Book Description
In the town of Ghostly, where every house is haunted, two ghosts are frightened. . . .
Someone is haunting them with mysterious sounds: Clack, cluckity-cluck bing, blub blub. Or is it click, cluck-clackity cling, flub flub? They can't agree on what the sounds are, but they know they're not ghostly noises. What could be more scary?
Good thing ace reporter Dirk Bones is on the case. Dirk writes for the town newspaper, The Ghostly Tombs, and as he collects the facts for his stories, he also solves mysteries.
As Dirk investigates this zany case, he encounters more silly, creepy creatures in a town full of promise for more surprising mysteries to come.
Average customer rating:
- Superb psychological ghost story
- Pretty predictable
- File 13
- A slow starter
- Interesting Tell!
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House of Bones
Dale Bailey
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0451210794
Release Date: 2003-12-02 |
Book Description
Five strangers brave the unknown when they investigate an abandoned housing project said to be haunted. Now they'll discover where evil dwells in this bone-chilling return to a classic tradition in horror novels.
Customer Reviews:
Superb psychological ghost story.......2005-04-24
This is Dale Bailey's second novel after the incredible The Fallen and it is simply superb. Bailey doesn't write fast stories, but slowly explores his characters, we get to know them inside out all the way, and then he takes us into their world of darkness. House of Bones is excellent and it deals with four characters who are invited by a billioner to stay for two weeks in a housing project, ready to be demolished due to the evil and violent things which took place there in its past. All fours' lives have been shattered by horrible events in their past and here in Dreamland, the name of the projects, they will come face to face with their past and thus bring upon them ghosts and evil presence gathered in Dreamland. Haunting, extremely well written, and scary. Dale Bailey has a great future ahead of him.
Pretty predictable.......2005-01-21
I too am ready to donate this book to the local free book cart. While the story held promise, it seemed extremely derivative to me. And it was so predictable that I felt the author must be using an outline for standard horror plot number 204 or something.
Having said that, I must admit that 1) I did finish the book; and 2) other family members really liked it.
File 13.......2004-12-19
The first thing I did when I finished this book was throw it away! This for me is an odd thing to do as I reread books many times. I didn't even want this book on my shelf! It promises just a little page by page. Not enough to make you want to read it in one sitting, just enought so it nags the back of your mind. You read, hoping for one kick-ass ending and it makes you want to scream with frustration and throw in in the trash can.
Which is exactly what I did.(one star because there is nothing lower.)
A slow starter.......2004-11-21
I have a 50 page rule with the books I read. If it doesn't capture my attention in 50 pages, I put it down. Life is just to short to waste on a mediocre book. I was afraid this book was destined for the discard bin. At the 50 page mark I was still intrigued with the story line and decided to expand my rule a few more pages, I am glad I did. By page 80 the story was off and running. It didn't travel at breakneck speed, but it was sure and steady.
Bailey started out a little slow but as the story progressed, so did the action and suspense. This is not the best work of horror I have ever read but it is certainly worth your time. Dreamland is a modern day haunted house and while it may not have alot in the way of ghosts, evil definitely lives here.
In the end, I found myself cheering on the good guys and feeling badly for those who didn't make it. Bailey has alot of potential and I am looking forward to his next effort.
Interesting Tell!.......2004-10-29
I enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to any lover of horror. Be ready to be scared.
Average customer rating:
- A Stir of Bones - A Winner!
- These are great for grown ups too!
- This memorable story left me longing for more.
- As awesome as Freak the Mighty
- What???? Satan???
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A Stir of Bones
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Manufacturer: Puffin
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Binding: Paperback
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Catalyst: A Novel of Alien Contact
ASIN: 014240361X |
Book Description
Susan Backstrom seems to have a charmed life—but she also has dangerous family secrets. When she hears some kids talking about exploring a nearby haunted house, Susan asks to join them, even though she knows what might happen if she gets caught. The teenagers discover that there is indeed a ghost, and the house itself is a living, supernatural thing. With the help of five new friends—three humans, one ghost, and House—Susan has what she needs to build a new life, if she dares.
