Book Description
Parents can assure their child's success in language arts with this simple-to-use, scripted guide. First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind uses picture study and other classical techniques to develop the child's language study in those first two all-important years of school. Each lesson leads the parent, step-by-step, through the simple oral and written projects that build reading, writing, spelling, storytelling, and comprehension skills. Use this book to supplement school learning, or as the center of a home-school language arts course.
Customer Reviews:
Horrible book...........2007-09-05
I'm not a fan of books that tell the instructor exactly what to say and leave little or no room for instruction to be geared towards a student's abilities, but even if I was I would hate this book. The poem/reading selections are lacking, and they overkill on repetition without introducing new concepts in a timely manner. After 5-6 lessons the author has introduced the concept of a noun as well as common and proper nouns. Then she continues to repeat this information for the next 40 lessons before pronouns are introduced.
Useful, but overly specific.......2007-06-21
I like the memory work and the grammar in this book. My girls have learned alot of poems by heart and they can tell you the definitions of the nouns and verbs etc. I don't like, however, that each lesson is dragged out for so long. My kids started this book at the ages of 4 and 6 last year and are still using it, though less frequently now. They really don't need a week or more to learn each lesson, so we skip alot in this book. I also don't like the re-done versions of certain classics like the "Sunday's Child" poem. So we looked up the original online to teach them instead.
It's amazing what your child can learn with this book.......2007-06-18
I must admit that we do not use this book exclusively. I partner it with another language arts program and phonics instruction, so we end up using First Language Lessons about twice a week. Even so, I have seen amazing benefits from using this book.
First Language Lessons introduces the parts of speech, poetry memorization, narration, and dictation/copywork. I have found it to be a very gentle and enjoyable introduction to grammar for my child. You might not think that learning the difference between common and proper nouns, for example, is very important at a young age, but I have found that it has assisted my daughter's writing. Instead of simply telling her that a word has to be capitalized, I can now remind her that a word is a proper noun and she is able to make the corrections herself. Language and grammar rules are starting to make sense to her, simply because she has memorized a few key definitions.
My daughter especially likes learning the poems. I like how easy it is for me to teach since it is scripted for the parent. Would I use this as a stand-alone language arts program? Probably not. But it has been a useful supplement for us.
Useful product, beware of adulterated poetry and simplistic prose.......2007-05-20
Useful product, beware of adulterated poetry
I have in fact been finding this book very useful. It introduces grammar concepts in a way that prepares a child for more intensive grammar lessons later on. It encourages narration and gives the new homeschooling parent all the help she could require in introducing love of proper English to the child. The lessons are very manageable and lareg homeschooling families can benefit from the little bites of wisdom suggested each day. I have found this book to be very helpful.
I find that the stories written by the authors use simplistic language. Most classical curriculums recommend writers such as Andrew Lang, Beatrix Potter and Thornton Burgess as read aloud material at this age level. I fail to understand why such well educated women as Susan Bauer and Jessie Weiss insist on writing in a style that is so inferior to the style of prose they would recommend to parents to read to their children.
I was very upset when I saw that one of the poems was changed from the original without mention of this fact anywhere in the book. The poem by Christina Rossetti had two lines removed and one line changed. The beautiful imagery and wording used by Christina Rosssetti was removed at the most poignant of instances. I would have preferred that my children learn the superior original and be able to partake in what Christina Rossetti wanted the children to have.
I felt that my children had been gypped and I have ever since regarded any product by the Weiss-Bauer family with great suspicion.
Boring boring boring.......2007-02-18
I guess if you have no idea how to teach your kids language (if you're homeschooling), and you need a lot of structure, this is the book for you. I found it about as dry as a dictionary.
Book Description
A glorious celebration of the singular sophistication of English furniture, this lavishly illustrated volume features more than 150 objects from the world-class collection of Hyde Park Antiquesâone of the most prestigious purveyors of objects from England's historyâshowcased among charming illustrations of period interiors, exquisite drawings from cabinet-makers' albums, and contemporary interiors from the world's luminary decorators, including Mario Buatta, Albert Hadley, Bunny Williams, Charlotte Moss, and Cullman & Kravis, among many others. Five major styles from the periods between 1700 and 1830 are showcased in depthâfrom Queen Anne to Georgian, spanning Paladianism, English Rococo, Neoclassicsim, and Regencyâalong with the important designers of the age such as Thomas Chippenddale, Robert Adam, and George Hepplewhite. Recommended for both the serious collector and more casual admirer of traditional English style and design, this volume is destined to be a classic and is a must-have addition for every antiques aficionado's library.
Customer Reviews:
LOVELY HISTORY OF THE PERIOD.......2007-03-19
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL BOOK ON CLASSIC ENGLISH DESIGN AND A TRIBUTE TO THE HYDE PARK ANTIQUE BUSINESS...WELL WORTH HAVING IN A COLLECTORS LIBRARY....I LOVE LOOOKING AT THE PICTURES OVER AND OVER AGAIN.....
Excellent Product and Service.......2007-01-18
This Book was purchased as a Christmas Gift for a long-time antique collector and enthusiast. She was delighted with the quality of the photographs and information presented, and the beautiful binding and overall presentation.
