Customer Reviews:
utter loveliness........2005-12-15
I wouldn't want to spoil the thing by saying too much, but it was a very interesting read, aside from being intensely pleasant. There's a certain delicacy, about death, and strife, and the drinking of wine. Durrell is well spoken and well informed: you might think, like I did, that the story of Cyprus isn't politically relevant. But I only thought that because I'm an ignorant American, and because I had yet to read this lovely book.
Memories of times lost.......2004-01-18
An evocative memoir of the author's stay [1953-6] in what's now Northern Cyprus. Much of the landscape was still as he described it when we visited Belle Pais, Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Nicosia, the Tree of Idleness and other sites on our hiking trip to Cyprus in 2001. His adventures in buying and maintaining a house rival those of Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence"written many years later. The peaceful interludes in the hills are marred by foreshadowing of the political turmoil and tragedies that would engulf Cyprus in the following decades, leading to the departure of Durrell and other foreign nationals. Some of those towns and even cities remain ghost towns to this day. Once hard to find, this book has now been deservedly reissued.
Average customer rating:
- outstanding, potentially life changing. a classic
- A lost time and place
- Memories of time lost
- Inspirational, funny, and sad
- Travel and unease
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Bitter Lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
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Durrell, Lawrence
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ASIN: 0525482369 |
Customer Reviews:
outstanding, potentially life changing. a classic.......2006-01-15
I visited Mr. Durrell's house in 1991 while visiting my relatives in the American Embassy (it has a little sign that says Bitter Lemons). I didn't want to go to Cypress; it was just something to do to kill time one summer with my family. I read the book on the way there and finished it a day before the trip to the Turkish side of the island. It was like a light had been turned on and it has never been out since. I plan and I go everywhere now and as often as I can. Good enough to purchase another copy after 15 years of use.
A lost time and place.......2004-07-30
I read this book because I'm planning a trip to Cyprus next year. My only previous exposure to Lawrence Durrell's work was PROSPERO'S CELL, his evocative memoir of Corfu. In that book, he tells of having to leave the beautiful island because of the impending World War II. In BITTER LEMONS, Durrell once again finds an island paradise that he has to leave because of political violence. The early chapters of the book are mostly humorous sketches about the lazy life of beautiful Cyprus and the colorful local characters. His happy island home becomes a kind of salon for globetrotting artists and intellectuals. Then about halfway through the book, political trouble starts brewing and terrorism becomes a fact of daily life, destroying Durrell's friendships with the people he had come to love. During this crisis, Durrell, a schoolmaster, is enlisted to serve as an administrator in the British government. There, he finds himself in the frustrating position of watching the crisis escalating all around him and being powerless to do anything about it. Durrell documents the events leading up to a standoff between the British and the Cypriots, primarily the result of British bureaucratic indifference. The book is beautifully written. Durrell was a poet and novelist and his descriptive prose evokes the colors, tastes and smells of the island in a way that is very moving. I enjoyed the early part of the book more than the parts dealing with politics. Durrell could easily have written this as two books and, in a way, I wish he had. The book left me with a terrible sense of loss, but that is perhaps what Durrell intended. This is a sad book.
Memories of time lost.......2004-01-21
An evocative memoir of the author's stay [1953-6] in what's now Northern Cyprus. Much of the landscape was still as he described it when we visited Belle Pais, Famagusta, Kyrenia, and Nicosia, the Tree of Idleness and other sites on our hiking trip to Cyprus in 2001. His adventures in buying and maintaining a house rival those of Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence"written many years later. The peaceful interludes in the hills are marred by foreshadowing of the political turmoil and tragedies that would engulf Cyprus in the following decades, leading to the departure of Durrell and other foreign nationals. Some of those towns and even cities remain ghost towns to this day
Inspirational, funny, and sad.......2003-07-20
This book, along with a couple by Henry Miller and a few others of Durrell's, was responsible for causing my husband and me to leave life and jobs in LA and move to Greece for nearly a year. Bitter Lemons is part memoir, part political commentary, part travel writing, and part philosophy. It's the story of Durrell's fairly brief stay on the island of Cyprus, conflict between Greeks and Turks, impending world war, buying a house and trying to settle into a unique niche of the world. It's a book about Life and all its myriad difficulties.
Tip-top - and wonderful writing. It's one of those books whose memory will stay with me always.
Travel and unease.......2002-01-09
_Bitter Lemons_ begins as you would expect a piece of travel writing to do-- with Durrell's impressions about Cyprus, some history, the stories of his first days there and the way in which he comes to make himself a home on the island.
