Book Description
The celebrated American writer and journalist Ambrose Bierce mysteriously disapeared in Mexico during its civil war. In this brilliant novel, Carlos Fuentes imagines the fate of Bierce among Pancho Villa's troops and dramatizes the conflict of North America's two cultures locked in deadly embrace.
Customer Reviews:
Moving, Gentle Story of Two Gringos and a General in Mexico. .......2007-03-04
This is a quiet gentle story of an aging man who comes to Mexico to die by the hand of Pancho Villa and an American woman who eventually finds herself involved with a Villa general. Both have baggage in the US and are trying to find something in Mexico that has been missing from their lives.
Class Assignment.......2006-02-28
I would not have read this book on my own. My literature instructor at Santa Monica College assigned it. It took a while for me to get into the book. I would recommend it if you are looking for something totally different than a fast pace, exciting read.
I loved this novel. .......2005-09-25
I thoroughly enjoyed Fuentes' The Old Gringo. It constitutes everything a novel should be: love, death, war, sex, etc. It includes themes of brotherhood, colonialism, relations between the US and Mexico, freedom, love across national boundaries, and what it is to die. I found Fuentes' prose to be beautiful and diverse; an intersubjective consciousness flows through the characters, revealing as well that we are all only readers, and we will never know the real story. Beacuse of his style, Fuentes enriches the text, makes it stand out and vibrate with life. It's tactile. His characters are complex and story line great.
For anyone interested in Latin-American works, I would highly recommend this one. It takes the revolution and gives it the colors we would never see as outsiders.
Movie was bad, book is worse........2005-03-02
The story starts out very good, but the farther one reads the slower and more boring it becomes, I was only able to scan thru the second half, as other reviewers remarked the sex scene is really really laughable, avocados indeed. I felt as if I were wasting my time reading this when I could have been reading something good.
I'll Never Eat Guacemole Again........2005-02-06
Usually things I read don't bother me, no matter how absurd or disgusting they are. I'm an English major, and I've read enough to not be shocked by much. But then there comes The Old Gringo. What shocks me about The Old Gringo isn't really the events of the plot. As far as a story goes, this is just pretty dull and wouldn't offend. The writing, however, is shocking. I don't know if it's the translation or what, but there is some really absurd writing in here. The guy actually wrote the following image (I'm recalling this sentence, but I know this is still pretty accurate): "Arroyo's testicles were like furry little avocados." This isn't even the dumbest image in the book. The sex scenes throughout are similarly hilarious. Fuentes writes half of the book about sex, and the terms he describes it in are either cliched or are as laughable as the avacado image.
Anyway, I'm giving this book two stars because, even though the writing made me cringe when I read it, it makes me laugh now. There are probably a few things in the book that are profound, too. But I generally can't remember them for all the absurdity throughout.
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Arroyo a Novel
Summer Wood
Manufacturer: CHRONICLE BOOKS @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SIC9QW |
Book Description
Bargain Books are non-returnable.
A blues singer with a buried voice and flame-red hair, Willie Lee moves to a dusty New Mexico mining town to escape her past. There, her dreams and passions mingle with those of the townspeople, especially Chavela, a woman who makes her realize that sometimes love chooses us. Then, just as Willie Lee finds her singing voice again, an accident threatens the town with disaster. Written with a cinematic eye and a penetrating lyrical power, Arroyo introduces the most distinctive Southwestern voice since Barbara Kingsolver.
Customer Reviews:
Boring........2006-05-03
This book was awful. Wood rambled on and on about absolutely nothing. The plot is slow and the way she writes it makes it slower.
Don't waste your time.
A Beautiful Book.......2002-10-04
I sadly turned the last page and started over from the beginning ... it is an amazing combination of beautiful writing, compelling characters and an interesting story line -- also a rare gem in that it is a lesbian romance that qualifies as real literature. I haven't been this drawn into a book in a long time.
