Amazon.com
Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).
Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane
Book Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER
National Book Critic's Circle Award Finalist
A New York Times Notable Book
One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, The Denver Post, The Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Times, New York, People, Rocky Mountain News, Time, The Village Voice, The Washington Post
The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Customer Reviews:
Great, stark novel.......2007-10-09
Yes, its setting is grim, but, overall, I found the book to be infused with a spirit of love and resilience. He does, however, use the word "gray" about 8,000 times, though. I forgive him.
Ignites a Hope.......2007-10-08
Some books wallow in despair. Others revel in false hope. "The Road" spends much of its time dealing with a dark past and future, yet ignites a hope that seems neither false nor forced. This is the mark of a writer at the heights of his genius. I read the story in one sitting.
Opening into a tableau of monumental destruction, yet kept believable and relatable through the eyes of two nameless characters--a devoted father and fearful son--this story follows their journey through the roads and byways of America. At one point, they see a sign that I've seen in my own travels, a sign for Rock City which is an actual location in Chattanooga, TN. While details are crisp and evocative, the book never nails down character names, story dates, locations, or even the method of global destruction. It jettisons standard punctuation, adding to the sparse feel. It focuses on the despair and hopelessness of society torn apart by the need for survival. Morals and ethics are eroding. Food and water are worth fighting for. Fellow humans are potential sustenance.
Father and son begin to change as the story moves along. One flirts with thoughts of ending his own life, preferring a definite end to an indefinite future. The other, a small frightened child, serves as the moral center--questioning the cannibalism, the thievery, and the growing apathy of those he observes. If you travel down "The Road," you'll be faced with haunting images and hardship, while also coming face to face with hope and resilience. McCarthy uses sparse storytelling to give us a rich tale of thought-provoking power, intentional but never pedantic.
Hope and beauty in the ashes?.......2007-10-07
Cormac McCarthy creates a nearly lifeless post-apocalyptic world of burnt ash and destruction, and amid the desolation, explores the beauty of a father-son relationship and the essence of what it means to be human. His book poses a couple of problems directed at the morality of this generation, which are more than troubling: the nature of man's relationship to nature, God, others . . . and how one can live through the hopelessness of desolation.
To be honest, the book became a bit tedious, but the author's goal is to lead the reader through continuous strife as the man and his boy sought life day after day. Ah, isn't that what life feels like sometimes? It's definitely not a feel good story, but nonetheless a vital one that carries much weight. I started feeling ashy by the end of this one.
All-in-all, a quick and interesting read, not without merit. I'm not going to say, read this, or you'll be sorry, but it's a great book that teaches much.
Thought Provoking.......2007-10-06
The best book I have read in along time. Perfectly written. Cormac is amazing! I will read this again in 20 years to see if humanity has moved in the right direction. Though I think that, like the author, justice in this world does not exist, and that evil and wrongdoing goes unpunished. It seems Cormac's other books also have this theme running through them. All his books are amazing reads. I particulary recommend The Crossing.
Incredible.........2007-10-06
The book took a little while to get started, and to get used to the author's writing style. After I got used it, it soon settled into a brilliant character study of a man and his son struggling to find hope against all odds. Gripping, intense, a masterpiece-any or all of them will work to describe this book.
Amazon.com
Best known for his Border Trilogy, hailed in the San Francisco Chronicle as "an American classic to stand with the finest literary achievements of the century," Cormac McCarthy has written ten rich and often brutal novels, including the bestselling No Country for Old Men, and The Road. Profoundly dark, told in spare, searing prose, The Road is a post-apocalyptic masterpiece, one of the best books we've read this year, but in case you need a second (and expert) opinion, we asked Dennis Lehane, author of equally rich, occasionally bleak and brutal novels, to read it and give us his take. Read his glowing review below. --Daphne Durham
Guest Reviewer: Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, master of the hard-boiled thriller, generated a cult following with his series about private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, wowed readers with the intense and gut-wrenching Mystic River, blew fans all away with the mind-bending Shutter Island, and switches gears with Coronado, his new collection of gritty short stories (and one play).
Cormac McCarthy sets his new novel, The Road, in a post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, a world in which all matter of wildlife is extinct, starvation is not only prevalent but nearly all-encompassing, and marauding bands of cannibals roam the environment with pieces of human flesh stuck between their teeth. If this sounds oppressive and dispiriting, it is. McCarthy may have just set to paper the definitive vision of the world after nuclear war, and in this recent age of relentless saber-rattling by the global powers, it's not much of a leap to feel his vision could be not far off the mark nor, sadly, right around the corner. Stealing across this horrific (and that's the only word for it) landscape are an unnamed man and his emaciated son, a boy probably around the age of ten. It is the love the father feels for his son, a love as deep and acute as his grief, that could surprise readers of McCarthy's previous work. McCarthy's Gnostic impressions of mankind have left very little place for love. In fact that greatest love affair in any of his novels, I would argue, occurs between the Billy Parham and the wolf in The Crossing. But here the love of a desperate father for his sickly son transcends all else. McCarthy has always written about the battle between light and darkness; the darkness usually comprises 99.9% of the world, while any illumination is the weak shaft thrown by a penlight running low on batteries. In The Road, those batteries are almost out--the entire world is, quite literally, dying--so the final affirmation of hope in the novel's closing pages is all the more shocking and maybe all the more enduring as the boy takes all of his father's (and McCarthy's) rage at the hopeless folly of man and lays it down, lifting up, in its place, the oddest of all things: faith. --Dennis Lehane
Book Description
A searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy’s masterpiece.
