literature

I had the pleasure of taking classes from Dr. Seamon and I have to say, I learned more about creative writing from her than I ever imagined I would. I thought I could write; I was wrong. I had the concepts but she really inspired me to dig deeper. In reading much of her works in progress, I was so excited to pick up a copy of Body Work, a fantastic read for women and men alike. I recommend this collection not only for pleasure reading, but also for those who teach short story writing courses. Enjoy the readings!

Body Work is an amazing compilation of a strong woman's short stories. It should be every woman's responsibility to pick up a copy of this book. Hollis really conveys the unsung strength of women everywhere. I have taken a course with Hollis, and she is a true woman, just as those she conveys in her work.

This collection of stories is nothing short of amazing. Seamon has a wonderful voice...feminine and powerful. In eloquent strokes she paints beautiful views into everyday lives. The women, born to these pages, are real and flawed...perfect because of their imperfections. We see the best and worst of ourselves reflected back as, however brief the encounter, we bond with the characters. The stories could not be more different from one another, thus offering a wonderful variety. However, there is a common thread which binds the book together nicely. We witness defining moments, large and small, in the lives of these various women. We see how day to day life presents us with a multitude of choices and we are privledged to see where simple decisions lead these characters. I thoroughly recommend buying this book.

I am the librarian at my church. I recently read this book to a group of children during their monthly visit to the library during children's church. They really enjoyed it! It's a book that generates a lot of questions, comments, and thoughts! What I personally like best about it is that it is suitable for all children,whether they go to church or not. It's non-denominational. It's suitable for Protestamts, Catholics, or Jews. The drawings are truly beautiful and realistically portray a young girl. I highly recommend this book for all church libraries, children's Sunday School classes, and homes.

For any parent wanting to introduce their child to God, it's hard to imagine a better way than this exquisitely-illustrated book. And though it may be written with children in mind, Can I Pray's simple, direct message resonates with many adults as well. A joy to read.

Can I Pray With My Eyes Open makes me cry every time I read it. It voices how I felt when I was a child, and sometimes how I still feel about God and prayer. It does not espouse any particular or specific faith, except for faith in God. So every person who wishes to teach their child about communicating with God on a personal level should have this book! And even if you don't have any children, it's a quick, easy, lovely reminder of your own prayers. (And the illustrations are superb, perfectly connecting with the text.)

A great selection of stories where Voltaire shows off his literary style and espouses his philosophy on different topics.
He is a great story teller and has a great sense of humour too.

In all my research for my comedy, "A Visit From Voltaire," (amazon.co.uk) this was the obvious first source, BUT I have to add that I only understood it best after knowing what role it played in the political mayhem of his life fighting "infame," and only after I knew more about his social/irreligious context, did I really "get" what he was doing in Candide in order to incorporate it into my fantasy of his 21st century return. I'd send light readers to "Voltaire in Love," and wannabe scholars to the Portable Voltaire and whatever basic biographic texts they can find--my shelf is full of out-of-print biographies and eventually I lived at the Musee Voltaire in Geneva to really befriend him--the result was a book and great happiness in knowing this brilliant, mercurial mind!
Dinah Lee Küng

In a list of my six favorite books for "The Week" magazine, I wrote: "Whenever all seems lost, I pick up this 1759 tale of eternally optimistic yet misfortune-prone Candide's efforts to reunite with his true love. His ability to persevere in the face of mind-numbing self-delusion is awesome."

A continuation of a very sweet story. I have a few stray cats around my home and even though my inside cats aren't as willing to share as Ginny (LOL), I make sure to feed them and give them shelter. I highly recommend this book and also the one that came before it! (Not sure of the exact title).

Just as I feel about their first book, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this one too! Let's hope these true stories inspire others so be so kind. Enjoy.

This book is my first introduction to Ginny, the canine cat rescuer! I will now have to read Ginny's first book, The Dog Who Rescues Cats. All I can say is amazing and remarkable! This book is a delight for anyone from 5 to 95! This book will leave you laughing and crying at the heartfelt stories told by Ginny's "dad", Philip Gonzalez. Gonzalez claims that Ginny is an angel sent by God and I could not agree more! Ginny's rescues are incredible and the bond she shares with ALL the cats that she rescues is just as incredible.