A Surreal Collage.......2002-06-29
Meaning and understanding become secondary in this highly unusual, lyrical arrangement of words. The book is hard to read, as the sentences and ideas flow into a tangle of words, sometimes forthright and cuttingly honest and then as illusive and mysterious to grasp as the dry wind that blows through Northern New Mexico. What little I've seen and know of that region, seems hazily yet honestly etched in this very unusual writing. Summer Wood gives the reader a glimpse of the desolation, the bonds of family and the struggle for survival and meaning. Very far away from Hillerman's version of this landscape. More a symphony of wind and hope and hopelessness and caring. Twice I put the book aside, for it became overwhelming and I could just absorb so much of the rather poetic cadence and illusive emotion. I am unconvinced that I truly understood it, but I certainly enjoyed the richness of this read.
One of the year's best first books........2002-03-10
I didn't put this book down until the end. I was sorry when it ended and wished I had the ability to put a really good book down and savory it a little.
The characters were my familiar friends and neighbors brought to life in a place much like the mountain village of New Mexico I call home. There is great insight and compassion for people in this novel and a new, poetic style of storytelling that takes the reader far away from the asphalt and the noise and the pace of life.
Buy one for yourself and your sister and your best friend. My father read my copy while visiting and loved this book. We are waiting for the next one by this great new author.
If I could give it 10 stars, I would.......2001-09-11
If you've been waiting, reading, looking all summer for that perfect book to ease or jolt you from whatever reality, good or bad, you're mired in....look no more. It's Jane Smiley meets Fried Green Tomatoes, only 500 times better. It's written art. Poetry with a capital "O", as in "Oh!" And not vacation bible school art, with popicle sticks and tasty elmers, it's real art. And not hoity toity oh look honey, Nozema on a toothpick at the Guggenheim, either. This is art from the heart. Phenomenal. Buy two, because you will be so compelled to give it to your best friend immediately as you set out on a solitary hike across the Yukon or random desert expanse in seach of the 'jus' good folk' in this book, should they really exist, yet want to keep it so you can go back and read all those beautiful, ick and angst free sentences you hurried through to see if poor ol Eugenio and hound and uncle got sucked under by the flooding toxic muck, and the next move of the mysterious Willie Lee. Great story, absolutely soulful, glistening writing. Don't start reading this book if you've got stuff to do, because believe me, it will go undone. Actually it took awhile for me to finally surrender to the on/off blues beat rhythm of the prose because I seem to live at a Requim for a Dream pace. It wasn't love at first sight. But once it got me, it got me for good, and there is/was no going back.
Read this.
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Tom tu gran amigo: Juega Al Futbol/Playing Soccer
Manufacturer: Norma Editorial Sa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Graphic Novels
| Comics & Graphic Novels
| Subjects
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Contemporary
| General
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ASIN: 8496415864 |
Average customer rating:
- UFO Survivors in TImeless New Mexico
- Arroyo
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Arroyo: A novel
Donald R Burleson
Manufacturer: Black Mesa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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| 18th Century
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ASIN: B0006R0F6G |
Customer Reviews:
UFO Survivors in TImeless New Mexico.......2004-12-11
There is no shortage of UFO books on the market. UFO's have been a popular subject for fiction writers, motion picture producers, and alien enthusiasts ever since WWII and the widely documented alien invasion of Roswell, NM, in 1947. And at first glance, Donald R. Burleson's novel Arroyo would seem a likely candidate to be included in that list of popular entertainment. In this novel, however, Burleson manages to surprise the reader with a sensitively written and richly complex story which, while it does indeed play on the familiar UFO theme, additionally weaves in elements of Southwest Indian lore, Spanish Conquistadores, Lovecraftian horror fiction, and modern-day government conspiracies.
Arroyo is set in the small New Mexico town of Chasco, a town north of Roswell on the way to Fort Sumner, some miles down the road past the turnoff to Corona. It is there, in Chasco, a town whose name, we are told, means Disappointment in Spanish, in an arroyo just outside of what became the town, that the first alien invasion took place - 500 years ago! In beautifully atmospheric prose, Burleson describes that alien encounter, and informs us that it was from these aliens that the Indians first acquired the many spiritual powers that grew into the myths of shape-shifting and oneness with the land that we know today. All too suddenly, Coronado and his band of Spaniards burst upon this paradise of peaceful co-existence in search of Cibola, the Lost City of Gold, finding Indians and aliens instead of the gold. The Spaniards perceive the aliens to be devils and a blasphemy against their cherished Catholic faith, and smite one of them, thus setting in motion the events that will culminate 500 years later in our own time.
