literature Books

Being a Bille Letts fan I ordered this book based on the reviews and because I'd run out of material to read by her. What a letdown. I felt like the author seemed obsessive and overbearing in her like for Bille Letts.

I accidentally bought this book, thinking it was BY Billie Letts. Boy am i glad i made that mistake! I laughed so hard i had tears coming from all orifices. Thank you Molly Griffis for a wonderful ride!

Thank you God, for creating Molly Levite Griffis. I have never in my life laughed so hard and so much reading a book. As a confirmed bookaholic, I assure you that is just a few books shy of a load. I was laughing so loud I kept waking my husband up!
It a good thing I live all the way down in Houston, otherwise, I'd be camping on Molly's doorstep until she swore we were friends. I have never connected so completely with a writer, maybe part of it is we are the same age and I, too, come from the state where the wind comes sweeping down the plain.
Good Golly Miss Molly, you are some special zany lady with not only a talent for writing, but also a talent for life. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for this refreshing book.

A very hilarious novel. The author is someone who I would like to know. Such a fun book.

I enjoyed reading these letters between best friends. Reminds me of my own letters from best friends I've kept over the years ... maybe not so cleverly written, but just as dear and fun to read. Molly and Billie are fortunate, blessed to have each other. Bet they have hilarious pajama parties! and get togethers ... and understanding, patient, husbands. Keep the letters coming, ladies. I know I'm looking forward to more.

The book is a good introduction for kids. Though not particularly very much inclusive when it comes to the choice of philosophers, it does give a fairly good introductory idea to totally new students to the study of philosophy of the ones chosen. The drawings by Lawman are beautiful. I liked very much the inclusion of Hypatia, which, to my mind, is something absolutely new to any history of philosophy. With the exception of Beauvoir, it is a pity that no other women had been chosen. On the whole, the book is wonderfully produced (a truism when it comes to DK publications), and well writen.

I think this might be a little difficult for four-to-eight-year olds, but it does give a clear and simple overview of the ideas of the great philosophers. There were a few typos, and the various type sizes were distracting. Each section begins with a full-page drawing of a particular philosopher and his milieu with callouts. The callouts are the part that might appeal to the four-to-eight-year olds. Many of them are quite silly.

[...]

I bought this philosophy book for my school library because our collection has none (books about philosophy). It is difficult to explain philosophy and psychology as a Dewey Decimal category without any philosophy or psychology books to show as examples.

According to the product description, this book is aimed at the age 4-8 audience, a laughable designation unless there really is a budding philosophy genius in that age group. Another description shows a designation of grades 5-8, a more realistic assessment. In fact, I can't wait to put this book into the hands of one of our incoming 8th graders in August.

What's in "A Young Person's Guide to Philosophy"? The first few pages explain the great unanswerable questions that thinking persons have asked since man had a cognitive brain. Why am I here? Where did the universe come from? Where do we go when we die? And so on.

Then the story of philosophy begins chronologically with the Early Greeks and their individual, almost single-minded focus and extends through Post-modernism.

One full-page color illustration shows each philosopher in his setting (and one "her" setting) with little splats of information all around him. The facing page outlines his background, time period, and philosophical beliefs (very briefly identified).

After the major figures of Western Philosophical Thought are identified, then Schools of Philosophy are pursued and a more detailed structure developed. Each philosopher is placed in his proper school.

"A Young Person's Guide to Philosophy" perfectly suits what I want in our library: a fairly simple philosophy book with enough detail to interest the hardiest and heartiest learner.

I just wonder what the publisher thought when the idea of an overview of philosophy for young people was first proposed. Luckily, they must not have been paying much attention because this extraordinary book is in print. It's really amazing that they could pull this book off. How do you explain what the great thinkers throughout history have thought to teenagers and younger? Somehow, Jeremy Weate was able to break down philosophies to their most basic forms. Weate was also aided by his sense of humor and by the pictures of Peter Layman which can help keep interest from swaying. This really is a very valuable resource. This book is supposed to be directed toward readers of the ages 4-8, but I think it is better for a little older audience. I was able use it very effectively in some college English courses I took in high school. A Young Person's Guide to Philosophy is really excellent. It is really an interesting read and can be very useful.

Decartes would approve! This book is a wonderful introduction to philosophy for kids and young adults alike. I don't think that it is too much for kids 5-8; our 7 year old reads it and comes to us with new knowlege and questions to accompany. I would recommend it to anyone intersted in inspiring their kids to think about the world around them in new ways and to further their understanding of some of the greatest figures in history.

O. Henry's plots and style will surprise you. I used this book to better my understanding skills and connecting pieces together. Given that a lot of the stories are centered within the life in America, it can be tough to place some of the humor as they are pretty dated. But it is still a treat!

