Book Description
1912. French novelist, Murger began writing poems depicting Bohemian life in Paris, and became part of the that world. He lived in poverty and with poor health. His classic novel of Bohemian life is based on a series of magazine sketches later made into a successful play. The novel is a collection of loosely united chapters beginning with the first meeting of the four main characters (Gustave Colline, the great philosopher; Marcel, the great painter; Schaunard, the great musician; and Rodolphe, the great poet, who Murger modeled after himself) and ending with their departure from Bohemia in favor of bourgeois life.
Customer Reviews:
A so strangely relevant book.......2002-12-16
Scenes de la Vie Boheme should be considered required reading for all of the young persons of the world out there. Murger's tale of four friends who constantly struggle with finding enough money for food and board, struggle with landlords, struggle with the opposite sex, struggle with jobs, and struggle with perpetual hangovers seems so timeless that it is almost impossible to believe that it is 160 years old. Surely, nearly every 20-something going thru college or just getting into the world knows a Colline or a Schaunard, just as they have all had the difficulties of a Mimi. It is absolutely horrible that this book is out of print, as it is such an excellent read that helps to set the stage for so many of today's stories (the musical Rent, Puccini's opera of the same name, even Good Will Hunting). Definately a story to read and relate to. Take the time to find a version of this - its available in various places online, as copyright law no longer applies here. Worthwhile.
The lovely, painful, poetic source for Puccini's great opera.......1998-07-28
Operatic history is full of inexplicable bloopers -- for example, isn't it creepy to think that Victor Hugo wrote the horrible play that Verdi's (quite wonderful) "Ernani" was based on, or, even worse, that Schiller was responsible for the hideous drivel that turned into the same great composer's "I Masnadieri"?? Anyhow, with this kind of precedent, I think La Vie de Boheme of Murger is a kind of minor classic -- a tender, lyrical, silly and sad novel full of real feeling. I think it's a crime that this novel should be out of print, while any number of awful romance novelists who couldn't evoke the character of a Mimi or a Schaunard if you gave them a million dollars routinely GET a million dollars for barely literate bodice-rippers. EVERYBODY who loves Puccini's "Boheme" should read the charming, touching and unpretentious original.
Book Description
"Today, as of old, every man who enters on an artistic career, without any other means of livelihood than his art itself, will be forced to walk in the paths of Bohemia."--from the Preface
Based largely upon Henri Murger's own experiences and those of his fellow artists, The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter was originally produced as a play in 1849 and first appeared in book form in 1851. It was an immediate sensation. The novel consists of a series of interrelated episodes in the lives of a group of poor friends--a musician, a poet, a philosopher, a sculptor, and a painter--who attempt to maintain their artistic ideals while struggling for food, shelter, and sex.
Set in the ancient Latin Quarter, a vibrant and cosmopolitan area near the University of Paris, the novel is a masterful portrait of nineteenth-century Parisian artistic life. "Bohemian" soon became synonymous with "artist," and it is from Murger's novel that the word and concept entered the English language. Drawn from real-life characters and events, the themes of love, sacrifice, and "selling out" are immediately recognizable to the modern reader.
Capturing the heart, spirit, and bittersweet humor of the world of struggling artists, The Bohemians of the Latin Quarter is the universal story of one's attempt to leave a mark on the world.
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- Love and Ghosts!
- And You Thought You Had Skeletons In Your Closet?!?!
- A fun book for the beach or in front of the fire with a terrific romance dating back to colonial America
- Page Turning Read
- X-files meets XWP uber
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Cobb Island
Blayne Cooper
Manufacturer: Quest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Lesbian | Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books
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General | Romance | Subjects | Books
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Echoes from the Mist
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Unbreakable
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The Target
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When Dreams Tremble
ASIN: 1932300678 |
Book Description
Cobb Island offers not one but three romances in this novel set off the coast of Virginia. Marcy and Doug have had only sporadic contact since Marcy's family moved away a year ago. Their older sisters agree to supervise the lovesick teens during a week-long stay in an eerie island house that has been in Marcy's family since the late 1600s. But who will chaperone the chaperones? Sparks fly between them almost from the beginning, growing into lightning-size bolts when Liv notices that Kayla is answering her questions before she has even voiced them. It is Liv's training in translating foreign languages, however that proves to be the key that unlocks the house's secret history - and the story of a tragic love begun and ended four centuries earlier.