Customer Reviews:
A Stir of Bones - A Winner!.......2006-08-18
My father actually bought this book for my daughter to read. Being a parent to a child who will and does read anything, I took it upon myself to read this book so that I would know what she was reading. Once I started, I couldn't put it down! It was that riveting. I would love to see a follow-up of this book, to know what happens to Susan, Deirdre, Julio, Edmund, and even Trudie as they get older. I would also like to see a measure of justice directed at some of the characters, which is yet another reason that I want to see a sequel.
Please, oh, please, continue the story!
These are great for grown ups too!.......2005-04-01
This prequel to Hoffman's other books is just as juicy and delicious as the others. She can really get inside the adolscent heart and make us bleed for the characters. I don't know why this is listed as adolescent fiction, because it's not. If you love contemporary fantasy these are great books for you. READ THEM!
This memorable story left me longing for more........2004-07-26
Susan, a seventh-grader, has terrible secrets. Her father beats her mother and then blames Susan. He controls Susan, telling her what to wear, what to watch on television, and how to spend every minute of her time. At school, she is a lonely outsider. Her only real friends are the family's housekeeper, Juanita, and Juanita's son, Julio.
At the library one day, Susan overhears Julio and his friends plotting to visit the local haunted house, and she invites herself along. There, they meet a ghost named Nathan. Susan is oddly drawn to both Nathan and the house, and she begins to carry one of Nathan's finger bones. Her talisman emboldens her away from the house, and she finds herself able to connect with people a little more easily.
Susan finds refuge when Nathan invites each of the visitors to keep a room at the house. She develops relationships with her new acquaintances, both the living and the dead, and spends an unforgettable Halloween night with Nathan --- a mystical evening that makes her supernatural host even more alluring.
Many facets of Susan's life gradually become better. However, her home situation does not improve. Susan's unbearable pain plus her attraction to the boy ghost lead her to ponder whether or not she would be better off joining Nathan forever.
Susan and Nathan are heartrendingly sympathetic characters. The lyrical writing weaves together a dreamy ghost tale and the harsh realism of Susan's home life, ending on a hopeful note. The fact that there is no easy resolution only adds to the believability. This memorable story left me longing for more, so I was happy to learn that A STIR OF BONES is a stand-alone prequel to two previously published novels, A RED HEART OF MEMORIES and PAST THE SIZE OF DREAMING.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon (terryms2001@yahoo.com)
As awesome as Freak the Mighty.......2004-07-17
Susan was perfect. She had to be, or her father would make Mother suffer. Once she had a friend, Julio, her housekeeper's son, but Father put an end to that. Now she does a lot of extra-credit reports and listens carefully to the house, so she can tell where everyone is - and when she needs to hide. She's gotten permission to stay away from home every afternoon for a month, doing research on her current project. In the library she overhears Julio and two friends discussing various sites where they can pursue their interests without disturbing anyone or being interrupted. They decide on the local haunted house and Susan is invited to join them. But this House really is haunted. Nathan was about their age when he hung himself in 1918, and when Susan listens to this House, it talks to her. Hoffman has smoothly created unforgettable characters with real issues, some magic, and a forever friendship. A page-turner, with people you don't want to say good-bye to.
What???? Satan???.......2004-05-18
Nina's writing had a similar feel to Richard Peck's writing, although a little darker in "reality." They both succeed in creating characters that are able to make friends with the odd ones that have crossed over to the other side. As a teen, Richard Peck's ghosts became my friends. Nina's Nathan has that same ability to come off the page and become a friend.
Then I see warnings on its Satanic Imagery. No. It has Pagan/Wiccan imagery, and if you have read anything about Wicca, you'll know that one of the basic tenants of Wicca is that what you do to others will come back to you tenfold. So, if you want to use wicca for evil purposes, expect 10 times that evil to befall on you.