A Rather "Meh" Antique Store's Inventory........2007-01-03
My hopes were dashed again when I received this book, but I guess its my fault this time. I assumed (from the beautiful cover) that I would be getting a book showcasing traditional interiors, but what I got instead was something that resembled a Sothebys auction catalogue -- that is, a book featuring tasteful English furniture & gewgaws from the inventory of Hyde Park Antiques. There were a few shots of interiors scattered here & there, but they weren't that interesting. (Where's the sagging couch with the half-finished needlepoint, hello?) I wish the people who write blurbs for these books would stop name-dropping my favourite designers (Bunny Williams, you are a goddess!) so I won't keep wasting my money on these expensive doorstoppers. [Maximum Toile weeps in disappointment.] Sniffles.
A Beautiful Book of Beautiful Things.......2006-12-22
In the United States we tend to think of antiques as something our grandmother had, or perhaps something that goes back as far as the Civil War. In English history, in English antiques, that isn't old at all. And the quintessential source for as new condition, museum quality English antique furniture in the United States for the past forty years has been Hyde Park Antiques in New York City.
As Mr. Buatta says: 'The gallery is like a living museum, with the important difference being that you not only get to touch the objects, you have the unparalleled pleasure of being able to take them home with you.'
This book is a beautifully photographed, exquisitely printed collection of some 150 items from the gallery. It is organized by date, beginning with William and Mary & Queen Anne style dating from their reign (1689-1714).
These photographs are accompanied by drawings and photographs of rooms from English (and a few imitation) homes that illustrate how this furniture was combined with other items, perhaps English, Indian or oriental to create English rooms.
Martha Stewart says it's a GOOD thing.......2006-12-11
On Wednesday December 6, 2006 on her TV show, Martha Stewart featured a small number of coffee table books for the holiday season. One of her favorites was this book: Classic English Design and Antiques by Emily Eerdmans. She said - and I quote - "This is a fantastic, fantastic book."
After reading it myself, I must agree Martha had it right. Visually stunning, thoroughly researched and beautifully written - an aesthetic, scholarly and literary tour de force. In short, as Martha said, a fantastic, fantastic book.
Andrew J McKeon
Book Description
Barron's intensive language immersion course in Korean has been updated for Fall 2005, with 12 compact discs to replace the previous edition's tape cassettes. Originally created by the Foreign Service Institute to train diplomatic and other U.S. Government personnel serving in foreign countries, this program consists of a book that presents a detailed grammar course and vocabulary instruction plus approximately 14 hours' audio training to develop students' listening comprehension and conversational skill in Korean. The book may be purchased separately. Barron's publishes FSI language-learning programs in nine different languages.
Customer Reviews:
Learning a new language for learning a new language.......2007-08-13
The main problem I had with the package was the textbook and the romanization. There's a lot of material that could really be useful but the romanization is ridiculous. You have to basically learn their code for you to understand how words are pronounced; it doesn't flow naturally like some other books do. The romanization, in my opinion, doesn't make sense. It could be easier.
The print of the text is not that great either; much of it looks handwritten and it's small. I think that when you're learning completely foreign characters to write, the text should be clearer. The CDs however are nice and I've mainly used just those along with some other books and literature I have to help with pronunciation and the basics.
?.......2007-06-14
Not good at all.
1. They made a mess with all different levels of speech (friendly, casual and polite). How is a person not familiar with those levels of speech supposed to see the difference and learn to use the language in proper manner, in accordance with Korean traditions?
2. Incorrect translation. For example, how come [hada] is "speak"? And if you make people learn that [hada] is "speak", how would you convince them that in [dangsineun museun ireul hamnikka] [hada->hamnikka] is "do"?
3. Too much repetition. Waaaay too much.
Good design and concept, but dated and full of errors.......2007-05-30
I have been using Mastering Korean for a few months and I thought it was pretty good and effective, but I showed one of the dialogues to a Korean friend of mine so he could help me practice, and he found an error in almost every sentence. The book is full of spelling errors, unnatural word choice, and outdated usage (it was written in 1988 and apparently hardly anthing was changed for the "2nd edition"). I bought this book for the dialogues with audio, and it is helpful, but I strongly advise against relying on it alone for learning, unless you have access to a native speaker who can point out the errors for you. It's a shame that this is the book that they use to train American diplomats, because that means that our FSO's are being sent to Korea having learned a lot of erroneous language. The lesson plans in the book are structured well, but the book just desperately needs editing and revision.
GREAT PACKAGE FOR LEARNING KOREAN.......2007-05-15
REPETITION ENHANCES LEARNING. AND THIS PROGRAM HAS LOTS. JUST WISH I COULD HEAR THE ENGLISH ALONGSIDE THE KOREAN TO LEARN AS I DRIVE. THIS PROGRAM REQUIRES TAKING TIME TO READ THE TRANSLATION ALONGSIDE THE AUDIO PRONUCIATIONS TO ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT IS BEING SAID.
A Good Course at a Good Price.......2006-06-18
Introductory Unit aside, this course comes with 18 self-study units with accompanying audio on CD. It is broken down into five different parts: Dialogues, Notes on the Dialogue, Grammatical Notes, Drills, and Exercises.
The Good
The best part of this course is the repetition. Dialogues are are spoken three or four different times: to listen and repeat, to hear a natural speaker, for comprehension. The Notes on the Dialogue and the Grammarical Notes are superb and unlike most Korean courses, does not overwhelm the beginning student. After you have repeated and mastered the dialogues, there are plenty of drills and exercises to practice with.
