Product Description
From children's books to New Yorker covers, fashion to philosophical musings, this first retrospective book on the beloved illustrator, author, and designer Maira Kalman is an inventory of imaginative genius certain to delight her many fans. The world as seen through Kalman's eyes is a quirky, slightly off-kilter place as colourful and varied as a kaleidoscope. For decades this brilliant artist has captured our hearts with her whimsical illustrations and engaged our minds with her trenchant observations. A companion to a travelling exhibition, this monograph on Kalman's work features hundreds of paintings, drawings, sketchbook pages, and journal entries as well as rarely glimpsed photographs, stills from performance pieces, and examples of her newest project, embroidery. Kalman was born in Tel Aviv in 1949 and moved to New York at the age of four. Among her varied body of work are illustrated books for children and adults, clocks she designed with her late husband Tibor Kalman, columns for The New York Times, fabrics for Maharam and Isaac Mizrahi, and sets for the choreographer Mark Morris. In this book, Kalman offers commentary on her life as an artist, collector, observer, traveller, and maker of lists, while essays by curator Ingrid Schaffner and art historian Kenneth Silver explore her unique gift for distilling the extraordinary from the merely ordinary. From the youngest readers to the most discerning critics, Kalman's many admirers will embrace this wonderful celebration of a life dedicated to making art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Divine Book - Divine Artist
From the minute I opened this book I felt the need to start creating. I love her work, The Principles of Uncertainty is in my all time top ten, and The Elements of Style have style to spare with her illustrations. And don't missthe blogs she's done for the New York Times.

The beauty of this particular book is that it covers years of her work and more details of her life. It's simply wonderful and I can't tell you how much it's worth owning and being able to pick up and enjoy any time.

I usually go on for paragraphs inreview, but really, it's a book you have to hold and open and look at for yourself. Incidentally, if you are familiar with the Max books, and some of her intelligently, but wildly sane, loopy drawings, take a look at some of the work here - she can draw the way you are "supposed" to do it - thank goodness she draws the way Maira Kalman sees the world. My heart is full from reading it - and I'm out of words. A book to love and treasure - that covers it.

Enthralling....
I am overwhelmed with gratitude as I write this. Gratitude that I know of Maira Kalman, and that this book exists.

This is my favorite of all books by or about Maira. Ever since I happened upon "The Principles of Uncertainty" -- that very first entry that begins with an angel (an angel!) and Hallelujah... Which sang right to the depth of my heart and offered page down after page down of sheer rapture... Remember the image of the helicopter that took Bush away on Inauguration Day, with the caption ... "at last"... That blog entry is one of the greatest cultural discoveries of my life. The joyous merging of personal and political, playful & astute absolutely had me by the heart and I was in heaven. I followed breathlessly as blogs followed about Lincoln, the judicial system, Alice Waters... Thrill after thrill.

When I discovered Maira, I became voracious and bought and ate up all her work. What I love about this book in particular, first of all, is its formatting. The size is larger than I expected from the Amazon preview (10.5 x 8.8). The illustrations are perfect size, not too blown out nor too small to see. There is a nice pacing, usually 2 images per spread, not overwhelming, offering perfect detail in sumptuous color. This process could have gone wrong at one of many points, but the paper, the printing, the color, everything has turned out perfectly (we can all probably recall books on beloved artists where the color is ever so slightly off, but enough to make them unpalatable). The paper is also FSC certified, which I appreciate. Nice heavy semi-gloss stock. A+ on printing.

The text is by Ingrid Schaffner of the Institute of Contemporary art at UPenn. Not too much text. Perfect. Loved what she had to say. Not too academic or effete. Approachable. There are also contributions by other curators that are similarly engaging. The copy is nicely woven into the spreads around the images. The book is mostly about displaying the images, with the copy helping, adding detail, illuminating the story of how an illustration came about.

Truly a marvel of a book on all counts.

It's really an exhibition catalog, so besides reproductions of illustrations, embroidery, textiles and other 2-d work by Maira, the book also includes photos of the installations, where objects from Maira's studio participate in creating a space of discovery and whimsy.

My favorite images (though nearly impossibly hard to choose a favorite) would be one of the embroideries on p. 30: "My rigid heart is tenderly unmanned" ... it's a most beautiful creation, as I'm sure you can imagine.

