The English Room

Book Description

The English Room takes you on a room-by-room exploration of the English home, contrasting town with country life, rooms designed for pleasure with those for more practical needs, and rooms meant to receive visitors with those that are private retreats. Country cottages and London flats, drawing rooms and kitchens all conjure up the essence of English life.

Customer Reviews:

Did not like the book........2003-07-31

This book has nothing common with the classical English style if you are looking for it. It has dark, gloomy and boring room photographs. But, it has a useful information in the introduction part as it explains the history and challenges in English decoration style from early periods until now.

don't judge this book by its cover.......2003-03-20

I, too, thought this book would be the penultimate guide to English style. That would only be true however, if one believes English style to be unrelentingly grim, grim, grim. All the photographs (and there were fewer than one might have wished) were of dark interiors and unwelcoming, depressing rooms. Maybe Chippy Irvine could have just explored her husband Keith's work. This book does not represent English style at all, to my mind, despite its misleading cover. Glad I didn't pay full price for it.

Truly English.......2003-02-22

This is a good book, and you will like it if you favor English style. Some pictures are average, but I liked it. Very cool pictures of bathrooms!

My grandmother would love this book.......2002-10-19

Grandma would love the rooms in this book. I'll be sure to get her a copy for the holidays. For the rest of us, this book is filled with one super-boring room after another. Zzzzzzzzzzz........

A sumptuous overview of English decorative style.......2002-08-27

Chippy Irvine's "The English Room" is a sumptuous overview of English decorative style. She is a stunningly effective teacher, deftly combining in very little space English decorative history, English furniture and architectural styles, and the uniquely warm English touch with fabrics, floor coverings, and drapery. The text is a miniature but very thorough education, and a delightful stroll through centuries of English history.

The photographs are something to behold. Photographer Christopher Simon Sykes has presented a panoply of different takes on classically English style with a sober, all-seeing eye. Nothing is prettied up--even a romantic candlelit dining room is presented in a straightforward manner--so that we are left to make up our own minds without Sykes' style being the thing we notice first about the pictures.

Everything the frustrated Anglophile/decorator could want is contained within these pages. Irvine neatly divides the book in two--City (think Rex Harrison's home in the 1964 film version of "My Fair Lady") and Country (think Emma Thompson's place in either "Howards End" or "Sense & Sensibility"). Within these areas, she covers front halls, bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and even bathrooms. How great-looking can a bathroom be? Well, the most beautiful bathroom I think I have ever seen in my life is featured on p. 171. It may also be one of the most beautiful ROOMS I've ever seen, featuring as it does tall, divided-light mirrors which appear to be windows; a plain white tub surrounded with black, grey-streaked marble; pilasters and pediments a-plenty, but all covered with a restrained chalk white; dentil molding and paneled doors; and a perfectly handsome paneled toilet which would be perfectly at home in a living room in a lesser home. Oh, yes, and let's don't forget the curvaceous bronze and crystal chandelier. It sounds over the top, but it is perfectly composed, a lovely cameo of a room. It ably embodies the idea that good design is never wasted, no matter how unimportant the room or how poorly it is sited. Chippy Irvine continues to make that point, and many others, throughout the pages of this delightful and handsome book.

Great Tea Rooms of Britain
Average customer rating:

A way to take a vacation from your armchair

Disappointing!

Info on tea rooms

Best of 5

Great Tea Rooms of Britain

Manufacturer: Crescent Hill Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

English, Scottish & Welsh | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Dining | Food & Lodging | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Great Tea Rooms of America

The Tea Table

A Year of Teas at the Elmwood Inn: Twelve Months of Menus and Recipes

Having Tea: Recipes & Table Settings

The London Ritz Book of Afternoon Tea

ASIN: 1889937096

Book Description

Join the host of one of America's best-known tea rooms as he takes you on a romantic journey to 22 of his favorite locations for afternoon tea in England, Scotland and Wales. Filled with over 100 color photographs, warm narrative and delicious recipes, this great gift book will give you a personal glimpse into the celebrated tradition of teatime - British style. Now in its third edition.

Customer Reviews:

A way to take a vacation from your armchair.......2007-06-03

The author does a nice job of introducing us to some of the pretty places in Britain. The descriptions are good and the pictures pretty. I would like to see the complete menu in order to plan my visits. The complete address and phone number would be helpful. The book is a lovely one to inspire you.