The Bad
The worst part of this course is the horrible Romanization of Hangul, and the frequent use of it throughout the notes, grammar, exercises, and drills. Hangul is easy to learn and quite necessary and I recommend that everyone ignores the use of it and try to become fluent in reading and writing it. I have found that both with my memorization and practice that writing out the Hangul and then the English on paper (instead of reading from the book) really helps!
Additionally, the English speakers on the audio obviously are native Korean speakers and sometimes they are hard to understand when speaking English. However, since there isn't much English this is a relatively minor flaw.
This course is wonderful, if you are like me, and you are an academic learner: sitting down with a pen, paper, and book, and listening to the recorded CDs. There is plenty of drills and exercises and reviewing each unit from top to bottom a few times each will give you a clear command of that unit.
If you are more of an audible learner, try Pimsleur's Comprehensive (ASIN: 0743536134) and if you are more of a visual learner, try Rosetta Stone's (ASIN: B00005APYQ). For those who want a nice Vocabulary Builder, try VocabuLearn's Korean (ASIN: 1591253829).
Amazon.com
Set in a moderately posh suburb of London, acclaimed British novelist Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park is a captivating exploration of how the simple act of living can become an excruciating exercise in self-deprivation, hypocrisy, and desperation. Set over the course of a single day, the novel follows a group of young mothers who feel both anger at the husbands who seemingly imprisoned them in a world of minivans and coffee klatches, and resignation about the fates they seem destined to fulfill.
While Arlington Park may deal in toddlers and tater tots, it is certainly not another generic Mommy Lit clone. Cusk is a skilled writer, and in her hands, a dreary lunch at the mall food court is transformed into "lost property, but for people." As the day progresses, we watch as Juliet chops her hair off in a small, if meaningless act of rebellion, Amanda stifles a burning desire to scream at a neighbor's kid for ruining her white sofa, Maisie blames her parents for not loving her enough while throwing her daughter's lunchbox at the kitchen wall, and Christine stuffs chicken breasts while silently cursing her husband for spending too much time getting ready for a dinner party. In each scene, the oppressiveness is almost unbearable, prompting readers to practically beg these women to flee as far and as fast as is humanely possible.
Of course, in driving her readers to the edge of frustration and outrage, Cusk succeeds in creating a novel that penetrates deeper than most. Still, after turning the last page, you might find yourself reaching for a little Mommy Lit candy to take the edge off. --Gisele Toueg
Book Description
Arlington Park, a modern-day English suburb very much like its American counterparts, is a place devoted to the profitable ordinariness of life. Amidst its leafy avenues and comfortable houses, its residents live out the dubious accomplishments of civilization: material prosperity, personal freedom, and moral indifference. In Arlington Park, men work, women look after children, and people generally do what’s expected of them. It’s a world awash in contentment but empty of belief, and riven with strange anxieties. How are they to know right from wrong? How should they use their knowledge of other people’s sufferings? What is the relationship of politics to their own domestic arrangements?
Set over the course of a single rainy day, the novel moves from one household to another, and through the passing hours conducts a deep examination of its characters’ lives: of Juliet, enraged at the victory of men over women in family life; of Amanda, warding off thoughts of death with obsessive housework; of Solly, who confronts her own buried femininity in the person of her Italian lodger; of Maisie, despairing at the inevitability with which beauty is destroyed; and of Christine, whose troubled, hilarious spirit presides over Arlington Park and the way of life it represents.
Darkly comic, deeply affecting, and wise, Arlington Park is a page-turning imagining of the extraordinary inner nature of ordinary life, by one of Britain's most exciting young novelists.
Customer Reviews:
Riveting, innovative - she deserves a Booker Prize nomination! .......2007-08-15
I am surprised at the lacklustre ratings this book has received on Amazon. Saying it's dismal or bleak really misses the finer points of this riveting novel. So much modern fiction is fluffy, gimmicky and disappointing, barely memorable an hour after you've finishing reading it. Like Cusk's other work, this book is rich, unpredictable and substantial, and it cuts deep. I will remember it for a long time. Rachel Cusk is one of the best writers (male or female) writing today, and she truly deserves to be nominated for the Booker Prize. Cusk is far more talented, original and socially relevant than many other British and American novelists who are receiving the awards and accolades. This, her latest book, is an unflinching portrait of the dark underbelly of hyprocrisies and secrets of classism, marriage, parenthood and suburban life in Britain today (and could easily apply to certain enclaves of the U.S.)... all done with fine, flourishing touches of dark humour that are distinctly her own. It is a brilliant novel of social commentary for the 21st century.
It's Real Life, People........2007-07-11
The abundance of low reviews makes me wonder if they were posted by housewives like the ones Rachel Cusk so vividly potrays in this book.
I mean, I wouldn't like reading such a cutting portrayal of my life, either. Rachel Cusk exposes the emptiness facing suburban society today, touching on characters ranging from those who love and embrace it to ones who are in a constant state of uneasy, quiet protest.
The prose was beautiful. Cusk is a talented writer. While there is not a strong feeling of unity, as some reviewers point out angrily, I wonder if there should be. Because anyone living the lives of these women can attest to the lack of unity promoted by today's individualistic society. I think the postmodern snippets and chapters have their desired effect--one of estrangement and loneliness. I felt the desperation Cusk instilled in her characters, and I think that is a sign of a good writer.
