Book Description
Full of Machiavellian intrigue and searing political satire, Variations on Night and Day, the final volume of Munif's landmark Cities of Salt trilogy, chronicles the creation of a Persian Gulf nation by a corrupt Arab monarch and conniving British empire builders.
Customer Reviews:
Lyrical but Anguished.......2005-08-02
Abdelrahman Munif's novels are brilliantly written and, in my opinion, offer the same satisfactions as the novels of Gogol and Dostoyevsky; in this particular novel, the tone is much more lyrical and wistful, and the characters behave with more heroic motives, than in "Cities of Salt" (tragic) or "The Trench" (satirical). This describes the series of struggles for control of the soon-to-be Sultanate of Mooran, both within the [Saudi-modelled] royal house, and among rival clans.
Set in the 1920's, when the fate of the Arabian Peninsula was uncertain, and the role of the British Foreign & Colonial Office was potentially decisive, this novel pays special attention to the relationship between Khureybit and Hamilton. Hamiton, incidentally, is based on Harry St. John Bridger Philby (or Jack Philby, father of Kim Philby; Wikipedia has an excellent write-up on him). The tension between Hamilton's concerns about the growing corruption in the Mooran ruling house, and his loyalty to Khureybit, are sensitively and carefully portrayed.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on March 22, 1994. The length of the article is 563 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: Variations on Night and Day.(Brief Article)
Author: Issa Peters
Publication:
World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1994
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: v68
Issue: n2
Page: p418(2)
Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Variations on Night and Day
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Literature & Fiction
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ASIN: 9994056603 |
Book Description
For the first time in a thousand years, the Kingdom of the Isles has a government and a real ruler: Prince Garric of Haft. But the enemies joining against him intend to destroy not only the kingdom but humankind as well. Reptilian and insect monsters from out of the ages march on the kingdom. Unchecked, their ravening slaughter will sweep over the Isles like a flood of lava. Watching it all from the blackness of a tomb walled off in time and space, the Mistress waits . . ...And her fangs drip poison!
Download Description
After taking a year off to write other books, Drake is back with the fourth volume in the epic fantasy series. The manuscript is due by the end of January, along with a title.
Customer Reviews:
Play it again Garric.......2007-05-15
I have reached the point of giving up with this series. It started well, and promised much, with interesting touches. I liked the backdrop of Sumerian magick, the use of Greek poets and the diverse context of the Isles. However this book is just too formulaic, let's see - Cashel goes on a magickal journey accompanied by a magickal companion (insert sprite/demon ring/talkng ape/etc) and is found desirable by whichever woman he rescues; Ilna feels guilty for her actions but still uses her magick whenever needed; etc etc. The talent is obviously there, but the plot needs to be changed and given more direction.
Losing Headway.......2005-07-25
I read this book with rather a great deal of frustration. It's the fourth volume in David Drake's Lord Of The Isles fantasy series, and it pretty much reads like a rehash of the second or third. I'm not quite sure what was meant to happen here or why it took so many pages to maintain a soothing and bland state of stasis.
Drake has come up with an interesting setting. Most fantasies involve quasi-medieval pseudo-European worlds, but this one is more heavily weighted toward the Mediterranean/Fertile Crescent Bronze Age end of the spectrum. You don't see mighty kings spending tons of gold to field armies of thousands of armored knights. Here, the rulers are lucky to scrape up a few spare silver coins to put one or two triremes out to sea, crewed by a few guys with daggers. Plus we're not dealing with a single large landmass, but rather a bunch of scattered islands, making it rather easier for dissidents and wannabes to defy their new overlord, daring him to come after them.
Also, the magic seen here is typically not epic, flashy, and dramatic. There aren't too many wizards rolling fireballs across the battlefields or calling down dragons. And using spells can be time-consuming and arduous.
But if you've been reading the series so far, you know this. Unfortunately, in this present volume you won't really learn much of anything new. Plot contrivances will scatter our principals. Garric will continue to struggle to master the unruly leaders of the various islands and will have to face various plots and traitors and malcontents. Sharina will be beautiful and meet interesting people. Ilna will remain cold and practical and disdainful. Cashel will, naturally, topple into an alternate reality and will beat the tar out of all obstacles and through sheer phlegmatic force of will emerge on the other side. And everyone will link up together fortuitously in the nick of time a few pages before the end of the book.