Customer Reviews:
Love and Ghosts!.......2006-12-08
Blayne Cooper has done it again! I loved this book. She has created a world where love, lust, desire, and the paranormal go hand in hand. Cobb Island was a thrilling and very enjoyable read. The book flowed well from present day to the 1600's in a blink of an eye and then back again! You will fall in love with three sets of characters: Marcy and Doug (16year olds/first love), Kayla and Liv(soulmates and younger couple's sisters), and finally star-crossed lovers and sister-in-laws from the 1600's Bridget Redding and Faylynn Cobb Redding. Will all these couples make it or will their flames burn out? This book also has great villians: Cyril Redding (Faylynn's abusive husband/Bridget's brother) and Elizabeth Redding (Bridget's sweet niece NOT!) Will these villians get just what they deserve or will they rain terror on the Redding family through out history? All of these characters, good or bad, are well written. Cobb Island is a thrilling mystery ride through time. It has true love, wicked humor, first loves, and mind reading/supernatural powers. What more could you ask for? Ok...I forgot the sex and how can you forget that? The story itself was a good one and well written. I highly recommend this book and I will keep it in my collection to read again! Blayne Cooper is a talented writer and I have enjoyed everything I have read from her. I look forward to Echos in the Mist.
And You Thought You Had Skeletons In Your Closet?!?!.......2006-01-30
I, for one, think Blanyne Cooper is one of the top 5 authors in the lesbian fiction genre. Her books are extremenly well written, interesting and sexually graphic. With 'Cobb Island' she has done it once again. I first read this book over a year ago and had an itch to revisit it recently... It was better the second time around.
Kayla Redding and Olivia Hazelwood chaperone their younger siblings, lovebirds Marcy and Doug, on a one-week trip to Cobb Island. The island has been owned by Kayla's family for years and hides several paranormal family secrets. While looking for an old diary (called a 'family history') Kayla and Liv discover the story of Bridget and Failynn, two of Kayla's ancestors.
Kayla and Olivia had never met before this outing, but feel an otherworldly attraction from the second they are introduced. That, coupled with an intense dislike of each other, makes for a very interesting dynamic. Doug and Marcy sneak away for some time alone on the mainland when a storm hits. Liv is deathly afraid of thunderstorms and is stuck with the mysterious Kayla. Kayla convinces Liv to help her look for the diary in the bowels of the house - a place where the storm can be forgotten. They discover the family history and proceed to read it together. While they learn more about Bridgett and Faylinn, they begin to give in to their mutual attraction. In the meantime, Doug and Marcy suffer through a night in a shady motel and give in to their own mutual attraction.
This is an enjoyable, spooky story that entertains. However, it isn't an emotional roller coaster ride that will stick with the reader for days on end. Highly recommended if you're looking for quality entertainment.
A fun book for the beach or in front of the fire with a terrific romance dating back to colonial America.......2005-11-18
I love historical romances and was delightfully surprised that this novel included a wonderful romance dating back to colonial times.
I bought the book expecting a well written thriller/mystery with alot of humor about two women (strangers) who bring their younger siblings together on a vacation and find love. As a bonus I got an additional heart wrenching romance set centuries earlier. I also got to flash back to how extremely irritating and irresponsible teenagers can be. I just wanted to throttle the younger siblings. So, yes, this book stirred me up!
The realistic prose is perfect for the story and one paragraph flowed into another. I didn't want the story to end. I'd like to call this a romance because it is romantic but it is so much more.
The characters are truly likable and human and comic. The dialogue is wonderfully written and left me racing from page to page.
Page Turning Read.......2005-03-27
I'm not much of a thriller fan and when you add in the paranormal my eyes start to glaze over. Hah, little did I know that Kayla's trip to the Redding estate on Cobb Island was going to take me on a heart-pounding trip into the past and become engrossed in the story of Bridget, a late 17 century ancestor, whose relationship with her sister-in-law Faylinn is marked by her btother's arrogance and cruelty.
As Kayla and Liv huddle together to read the family journal during the midst of a storm, so does the tale of the two women take the reader on a stormy ride as seen through the eyes of their chronicler, Afia. Eventually Kayla and Liv must travel to England to resolve the final threads of Bridget and Faylinn's tale [Echoes in the Mist].
Blayne does a wonderful job of weaving 3 love stories. The yound love of Doug/Marcy, the burgeoning love of Kayla/Liv and the star-crossed love of Bridget/Faylinn. You really need to read both books to get the full treatment and you won't be sorry that you did -- I wasn't. For a great mix of suspense, romance and a touch of the whimsical, these books do not disappoint.