Highly enjoyable (and QUALITY) read.
But if you are a housewife, maybe before you read make a list of the things you love about your life to come back to after this chilling view of (some people's) reality.
Some writing talent, but..........2007-06-28
It is amazing how reading a nice and zesty, dense book refines your taste, so that much of what you read afterwards appears bland and decidedly "nah", whereas you could have been content if you had simply picked it up at a different time. So maybe Rachel Cusk was at an unfair disadvantage, for I chose to read her book right after Lionel Shriver's superb Post-Birthday World, so the bar was admittedly high.
The waste of time Arlington Park amounted to was sufferable only because it was a fairly easy read, and that is because it has no substance to weigh it down, nor any style to speak of, despite the back flap praises' claim to the contrary. I am not sure why this book was recommended by several glossy publications like Vogue, which has introduced me to sublime young authors like David Bezmozgis or Lara Vapnyar.
The novel's plot (or lack thereof) was supposed to be a snapshot of the emptiness in several homemakers' lives in the course of one day, I'm with the author so far. But she obviously found her own characters so devoid of any discernible personality or purpose (and rightly so) that she wasn't quite sure where to go from there. I completely agree with other reviewers' remark that the creation of five + women was unnecessary, since they all appear like clones of bored, bitter, bitchy matrons whose capacity for love has long been sucked out of them, and who are left simmering in their dissatisfaction in their affluent suburb. Most readers will have gotten that by page 5 or 6, while the first 3 or 4 (and many more later on) are used to describe rain falling on greater London (awfully original). No, wait, one character does stand out a tiny bit, if by level of annoyance: that Christine, a particularly unlikable, acid parody of a surmised life of the party (and no, she's no Mrs. Dalloway!).
Don't get me wrong: I am not scolding Rachel Cusk for blowing the whistle on the occasional unbearability and stupor of keeping house and raising children. A few nuances were spot-on, such as pointing out the hour-by-hour ordeal of getting through the day, or the temporary sense of freedom afforded by a car ride, thanks to child-restraining devices. Her characters' repulsiveness is a mirror of their self-loathing and hints at the unpleasant fact that part of their misery may be self-inflicted. But it's the right seasoning that this picky reviewer misses.
If Cusk's intention was to create anything à la Stepford or even Desperate Housewives, she ought to have thrown on much thicker layers. It wasn't. But subtlety, which is employed with so much skill on similar subjects by, e.g., Paula Fox, has a way of resulting in insipidness when it's not. Thus, with disproportionate devotion to trifles, frequent repetitions and bovine, witless dialogue, Rachel Cusk has created the very monotony and triviality she has supposedly meant to decry.
Could not finish this one.......2007-06-22
I recently read "The Country Life" and immediately decided it was one of the most clever, funny books I had read in a long time. I passed it on to many friends. I also went out and bought other Rachel Cusk books and looked forward to more of her wry wit, strange characters and lengthy, but satisfying writing style. What happened between "The Country Life" and this book? Although also skillfully written, this book has a leaden, morose feeling that is never offset enough by humor or hope. The plot ties together the lives of several upper middle class young mothers living in Arlington Park, England. The book opens with a torrential rain, and from there has these ladies driving around in hatchbacks, going to malls, showing off their kitchens, and fuming over stained sofas. Not stuff that puts you the edge of your seat. And that's OK. But the problem is, not only is the setting of these ladies lives mundane in this book, it is a backdrop to extremely sad and bewildered conversations and thoughts. I am not suggesting that everything needs to be funny or sunny, but this book is SO gray (from the rain to the lives of the characters) that as you go from one chapter to then next you keep hoping for the silver lining. The gray life and the poignant conversation would have made a satisfying short story or novella, but as you plod through farther into this book it becomes overbearing. Boring settings for characters + depressing narrative = gets old fast. Written well or not. I got 75% through and when it had not appeared I did something I hate doing - I stopped reading it before finishing. If you are a die hard Cusk fan, check this out, but if you are not, or if you can't relate to, or don't find suburban motherhood angst interesting, you may want to read some of her other works. Rachel Cusk is a very gifted writer. I look forward to reading more of her work, and hope to enjoy it more than this book.
Disdainful.......2007-06-07
Is there anything about day to day life that Rachel Cusk does not find disdainful? Give me a break, no one can be this unhappy! If Arlington Park is truly this dreary, the characters should move.
It actually is possible to be a mother and a wife and feel happiness and love.
Bitter, negative, rambling....
Average customer rating:
- I m too fond of my fur Geronimo Silton
- Even my hubby loves Junie B.
- This is a very funny book - a kid's review
- Junie B Jones Something Smells Fishy
- I like this book because Junie b.s grandma takes the fish.
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Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy (Junie B. Jones 12, paper)
Barbara Park
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
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ASIN: 0679891307
Release Date: 1998-11-17 |
Book Description
Junie B. Jones has a pet day problem! There's going to be a pet day at school, only guess what? No dogs allowed! And that's the only kind of pet Junie B. has! If Mother and Daddy won't buy her a new pet, Junie B. will just have to find one on her own. Like maybe a jar of ants. Or a wiggly worm. Or--could it be--something even better?