The variety of characters that fill Maira's world are personas that may otherwise be seen as geeks or losers or old farts. { :) } She portrays them with so much love that I am absolutely flabbergasted. Goose bumps cover me as I turn page after page. There is so much love here. So much compassion. Old fat women with gigantic skewed bows in their hair, a dead man, the grevious and stoic Pina Bausch (god rest her most beautiful soul) appears with her eyes closed, perhaps a hint to her rich inner world and restless spirit. And then we have Matisse... And Matisse is pictured from his (fat, fat) back, facing a buxom woman, and of course the woman is wearing a hat... There is so much joy and love here, and so much that will reach out to people of all walks of life. Thank you to UPenn and to all involved in putting together this volume. Most of all, gratitude, love, and right now, happy tears, to beautiful, beautiful Maira. If you read this, Maira, I love you. ... Read more

Product Description
When Susan Hill first introduced us to the city of Lafferton, to its meticulously crafted cast of characters, and to its chief police inspector Simon Serrailler, readers went wild. When it was released in hardcover, The Various Haunts of Men was named a BookSense Pick and was immediately on the must-read list of every mystery fan. Now out in paperback, Hill's intricate and pulse-pounding novel will reach an even wider audience.

As the story begins, a lonely woman vanishes while out on her morning run. Then a 22-year-old girl never returns from a walk. An old man disappears too. When fresh-faced policewoman Freya Graffham is assigned to the case, she runs the risk of getting too invested--too involved--in the action. Alongside the enigmatic detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrallier, she must unravel the mystery before events turn too gruesome.

Written with intelligence, compassion, and a knowing eye--in the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James--The Various Haunts of Men is an enthralling journey into the heart of a wonderfully developed town, and into the very mind of a killer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

Great writing but plot disappoints
Susan Hill is a talented writer, but I won't be reading any more of her books--(plot spoiler warning)unlike real life, the author has choices.When you spend a significant portion of the book focused on a sympathetic character, you do not kill them off in a particularly heartless way. I have also sworn off Elizabeth George for the same reason.As far as her "main character" Simon Serrailler, he is another boringly enigmatic, artistic policeman.
If you want to read mysteries with a heart, I recommend Sophie Hannah, Charles Todd or Donna Leon.

Marvelously titled from the Crabbe poem, "The Borough"...
People are disappearing in the small English town of Lafferton and Detective Freya Graffham, a recent transfer from London, picks up the thread and takes ownership of the case. She sees patterns and intuits a sinister shadow around missing people long before the others in her station, including her watchful, enigmatic Chief Inspector, Simon Serraillier.

This is the first in a series by respected writer Susan Hill, who is better known for her gothic suspense novels ("The Lady in Black"). Not a speck of gothic flavour here. I've read ahead before writing this review and these are rich, imaginative police procedurals in the style of Ruth Rendell or P.D. James at their best. And Serraillier is, of course, a dish.

One of the marvelous elements of this and subsequent Serraillier books is how much his family is woven into the fabric of the story (the small-town setting helps in this regard). He is the only outlier in a multi-generation family of doctors and he is also a triplet, whose sister Cat is a large presence. His other triplet is a doctor in Australia, but I fancy he'll make an appearance in later books. His mother is a force of nature and his father is a gifted but chronic crank who loathes Serraillier's chosen profession and never wastes an opportunity to take a snotty swipe.

The abductor is a voice from the start of the book and contributes a slowly realized rationale for the abductions. And the police are well and truly stumped and must attend to other, more clearly defined problems. Also running through the story is a central thread that addresses the subject of alternative medicine, the people who seek it, and the people who provide it. I found this element of the book to be quite educational, even though much of it is applied common sense.

And so Freya soldiers on and acquaints us with Lafferton as she tries to find her place on the squad and in the social life of this small cathedral town. We get to know Serraillier and family through her fascinated eyes. And while there is a resolution of sorts to the abductions, Hill does a brave thing. Not every element of the book is wrapped up nicely at the end.Life is messy and I appreciate this aspect of her storytelling. There are threads left unsnipped and, while some of them yield storylines for subsequent books, some are left dangling. I've read other reviews where this is a problem for the reader, but I find it to be realistic.

As with many of my reviews, I've done the research on words and phrases that aren't familiar to me and might not be to you as well. So here you go (hardback page numbers):

4 - dreich = miserable, cold, wet weather
6 - eau de nil ("water of the Nile") used in reference to paint = pale green colour
14 - locum = placeholder or temporary replacement
60 - Nissen hut = corrugated steel, semi-circular building; originated in WWI and used widely since; Quonset hut is a variant
103 - aconites = winter flower also known as Wolf's bane; upturned yellow cup-like flowers
110 - reefer jacket = a "pea coat" for officers!
117 - wern stones = ancient structure made of relocated stones for ceremonial purposes; there is a Pen-Y-Wern Stone Circle in Shropshire.
129 - po faced = narrow-minded and judgmental
157 - schtum (I thought I might know this and I was right) = keeping quiet, mum
162 - "it's a hiding to nothing" (love this) = no way to win
178 - ley lines (should have remembered this) = invisible lines that align places of geographic and/or anthropological interest
205 - sarnie = sandwich

Enchanting first in series
First in a police procedural series set in the fictional UK town of Lafferton. Although it's billed as a "Simon Serrailler" series, we barely get to meet this Chief Inspector and nothing is told from his point of view til the very end. We spend most of our time with his new DS, Freya Graffham, newly installed, a transfer from the Metropolitan Police in London. She's looking for a little peace and quiet and time away after a brief but disastrously disheartening marriage.