X-files meets XWP uber.......2004-08-03
This was a fun read. Parapsychology, telepathy, ghosthunting, reincarnation, hidden family history, all revolving around the central lesbian love story set in the modern day, but framed, as well, by the angst driven forbidden love of their previous incarnations. Somewhat reminiscent of lesbian playwright Jane Chambers' only novel, "Burning."
Book Description
An eloquent record of island life off the coast of Virginia a century ago, when hunters and watermen harvested the riches in marsh and shoal and sportsmen came to fish the sea and relax on the beaches. This handsome book captures the spirit of those days. Curtis Badger and Rich Kellam conducted exhaustive research, interviewed descendants of old islanders, and collected over 300 photographs to tell the story of the generations who lived, worked, and played on the Barrier Islands.
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Prospero's Island: the Secret Alchemy at the Heart of The Tempest
Noel Cobb
Manufacturer: Coventure Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
British | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | Classics | Contemporary | General | Historical | Humor | Letters & Correspondence | Middle | Old | Poetry | Renaissance | Shakespeare | Short Stories
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
ASIN: 0904575268 |
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Kiawah Island: A History
Ashton Cobb
Manufacturer: The History Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
South | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1596290390 |
Product Description
Kiawah Island, located on the picturesque South Carolina coast in the heart of the Lowcountry, has a well deserved reputation as a world-renowned destination. With its pristine beaches, award-winning golf courses and spectacular resort, Kiawah beckons to thousands of visitors from across the globe each year.
Kiawahs charm, however, goes far beyond its breathtaking natural beauty and vaunted destination status. Unknown to many, the history of this beloved sea island is as captivating as its celebrated shoreline; its past as compelling as #17 on the Ocean Course.
This landmark new book reveals the history of Kiawah Island as never before. Since the early eighteenth century, Kiawah has been used for myriad purposes by a wide variety of inhabitants. Kiawah Island: A History, by historian Ashton Cobb, provides a comprehensive consideration of the diverse factors and factions that have combined to shape Kiawahs fascinating history. Cobb calls upon a diverse array of sources to tell the story of a South Carolina sea island that has been the site of great change through the centuries, but has remained a treasured location for generations of inhabitants and devoted visitors.
Customer Reviews:
Holy Hole-y Wholly.......2006-08-27
The pristine setting of Kiawah, less than an hour from the Holy City of Charleston, has long deserved a thorough, well-researched and well-written history. Unfortunately, this doesn't quite measure up. The book's review of records from the 18th and 19th century illuminates the business purposes (agricultural, mostly) of the owners, but the big changes of the 20th century on Kiawah are addressed dismissively, even sloppily. The 1950s and 60s, a purportedly idyllic time on the island for a lucky few, are barely mentioned - no effort was made apparently to gather anecdotes from Eugenia Ave's original residents/visitors. Later, a short paragraph that seems to open a discussion of Hurricane Hugo's impact on the island ends abruptly. The works "Hurricane Hugo" don't appear in the book. Unfortunately, those are just of few of the shortcomings. On the positive side, no one has so carefully told us of the Vanderhorst's family conflicts over the island and it's good to have the background this flawed but still helpful history provides.
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The Papers of General Nathanael Greene: Vol. I: December 1766 to December 1776
Nathanael Greene
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
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General | Military | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Revolution & Founding | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
Rhode Island | State & Local | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Biographies & Memoirs | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0807812854 |
Book Description
These volumes, published in conjunction with the Rhode Island Historical Society, represent the result of an exhaustive search for documents relating to the life and career of Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene. The papers—letters and documents received by Greene as well as those sent by him—are carefully edited and fully annotated. The editors reproduce many items in full but abstract papers that are of lesser significance. Greene, who served as quartermaster general of the army and later as commander of the forces fighting in the southern theater, is generally considered the ablest of Washington's generals. His papers are a vital source of information on the war itself as well as on the man.
Book Description
Robert Heinlein says, ?This book is raw corn liquor ? you should serve a whiskbroom with each shot so the customer can brush the sawdust off after he gets up from the floor.? Perhaps a mooring cable might also be added as necessary equipment for reading these eight wonderful stories: They not only knock you down?they raise you to the stars. Passion is the keynote as you encounter the Harlequin and his nemesis, the dreaded Tictockman, in one of the most reprinted and widely taught stories in the English language; a pyretic who creates fire merely by willing it; the last surgeon in a world of robot physicians; a spaceship filled with hideous mutants rejected by the world that gave them birth. Touching and gentle and shocking stories from an incomparable master of impossible dreams and troubling truths.
