Amazon.com
Physics seems to have become the new language of love in the 1990s, and Jeanette Winterson is not the first writer to make a major character a physicist. Jonathan Lethem mined similar territory earlier this year in his delightful book, As She Climbed Across the Table, and now Winterson enters the lists with not one, but two physicists populating the pages of her equally wonderful book, Gut Symmetries. If you think about it, physics does make a good metaphor for love, encompassing as it does the principles of attraction, the exchange of energy, and unification. At the center of this meditation on "the intelligence of the universe" and "the stupidity of humankind" are Jove, a married physicist; Alice, a single physicist who becomes his mistress; and Stella, Jove's wife and later, Alice's lover. They meet on the QE2 and from there the three participants in the story take turns telling their versions of it.
Gut Symmetries is a collage of memories, snippets of scientific theory, meditations on abstract concepts like truth, and the events surrounding Jove, Alice, and Stella's affair. This is a book that demands your attention, jumping as it does from one seemingly tangential topic to another; but whereas physics still seeks a grand unification theory (GUT) to explain how everything in the universe fits together, Winterson actually finds one of her own in this satisfyingly complete fictional world.
Book Description
The highwire artist of the English novel redraws the romantic triangle for the post-Einsteinian universe, where gender is as elastic as matter, and any accurate Grand Unified Theory (GUT) must encompass desire alongside electromagnetism and gravity.
One starry night on a boat in the mid-Atlantic, Alice, a brilliant English theoretical physicist, begins an affair with Jove, her remorselessly seductive American counterpart. But Jove is married. When Alice confronts his wife, Stella, she swiftly falls in love with her, with consequences that are by turns horrifying, comic, and arousing. Vaulting from Liverpool to New York, from alchemy to string theory, and from the spirit to the flesh,
Gut Symmetries is a thrillingly original novel by England's most flamboyantly gifted young writer.
"Winterson is unmatched among contemporary writers in her ability to conjure up new-world wonder...A beautiful, stirring and brilliant story."--Times Literary Supplement
"Dazzling for [its] intelligence and inventiveness...[Winterson] is possessed of a masterly command of the language and a truly pliant imagination."--Elle
"One of our most brilliant, visionary storytellers."--San Francisco Chronicle
Customer Reviews:
Post-modern, complex, beautiful, worth the effort........2007-02-28
An affair. Two women. A man. Love disrobed and exposed to its multiplicitous passions, pains, and controlled recklessness. "What kind of woman goes to bed with another woman's husband? Answer: a worm? That might explain my invertebrate state." Reading Jeannette Winterson is like picking up a broken mirror, looking in it, cutting your hands, then marvelling at how beautifully red our blood can be. Gut Symmetries is a complex work. At times you may become disoriented. You may be uncertain who's speaking. It's worth staying with it until the pieces come back together. Even when disoriented you will find a character's self-reflection cutting beautiful and deep. "I am not afraid of feeling but I am afraid of feeling unthinkingly. I don't want to drown. My head is my heart's lifebelt." Handle it as a broken mirror -- piece by piece. Savor it one sentence at a time.
somewhat ok.......2005-09-20
I am trying to finish it. There are few philosophical remarks that I enjoyed.
Gut Symmetries.......2004-04-07
This book changed my view on what great literature can be. Previously I thought plot drove the reader to keep going - reading this I was driven forward by the beauty of the words that Winterson uses, sometimes not understanding, or paying attention to the action, often reading several times to revel in the flavours of her prose. I looked with regret at the dwindling number of pages as I approached the end, wanting to stay longer in the drunken, passionate language of this wonderful book.
The quantum uncertainties of love and life.......2003-12-10
The title of Winterson's novel is a triple pun, referring to the twin themes of animal instinct and modern physics (Grand Unified Theory), and--in a bizarre plot twist--human innards. Most of the narrative is presented from the perspectives of two women: Stella, a poet married to a Princeton physicist, and Alice, a younger physicist who has an affair first with Stella's husband and then with Stella herself.