Disappointing!.......2006-03-10

We are getting ready to open the tea room in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I assumed this book would be helpfull but its was not. Lots of recipes were not accurate, missing steps and ingridients, the photos are nice, but they do not match the recipes. Very disappointing!
Olga Cannon.

Info on tea rooms.......2005-10-16

We have found the information invaluable as we are setting up an English style Tea Room in Australia.
The information contained has answered many questions as to stock,presentation, even back ground music. The recipes are just brilliant.
I would recommend ths book as superb reference as well as entertaining reading for lovers of tea and all the frills that go with it.

Best of 5.......2005-01-08

In my search for an authentic British tea recipe book, I've been mostly disappointed; however, this last book I purchased was one of the exceptions. Though the author is American, he did his research, scouring the land for good tea rooms and sharing some of their recipes. He does a splendid job of transporting you there and the recipes are many and authentically British.

There are several typos (e.g., a recipe for raspberry tart lists strawberries as the ingredient rather than raspberries), which is odd considering this is the latest of many editions, and it bothered me that though there were lots of appealing photos of desserts, few of them were of the actual recipes. But these are relatively minor points compared to the other books that I've so far purchased.

Another good book is the Ritz tea book

Average customer rating:

Decent work
A very exoteric read
Fascinating Offbeat Mystery
Absolutely wonderful!
What he really said:

The Water Room (Bryant & May Mysteries)
Christopher Fowler
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

British Detectives | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

General | Mystery & Thrillers | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Full Dark House (Bryant & May Mysteries)
Seventy-Seven Clocks: A Bryant & May Mystery (Bryant & May Mysteries)
Ten Second Staircase (Bryant & May Mysteries)
White Corridor (Bryant & May Mysteries)
Death in the Garden

ASIN: 0553587161
Release Date: 2006-03-28

Book Description

They are detection’s oddest couple: two cranky detectives whose professional partnership dates back half a century. Now Arthur Bryant and John May return in a case of multiple murder that twists through a subterranean course of the secrets, lies, and extreme passions that drive even ordinary men and women to the most shocking crimes….

They are living legends with a reputation for solving even the trickiest cases using unorthodox, unconventional, and often completely unauthorized methods. But the Peculiar Crimes Unit headed by Detectives John May and Arthur Bryant is one mistake away from being shut down for good. And when the elderly sister of Bryant’s friend is found dead in the basement of her decrepit house in Kentish Town, they find themselves on the verge of making exactly that mistake.

According to the coroner, Ruth Singh’s heart simply stopped beating. But why was a woman who rarely left the house fully dressed for an outing? And why was there river water in her throat? Convinced that the old lady didn’t die a natural death, the detectives delve into a murky case with no apparent motive, no forensics, and no clues. And they’ve barely launched their investigation when death claims another victim. Suddenly they discover some very unnatural behavior surrounding Ruth Singh’s death by “natural” causes—from shady real estate developers and racist threats to two troubled marriages, from a dodgy academician working London’s notorious “grey economy” to a network of antiquities collectors obsessed with Egyptian mythology. And running beneath it all are the sweeping tentacles of London’s vast and forgotten underground river system. As the rains pour down and the water rises, Bryant and May must rely on instinct, experience, and their own very peculiar methods to stem a tide of evil that threatens to drown them all.

From the Hardcover edition.

Download Description

Christopher Fowler is the acclaimed author of twelve previous novels, including the first Bryant & May novel, Full Dark House. He lives in London, where he is at work on his third novel featuring Arthur Bryant and John May.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Decent work.......2007-09-10

Brayant and May - the main characters of this novel - are detectives of London's Pecular Crimes Unit. London's PCU takes to investigation only very complicated, very odd and sensitive cases which other police departments failed to solve. And the case of The Water Room was supposed to be one of such mysteries.
The begining of the novel really promisses a lot. An old woman dies strange way, forgotten underground river system, people of Balaklava street, each of them has a story and may be something to hide. All this tickles reader's senses promissing a good detective story.
But somehow as the novel progresses you realize that the author actually failed to develope his own brilliant idea. Sometimes the story drifts to history and mythology a little to much. There are a lot of elder characters in the book. This could be a bit excentric if there would be not so MANY of them.
In the key points you'd expect more emotions or more drama. Unfortunately, the Water Room fails here as well. I had a strong impression, that author knows how to write about London's history, but has no idea how to deal with action.
Although, this is not the best detective story I ever read, I have to say The Water Room can be quite entertaining sometimes and overall is a very decent work.