Customer Reviews:
A book with a pulse!.......2006-02-26
Ellison writes with humanity that you can feel in your gut and an imagination that makes Star Wars look like C-SPAN. On top of all of that there is often alot of humor and cutting wit weaved into his stories aswell. Think Paul Auster + HP Lovecraft + Philip K Dick and you might get some idea of what you're in for. It's science fiction as poetry. Ellison never insults the intellect of his readers (in fact he challenges it) but he also isn't afraid of dealing with science fiction pulp standards like mutants, aliens and spaceships. I'll give you one quick sample line:
"The dead were everywhere, sighing soundlessly with milk-white eyes at a tomorrow that had never come."
(that line is from a story where the main character is an alien riding a giant rat named Thomas carrying a bag of skulls. Yeah...)
Also the short story "Repent Harlequin!", Said the Ticktockman is included in this book, which is one of my personal favorites! The introductions before each story are also great and give you an insight into Ellison's personality, as do the stories themselves. If youre unfamiliar with Ellison this is a good starter or check out The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World.
A strange book.......2005-09-01
I read sci-fi occasionally and I picked up an old copy of this book. To be honest I found the stream-of-conciousness introductions more interesting than the stories they preceded. For the most part I felt the stories were rather one note and gave an air of being made up as they go along without any kind of arc or structure apparent from one end to the other. Perhaps this is common when you're on a deadline and have to pump these things out to order, but I wasn't very satisfied with the outcome.
For example the widely mooted "Bright Eyes" story was apparently conceived to go with a painting and indeed the first few pages are almost a verbatim description of that painting - an alien riding a giant rat with a castle backdrop. It's feels like a school essay where the pupil has to write a story about a picture. Then the story turns right angles as alien and rat complete a mini odyssey and dump a bag of skulls in memory of his dead race after humans have wiped themselves out. Perhaps it was meant to be moving but to be honest it's just weird.
Most of the stories are like this. I did find some of them enjoyable but for the most part, I was more bemused than anything else.
entertaining.......2005-08-14
i thought "paingod and other delusions" was interesting to say the least, Ellison has a way of writing that makes it hard to put the book down, i enjoyed it very much and would recomend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, or just reading for that matter.
The beginning of the Ellison we've come to know.......2003-01-22
Ellison broke into print back in 1956, and in the ten years that followed, he wrote an extraordinary number of short stories. Yet prolific as he was from the beginning, he didn't start to hit the level of quality we associate with his mature work until the late '50s. Even then, a number of his stories in speculative fiction would contain scenes, images, and ideas that no one else could handle in those days, only to be marred somewhat by immaturity. This shows up in a lot of the pulp-sf appurtenances that he loaded the earlier stories with in this book. Stories like "The Discarded" and to a lesser extent, "Deeper Than the Darkness" touch places in the psyche that evoke genuine pain--then jar us with risible notions of mutants and somewhat puerile descriptions intended to horrify and shock.
Later stories in this book, such as "Bright Eyes" (1964) and "Repent, Harlequin!..." (1965) are more accomplished and controlled in this regard. I can still read them with considerable pleasure. "Deeper Than the Darkness" has a lot that can be said for it, too, but one must look past some of the pulp-sf crudities that I alluded to above.
The title story, "Paingod," is an interesting attempt that I don't think comes off entirely. A pretty good read, nevertheless.
So you get the picture: the book is a mixed bag, but an interesting one. The stories are often moving, because Ellison felt strongly about the issues embodied, and communicated it effectively. And the book is historically interesting, because it points the way to his later fiction.
Is the book up to the level of quality to be found in his later books, such as _Shatterday_ or _Angry Candy_? No, but that doesn't make it bad. If memory serves, Ellison was 31 when _Paingod_ appeared. The late Theodore Sturgeon wrote an appreciative review at the time where he recognized Ellison's promise on the basis of this book. Neither Sturgeon's probity nor his perspicacity are in doubt because of it. :-)
All in all, the book is worth reading if you're an aficionado of speculative fiction. Ten years ago, I might have said that some of these stories had become dated in a bad way. The cycle of world events seems to have swung back around, and the stories seem (to use a very '60s word) _relevant_ again. :-]
It can truly be said that Ellison is a writer like no other!.......2002-12-20
Ellison, for the most part, has been out of print for the past twenty years, and that, in my opinion, is a bad thing. A very bad thing! During the 60s and 70s, he was not only the best writer of the New Wave of science-fiction, he was also the most original short story writer around. It can be said that he wrote like no one else. His style is vigorous, compelling and lucid. No one else can hold a candle to him. A prolific writer, he wrote something like 700 stories, starting from the 50s and continuing through to the early 80s. The stories in this collection are from the 60s, and what a wonderful collection it is too.