William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) was born into middle class life in Greensboro North Carolina. The family fell on hard times and he became a pharmacist and bank clerk. He served three years in the Ohio State Penitentary for embzzelment. (he was probably innocent) and began writing short stories and a few novels. The pen name "O Henry" was taken from "Ohio State Penitentary." He lived in many places from the South to Texas to New York City. He suffered from alcoholism, liver disease and diabetes losing his first wife and child. His second marriage was not happy. O Henry was a complex and gifted writer who is a true American original whose books have been in print for over 100 years.
Penguin has published a handsome edition of 80 of the master's tales including a fine introduction by Dr. Guy Davenport. O Henry is best known for the "twist" he gives at the end of his stories tying up all the plot threads and sometimes surprising the reader!
The stories cover everything from life in turn of the century New York to life in the American West to travels abroad in Latin America. The most famous story in the Penguin collection is "The Ransom of Red Chief" which deals with a mischevious young man who drives his kidnappers to distraction! Several stories deal with the adventures of con man Jeff Peters. The stories are sentimental dealing with love, adventure and the quest to make a dollar. Many of the them contain dialect. I object to the African-American dialect the author uses. He is condescending to African-Americans. This puts him in his place, time and culture.
O Henry is not everyone's cup of tea but he will provide the reader with many short and interesting tales told by a narrator adept in comedy, unusual predicaments and a loving sympathy for the human condition.

This volume contains a generous selection of the altogether delicious servings of O. Henry's writings. One can never over-indulge in this fare.

I was surprised upon rereading O. Henry to discover more insight into human situation and character than I had thought of before. The image of a superficial maker of slight superficial gimmick stories was somehow in my mind, and it proved wholly wrong. Linguistic inventiveness, a strong narrative gift, a power to see into various kinds of human situation, warm human sympathy and of course , frequent humor, are found in his stories.

A collection of 100 or more short stories by O. Henry? My mouth waters already! It's hard to imagine any literary treat that can be enjoyed in small doses more pleasurable than this. I have spent over a year savouring these stories, reading them one by one, tasting his delightful choice of words, digesting his fascinating story-lines, and the warm satisfying afterglow that comes after a typical twist at the end. His stories are superbly outstanding in at least four ways, each illustrated with five of my personal favorites.

Firstly, his brilliant use of language. These stories were written in the first half of the twentieth century, and O. Henry's use of language easily surpasses that of most contemporary writers. Not only does he have an extensive vocabulary, but his writing abounds with similes and metaphors that breathe sparkling life and depth into his stories. "Ulysses and the Dogman" is a fine example of his skills with a language, metaphorically portraying dog owners as victims of Circe, in a hopeless enchantment to their leashed pets. Also exemplary is "Madame Bo-Peep of the Ranches" where a ranch manager has a heart fenced by barbwire just like the ranch on which he lives, and yet the twist at the ending suggests that perhaps we were completely mistaken. "A Comedy in Rubber" uses wonderfully elevated language to farcically portray a class of people today known as ambulance chasers. And "Sisters of the Golden Circle" revolves around the profound bond that exists between two married women who are strangers but yet sisters "of the plain gold band." "An Unfinished Story" employs profound metaphors of angelic hosts to tell the tragic story of poor Dulcie's struggle for survival.

Secondly, his unique insight into the social conditions of his time. O. Henry has a great understanding of the trials of the lower class, frequently picturing the lives of ordinary people of early twentieth century America with sympathetic colours. His characters are frequently the overlooked: the struggling shop girl, the unsuccessful artist, the impoverished. Admittedly, some of his images can be hard to comprehend for modern readers, and the distance that time has placed between us and O. Henry's beloved New York means that some of his verbal pictures will be harder to identify with. But his genuine sympathy for the oppressed cannot be missed. "The Gift of the Magi" is the signature O. Henry story, probably his most famous tale which recounts a poor young couple who both give up a prized possession in order to purchase a gift for one another - but ironically a gift intended to complement the other's prized possession that they have just given up. Another story which displays his ability to picture the social conditions of his time is "The Pendulum", a wonderful portrait of the daily routines of an poor couple and the bursting anxiety of a married man, until the bubble bursts. "The Cop and the Anthem" was the first O. Henry story I ever read, and humorously recounts the unsuccessful attempts of a man to get into jail for the winter. "The Furnished Room" is a tragic and shocking story of suicide, depicting the depths of despair and desperation of the impoverished.

Thirdly, his warm humour. O. Henry has an uncanny ability to portray the mundane and the ordinary in the most elevated language. Frequently he pits two characters together in a remarkable way so that one outshines and complements the other. On other occasions he crafts the most ingenious and humorous schemes for outwitting others. One of his most popular stories is "The Handbook of Hymen", the tale of two men in a winter cabin, one armed with the hilarious Herkimer's handbook of Indispensable Information. And then there's Jeff Peters, a man who comes with the most ingenious money-making schemes, two shining examples displayed in "Jeff Peters as a Personal Magnet" and "The Exact Science of Matrimony". "Let Me Feel Your Pulse" pokes fun at doctors, while in "Next to Reading Matter" an overly eloquent character wins the heart of a senora with streams of articulate talk about the mundane.