A very exoteric read.......2007-08-27

Fowler's second novel appeals too a wide and varied audience it is not esoteric, rather, exoteric. It's an easy read with sharp, undulating plot twists, and the foolery of the geriatric detectives Bryant and May. My, what capers they get involved in, from Crippin the feisty feline, to Tate the misunderstood, affable tramp, the book runs the gamut. Aside from the esotericism of Londons lost waterways, the book engrosses and amazes the reader by making the common occurence seem so illustrative. My hat is off to Fowler along with the totality of my current garb, so to speak. The only problem with the book, and this only pertains to an esoteric audience, is the overuse of the word esoteric.

Fascinating Offbeat Mystery.......2006-05-17

If you like an offbeat, thought-provoking story, I highly recommend this mystery by Christopher Fowler. Bryant and May, the odd-couple detectives of London's peculiar crimes unit are at it again. This time they must solve the mystery of the dry woman drowned in her basement. It leads them through lost rivers, Roman mythology, paganism, and, of course, the history of London and its class struggles.

Absolutely wonderful!.......2005-09-18

The first of this series, "Full Dark House," was very good and this was even better. My only two regrets are that (1) the characters are of an age where you wonder how long they can be around and (2) I wish there were more books already there for me to read. But I know the next book is due out soon, so I'll take heart. The relationship and dialogue between the two detectives is priceless, and there are great supporting characters. The writing is wonderful-it's funny, suspenseful and educational, and, as with fine wine, should be savored but thoroughly enjoyed. Very highly recommended.

What he really said:.......2005-07-16

"I'll never understand how anyone as open-minded as you can be such a closet Victorian, Albert."

Average customer rating:

unavailable...
A must have
A woman's liberation classic
a room for what?
To get a room of one's own

A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Feminist Theory | Women's Studies | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mrs. Dalloway
To the Lighthouse
Orlando: A Biography
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The Waves

ASIN: 0151787336

Amazon.com

Surprisingly, this long essay about society and art and sexism is one of Woolf's most accessible works. Woolf, a major modernist writer and critic, takes us on an erudite yet conversational--and completely entertaining--walk around the history of women in writing, smoothly comparing the architecture of sentences by the likes of William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, all the while lampooning the chauvinistic state of university education in the England of her day. When she concluded that to achieve their full greatness as writers women will need a solid income and a privacy, Woolf pretty much invented modern feminist criticism.

Book Description

Why is it that men, and not women, have always had power, wealth, and fame? Woolf cites the two keys to freedom: fixed income and one’s own room. Foreword by Mary Gordon.

Download Description

" A remarkable work in both the history English literary criticism and feminist theory, Virginia Woolf?

Customer Reviews:

unavailable..........2007-09-09

after i ordered this book, the distributors let me know instantly that they no longer had the book on shelf, and instantly refunded my account. speedy service is one thing, but keeping the customer informed is another...thanks

A must have.......2007-01-03

A timeless essay not only for women. Good hard binding that will keep. It's a must have if you like English literature.

A woman's liberation classic .......2006-05-23

This is a beautifully written and highly enjoyable exploration of the history of women in writing. It is also a plea for the liberation of women, and their full entrance into the world of Literature. Woolf argues that a woman needs financial independence, a room , that is a space of her own, if she is to be able to truly create. She also needs the kind of access to everyday life that women confined to hearth and home were as she sees it, traditionally denied.
She urges that Woman enter into all fields of writing, and develop in directions they had no opportunity to develop in before.
She also perhaps reflecting on her own experience and nature argues for the androgynous nature of the creator, seeing in Shakespeare, Keats and certainly Proust a strong feminine element.
Woolf anticipates and perhaps in some sense helps creates the vast flourishing of Literature written by women which will come in the decades after her.

a room for what?.......2006-03-14

This essay reunites several works from Virginia Woolf about the right of women to possess a place - a room- to read, write and work, intended that not as domestic work as was usual for women during many times.
This book is very good. The problem with it today is many people uses this work only as a vindicating feminist weapon, while few people has truly read it, but remember, Virginia Woolf wanted that room not for itself, but for a finality: to do an intellectual task inside. Some people forgets this fundamental fact.

