The First Quarter Of The Moon

Customer Reviews:

Tragic tale of the last of the Sidhe, and the end of the Age of Faery.......2007-01-31

The dreaming tree is a combined version of CJ Cherryh's masterful Arafel stories.
This isn't a book with a lot of action; it is a thoughtful and thought provoking tale of the last of the Sidhe, the great race before the age of Man.

If you are not familiar with CJ Cherry, this book may be a chore to read, as it is so full of introspection and sorrow. If you already are familiar with her third person intense internal prose, you will love this tragic tale, where loneliness and alienation are palpable.

Utterly believable, powerful, wonderful!

Beautiful.......2007-01-12

In short: this has to be one of the most beautiful books I've read, a truly magical book. It makes you wish you'd find anything, even a pooka in a nearby river trying to coax you to death, just to see that Ealdwood once was...

The book consists of two books, as has been said, and I will deal with them as one. Anyway, I barely even noticed where the first book ended and the second began.

Cherryh paints in this book an absolutely lovely fairytale - a fairytale that feels like real life. It is sad and gloomy at times, and dark, but there is hope and love in it as well, and in the end the sad times only make it more beautiful. The characters are real, full of feeling, and all their feelings come across to the reader quite vividly. The story spans over quite a long time - in fact, we see four different generations in it. There is no single main character in the book for its whole duration - unless that is Arafel, the Sidhe lady.

One thing people have complained about this book is that it's slow. Well, this accusation hardly comes as a surprise to those who are familiar with C. J. Cherryh's other work... isn't that what she's always accused of by some readers? I wouldn't say this is slow, though. Let's just say it's not fast - at least most of the time. The story goes on at its own pace and keeps you in its grip through the quiet days of farming and everyday life, through the battles and hunts, as well as the magical encounters with the mystic world of Eald - or at least, this is what happened to me.

I don't know what else I can say about this book. To me, it is one of the most charming books I've ever come across, and I think I'll remember it for a long time. Originally I got it from the library, but it didn't take a long time for it to find its way into my bookshelf.

Pros and cons.......2006-06-27

This book is a collection of two titles, The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels.

I found The Dreamstone to be a wonderful read. Very concise in its form, the pacing worked well, and the story unfolds over a period of years, which is important to the central focus of the novel being on Eald and its relationship with humans. This first book comes in at under 200 pages, I believe, and really feels right.

Now, the second book is where things fall down. Somewhere along the way someone must have suggested that this story needed more words. Because there's a lot more words. And they're not all necessary. Gone is the conciseness of the story, gone is the mystery of Eald, as we focus more on humans and their squabbles over the kingdom. This book loses focus from the first one, and really drags through the final half. It is too long, it is too wordy, it is too complicated... it is just too much, frankly.

A shame, really, since The Dreamstone was really a wonderful read in itself.

just too slow.......2006-06-17

After reading Fortress in the Eye of Time I was eager to savour this celtic effort by the same author.

I found the same neat, accurate writing, the same fastidious attention to detail, the same unconventional characters.

Mr/Ms Cherryh (I still have not found out which) shapes a fascinating twilight world were dimming elves, more inhuman than I have ever found them in a fantasy, are fading leaving their place to humans. There is no sense a fulfillment, nor predestination. Just sadness.

It is not easy to create a novel out of these ideas. The author managed it in Fortress in the Eye of time, but this time unfortunately there is no plot. Nothing really happens in this book. Absolutely nothing. Characters do not come to life. You never connect with them. The atmosphere is fascinating but the final effect is boring.

A disappointment.

Interesting but odd.......2006-04-08

I really like Cherryh's stuff but this was a little convoluted. A good read but hard to keep track of characters.

The Strongest Tree / El Arbol Mas Fuerte: Fabulas Zeri "Para nunca dejar de sonar" / Zeri Fables "To never stop dreaming" (Zeri Fables)

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The Strongest Tree / El Arbol Mas Fuerte: Fabulas Zeri "Para nunca dejar de sonar" / Zeri Fables "To never stop dreaming" (Zeri Fables)
Gunter Pauli
Manufacturer: Zeri
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 9586928381