That aside, the book has a slow start. I almost gave up before I got to the second chapter, but I'm glad I kept with it. The story is not about Wicca. It is about a girl, Susan, who has grown up with a father who is so controlling and abusive that she has come to believe that her body is not her own. She no longer even feels pain. He has successfully isolated her from other people her age, and even all other people except the housekeeper. Then Susan finds a way to sneak out of the house to join others at a "haunted" house. And there, she learns about the power of friendship.
This book has achieved a balance of fun, seriousness and mysticism that is rare. Definitely a book worth reading. Unless you feel children shouldn't read A Wrinkle in Time because of Mrs. Who, Mrs. What and Mrs. Which.
Book Description
Present day: Julia Hamill has made a horrifying discovery on the grounds of her new home in rural Massachusetts: a skull buried in the rocky soil–human, female, and, according to the trained eye of Boston medical examiner Maura Isles, scarred with the unmistakable marks of murder.
Boston, 1830: In order to pay for his education, medical student Norris Marshall has joined the ranks of local “resurrectionists”–those who plunder graveyards and harvest the dead for sale on the black market. But when a distinguished doctor is found murdered and mutilated on university grounds, Norris finds that trafficking in the illicit cadaver trade has made him a prime suspect.
With unflagging suspense and pitch-perfect period detail, THE BONE GARDEN deftly traces the dark mystery at its heart across time and place to a finale as ingeniously conceived as it is shocking.
From the Compact Disc edition.
Customer Reviews:
interesting historical thriller .......2007-10-04
After her divorce, Julia Hamill buys a fixer-upper in Weston, Massachusetts. While working in the garden, she digs up a skeleton. She is curious to learn who was buried here in apparently the early nineteenth century. A relative of the previous owner informs Julia that he possesses letters and other memorabilia from the lady who resided there for many years. They might obtain answers if they go through the zillion boxes he owns.
In 1830 Rose Connolly watches her sister die of child birth fever and is told to protect and hide her niece Maggie. Rose works hard to provide the best for the child at a time when Boston is besieged by the West End Reaper killer. Rose sees the killer and is aided by Harvard medical School student Norris Marshall who is awed by her courage. Norris witnesses the killer take another victim. He is found by the Watch near the corpse. Everyone assumes Norris is the West End horror except for loyal Rose who vows to prove the love of her life is innocent.
This historical thriller is different in style, tone, and setting than any previous work of Tess Gerritsen. Readers will quickly realize how much historical research has occurred as THE BONE GARDEN brings to life 1830 Boston through police corruption considered acceptable as the norm, horrific working conditions out of a Dickens novel, and the Harvard Medical School whose ethics is quite different than that of today. The characters, especially Rose and Norris seem believable partially because of the gothic-like atmosphere that enable the audience to care about them as it seems the police and the killer are coming for them.
Harriet Klausner
Can we say slooooow?.......2007-10-02
Can we say slooooow? I usually really enjoy her books, this one, taken me a week to read 100 pages, think that says enough.
Review of Audio CD -- Susan Denaker Improves Narrative.......2007-10-02
Susan Denaker, the narrator of the unabridged audio edition of The Bone Garden is a native of Great Britian. She was been an actress on stage, in movies and on television although her credits are mainly for small parts or character parts. However, she certainly shines when it comes to audio books narration.
A good narrator can save a faltering text, just as a bad narrator can ruin a good text. Tess Gerritsen's plotting might be a bit off in this book and her characters may be a bit less than well rounded, but a good voice performance by Ms Denaker makes these problems easy to overlook.
I have no idea where the Irish lived in Boston in 1830 (and I would have jumped on any historical error I recognized, but I was lucky enough not to know the period in the US or the city). In fact what I know about Resurrectionists and their work is due mainly bad Chiller Theatre movies, the story of Tom Sawyer and the exploits of William Burke and William Hare who had operated in Edinburgh in the late 1820's and given the world both a term for a certain way of killing-- Burking and a singing rhyme that accompanied children's games.