Fourthly, his ironic twist. One of the distinctive characteristics of O. Henry's short stories is the ironic twist at the end, which never fails to surprise and entertain, sometimes reversing the entire story line in a concluding one-liner. O. Henry's suspense and trademark ironic twist ensures that readers who have a good literary taste in short stories will not be disappointed. Like the Jeff Peters stories, "The Love-philtre of Ikey Schoenstein" also feature a brilliant scheme, and the way the romantic scheme backfires is unforgettable. Other delightful examples of the glorious ironic twist include "Witches' Loaves" and "While the Auto Waits". The twist that comes at the end of "The Hypotheses of Failure" is so perplexing, that you'll have to re-read the entire story after reading the ending - but completely delighted at the way in which O. Henry has misled you. Perhaps one of O. Henry's best uses of the ironic twist comes in "The Last Leaf", a warm and tragic tale describing how a dying artist proves as resilient as the last leaf on the wall outside, and through the self-less sacrifice of another.

The Wordsworth collection is superlative, because it contains more than 700 pages of literary gems. It consists of 100 stories, showcasing a wide range of O. Henry's short-story talents. A few popular favorites are missing, such as "Schools and Schools", "Shearing the Wolf", "The Green Door", and "The Pimienta Pancakes." But the reality is that nearly all O. Henry's stories feature his trademark ironic twist, as they do his warm humour, his unique insight into the social conditions of the time, and his brilliant use of language, and that every story in this collection is a literary delight worthy of inclusion. The inaccessibility of some references for modern readers does not prevent these stories from being always entertaining and enduring! Don't pass up on these!

ABC A Family Alphabet Book
This alphabet book features two-dad and two-mom families, both in the illustrations and text. The families are shown doing all of the things that families do, and children will find the humorous illustrations very amusing.

It is about time that LGBT families have books that reflect their lives in children's books without being hammered over the head with issues. This is a wonderful book and finally our kids can look at a picture book and see illustrations they can actually relate to.

Cute alphabet for the alternative family. I will need to buy another copy for my second son. The other loved it too much.

I am pleased to see a children's book incorporating LGBT families as characters without presenting LGBT-specific issues as the central topic of the book. Kudos to the authors for choosing to depict a fair amount of racial diversity including interracial families. However, I was disappointed to see a lack of heterosexual couple representation. Heterosexual couples are overrepresented in children's literature generally, so I fear that the lack of representation in books like this contributes to a sense of other-ness: Non-traditional families do exist, but they are so different and separate from the mainstream that they all crowd together in the safety of their own book and are rarely if ever seen interacting with heterosexual families.

this book had one problem... to many animal shots. other than that this book really gave me a new out look on life. i've learned that some parts don't have to be hiden. my new found freedom has made me more popular than ever! im making new friends... i spend alot of time with my uncle i never knew! this is GREAT! i recomend this book to anyone who is struggling to find them selves... (my hockey coach recommended this book.. hi mr.Sroman)

Carl Sandburg captures the essence of a president struggling with the many different forces plaguing the nation. He does this with humor and insight as to how Lincoln navigated the many personalities and issues. There are many lessons for today.

Thousands upon thousands of Civil War books are available, as American readers seem to have a limitless appetite for that era. If you are looking for the best, read Sandburg on Lincoln. A major American poet takes on one of the best-known, best-loved, most tragic of American historical figures.

When I was a freshman in high school, our English teacher offered us a deal: Anyone who read Sandburg's biography (then in six rather daunting volumes) would not have to attend class for a semester. I took him up on that offer, and was blessed to find my way through Sandburg's gift to the American people. Here is the highly detailed, thoroughly researched, and articulately written story of Abe Lincoln's years among us.

If you have time to read only one of the Civil War books from that burgeoning genre, read this one. You will come to know, from the inside out, this prairie boy who became a towering figure in American history.

I collect old and rare books. My mother bought me a copy of Sandburg's one-volume edition published in 1954. Honestly, it was slow to start, but once it got to the 1850's, I couldn't put it down. Lincoln's deeds are so often trivialized in our history books. But Sandburg meticulously builds up the background in a way that forces his reader to appreciate the magnitude of the moment, and the importance of each decision--whether right or wrong--that President Lincoln made. It easily took three full weeks to read, but it was more than worth it. I closed the book thinking, "I can't believe it's over!" My advice: Read this book right away, and make someone else read it too. You'll need someone to talk to when you're through!

I believe Sandburg is the only author to win the Pulitzer for both poetry and history. Originally a multi volume history taking decades to complete, this single volume work is an appetizer. I read it in the 1960's and went on with relish to the full multi volume work.

This single volume is insightful, laser like in it's detail yet painting the times of Lincoln in a broad and beautiful brush. Did you know that in 1860 tools could be honed to within one ten thousandth of an inch of accuracy? That magazines and newspapers said the world would change for-ever because of the new "instant" communication nation wide?