In some ways, this just seems like Gus Van Sant's ill-advised shot-by-shot remake of the movie "Psycho". Yeah, it was an interesting intellectual exercise, I suppose, but it was literally done before and done better, and nothing new was brought to the table. It's the same thing with this book--we've already seen all of this in the previous volumes, and nothing really changes for the characters. For this many pages, I would've liked to have seen some significant developments and a sense that we're building up to something major, rather than getting sucked into an open-ended Jordanesque epic saga that could go on for twenty more installments. This is a case where less definitely would've been more.
YUUUUUCK!.......2002-11-24
What else is there to say? Why don't they let me choose a negative number of stars for my rating?
Cruising on Auto-Pilot; a Walkthrough.......2002-10-08
When i read the previous volume in the "Isles" series (Serant of the Dragon, q.v.), i greatly enjoyed it, but something about it bothered me.
Now, having read this volume, and considering the matter, i have finally put my finger on it, i think -- these books read like using a "walkthru" cheatsheet to go through one of the old InfoCom computer text games -- "Zork", possibly, or the brilliant InfoCom version of "Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy".
Which is to say that each character goes through a series of adventures which contain numerous decision-points and always choose the right way to go when they have a choice; secondary characters, though interesting and sympathetic (or not), are introduced, hang around until they fulfill their sole programmed function, and then exit, usually fatally.
What suspense there is comes primarily from narrative technique; rotating among four story threads that SEEM divergent but will come together by the end, cutting away from a given thread -- just as it looks as if Things Might Be Bad For Our Hero(ine) -- to resolve the cliffhanger left in another thread in the last chapter.
That said, it's really the characters i read these for -- Garric (and his ancestor, King Carus, who shares his head) and Cashel, Ilna and Sharina and so on, all of whom are interesting in their own right, and eminently suited for the sorts of challenges that Drake's plots throw at them.
Mechanical as the storyline might be, i enjoyed the ride, and i intend to be there for the next volume, also.
I mean, a roller coaster is locked to a track, mechanical and predictable and repetitious -- but we still ride the same coasters over and over and get the same thrills. Same for Drake and this series.
More of the same....but when the same is excellence..........2002-07-02
I must say that when I started to read some of the other reviews of this book, I was confused. People say that the books are falling into the Jordon trap, or they say he is getting too repetitive. I find this odd because I don't get that feeling at all. Firstly, the first 2 books tie up almost all loose ends and explain everything you need to know to enjoy further stories. If you read book 4 before you read book 3, you should not have any problem following along. This is most definitely not the way Jordon works...if you skip a book in the series, you are just lost. Also the one thing I really like about Drake, is his ability to have a small amount of characters and make you care about all of them. Books 3 and 4 are capsulated so they are almost independent stories. All loose ends are tied up in 3. All loose ends are tied up in 4. It's very satisfying to have endings. That again is unlike Jordon, who bases his fan base and sales on the fact that he ends his books in huge plot altering cliff hangers. I'm not saying that's bad, but it makes me want to pick up a new drake book knowing it's going to end with everything wrapped up, then a Jordon book that I know some stuff will be solved, and then open up twice as many threads. As for the repetitive aspect, it's really not. It's formulaic which is different. Basically Garric has to do some stuff for the kingdom, and Iina and Cashel go on their related adventures...it's just a fun yarn. Highly recommended.
Book Description
Called "a triumphant piece of reporting" (The New Yorker), Snowblind is an all-out, nonstop, and now classic look at the cocaine trade through the eyes of smuggler Zachary Swan. In a brief Roman-candle career, Swan served an elegant clientele, traveling between Bogota and the nightclubs of New York, inventing intricate scams to outmaneuver the feds. Creating diversions that were characteristically baroque, surviving on ingenuity and idiot's luck, he discovered in the process a hip, dangerous, high-velocity world that Robert Sabbag evokes with extraordinary power and humor. "One of the best books about drugs ever written." -- Robert Stone "A flat-out ballbuster. It moves like a threshing machine with a fuel tank full of ether...." -- Hunter S. Thompson "One of the first books about the cocaine trade and it is still among the best." -- Norman Mailer
Customer Reviews:
Will be timeless.......2007-03-29
I just reread after 30 years and the book still holds up.
amazing.......2003-05-28
I heard that Robert Sabbag was a good writer so I decided to pick up Snowblind up and read it and I couldn't put it down. I thought that it gave a really close look into the drug trade and it was very detailed so you really got a feel for the life that was lead. I have started reading his books now and I can't stop. I have told many of my friends to read the book.