When the owner of a small care home for dementia patients calls in at the police station to report one of her employees missing, Freya investigates briefly and gets a feeling that something is 'off' about the disappearance. When a second person, a young depressed girl also vanishes, her boss gives the go-ahead for a more in-depth investigation and Freya discovers several other missing people from the town that have as yet gone unexplained. They are of both sexes, a variety of ages and backgrounds, and seemingly have nothing in common. We know what's going on, as some chapters are written from the POV of the person who has taken these people--we just don't know who he is, although I did guess that about halfway through. It's still very interesting to watch Freya and her DC make the connections, often relying on intuition as to what clues are important.

The story itself is wonderful with great details about the town and surroundings, the settings, and Freya's life. There's a surprise ending that takes your breath away, and some parts of the story and some characters that don't have a whole lot of connection to the main problem, but are interesting nonetheless. What threw me off is the publisher's calling this the "Serrailler" series...for unless we actually get to see Simon Serrailler in action more next time, to me it would be best just called the Lafferton series, as we're introduced to many other characters that we know much better than Simon. Although he's intriguing, he's still nothing more than a cardboard cutout of a character at this point.

And now for something a little different
As other reviewers have noted, this book was written with a fine disregard for typical whodunit and police procedural conventions. For that reason alone, I found it memorable.

I've learned to be wary when an author is touted as a successor to Ruth Rendell/Barbara Vine. If I had a buck for every such comparison I've seen, I could fund a fancy latte habit, never mind just buy a cup of coffee. That said, when I imagine what the Inspector Wexford series would have been like if they'd been Barbara Vine novels instead of Rendell books - I end up with something a lot like the Simon Serrailler series.

In this first book in the series, Simon Serailler is selfish, self-absorbed, emotionally withholding, enmeshed in his family of origin, and enigmatic. I found it hard to believe him as an effective law enforcement officer.

The characters in this book, apart from its supposed protagonist, were generally interesting and sometimes unusual. I figured out whodunit pretty quickly. Although I love Brit police procedurals and really wanted to like this book, I thought the crime plot was lame.

The weaknesses of "The Various Haunts of Men" were tolerable enough that I went on to read the rest of the books in the series.

Brilliant characterizations
Detective Sergeant Freya Graffham has left London and the Metropolitan Police for the small cathedral town of Lafferton. She doesn't miss London a bit and wastes no time in exploring her new home. She fits in well with her fellow officers and is intrigued by Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler. Graffham is a very intuitive person, and there's something about a missing persons case involving an older woman named Angela Randall that she just can't let go. When other people in the area begin to go missing, Graffham senses she really is on to something. Is there a killer preying on the people of this small town?

The Various Haunts of Men moves very slowly and deliberately until the last hundred pages when it really picks up speed. The pacing almost mirrors that of the killer. I knew the killer's identity very early on, but as only a secondary matter of importance, it didn't ruin the book for me at all. Hill's focus was squarely on her characters and setting her stage for the other books to follow in the series.

I try my best to avoid spoilers in my reviews, so I must limit my remarks with regard to this book. Hill's characters were brilliant-- perfect for a character-driven reader like me-- but the weakest of the lot was Simon Serrailler himself. Everyone seemed to put him on such a high pedestal that it's a wonder he didn't get a nosebleed, and he was so enigmatic that it was almost impossible to "read"or like him. I'm tempted to say that I wasn't all that impressed with him, but I have a strong feeling that I was set up by Hill, so I'm reserving judgment until I've read the next book in the series.

Read it (The Pure in Heart) I will because Hill has populated her stage with one of the more intriguing casts of characters I've encountered in a long time. She also has shown right from this beginning that she's quite willing to take risks with them. I definitely want to see what she does next. ... Read more