This is more than biography. It is a woven fabric depicting the times and life of Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln comes to life through the words of his devoted and talented biographer, Carl Sandburg. This edition is an excellent compromise between Sandburg's six-volume edition and the shorter, incomplete texts that abound regarding Lincoln. Take your time with this masterpiece and follow Lincoln from youth through the climax of his political career in Washington.

When I leave San Quentin's death row, and I feel I am not qualified to carry the lessons I've learned, the truth I have seen, I read Asha's words and find strength. Her words are a gift to all of us, words I find myself reading again and again. Thank you, Asha. May you find continued courage to speak.

I stumbled across Bendele during an Amazon.com search for new poets and ordered this book as a gift based only on the reviews. I feel SO lucky to have found it. Bendele writes raw, powerful, honest poetry that causes the reader to draw in a deep, sudden breath time and time again as each poem surprises and enlightens. Bendele says the things that need to be said, and she does it so well that her message is unforgettable and undeniable.

And the best thing? You may be reading her poetry silently to yourself, but it reads like it's being spoken aloud to a packed auditorium. As a reader you get the sense that you're on the edge of something big and brilliant - the end of denial, and the acknowledgment of survival and hope in a painful and unjust world.

Please, Ms. Bendele, more, more, more!

one line in the title poem for Audre Lorde: " "you left me there with / your head raised and still dreadlocked walking/ toward the beginnings of your death"

one poem: 4:15 a.m./ a jailhouse luv story: "in this institution that is rank with the bizarre & vicious oder of/ annihilation,/ we have only ourselves to hold up as light and possibility/ and i hold you up & i hold you in as/people tell me i am crazy,/loving you across barbed wire & time/ but i believe in our love because you struggle with me"

OK next poem your turn to pick.... as you can tell I love this poet.

Asha Bandele is the Maya Angelou of my generation. I have read this book over a hundred times and have bought numerous copies for my friends (both men and women). Asha blesses each page with her truth and ability to express it so fluently. She gives back to all that are reaching out for a positive yet realistic voice.

Asha Bandele has a way with words. As always she calls us to dissect ourselves. To dig away at the surface in order to reach the core. Her words of poetry float over each page, and is able to attack the mind and force us to think. She is able to deliver and articulate what we think but so often afraid to say. She is the voice of my generation. A voice demanding to be heard.

I picked up Actual Factual Dracula to supplement running Roleplaying Games and writing stories, and the book has not disappointed. Every page has a new and interesting creature from folklore that can be used to horrify. In addition there are other tidbits of information from folklore dealing with vampires, such as spells supposed to turn vampires back into people and the like.

The preface contains some good background. There's an introduction and a quick page on "What is a Vampire?" for the complete novice. There's a quick debunk of the vampire argument and a couple of pages on everyone's favorite vampire, Vlad Dracula, and how he might not have actually been the impetus behind Bram Stroker's famous villain.

After this brief but well-written preface is the Compendium of Vampires: 352 pages of vampires and related vampire folklore that would be absolutely invaluable to writers, storytellers and anyone engaged in creative work utilizing these blood-drinking undead.

The absolute BEST part of the book, though, is the index. There are no less than 10 separate indexes, listing the entries alphabetically, by ability, appearance, creation myth, frequency of attack, location, origin, prey, type and weakness. If your story calls for an African vampire, you simply go to the "Origin" index and turn to "Africa" where you'll find Adze, Asanbonsam, Asiman, et cetera... Need a vampire that can possess people? Go to the "Abilities" index and turn to "Possession" where you'll find Allu, Arakh, Betail, Bori, et cetera... The index is an absolute boon!

My only complaint about the book is a small one. Every once in a while the author includes a creature that isn't really vampiric, by my estimation. Under the "Zombie" entry, for example, she says that a Zombie is "A revenant in the fact that it has returned from the dead, but it is not a vampire." Just to recap, my only complaint is that this book contains TOO MUCH information.

I whole heartedly recommend this book for researches of folklore, authors, gamers, horror aficionados or anyone else interested in the vampire myth. Actual Factual Dracula is a labor of love, and it shows!

Any writer of fantasy or science fiction needs to own this volume. When writer's block hits, just open to any page to jump start your imagination. This is a valuable resource for any writer, but especially for those writing about vampires. I can't wait for the rest of the series.

Theresa Bane does it again with this absolutely masterful work. The writing is clear and concise in spite of how daunting a task the research must have been. Whether you're a writer, looking for believable facts for your next bestseller, or simply a vampire folklore enthusiast, The Actual Factual Dracula will keep you spellbound from start to finish. This isn't just a book on folklore. It also gives you insight on the beliefs and fears of the various cultures mentioned. This reader would even go so far as to say that one looking up his/her heritage might find this to be additional information on one's background. And last but definitely not least, the text is complemented by the fantastic artwork of Theresa's husband, Glenn T. Bane. This book is a real treat......enjoy!!