Where it ultimately goes, however, is somewhere far different than most travel writing. Durrell is drawn into the conflict around Cypriot independence and is forced to examine his position as expatriot in a troubled environment.
The initial chapters of the book are so lovely and the scenes sketched so charming, that something in the reader rebels when the book turns its attention to the problem of terrorism and the echos of violence. That very quality, of course, is what lifts the book above the average travel book as it creates a Cyprus for the reader than is far more real-- not just a utopian garden existing somewhere far, far away for the weary reader to someday visit.
Average customer rating:
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Bitter lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: faber and faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006DA09M |
Average customer rating:
- Cyprus, the third of Durrell's island quartet
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Bitter Lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: Plume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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History & Criticism
| Literature & Fiction
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Durrell, Lawrence
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ASIN: 0525470441 |
Customer Reviews:
Cyprus, the third of Durrell's island quartet.......2006-07-31
"Bitter Lemons" (1957) is the third of four 'landscape books' that Durrell wrote about his pre- and post-war experiences in and around the Mediterranean. The other books in this series are "Prospero's Cell," "Reflections on a Marine Venus," and "Sicilian Carousel."
The first book, "Prospero's Cell" was written in the years preceding World War II. Durrell's foreshadowing of that grim future cast his landscapes and dazzling Greek villages of Corfu into intense relief. In his second book, war still clings like a gray film to the bright fabric of "Reflections of a Marine Venus," which was begun in 1945.
In his third island book, the author moves away from World War II, and into his experiences dodging gunmen and bombs during the postwar 'unrest' on Cyprus, which was then a British protectorate.
Even though it seemed from Durrell's first two books that he would be a strong supporter of Enosis--the union of Cyprus with Greece--he comes across as a pompous British colonialist in "Bitter Lemons." Poona stuff all around that reads rather obnoxiously in the Twenty-first century. Some of his Greek friends stopped speaking to him, but Durrell's patriotic rhetoric can be partially excused by his position--he was the British Director of Information for Cyprus. According to the introduction by Ian S. MacNiven, Durrell might even have been in the pay of MI-5 (British Military Intelligence).
This is still a very moving book about essentially peaceful Cypriots, both Greek and Turk getting caught up in a bloody conflict no one really wanted. There are many parallels to current-day Lebanon, especially if you look beyond the scope of "Bitter Lemons" to the invasion of Cyprus by Turkey.
Durrell's second great obsession during his years on Cyprus was the purchase and restoration of an old Turkish house at Bellapaix. This is the best part of the book in spite of the stereotypical 'boisterous' Greeks and 'indolent' Turks. The author employs his best, most beautiful descriptions on his house, his village, and the surrounding territory. This is the author I came to love in the first two books of this series.
"Bitter Lemons" is thought by some to be the best of Durrell's island books. I would rate it the least, but still worth reading.
Recommendation: try to find the Marlowe & Company editions of Durrell's island quartet for their knowledgeable and interesting introductions.
Average customer rating:
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Bitter Lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NWQ65I |
Average customer rating:
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Bitter Lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: E.P. Dutton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000KAGWK2 |
Average customer rating:
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Bitter Lemons
Lawrence Durrell
Manufacturer: FABER & FABER LTD (ENGLAND)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U25D2S |
Book Description
This second enchanting installment in the debut trilogy by new fantasy talent Cecilia Dart-Thornton calls to mind the novels of Jennifer Roberson and Morgan Llywelyn.Imrhien has braved a world of faery folk and other creatures of legend to elicit the help of the healer, Maeve One-Eye. Though her memory remains clouded by sorcery, Imrhien must take vital news directly to the king-emperor. But the king is not at courthe and his armies are facing unhuman forces far to the north. And when evil wights follow Imrhien even to the royal sanctuary on a hidden, mystic island, she must accept a horrifying fact: she is the real target of the monstrous attacks. And she has no idea why.
Customer Reviews:
More captivating than the first volume........2007-06-27
This is the second book in the Bitterbynde trilogy (after The Ill-Made Mute and before The Battle of Evernight).
Now that the old carlin Maeve One-Eye has healed Imrhien, restored her beauty and her voice, but not her memory, the young woman can travel to the royal city of Caermelor in order to deliver to the King-Emperor the secret message of the treasure found at Waterstairs. She goes there disguised as Rohain Tarrenys, Lady of the Sorrows, the distant islands or Severnesse. Alas, the King-Emperor is not at court but has gone to battle against the army of unseelie beings who have declared war on humankind. She has no choice but to wait, try and find clues about her past, and look for the mysterious Dainnan warrior Thorn whom she's fallen for.
