european

I found this book, ironically enough, by an entirely freak sort of chance - just browsing the bookstore, hoping to expend my gift certificate on good, rich, lavish, read-worthy material - I have not yet arrived at the second book I purchased (being that this occured this evening), but the first among the two, The Unexpected Man, certainly affirmed my expectations. I intend to search out more of Reza's work.

"The Unexpected Man" is, quite simply (although, as The Woman says, nothing is truly 'quite simple') true. True to many things - true to life, true to the human conscious, true to emotion, true to tension, just - true. The digressions, the personalities, the ending, the million-to-one premise - all of it is undeniably true. And yet, about all of this truth their exists and underlying mysteriousness - the ambiance is not casual - it is tense, and somewhat poetic (though it does not STRETCH the truth - do I repeat myself? har har har.) - all in all, The Unexpected Man provides a conflux of many elevated elements that are difficult to intertwine - successfully. But success is so, for Reza.

After seeing the play and reading Yasmina Reza's 'Art' I went looking for other works by the author and found 'The Unexpected Man'. In 71 spacious pages, Reza manages to concoct a rich desert of fate, chance, fantasy, reality, past, present, and future which immediately invites a re-reading or 'second helping', if you will. I think that if you enjoyed the humor, irony, and contradiction in 'Art' you will find 'The Unexpected Man' a case where perhaps less is even more. A book to be savored.

I stumbled upon on a run of The Unexpected Man while in London, but it is sometimes the stories you stumble upon being the greatest. After the play I was so mesmerized by Reza's story I purchased the book right away. The magic and feeling Reza evokes through the man and the woman on the train is amazing, since the two hardly speak throughout the story. For anyone who has ever had a favorite author, the reality of what one would and would not say upon meeting him or her is perfectly captured in The Unexpceted Man. The woman's life is also revealed beutifully. Yet another wonderful play and story from Reza that captures the contradictions one feels in society and throughout life.

This is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL book. You must own it; there's no way around it. The most popular and familiar paintings of Van Gogh you will find here. Not just once, but magnified and then magnified again--as though you are standing in the gallery walking closer and closer to the paintings--not missing a detail.

If you are a student of Impressionism, you know how fascinating it can be to see the individual strokes of paint on the canvas and then stepping back to see how the puzzle all fits beautifully together. This book gives you that exact feeling--only stopping short of hanging the paintings on your living room wall.

Enjoy!

This is a sweeping and beautifully lush book; one of the best Van Gogh picture books I have seen. The text annotating each painting is short but very descriptive especially as regards the author's analysis of composition, color and technique. The detailed enlargements allow you to study the magnificence of Van Gogh's brushwork and color. The author also uses Van Gogh's many letters to his brother Theo to describe their feelings about the pictures and the painter's mindset.

The reproductions in this book are the next best thing to seeing the actual paintings. The textures of the brush strokes, the richness of color are superb. Each painting is shown in its entirety on one page or on a double page spread. This is followed by a full page blow-up of a small area of the painting that gets you right into it. A brief discussion of each painting accompanies each reproduction. Let"s hope that the publisher {First Class Books} will follow with a series of similar books on other artists.

Vincent van Gogh is one of the truly influential painters of his day and painted art revealing complex spirituality and intense emotion that continue to impress art students, connoisseurs, and artists today. He was able to imbue his work with his own psychological presence as is especially evidenced in his many self-portraits. In Van Gogh, art historian and Post-Impressionist expert Belinda Thompson has assembled his paintings and works drawn from the archives and collections of the Art Institute Of Chicago including such famous works as an 1887 Self-Portrait, The Bedroom, and Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle. Thirty of the images are reproduced in full color, together with another twenty-two duotone comparative illustrations. Van Gogh is further enhanced for the reader with an informative account tracing the great artist's development as a painter in Holland, England, and France in a career that was to last less than a decade. Van Gogh is a very highly recommended addition to any personal, academic, or community library Post-Impressionist art history reference collection in general, and to Vincent van Gogh enthusiasts in particular.

These stickers are approx. 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" and include the title of the painting and artist name.They are clear, good quality despite being sticker size. There are many applications for these including stationary, envelopes, etc. or make great stocking stuffers.

Beautiful and affordable. They make wonderful additions to letters for friends, and my young son likes to make his own stationery with them. We also contributed some art stickers by Matisse and Degas to his classroom for a celebration of spring.

Just back from Venice, how I wish I had owned and studied this volume which re-tells the story of Venetian art and architecture, placing it securely within the development of other Italian art of the periods it covers. The reproductions are delicious and the analysis accessible to anyone who is interested enough to do a little digging. Well worth its price.