Splendid research source! In depth and obviously deeply devoted to details without being overly wordy or difficult to understand. Cross referenced for ease of comparison. A MUST HAVE for any investigator or hunter!

This is the absolutely definitive book on vampires. I seldom comment about the index in a book but this is one that HAS to be talked about. Looking for a 14th century bloodsucker that only feeds on adolescent shepherds, wears orange Liederhosen, is invisible, and can be fought off by spinning counterclockwise while reciting the Hippocratic Oath? This is where to look.

What a terrific tool for anyone researching the subject.

This is actually one of the easier to understand writings from the infamous Mishima. The provocative sentiments he evokes in this story gives timeless relevance in every corner of the earth in this romance between an entrepreneuring new rich with noble spirit to elevate her loved one, an aristocrat who ran out of money.

A strange book, written by a Japanese author in 1960. Later, he committed ritual suicide, as seen in the movie "Mishima". In some ways, it is so uttterly immersed in the Japanese culture, describing in exquisite detail nature and Kazu's kimonos. It seems to be about the clash of two polar opposite natures, who, nevertheless, marry, and then discover who they really are, as revealed in the campaigning of a political election. In the end, Kazu chooses life over the very real peril of an untended grave, which was then a horror to any Japanese. It got better the further along it went.
A stunning sentence - ". . . her words were not slipping through his face as through a sieve, but sinking deeply and certainly . . ."

Kazu is a middle-aged woman and the proprietress of a successful restaurant -- the Setsugoan -- in Tokyo. During a banquet for the Kagen Club, she meets and falls in love with Yuken Noguchi, a aristocrat and retired politician. They wed, and soon, Kazu decides to secretly use her wealth to aid her husband in returning to public office, despite protestions and warnings from her friends.

"After the Banquet" is a fascinating look at love and politics. Kazu is head-strong, wealthy and not ashamed to use her money to get what she desires. Noguchi, a few years older than her, is idealistic and stubborn, wanting to stick to win the election on his own. Along with that clash, they are also torn between the modern Japanese woman and the traditional role of the Japanese wife. Kazu wants to be out and about, aiding her husband any way she can; Noguchi is determined to keep her out of politics, at one point even forbidding her to leave the house.

It's amazing to see how Yukio Mishima sets these two opposties together, how they interact with each other and with the world of politics. A great book.

Mishima wrote After The Banquet well into the second half of his career. It was one of his last books before The Sea Of Fertility. So, his worldview was surely fully formed by this point. Yet, the book breaks quite a few of the stereotypes that surround Mishima's work.

First of all, the main character is a woman. This is rare for Mishima, who had quite a reputation for manliness. The last time he had a female protagonist was in Thirst For Love, his second novel. But there, the woman was obviously a cardboard cut-out more than a character, a hysterical "repressed housewife" type who lost her head over a strong, manly young man. Not in After The Banquet, though. Dig this quote: "Kazu...realized that for all her headstrong temperament, she had never loved a man younger than herself. A young man has such a surplus of spiritual and physical gifts that he is likely to be cocksure of himself, particularly when dealing with an older woman, and there is no telling how swelled up with self-importance he may become. Besides, Kazu felt a physical repugnance for youth. A woman is more keenly aware than a man of the shocking disharmony between a young man's spiritual and physical qualities, and Kazu had never met a young man who wore his youth well. She was moreover repelled by the sleekness of a young man's skin." (31-2)

This is a strange statement, coming from a man who allegedly worshipped youth and physical fitness, to the extent that he voiced a desire to die before he ever grew old. Not only is Mishima disparaging young men, he's doing so from the perspective of a woman over fifty. And this woman is not a decrepit and bitter shell like, say, the old Honda in the last two volumes of The Sea Of Fertility, but a vivacious, energetic hell-raiser. Well, then.

So anyway, in After The Banquet, the strong and lively older woman falls in love with a sixty-year-old politician who professes radical views. This happens when she is present at a dinner attended by various old politicians, and she sees that this particular man was the only one at the gathering who still expressed some passion for the present, instead of constantly reliving past glories. This part is well in line with Mishima's supposed views. After all, Mishima was also widely considered to be an old-school nationalist radical.

But, interestingly enough, he never explains Noguchi's political views in the novel. It is stated that Noguchi is a member of the Radical Party, but that's all. There is no way to tell if this party is liberal or conservative. Mishima states that Noguchi likes to lecture his wife on socialism, but not whether he is for or against it. The one scene that depicts a political speech given by Noguchi is full of deliberate comedy. Mishima portrays Noguchi as a terrible public speaker, and the only one of his positions that the book reveals is something silly about banning bicycles in public places. In other words, Mishima is quite consciously poking fun at this principled radical.