But for Imrhien it's hard to blend in, with the constant threat of the courtiers seeing through her disguise if she doesn't learn their manners fast. Luckily, she soon makes friends with her maid Viviana, who starts to teach her slingua (a made-up court-language).
Seeing that the King-Emperor is not coming back any time soon, she decides to make for Isse Tower, where she used to be known as the Ill-Made Mute, to meet those among whom she used to live and gather information on her former life. There she makes an astounding discovery, but her happiness is short-lived. Indeed, after an attack by the unseelie hordes, she comes to understand she might actually be the target of Huon the Hunter and his Wild Hunt.
Even though I found that the heroin's name changed too often, I liked this middle-volume better than the previous one. For one part it is not as over-written, but its pace is also faster. The plot is more captivating, with a romantic first half and intriguing, albeit predictable ending chapters, in which the story shifts to another place and time when the legendary Faêran still roamed the land of Erith.
Great continuation of book 1..........2006-05-09
I really enjoyed reading the second book of this trilogy. It was just as good as the first one and I couldn't put it down. Similarly to Book I, Book II ends with Imrhien finding many of the answers she was looking for. However, a new set of challenges is introduced at the same time, and the plot continues to thicken.
As a side note, I also appreciated the way in which the folk stories and legends were woven into the plot of book; they were interesting and fun to read, and set the series apart from many others I've read in the past. Now that I've started the final book of the trilogy, I'm curious to see how the author resolves the many problems that Imrhien faces. If you enjoyed book I, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll enjoy book II as well.
A Great Read.......2006-04-10
I thoroughly enjoyed The Lady of Sorrows. After finishing The Ill-made Mute, I had to start this 2nd volume. The style of writing and use of language is just beautiful and I enjoyed it as much as the story itself. Some parts of the book are drawn out and the poor heroine always seems to be having to set out of some very long journey mainly undertaken on foot in extreme conditions. This aside the plot has a number surprises and new characters together with it being so beautifully written it keeps you turning the pages. The author's knowledge of folklore is just amazing.
Intrigue and evil at work.......2006-03-01
Imrhien sets to the capital, and she goes there as a noble from a faraway land. Her goal is to turn over the found treasure to the King-Emperor, also in order to punish those who stole it.
She quickly finds herself in the heart of court intrigue and in the way of other political manoeuvres.
The pace becomes fast when the war threatens the region, the plots around Imrhien unravel, and finally Imrhien's past somewhat seems to get back to her, in a strange manner.
She sets to a remote island for protection, where she stays for a while, but end up stranded on the continent, helpless and without news of the world, there she decides to head towards danger. This is when a strange tale of a different age starts...
The second book of the bitterbynde trilogy is the apogy, as it probably should. You can never quite trust anyone, and in the middle of the book the story could spin about any way you can imagine. The story surprised me in almost all the outcomes, and I very much enjoyed the convincing evil part, the author didn't contain them. Be ready for a couple of big surprises, as the ending of the book is also very surprising...
I don't recommend reading this book without reading the first one before, it would spoil the sequence.
Enchanted prose, human hearts.......2004-06-10
For me, Lady of the Sorrows delivered on the promise of The Ill-Made Mute, and flooded my reading hours with Dart-Thornton's lovely, evocative prose just as Lady Imrhien/Rohain's memory flooded back to her. The subtle weaving of the heroine's life into the fabric of a familiar fairy tale achieved what I could not have imagined--a deeply moving humanization of one of the remoter and more forbidding faerie stories. Dart-Thornton is able to create tension between repellent and abominable acts springing from the Otherworld and utterly attractive human personalities. The grandeur of romance (in the Spenserian sense) is conjured without losing the immediacy and warmth that make one care about these characters as individuals. Between Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde series and Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy (also based on a fairy tale, whose depths are plumbed with heartbreaking effect), it seems that Australia is sending out writers of the highest calibre talent and imagination. The Lady of the Sorrows is beautiful to read, beautiful to hold, and caresses the reader like a walk in her eternal forest.
Book Description
Larajin
In a household where everyone has a secret, why should the maid be any different?
The unacknowledged daughter of Thamalon Uskevren, Larajin is a half-elf who finds herself embroiled in a bitter war between elves and humans. In an effort to bring peace to both Sembia and the Dalelands, Larajin will have to confront a twin brother she doesn't know and save a half-brother whose fate hangs in the balance.