'"Repent, Harlequin" said the Tick Tock Man' is a story every bit as good as it's title - and I think that the title is a real peach. In about 3000 words he describes a dystopia where society is ruthlessly regimented by the clock. If you are five minutes late for an appointment, you lose five minutes off your life. The Tick Tock Man (or the Master Timekeeper, to call him by his official title) rules with a ruthless efficiency, and relentlessly tracks down the Harlequin, the ultimate non-conformist who refuses to be on time and who ingeniously disrupts the smooth running of this soulless society. If you have read 1984, you will know what happens- but there is a lovely twist at the end, which I won't spoil by giving away. The story may sound daft but it works and works beautifully. His imagination is unique. His aim is true. In Paingod, another classic, he tries to explain why there is so much pain in the world and why it is so necessary. There are other glories here: 'The Discarded', 'The Crackpots' and 'Deeper Than Darkness.' All worth your perusal. Each story is preceded by a short introduction that is as readable, entertaining and lively as the stories.
Ellison is a wonderful writer who doesn't deserve the neglect that has befallen him. Buy this book and maybe -yes, just maybe! - it will encourage some enterprising publisher to reprint such essential collections as Strange Wine, Deathbird Stories, Alone Against Tomorrow, and Approaching Oblivion. Why Ellison isn't one of the most popular men of American letters utterly baffles me. He is as good as the best and better than most.
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Paingod and Other Delusions
Harlan Ellison
Manufacturer: NY Pyramid Books 1965.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Ellison, Harlan
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| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B000BVM6OG |
Product Description
Short story collection.
Product Description
Jove A3646. Cover by the Dillons. One of his absolutely classic story collections, containing "Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman".
Book Description
The excerpts in this book have been grouped around the major themes of Heschel's spiritual vision, God,Prayer, Sabbath, Religion, and so on.
Customer Reviews:
poetry of Judiasm.......2007-02-14
This is a composite of the most poetic, sparkling bits of Heschel. It is to be savored, bite by delicious bite. Heschel is so rich I can only read him in small mouthfuls, one at a time. He is a major poet of Judiasm and a sage as well.
companion during devastations.......2006-07-27
for several decades, I have taken this book with me to disaster sites where I work relief. I have given away many copies, bought many more, given away so many. Heschel speaks to the bones of it all, short passages that can be read at those short moments of rest in the midst of so much travail, his strength of spirit... how can I say it, jumps from the page into those who need to keep going, often without sleep, who just need to keep on. The words within, to me, are nourishing after nourishing tastes of G-d.
. . . a deeper dimensionality . . ........2000-11-03
This book will satisfy the soul of any lover of wisdom. It's important to recognize that it's not just for followers of Judaism. Heschel is everyone's wise man. The best way to describe I Asked for Wonder is to think of a quotation book where you want to underline everything. Here is a deeper dimensionality of understanding where having a sense of wonder for God and the universe He created is the beginning of wisdom. Heschel himself is a wonder.
A wise man indeed.......2000-05-17
There are few authors that one is even tempted to call "wise" - with Heschel one wishes to say "very wise". This anthology of short excerpts should be read in a meditational manner - he gives one much to think about - to not think about it is to miss the point of the book.
An example: "Life passes on in proximity to the sacred, and it is this proximity that endows existence with ultimate significance. In our relation to the immediate we touch upon the most distant. Even the satisfaction of physical needs can be a sacred act. Perhaps the essential message of Judaism is that in doing the finite we may perceive the infinite."
This perception of the infinite in the finite is what is called "sacramental imagination" in the Christian tradition ... which is to say while Heschel is fully within the Judaic tradition, one need not be of his tradition to learn from him.
Add this to your must read list.
A Light Introduction to Heschel's Thinking.......1999-03-17
These short selections from some of Rabbi Heschel's writings help focus one's thoughts on his approach to life and Judaism.
Books:
- The Clairvoyant Countess
- The Goat Bridge: A Novel (Sweetwater Fiction: Originals)
- The ITCH : A Novel
- The Lecturer's Tale: A Novel
- The Pleasure's All Mine: Memoir of a Professional Submissive
- The Real Minerva
- The Scent of Betrayal (The Privateersman Mysteries)
- The Scent of Your Breath
- The Tower: A Facsimile Edition
- The Ugly Dachshund
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