Mishima does generally speak with admiration about Noguchi's sense of honour, but within limits. For instance, Noguchi does not allow his wife to buy him a new suit, and prefers to go about dressed in clothes that he bought decades ago. Mishima shows his approval through the wife's eyes, but nonetheless describes Noguchi's behaviour as follows: "Such childish drivel, as anyone could see, covered an undercurrent of narrow-minded dread." (170) In another chapter, Noguchi gets angry at his wife when she tells him about how his friends talk about them behind his back. Mishima's commentary: "This was Kazu's first intimation that her husband's noble mind lacked sufficient powers of discernment." (94)

There's another line of thought regarding Mishima that holds that he didn't really care about politics, he only cared about dying a glorious death when he was still in his prime as a man. This explanation can be plausible, and the book's mild mockery of Noguchi, even as it praises him, may appear to support it. But that still doesn't explain the protagonist, quite old by Mishima's standard. Kazu does think about death, like many of Mishima's characters, but there's a refreshingly convincing materialistic streak to these thoughts. She wants to die as a part of a respected family, and to be buried among dignified people. This objective is more suitable to highly motivated people who build their fortune from nothing on their own than to radical dreamers with some abstract idea of honour or national greatness. And by the end of the book, she rethinks even this position. This is quite different from, say, Mizoguchi's dreams of beauty and fire in The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion -- even though, it must be noted, Mizoguchi ends up deciding that he wants to live.

Perhaps the only aspect in which Kazu might be a "typical" Mishima character is that she never thinks about having a family. It's a bit strange that a woman of fifty would appear to feel no regret about having no children. It may be that she is too cynical to believe that she might want to have children with any man, but nonetheless, in her private moments, she might still wish that she had had children, even abstractly. However, there is a passage in the book that may imply that her thoughts about death are caused in part by her lack of family.

There's a common image of Mishima as a "philosophical" writer, interested in big ideas more than the lives of individuals. But when he had a mind to, he could write about real life with exceptional humour and attention to detail. Kazu's worldliness annoys and upsets her husband. And it seems that Mishima likes her more than him.

the main plotline of this story may not sound very compelling, but this is not the main attraction - what draws you into the story is the way that Mishima is so deft in his character portraits. he give descriptions of things like hand movements and facial expressions in such a subtle way that very early on in the novel you feel as if you intimately know and understand the main characters - so much so that you can see them clearly in your minds eye - not just their appearace, but expressions, feelings, and mannerisms. i think that this is a great strength of mishima's in the novel - in presenting a psychological portrayal of his characters.

After the banquet tells the story of a mature, successful japanese woman who gives up her restaurant business to devote herself to marriage with a politician. a politician you say - how boring - but noguchi is different, he has an honesty and vitality about him -"Why don't we drop all this talk about the old days? We're still young after all."

however the relationship is doomed because of an impotant diference - kazu has had to work very hard to gain success in life, even if it meant acting in an immoral way. her husband, on the other hand, has been born into an easier life; therefore respect and integrity are more important to him than 'commercial' success. this all comes to a head when kazu tries to revive her husbands ailing political career, using methods he cannot approve of.

even if you find the plot incredibly boring, you just HAVE to love Kazu. she's not just successful and streetwise - she can act despicably at times, causing us to wonder if she has any feelings at all. you'd think this would make you hate her, but it does just the opposite because although her behaviour can be devious and manipulative, it is at the same time chidish and has an innocence about it. if you've read Chaucer's Wife of Bath then you'll know wht i mean; somtimes you want to strangle her, at others admire her.
even if yu find yourself really not liking kazu, you have to admire her if only for the fact that she managed to make herself so successful having come from a very poor backround - she is a woman before her time.

i just gotta say one more thing - its very interesting to see hoe kazu and nouchi can both be innocent, but in different ways - noguchi in his trust in so-called 'friends', and kazu in her manipulation of people - although it could be argured this shows qualities that are anything but innocent and childish.

ultimately, kazu has to make a choice; unfortunately, she cannot have the successful career and 'wifey' role at he same time. she must choose between conforming and resisting, between acting in her own or others interests.

After the Floods can be read on at least a couple levels. On one level, it's an engaging story about some folks living their lives after floods in their hometowns, in New Orleans and in the fictional small town of Cold Beak, Minnesota. It is told from several points of view, including an omniscient narrator who can hear crows and dogs talk; an ex-Mayor and town historian of Cold Beak; and one of the main characters, Billy Boichild, whose narration is in the form of emails to God and Sister Ann, a religious radio personality. The first time I read it, I was aware that the narrations wove in and out of each other, that scenes in one narration were also mentioned in scenes from another narration. In the ex-mayor's narrative, a crow drops a rose on a grave. In the omniscient storyteller's narrative, we see the crow dropping the rose and we understand why she does this. It was fun to notice the times the scenes converged among the narratives.

