european

This volume is bilingual and in this case the English translations can hold their own against the Spanish (and Galician) originals. It culls poems from every period in the poet's life, thereby giving the reader a huge range of Garcia Lorca's work - from the talking lizards to the masterpiece "Poet in New York" to traditional gacelas.

While some of the poems seem superficial, others are loaded with meaning. Some critics have said that Lorca's preoccupation with death seemed to foreshadow his own, which came in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. Indeed, many of these poems have dark overtones. Lorca never loses the passion and intensity, however. His love poems are majestic in their images and emotion, which are surprisingly undimmed in translation.

In particular, Lorca's language - especially his metaphors and similes - are unusual and striking. His imagery conjures up fantastical scenes; maybe one could say he writes the way that Salvador Dali painted. If you're looking for an introduction to Lorca (or if you're approaching him with some trepidation), then I'd suggest this book. It will give you a good feel for his development as a poet as well as his overal style.

Garcia Lorca's poetry moves, his words each have their own color.
As I read his poems I feel like I am being presented with a little gift. His words are beats I cannot escape. I need an open window so I can see the sky whenever I read his poetry.

There are no words to adequately describe García Lorca who was one of the greatest artists of the last century. The poems in "Selected Poems" represent some of the best of his collections, "Romancero Gitano", "Libro de Poemas", and the dark, brooding "Poema del Cante Jondo". Stephen Spender's excellent translation manages to preserve García Lorca's exquisite imagery without making it sound maudlin or overstated. García Lorca really has to be read in the original Spanish to be able to get a complete realization of his incredible talent as a poet, but those monolingual English speakers to whom the book is directed will be able to appreciate through this translation what a genius was lost to the world when at the age of 38 he was assassinated in the Spanish Civil War. García Lorca astonishes and amazes us with his brilliant artistry, his deceptively simple yet complex imagery, and the voice of haunting pathos that is surely the voice of Spain. Even readers who don't particularly like poetry will be held spellbound by the poems presented here.

This novel of Erico Verissimo's, consists in 3 parts and more than 2,200 pages of pure history, adventure, emotion and love. It's the story of the Terra-Cambará family along 200 years, showing since the colonization of the South of Brazil until the government of Getúlio Vargas, in 1945. This book has all for those who likes to read, and a curiosity: Gabriel Garcia Marques was influenced by The Time and the Wind to write the great A Hundred Years of Solitude.

Never a book explained so well how a Nation feels, think and love as Erico Verissimo's Time and the Wind saga. Since the discovering of Brazil till the modern age all the passions of a people are told in a way you couldn't forget and will make you beg for more when it's over. A classic!

Time and Wind is a magnificent masterpiece written by Erico Verissimo, a modernist author who does a fine job in telling the history of his (and mine) state since Los Siete Pueblos de las Missiones until the 1960 through 2000 pages that leave you wanting more. Anti-heroes, heroins, villains; they all populate a realistic look inside the RS as shown by the family Terra Cambará (Terra=Earth and Cambará is a solid wood) telling several stories of love, betrayal, friendship, folklore, politics and time. And wind.

I've said it in another review and I'll say it again: every home should have at least one Ruth Sanderson book in their children's bookshelves, and her retelling of 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' would be a pretty good choice.

The king of a prosperous kingdom has twelve beautiful daughters, but is confused at the state of their shoes each morning - each pair is worn through, although the door to their bedroom is locked. Where are the princesses going and how are they getting out? Many men are sent to guard the princesses with the promise that if they solve the mystery they may gain one of their hands in marriage, but all the young princes disappear by morning. But one day Michael comes to the castle as a helper to the gardener with the magical gift of an invisibility cloak given to him by an old woman on the road. Instantly smitten with the youngest princess Lina, Michael hides in the girls' bedroom under his cloak and watches them creep through a secret trapdoor, through glittering woods and across a vast lake to a castle... but how is a mere commoner supposed to inform the king of this and secure the love of his youngest daughter?

Ruth Sanderson once again brings to life a beautiful fairytale with her glorious oil paintings, making this a must for any bookshelf, or lovers of fairytales or fine art. Despite the fact there are twelve princesses, the illustrations are never cluttered, and Sanderson captures water, material, hair and even glances between one figure to another realistically, yet with a whimsical and fantasy touch. If there is one slight flaw, her colours are less bright than in other books - they are mostly pale yellows, blues or greens that give them a slightly washed out look when compared to the vividness of her other books such as 'The Golden Mare, the Firebird and the Magic Ring' and 'The Crystal Mountain', but this is most definitely one of her best narrative retellings. 'The Enchanted Wood' in my opinion still contains her best illustrations, but the story is rather weak. 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses' is the best choice for a melding of both art and storytelling skills.