Product Description
From reviews of the hardcover edition:"[Various Positions is] more a literary than a rock bio--quiet of tone, serious without being worshipful. Drawing on Cohen's own archives, Nadel plots aspects of Cohen's life--Zen, love affairs, drug use--against the evolution of his writing. He fashions a biography that is revealing but also mindful of its subject at his best."--Booklist"An excellent biography, one that manages to be both thoroughly scholarly and genuinely entertaining at the same time."--Montreal Gazette"An honest and sympathetic biography."--New York Times Book Review"The most authoritative work yet on the 'poet laureate of pessimism.'"--Library JournalKnown as the "Prince of Bummers," Leonard Cohen is a multi-talented poet, singer-songwriter, novelist, and Zen Buddhist whose career has spanned more than forty years and inspired countless other artists. In this critically acclaimed biography originally published in 1996 by Pantheon Books, Ira Nadel draws on extensive interviews with Cohen, as well as excerpts from his unpublished letters, journals, notebooks, songs, and other writings, to offer a full portrait of this enigmatic man and his artistic career. A new concluding chapter brings Cohen's story up-to-date, including the release of the albums Dear Heather, Ten New Songs, The Essential Leonard Cohen, and Blue Alert, as well as the publication of Book of Longing and the screening of the documentary film Leonard Cohen, I'm Your Man. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Scratches the surface but draws little blood
The book is readable -- not exciting but not an academic drudge either. This is important because Cohen, as opposed tothe book, is not so readable. On the other hand Cohen is such an interesting chap, and such an remarkable modern literary figure, that any decent book about him, including this one, is going to be intersting.

The book overall follows the biographic customary timeline of past to present, starting with ancestors a few generations back. However,within any few pages Nadel jumps in time more than Billy Pilgrim, so one minute you might be reading about something that happened in 1975 and a few later you're reading about something in 1969 and in a few more pages and it's 1978. It's often necessary in a biography, while discussing events in one period, to reference related matters from another period. A biographer like, say, Marion Meade, handles this sort of thing with aplomb. In Nadel's book, while sometimes there seems to be a thematic point underlying Nadel's schenanigans with the timeline, at worst it is unnecessarily confusing and at best it is disruptive. Another draft was in order.

Generally, the farther back in the past the book reaches, the more info it has to offer, and the overall effect of the book is to leave you wanting more information, especially about the last 30 years of Cohen's life. E.g., Nadel tells you in a few sentences that Cohen was recently defrauded of millions of dollars, his life savings, but doesn't say anything about how the swindle took place -- did Cohen by a time share on Mars? was Cohen preoccupied while someone simply ransacked his bank accounts? And afterword was added a few years ago to catch up on what's happened since the book was written. This add-on is presented as an "afterword" but is more like a footnote in large type, as it briefly rushes through several years of some very important events, leaving off with the noting that a tour is being planned for 2007 -- which, of course, we now know turned out to be the biggest and best received tour, worldwide, of Cohen's career. A better afterword would have taken some time to add an actual chapter or two or, in lieu of further research and writing. One might have hoped that Footman's newer biography with the obvious title, Leonard Cohen: Hallelujah: A New Biography, (slated for publication in November 2009) would take care of this, but alas , does not.

Nadel does a good job of tracing familial and academic roots and associations, which helps to show how key they are to Cohen and his work.

On the other hand, on a thematic level, Nadel repeatedly tells the reader that Cohen is depressed and suffering (big surprise if you read his poems, prose or heard his songs), but you don't really get anything new on why he's depressed or what he's suffering from -- except for this: he likes women but isn't comfortable being "tied down" -- Well, a song or too and you could figure that out. You do learn the names of folks in Cohen's life, including those mentioned or alluded to in songs or poems. You also are told often that Cohen used drugs but you never really get a good idea how much or how often -- as spaced out as Carrie Fisher? potted as Betty Ford? comfortably maintaining the appearance of sobriety like Dick Van Dyke, or just a chronic dabbler?

Nadel does go some distance to tie together Cohen's lifelong interest in Judaism and decades long interest Zen. And that might be the most depth that the book has to offer.

You will know more about Cohen, including more details, after reading this book, but you probably won't feel like you've read the definitive account of Cohen's life and career. But Cohen is such an interesting chap, and such an remarkable literary figure, that any decent book about him, including this one, is going to be intersting.

If you are interested in Cohen, the book is worth a read. However, you may very well feel that you have better understanding of Cohen from his poems, novels and songs than from this biography, which ain't necessarily a bad thing.

i loved the book
he is the greatest poet in forever and fab singer, enjoyed it was a gift and that person loved it. the book was in great condition

Cohen book
The condition of the used book was just as described, shipping was quick.I am very happy with the purchase!

Leonard Cohen History
Very insightful reading about a very gifted writer and performer of poetry and music.Also provides interesting details of personal life experiences of life during the sixties and seventies. An interesting view of the development and maturation of a genius.