Ginny gave Gonzalez a new lease on life, as he did for her. He rescued her from a shelter and she taught him about love and living again. Along with their friend Sheliah, these three are tireless in their efforts to rescue, feed and provide medical attention to homeless cats in Long Island, NY.

Ginny is a "love mop" as described by the author and this story is an absolute delight! Ginny has also been described as "the Mother Teresa of the cat world."

The rescue stories are amazing and will sure to tug at your heartstrings! This book is a gem!

I ordered this book based on name recognition, the editor.

This book should be mandatory reading for all students of social studies.

Well witten, candid short stories.

Thank you to the contributors for their thoughts and experiences.

Thank you to the editor, for exposing and immortalize the words and thought of a nation.

Please order this book, find out for yourself. Trust me, once you start reading, you will not stop.

This book is an excellent compilation on various aspect of Haiti, Haitian/American Culuture.

The stories and poems touch on so many different aspects of life as a haitian from being haitian homosexual, to being a restavek, to interracial dating, to name a few of the topics touched on.

This book is a must-read for all HAITIANS and anyone interested in understanding the Haiti and her people.

I was excited when I heard that this book was coming out and did not miss the chance to buy it at publication. To say I was inspired when reading the book would have to be an understatement. I have always been proud to be Haitian but reading through the book heightened my pride incredibly. It is a fantastic collection of talented and gifted Haitian writers who speak to you at so many levels of what it feels like to be a Haitian either born and raised in Haiti or born and raised here in the states. I identified with many of them and marvelled at how humorous and deep our experiences range. The stories are funny, touching, educational and inspiring. I'm glad that there are so many Haitian people out there who are proud of where they come from and are helping the rest of us shout with pride as well. Thank you, Edwidge. You are an inspiration and a gifted person and I thank you for bringing this collection out into the public.

As editorial director of large children's book publisher, the Children's Writer's Word Book is an invaluable tool in preparing and editing manuscripts for K-6 readers. Easy-to-use, well-organized. Inconsistencies pop up from time to time -- but overall, a great reference to have on hand.

More than just a list of words and grades, this book actually tells you what publishers are looking for and why. It also gives examples of writing, explains how to introduce new words and foreign words and diffrent types of childrens writing.

I have used this book a great deal with good results.

The Children's Writer's Word Book is one of those littlereferences you wouldn't necessarily think you needed in yourcollection. However, once I opened this book, I knew I needed to place it in a very prized position on my reference shelf.

Not only are the graded word lists extremely helpful, but the short profile of each age group combined with the description of what publishers are looking for at each reading level makes for a powerful advantage when writing for children.

This book is a must-have if you are writing for children.

Is this one of Mann's best novels? No, it is not. But it is worth reading anyway. Thomas Mann is best known for novels that delve into an almost omphaloskeptic contemplation of Life, Humanity, Evil and Sin painted on the backdrop of the glorious lost Europe of the Nineteenth Century. As charming as Europe is today, what we see is a faint ghost of a graceful time that tried to hold all things, including class structure of society, under a crystal dome. Of course, this failed, and bloodily so, as is the case throughout history. But Mann tried to capture this sense of youth and grace lost in his novels from Buddenbrooks to The Magic Mountain.

In "The Black Swan" Mann uses a woman "of a certain age" as the symbol of lost youth and innocence. The main character struggles with menopause, the hormonal betrayal of women, and she reacts to the physical changes by falling in love with a younger man. This is a well-observed sketch of denial. With astounding insight, Mann has his character finally delude herself into believing she is pregnant--but the bloating is but the symptom of an inner decay. She is dying of ovarian cancer.