Basically, girls will adore this, parents will love reading it, and if you take the time to persuade boys that is isn't a 'girly' book, then I'm certain they'll be intrigued enough by the mysterious midnight travels through the woods and the cunning of Michael to enjoy it too!

Having enjoyed looking at children's book since childhood this illustrated book is absolutely amazing. Each page is beautifully illustrated in Oil based paint, such exquisite artistry in a book made for children. The detail of each painting serves to tell the tale without words.

Ruth Sanderson's 'Twelve Dancing Princesses' is a fresh, deftly written take on the original fairy tale. The characters come alive, and the writing captures the childlike innocence of a fairy-tale world without being saccharine. However, what really makes this book stand out are the gorgeous illustrations. Sanderson's sumptuous oil paintings enrich the tale, and are works of art in their own right. Even without words, she knows how to create an atmosphere of mystery and of magic.

This is by far the best student edition of Vergil's Aeneid I have ever encountered. If you are looking for a textbook to teach the Aeneid, do not hesitate to purchase this one; optimus est!

Whether one is studying the Aeneid or one simply wishes to read it for pleasure, Pharr's and Heath's edition is, when it comes to the first six books of Vergil's epic, the _ne plus ultra_ of student texts. The "Purple Vergil" renders the Aeneid both more accessible and easier to appreciate as a work of art.

This is due, in large part, to the text's impeccable format. Each page provides all the necessary vocabulary (especially common words are located in a fold-out list at the back), eliminating the constant drudgery of poring through one's Latin-English dictionary so common to most texts. Pharr and Heath also provide comprehensive notes for the poem--notably, helpful rearrangements of the more convoluted sentences. Additionally, a thorough appendix on Latin grammar and poetry is included (including declensions of those pesky Greek forms).

With this amazing text, Pharr and Heath have given anyone with a couple years of Latin the ability to read and enjoy this masterful work of literature in its original language. One only wonders why their format hasn't been wholly adopted by more authors...

i'm a latin IV student and am currently using this book on my studies of the aeneid and is made in the form of:

Vergil's life, books I-VI, grammar, vocabulary

on every page of the story, clyde gives the story in latin, and below the text is the vocabulary for the words one may not know (very helpful and saves time), and underneath those vocabulary words are notes on the passage given on that particular page. every single page is created like this to help you glide through the pages without too much trouble and confusion.

the grammar section is filled with the declinations of nouns and every conjugation of verbs. most (if not every) uses of each noun form is given in detail and a very good explanation on how the verbs work (subjunctives, dum sentences, etc...) are also given. the book shows how to do scansions and includes the figures of speech such as hyperboles with examples that vergil uses et cetera make this book very useful.

the vocabulary section is broken down into 3 parts. the first being words used 12-23 times or more, 2nd being words used 6-11 times, and finally, the "pull out" sheet at the very back are words found 24 or more times (the general word list).

this book is very helpful in increasing one's vocabulary and grammar. for me, it's helped my fluency level in reading the latin. this book is a must have for those who love the latin language or just need to create a greater fluency in latin reading. trust me, this book is very worth every last penny.

The work consists mostly of large format photographs of reenactors wearing original clothing and kit of the period. (Overall size of about 8 by 10 inches.) It goes much beyond anything else I have seen except the two volume set by Jean Bouchery (c.f.) and includes not just the ordinary battle dress worn by Tommy Atkins and his officers but the specialized kit of parachutists, mountain troops (cold weather gear), motorcyclists, and other unusual garb.
Many of the plates are done in the fashion of the French magazine Militaria which is a highly useful source as well.
Not only is ithis work an identification source; it also has some developmental history and organigrammes of front line tactical units.

A great book for uniform buffs, lots of colour pictures. Plenty of equipment shown, although text is generally (as per the books title)related to uniforms. Captions are concise but to have expanded on them would have undoubtedly reduced the number of photographs in the book and as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. THE WW11 Brit uniform book.

I have literally memorized this book as I have poured over the pictures contained within attempting to gain a grasp of what items were used doing the period. The extent of detail in the pictures is astounding. My only negative critiques are that some rare items are only given a single photo (officer's valise and wire cutters/web pouch) and that the captions do not go into enough detail and background of many items. (I.E., the officer's valise, info on binoculars, and different manufacturers of clothing and web gear.) While I will DEFINATELY purchase their future volume on North Africa and SE Asia, I hope they go into more detail of non-uniform items. This book is a great gift idea and should be on the shelf of any WWII British militaria collector/historian's library.