A Leonard Cohen-style biography of Leonard Cohen
This is a fascinating book. However, it is not a conventional biography, in that the author (Ira Nadel) does not fully succeed in weaving the events of Cohen's life into a flowing narrative. The story proceeds disjointedly,and the reader follows it with a feeling of uneven coverage and missingpieces. Ira Nadel is clearly in personal awe of Leonard Cohen (as any of uswould be, I suppose), such that he shies away from offering much analysis(psychoanalysis?) of his work and conduct of his life, beyond what the workand facts of his life suggest readily. For example, Cohen's long, torturedrelationship with his wife Suzanne is described by a series of vignettes,as cold as news reports, spiced only with relevant-seeming quotations fromCohen's work. Nadel doesn't do the interpretive work of suggesting wasgoing on in Cohen's mind, and what was causing that, which is whatbiographers usually do for us (and we judge them on whether they do thatwell or badly). There are ocassional Freudian interpretations, as whenNadel compares Cohen's relationship with his lovers to that with hismother. But we don't get a feel for how the relationship developed andbegan to sour. In fact, we barely get any feel of "development"in Cohen's life at all, which makes it seem like disconnected reportagerather than a biographical narrative. This quality could be seen as a plus,as it gives the book a cryptic feel, rather like the work of Leonard Cohenitself. I learned a lot, and enjoyed the distant quality of Nadel's writingfor what it was, but I was left wanting to know more. Perhaps Cohen, whosework often veers into playful impenetrability, perfers it that way. ... Read more

Product Description


The internationally bestselling author of The Wedding Officer delivers a stunning blend of exotic adventure and erotic passion that seduces from the very first page—and intoxicates until the last . . . a novel whose mystery begins with a single coffee bean.

A cup of coffee changed Robert Wallis’s life—and a cup of very bad coffee at that. The impoverished poet is offered the last thing a struggling young artiste in fin de siècle England could possibly want: a job. But the job Wallis accepts—employing his palate and talent for words to compose a “vocabulary of coffee” based on its many elusive flavors—is the beginning of an extraordinary adventure.

It’s an adventure that will lead Wallis across the continent and into the arms of two breathtaking women: Emily, the spirited daughter of his employer, and Fikre, the defiant, seductive slave of a powerful coffee merchant, who, in one unforgettable gesture, invites Wallis to partake of both the mysteries of coffee and a forbidden passion—a passion that will change the way he thinks about life, about fate, and especially about love. . . . ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Needs a bit of perseverance, but worth it!
Good book, but you have to stick with it to the second half.The second half is when everything comes together and the main character finally becomes more likable.

Delicious, sensual work of fiction
To learn about the coffee trade in the 19th century world was interesting, plus having a very randy main character gives Anthony Capella's newest novel two reasons why it shouldn't be missed. Robert Wallis, an impoverished poet, is offered a job by coffee merchant Samuel Pinker to compose a "vocabulary of coffee."

Wallis falls in love with the owner's daughter while writing and is sent to Africa for five years to establish a coffee plantation with the understanding he then can return and marry Emily, the daughter. His lustful urges change his life in Africa and his future as well. Robert returns to an England of women suffragettes and coffee barons and once again his fate has been altered. This is a delicious, sensual work of fiction. Don't miss it.

I'll have a Venti please
I read this book about a month ago and still cannot stop thinking of it.It is a little shocking to experience the world through our narrator--he is not the most "moral" young man.However, it is quite an adventure to watch him transform, and literally watch the world transform around him.
One of the best books I have read. Yet the "love" scenes are pretty intense--and descriptive--and are not for those who might not appreciate a man's point of view of loving-or learning to love--women.
I'm ordering the Food of Love today and have already read The Wedding Officer.Please keep writing Mr. Cappella.I just can't seem to get enough!

various impressions of this novel
The fun of reading this historical fiction novel (set in the turn of the century) was the complex subject of coffee:the growing of it, the economics of it, and yes, the various flavors.Also included are interesting and sometimes amusing scenes of London politics, the suffragette movement, female hysteria and its treatment, and African tribal life.The witty dialogue and the narration kept my interest.

However, I disliked the raunchiness and explicitness of the sexual encounters.This is not a novel I would recommend to friends because of the sometimes crude content.I would have liked the novel a lot more without the F word because the writing was very good and the story, although a bit long, was entertaining and sensual.

Savor the flavor
In 1895, aspiring poet Robert Wallis, having previously been sent down from Oxford, is sitting in a cafe drinking a cup of coffee.Find the coffee not to his liking he complains to the waiter that the "coffee tastes rusty".Thus starts this somewhat bawdy tale of love, voting rights for women and coffee.It shows the many weaknesses of a man who is trying to figure out what is right in life.The descriptive terms for coffee at the begnning of each chapter make you want to pause to make your own cup to savor while reading. ... Read more

Product Description
Poems on various subjects, religious and moral is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Phillis Wheatley is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Phillis Wheatley then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

PURITY OF HEART IS TO WILL ONE THING
Soren Kierkegaard
Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing

A couple of good translations are available, including:
Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits
Kierkegaard's Writings, XV
Translated by Howard & Edna Hong.
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1993) 442 pages
(ISBN: 0-691-03274-2; hardback)
(Library of Congress call number: BV4505.K4613 1993)
Purity of Heart is the first of these discourses.

Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
Translated by Douglas Steere
(New York: Harper & Row, 1956--and later reprints) 220 pages
(ISBN: 0061300047)

In this meditative book,
SK explores how we might become more single-minded.
This is the first book to present the concept now called Authenticity.
In fact, the Kierkegaard chapter in
"Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism"
is largely an interpretation of this small book by SK.
Chapter 19 is called: Soren Kierkegaard: Willing One Thing.
Details can be found by searching the Internet for that exact title:
"Becoming More Authentic: The Positive Side of Existentialism".

Similar books will be found by searching the Internet for:
"Authenticity Bibliography".

Purity of Heart is also reviewed in another Internet Bibliography:
"Books on Existential Spirituality".

James Leonard Park, existential philosopher. ... Read more

Product Description
The brilliant new novel from Anthony Capella, author of the bestselling The Food of Love and The Wedding Officer.|It is 1895. Robert Wallis, would-be poet, bohemian and impoverished dandy, accepts a commission from coffee merchant Samuel Pinker to categorise the different tastes of coffee - and encounters Pinker's free-thinking daughters, Philomenia, Ada and Emily. As romance blossoms with Emily, Robert realises that the Muse and marriage may not be incompatible after all. Sent to Abyssinia to make his fortune in the coffee trade, he becomes obsessed with a negro slave girl, Fikre. He decides to use the money he has saved to buy her from her owner - a decision that will change not only his own life, but the lives of the three Pinker sisters ...|'An erotic, exotic story set at the turn of the 20th century, which builds upon Mr Capella's reputation as a writer of gourmet fiction ... [an] imaginative storyline and boldly descriptive prose' Economist 'The surprising plot twists and authentic love story will make this a crowd-pleaser' Publishers Weekly 'A fast-paced narrative propelled by Capella's masterful characterizations of his principals, Wallis and Emily' Kirkus Review 'A fruity, full-bodied story' Good Housekeeping|Anthony Capella spends part of each year travelling in Italy. He is based in London and this is his third novel. ... Read more

Product Description
How is the Bible read in church today? Was it always studied as it is now?. This work explores these questions, with the aim of clarifying the ecumenical potential of biblical study today and in the past. Churches studied encompass Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Evangelical and Reformed. ... Read more

Product Description
Every writer on the geography of Canada is confronted by the profound variety of Canada's great regions, with their distinctive scenery, people and cultures. From the vast resources and internal contrasts of British Columbia, to the expanse of the prairies, to the demanding Arctic tundra, the forests and minerals of the Canadian Shield, the axis of the Saint Lawrence River and its industries and cities and the coastal fisheries, islands, and peninsulas of the Atlantic, Canada's many landscapes and cultural regions have been a challenge to characterise and understand. "So Vast and Various" provides selections from the works of seven of the country's most astute geographical writers to elucidate the ways in which the country has been depicted and understood over time. John Warkentin looks at the work of geographers from 1831 to 1977 through the regional descriptions of seven perceptive observers of Canada who provide very different but illuminating interpretations: Joseph Bouchette, a surveyor-general from Lower Canada; George Parkin, an educator and journalist from New Brunswick; J.D. Rogers, a British barrister and scholar; Harold Innis, the great economic historian; R.C.Wallace, a geologist with administrative experience in the North; Bruce Hutchison, a brilliant BC journalist with deep regional insights; and Thomas Berger, who presided over a Royal Commission on northern development in the 1970s. Warkentin's introduction reveals how their descriptions and interpretations of Canada's areas helped provide the perceptions that influence contemporary conceptions of the country - both its regions and as a whole. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Product Description
The Understanding the Hand & Wrist chart presents an in-depth look at the structure of the wrist and hand. The main image shows the left and right hands and wrists with musculature and ligaments. Smaller views illustrate the bones and ligaments. ... Read more

Product Description
The Understanding the Spine chart is an overview of the structure and selected health issues of the vertebral column. Front and side views of the column are shown, along with several views of vertebrae and discs. ... Read more

Product Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Product Description
Now available in paperback with gorgeous new cover art!

A captivating story of courage and strength against terrible odds, this is the story of Midge, left to stay with her eccentric uncle during the holidays, and her adventures with the Various, a band of fairies. The existence of the Various, who are strange, wild, and sometimes even deadly, has been kept secret since the beginning of time, but when their world begins to clash with the human world, they are threatened with extinction.

This wonderfully imaginative story of love and loyalty is the first in a powerful trilogy. VOYA says of The Various: “A marvelous blend of oldfashioned storytelling, the book has a freshness and immediacy that will intrigue fantasy lovers of all ages.”