Presented nonlinearly, it's one of Winterson's more challenging novels, a scrapbook weaving scientific metaphors and cabalistic mysticism with the tangled associations of three generations of three different families. "I know I am a fool, trying to make connections out of scraps. . . . Am I vain enough to assume you will understand me? No. So I go on puzzling over new joints for words, hoping that this time, one piece will slide smooth against the next." Still, a thematically satisfying, often surprising plot emerges from the accumulated snippets of poetry, witticism, and musing. Even though the book's focus is certainly not its plot, all the bits and pieces eventually tie together in satisfying and unexpected ways.
If the novel has a shortcoming, it would be the sacrifice of characterization for thematic unity and postmodern cleverness. It's difficult at times to distinguish the two women (surprising in a novel by Winterson) and their family histories, and one is often forced to seek textual clues in order to determine whether the present narrator is the Jewish poet or the British scientist. Occasionally, however, emotions (and especially humor) surface above the ponderous rumination--for example, the "gut"-wrenching chapter in which Stella finds out about her husband's affair and conducts a physics experiment as conceived by an enraged poet: "If I drop a CD player and a lap top out of the same window at the same time which one will hit the ground first?"
"Gut Symmetries" rewards the persistent reader with memorable passages on love and physics, guilt and energy, poetry and mysticism. It's a novel many will want to reread for the Wildean wordplay and the Joycean artistry.
A humdinger of a pleasure.......2003-11-07
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Fluff or Not? No matter - you won't be disappointed.
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----- Comments -----
This was my first foray into Winterson. I picked up this book by accident and almost missed out. This is a work in which to revel, wallow, and mark up - not to overanalyze, psychoanalyze, or moralize. Its not the plot, or even the intermingling of epic scientific theories as parallels for love, its purely the words. It's the magic that occurs when a word you've seen hundreds of times is set beside another ordinary word to form a string that is simply profound and surprisingly beautiful. Any writer able to wow with words like Winterson is deserves an unequivocal thumbs up. Don't pass this up - you'd be missing out.
---- What I liked -----
beautiful prose, unconventional plot and method, interesting characters, human and scientific dilemmas
----- What was unusual ----
highly irregular rhythm and method, just be prepared to forsake the ordinary
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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on July 3, 1997. The length of the article is 899 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Ventanas. (crítica de libros; 3 de julio de 1997)(TT: Windows) (TA: critiques of books; July 3, 1997)
Author: Alejandro Pescador
Publication:
Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: July 3, 1997
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: v44
Issue: n2298
Page: p69(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Lonesome Cowboy
Savannah Weston lives quietly on the family ranch with her brother, Grady. Until a stranger named Laredo Smith comes along--a disenchanted cowboy who just might change Savannah's life!
Texas Two-Step
After her father's death, Ellie Frasier takes over the feed store in Promise. Still in mourning, she turns to her friends for comfort. But now her long-standing relationship with one of those friends--rancher Glen Patterson--seems to be turning into something else.…
Customer Reviews:
avid reader.......2007-05-14
Debbie Macomber never ceases to amaze me with her imagination and creativity in all of her works that I have read. She keeps you interested and has a little bit of everything - romance, relationships, mystery - in her stories. I enjoy the fact that there is a sequel to the serial stories wherein you can see what happens to the characters in the next novel. Can't wait for the Heart of Texas Vol. 2 to come!!
Heart of Texas Vol. 1 .......2007-03-09
I have not read any of Debbie Macomber's book that I haven't enjoyed and had not been a page turner. Her Heart of Texas series is so real to life and you feel like you are part of the story; you are taken in from the first page to the very last. The people in the story and the Texas towns are described so well that you want to go visit and meet all the folks you are reading about. You laugh and you cry with them; you enjoy the visit through every page. As long as Debbie writes books I am going to buy them and enjoy every word. Debbies books should get a million stars.
Debbie Does it Again!.......2007-03-06
One of the things that I love most about Debbie Macomber's stories is that she continues them in a series of books. I never really feel like I am saying, "Good-bye," to her characters. They become friends that I can continue to visit with each new book in the series. And Debbie does not disappoint with this series. Her characters are very well-developed as are the storylines. (I'm still wondering what's happening at Bitter End!)