However the narration is worth the price of admission. Ms Denaker as she moves from Boston Brahmin to Irish seamstress, from an elderly man's voice to a young woman's voice does an excellent job in making them distinguishable and entertaining to listen to as well. It's no wonder that she voices four of the favorite to 50 audio books.
Bored Garden.......2007-10-02
This novel commits the ultimate sin for a suspense novel...no suspense whatsoever.
The Present/Past device has been done to death, the West End Reaper is about as scary as Mr McFeeley from Mr. Rogers neighborhood (speaking of which, the 1830s Boston geography is all screwed up- the Irish may live in Southie today but in 1830, try the North End), every other page has a description of poor Irish denizens longingly looking in the windows of cheery, firelit pubs (Tess G should at least invest in a thesaurus if she's going to plow the same ground over and over and over)and the plot "twist" at the end, apart from putting the reader and several characters out of their misery, is an abject disappointment. I mean we had to read almost 300 pages to get to this?
Tess should take a few years off and regroup. She's losing her chops and they are impressive as her earlier work testifies. The Bone Garden is unbecoming to someone of her talent
Light fun.......2007-09-27
Tess Gerritsen's latest novel makes for a pleasant read. Although it's set in two time periods--today and the 1830's--she manages to bring the story together very well. I won't give the story away, but she does introduce a famous person from the past.
One thing that was very enjoyable (and won't give away anything from the plot) was the medical knowledge Gerritsen displays about the past. Women are dying in childbirth from childbirth fever. The medical students and doctors worry away at the problem in a way that rings true and adds to the suspense.
Average customer rating:
- An awful excuse for historical fiction!!!
- Pick it up...and you won't put it down!
- In the eye of the beholder
- Longing for freedom
- Excellent Read - Couldn't put it down...
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Bone House
Betsy Tobin
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0743406168 |
Book Description
In this stunning debut, Betsy Tobin spins a classic tale of gothic suspense. Immersing readers in Elizabethan England, she masterfully evokes a heady place where science and superstition walk hand-in-hand and sensuality and violence are masked by the merest veneer of gentility.
...some people are the center of their world, and others are the spokes.
The center of one village was Dora, the great-bellied prostitute whose lush curves gave solace to men even as her compassion and honesty drew the company of women. So when Dora is found dead in an icy ravine, her loss impacts everyone. So, too, does it torment a young chambermaid at the Great House. Determined to discover the truth, she ?nds that Dora left behind many unanswered questions, along with a huge, slow-witted son, a boy of eleven trapped in a man's body. The deeper she digs, the more the mystery of Dora's life is revealed, until a terrible secret is laid bare.
Download Description
When Dora, the village prostitute, is found dead at the bottom of a ravine, everyone in her rural community is strangely shaken. The men grieve, of course -- but it's not just they who are affected, for the charismatic Dora touched everyone around her. At the center of those who mourn is the novel's narrator, a young maid serving the mistress of the local manor house, who sets out to unravel the complex web of secrets that lies behind Dora's death. This obsessive quest takes her back and forth between high and low society and eventually leads her to a terrible discovery and the beginnings of a future. Through the captivating and unfaltering voice of this appealing narrator, Betsy Tobin brilliantly illuminates the Elizabethan obsession with the body -- or "bone house" -- and its primary role in determining one's destiny. In rendering so vividly both the privileges and privation of Elizabethan village life, she has crafted an uncommonly graceful and riveting first novel.
Customer Reviews:
An awful excuse for historical fiction!!!.......2005-10-14
Considering others have described the book in great detail, I shall skip that.