The story is about three soldiers who are hungry and very tired and are looking for a place to stay.
Then, they come across a village one day. The people of the village have plenty of food and places to say, but they don't want the soldiers staying there so the people of the village hide there food and say their beds are all full. Well, that same day, the soldiers get an idea. Why! stone soup of course!

The message that this book sends is that even though you think that some people are bad, you should always try to see whats on the inside of them, not the outside. I think this book is fit for five to eight years of age.

I recomend this book to any child who has a judjment problem, and even to adults who want to show their children a lesson.

I just loved this book when I was a hooligan, I can remember Captain Kangaroo reading this one to the camera back in the day. There's many a valuable lesson lurking in here, and tricksterism galore. Coyote would be proud (as was Mr. Moose). Plus, you'll find a generic but decent recipe for vintage village stew...er, stone soup.

"Stone Soup" is a favorite folktale in our elementary school library. I just had a class of second graders beg me to read this Caldecott Honor book to them, and--of course--all our copies were immediately checked out.

I'm continually surprised--but pleased--that modern kids still enjoy these older illustrations by Marcia Brown, with their limited colors (see cover). This tale is a true classic, and this version has been around for many generations. It's part of the folk tradition in more ways than one. Let's hope we keep "sharing" this tale about sharing for generations to come!

I bought this baby as the background for an advanced level international econ paper on the fluctuations of the Euro, and it is wicked good. It hands out the basic knowledge like the Rams hand out touchdown balls, and even though it was written before the Euro's current problems, you can easily piece together the reasons behind the malaise.

The only caveat is that if you're really into the mathematical and graphical side of economics -- this puppy ain't for you. If you look at the overload of math that Krugman's International Economics textbook gives you, this pales in comparison. I wish it had more of that, if only so that on those nights I can't sleep, I have one more resource to use. But that's what I have my girlfriend's stories for.

Anyway, go buy it. It's good.

I have read 2 other books about the Euro and this one is by far the best. It offers an unbiased view of the Euro unlike most other books. It is very easy to read, informative, well organized... I could go on and on. If you want to learn about the Euro if you are a student or businessman, get this book.

This is an excellent introductory book. It is very easy to read and is very concise. It is written from a general rather than a particualar nationalist view as are several other books on the EURO. It also has a large listing of web sites where other interesting information is available.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this book has many wonderful reproductions, including a lot of "extreme close-ups" (if you'll allow me to lift an expression from the movie "Wayne's World"!). The close-ups are great...you can see details of how Velazquez achieved certain effects- such as concentrated spots of pigment to represent the glitter of jewelery, or applying a transparent black "wash" over the white pages in a "book", to give the impression of writing in a book. Additionally, Professor Brown provides a nice biographical sketch of Velazquez in the first 20 pages of the book, and he writes very well indeed. The commentary that accompanies the plates contains a lot of fascinating historical information- we learn a lot about the "court" of Philip IV, the roles of dwarves and jesters, etc. The author goes into the symbolism included in the paintings- for example, the importance of showing the king in control of a horse (which implies he is a good ruler as well as a good horseman). One of the most fascinating plates is the portrait of Mariana of Austria, who was Philip's second wife. Professor Brown explains that Philip's first wife, and his only son, had died and the king needed to remarry and produce a male heir. Unfortunately, Mariana was Philip's niece. As you might expect, the only surviving male heir of their marriage, Charles II, proved incapable of ruling and also of having any children of his own. With his death, the Habsburg dynasty of Spain came to an end. But the physical act of painting the picture also ties into this sad story. Velazquez was a very "economical" painter (some might say lazy). He wasn't very productive, and he also didn't like to waste canvasses that he had worked on! In this case, he had started a canvas of Philip IV. The physical resemblance between Philip and his niece was so great that the artist was able to paint Mariana's face over Philip's. In close-up, Professor Brown even shows how you can see where Velazquez covered up the area on the upper lip which had contained the king's mustache! Many of the plates have similar interesting bits of information contained in the accompanying text. I felt that the book only deserved 4 stars rather than 5 for two reasons- after awhile, some of the technical information becomes boring for the lay reader....too many descriptions of the various pigments used in the "ground" layer of each painting and of the sizes of the additional strips of canvas added to the paintings, for example. The second reason is that Professor Brown is a little too free with the word "genius". He claims that Velazquez was capable of doing things that other major artists weren't able to accomplish. I'm not qualified to say whether or not Velazquez was a genius but, in general, I think the word is overused. The author fails to explain WHY Velazquez was a genius, and what exactly he could do that other important artists couldn't. Still, this is a fine book, with a very nice mixture of beautiful reproductions and lively, informative text.