Customer Reviews:
I m too fond of my fur Geronimo Silton.......2006-05-24
You shoud read Geronimo Silton BOOKS I like Trap. He always sings and calls Geronimo names like Germister. Geronimo is on an adventure. He is trying to help these creatures called Yetis. There are only three of them left in the world. I think these books are really good. By Joe age 8
Even my hubby loves Junie B........2006-02-09
My daughter started reading these at 4 and loves them. She just laughs and laughs. They are written just like little kids talk and they are really cute. We have almost all of the Junie B. books and this is one of my husband's favorites.
This is a very funny book - a kid's review.......2005-10-09
I like this book because it is very funny. Junie B. Jones' class has pet day. Junie B. Jones doesn't know what to bring to school for pet day. Her grandma found a worm but she didn't want to bring it to school because it is slimy. Her grandma caught a fish from the lake. Junie B. Jones put it in a fish bowl. She wanted to bring it to school but she didn't. Junie B. Jones found something in the refrigerator. She decided to bring it to school. She brought it to school and it was a FISH STICK! I thought that was very funny. Junie B. was very glad. Do you know why? She was very glad because she got a prize and she got a ribbon. It says her pet was the "Most Well Behaved"! I recommend this book to others who like Junie B. books. I hope you enjoy this book.
Junie B Jones Something Smells Fishy.......2005-08-10
It was a good book. I liked it. Other kids would like it I bet.
I would recomend it to people who like Junie B Jones. I love
Junie B Jones books. It is a good series.
I like this book because Junie b.s grandma takes the fish........2005-05-06
I loved this book because Junie B's grandma stole the fish. Junie B. named it but I am not going to tell you. You should read it. It is a good book. Before her grandma gives her the fish, she gives Junie B. Jones a worm and Junie B. also finds some other creatures. I am not going to tell you then.I am not going to spoil the suprise. I hope you like the book
BYE!
(...)
Amazon.com
Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, the noted author's most enduring nonfiction work, is an account of Abbey's seasons as a ranger at Arches National Park outside Moab, Utah. Abbey reflects on the nature of the Colorado Plateau desert, on the condition of our remaining wilderness, and on the future of a civilization that cannot reconcile itself to living in the natural world. He also recounts adventures with scorpions and snakes, obstinate tourists and entrenched bureaucrats, and, most powerful of all, with his own mortality. Abbey's account of getting stranded in a rock pool down a side branch of the Grand Canyon is at once hilarious and terrifying.
Book Description
When Desert Solitaire was first published in 1968, it became the focus of a nationwide cult. Rude and sensitive. Thought-provoking and mystical. Angry and loving. Both Abbey and this book are all of these and more. Here, the legendary author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey's Road and many other critically acclaimed books vividly captures the essence of his life during three seasons as a park ranger in southeastern Utah. This is a rare view of a quest to experience nature in its purest form -- the silence, the struggle, the overwhelming beauty. But this is also the gripping, anguished cry of a man of character who challenges the growing exploitation of the wilderness by oil and mining interests, as well as by the tourist industry.
Abbey's observations and challenges remain as relevant now as the day he wrote them. Today, Desert Solitaire asks if any of our incalculable natural treasures can be saved before the bulldozers strike again.
Customer Reviews:
Great writing from the old curmudgeon.......2007-08-20
I think this is far and away Abbey's best book. The prose is careful, precise, thoughtful. In my first year teaching, I would read a short section of this book every morning before climbing into the trenches, to remind myself what beautiful prose could be--regardless of the subject matter. (As an animal lover and vegetarian, I still have a hard time with his description of beaning the rabbit.) The book, I think, is definitely a "guy" book--but that's how my taste in reading goes, so I loved it back then, still love it today.
Abbey's season in the wilderness ages well..........2007-06-11
Edward Abbey reflects and reports on a summer he spent as a ranger at Arches National Park in Utah. At that time, Arches was in a pre "industrialized park" state. Desert Solitaire is his tale of adventures and his book of memories. Below is a sprinkling of quotes to give you a taste, a flavor, of what you can expect.
"Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary" (p. 1).
"... I have personal convictions to uphold. Ideals, you might say. I prefer not to kill animals. I'm a humanist; I'd rather kill a man than a snake" (p. 20).
"Don't actually care for ants. Neurotic little pismires" (p. 30).
"We need more predators. The sheepmen complain, it is true, that the coyotes eat some of their lambs. This is true but do they eat enough? I mean, enough lambs to keep the coyotes sleek, healthy, and well fed. That is my concern" (p. 35).
"We are kindred all of us, killer and victim, predator and prey, me and the sly coyote, the soaring buzzard, the elegant gopher snake, the trembling cottontail, the foul worms that feed on our entrails, all of them, all of us. Long live diversity, long live the earth!" (p. 38-39).
"An increasingly pagan and hedonistic people (thank God!), we are learning finally that the forests and mountains and desert canyons are holier than our churches. Therefore let us behave accordingly" (p. 60).
"A man could be a lover and defender of the wilderness without ever in his lifetime leaving the boundaries of asphalt, powerlines, and right-angled surfaces. We need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it" (p. 148).
"'Ralph Newcomb', I say, 'do you believe in God?'
'Who?' he says.
'Who?'
'Who.'
'You said it,' I say" (p. 180).
"'Newcomb, for godsake where do we come from?'
'Who knows?'
'Where are we going?'
