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No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again; A Symphonic Novel
Edgardo Vega Yunque Manufacturer: Picador ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0312424027 Release Date: 2004-09-09 |
Book Description
This sweeping drama of intimately connected families--black, white, and Latino--boldly conjures up the ever-shifting cultural mosaic that is America. At its heart is Vidamiacute;a Farrell, half Puerto Rican, half Irish, who sets out in search of the father she has never known. Her journey takes her from her affluent suburban home to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where her father Billy Farrell now lives with his second family. Once a gifted jazz pianist, Billy lost two fingers in the Vietnam War and has since shut himself off from jazz. As Billy's colorful new family draws her into their fold, so Vidamia determines to draw her father back into the world he left behind.Customer Reviews:
Frightening talent.......2006-07-05
wow........2005-09-03
Look for other works by this gifted author............2004-06-18
Cool Book and whatnot.......2004-06-12
I have to disagree with the reviewer who said this novel doesn't have the 'sensitivity to music' of Time of Our Singing (undoubtedly a fine book in many ways), and I think one basis for comparison is both authors' interpretations of Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and its jazz adaptation by Miles Davis and Gil Evans. I think that Mr. Vega Yunqué gets it exactly right in Garlande's dialogue with Wyndell (Joseph Strom take note).
One thing I really loved were the histories of the characters, especially the rural Southern ones like Pop Butterworth, Buck Sanderson, Lurleen, et al., and I also like the author's sense of family and the interrelatedness of some of the characters in terms of ethnicity. And I think that shows in his view of music: he knows the lyrics to St. Thomas, he knows Phil's solos on Thelonious Monk at Town Hall, and someone I know even gets a word in: "Yeah!."
Walter Mosley not too long ago wrote a great blues novel set on E. 6th St. on the Lower East Side, but this one includes some of the landmarks and history of the neighborhood, the transit system, some of the literature, etc., that you probably have to have lived there to know about.
And finally, I loved all the information about New York Puerto Rican culture, the PR sense of self-identity, and especially the humor. Another great American cross-cultural irony is that Vidamía learns more about that culture by hanging out with her white half sister than from her Puerto Rican mother and stepfather. I liked Elsa because she's smart and she grows over the course of the novel.
A lot to recommend about this fine book.
A Journey I Wish I Hadn't Taken.......2004-05-28
Usually, when I finish a book, I like to sit and savor the experience. When I got to the end of this tome, I breathed a sign of relief that it was over. Oh well, that's about 10 hours of my life I'll never get back.
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No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again; A Symphonic Novel
Edgardo Vega Yunque Manufacturer: Picador ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OTS34C |
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Baby's Room: Ideas and Projects for Nurseries
Jessica Strand Manufacturer: Chronicle Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
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ASIN: 0811832937 |
Book Description
Preparing a nursery may be a parent’s most joyful and meaningful decorating project ever. Filled with visions of the newborn swathed in soft blankets and tucked in a crib with a rocker at the ready, it’s easy to feel excited-and to be completely overwhelmed. Enter Baby’s Room. In the same winning format as Kids’ Rooms, this inspirational book shows that decorating and furnishing a room for a newborn need not be difficult or expensive. Author Jessica Strand offers practical counsel on all the elements of room layout-everything from furniture and fixtures to lighting and window treatments. Color choices, fabrics, and themes are also explored, along with baby-friendly storage systems. To help parents visualize the possibilities, Baby’s Room showcases ten innovative nurseries that blend form and function with charm and creativity. With a comprehensive source list, easy make-it-yourself projects, and colorful photographs throughout, Baby’s Room delivers-everything but baby!Customer Reviews:
Decent Book.......2006-07-03
An Inspiring Book.......2005-05-22
Projects but no great ideas.......2004-07-09
classy baby room ideas.......2002-06-12
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The House on the Strand.
Daphne, Dame Du Maurier Manufacturer: DoubleDay ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items: ASIN: 0385019556 |
Book Description
In this haunting tale, Daphne du Maurier takes a fresh approach to time travel. A secret experimental concoction, once imbibed, allows you to return to the fourteenth century. There is only one catch: if you happen to touch anyone while traveling in the pCustomer Reviews:
Unusual Story.......2007-03-15
Great Book!.......2007-02-15
An interestine premise.......2006-09-05
Is it time travel, or is it all a dream?.......2006-04-14
House on the Strand.......2005-09-25
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The House on the Strand
Manufacturer: Avon books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000G39N54 |
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The House on the Strand
Manufacturer: Double Day ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000IG8GDO |
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The House on the Strand
Daphne Du Maurier Manufacturer: Penguin Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0140031642 |
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The House On The Strand
Daphne Du Maurier Manufacturer: World Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000KKJRXG |
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3 Titles By Du Maurier - Rebecca - The Glass-blowers - The House on the Strand
Daphne du Maurier Manufacturer: various ProductGroup: Book Binding: Mass Market Paperback ASIN: B000QTUA8M |
Product Description
Multiple books shipped as one item for your convenience. Save on Shipping/Handling charges.