Book Description

The ZERI Fables series includes 18 beautifully illustrated, bi-lingual Spanish/English children's books that use Gunter Pauli's ZERI* Education model to teach children science. The books include a teachers and parents guide and hands on activities that help children apply what they have learned. Gunter Pauli's ZERI* Education model proposes that children, adolescents and young adults learn science in a way that gives them a more profound academic understanding at the same time that it helps develop their emotional intelligence, eco-literacy, and artistic/creative capacities. If children are to learn how to think, design, create, and dream in systems, then they must be exposed to systems thinking at an early age. Critical concepts become part of the child's long-term memory and the student gains an intuitive grasp of the big picture. Then the learning of the specific tools, concepts, and principles involved become far more appealing. When students start with a story that integrates ethics, economics, biology, and mathematics, they will be drawn to studying those disciplines later on. Pauli's work in sustainable manufacturing and agricultural became the catalyst for a major educational reform in Colombia. The strife and violence that exists in this country spawned an urgent desire on the part of college students to rebuild their society. The professors and engineering students at University EAFIT in Medellin, Colombia, eagerly embraced an integrated educational approach, including a compulsory course in biology for engineering majors. As the concept spread to other universities, the need to mold the earlier educational tracks in this new direction became apparent; first in a High School in Manizales where ZERI's coffee and bamboo projects have taken off, and then in elementary schools which asked for a version of this program adapted to their level, comparable to the Garden School projects of the Center for Ecoliteracy.

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Dreaming Tree
Alan Brown
Manufacturer: Harper UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0001983210

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Book Description

The Dreaming Tree
Patricia Matthews
Manufacturer: Worldwide Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

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Accessories:

philosophy hope in a jar daily moisturizer

ASIN: 0373971036

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Book Description.......2007-07-29

"TO AUSTRALIA THEY CAME

Convicts, banished from England, were sent to serve out their sentences in the primitive and unforgiving headlands on Botany Bay. It was here in Sydney Town that they and their offspring braved famine and treachery to build new lives.

Among the most determined was Hope Blackstock, whose very name carried the promise of a warmth and tenderness that the hardworking John Myers so desired. And yet Hope longed for something more--the passion of Cotty Starke, a man whose affections seemed destined for Charity, Hope's younger--and bolder--sister. Together, with a spirited determination to claim this rugged outback as their own, they staked out a destiny as bold as their grandest dreams ... and found passion and love everlasting."

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The Dreaming Tree
W. Eckert Allan
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co. 1968
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K5TSWG

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The Dreaming Tree
W. Eckert Allan
Manufacturer: EX-LIBRARY WITH MYLAR COVERED JACKET
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V7CWLC

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The Dreaming Tree
Allan W. Eckert
Manufacturer: Backinprint.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595089895

Book Description

The Dreaming Tree is a young adult novel about a boy living in boarding shcool; a boy bullied by others in the school and who is very lonely and misunderstood. While trying to cope with his various problems, he finds solace in the woods and becomes expecially enraptured by a giant old oak, in the hollows of which live a variety of cratures. The boy often climbs to the sturdy uppermost branches where he sits and observes nature around him. On those high branches he also pretends he is many different things and dreams his dreams of what he may one day become.

The Dreaming Tree & Tides of Love & Embers of Dawn & Flames of Glory ( Set of 4 Books )

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The Dreaming Tree & Tides of Love & Embers of Dawn & Flames of Glory ( Set of 4 Books )

Manufacturer: Severn house
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GSBAGE

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DREAMING TREE
Alan Brown
Manufacturer: Harper UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8OFCW

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The Dreaming Tree
W. Eckert Allan
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co. 1968
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K5QM20

Book Description

Twenty-four stories are included in this ambitious collection of Silverberg's work, each with an introduction by the author recollecting the time and place in which they were conceived. Winner of five Nebula Awards and four Hugos, Silverberg is one of the undisputed masters of science fiction.

Customer Reviews:

Great later shorts by Robert Silverberg.......2000-07-24

Robert Silverberg is one of the best writers of SF -- ever. From 1968 or so to the mid-70's Silverberg probably had the best five year run of any SF writer in producing great work. Novels like Nightwings, Dying Inside, The Book of Skulls, and A Time of Changes, along with shorts from that period like "Good News from the Vatican"... Even Heinlein never had a straight run of great work in one five of six year period. Heck, the only similar run of great work in SF was happening almost at the same time in U.K. Le Guin's work. And this is not to leave folks like Ellison and Niven and resurent Fred Pohl's, Isaac Asimov's and Aurthur Clarke's out either. The late 60's and early 70's should really be considered the Golden Age of SF when we look back now. And it was Silverberg was was leading the pack then.