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don’t know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food—and each other.
The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, “each the other’s world entire,” are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.
Customer Reviews:
A little too much.......2007-09-19
His writing style didn't bother me. I could accommodate the lack of usual punctuation quickly. His jerky narrative ... no problem. It even enhanced the experience a bit. The conversations weren't bad either. How would YOU pass the time in a post-apocalyptic landscape?
However ... I think he could have achieved what he did achieve in about 85 to 100 pages.
Just my opinion.
A must read!!!!.......2007-09-09
What can you say about an author that can say sooo much by not having to spell it all out for us. There isnt any clear explaination for the reason things are the way they are, yet its allows you to just experience their journey with them instead of throught the view point of the narrarator. I love his style. Its genius. When you finsh with at resounding "WOW"; that pretty much sums up your time spent. McCarthy is an artist among authors in American Litature.
WOW.......2007-09-06
McCarthy has often been a bit inaccessible, especially when his western stories mix spanish with english in the most descriptive scenes. The Road is blatantly clear, a short insightful trip into darkness. Brilliantly moody, with only peeks at decent life. It can't get this bad, thank God.
Exceptionally long with repetitive sequences...........2007-08-24
I found ths book well written from the standpoint that you are instantly swept away into McCarthy's futuristic world. It is absolutely wonderful in the description of a world gone mad.
My problem with the book is it never fully explains why they are going cross country and places that would have made sense (the abandoned fall out shelter full of food) are abandoned in this mind numbing attempt to get to a coast that is no different from the hell they have left behind.
Sad & poignant, worth the read, just not a great book for me.
The Road.......2007-08-13
This book really make you think about the way of the world. Totally different perspective than Stephen King's "The Stand".
Average customer rating:
- For new baby
- Good all-around baby book
- Don't Like the Message
- Family favorite
- Wonderful - this really is a very good book
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Guess How Much I Love You
Sam McBratney
Manufacturer: Candlewick
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ASIN: 076360013X
Release Date: 1996-03-06 |
Amazon.com
All children want reassurance that their parents' love runs wide and deep. In Guess How Much I Love You, a young rabbit named Little Nutbrown Hare thinks he's found a way to measure the boundaries of love. In a heartwarming twist on the "I-can-do-anything-you-can-do-better" theme, Little Nutbrown Hare goes through a series of declarations regarding the breadth of his love for Big Nutbrown Hare. But even when his feelings stretch as long as his arms, or as high as his hops, Little Nutbrown Hare is fondly one-upped by the elder rabbit's more expansive love.
Anita Jeram's illustrations are bound to elicit an "aw" from even the sternest of readers; these loving rabbits are expressive, endearing, and never cloying. In turn, Sam McBratney tells a simple bedtime story of sweet familial love with humor, insight, and a delightful surprise at the end. Children and parents will love snuggling up for this one--a treat to be read again and again, just before the lights are turned out. (Click to see a sample spread. Text © 1994 by Sam McBratney. Illustrations © 1994 by Anita Jeram. Permission from Candlewick Press.) (Ages 4 to 8)
Book Description
The American Booksellers Book of the Year nominee is available as a sturdy board book for the youngest of children. Little Nutbrown Hare wants to show Big Nutbrown Hare how very much he loves him - but love as big as his is very hard to measure!
Customer Reviews:
For new baby.......2007-09-22
The first time I heard of this book was in my childbirth class. I loved it so much I had to buy it. I'm hoping it will become one of my baby's favorite books.
Good all-around baby book.......2007-09-19
I bought this baby book based on the reviews and the fact that Guess How Much I Love You is one of my favorite children's books. The book does a nice job of asking enough questions to make a complete record for your baby without being overly burdensome. Some of the other books I looked at seriously asked what the weather was on the day you found out your were pregnant. Seriously, who would care about that? This baby book also gives great suggestions for a few pictures which is helpful--like the place to put a picture of you pregnant. I am very pleased.
Don't Like the Message.......2007-09-15
I know many people love this book. I don't know why. We received one as a gift, and after reading it to my daughter, I was disturbed by the story. I felt sorry for the bunny whose parent invalidated his expression of love on each page. As many other reviewers said, it was a competition the adult wouldn't let the child win. This book contains a mean-spirited, misguided, sad, and disturbing message.