Having spent a month painting in Venice and planning a return painting trip, I began reading Mr. Hills' book and quickly ran to get a note pad (and a dictionary). His evaluations of so many rich aspects of Venice, visually and historically, were illuminating, and his blending of these various fields into one another fantastic. Notes in hand, the return trip was magnificent, as was the city. The language can get a bit dense, but as I looked up unfamiliar words, they were the exact word for what was being described.

Extraordinary examination of color, space, the transparent, the luminous, form, shade, shadow and how these interact to form a work of art. As the author states: "Too often art historians write of pictorial space as though it replicated physical space whereas Renaissance painting at its most refined is a process whereby thought becomes incarnate in design: in doing so space becomes luminous, self-evident, revelatory."

Bravo to Walter Liedtke for his sense of humor, see below. The fact that 17 out of 24 did not understand his subtle comments on himself, he did write most of the book, is testimony as to lack of discernment of those who read these reviews. I have heard his lecture on the exhibition and all he says is absolutely true. Actually, his comments on himself are rather modest.

Words cannot describe the impact this weighty volume has had on me. From the moment I held it in my trembling hands, I was hooked. The rich, carefully crafted prose is a delight to the eye and the imagination. Its author is undoubtedly a man of breath-taking vision who has reconstructed the 17th-century past with unique skills of research and analysis. His character shines through in every page and the reader cannot help but conjure up in his or her mind a dazzling image of a dark tall handsome curator with beautifully slick and greased black hair, a whiff of moustache, and sparkling gold-rimmed glasses. Every inch a man of learning. I could go on - and I will.

This is a catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, from March 8 to May 27, 2001 and The National Gallery, London, from June 20 to September 16, 2001. It is written by Walter Liedtke, Curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York with contributions from eight other art curators and historians. This is a hefty book reflecting this monumental ehibition which includes 15 of the 35 known works attributed to Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) who spent his entire life in Delft. Other prominent 17th Century artists include Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Houckgeest and one of my favorites, Carel Fabritius, who was killed in a munitions explosion in 1654 at the age of 32. The catalogue is 640 pages containing 526 illustrations with 225 colorplates. The quality of the colorplates is good. The history of Delft and the development of "The Delft School" is thoroughly researched. In addition to the artists mentioned there are many beautiful paintings by artists who are relatively unknown. This is a catalogue where the interested reader will spend the rest of his life perusing. There is much to be mined here. The exhibition is worth a journey.

I 'wandered' upon the first edition of this book at a yard sale, and once having begun it, was thrilled with every word and every turn of phrase. Hesse, in this lesser-known work, writes with beautiful symplicity and grace. Each short prose piece is accompanied by charming sketches, and each ends with one of Hesse's poems. Here Hesse reveals his deepest fears, hopes, and insights; which once read, will bring any wandering soul closer to enlightenment. Highly recommended!

The most wonderful, beautiful book, it has been my absolute favourite for the past 30 years, always makes me feel like I'm home again, in the company of all feelings and emotions that make me feel warm and connected to the earth.

I thought this book essentially epitomized Hesse's search for meaning, but the narrative was simply told in a series of sharp images, ones in which he himself found inspiration. In contrast to his many, more famous novels, I believe Hesse writes in absolute honesty, no longer confined to the restrictions of a classic novel, and the images and sensations he reproduces are stunning.

An inspirational collection from an excellent essayist. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in literature.

The answer to the question sophisticatedly raised by this little anthology, is given in the essay which opens the collection.The basic reason lies in forming a personal scale of values that help you individualize the real artistic elements in new works. The second one is that reading increases the quality of living in usual and unusual situations, as well. But the quality of school anthologies and their presentations is still an open problem.

What makes a book a clasic? Borges once said in a conference, that the fact that a whole generation lives with the idea of a book makes it a classic, Calvino involve you in that idea..

so hilarious, so poignant, so daring, and so dense - teeming with life - the characters speaking their characterization - and such beautiful characters - and so wacko

Many find Ibsen difficult to understand. I certainly did. However, by reading The Wild Duck, I was introduced to an entire new world of symbolism and creative writing. Like the master he was, Ibsen paints a portrait of a family, representing all of us, living on a lie. Cruelty in our midst, innocent victimes and pragmatists losing to the vindictive, it's all there. The touches of comedy and tragedy just increase the impression that it does concern us, that really, he's looked into our lives and seen our lies, although hopefully in a less extreme version. And don't we all know a Hedvig, a Gina, a Hjalmar and a Gregers? Maybe there's something of the all in all of us... The book sucks you in, creeps under your skin and stays there, along with the horror, the anger and the sympathy you feel while reading. In my opinion, one of the best examples of Ibsen's less romantic period of writing.