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A Catalogue of Books, in Various Languages, and in Every Department of Literature, Now Selling at the Prices Affixed to each Article. By Rivingtons and Cochran, 148 Strand, (Near Somerset-House).
Rivingtons and Cochran. Manufacturer: London: ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000IURCNA |
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The House on Strand Street
Daphne du Maurier Manufacturer: Doubleday ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000NGSQRK |
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THE HOUSE ON THE STRAND
DAPHNE DU MAURIER Manufacturer: HERON BOOKS ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000SA98OG |
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The Ghost of the Revelator (Ghost trilogy)
L. E. Modesitt Jr. Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction ProductGroup: Book Binding: Mass Market Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0812545362 |
Amazon.com
Following up on the inventive Of Tangible Ghosts, L.E. Modesitt Jr. takes us back to his balkanized, techno-colonial vision of America, an alternate history in which the English colony at Plymouth failed long ago and New France, Columbia, Quebec, and the Mormon state of Deseret scheme and scrap for control of the continent and its resources. A land of dirigibles and difference engines, Modesitt's eerily refined world is compelling and coolly original, a place where you still drive to work in a car--albeit steam-powered--but think nothing of waving good morning to the zombies raking leaves off your lawn.The protagonist of Tangible Ghosts, college professor and former secret agent Johan Eschbach, is back in this espionage thriller, now married to world-class singer and fellow former spy Lysette duBoise. Amidst intrigue and having barely survived an attempt on their lives, the two head off to Salt Lake City after Lysette is invited to sing there by Deseret's Mormon government. Of course nothing is quite as it seems: the situation quickly becomes complicated as Austro-Hungary tries to derail any cooperation between Columbia and Deseret, and a fanatic splinter group kidnaps Lysette to force Eschbach to summon the ghost of the Revelator, no less than Joseph Smith. With its smooth and measured action and its novel and well-developed characters and setting, Ghost of the Revelator is a rich, rewarding read. --Paul Hughes
Book Description
L.E. Modesitt, Jr., has gained a legion of devoted fans for his science fiction as well as his epic fantasy novels. The Ghost of the Revelator is one of the best displays yet of his ability to blend dramatic, imaginative stories with rigorous social and scientific extrapolation.Doktor Johan Eschbach (the central character of Modesitt's popular alternate history SF novel, Of Tangible Ghosts) had hoped for a quiet life in retirement from the intelligence service, teaching environmental science at the University of New Bruges and living with his new wife, the vocalist Llysette du Boise. Llysette, a refugee from the burning remains of France, would herself like little more than to resume her singing career and forget her time in the prison camps of the Hapsburg Empire.But an unusual invitation from the Mormon nation of Deseret inexorably drags Johan back into the spy business, though he isn't quite sure why or for whom. It quickly becomes apparent that he is being used as a pawn in a deadly game of international maneuverings that are leading the world closer to war.Customer Reviews:
Well-done, complex, worthwhile alt-hist political thriller.......2004-01-01
Uneven and confusing.......2000-06-06
Enh.......1999-01-07
It's a combination of alternate history (something to do with the Mayflower settlement failing) and ghosts actually existing. This seemed to work in "Of Tangible Ghosts" -- which I quite likes -- but here is just blah.
There is some interesting stuff involving resource (energy and water) politics between "Columbia" (our eastern US), Deseret, and "New France" (our Mexico and California), but it gets lost in the end when the ghost story is allowed to take over. And that's between the recipes that seem to dominate whenever the main character and his wife have a meal!
Anyway, I have a feeling in the back of my mind that Modesitt is setting the story up for something interesting between "Columbia" and the Austria-Hungary which dominates Europe in this weird alternate history. But whatever that is, it will be in a subsequent volume. This just seems to be an intermediary to get you from book one to a not-yet-published book three, and so doesn't really do a whole heck of a lot to advance the tale.
An exciting thriller with both spooks and spies........1998-11-25
Professor Johann Eschbach, hero of Tangible Ghosts, is a newly tenured professor of Natural Resources at Vanderbraak State University, former Subminister for Environmental Protection, and former highly successful covert operative for the Spazi, a state security agency every bit as warm and cuddly as its nickname. Not surprisingly, Eschbach is far more enamored of his retirement from government service than his former employer despite his "insurance policy".
The one bright spot in Eschbach's life is his recent marriage to Doktor Llysette duBois, a once famous opera singer who came to the university in exile after the fall of old France. Between the Ghost books and his acclaimed Spellsong Cycle fantasy series, Modesitt demonstrates extraordinary interest in and insight into the character of beautiful, supremely talented sopranos.