I also noticed that there was another intriguing level to the novel. The theme of religion, or belief, is laced throughout the stories. Billy Boichild brings with him some peculiar beliefs to Cold Beak from New Orleans that he keeps to himself (except in his emails to God and Sister Ann), there is a nefarious cult outside of Cold Beak that plays a role in the novel, and another main character is atheist.

The novel itself is classified as magical realism. Time goes nuts in Cold Beak, birds from all parts of the world show up in Minnesota, and the crows and dogs can talk, but their voices are only heard in the narration of the omniscient storyteller. It's made clear that the animals' abilities to speak only appeared after the flood in New Orleans, and that it was only a temporary ability.

I have never lived through a flood or other major disaster, nor have I had the kinds of losses that characters in this novel have endured. I imagine that one of the ways people get through profound losses is by using magical thinking, whether consciously or not. After the Floods illustrates this magical thinking in an enchanting story. It's a story to be read several times to uncover the layers.

The catastrophe known around the world simply as "Katrina" has inspired a number of novels since it destroyed New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast in August 2005. And novelists, because of their wonderful ability to create believable characters and subplots, probably have done as much to explain what it was really like in New Orleans after the storm as the rest of the media combined.

Now Bruce Henricksen's debut novel, "After the Floods," offers a much different, but no less perceptive, slant on what it is like to survive one of those life-changing events that none of us really expect to witness for ourselves. Henricksen's story, set on both ends of the Mississippi River (New Orleans and the fictional Cold Beak, Minnesota), is a magical one that includes talking dogs, talking crows, a little boy wise way beyond his years, a magical distortion of time itself, and a whole cast of eccentric characters doing quite well for themselves, thank you.

"After the Floods" begins in New Orleans some months after Katrina and immediately introduces the reader to two of its main characters, Ruby and George Corvus, a pair of crows that, like other of God's creatures, have suddenly been gifted with the power of speech. Things are not going very well in New Orleans, but Ruby and George are making the best of things as they observe the comings and goings below them.

Meanwhile, in Cold Beak, Minnesota, where a flood of its own did its best to destroy the little town, folks like Birdella May Borguson are getting on with their own lives. Birdie, a very large woman, decides that its time to lose weight and she convinces the owners of Cold Beak's fancy new supper club to let her perform as a stripper in the room adjacent to the dining area figuring that the exercise will burn lots of calories. Fully-functioning businesses appear on previously vacant lots almost overnight much to the fascination and delight of Cold Beak citizens. Birds by the thousand, some seldom if ever seen before in Cold Beak, descend on the town. And some from New Orleans find their way to Cold Beak, including my two favorite characters, Ruby and George.

"After the Floods" is magical realism at its best, telling its story through other eyes, through the eyes of those who live a different reality than the one we ourselves live. In our world, animals don't talk and buildings don't sprout from vacant lots. In Cold Beak, they do, and they are accepted as elements of the reality of life there.

Bruce Henricksen offers the reader a charming little world that offers hope to us all, hope that it is possible to recover from even the worst of disasters, that life goes on in new ways and in new combinations that might be as good, or even better, than what has been lost. This is not escapist fantasy; it is a serious novel cloaked in the very magic of life itself, a book with a positive message that will have you smiling much of the way.

What a treasure is this book !
I received this novel as part of the early review program at LibraryThing.com. My first impression was how beautiful the cover of the book was. I was then struck by the inscription. Mr. Henricksen took the time to check out where his book was going and then to sign my copy. What a nice surprise.
I started reading the book the same evening I received it.....I finished the novel about 24 hrs later. I was immediately drawn into the story. Mr Henrickesn has a wonderful way with the written world, the prose was, in places, beyond beautiful.
I've read the other reviews and the story line has been explained. For me, this is a hard story to pin down. Sometimes I felt like I was reading a beautiful fairy tale, sometimes the story was so profound as to leave me a bit breathless but always the author kept me involved with his characters.
As I read, it was always very evident that this story was in the hands of someone possessing a good sense of humor, a sense of wonder as to the world around us and a good dose of respect for the natural world. The combination led to hours of reading pleasure......I did not want to come to the end of this novel.
A beautiful book . I will recommend this to ALL three of my reading groups. This book almost begs for sharing and discussion.

I will be waiting for more from Bruce Henricksen. I realize this is a small press and the author was responsible for the publication of this novel......Thank Goodness, I say, that it is still possible to do this. I would not want to have missed his effort. To Mr. Henricksen I say, keep up the effort. Anyone reading After The Floods can not help but be touched by the story, the style and the message.
Thank you Bruce Henricksen !

Yes, the New Orleans Times-Picayune correctly labeled Bruce Henricksen's book: A spiritual comedy. The author's inventive mind, wit and understanding of human nature allowed me to suspend all belief and most gloriously travel from post Katrina New Orleans to Cold Beak, MN in this mythic tale. He wraps us around odd-ball characters and animals that make the reader laugh and cry. (I looked askance at my own dog quite often while reading.) The author's keen and worthwhile observations we absorb will stay with us and truly makes this a one-of-a-kind gift book.