This book was a sorry excuse for a romance, and even worse for a mystery. The outcome was entirely predictable, and absolutly disgusting! The author relies on our interest in solving mysteries, by giving you one horror after another. She repeatedly mentions in graphic detail what a stillborn baby looks like, and how they dispose of them. Now this is awful enough but understandable for a midwife. But then she adds rape, mutilation, and incest to it all. As if we really needed all these horrors to enjoy a mystery... and in such a small book!
This is not all though... the plot is predictable enough because you don't ever learn the names of the main characters, except the murdered woman. The narrator is a maid, she falls for "The painter" and is the daughter of the "Midwife"
So with very few real names in the book, it is very easy to geuss who the killer is.
No book has ever left me feeling ill, but this left me retching. Stephen King could take notes from this author!
Last but not least, she gave a horribly inaccurate description of Witch Pesecutions. The suspected woman would not have been allowed to stay in her own home, but would have been immediatly put in some form of holding space, and likely killed long before any proof of her innocence showed up, or killed anyways with the proof in hand. Basicly, once accused, nothing could prove their innocence.
I found the whole book very offending, and agree with a previous reviewer. It was inaccurate, and disgusting. I would not recomend this book to ANYONE, especially any woman with a violent past. It will leave them sick at heart.
Pick it up...and you won't put it down!.......2004-03-16
Bone House is a great read...and a great debut for this author.
I was surprised that it did not receive more accolades and better promotion. I disagree with the reviewer who stated the historical content was askew---bearing in mind that this is a novel, not a text. I think that review gives an unfair impression of the book overall. It is incorrect to state that in the 17th century, the classes never intermingled-or married. There has never been evidence to prove that this is an ummitigated fact, it is merely what we assume. If gothic, historical fiction appeals to you-read it. I would even guess that you too, will look forward to Betsy Tobin's next book.
In the eye of the beholder.......2003-11-23
Village life is quiet and uneventful in 17th Century England, the people godly and hardworking, far removed from the temptations of a large city. Dora is the local prostitute, larger than life in stature, personality and reputation, come from "across the sea". Everything changes when Dora's lifeless body is found at the bottom of a ravine, apparently an accident. When it becomes known that Dora was pregnant, suspicions are awakened.
Dora has a son, Long Boy, now left to fend for himself, with only a neighboring midwife to care for his needs. An oversized eleven-year-old with the mind of a child and the body of a man, Long Boy is distraught, but no one is able to comfort him.
The daughter of the midwife is a maid who works in the Great House as a servant. She enjoyed Dora, was fascinated by her strength, her common sense and her bravery in living alone, supporting herself and the boy. This young maid can't shake the feeling that there is more behind the prostitute's death than is immediately apparent.
Unfortunately, this small Elizabethan village is a place haunted by religious paranoia and a pervasive fear of "Satan". Their lives are constrained by strict moral convention, even more vulnerable to the fears that run rampant through their superstitious minds. Suspicious of witches, the villagers are determined to blame the death on someone.
Determined to get to the bottom of the matter, the girl listens carefully to gossip in the Great House, while performing duties for her master, Edward, whose body is twisted by birth defects. Daily, she cares for Edward's aging mother, who is frequently ill, perhaps even dying. The mistress hires a painter to do her portrait, in spite of her illness, hoping the deformed Edward will agree to sit for one as well. Edward makes a different request of the painter: recreate Dora's face, using the maid as a guide for the likeness. The maid has no time to indulge in romantic fantasies, although she is attracted to the portrait painter. But even the painter has a strange tale to tell, in the end, and a connection to Dora. Through the emotional trauma, it never occurs to the young woman that anyone would offer her comfort.
Presented with the damning testimony of neighbors, the midwife is accused of Dora's death. The maid doggedly pursues each clue and when evidence points to her own family history, secrets her mother has kept for nineteen years, the girl summons considerable fortitude, ready to face the ugly truth and force others to listen.