For it is in Chasco, in late 20th century America, that we meet Arana, the Indian sorceress, Truman Lloyd, the government secret agent seeking the truth about aliens, Lisa Jaramillo, who comes to Chasco to forget a recent divorce, and Bill Weston, an out of work proof reader who seems to have psychic powers. These four, each pursuing his own personal path, collide in Chasco, trapped in a vortex of intrigue and mystery with an uncertain outcome. The conclusion to this modern alien encounter story is one worthy of the great Lovecraft himself.
Burleson uses his characters as a palette of colors with which to paint his story. Each person is sensitively drawn, and emerges from the pages as a complex human being with an individual voice and personal feelings, rather than just two-dimensional characters whose only purpose is to propel the story forward. Chasco itself is described in loving detail that will make it seem familiar to anyone who has visited southwest New Mexico, while each of its various and quirky inhabitants come to feel like real people populating a real town. Even the workings of the secret government agency investigating the alien crash have a sense of reality about them, unlike the formulaic spy thrillers found on today's best seller lists.
Arroyo is a novel that I found extremely entertaining, and so well written that I did not want it to end. In fact, I found myself slowing down at the end, just to prolong my visit with these interesting people and their compelling situation. It is a rare novel that draws the reader into itself, rather than just taking him on a roller coaster ride to a sensational ending. Arroyo will indeed appeal to readers of science fiction and UFO suspense stories, but anyone who enjoys polished prose combined with a well crafted suspense story will also enjoy this novel.
Donald Burleson is a professor at the University of New Mexico in Roswell, and is a renowned UFO specialist in his own right. He is also a respected expert on the works of H.P Lovecraft and the horror fiction of the early 20th century. His own published fiction, in addition to Arroyo, includes the novel Flute Song, also published by Black Mesa Press in Roswell, NM.
Arroyo.......2003-04-01
It was an interesting story. I am not into the whole alien thing that much.
Book Description
Outside the great stone Keep of Renweth, the night was the province of the Dark Ones -- monstrous creatures that had swarmed out of their eldritch underground caverns to destroy humanity.
Inside, where the pitiful remnant of the once-great Realm of Darwath huddled, Chancellor Alwir and Bishop Govannin continued their bitter struggle for dominance. Against all advice, Alwir went ahead with plans to use Ingold, Rudy, and the other wizards in a hopeless, desperate invasion of the Nests of the Dark. The Bishop, obsessed with fanatical fury, sought to root out all magic by murdering the wizards. Both conspired together to seek the aid of Alketch, ancient enemy of the Realm.
In that hotbed of ambition, hatred, and fear, no one except Ingold would heed Gil's discovery of the truth that lay behind the rising of the Dark!
Customer Reviews:
Pleased.......2007-01-05
This is a great and entertaining book! The Characters all have well thought out personalities. The same goes for the plot. I enjoyed the book very much.
An intense conclusion........2004-10-12
By the time I was finished with that book, I was very attached to the main characters of the story; a feat that not all authors can do. Usually, there is a lot of characters and it can be difficult to relate to all of them. Here, there is principally four of them and of course, two love stories. Fortunately, those love stories do not take away the drama from what could be the end of human life on the Darwath planet.
The only drawback that I could say about this trilogy is that there is not a lot of information about the Dark. I was much in the dark about them. They are so much different from humans that it could be hard for the author to make them "talk" but in Lohiro's mind, some of their thoughts could have been expressed.
This book is a great addition to any fantasy library. The only thing left for me is to find the two next chapters.
Hambley and cthonic terrors unnameable.......2001-01-29
It took me reading an anthology that Barbara edited to realize that yes Lovecraftian horrors from beyond the stars and undescribable, unthinkable by human brains were alive and well and living beneath the frozen lands of Darwath. When I need to count sheep or go to my happy place it's to the Vale of Dare that I go.
Second in the series. If you bought one you'll need to get them all (Including Ice Falcon's Quest and Mother Winter). Development of the politics of Darewath & Karst, Church and State, Ingold and Gil, Ingold and Rudy, Ingold and the Bishop, Ingold and ...you get the idea... continues. The quest across the winter plains (ON FOOT) to the wizard city of Quo brings news of other survivors. And always...the Dark.