One of the best........2002-07-18
If we consider Thomas de Quincey's "The COnfessions of an English Opioum Eater", Baudelaires "The Artificial Paradises" and Ludlows "The Hasheesh Eater" the three classical pillars of the drug books, "Snowblind" sets a new way of approaching the theme.
Sabbag manages to write a funny, entertaining and well defined book about what the beginning of the cocaine smuggling was. He has inherited the best ways of HUnter S. Thompson without loosing and inch of his own style. This book is the "bible" for all smugglers. In the last edition of Cannongate there is an introduction by Howard Marks, author of the bestseller "Mr Nice". Well, if you liked "Mr Nice" this book goes way beyond in the form and in the content. The characters shown are interesting and relevant to the story, the information delivered will not bore you. Sabbag tells what he has to (a lot) and misses what would bore you.
Normally drug books will fall into topics like rude language and obscure characters most of the time very badly developped, now, Zachary Swan is a dandy, the language is only rude when there are direct implications for it to be so (not often) and when you finish the book you have the feeling you have gone through the adventure with the Silver Fox (name given to Swan by Canadian Jack).
Thanks Sabbag!
Interesting, But Dated.......2002-03-10
I enjoyed this book, but it was a slow read. I thought it was interesting how Swan smuggled in the 70's, but I'm sure none of these techniques would work today--if for no other reason, the cocaine-sniffing dogs! The author writes very well, but he was so sharp and witty, that I'm afraid a lot of those witticms flew right over my head, and I had to re-read many times to figure out what was meant, and even then, sometimes couldn't.
Too detailed, where's the excitement.......2001-12-17
After seeing the movie Blow and reading the related book, I enjoyed the subject so much I bought this book. I was disappointed. First, this is a very old book written in the 70's. Almost an amatuerish attempt. This book describes the drug smuggler, how he gets in the business, how he imports and makes his connections, and how he eventually is caught. Unfortunately, the author didn't know how to edit the book and instead starts on a story and then decides to give you an education on everything he has read about the subject. Then he goes back to the story. Therefore, I found this book to be verrrrry slow.
On the positive side, it's almost comical how this guy falls in the business and decides to go to Columbia to set up his product. Not really knowing anyone, he just meets street people and eventually runs into connections. The smuggler's real talent is concocting the scam on bringing the product in. Most of his shipments are not stopped, but even if they were, he develops stories so his mules can act like they had no knowledge and won't be charged. You should be aware, this is really not a big-time smuggler on the scale of the Blow character, but rather this smuggler brings in enough to last him a few months, then goes back for another trip.
If you're interested in drug smuggling, this book may fill in the holes. But from a pleasurable fascinating pleasurable read, there are better books like "Blow".
Book Description
BradyGames' Project: Snowblind Official Strategy Guide includes the following:
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STEP-BY-STEP WALKTHROUGH: Safely traverse through each mission unscathed with battle-tested strategies and tips. Key weapon and item pickups are listed to ensure safe passage.
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MULTIPLAYER TIPS & STRATEGIES: A complete rundown of each multiplayer mode, a full listing of exclusive multiplayer items and vehicles, and game-tested strategies that will make any player king of the hill.
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WEAPONS & ITEMS LISTING: Discover the essentials to surviving this onslaught with in-depth treatment of every weapon and item in the game.
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AUGMENTATIONS: A full listing of every augmentation. Whether it’s the Reflex Boost or the Cloak Generator, it’s all covered.
Platform: PlayStation 2, XBOX, and PC
Genre: Action/Adventure
This product is available for sale in North America only.