This book contains much of his good short story work from the 1980's and early 1990's. There is some good to almost great work still coming from the Typewriter/Word Processor of Silveberg. His shorts and novellas like "Mulipules", "Sailing to Byzantuim", "House of Bones" and "Enter a Soldier. Later:Enter another" are all of high caliber.

I orginally found this book in the library when I was going thru what I was catching up on SF. As soon as I have read it I wanted to own it. But I found it was out of print. We'll... It took a while, but I finally found it. And I have taken great care of it ever since.

I highly recommend this book, as well as anything else by Robert Silverberg.

Great collection of stories commented by the author.......1997-03-08

Some stories featured show a very strong writting fiber in Mr. silverberg, some are really among the best short science fiction stories I have read, the author also shares briefly his view on each story

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Valuable but irritating

The Art of the Table

Mayra Calvani -- Curled Up With A Good Book

A Complete A to Z Guide on Table Setting, Manners and Tableware.

A phenominal resource book dedicated to enlighten and inform its reader.

The Art of the Table: A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware
Suzanne Von Drachenfels
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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The Little Book of Etiquette (Miniature Editions)

The Simple Art of Napkin Folding: 94 Fancy Folds for Every Tabletop Occasion

Letitia Baldrige's New Manners for New Times: A Complete Guide to Etiquette

Emily Post's Etiquette, 17th Edition (Thumb Indexed)

Emily Post's Entertaining

ASIN: 0684847329

Book Description

Coming together to share a meal is one of our most vital traditions. Whether dining with friends, family, or business associates, we know that an elegant setting and gracious manners bring a sense of harmony and order to the occasion. Yet when it comes to knowing precisely how to set a table for formal and informal dining, which fork is for dessert and which for the appetizer, how to serve different types of wine -- even how to eat certain foods -- many of us are not fully confident.

Suzanne von Drachenfels learned this firsthand in her career as an expert on table setting, tableware, and etiquette. Conducting seminars throughout the country, she would hear the same questions again and again: Should bread be buttered entirely or bite by bite? What is the purpose of holding a wine glass by the stem or the base? Is handmade crystal worth the price difference?

The Art of the Table answers all these questions and more. A treasure trove of timeless information, this complete guide is to the table what Joy of Cooking is to the kitchen. Von Drachenfels shows us how to select, lay, and use tableware to enhance any dining experience, and how to properly store and care for it -- whether it's your grandmother's porcelain or everyday stainless steel. She provides guidance on mixing and matching tableware patterns; the basics of coffee, tea, and wine; menu planning; napkin folding; and the proper service techniques for all types of entertainment. So as not to let the lore of the table fall away, she delves deep into the history of specific tableware and the customs we keep, making today's practices understandable.

For the novice host, this is an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide with more than one hundred helpful illustrations. For the host with more experience, it is a rich and exciting source of new ideas. Like its author, whose passion for the table is contagious, The Art of the Table is an authoritative, elegant, and sophisticated resource for all one's dining needs.

Amazon.com

Do you know how to set the table? Worry about your dinner manners? Finally, with The Art of the Table, Suzanne von Drachenfels comes to the rescue with a truly comprehensive guide to the correct use of tableware and confidence-building information about proper dining etiquette. Von Drachenfels, a former Tabletop Consultant for dinnerware makers Fitz & Floyd, defines the vocabulary of tableware and explains the selection, use, and care of dinnerware, flatware, stemware, and table linens. She expertly details the basic service techniques for all types of entertainment, and even includes advice on menu planning. Learn how to read the labels of wine bottles or how to filet a fish at the table; learn where and when to sit down and the proper way to eat finger foods.

Spicing up the how-to text are fascinating tidbits of social and culinary history. Who knew, for instance, that the first napkin was a lump of dough or that ancient Egyptian feasts often concluded with a coffin laid out with an imitation skeleton to remind diners to appreciate the bounteous gifts of life? The author reveals the origins of everyday expressions--such as "eating humble pie"--and covers the history of table manners to shed light on the commonsense reasons behind today's customs. Food service professionals--restaurateurs, service staff, and caterers--will find the book an indispensable guide to the correct way to set a table and present food, but anyone who has a need or yearning to know the nitty-gritty of table setting, table manners, and tableware will be sure to find answers to all of their questions and more in this exhaustive reference book. --Robin Donovan

Customer Reviews:

Valuable but irritating.......2007-05-22

I was tempted to simply curl up on the sofa and read this substantial and well laid-out reference book, but the author's idiosyncrasies and the publisher's poor copyediting make me too uncomfortable to sit still.