'Who cares?'
'Who?'
'Who'" (p. 185).
"But the love of wilderness is more than a hunger for what is always beyond reach; it is also an expression of loyalty to the earth, the earth which bore us and sustains us, the only home we shall ever know, the only paradise we ever need - if only we had the eyes to see. Original sin, the true original sin, is the blind destruction for the sake of greed of this natural paradise which lies all around us - if only we were worthy of it" (p. 190).
"What does [the desert] mean? It means nothing. It is as it is and has no need for meaning. The desert lies beneath and soars beyond any possible human qualification. Therefore, sublime" (p. 219).
"I am almost prepared to believe that this sweet virginal primitive land will be grateful for my departure and the absence of the tourists, will breath metaphorically a collective sigh of relief - like a whisper of wind - when we are all and finally gone and the place and its creations can return to their ancient procedures unobserved and undisturbed by the busy, anxious, brooding consciousness of man" (p. 300).
Enjoy. Abbey is a writer first, a naturalist second. He takes liberties as necessary to tell his story, so this only seems like an autobiography. Obviously, he was less concerned then about "political correctness." I suspect he would be as irreverent today.
Solid writing about the Utah desert.......2007-06-07
What makes this a highly readable book is the author's revelations about his own feelings and shortcomings. It made me feel like I was there in the desert with him.
"Resist much, Obey little".......2007-04-29
It's been almost 40 years since Desert Solitaire hit the bookshelves; and perhaps it is more appropriate reading now than it was in 1968; certainly "Industrial Tourism" has come to pass.
This book is not gibberish from some "eco-hermit", whatever that is. Yes, old Cactus Ed is cranky and contradictory, full of hyperbole at times. This is his stamp as a prose-poet and unsurpassed storyteller; if you don't get this, you may be reading the wrong books.
Abbey's iconoclastic philosophy of conservation over human "progress" has rendered Desert Solitaire as a true environmental classic. This book is most likely sitting on many home bookshelves between The Mountains of California and A Sand Country Almanac.
Ed Abbey was well steeped in philosophy and literature; when he muses on the civilization vs. culture subject, you can see the meld of anarchism and german existentialism occuring. His impassioned rants reflect his love of the solitary places - landscapes unscathed by that "turbo-monkey" known as man. The humor is as dry and sharp as the the landscapes he describes: episodes with his pet gopher snake; the search for a dead tourist; and the idiocies of The National Park Service.
Like many authors, Abbey's non-fictional writing outshines his fictional stuff. Hands down, Desert Solitaire is his finest work: Rough, Tough, and Combative. This classic is a must read if you are of the "Resist much, Obey little" mindset. Infinite thanks, Cactus Ed . . .
Extracts: A Field Guide for Iconoclasts
Desert Solitaire.......2007-03-08
A classic that should be read by all thinking Americans who care more for our country than they do about the exploitation of the earth for temporary gain.
Amazon.com
Jerry Marlow is on a coach hurtling from Milan to Strasbourg, even though he loathes coaches and everything they stand for:
...all the contemporary pieties of getting people together and moving them off in one direction or another to have fun together, or to edify themselves, or to show solidarity to some underprivileged minority and everybody, as I said, being of the same mind and of one intent, every individual possessed by the spirit of the group, which is the very spirit apparently of humanity, and indeed that of Europe, come to think of it, which this group is now hurtling off to appeal.
Jerry, suffice to say, is not a team player--not even when it comes to saving his own job. Together with a group of colleagues and students from the University of Milan, he's off to the European Parliament to protest new Italian laws against hiring foreigners--a cause which he opposes, appealing to an institution he's not sure should exist.
So why is Jerry on the coach in the first place? Because she is there--the same she for whom Jerry left his wife and daughter and who has since broken his heart. The unnamed she in question is a beautiful French woman (of course), a hellcat in bed (it goes without saying), and an intellect of notable refinement (naturellement). She was also unfaithful, and now they scarcely speak to one another. The rest of this dark and often savagely funny novel (shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize) consists of one great Joycean rant, a stream-of-consciousness harangue that circles obsessively around sex, the treachery of she, and Jerry's boundless misanthropy. In between we get glimpses of the bus and its motley cast of characters, including, most vividly, Vikram Griffiths, part Welsh, part Indian, with his nervous tics and his self-consciously Welsh accent and his shaggy mutt, Dafydd. As one might deduce from the title, the dream of the new, unified Europe looms behind this tale like--well, like a big, unwieldy metaphor, given expression in the form of Jerry's affair. As a meditation on the continent's future, the novel works surprisingly well, and though it initially takes some time to sort out the looping rhythms of Parks's prose, the reader's patience is repaid in spades. --Mary Park
Customer Reviews:
Breakdown.......2001-12-26
Of all the thousands of books I have read, this is my all-time favourite. The most beautiful prose I have ever read is contained within these pages. The style is deeply contemplative and finely detailed - reminiscent, at times, of Proust's Recherche Du Temps Perdu. The story meanders through the obsessive musings of the narrator as he allows himself to be led reluctantly on a bizarre and seemingly pointless expedition. Like Hemingway, Tim Parks possesses a distinctly expatriate view of life in continental Europe. His wry commentary on the idiosyncracies of the European Union is strikingly apt even today, as anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of living within its borders will swiftly realise.