Revelator's world, although contemporary, diverges from our own by presuming changes in a few key historical events, particularly the failure of the English colony at Plymouth and the early death of George Washington. The result is a North America which is far more politically fractured than in our world. Columbia, Eschbach's Dutch-Anglo home, is bordered to the south by New France, to the north by Quebec, and to the west by Deseret -- a Latter-Day Saint republic that still permits polygamy. Europe is mostly united, albeit forcibly under the bloody heel of Ferdinand, Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
Modesitt creates a subtly detailed universe which weaves an eclectic yet on-target cast of characters along with politics, economics, energy security, technology, the environment, and matters of the heart into a novel which, in the best literary tradition, enlightens us about our own world as well as offering an escape. More importantly, Revelator is a flat-out fun read. As usual with Modesitt's books, Revelator's dry humor includes a number of thinly disguised persons famous and obscure. Readers will be able to find such names as Blair, Chirac, and Hartpence among others.
Ghosts is also enlivened by the not-so-minor matter of, well, ghosts -- human spirits released into haunting mode by prolonged and violent death. Not only tangible, Modesitt's ghosts can be destroyed and even replicated by those few, including Eschbach, who posses and know how to use the right technology.
Llysette is invited to give her first major performances since exile in Great Salt Lake City, the capital of Deseret. The concerts are important to on many levels various people and powers. Deseret and Columbia's relations are uneasy although both understand the need for closer ties. Deseret has an advanced synthetic fuel industry while Columbia needs additional energy sources. Columbia's need for energy security has led to strict environmental regulation. Vehicles are steam-powered and run on kerosene. Air travel is usually by dirigible.
Anonymously mailed news clippings, a Presidential request for Llysette to sing at the White House, meetings with spies in offices which smell of disinfectant, the occasional assassination attempt and a surplus zombie or two do nothing to ease Johann's mind about the upcoming trip. Eschbach's travel is mandatory since Deseret's conservative culture forbids unaccompanied women -- a notion which does not sit well with either wife or husband.
Modesitt portrays the theocratic Saint state with restraint and balance, allowing the society speak for itself. One failing of the book is that while the role of religion in Deseret's society is fully developed, there is virtually no consideration of what if any role religion or religions play in Columbia. Similarly, Johann and Llysette's own beliefs (or lack thereof) remain unexamined which is both disappointing and odd given the otherwise highly detailed characters drawn by Modesitt.
Following the last of three triumphant performances, Llysette is kidnaped -- apparently by a schismatic sect. The real kidnaping target is Johann who soon swaps himself for his wife but not before seeking assistance from his embassy. Eschbach asks for a senior career official, rather than a political appointee with a more prestigious title.
The schismatic Revealed Twelve have a modest request of Johann -- bring back the ghost of Joseph Smith, certainly one of the more creative ways ever devised of staging a coup. While Modesitt's descriptions of virtually everything from university students to political machinations ring true, the same cannot be said of his descriptions of computer ghost programming which have a Star Trek-like temperance and authenticity. However, the real issue Johann is working through at the keyboard and much of the book is the need to support those who have betrayed him.
Revelator is somewhat marred by lack of a good copy editor. At one point Llysette's beverage changes from tea to chocolate and back in the space of a few sentences. In another instance which becomes increasingly bizarre, a car changes from a Reno to a Reo to a Reno to a Reo in a few pages. The reader deserves better quality control for their dollar. Publishers should not consider themselves any more immune to the need for production quality than auto companies.
It would be tough to shelve Ghosts under any single genre. Alternate history may be the closest match but science fiction, fantasy and, particularly from Eschbach's perspective -- horror, would also be viable contenders. However, as Keith Richards recently noted with regard to music, there are really only two kinds: good; and crap. This is why Mozart and Robert Johnson will be listened to for centuries while the Monkees... no. Modesitt's work will likely be appreciated long after Robert Jordan follows the Spice Girls into oblivion.
Solid but Heavy.......1998-11-15
About my only other complaint is that the main ghost (you knew there had to be one from the title) appears quite late in the story, and doesn't have the depth of character of the first novel's. I enjoyed the ghost construction details -- kinda like building a Web page on steroids.
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Ghost of the Revelator Signed
L E Modesitt Manufacturer: TOR BOOKS ST MARTINS MASS ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000U0FY5Q |
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Ghost of the Revelator Signed
L E Modesitt Manufacturer: TOR BOOKS ST MARTINS MASS ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000SNS9ZM |
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The Ghost of the Revelator
L.E. Modesitt Manufacturer: Tor Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OTGTWK |
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Ghost of the Revelator Signed
L E Modesitt Manufacturer: TOR BOOKS ST MARTINS MASS ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: B000N7HM92 |
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The Joel Goldsmith Reader
Joel S. Goldsmith Manufacturer: Citadel ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 080651051X Release Date: 1998-09-21 |
Book Description
This reader includes selections from all of these works by Joel S. Goldsmith: "Beyond Words & Thoughts; Conscious Union with God; Consciousness Unfolding; The Contemplative Life; God, the Substance of All Form; Leave Your Nets; Living Now; Man Was Not Born to Cry; The Master Speaks; and Realization of Oneness". Lightning Print on Demand TitleCustomer Reviews:
this is a truly magnificent book.......2006-06-04
The Joel S. Goldsmith Reader.......2005-09-09
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