“A rousing addition to the durable genre of British fairy lit.”—New York Times

“Augarde unfolds the events gradually, allowing readers to luxuriate in the near-idyllic setting he has created and beckoning them back for future installments.”—Publishers WeeklyAmazon.com Review
The idea of a race of little people (fairies) living secretly among us has had a powerful hold on the imaginations of writers from Shakespeare to Terry Pratchett and Eoin Colfer. In The Various, Steve Augarde has used this fascination brilliantly to craft the first novel of a trilogy full of breathless action and wonder. When twelve-year-old Midge is sent by her concert-violinist mother to spend the summer at the farm of her sweet but bungling Uncle Brian, her initial resentment gives way to delight in the freedom of exploring the countryside. When she discovers a tiny winged horse lying wounded in an outbuilding, she is awestruck to find out that he comes from a civilization of five various tribes of little people living in a nearby wood—-something readers will have already learned from alternate chapters set in the fairy world. Disaster threatens when Uncle Brian plans to sell the wood to a developer, and Midge and her cousins find (to their own peril), that some of the little people are not as helpless as they seem. Steve Augarde draws on his visual and auditory skills as a BBC animator and picture book author/illustrator for vividly realized detail—-the dumpy and addled fairy queen, the smells and moods of the English summer, the sharply differentiated accents and personalities of each of the five tribes—-in an entrancing debut fantasy. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Beware - Wonderful book, terrible format
This is a lovely book, which I imagine I will read again and that is why I ordered a copy for myself after reading a library copy.PLEASE BE AWARE that if you order the hardcover format from Amazon you will get a cheaply made edition with acidic, pulpy paper and a rigid cover - technically hardback but not nicely produced.It may be that the original hardcover of this is out of print, but in that case they need to be open about that.

Please don't judge by the (new) covers
This is one of the few books I purchased on the basis of its cover -- the OLD cover -- and I was aghast to see the new US covers. The trilogy is not of the girly fairy genre, not touchy-feely, and not insubstantial. The "fairies"("fairy" being a word only occasionally used as a way for a human get get a handle on things) do not even look like the creature depicted in the new artwork.

The original dust jackets (and the ones still available in the UK) were author illustrated. They are beautiful and elegant.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Twelve-year-old Midge has been sent to stay with her Uncle Brian at Mill Farm while her musician mother goes on tour.

Though she's not sure what to expect, Midge never dreamed of the adventures she'd encounter at the farm. She stumbles upon an injured winged horse in one of the outbuildings and helps the creature.She learns the horse lives in the Royal Wood. Unfortunately, Uncle Brian has decided to sell the woods and they are set to be plowed down.

Midge is led through the brambles and unkempt boundaries of the woods to share this dire news with the Various.While she'd heard stories of pixies and fairies, Midge never dreamed they existed and that she'd be drawn into their world. But things aren't always magical in the world of the Various and not everyone is happy to see her. Now the Various aren't the only ones in danger.

THE VARIOUS is a thrilling book told from several different points of view as we learn about the characters both human and of the Various. Though the story moved slowly in places, the idea and characters are intriguing enough to keep the reader enthralled as the story progresses to the fantastic and thrilling ending.

I enjoyed being introduced to THE VARIOUS and am looking forward to reading more about them and Augarde's other characters in CELANDINE, the second book in THE TOUCHSTONE TRILOGY.

Reviewed by:Joan Stradling

Timeless Classic

Steven Augarde's trilogy, beginning with The Various and now complete after this years publication of Winter Wood, is a must for every child's collection of 'Most Loved Books'. No spoliers here....just buy them all. You'll be reading them to your own kids, and their kids too.

A Whole New Beginning for Fantasy
'I don't make a practice of reviewing complete trilogies. However, once in a while a reviewer finds something so wonderful that he/she must read them all. That is the case with The Various Trilogy. I simply could not resist them. Creativity, fast pace, unexpected plot twists and a surprise ending make this first installment and the others very good reading.
I declare that someday this trilogy will be recognized as a classic for young adult readers. I give this installment high marks, and recommend it to readers young and old. Dan Shade, Young Adult SF Reviewer, Orson Scott Cards' Intergalactic Medicine Show.
... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics edition is a facsimile reprint of a 1920 edition by the Industrial Press, New York. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good stuff
If you're interested in mechanical movements in general, you might want to try this one out.

Written for professor.
Overpriced, all black and white drawings. One of the few books I bought online that I wish I had seen in person first. I would not recommend buying the book unless you need it for a college course.