Always thought it must be rough to be a writer's creation. This book makes no exception.
fin
Why did it EVER go out of print?.......2000-11-12
In the early 80s, I read the Darwath Trilogy, then, over the years, I read it again, and again, and. . . well, you get the gist. Unfortunately, in one of our frequent moves, the box of books in which I'd placed the trilogy turned up among the "missing."
By then, the books were out of print. I've dogged the book stores since in hopes it would be brought back. It looks like the trilogy finally is. THANK GOODNESS. Along with Asimov, Eddings, and Tolkien, Barbara Hambly is one of my favorite and most re-read authors. I've not met anyone who hasn't loved the Darwath, and doubt that I will. I'm sure you will, too.
Barbara Hambly keeps you coming back, time and again.......2000-11-02
This is one of the first books I read by Barbara Hambly, and I think that this is one that made me fall in love with her. She was a way of weaving spellbinding stories that hold a reader captive throughout. I personally fell in love with Ingold and Gil. I was so happy for the two of them, you would think that I had fallen in love instead of them. A stunning ending to what then was the trilogy, thankfully now she has revived these characters and brought them back to life in "Mother of Winter" and "Icefalcon's Quest". A little bit of romance and a story that sticks with you, what more could you ask for?
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers, published by U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center on March 11, 2005. The length of the article is 488 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: Daylight robbery: Oxford University breakthrough could produce unlimited supplies of hydrogen using natural light.(NEWS)
Author: Richard Fisher
Publication:
Engineer: The Professional Bulletin for Army Engineers (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 11, 2005
Publisher: U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center
Volume: 293
Issue: 7670
Page: 8(2)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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THE ARMIES OF DAYLIGHT
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H39UYW |
Product Description
3 Book Set By Barbara Hambly: The Darwath Trilogy; the Time of the Dark; the Walls of Air; the Armies of Daylight.
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Daylight saving, war gardens and army food
Charles Lathrop Pack
Manufacturer: National War Garden Commission
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
Vegetables | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | World War II | Military | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008C1FYU |
Customer Reviews:
Twisting together threads for an incredible tale.......2001-07-01
This may not have been Jane Lindskolds best book, but I still loved reading it. The best aspect of this novel was that she didn't let anything get to obvious. Through the entire book there was a sense that things might not be as they seem, or that the "good guys" might fail. The supspense made it hard to put down. The only real downside was that some of the characters were not gone into as much as I would have liked. She almost seems to tease with characters that are fascinating, then they are gone before you manage to really figure them out. A deffinete worthy addition to any library though.
Amazon.com
In this unique book, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo delves richly into Chinese cuisine, reflecting in its complexity the nation's culture, history, geographic diversity, and philosophies of health and living. Regardless of how many Chinese cookbooks you already own, The Chinese Kitchen is sure to bring you new information and recipes. And no one else can offer the intriguing family recipes she includes, such as her mother's lean, steamed loin of pork marinated in ginger juice and oyster sauce.
Lo grew up in Canton (now Guangzhou). Her stories about her visits with Ah Paw, her maternal grandmother, become lessons she shares with us. Lo learned about cooking and received much wisdom from this sparrow of a woman, whose feet were bound, in the old way, when she was a child, to keep them four inches long, but who fiercely brought her daughter and granddaughter into modern times. She also taught Lo about Confucius and the ancient traditions such as the Seven Necessities of rice, tea, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and firewood.
When Lo talks about ingredients in the "Chinese Larder" chapter, she provides Chinese characters in the margin that can be photocopied so you can show them at stores to be sure you get the right ingredients. Familiar recipes in The Chinese Kitchen, from Orange Beef to Moo Shu Pork, are followed by more exotic choices such as Shrimp Stir-Fried with Garlic Cloves and Hakka Bean Curd, stuffed with dried shrimp and lightly fried. An entire chapter is devoted to Buddha Jump over the Wall, a kind of a Chinese Babette's Feast. This special recipe from the Fuzhou region requires two days to make and calls for 28 ingredients, mercifully not including the fish lips, duck gizzards and other items used in the true Fuzhou version but which Westerners generally shun. This robust, country dish, combining chicken, duck, ham, and lamb in a kind of pot-au-feu, is so alluring that supposedly the Buddha himself, a vegetarian, could not resist it. It provides insight into Chinese cooking at its most complex.