Customer Reviews:
Very Disappointing.......2007-05-09
"Heirs of Prophecy" is the fifth installment in the, so far, excellent "Sembia" series of stand-alone novels. I liked Smedman's earlier works (or rather later works since those books I read were written after this one), and I came into reading this novel with rather high expectations. It was not to be, though.
First something about the good things in this novel. Smedman's imagination is very colorful, and she gives some very good and vivid descriptions of Cormanthor forest and the wild elves living in it. Besides that, one of the characters, Leifander, is very interesting and well fleshed-out, which can't be said about this novel's other characters. The book also contains very few combat scenes, something I find very refreshing.
Now the bad stuff. As I mentioned, most of the characters are very shallow and uninteresting, and especially the book's main character Larajin. There is a concept about her being a priest of two goddesses at once, and while it may seem interesting, it turns out rather boring and repetitive. The author wanted to give a feeling of progress to her powers, I guess, but it turned out to be ridiculously fast. The plot is the standard "D&D adventure" plot, as I like to call it. Go there, learn that, go somewhere else, meet someone, do something, go somewhere again. There is a prophecy, a lost family member, a looming war, everything that has been written a million times over. To be honest, last forty or so pages show that there was maybe something to be done with the plot, but too little and far too late. The book also has a couple of annoying inconsistencies, such as elves despoiling their own burial grounds.
All in all, I expected far more from this novel. Read at your own discretion.
OVERALL SCORE: (B-).......2004-03-28
This is a fairly good read, the plot is average, but the story telling, vivid descriptions, and good character development help make this story.
This is a story about good/noble/wonderful elves, and bad/greedy/bigoted/cheating/lying humans (sigh). The Heroine must stop a war, stop a evil wizard, save her brothers, and all with the power of LOVE!!! [yuck]. But the story is told with wonderful descriptive prose, reasonable complex characterizations, and seems to make up for the insipid plot. The flying cat is enough reason too read this book!
Although giving the elves facial tattoos seriously put me off, and nearly had me toss out the book. If you can get past this `sacralige', and you like this sort of story, you will probably like "Heirs of Prophecy".
OVERALL SCORE: (B-)
READABILITY: (A-), PLOT: (C-), CHARATERS: (A), DIALOGUE: (B-), SETTING: (A), ACTION/COMBAT: (B-), MONSTERS/ANTAGONISTS: (B+), ROMANCE: (n/a), SEX: (n/a), AGE LEVEL: (G/PG)
Starts strong, but..........2002-06-22
Larajin, the bastard half-elf daughter of Thamalon Uskevren, is a likeable and appealing character, and at first it's pleasing to follow her adventures. But when four powers clash with no visible fallout, an avariel elf, the first ever to appear in a Forgotten Realms novel, a truly once in a lifetime occurence, is tossed in as a subplot, the imperious Lord Maalthiir is reduced to a sub-moron and the entire war plot is resolved through a set of contrivances and mixmatched loves that wouldn't seem out of place in a Restoration Comedy like The Way of the World... well let's just say that something's missing.
Average customer rating:
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The Kyrid Legacy: Sequel To The Novel Prophecy's Heir
R D Weilburg
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
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Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
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Adventure
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
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ASIN: 1419634623
Release Date: 2006-06-23 |
Book Description
In this sequel to PROPHECY'S HEIR, the heirs of Kyros must overcome the portents of history and rid the Expansion System of Tomyra, the Naked Queen of Massaq. The mad but clever Kambis and his cousins Daro and Otan must face greed, treachery, jealousy, fratricide and insanity to preserve the empire that Kyros left for them.
Average customer rating:
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Prophecy's Heir
R D Weilburg
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
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ASIN: 1594579091
Release Date: 2004-10-29 |
Book Description
Exploring the depths of a successful science fiction story based on the life of Cyrus the Great, Prophecy's Heir thrills the reader. Combining a story mixed with history, light speed travel, intrigue, and action, Prophecy's Heir is a tightly woven political plot where good and bad abound into a cosmic history and conquest readers will enjoy.
Book Description
Introduce yourself to the
Forgotten Realms(R) world with New York Times best-selling author, Lisa Smedman.
Larajin, the unacknowledged daughter of Thamalon Uskevren and a half-elf, finds herself embroiled in a bitter war between elves and humans. In an effort to bring peace to both Sembia and the Dalelands, Larajin must confront the twin brother she doesn't know and save a half-brother whose fate hangs in the balance.