Europa is a story of and for the introspective among us - those prone to incessant reflection and, inevitably, regret.
I Agree.......2001-06-05
Pretentious appears to be a common observation about this book and its central character Jerry Marlow. The word is really not intense enough, for if there is a superlative form of pretentious this book and most of its characters would qualify for the description.
Hypocrisy would be another apt description as the main character believes in nothing that he participates in, and this is the man who is to give the presentation of grievances to the European Union that are being brought via, "The Shag Wagon". The members of this tale are firstly the academics and secondly their blindly supportive students. For the former group of Academic males the later groups of students are essentially targets of opportunity for personal romps.
The book appears to be a commentary on the absurdity of the European Union and that requires the affected pretensions of the characters to communicate the idea. The, "United States Of Europe" sounds like a punch line from a joke to begin with, and only gets better when the country that will function as the central bank for this United Europe is Germany. And people wonder why England wants nothing to do with this mess! The 20th Century's History alone is enough to ensure this Union never prospers. In the book one currency is being devalued as if its the 1920's and 30's of Germany, and in real life the value of the Euro started sinking virtually the day it was initialized.
At times the story is funny in a gray pathetic sort of way, but it also becomes tragically dark and exploitative as it winds down. The Author uses a variety of ways to show just how artificial the links to a United Europe are. There is Vikram; a man who is Welsh, but due to an Indian background is dark of complexion, so he exemplifies Europe without borders as he is also discriminated against because of his complex ethnicity.
Jerry Marlow like his fellow teachers is an instructor in languages. However regardless of the language an event takes place in, his memory can only recall it in English. Personal conduct is also brutally contrasted between characters of different nations, and may bother a few readers for the cliché's they reinforce.
As a final comment the Author's style takes some acclimatizing as well. Mr. Parks likes to write in paragraphs that run to multiple pages, and sentences that should be multiple paragraphs. This makes for a run on stream of consciousness that you will either embrace or detest. This is the first work I have read by this Author, I may try again but it is not a priority.
A painstaking, plodding read.......2001-03-28
I wanted to like this book, I really did. The seductive cover, high praise on the jacket, and the fact that this novel was "shortlisted" for the famed British Booker Prize whet my appetite. But I must say, having just put it down, that the book was one agonizing read.
The premise for the novel is hopeful - a 45 year old visiting professor at the University of Milan, against his better judgment, joins a motorcoach full of academics and students on a trip to the European Parliament, to protest perceived discrimination by Italian laws restricting their employment. Apparently many of these visiting professors took their jobs as a temporary measure, on a break from writing books or furthering their academic careers elsewhere, and then realized they wanted to keep teaching despite agreeing to term limits.
In any event, Marlow agrees to accompany the motley crew despite having no real passion for the cause. There is some unspoken belief that the trip will result in decadence and romance among the students and their older lectors, whose jobs they are all presumably fighting to retain. In fact the whole idea was hatched by a Welsh Indian named Vikram, who chases anything in a skirt, with a wink to our narrator. The reader is reminded a little of the "key party" of The Ice Storm as the riders of the bus begin to nervously sort out their roommates for the hotel.
We soon learn that Jerry is plagued with guilt, and that he is obsessed with one of the younger members of the entourage, referred to throughout the book namelessly as "she," with whom Jerry previously carried on an extended torrid affair that ended very badly. Jerry feels guilty for striking the girl, and is likewise guilty about walking out on his wife and teenage daughter after confessing of his affair. At the climax of the novel, as the group makes their pitch at Parliament, Jerry's daughter turns 18 back home without him.
Europa is told in the first person, and Jerry's account of the trip is endlessly interrupted by long, looping narrative histories of his affair, of his prior philosophical discussions with his girlfriend, and of his chauvinistic rambling with other male professors discussing conquests of their "totties" (apparently a British term for loose women). The action is never in the here and now, as the reader is taken on one digression after another. For example, a simple question posed to Jerry, when his fellow bus rider asks him what he is reading, leads to pages of self-analytical nonsense that leaves the reader numb. Parks never stays with the action long enough to engage the reader's attention, even when the plot seems to be moving toward an engrossing idea or event. I know it's stream of consciousness, and perhaps we all think like Jerry narrates, but I still like a little bit of plot and narrative structure to my novels.
There were a few memorable parts to be sure. Jerry's devastating skewering of the film Dead Poet's Society (which the party watched on monitors on the coach) forever changed the way I view that movie. And the bittersweet tale of a past dinner party involving Jerry, his wife and daughter, and a clearly disturbed Vikram and his young son left a lasting impression. Unfortunately, these lucid moments came all too infrequently in a book dominated by rambling, middle-aged angst. This would have made a better novella than a full length novel.
Wonderful book by a remarkable writer........2001-03-10
I read this rather lenghty book in two consecutive days, immersed in Park's looping, breathtaking, inner monologue, stream of conscience writing. This novel is about an obsessive love afair, a troubled, alienated, at times self-loathing academic with his heart not in the academic game show at all, a tale about the "other" as another reviewer succintly put it, about the complexities of life and the self, and more. A tour de force for this remarkable but underrated writer, with a writing style unlike anything you 've read recently, managing to be literary without being tedius and artificial(see m. amis, pynchon, barth et al.for that), and a striking, powerful ending. Park's musings on life and philosophy, european history and themes are never out of place or turgid, and they make very good reading material, adding a texture to the words.