In a century riddled with superstition, this novel echoes with the ignorance so common to rural villages. Isolation breeds suspicion; women are vulnerable to accusations by others, often prompted by jealousy. In such a place and time, the maid might toil her years away as a servant in the Great House, her future preordained by circumstance. Masters control their servants, with the power to offer them days of drudgery or small comforts. Dora is an anomaly in this village, a woman who is tolerated because of her good spirit and inner strength: "She did not choose fate, but created it." Luan Gaines/2003.
Longing for freedom.......2003-10-31
This haunting novel set in XVII century England is full of people inhibitted by the time and place in which they live. The only one who seemed free and satisfied is the dead women. Hard lives, superstition,persistent smell of death and decay ,even ghosts, real and imagined.
This is a story of human longing for freedom, one thing we all have in common, but few of us ever achieve. At the end we can't help but sincerelly hope that unnamed young woman who tells the story is one of the few chosen.
Excellent Read - Couldn't put it down..........2002-02-11
Picked up this book at a Thrift Store for ten cents and read it completely the same day...
An excellent book that was extremely realistic, I felt as though I was in the room with the characters. Her discriptions were also very chilling. I read it mainly for the description of the plight of the mid-wives during that time period. They were necessary yet hated/or discriminated against in very violent ways sometimes.
Customer Reviews:
The Bone House.......2007-05-14
I was very happy with both the availability and shipping of "The Bone House" by Joel Peter Witkin. I will definately shop again, and recomend to others. This was a title I'd been hoping to find for years ...
witkin.......2005-01-24
this Witkin book is an ecxellent illustration of his work. A wonderful collection of macabre. high quality images.
Brilliant........2003-10-30
Joel-Peter Witkin, The Bone House (Twin Palms, 2000)
Witkin is best known outside the world of avant-garde art for being one of those whose work was scrutinized during the whole "art or pedophilia?" craze that followed the hullabaloo surrounding Robert Mapplethorpe getting an NEA grant (not that those two things are related, except in the diseased minds of those who decided that all "deviance" is necessarily related.) Which is too bad, because Witkin creates photographs of a singularly disturbing atmosphere, a combination of beauty and brutality perhaps last imagined by Bosch and Bruegel hundreds of years ago.
Witkin is (and he admits this readily in his introduction to this collection) thoroughly obsessed with death, mutilation, violence, the erotic, and how they all intertwine. His photographs, which he calls portraits, do not capture the portrait per se but what Witkin sees as the true soul, the symbol of the person or people involved; the photographic equivalent of Bacon's famous study of Velasquez' Pope Innocent X. His photos are not for the faint of heart, but it seems to me that even the most squeamish will find a rare attractive power in Witkin's work. I strongly suggest, however, that the more squeamish not read the end essay (which starts with a description of how Witkin composed and photographed the photo "Feast of Fools," a description which may cause even less sensitive stomachs to roll).
These photographs are disturbing, repulsive, above all beautiful; one thinks, though, it would take a truly diseased mind to find anything of the pedophilic in the photographs presented here. With all the many layers to be studied in these compositions, it seems like the work of a revisionist historian, or someone with the Jesse Helms "I don't know how to define pornography, but I know it when I see it" mentality, to overlay something onto them that simplifies and erroneously categorizes them. We see what's there through our own filters; photography, especially of this sort, is interpreted by what we bring to the table ourselves. Those who crow most loudly about such things in the future may want to remember this. "Do not gaze long into the abyss..." **** ½
The Magical Image.......2001-02-17
Aptly named, THE BONE HOUSE is a collection of Witkin's images covering the period from 1950 to 1998. Witkin himself made the selection of his images. This is the first time I have seen some of these photographs, but many others are drawn from Witkin's better known images. The collection is remarkable.
Witkin is not an easy photographer/artist to get next to. He uses death, morbidity, deformity and sexual diversity to continually push at aesthetic boundaries. His work changes the viewer in it's search for beauty among the artifacts of the grotesque.