The perceptiveness of Mann about women, who suffer a loss of womanhood and fertility as a result of menopause is astounding. The worth of women to young men is for their beauty and fertility. What does a woman who cannot bear a family and who is aging and becoming ugly have to offer a youth? But this is not the only meaning in "The Black Swan." No, it is again a metaphor for the grace, innocence and beauty of old Europe. In the years following both World Wars, the once-graceful continent undergoes a sort of menopause after the violence of the changes brought by the vicious conflict. Europe is older, uglier and sadly, not much wiser.

It is Mann's final novella. It is a twist on the matter of deceitfulness. The greatest deceit is self-deceit. The story was inspired by an anecdote given to Mann by his wife Katia according to the forward by Carlos Baker.

The setting of the story is the 1920's. Rosalie is a widow and a Rhinelander. Her daughter Anna, nearly age 30, is her dearest companion. Her son Eduard, considerably younger than Anna, wants his mother to hire Ken Keaton, a young American, as his English teacher. His mother accedes to his wish. Rosalie is vivacious in Mr. Keaton's presence. She is beginning to lose her heart to him. Rosalie possesses self-knowledge, she is ashamed. Rosalie comes to rejoice in her torment. Her son and daughter see the situation and her son says to her he has learned a sufficient amount of English and the services of Mr. Keaton are no longer required.

During the social season Ken Keaton is seen in other people's houses. Rosalie confesses to Anna that she loves Ken Keaton. Anna points out he has little to inspire such passion and suffering. She characterizes her mother's enchantment as absurd. Rosalie is led to use restraint so that under no circumstances would young Eduard feel compelled to defend her honor.

She misreads her own physiological state. She has come to believe that her love has wrought a change in her middle-aged condition. Her death is swift. During the last hospitalization she remembers the black swan.

The formality of the language employed is notable. The descriptions of Rosalie's malady may be held to be excessively clinical.

Perhap's the Master's shortest and most unusual novella, here we see yet another side to this early 20th Century Genius. A study of a middle aged woman slightly deluded about her aging charms with a daughter who seems to sympathize, but really knows better. As usual, some great descriptions of nature, medieval castles, and philosophical discussions between the two. Mann's seeming obsession with the hidden decay of the body, and perhaps German culture and society, are crystal clear. The writing, even in English, is among his most mesmorizing. Really is there any doubt he is the GREATEST 20th Century Writer?!

I read this book about 5 years ago, and I have still thought about it. I don't think I fully understood what was going on. But now I have!! I liked this book and you shoutl read it if you find these reviews intresting.

This book deals with very real issues, but has kind of a surreal, fairy-tale-ish quality to it, probably because of the presence of a vagabond gypsy family on a black horse. You can just imagine them, riding away in the gray mists of morning...
The characters are well-developed and thought out, and the plot is intense, but thoughtful and moody.

I read this book many times and I loved it more every time! I think that everyone should read this book because it is really good!

Brazil's history, sociology, ethnicity, politics, etc. are as big and complex as the country size. To capture all these matters in a correct way in just one book is a task that's simply impossible. However, I feel that Errol Lincol Uys knew that, and what he has done in his book is to create a "big picture"of Brazil, and that was the right thing to do. His research and knowledge of the portuguese language are impressive for a non-brazilian, although there are many mistakes, in both aspects. When these mistakes were relative to the language, I found them completely normal, because portuguese is a very difficult and complexe language, even more difficult for someone who comes from a non-latin-speaking country. When the mistakes were relative to brazilian history and its further development, I was angry at first, but then I realised that Uys, as a foreigner, had access mostly to the "normal" and "adjusted" history of my country. Every country has its "adjusted" history, the history full of martyrs, dramatic situations, sword duels, fights for freedom, etc. That's the history that Uys tells his readers.

One other thing. As many authors dealing with the fictionalized history of a country, Uys makes a common mistake. He simply ignores the latest century. As a consequence, the book pratically ends at the turn of the twentieth century, and many interesting and important things have happened in Brazil in the XX century are left behind: Getulio Vargas, the transition from an agrarian to an industrialized country, the military dictatorship and many, many more. Of course, as I said before, it's impossible to completely cover an entire country's history in just one book, but "Brazil" could be two- or three-hundred pages longer and it would not be better or worse, just more complete.