The book consists in essence of two parts: The first 20 pages cover briefly Velazquez's life, career, techniques, and materials. The rest of the book comments on the artist's works.

Concisely, the author discusses the artist's choice on (painting) supports, pigments and colors, and composition and execution, as a prelude for in-depth discussions of the artist's works that follow.

Common art appreciaters will enjoy beautiful paintings (of in general not-very-beautiful people) in which face expressions and body language are deploited ingeniusly by the artist to convey drunkeness, retardation, sovereignty, self-importance, etc...

As for readers who are artists, an in-depth discussion on each painting reveals (with the aid of radiograph) techniques and procedures Velazquez used to create his work. In essence, a majority of Velazquez paintings were prepared with a layer of flake white as foundation. Over the underpainting, the artist applied pigments of different homogeneity and thickness to render desired effects. In addition, close-up pictures of painting details allow readers to understand better the secrets of creating luminosity in the paintings of this painter.

Perhaps as interesting is that mistakes and corrections made by Velazquez in his masterpieces are also unveiled, indicating the fact that although ingenius, the artist did have certain "imperfections" in his art maneuver.

This very fine book on the painter Velazquez is full of historical details, details of the master's painting techniques, and many photographic details of his masterpieces. The several close-up detail reproductions of each painting in the book show the artist's brush strokes and the weave of the canvas as the text describes the pigments used. This extraordinary art book deserves close examination.

The book consists of two books in a slipcase, and given its unusually large format and high quality paper, it weighs a ton. The weight is however well substantiated by the contents! The progression is chronological, right from the beginnings of Venice in Volume I, to modern items at the end of Volume II. The architecture side of things is covered by hundreds of top quality photographs of buildings inside and outside, as well as drawings, old photographs, and building plans. As for the art, there are countless clear representations of the masterpieces of the city. Having been in the city a few times, this book adds so much value, firstly by showing me reminders of the places and objects I have seen, and secondly by exposing the interiors of buildings usually closed to the casual visitor.

The reason why I rated this four stars instead of five, is because the book does not give as much coverage to Venice's art museums as I feel it should. Sure, the contents of the art museums were in large part not manufactured by Venetian artists, but all this art now forms part of Venice on account of having been in its museums for decades. Understandably, however, that would probably require another two volumes! Another area that was perhaps not covered sufficiently is that of glass. After all, Venetian glass is world famous, and it deserved more than a short chapter.

Overall however, this is the sort of book one would expect to find in the reference section of a top class library, and yet the price makes it affordable for your own home. It is also very much a scholarly work, filled with details in the text section. It is thus perfect for both those who want to look at the stunning pictures, and those who want to really get into the story behind it all. You will not be disappointed, and I recommend this work without reservation.

I concur with others who reviewed this book and give it top billing! The photos are exquisitely clear and are a good representation of what the city offers. The text is quite complete, although I, too, would have liked to have seen more on Venetian glass. Another fabulous collection for those who love the jewel of a city or for any lover of fine art and architecture.

I borrowed these books from a friend. I could not believe my eyes. They are most fantastic! I have ordered a set for myself. I recommend them highly!

This is a beautiful picture book for pre-teens rather than for really young children. It has a mythological tale of what young Queen Guinevere's life might have been like. It is well written by the talented Robert D. San Souci and is filled with symbolism and adventure and heroism. The illustrations are well done and are brightly colored like the pages in a medieval illuminated manuscript. Beautiful mythical creatures like a chimera and a unicorn and a werewolf help give this story its otherwordly feel and add to the mysterious and magical flavor we have come to know from other great Arthurian writers like Sir Thomas Malory, T.H. White, and Howard Pyle. This is a simple story that ends with foreshadowing of the world Guinevere will grow into and it makes a good introduction to this enigmatic character.

When I found this book, the artwork captivated me. The story is simple yet strong. I would buy this if I had a child. It is beautifully illustrated and told. Take/Borrow it and read it.

I had to buy this book because my daughter (6) was checking it out from the library so often. It is an unusual look at Guinevere and offers a good, empowering role model for girls. We love the illustrations and have read it over and over. Unfortunately, the paperback version has not stood up to those many readings. The pages have all had to be taped back in because once one came loose, the rest followed. I don't blame the binding, it is just that a paperback cannot survive that much love.