Average customer rating:
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Texas Two - Step (Heart Of Texas, No 2)
Debbie Macomber
Manufacturer: Harlequin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 MacOmber, Debbie | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
Macomber, Debbie | ( M ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Regency | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Lonesome Cowboy (Heart Of Texas, No. 1)
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Dr Texas (Heart of Texas, No 4)
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ASIN: 0373833431 |
Customer Reviews:
Meant For Each Other!!.......2000-11-15
If you've read and enjoyed first in the Heart of Texas series than you'll enjoy this one. Glen and Ellie made the book so interesting that I couldn't put it down until I had finshed it. It also had me laughing in places. This was well written and the humor had it's place in the story. Glen was funny in his attempts to get Ellie from having anything to do with Richard romantically. This is a book that you won't be able to put down. It's so well written that you can understand the struggles that Glen has within himself over his friendship with Ellie and his wanting to change that relatioship to something more. Debbie Macomber has done a great job with the characters and the unfolding storyline. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read and those who haven't read any Debbie Macomber books.
Book Description
In the face of constant time pressures and the juggling act of balancing countless tasks, there is nothing more soothing than taking the opportunity to slow down for a few moments, relax with a good story, and come home to romance.
In Porch Swings and Picket Fences: Four American Love Stories, readers will find not just one, but four delightful tales of love–each written by one of the foremost authors of Christian romance fiction. All four evoke familiar warm feelings, and a sense of getting back to the basics with feel-good stories about characters readers love.
From Vermont to Iowa, Texas to Washington State, Porch Swings and Picket Fences spins the tales of four couples who find love where they least expect it–right under their noses–and leaves readers with a sense of satisfaction and hope that will bring joy to their hearts.
Customer Reviews:
great guaranteed.......2005-09-08
Some of my favorite authors, it has to be good, I just know it.
4-Plus Stars.......1999-08-09
A wonderful, well-written inspirational anthology. ~Connie Ramsdell for Bookbug on the Web
Book Description
This book is not just about diet, but life-and the dynamism of a lifestyle change that yields new levels of personal confidence and energy, stamina and productivity. Your life can be the enhanced life-that through the two key elements of Determination and Dedication, is made even richer! Authors Bridgman and Bradshaw hand you the keys in Texas Two-Step Diet.
"Here in New England, in the land of lobster and cranberry cobbler, dedication and determination still are the keys to a lighter, better life. John and Amy have it right; eating right and activity have burned 25 resistant pounds off my frame over the last year."-John Humphrey, Chairman of the Boston Ballet board of trustees
Each chapter presents clear and concise, easy-to-follow steps paired with nuggets of wisdom from sources both ancient and modern. Based on the premise that the Texas Two-Step Diet is an investment in your future, the authors will motivate you and inspire you to seize ownership of your own habits, priorities and goals. And for the reader who isn't quite ready for every stage of this plan, each chapter offers an alternative choice to help get you on your way. The Texas Two-Step Diet also focuses on overall body health, including information on nutritional supplements, as well as healthy food sources. Note that the newly reconstructed food guide pyramid mirrors many of the recommendations and suggestions presented in this book.
And Bridgman and Bradshaw do it all with Texan wit and style.
Customer Reviews:
A remarkable dietary plan perfectly suited for fans of Tex-Mex cuisine who are looking to loose a few pounds.......2006-03-09
Expertly co-authored by healthy eating enthusiasts John C. Bridgman and Amy D. Bradshaw (registered and licensed dietitian and certified personal trainer with the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America), Texas Two-Step Diet is an informed and informative guide to a remarkable dietary plan perfectly suited for fans of Tex-Mex cuisine who are looking to loose a few pounds. As an ideal reference for people who can't get enough south-western food but must watch their weight, Texas Two-Step Diet opens readers eyes to the innovative ideals of healthy alternatives to fattening ingredients for those who enjoy hot and tasty foods.
Customer Reviews:
fair read.......2004-08-04
The book wasn't awful. I thought that the male character was a pig through most of the book. But as most romance novels go, he became 'tender and loving' at the end. Not the best of the Trouble in Texas series, but okay
this is a great book !!!!.......1998-10-06
I thought the characters had great chemistry- both Leanna and Hank had a great appeal to me, although there were times my feelings somewhat flucuated. But nevertheless, this was one book you just cant put down. CHECK IT OUT TODAY !!!!!!!