So, in the end, "Brazil" is a good start for someone who is interested in the country. The book is mostly accurate and well researched, but it's just a gimpse of what Brasil really is.

Grade 8.3/10

To view a country and write as seen through their people is a difficult task. Errol Uys' re-release of Brazil is a blazing success. This book creates an image and feel for the country that truly leaves a concrete imprint in the mind of the reader. This well-researched book is a facinating epic for fans of historical fiction as well as lovers of non-fiction.

Having both lived in and travelled throughout Brazil in my youth, as well as having studied Portuguese and Brazilian History, Economics and Sociology in college, I consider myself to be a true "Brazil Nut". A while back, I reviewed a book on Amazon.com, Brazil, Five Centuries of Change, by Thomas Skidmore, which I gave accolades to, and I will applaud Uys' marvelous work Brazil for the same reason: it gives both the novice and the Brazil expert an excellent understanding for the complex history, culture and geography of this little known Latin American giant.

Wonderful and authentic, a great collection for any Sandburg devotee or any patriotic Chicagoan. I was a little disappointed with the actual quality of the book, binding and covers, but it is not an expensive edition and the collection is priceless. A must read!

In my reading of poetry I have developed a peculiar habit. In the Table Of Contents I pencil in an asterisk before the titles of poems that I especially enjoyed. I find that this helps me to quickly relocate special poems later when I want to re-read them. In my copy of Sandburg's "Chicago Poems" there are many asterisks. I think that one of the things that appeal to me about these particular series of poems is their "urbanity". As the title suggests, these are often poems about "city"... about the "cosmopolis". Sandburg had a way of animating concrete and asphalt, and making us aware of the inner life of things that millions of us urbanites walk past each day. In one of my favorites entitled "Skyscraper" he says "It is the men and women, boys and girls so poured in and out all day that give the building a soul of dreams and thoughts and memories." And it ends beautifully with "By night the skyscraper looms in the smoke and the stars and has a soul." It is as though if any of Sandburg's Chicago Poems were to just remain silent for a moment, we would hear the faint night-time "humming and thrumming" of "a copper wire slung in the air." (cf. his Under A Telephone Pole).

He writes with a solemnity that avoids being morose, which is refreshing. But take note... "you will be thwarted every time, you try to catch a Sandburg rhyme." (they never rhyme). As for metre, his poems are in a free-verse very much reminiscent of Walt Whitman. The perfect poetry to read while feeding the pigeons, or otherwise commuting to and from the park.

A few weeks after September 11 2001, I came across the poem "Skyscraper" by Sandburg by chance in a huge volume of American poetry. In the millions of lines written about that horrible day, I found his words from 70 years ago to be the most moving. Here are some lines from that poem:

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BY day the skyscraper looms in the smoke and sun and has a soul.
Prairie and valley, streets of the city, pour people into it and they mingle among its twenty floors and are poured out again back to the streets, prairies and valleys.
It is the men and women, boys and girls so poured in and out all day that give the building a soul of dreams and thoughts and memories...

Hour by hour the caissons reach down to the rock of the earth and hold the building to a turning planet.
Hour by hour the girders play as ribs and reach out and hold together the stone walls and floors....

Men who sunk the pilings and mixed the mortar are laid in graves where the wind whistles a wild song without words
And so are men who strung the wires and fixed the pipes and tubes and those who saw it rise floor by floor.
Souls of them all are here, even the hod carrier begging at back doors hundreds of miles away and the brick-layer who went to state's prison for shooting another man while drunk...

Ten-dollar-a-week stenographers take letters from corporation officers, lawyers, efficiency engineers, and tons of letters go bundled from the building to all ends of the earth.
Smiles and tears of each office girl go into the soul of the building just the same as the master-men who rule the building.

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I have never studied Sandburg, but it seems to me he shares that same love of humanity and fairness that Walt Whitman was so famous for, along with the ability to craft lines as amazing as "hold the building to a turning planet". His love of his modern city seems like a remnant from another age, but his absolute belief in class equality is as relevant as any 2001 street protest.