Average customer rating:
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Heirs of the cross
James D Wallace
Manufacturer: White Wing Pub. House and Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Sermons
| Ministry & Church Leadership
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0934942439 |
Book Description
Panchatantra, is perhaps the oldest collection of Indian Fables surviving. It is written around 200BC by Hindu Scholar Pandit Vishnu Sharma. The book is written in the form of simple stories and each story has a moral and philosophical theme which has stood the test of time in modern age of atomic fear and madness. It guides us to attain success in life by understanding human nature.
Customer Reviews:
Nice book time.......2007-01-16
It has it the man run around do things have it been!
Do it with its part having to do it with!
Lots of fun and things of that nature.
A Gift from India to the World.......2005-08-29
No one knows when or how the Panchatantra was composed. However, according to the legend, a Brahmin scholar named Vishnu Sharma designed it to teach the sons of a king something about life, neeti (policy) and real-politik. The result was a mosaic of interlocking stories that emerge from one another, and leave you with a lot of understanding about dealing with life. Incidentally, though some people compare Panchatantra with Arabian Nights, the comparison is not apt. Arabian Nights do not really offer any learning, they are purely for entertainment. Panchatantra has the power to deepen your understanding of the world in immeasurable ways.
The book reached Arabia sometimes in the fifth century AD, and then later it reached Europe, where it is believed to have led to development of Aesop's fables. It is difficult to judge how it has affected these societies, but in India it has had tremendous impact, which continues to this day. Its lessons are alive and well even today, and almost every child will know at least one story from Panchatantra.
The present translation from the original Sanskrit is good one, though it appears to have been condensed at many places, with many critcal comments left out. If you want a more faithful translation, you may look in Penguin Classics where it has been published as 'Pancatantra', translated by Chandra Rajan, and offers an excellent introduction to boot.
However, Sanskrit and English are two very different languages in their orientation (though they belong to the same family). As a result, the translation of many ideas suffers. Also, some of the particularly interesting comments have been left out altogether. So if you know Hindi or Sanskrit, then you should try and buy the Panchatantram in Sanskrit/ Hindi (published by Motilal Banarasi Das of Delhi).
Even so, going through this book may open up another world for you, particularly if you were not brought up in India. It will change your perspective on many ordinary things and challenges that you face in everyday life. There are stories which teach you how to recognise deceit, fraud, cheating, make friends, cooperate with people, and generally get on with life. And there are arguments over particular positions that the protagonist takes, so that you get to see both points of view. You would also find this book particularly useful if you are dealing with Indians in business or in diplomacy, just as Western audiences have found the Art of War (Sun Tzu) to be a fascinating insight into the Chinese mind.
As the stories are built around animals, many people mistake these for nursery stories or for fables. This is not correct. Panchatantra is as relevant for adults as it is for teenagers. In fact some of the stories involving adults are not appropriate for young children (
<13 years).
All in all, an excellent book for your own enjoyment or as a gift to a young or old friend.
Books:
- Breakfast in Babylon
- Breath and Shadows (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- Broken as Things Are: A Novel
- Bronstein's Children
- By Salt Water: Stories (New Island New Fiction)
- Cincinnati and Other Plays (includes the plays Cincinnati, Nightmare with Clocks, Captain Cook, Dead Men's Fingers, Axis Sally, How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth, and Full Fathom Five)
- Cleopatra: Being an Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis, the Royal Egyptian, As Set Forth by His Own Hand (Works of H. Rider Haggard)
- Collected Tales and Fantasies of Lord Berners: Including Percy Wallingford, the Camel, Mr. Pidger, Count Omega, the Romance of a Nose, Far from the Madding War
- Colored Waiting Room
- Communities in Nature - Shorelands (Communities in Nature)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Facility Design and Management Handbook
- Yaqui Deer Songs, Maso Bwikam: A Native American Poetry
- Round Buildings, Square Buildings, and Buildings that Wiggle Like a Fish
- The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History.
- The Stanley Kubrick Archives
- Winesburg, Ohio
- Unravelling Animal Behaviour
- Time Management is an Oxymoron
- Successful Business Expansion: Practical Strategies for Planning Profitable Growth
- Educator's Lifetime Encyclopedia of Letters
The Lawrence Durrell Travel Reader
The Greek Islands
Clea (Alexandria Quartet)
Balthazar (Durrell, Lawrence. Alexandria Quartet.)
The Rough Guide to Cyprus 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