Most sections start with a little rhyme or aphorism, many composed by the author herself. Unfortunately, her skill at coining a phrase does not rise to the level of her through research and fine organization. And since the editors can't even tell the difference between how to "lay" a table and what "lies" on it (for example), they apparently didn't consider reining her in. The sweetness of the information and the author's enthusiasm are made unpalatable by one cringe-inducing jingle after another and an endless, carbon-copied parade of etymology lessons. A few passages of text are so convoluted as to be indecipherable. Argh.

The good: Exhaustive information, drawings, and photographs of individual pieces of tableware (flatware and dishes), how to arrange them, how to select and purchase them, when and how to use them, and how to care for them; how to set for and serve formal and informal meals; how to select and drape tablecloths; how to decorate a table with flowers. Great information for collectors as well as hosts and guests. A handsomely set book that I've referred to again and again.

The bad: A publisher that didn't respect the author (or its customers) enough to edit her work with the same thoroughness she brought to the project.

The ugly: A book whose flaws keep it from rising to the author's vision of elegance, ease, and usefulness.

The Art of the Table.......2007-01-24

Beautiful pictures illustrate everything you wanted to know about the graceful table. This is a wonderful party planner's guide providing inspiration and fun ways to set your table and mood for dinner.

Mayra Calvani -- Curled Up With A Good Book.......2006-12-03

Do you love to entertain at home yet aren't sure of all the rules of etiquette? What is the correct place to put the butter knife? Is it necessary to put a different fork when serving fish? Should bread be buttered entirely or bite by bite? What is the difference between the various types of wine glasses?

Whether you're a beginner or an experienced host, you'll find The Art of the Table a complete, invaluable guide filled with all there is to know about table setting, table manners, and tableware.

In spite of its length, the book is easy to follow and written in reader-friendly language. It is filled with interesting facts, as well as fascinating quotes and proverbs from famous people throughout the ages. In the middle of the book the author includes beautiful color photographs of various styles of table settings--formal, informal, eclectic, European, American, Spanish colonial, rustic, contemporary, etc.. All though the book, however, there are detailed drawings used for demonstration, offering the reader a clear idea of the author's how-to explanations.

The book is divided into nine parts, each encompassing several topics:

One: Dining Fundamentals
Two: Dinnerware
Three: Flatware
Four: Stemware
Five: Table Linens
Six: Serving Techniques
Seven: Dining Finesse
Eight: Menu Plan
Nine: Table Manners

The best thing about the book is not only that it demonstrates the "how-to" of table setting, but that it offers a lot of information about tableware. For instance, in Part Four, Stemware, the author gives a historical background of glass and crystal, the different decorative methods and styles, the different categories, their shape and purpose, how to place stemware, how to purchase stemware, and even how to care for it. The same is done in the other parts with Dinnerware, Flatware, Table Linens, etc.. Thus this book is, in every sense of the word, a complete reference book.

A Complete A to Z Guide on Table Setting, Manners and Tableware........2006-02-12

At last a book that address's the who, what, when, where, how and why of table settings, tableware and manners. Very sadly over the years etiquette, especially table has been flushed down the proverbial toilet. This is a must have reference book for any home; and, makes for a great engagement, housewarming or new apartment gift. There are two (2) hope chests sitting within the walls of our home; both have a copy of The Art of the Table. Upon receiving this book, my girls and I sat down and started to skim through it,two (2) hours later found us taking out the fine china, stemware and silver. We set both a formal and informal table. A memory I shall forever treasure. Suzanne Von Drachenfels thank you, for this great book.

A phenominal resource book dedicated to enlighten and inform its reader........2005-10-07

The Art of The Table - A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware, is extremely thorough in covering all the details related to proper table etiquette. Author Suzanne Von Drachenfels makes it so easy, and entertaining in the process, finding the answer to any mealtime dilemma.

In nine, worldly-wise written chapters, you will learn all about table fundamentals. Starting with the dining experience (formal vs. informal), then dinnerware, flatware, stemware, table linens, serving techniques, dining finesse, menu planning, Suzanne completes her mission with her undertaking of table manners in a changing world. Her history lessons compliment any given subject and are very enjoyable. Excellent!

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The Art of the Table: a Complete Guide To Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware
Suzanne Von Drachenfels
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N677W0

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