Average customer rating:
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Texas Dance Halls: A Two-Step Circuit (Voice in the American West) (Voice in the American West)
Gail Folkins
Manufacturer: Texas Tech University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Folk | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Popular | Dance | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Cultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0896726037 |
Product Description
Wherever they've found fiddlers and dance floors, Texans have been tickled into motion. And for a century and a half they've been kicking up dust in dance halls across the state. Writing about the eighteen she knows best, Gail Folkins celebrates how these halls still bring people together and foster joy.
Folkins etches portraits of proprietors who give space for music and dancing, of musicians who furnish the soundtrack for dramas and comedies that play out across hardwood or concrete floors, and of people who come to dance, listen, or simply share the experience with friends and neighbors. Paired with Marcus Weekley's photographs, some whirling and some dreamy, they capture beat and motion, even the scent of sawdust on the floor. Drawn in, we witness daytime preparations for evenings to come, and the quiet that returns after the dancers go home and the musicians have packed up for the night.
Moving from Twin Sisters near New Braunfels to legendary Luckenbach, we meet the third generation in a family of makers of music and keepers of dance halls. And then there are the descendants of Czech Catholic settlers coming to dance under the giant letters KJT (Katolika Jednota Texaska). At Coupland Dance Hall, we sense ghostly apparitions of pioneer women in long skirts. Very much in the twenty-first century, we share a dance floor with tourists and university types among the kitschy accoutrements at Austin s Broken Spoke.
8 x 11. 132 duotone photos.
Customer Reviews:
A true Texas experience.......2007-10-04
Gail Folkins has captured the essence of the Texas dance hall experience. Where you can watch an old couple who has been dancing together for fifty years, or a little girl learn to dance on the tops of her father's feet. The only thing better than this beautifully written and illustrated book is the real thing.
Customer Reviews:
Insight into 1950s SF and one of SF's most prolific masters.......2007-02-15
Fans of Silverberg and anybody interested in the 1950s SF scene should definitely check this out. For the most part the stories are fun and move along briskly, and each is preceded by an epigraph or short essay in which Silverberg talks about his early career and sheds light on his writing techniques and his relationships with SF magazines, their editors, and other SF writers in the 1950s.
Book Description
This book is about the culture of American Christianity and what it does to our understanding of God, self, and community as reflected in the way Christians worship.
Customer Reviews:
good idea, poor execution.......2007-07-30
I was looking forward to reading a vigorous discussion of the irreverent, irritating songs heard in American Catholic churches for the past thirty years, but this book was a disappointment in several ways, starting with the title. A book purporting to explain the lack of musical participation in Masses would have been better titled "Why Catholics DON'T Sing"; "CAN'T Sing" implies that the problem is caused entirely by Catholics being tone-deaf compared to their Protestant counterparts.
Beyond the title, the book was a difficult read, being written in a pedantic, eggheaded style with a narrative which flitted moth-like among disparate topics with no effort to support an underlying theme. If you are on the fence about purchasing this, I may be able to save you some money by summarizing Day's most salient points:
Day postulates three reasons for the ubiquity in US churches of the limp-wristed, fag-pleasing tripe of the "St. Louis Jesuits"(chapter 5 does provide an excellent review of the narcissism and idolatry in this stuff):
1. Because the Irish regarded Anglican hymnody as a symbol of English political and religious persecution, the Irish-American control of most parishes and dioceses resulted in a near-total absence of liturgical music before Vatican II. When V-II supposedly mandated lay-sung hymns, the resultant musical vacuum was filled by the pushiest - meaning the fans of Dufford, Haugen, Schutte, et al.
2. Because the Oregon Catholic Press was able to badger dioceses into believing that "active" Catholics "demanded" modern songs, the dioceses were intimidated into purchasing OCP's expensive, all-modern, all-copyright Glory and Praise songbook instead of less expensive hymnals which included traditional hymns from the public domain.
3. Loudmouth dykes like Frances Kissling and Jeannine Gramick declared that all liturgical compositions written before Vatican II were symbols of women's oppression and threatened to label any bishop who did not conform to their thinking on the topic as a male chauvinist pig. These strident proclamations actually found some sympathetic ears on the likes of Joseph Bernardin, Roger Mahony and Rembert Weakland.
While this was a letdown, the book did whet my appetite for more on this subject; I invite the reviewers who follow me to recommend additional books or articles.