Yet it is not Witkin's intent to shock. Few viewers realize the amount of planning and control that goes into these images. Witken's own writings often depict himself as an aesthetic primitive or pagan, but this is far from the truth. This volume, and the Celant collaboration with Witkin contain preliminary sketches that are worth the price of admission. The artist's unearthly compositions, often composed with human and animal fragments are often drawn from images that come to us from the 16th and 17th century.
The book itself is beautifully bound and printed. Twin Palms has done their best to capture the quality of the Witkin prints. Unfortunately, this is a hopeless task. He tears, scratches, paints and waxes a print until it is far more than a simple photographic print. But the reproduction in the book is as good as I've seen.
I'm one of the fortunate few where was able to by the edition with the signed etching at it's earlier, pre-issue price. Now that edition is quite dear. If you can afford it, the etching is delightful, and well worth the expense. If not, there is also a less expensive, unsigned version, now in it's second printing, for considerably less.
This is unnerving, thoughtful photography. Consider this:
"I have consecrated my life to changing matter into spirit in the hope of someday seeing it all. Seeing its total form, while wearing the mask, from the distance of death. And there, in the eternal destiny, to seek the face I had before the world was made." (Joel-Peter Witkin)
An extraordinary book from an extraordinary artist.......1999-09-18
This book is fantastic as far as photo books go. There is a important quality attached to having good reproductions in a printed book. The Bone House has some of the best reproductions of the original prints availiable, aside from appropriate information about the author and artist himself.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful model!.......2000-09-06
Actually, I am not a kid, to which this kit would have targeted but a 25-year-old-physically-full-grown guy :) But as a dinosaur fan, I was very impressed when I first saw this kit at a local bookstore. This kit is a wonderful treat for any dinosaur fan. The dinosaur skeleton model is well-crafted, wonderfully detailed and easy to assemble. And the booklet is pretty little and short, but has variety of information, also very educational. This kit is highly recommended for any dinosaur fan and inquiring kids alike. Kids may have some assistance during assembling the model for some parts are a little stiff.
Average customer rating:
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Houses have funny bones;
Royal Barry Wills
Manufacturer: B. Wheelwright co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: B0007E3OZM |
Customer Reviews:
Gift for the Spirit, the body and wallet!.......2006-11-26
Ok I don't know who wrote the scathing review above but don't be discouraged by it. Becky Bee is a revolutionary builder and visionary and this book is a true gift to the world. My friends (only 3 of us) had our tub up and running the same day. But I could have done it myself in a few days. Over the next few weekends I put the finishing touches and it looks great! I endeavored to keep the whole project under $200 which we did and could have done for under $100. I have found soaking in a hot tub, that I built to be extremely rewarding. Its hard work but I'm not an especially fit person, so if I can do it anyone can, just remind yourself to go slow and enjoy the process - its not a race. All of my friends that looked at this book thought it was a great book and became interested in building a tub at their house. Buy this book (by the way I've never met the author) but I have her other book and having built my own cob (a earth/straw/sand mix) tub using only this book I think I can speak with some authority. I would say that I added paper pulp to my mix with great success.
Mud around an old bathtub?.......2002-07-10
I was VERY disappointed with this book. I should have heeded the other 'one star' review I'd read, but thought that perhaps it was an exaggeration: but it was not! I had hoped to receive a book about building a quality hot tub, perhaps from wood or some other quality material, but this book really is about taking an old bathtub, sticking it on top of some rocks, and then routing heat from a fire underneath it. I was shocked and VERY disappointed. If you want to make use of an old bathtub, perhaps this is the book for you. If you want something of quality, keep looking...