Just what I expected
The order was shipped quickly and it was just what I had been looking for. ... Read more

Product Description
The best is yet to come...Once again, America's bestselling and award-winning contemporary literary heavyweights come together for an all-new erotic anthology, featuring:

¥ Russell Banks
¥ Frederick Barthelme
¥ Don DeLillo
¥ David Foster Wallace
¥ Aimee Bender
¥ Susan Minot
¥ E.L. Doctorow
¥ Nathan Englander
¥ Sue Miller
¥ Rick Moody
¥ Cathleen Schine
¥ Bliss Boyard
¥ Colin Channer
¥ Lydia Lunch
¥ Ellen Miller
¥ Susan Choi
¥ Jane DeLynn
¥ David Freeman
¥ Martha Baer
¥ Zoe Heller
¥ Lauren Belfer
¥ Thomas Beller
¥ Martha Cooley ¥ Rikki DuCornet
¥ David Ebershoff
¥ Tim Farrington
¥ Allegra Goodman
¥ Fran Gordon
¥ Cathy Hanauer
¥ Scott Heim
¥ Laura Kasischke
¥ Kathy Koja
¥ Jonathan Lethem
¥ Dennis Lehane
¥ Valerie Martin ¥ Gish Jen
¥ Tawni O'Dell
¥ George P. Pelecanos
¥ Sarah Schulman
¥ Dinita Smith
¥ June Spence ¥ Darcy Steinke
¥ Rene Steinke
¥ Leslie Schwartz
¥ Robert Stone ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The violence and crudity of the "sex" turned me off
This collection of erotica is generally on the mild side regarding the sexual action. While there are some stories with the dirty words, the descriptions of sexual acts are only occasionally on the steamy side. Most of the stories have a distasteful tone to them, violence is used to stimulate and control, although in most cases both are willing participants in the action. As they are short, the stories have very little in the way of buildup and romance is generally not a word that I would use to describe the action.
Some of the stories in this collection describe the following "sexual" acts:

*) A woman being raped by another woman by having a fist forced into her vagina.
*) Two "lovers" fighting over drugs that leads to an inept sexual encounter
*) A woman who is wrapped in plastic and nearly asphyxiated in a sexual encounter
*) A woman forced by her boss to have sex with him
*) A young male prostitute violently penetrated and beaten until bloody
*) A librarian who has indiscriminate sex with several of the library patrons after she learns of the death of her father

This should be enough to give you the general idea.

An enjoyable read
Not only do you read a selection of great writing, but you see how some of the masters treat erotic scenes in fiction. Instructive for anyone interested in the craft of writing as well as being a wonderfully sexy way to spend an evening with someone reading to eachother! ... Read more

Product Description
"And if he tried to catch her, she glided from him in an instant; not in the least afraid of him, but thinking it part of the game not to be caught. With one push of her foot, she would be floating in the air above his head; or she would go dancing backwards and forwards and sideways, like a great butterfly. It happened several times, when her father and mother were holding a consultation about her in private, that they were interrupted by vainly repressed outbursts of laughter over their heads; looking up with indignation, saw her floating at full length in the air above them, whence she regarded them with the most comical appreciation of the position. ... Read more

Product Description
Features 217 cuneiform texts, found in small collections throughout the world, that date from the late third to the late first millennia BCE and includes inscriptions, letters, administrative documents, and literary works in Akkadian and Sumerian. ... Read more

Product Description
Somewhat apart from the maidens was a group, on which the Osage girls gazed curiously and enviously. Three Indian youths, all under twenty, nowise related by blood, but connected only by the bonds of friendship, stood on a rising bank in deep abstraction. Nah-com-e-shee, Koha-tunha, and Mun-ne-pushee--for such were the names of the young men--had at an early age contracted for one another one of those peculiar affections which inexplicably arise sometimes between persons of the same sex, and which often are more sincere and durable even than love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A delightful collection of stories
Tales for Young and Old is a wonderful collection of short stories by a variety of authors.All of the stories are very short - from 100 to 300 kindle bytes.While the content is good, there are no kindle links so you have to make your own with bookmarks or highlighting.The tales included are:

The Bride's Journey by Mrs. Crowe - A wonderful tale of a reluctant assassin.
The Home Wreck - A melancholy tale of star-crossed love.
Love at First Sight - A Tale of the Sioux Indians - Another tale of star-crossed love.This one has a better ending.
Lucy Fennel:A Tale of Humble Heroism - The story of a foolishly jealous man and his faithful love.
Billy Egg - The story of a man's rise from humble beginnings.
The Pledge Redeemed - A story of self-sacrifice for duty.
The Tree and the Forest - A fable about not pausing to reflect on the parts that make up the whole.
The Three Friends:An Osage Legend - An entertaining tale of courtship amoung the American Indians
The Artist's Daughter:A Tale by Miss Anna Maria Sargeant - The story of an indolent artist and his industrious daughter
The Blind Man of Arenteuil.A Norman Tradition - A matter of murder and justice.
The Bridal Wreath.From the Italian of Uesiglio - The story of a faithful girl and her faithless daughter.
The Duke of Normandy.A Romance of Real Life - The 'True' story of a lost prince.
Dutch Anna - A practical woman spends the night in a haunted house.
The Locksmith of Philadelphia - The story of a falsely accused man. ... Read more