Book Description
On a remote cattle ranch in a peaceful Wyoming valley, in the hushed villages of beleaguered Indian tribes, among the government troops advancing through the bitter winter landscape, the time of the Snowblind Moon heralds the beginning of an apocalyptic clash between the Indians and the whites.And caught up in the tragedy are the men and women of the West, passionately committed to peace, seemingly helpless to prevent tragedy: Chris Hardeman, former army scout haunted by his part in an Indian massacre; Lisa Putnam, young, independent owner of a ranch; Bat Putman, legendary mountain man; Johnny Smoker, a white boy, raised by the Cheyenne; Amanda Spencer, a circus performer who falls in love with Johnny; and Sun Horse, a Sioux chieftan struggling to reconcile peace with freedom and dignity.
Customer Reviews:
The Snow Blind Moon.......2000-06-24
I have read The Snow Blind Moon, cover to cover, three times now. I have loaned and given the book to many people who all agreed that it was superior. The characters are welldeveloped and real. The story of white settler and Indian has never been presented with more understanding and sympathy. Why the movies have not discovered it is hard to comprehend.
An Epic Canvas.......2000-05-19
I'am french and bought this book in 1986 when i was student in London. I thought it will make a very good movie. Seven years later "Dance with the wolves" was released and was a major success worldwide. For all the ones who liked "Dance With the Wolves" buy this book, it is definitively better, well written and as said the Observer: Anyone with a soft spot for the Old West...is bound to relish THE SNOWBLIND MOON
Book Description
TreeTops Stories have been given a fresh new look with new covers, a new TreeTops logo, parental notes on inside back cover and new teaching materials. NB. Please note levelling changes: most of these titles were originally packed as Stage 16G. 'My Guinea Pig is Innocent' (which has now moved to Stage 15 More Stories A) has been replaced with 'Rat Squad' from Stage 15E.
Book Description
A further six Treetops titles in Oxford Reading Tree's series of fiction with built-in progression for pupils aged 7-11. Specially written for children who need the support of carefully-monitored language levels, the stories are accessible, motivating and humorous. The series is organised into Oxford Reading Tree Stages (from Stage 10 to Stage 16), with each stage introducing more complex narrative forms, including flashbacks and changes in viewpoint; descriptive writing; extended reading vocabulary; and more pages, more text, and fewer illustrations. Ideal for both guided reading group work and independent reading. Phase G features: Six new stories at the top end of Treetops, featuring top children's authors Chris Powling, Paul Stewart, Jon Blake and Margaret McAllister, plus talented newcomers Claire Funge and Anna Perera. The stories have the breadth and interest level demanded by top juniors, with settings ranging from the Arctic Circle to wartime England, via a magical football story with a difference. The stories tackle issues that are important to 10/11 year olds - families, change, the environment, bullying, relationships - with the humour and style for which Treetops is renowned.
Average customer rating:
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Snowblind
Sabbag
Manufacturer: Canongate Books Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0862418976 |
Customer Reviews:
Snowblind.......2007-02-20
Snowblind is the story of legendary cocaine smuggler, Zachary Swan, whose exploits and scams in the sixties and early seventies ran rings around police and custom officals alike.
Robert Sabbag's riveting account of Swan's brief career provides a compulsive insight into the cocaine underworld in which all the double-dealing crazy characters and paranoia are captured brilliantly. The result is one of the funniest and most illuminating books about the drug trade ever written - a genuine underground classic.
--- from book's back cover
Book Description
Divination is a critical part in the life of anyone seriously practicing any branch the Orisa tradition - whether it is Lukumi, Santeria, Candombie or Ifa. Divination affords the individual a chance to engage in a direct dialog with the Ancestors and Orisa, bringing an opportunity to have a personal communication with the powerful spirits of these religions. Awo Obi: Obi Divination in Theory and Practice allows the student to begin to utilize the art of divination in their own lives and personal religious practices.
The Obi is an Oracle for everyone, an Oracle that does not require initiation before giving one the ability to divine. Awo Obi: Obi Divination in Theory and Practice reveals the "how-to" of Obi divination, covering both the theory and the practical considerations that exist for those wishing to divine with this Oracle. This work is a result of years of divination with the obi and is an answer to the call of students worldwide that are searching for a complete text on Obi divination. This work is being called"... the most complete manual on Obi Divination ever written!"