You can Make the Best Hot Tub Ever.......2002-06-25
What a GREAT little book !!! My friends and I were able to build and use a hot tub in one week-end. The book was full of helpful hints and tips that made the process painless. The materials suggested were inexpensive and easily found. We had as much fun making it as we did having a luxurious soak in the evening moonlight. The book inspired us and enabled us to create an inexpensive way to have our own hot tub. We built our tub small so we could change the water frequently and use no chemicals. Since it took suprisingly little fuel to heat the water it proved to be very inexpensive. I highly recommend this book. We also found the Cob Builders Handbook full of invaluable tips about building anything with Cob. I can't wait to build something else using Cob.
Definitely not the best hot tub book.......2002-02-04
The author's idea of a hot tub is an old bath tub out in the back yard, propped over a wood fire for heat. No thermostatically controlled heaters and pumps, no sculpted reclining seats, no insulation.
Average customer rating:
- remembering Remembering the Bone House
- This is a good one...
- A must read for every woman
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REMEMBERING BONE HOUSE
Nancy Mairs
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Writing the Memoir
ASIN: 0807070696 |
Customer Reviews:
remembering Remembering the Bone House.......2000-10-14
I read most of this book in one morning, over coffee-flavored milk and French toast made with wheat bread (it turned out OK). In the new preface in this edition, Nancy Mairs confesses that it's both "the dearest of her books," and also the "gawkiest." Dear but gawky is a good description. I wasn't blown away by the writing, but what I read lingered with me well past the afternoon. The subtitle, "an erotics of place and space," is the book's theme (to use an old-fashioned word). How your physicality (where you live, who you're surrounded by, the erotic charge or condition of your body) affects you psychologically, intellectually, how you, as a woman, can reclaim some of that stuff, is well-modulated. It's the pacing that seems slightly off. It's painful to wade through childhood and early marriage and nervous breakdown (you knew there was going to be one) before we get Nancy Mairs, the writer, in the memoir. Maybe that's unfair to say, since that's how it all unraveled in life, and there are little hints of possibility. But, I dawdled through most of the beginning, and, you get the feeling that this is the stuff that had to be written to make way for other writing. And the whole "erotics of place and space" thing comes across as a little old-fashioned, pre-certain-kinds-of-literary-theory, but that may not matter to you. There are extremely good bits. The chapter, "Inside and Outside," about the nexus of Mairs's rediscovery of herself as a writer with an erotic reawakening is great. This book is very honest and brave, especially about sexual stuff. Her description of those summers on "The Farm," and its lilies and barn cats, and that perfect version of a writer's group that meets on Mondays and swims afterward and has zucchini quiches is an unsulliable interlude, despite the violence that also happens there. You can't help but like reading the writing-of-oneself-into-being. People who like memoirs will undoubtedly be drawn to this book, and gain something from reading it. I give it a friendly, rather than a disparaging, three stars -- I almost would prefer not to quantify it. While it's neither a masterpiece, nor, I suspect, Mairs's best work (I'm ready to read something with keener focus), it's OK, gawky and dear. A little like most of our lives, our own writing.
This is a good one..........1999-08-16
I believe this book may be a bit miss-classified. Every comment I have read about it makes a reference to "Women's Studies" or feminism. Naaah! She is way too open, too free of the urges to posture and self-censor for that!
In this memoir, Nancy Mairs tells her own story straight up, leaving the gender stereotypes behind. It all reads refreshingly true, with a Yankee voice so clean it begs to be read aloud.
A must read for every woman.......1997-03-12
I was first turned on to this book in an undergraduate womens's studies class and I have yet to find another book I feel so passionately about. It's a down to earth, personal memoir of one woman's struggle to find herself. This book portrays the realities of life in the coming of age and the search for your place within the bone house (your dwellings - your body and your home). Any woman can relate to this story and find comfort in its telling. Once discovered, it's a book you'll want to pick up again and again and a book you'll want to share with your closest friends
Books:
- Dirty Wow Wow and Other Love Stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood
- Every Woman's Marriage: Igniting the Joy and Passion You Both Desire (The Every Man Series)
- Heart of a Nation: Writers and Photographers Inspired by the American Landscape
- Hiroshi Sugimoto
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
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