Fans of Chinese tea will delight in the chapter devoted to this revered beverage. For everyone, simply reading The Chinese Kitchen will enhance enormously the pleasure of dining out in Chinese restaurants. --Dana Jacobi
Book Description
Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, author of award-winning cookbooks, menu developer for top Asian restaurants, and cooking teacher, presents her life's work. Reflecting on her life in food, including her childhood in Canton, China, where she learned to cook at her grandmother's side, Eileen has created an exhaustive cookbook of extensive scope. Everything about Chinese cooking has cultural significance, and much of what Eileen talks about in this book has never appeared in print before in the English language.
There are more than 250 recipes in all, including many classic banquet-style recipes, quite a number presented for the first time in the traditional manner, from Peking Duck to Beggar's Chicken. Dozens of the techniques for preparing these elaborate recipes are shown in full-color photographs in the color insert as well. Eileen also includes many of her own creations, such as infused oils and rich, flavorful stocks, essential for cooks who are serious about mastering the ancient art of Chinese cooking.
Everything is here: dim sum, congees, stir-fries, rice dishes, noodles, bean curd, meat dishes, and more. For anyone who loves Asian cuisines, this is the ultimate cookbook, and for cookbook lovers and aspiring food professionals, this is required reading.
Customer Reviews:
Fried Milk recipe!!!.......2006-12-21
I'm very happy to have bought this book. There may be some redundant recipes but I still feel that everone should buy ALL her titles. I trust her knowledge so I am very happy that she has included a Fried Milk recipe.
Better than local Chinese by Far.......2006-08-09
I moved from San Francisco to Boulder Colorado. As a consequence, I had to leave behind the good Asian cuisine of the Bay Area. Though Boulder sports one fair to good Vietnamese restaurant, the Chinese restaurants serve only Americanized Chinese glop. This book enabled me to cook the dishes I like. I am not a great cook, but with patience, diligence to mail order the real ingredients -- szechuan peppers for example -- and a bit of trial this book has given me the ability to cook some really satisfying Chinese food. It appears to me to be authentic and it beats the heck of the local restaurant's fare, easily.
I've tried about 40 of the dishes in the book with near absolute satisfaction. There is some effort involved, but with a good wok, a gas stove/wok ring, and some practice, this book offers a means to cook excellent Chinese food. It's not quick and easy, but the results are worth it. The soups and main dishes are excellent.
I encourage anyone trying to cook real Chinese food to give it a try. You will not be disappointed.
Inspirational cooking.......2006-02-24
The dishes in this book are more like the chinese I ate in China, and although a little detective work is needed for some of the ingredients, well worth the effort. Only criticism is lack of pictures of the recipes.
My daughter loves this Cook Book.......2005-09-09
My daughter was looking for a good Chinese cook book. Her Birthday
was coming up, so I reviewed and came up with this book. And she
loves it. She loves the history, what type of wok she needed, and
the recipes were easy to follow. Even her husband was impressed and
that's not easy to do. Shes been doing at least 2 recipes a week,
what can I say?? She absoutly loves this Cook Book.
Authentic Chinese Cuisine Lovingly Prepared.......2005-08-03
I bought this book because I was tired of the simplified, Americanized recipes of many Chinese cook books and because I wanted a little history with my recipes. I was not disappointed on both counts. Ms. Lo speaks with authority and warmth in these pages, and, being a purist when it comes to Chinese cookery, gives you the real deal when it comes to the cuisine of China. Here you'll find not only Cantonese dishes but those from Shanghai, Szechuan, and other regions. The instructions are clear (if sometimes daunting) and there are many beautiful photographs accompanying them. I've made several recipes and have been very happy with the results, and I plan on making many more. Many of these recipes are not of the quick-n-easy variety, but the extra time and effort are worth it.
Books:
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- The Rich Man's Table
- The Sculptural Imagination: Figurative, Modernist, Minimalist
- The Spirit of Tio Fernando: A Day of the Dead Story/El Espiritu De Tio Fernando : Una Historia Del Dia De Los Muertos
- The Swoop! And Other Stories (A Continuum Book)
- The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories
- There Were Two Trees in the Garden
- Veronica My Daughter and Other Onitsha Market Play and Stories
- Victorine
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