To get a room of one's own.......2006-02-17

Woolf's argument that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction," holds true not just for fiction but for any activity a woman wants to pursue. The early 20th century essay is still widely relevant, and not just in developing countries.

On the reading style, this essay is much more accessible, compared to say `Mrs. Dalloway' and `To the Lighthouse'. Reading it felt like having a conversation with someone who was not just erudite, but also reflected some of my own thoughts and beliefs. Especially as I believe that economic independence and resource availability could be key to overturning the notions of sexual inequality.

Many thanks to Woolf for airing these thoughts and inspiring the rest of us.

Average customer rating:

LOVE this book!
wonderful!
nice book
Great, Fun Book
Perfect for your little learner!

The Alphabet Room

Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

Usage | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books
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If Kisses Were Colors

ASIN: 1582348413

Book Description

Starting with the simplest images-apples for A, bowls for B, cat for C-Sara Pinto has taken a magical leap in the concept of alphabet books. Each letter has a door, and behind each door the objects arrange and rearrange themselves so that with every letter the picture becomes more complex. Letter by letter, magical scenes unfold inside the room. With gentle humor and charming design, this lift-the-flap alphabet book transcends the genre to offer something truly unique.

Customer Reviews:

LOVE this book!.......2007-06-13

My 6 year old and 3 year old love this book! We never get tired of looking at it and all the wonderful illustrations. It really keeps the kids attention and engages them in the book...they are always looking for something new when we look through it. I buy this for all of our friends kids. A definite must have!

wonderful!.......2007-05-09

my one and a half year old son loves this book! i think it is a wonderful magical read. highly recommend for all ages.

nice book.......2007-01-25

this book is great to teach kids the alphabet. the pictures are sometimes odd for the letter (such as M is for moustache) but overall my son really likes this book. It is very clear as when you open the book, the letter is on the left page and the picture is on the right page (for example: the letter A is on the left, and on the right page you see apples) The right page also opens up to each object being arranged differently in the scene and eventually all objects that represent a letter are all in the room, making sometimes silly scenes that kids enjoy.

Great, Fun Book.......2007-01-10

This book is adorable. Toddlers will enjoy it for years. It teaches the alphabet(obviously) and promotes memory skills. This book would make a great baby gift- it is a must have for any little one's personal library!

Perfect for your little learner!.......2006-04-18

We bought this book for our two year old daughter and absolutely LOVE it. It has big letters on one page and an object that starts with the letter opposite -- PLUS a building picture that contains the previous objects under a lift-the-flap for each set. Our daughter quickly learned her alphabet and can now recognize all the letters and many new objects she didn't know before: jester, quilt, painting (to name a few). Plus, this book is INTERESTING and really promotes spending some quality time with your kids. It has so much to it that we take it on airplanes and long car trips -- you could spend a few minutes going quickly through letters or a half hour exploring the photos and spelling words. What a tremendous book!

Average customer rating:

The treasure of Miss Godden's life is in this memoir.
an exquisite gift from Rumer Godden

A House With Four Rooms
Rumer Godden
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep
The River
Black Narcissus
Five for Sorrow, Ten for Joy (Loyola Classics Series)
Rumer Godden: A Storyteller's Life

ASIN: 0688086292

Customer Reviews:

The treasure of Miss Godden's life is in this memoir........2000-08-08

"A House With Four Rooms," the second and last volume of Rumer Godden's memoirs, is one of the most treasured volumes in my library. Miss Godden writes with a terrible beauty of her life on returning to England, a divorcee with two little girls, her obstinate and ultimately successful struggle to earn a living solely by writing, her second marriage, her conversion to Catholicism, the years at Stanbrook Abbey where she wrote "In This House of Brede," her publishers, the films made from her books, and (of course) her love affairs with houses. She also writes delightfully and with her incomparable irony of the challenges of fame, a lecture tour of the United States, etc. The book nourishes the mind, the soul, the imagination, and the heart. You will be consoled without having realized you were in need of consolation. Enjoy, if you haven't already, the first volume of her memoirs, "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep."

an exquisite gift from Rumer Godden.......2000-07-19

"A House With Four Rooms" will delight those new to Rumer Godden as well as those who have read "A Time to Dance, No Time to Weep," the first volume of her memoirs. This second volume tells the story of her life in England after WWII when she returned from India, her getting established as a writer in London, raising Jane and Paula, love affairs with several delightful houses, collaboration with Jean Renoir on the movie "The River," second marriage, lecture tours of America, conversion to Catholicism, link with the Benedictine nuns and writing of "This House of Brede," and a wealth of other charming things. The wine of her life beautifully aged and distilled, this memoir ends with her retirement to Scotland, but its delight goes on long after that. You'll love it.

Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark Room, The English Teacher (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics)

Average customer rating:

Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts, The Dark Room, The English Teacher (Everyman's Library Classics & Contemporary Classics)
R. K. Narayan
Manufacturer: Everyman's Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Indian | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mr. Sampath--The Printer of Malgudi, The Financial Expert, Waiting for the Mahatma (Everyman's Library)
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The Guide: A Novel (Penguin Classics)
The Raj Quartet: The Jewel in the Crown, The Day of the Scorpion (Everyman's Library)
Three Novels of Ancient Egypt: Khufu's Wisdom, Rhadopis of Nubia, Thebes at War (Everyman's Library)

ASIN: 1400044766
Release Date: 2006-03-07

Book Description

R. K. Narayan (1906—2001) witnessed nearly a century of change in his native India and captured it in fiction of uncommon warmth and vibrancy. The four novels collected here, all written during British rule, bring colonial India into intimate focus through the narrative gifts of this master of literary realism.

Swami and Friends introduces us to Narayan’s beloved fictional town of Malgudi, where ten-year-old Swaminathan’s excitement about his country’s initial stirrings for independence competes with his ardor for cricket and all other things British. The Bachelor of Arts is a poignant coming-of-age novel about a young man flush with first love, but whose freedom to pursue it is hindered by the fixed ideas of his traditional Hindu family. In The Dark Room, Narayan’s portrait of aggrieved domesticity, the docile and obedient Savitri, like many Malgudi women, is torn between submitting to her husband’s humiliations and trying to escape them. The title character in The English Teacher, Narayan’s most autobiographical novel, searches for meaning when the death of his young wife deprives him of his greatest source of happiness.

These pioneering novels, luminous in their detail and refreshingly free of artifice, are a gift to twentieth-century literature.

The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts

Average customer rating:

Excellent
Riviting and Exciting!
Bravo
Bravo
Quick, easy, witty, but not earth-shaking

The Blue Room: A Play in Ten Intimate Acts
David Hare
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

La Ronde (Methuen Modern Plays)
The Skriker
Amy's View: A Play
What Didn't Happen
Mountain Language

ASIN: 080213596X

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2006-02-22

My university is putting on The Blue Room this Spring, and I wanted to purchase a copy of the script so tha I could more readily work on the production. Excellent seller, quick shipment. Recommend to all!

Riviting and Exciting!.......2001-05-18

David Hare's adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's "La Ronde" is nothing short of amazing. The twisting strand of relationships that course through the scenes is filled with mirror images of ourselves. Either in the lives we lead, what we invision in our mind, or in the world we see around us. There are so many difference's between the ten characters, but what makes it truly interesting is when you realize just what might be the same about them.

This play is a first rate pick!

Bravo.......1999-11-29

I for one adored this play. Did not see the Broadyway play but from the reviews I heard it only cheapened this excellent work by David Hare. It goes into not the act of sex but the before and after scences displaying the casualness of sex in our society. Definately something worth thinking about. Recommend Skylark by David Hare as well.

Bravo.......1999-11-29

I for one adored this play. Did not see the Broadway play but from what I heard it apparently cheapened this excellent work by David Hare. It goes into the before and after scenes from which the curtain closes. It is not about the sex but how society and individuals view sex and how commmon day our culture holds it. Any open minded individual interested in how individuals and societys behaviors correlate must read this play. It is short and easy reading for anyone to enjoy.

Quick, easy, witty, but not earth-shaking.......1999-06-08

David Hare's dry humor underlies most lines in this play and, as a result, it is a funny enough read. Prior to reading Hare's adaptation of La Ronde, I saw the Broadway version. The audience at the theater failed to laugh at the underlying humor as it was not emphasized. The text, however, brings out this facet of the play very well. Overall, however, there is nothing special about the the play itself. It is a cursory analysis of sexuality and sexual politics. But it's not the Kinsey report.