Some interesting ideas, but a bit vitriolic at times........2007-03-29
Thomas Day seems to take pride in offending people. I agree with most of his ideas and find myself laughing at the ridiculous stories he tells, yet I know he probably skews the stories toward his own goals.
One particular metaphor that really didn't make sense to me was the magazine rack representing different cultures in the United States. Yes, magazines do represent different interest groups in America, but Day's comparison doesn't really work.
I still recommend this book for all interested in this subject matter.
Offer it up!.......2007-02-24
Yes, the music is bad and the situation is very serious. I have known people who have left the church for other denominations or for nothing at all because of bad music and desacralized liturgy. I have known other people who have tried to become Catholic but find the music so awful that it's a form of torture that they decide not to endure after all. So, yes, it's important; souls are at stake!
As for me, I try to sing what I know, even the schmatlzy stuff, but sometimes when those melodies just jump around so illogically (and I can sight read music!) I just shut my yap, pray, and offer it up. Our suffering can be consecrated to the Lord for the upbuilding of the Body of Christ!
I get my good church music outside of church. I buy it on CD and put it on my iPod. I have no objection to modern music per se: I absolutely adore Dana Scallon's We Are One Body from World Youth Day. It is so eucharistic and communal and theologically solid, yet easy to sing! I like the old Latin stuff and I like contemporary praise music that is vertical and reverent and heartfelt.
Amazingly, my parish of mostly converts sings plainchant Latin vigorously and well. They like it.
I am praying for a wave of good liturgical musicians to break forth and liberate us from this oppression! St. Cecelia, pray for us!
True and funny.......2007-01-17
As a convert from Anglo-Catholicism one of my biggest challenges was abandoning the asthetic of the Sarum Rite and the Church's traditional music executed well for the saftey of The Rock. Why Catholics Can't Sing: The Culture of Catholicism and the Triumph of Bad Taste is an excellent indictment of the "happy clappy" liturgical lowest common ddenominator culture shoved down the throats of Catholics today by the swinging 60s Parish Council worship committee rats. Funny in the sad horrible way we all suffer under weekly for clinging to the Ark of Truth.
It doesn't have to be this way.
But sadly, it is.
Thank you Thomas Day.
Intriguing Hypothesis About Catholics Not Singing.......2006-12-22
While this is certainly written from Roman Catholic perspective, its assumptions and conclusions affect the rest of Christianity as well.
Starting from premise of American RC worship heavily influenced by Irish immigrants resulting in Mass void of chanting and music which more characterizes most of European RC churches, Day weaves tale of the smooth, folk Irish song getting hold of American RC worship in reaction to Irish plight in their country being dominated by British Anglican power. Interesting historical observation.
From this, he traces the violent reaction to reintroduction of good liturgical worship. This results in curvature of RC worship to conform to what has become increasingly American Christian desire to interject common, folk, popular ideals into worship space: Mr.Caruso song leader/praise band dominance competing with priest, which causes priest to have to rely upon his personality interjections and the precious term which Day uses of "liturgical klunk." This is what sinfilled individuals love, the Ego Led service of what they consumers want, removing any trace of historic Transcendant/Immanent God being among them.
Day is wonderful in this point of view thus far. It jives all too well unfortunately with other confessional bodies infection by this American consumerism.
However, towards the end, from chapter six on it begins to drag. He seems to have lost his heretofore tight style and begins to move about with analogy to analogy to book illustration etc. This reviewer felt he definitely lost steam in the last chapters.
However, not to discourage anyone who wants to have their musical/liturgical tastes sharpened by this one who has certainly been exposed to much which is pertinent to entire universal church of all times. Clever and insightful, this is salient reading for layperson, clergy and church musician as well. One of his final comments should resonate with us: "Good musical advice is one thing; implementing it in the Catholic church today is a little like trying to plant a simple but healthy crop in the middle of a hurricane."
Books:
- Here Is Where We Meet: A fiction
- HOME SONG (HOME SONG: A CAPE LIGHT NOVEL) [LARGE PRINT]
- Hotel Du Lac
- I Am Rosa Parks (Easy-to-Read, Puffin)
- Jephte's Daughter (Readers Guide Editions)
- John Singer Sargent
- Knave of Hearts: Illustrations
- La Ley del Amor
- Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
- Leaving Maggie Hope
Books Index
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