This book is written in an easy-to-follow format that takes the reader through learning the basic, intermediate and advanced phases of Obi divination. Full of charts, diagrams and illustrations, this book clearly details each step of the divination process.
Customer Reviews:
True OBI divination.......2005-03-20
Very good. Really, you will learn not only about OBI divination using Abata Obi, but also, you can learn a lot about Ifa. Attention few book tech how to divine using the Abata Obi, most of authors teach to use the coconut or a kind of substitute. Here you will learn all.
A book to treasure.......2004-05-08
Without doubt the best book on Obi Abata divination. Osundiya provides an easy-to-follow format that surpasses any previous attempt. Experienced diviners can apply the instructions in the book to take the divination process to a more in-depth level of interpretation.
Obi Abata fails to provide a historical background of the system, and leaves out a few important points that are not well known among the followers of this religion.
In the early 80s, Babalawo Afolabi Epega introduced Obi Abata divination in New the York with his famous "little red booklet," which was being sold together with a set of Obi. At that time, the booklet became the standard guide for those that had the time and patience to digest a system of divination that had more questions than answers. Very few had the training to tackle this new tool on their own. Babalawo Adeleri of Brooklyn, New York was the exception. He took the Obi Abata to deeper levels of interpretation, and he is presently the utmost authority on Obi Abata.
Babalawo Chief Carlos Collazo of the Bronx, New York was credit with the invention of the Obi substitute used today in the Diaspora. On several occasions, priests in the religion have pilfered his invention for their own profit, and never gave Babalawo Collazo the credit that he deserves.
Author of Esu Osanyin
Remarkable With Ease.......2003-06-06
Without exclamation marks and words of praise, this book is a must-have for initiates and non-initiates of the Orisa/Ifa traditions. It is concise yet thorough. The author does well to provide information, and training, within easy reading format. Baba Osundiya's work in this book proves vaulable to both academics and the serious learners. He approaches the unacquainted and well-versed students with appropiate tact. The information, wisdom and science provided in his text are stripped of denominational and regional overtones therby benefiting those academics/learners from various religious backgrounds. It is exactly what the title presents: theory and practice.
Wisdom/clarity/beauty - no confusing tangents or frilly talk.......2003-04-17
Elegantly concise, morally and ethically compelling, profound in the simplicity of the explication of the symbolism, as also in the tutelage, not only of the understanding of the oracle itself, but of the depths of human/cosmic nature that inform it.
Even if one never resorts to using this particular oracular system, the understandings that Mr. Osundiya lays out are eminently readable and usable, and compellingly so. They will likely be helpful to practitioners of any other divinatory system.
It's probable that initiates of the esoteric schools will find his ease of expression to be refreshing and most revealing. He speaks from the heart, and from the gut, and with an unobstructed mind. His writing flows like music.
AHHHH.......2002-11-23
Baba Osundiya has produced a book that works on so many levels. You can feel his love and respect for Ifa in the pages of the tome. I only wish he were near me so I could study with him. At least I have this book. There is no filler here,no wasted pages of ego.Just an example of Iwa Pele on display for discerning eyes. Buy it.
Books:
- Waverley: or 'Tis Sixty Years Since (Oxford World's Classics)
- Welcome to Higby
- Wet Places At Noon
- White Jacket, or The World in a Man-of-War: Volume Five (Melville)
- Who I Was Supposed to Be: Short Stories
- With Child: Wisdom and Traditions for Pregnancy, Birth, and Motherhood
- You Are Not a Stranger Here
- A Garden of Sand (Thompson, Earl)
- A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartographer to the Court of Venice
- All the Trouble You Need : A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Computational Collective Intelligence
- The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Guide to Caring for Your Dog and Cat
- Mickey Mantle: Before the Glory
- Ramses Volume II: The Eternal Temple
- The Culture of History: English Uses of the Past 1800-1953
- The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories
- The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss
- The DNA of Success: Know What You Want to Get What You Want
- Privatization: Investing in State-Owned Enterprises Around the World
- Banking Theory 1870-1930
Trench
Cities of Salt
Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories
America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (Stanford Studies in Middle Eastern and I)
The Book of Saladin: A Novel