Ibsen's philosophical "message" in this play disturbs me. I don't think I agree with Dr. Relling that each of us needs his own brand of self-deception to cope with life. Certainly Hialmar Ekdal is content enough, and hilariously funny as an lazy fool who thinks he's a creative genius in photograhy, a breadwinner to his wife and daughter, and a martyr to his father's scandalous past. Alas, his friend Gregers Werl points the way to the truth, that Hialmar is deceived about everything in his life. It would all be comical but for the fact that Hialmar's daugher Hedvig, who is probably not his daugther at all, shoots herself as proof of her love for Hialmar. So, Ibsen seems to say, here the truth has cost a young girl's life, an unbearable tragedy but for the fact that she was going blind. Well, no doubt there is cost in knowing the truth about oneself and about others, no doubt there are things we prefer not to know, and no doubt there are people like Hialmar who are impervious to truth. But there are also people like Hialmar's wife Gina, and Dr. Relling himself, who know the truth and who hold up nobly and well. For at least these, I think Ibsen should recommend truth in large doses, and perhaps he does.

This book was intriguing. After forty years, the author, Janina Bauman, is ready to tell her story of her life and experiences in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. The story begins telling what a good life Bauman has with her father as a doctor and a loving close Jewish family. Then as the story goes on the war begins and their town is transformed into a Jewish ghetto. They are forced slowly to move from place to place, within the ghetto, each one worse than the other. With her remaining family she escapes the ghetto only to find more problems along the way to freedom, but in the end everything works out. This book gives in excellent detail, Bauman's experiences of friendship, love, death, poverty, adventure, and family problems. Many of her personal diary entries are included also showing exactly how she was feeling. The story is full of adventure and feeling and it was a joy to read.

THis book is one of the best I've ever read. It is clearly written and keeps you turning pages. The book chronicals the adventures of a teenage girl during the Holocaust years. It is not a depressing read, rather it is very inspiring and exciting. I highly recommend it.

Winter in the Morning is a captivating book. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It gives a very detailed account of a young girl's life during the Holocaust. It shows how this wealthy Jewish girl becomes stricken with poverty, alienated from her friends, and was sent to another school. It gives accounts of all the "safe houses," which were the houses that took Jews and hid them. It also showed how they lived in the ghetto with many other Jews, fighting disease, lice, and finding food that was scarce. This book was very inspiring, as well as well written. It gives an insider's version of the Holocaust and war and is very interesting, factual, and moving. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in what really went on in the Holocaust.

I used this book extensively for a paper I just wrote comparing the European witch-craze of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries to the Azande in Africa. I used Sidky's book for most of my information on Europe and found it very helplful. It was informative, well researched, well written, and well organized. It presented material in a clear manner which made it easy to understand and also helped me find which sections I needed to talk about in my essay. I also enjoyed the numerous illustrations of artwork depicting the witch-hunts/torture devices/Sabbat rites/and illustrations of medieval texts related to the witch-craze. I highly recommend this book to anyone writing a paper on the European witch-hunts from an anthropological stance, to all anthro majors and minors and anyone interested in examining a bit of dark (but fasinating) history.

If you're into everything from schizophrenia to ergot poisoning, from the black plague to the dread Malleus Maleficarum, from the "thumb screws" method of torture to The Devils of Loudon and demonic possession, then this is the book for you. Add to that a collection of pictures that would shock any uncouth European peasant living in the sixteenth century, and you've got the making of a most bizarre book in the most bizarre field of "witchcraft studies". Here you get to see the shear ugliness of life in medieval Europe during the Inquisition up close and personal. You get to look into the mind of the "witch hammerer" as he singles out those members of society that alleged performed those sinister magical acts that included cannibalism, sexual contact with demons, and spreading plague and disease. Rather than arguing that "witchcraft was real to the people of the time so it was real" like other "mentalist" anthropologists in the field have done, the author condemns those who insisted on the existence of witchcraft and argues that it was used an excuse to persecute and mercilessly torture thousands. As far as lycanthropy goes, the author suggests that the mentally ill, social outcasts, and those infected with rabies may have been those persecuted as "werewolves". The pictures and bizarreness of the topic alone earns the book five stars, and while there are parts of it that I'm not sure that I can agree with (for instance, the author believes that cannibalism has never been a socially acceptable practice to any great extent in any culture whatsoever) the author does an excellent job of revealing the pernicious delusions which plagued the European mind during the time.

Sidky details all the true and horrific aspects of the European witchcraze. From the beginning to the end you will never become bored or think the book dull. Besides the written facts and charts, Sidky also encloses copies of several artworks of what people thought of witches and the devil. Everything covered is given sufficient detail and everything detailed is supported completly.