke-Taylor, Michael With An Essay By Peter Schjeldahl Prelinger
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSH4L6

Book Description

All her life, Sugar Turner has had to hustle to survive. An African American woman living in the inner city, she has been a single mother juggling welfare checks, food stamps, boyfriends and husbands, illegal jobs, and home businesses to make ends meet for herself and her five children. Her life's path has also wandered through the wilderness of crack addiction and prostitution, but her strong faith in God and her willingness to work hard for a better life pulled her through. Today, Turner is off welfare and is completing her education. She is computer literate, holds a job in the local school system, has sent three of her children to college, and is happily married.

In this engrossing book, Sugar Turner collaborates with anthropologist Tracy Bachrach Ehlers in telling her story. Through conversations with Ehlers, diary entries, and letters, Turner vividly and openly describes all aspects of her life, including motherhood, relationships with men, welfare and work, and her attachment to her friends, family, and life in the "hood." Ehlers also gives her reactions to Turner's story, discussing not only how it belies the "welfare queen" stereotype, but also how it forced her to confront her own lingering confusions about race, her own bigotry.

What emerges from this book is a fascinating story of two women from radically different backgrounds becoming equal witnesses to each other's lives. By allowing us into the real world of an inner-city African American mother, they replace with compassion and insight the stereotypes, half-truths, and scorn that too often dominate public discourse.

Customer Reviews:

Hold onto your faith no matter what u been through.......2002-09-04

"Who am I & why am I?" these questions and more were always disrupting Sugar's thoughts, until one day Tracy Bachrach Ehlers gave Sugar the opportunity of getting answers, by writing her story. Throughout the journey of Sugar & Tracy you will find many different reasons Sugar wanted her story told. The one reason I feel held true page after page is "Don't give up, God can change anybody.

Two women from opposite lifestyles come together to cleanse one, but ironically they both receive the greatest bath of their lives. Sugar Turner is a hustler, hooker and welfare mother. Amongst her negatives, I found her to have an angelic and smart voice. Ehlers, the author of Sugar's Life in the Hood is a cultural anthropologist and has done an excellent job of showing the social structure of Sugar's world. Sugar's story chronicled how she came from hustling, prostitution and welfare to enrolling in college, being apart of an entrepreneur program and forward to a paying job.

The author did an excellent job of painting pictures from Sugar and Ehler's world. I felt like Sugar was my friend and I rooted for her throughout the book. The author and Sugar shared in the telling of this story, because they worked so well together the book was more showing then telling and narration. Everyone should read Sugar's story whether you are gainfully employed or seeking employment or need help out of a situation.

Missy
APOOO BookClub

Entertaining...enlightening...thought-provoking.......2002-08-17

I am a middle class white woman who lived all her life in predominantly white neighborhoods until 7 months ago, when I moved onto an ethnically diverse, upscale block in the middle of the hood. This book, SUGAR'S LIFE IN THE HOOD, confirmed what my experiences here had been teaching me: that black culture, in some ways, resembles the stereotypes with which I had been raised, but in many other ways, is totally different. The multidimensionality of Sugar Turner defies stereotypes. I am humbled and inspired by her ingenuity, honesty, persistence, kind-heartedness, and faith.

Sugar's Life in the Hood : The Story of a Former Welfare Mother

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Sugar's Life in the Hood : The Story of a Former Welfare Mother
Ehlers Tracy Bachrach Turner Sugar
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORFYLY

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