Caught up in an unsatisfying marriage, a dead-end lifeless job, a failed yet once passionate and potentialy life-changing love affair, conflicting feelings and instability, Jerry the protagonist somehow agrees to take a trip to the European parliament to express his disagreement with the wage cuts on his job, which he does not particularly like, with a few fellow academics and a number of female students at his Italian university, and, of course, the french woman who is the cause (or is she just the pretext) for his recent worries. Riding on a bus through Europe and at the same time travelling intensely in his thoughts and memories, Jerry Marlow finds himself thinking more and living less in the present. While all too human interaction takes place, he stays a shadowy figure for the most part of the book for any outsiders to his consciousness. Memory mingles with outer reality, obsession takes hold of him, until they finally arrive to their destination (to his destination possibly) where the last act is played.
The mental images from the various settings of the book come back to me very vividly as I write these lines. This is a really good book and I am not going to spoil it any more for you with my mediocre analysis. I hope I made clear that this is not your average type of novel.
Do read it.
Very slow and dissapointing.......2001-01-25
Yet another novel written about the field of the author, full of boring and self indulging insites into the world of academia. Pretentiously written - how many words can he fit in one sentence? I've read almost all of Parks work, including the excellent Cara Massimina and the pathetic Shear, and this is by far the worst. Don't waste your money.
Average customer rating:
- See 'O'Lost:"....original Homeward Angel
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To Loot My Life Clean : The Thomas Wolfe-Maxwell Perkins Correspondence
Matthew J. Bruccoli ,
Park Bucker , and
Arlyn Bruccoli
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ASIN: 1570033552 |
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See 'O'Lost:"....original Homeward Angel.......2000-12-08
Correction-- treatment on Wolfe, is 330 pages. Read this,then collect..for posterity,l of the US greatest O'Lost" over 750 pages, (20000) ..also edited by Mat Bruccoli,foremost scholar on .Wolfe's m/s...for & about Asheville's....hero-novelist who they thought was...at that time..as if he were "Dr.Hunter S. Thompson"
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- young adult lit
- Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom
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Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom (4th Edition)
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Book Description
This practical methods book provides future middle and high school English teachers with the direction they'll need to choose adolescent literature and to develop ideas for teaching it.
Using a highly effective conversational tone, the book provides the latest information about young adult literature in a short, concisely written, classroom-oriented format. The authors show the busy English teacher how to accomplish four important teaching goals including life-long reading, reader response, teaching the classics, and reaching a diverse student population.
English Teachers, Grades 6-12.
Customer Reviews:
young adult lit.......2007-02-16
The book is a great resource and it came in plenty of time tahnk-you!
Using Young Adult Literature in the English Classroom.......2005-05-10
This book is an excellent introduction to young adult (YA) literature for the 7th-12th grade English curriculum. It establishes a valid and informative argument for using YA literature based on the developmental theories of Piaget and Inhelder, Robert Havighurst, and G. Robert Carlsen. Bushman and Haas argue that adolescents are interested in reading stories that relate to their own experiences or involve issues they face. Such interest results in emotional and cognitive responses, which in turn fosters a positive attitude towards reading. YA literature, accordingly, supplies all these needs.
This book's structure and extensive discussions on various topics provide essential foundational information upon which English teachers can assess its value in the classroom. For example, it has a section which discusses the features of YA novels, such as plot, character types, key themes, and points of view. It provides a practical framework for teaching YA literature in that it offers teaching strategies and activities which are designed to develop critical thinking skills. Many different YA novels are discussed in relation to various topics throughout the book and several novels are discussed at length. One important section, of many, discusses the important connection between reading and writing and literature's role in providing the context in which to learn to write. It suggests many writing activities which will aid the students in not only synthesizing their ideas about what they read, but also in developing their writing skills.
In my opinion, the book's weakest section is the one discussing "Young Adult Literature as a Bridge to the Classics" (166). This section has a very limited discussion on integrating YA literature with the classics. Many more suggestions on this topic would be helpful because many districts still require the teaching of classics as part of the curriculum.
Book Description
"In the Blood is an extraordinary new play…It is truly harrowing…we cannot turn away, and we do not want to. The play strikes us as Hawthorne claimed his first glimpse of the scarlet letter struck him, with "a sensation not altogether physical yet almost so, as of a burning heat, as if the letter were not of red cloth but of red-hot iron.'"-Margo Jefferson, The New York Times
The playwright who "has burst through every known convention to invent a new theatrical language, like a jive Samuel Beckett, while exploding American cultural myths and stereotypes along the way [John Heilpern, New York Observer and Vogue]," has written two haunting riffs on Hawthorne's The Scarlett Letter: In the Blood and Fucking A.
Hester La Negrita of In the Blood is an unapologetic mother of five illegitimate children-"my treasures, my five joys"-who practices writing the alphabet to help herself "one day get a leg up. The letter A is as far as she gets. Hester Smith of Fucking A works the only job available-abortionist to the lower class, in order to save for a reunion picnic with her imprisoned son. Her branded A bleeds afresh every time a patient comes to see her.
These are two mature, beautifully crafted, inventive and poetic plays by one of the most unique voices writing for the stage today.
Suzan Lori-Parks is also the author of The America Play and Other Works and Venus, both published by TCG. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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