Average customer rating:

The Birthday Party
sinister intent?
Laugh Out Loud, Funny!

The Birthday Party & The Room
Harold Pinter
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Waiting for Godot: A Tragicomedy in Two Acts
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ASIN: 0802151140

Book Description

In The Birthday Party, a musician who escapes to a dilapidated boarding house becomes the victim of a ritual murder in which everyone- assassins, victim, and observers- implacably plays out the role assigned him by fate.The Room, a derelict boarding house again becomes the scene of a visitation of fate when a blind Black man suddenly arrives to deliver a mysterious message.

Customer Reviews:

The Birthday Party.......2001-03-14

The Birthday Party is a very good play about a young man and his inevitable and perhaps unavoidable fate. The plot is quite simple, yet it is also elegant in its simplicity. Without saying too much, the story is about a young man who has been living for some time in a beach-sited boarding house owned by a mid-aged couple. These characters lives' are invaded by two men who for some unknown reason want to catch the young man. The story evolves...

The play is captivating and exciting, at some points also downright scary. Pinter has obviously used techniques of how to seize the attention of an audience, something a reader will surely experience. The incertainty and unease that fills the story is highly credible, as one easily can identify the feelings that fills you when something sudden, dangerous and unavoidable happens to you.

I think Pinter perhaps has found inspiration in other authors works. As I read it, I came to think on Hemingways short story "The Killers" and the sense of utter despair of Kafka's "The Trial". Please do not shoot me should you disagree..

As a play, one recognizes elements that characterize most great playwrights, both classical and modern, due to its "actor-friendliness" and room for interpretation.

Recommended, indeed.

And one last thing to Ken (The reviewer): Unless you follow the idea that Meg has a brain-disfunction, She is definitely not Stanleys mother.

sinister intent?.......2001-02-08

Harold Pinter's _The Birthday Party_:

A young man lives with his mother at a run-down boarding house near the beach. Two visitors come and shake things up. They don't do anything wild or unusual, but they question and intimidate the young man, until the reader becomes unsure what sinister plans the two men have in mind.

Pinter's strength lies in his dialogue, which is thoroughly believable and memorable. Not for a moment does the reader doubt that these scenes could happen (and may HAVE happened) in real life.

As this reader read the play, the tension built and built, as I became more and more sympathetic to the young man, awaiting to learn his fate, as his own will seemingly deteriorated.

I would agree that this play is a funny read, but it's certainly very unsettling as well.

If you haven't read anything by Harold Pinter, or are curious because you've read his other plays, _The Birthday Party_ is worth checking out.

ken32

Laugh Out Loud, Funny!.......1999-09-26

A side splitting send up of the misunderstood artist.

One of the funniest plays of the century, by one of England's greatest playwrights.

Customer Reviews:

Wow.......2001-08-26

This book is fantastic. In her simple, straightforward and lucid style, Reverend Barbara Crafton shares several stories drawn from her personal and ministerial lives. The stories are brief, their impact is not. She has a unique gift for being able to see the grace and meaning in simple incidents and to convey it without getting in the way. Although I loved all of them, the one about the eggs and the one entitled "Men are Delicate" especially touched me. A wonderful book.

My favorite book!.......2000-09-01

This book is quite simply the best book I've ever read. It is a series of essays about everyday things and events, written in such a way that you will be entertained, provoked to thought, amused, deeply moved. The writing style is plain and straight-forward and extremely clear and effective. Almost everyone to whom I have recommended this book has read it and then bought it. In fact, many of its readers have bought it for their family and friends - I know I have!

It is simply the most uplifting book I've ever read........1999-09-16

My wife and I have been honored to call Barbara our friend; nevertheless, we apply no bias in expressing our love of this book. Barbara fills her books with uncommon wisdom and heart-on-her-sleeve humanity. Without fail, every story she relates makes me glad for having read it, even when the subject matter is grim. Anyone needing a boost of their spirits would do well to turn to any page of this book, and take in what Barbara has to share.

A Great Book!.......1999-06-17

This is similar to a 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' book. It's a collection of warm, spiritual, and sad stories. Recommended! Expresses the rewards of goodwill to all.

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