The blurb on the rear cover describes this unusual novel as "magical realism -- southern style and northern style." Although I'm not too familiar with that genre (I'm mainly drawn to history, memoirs and realistic fiction), I ventured into After The Floods while I commuted to and from downtown Detroit everyday this past Winter/Spring. The weather was cold and dry, or cold and wet; the predominant color, grey; and the exterior of the bus always smeared with salt and dirt. The city was suffering economically and mired in a corruption scandal. Very real, and not very magical.

After The Floods was an escape in one sense, to places (New Orleans after the flood, and Cold Beak, Minnesota) where some animals mysteriously speak, where an obese Birdella May Borguson becomes a local hero as she strips at a local restaurant to lose weight, where time is sometimes suspended, and where a whole host of real and unusual people live, love and survive. I loved the characters, and believed in their world, as strange and irrational as it is often portrayed by Henricksen. In that sense, the book is a worthwhile escape. If that's what you look for in a novel, then go for it.

But in another sense, the book made me look around the bus, so to speak, and wonder about some of the strangers on the bus (who really aren't strangers, because I see most of them off and on all the time). And despite the struggles around, the book helped me to see the some of the magic. And I figure that maybe my time on the bus everyday is a real-life suspension of time.

After The Flood is interesting. And add to that, Henricksen's wonderful way with words and keen sense of observation, and you end up with a great read. Here's a small sampling of his prose: "Happiness never comes alone, it always drags a shadow."

"A voice told me that truth and meaning are wanderers, living here and there, sometimes in a church, sometimes in a book, a river, or a person. And as soon as you're sure you know where they are, they're gone and you have become a wanderer too."

"On warm evenings the ice rink at the recreational complex was a meeting place. Birdie, given her pregnancy and her inexperience with skates, stayed indoors sipping coffee, but many of the others I've told you about glided around the oval plane of ice under blue lights as music drifted from the speakers. Few things are more beautiful than snowflakes illuminated by lights beneath the vast darkness, snowflakes descending on children who duck and dodge among adults, forever losing and finding one another as they call 'Marco' and 'Polo.'"

I'm lucky enough to live in a place where I still get to skate at night "beneath the vast darkness" and experience a bit of Henricksen's magical realism right around me. The cicadas are hissing outside as I type, marking another seventeen year cycle of summers. I suspect that most readers will come away with similar connections to this story, and it will evoke long-set-aside memories. If this is magical realism, then I like it. It now has has a distinct place in my library.

An entertaining story about a little boy who, racing his mother and baby sister into the house, accidentally locks them outside. A page-turner for kids and moms. One very nice aspect of the story is the sense of community that Alfie's mother has with her neighbors: a crowd gathers in concern about helping her solve the problem, and when the door is open she invites everyone in for tea. This is unusual in our modern, insular lifestyle, and an excellent model for relating to our neighbors.

It takes a gift of storytelling to tell a story about the challenges of the three-to-five age in a way that is interesting and amusing for both children and adults. Hughes' illustrations are endearing in their detail, conveying warmth and delight, and all of the Alfie stories exemplify the security of a loving family.

Why, oh why do they let the best books go out of print?!
My kids loved this book when they were little--and I'd love to give it as a baby gift today....pity.

All the "Alfie" books are thoughtful, warm, well-written and well-illustrated. Shirley Hughes is a master at her craft.
If you can get this book, do so, and read it aloud to your child.
Alfie is the perfect toddler main character, with a normal toddler life. It's the book equivalent to "one camera" filming, rather than the usual 2-second sound bites (Mr. Rogers vs. Sesame St.)--a breath of fresh air.

In this book people move, think and feel at a "human" rate--perfect for a sleepy toddler who is following along as you read a bedtime story. The illustrations are detailed, but not ornate; every item has a purpose & you will see your child explore the drawings as you read. This is one of the best.

Shirley Hughes's books are incredible, and this one is our favorite. I have read this book to all 3 of my daughters and they all love it. They are now 19, 15, and 4. I grew up in England and have lived in the US for the last 35 years and Shirley Hughes's books bring back the feeling of being in England so well. Little ones can listen for hours to her stories!

When my son was born 13 years ago the hospital gave him this book. His first book. His favorite book until recently ( I think he is to cool to admit it now). It is evene in perfect condition. Hard to do with a toddler, young reader and now teenager. He still keeps it on his bookshelf and he tells his friends it was his first book.

Alfie Gets in Frist is about a boy who gets in first. He gets lonely and starts to cry. His sister was hungry and thirsty so she was crying to. I think it's funny, but it's not supposed to be. Here's why I think it's funny: it has this page and it's a funny page. It shows him cyring up a storm. I think it's funny because he has more tears than a regular cry.
I think people who like sort of funny books should read this. Also, people who like short books with some challenging words should read it.