Family favorite.......2007-08-01
"Guess how much I love you" is a classic. The story is a simple dialog between a big rabbit (the parent) and a little rabbit (the baby), each professing and comparing the depth & "height" of their love for each other. We read this book almost every day to our infant daughter. She loves the watercolor illustrations & coos at the pictures. A lovely addition to a kid' book collection.
Wonderful - this really is a very good book.......2007-07-24
This is a fabulous book for little children and the grownups who read to them. When children are read to daily, they learn to love reading. Perfect bedtime stories, to calm everyone down and make us ready for sweet dreams. If you can find the LARGE size book get it- they're fabulous keepsakes. Perfect gifts for any child, and a perfect tradition in your own home and family!
Average customer rating:
- Emotionally flat; too many odd conincidences; arcane vocablulary
- Wonderful
- Coal Black Horse
- Unusual Civil War Saga
- Moving anti-war tale very well told.
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Coal Black Horse
Robert Olmstead
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1565125215 |
Amazon.com
The Civil War has provided the backdrop for several authors in recent years: Michael Shaara, Robert Hicks, E.L. Doctorow, Howard Bahr, and Charles Frazier, to name a few. Robert Olmstead can take his place among the best of them with this stirring tale of a 14-year-old boy's loss of innocence as he follows the horrors of war.
The boy is Robey Childs, sent by his mother to bring his father home from the War. She has "the sight," and when she "sees" that General Thomas Jackson is dead, she tells Robey "Thomas Jackson has been killed... There's no sense in this continuing... This was a mistake a long time before we knew it, but a mistake nonetheless. Go and find your father and bring him back to his home." She sews a coat for him that is blue on one side and gray on the other, tells him to trust no one and sends him off.
He is ill-prepared for all that will happen to him. When his horse pulls up lame, he walks her to the blacksmith, but she is unfit for the task ahead. The blacksmith offers Robey a horse on loan until his task is completed. "It was coal black, stood sixteen hands, and it was clear to see the animal suffered no lack of self possession." Indeed, the horse is more fit to do his job than is Robey. Olmstead creates an iconic horse, but never anthrpomorphizes or romanticizes the relationship between boy and horse. When they are separated, Robey is truly at sea. When they are together, they move as one.
Robey encounters every kind of evil, venality, cruelty, squalor, and depravity imaginable. He is hardened beyond his years by what he sees. There is a battle scene as horrific as any ever written, graphic and frightening. "There were enough limbs and organs, heads and hands, ribs and feet to stitch together body after body and were only in need of thread and needle and a celestial seamstress." Robey is changed forever, but never dehumanized. Olmstead leaves the reader in no doubt about the unconscionable ravages of war; he also shows us the redemption that such suffering can bring. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
When Robey Childs's mother has a premonition about her husband, a soldier fighting in the Civil War, she does the unthinkable: she instructs her only child to find his father on the battlefield and bring him home.
At fourteen, wearing the coat his mother sewed to ensure his safety—blue on one side, gray on the other—Robey thinks he is off on a great adventure. But not far from home, his horse falters and he realizes the enormity of his task. It takes the gift of a powerful and noble coal black horse to show him how to undertake the most important journey of his life: with boldnesss, bravery, and self-possession.
Yet even that horse is no match for the brutality and senselessness of war, no surrogate for the courage Robey needs to summon in its face. It's in the center of that landscape, as witness to the lawlessness and carnage around him, that he is forced to raise a gun for the first time in his life. When he returns to his mother, Robey Childs will be the best a man can be, and the worst, irrevocably scarred by all he has seen—and all he has done.
When Robert Olmstead published his debut,
River Dogs, he was compared to Richard Ford, Raymond Carver, Thomas McGuane. Since that time, Olmstead has received high praise for all of his work. But it's this book that is destined to become a classic.
Coal Black Horse joins the pantheon of great war novels—
All Quiet on the Western Front, The Red Badge of Courage, The Naked and the Dead.
Customer Reviews:
Emotionally flat; too many odd conincidences; arcane vocablulary.......2007-09-25
I had never read a novel by this author and came away disappointed. He seems to enjoy using arcane words ("cobby horse" for "stout horse" being a good example) that are not necessary to move the story along. I could understand this if it were in dialog, but the usage is typically not.
The writing struck me as emotionally flat, full of too hard to believe coincidences- finding his father on the Gettysburg battlefield (which is quite large), having two antagonists show up, separately no less, at his mothers wilderness farm- are three examples.
Finally, to be picky, he has a major plot flaw regarding the aftermath of the battle- as Robey arrived at Gettysburg after the battle he surely would have encountered the Confederate Army in full retreat on its way south to the Potomac River.
In summary, I felt I wasted my time reading this novel, and won't embark on any more by Olmstead.
Wonderful.......2007-09-03
Shoot, I wait 10 years for Olmstead to publish another book and it was over in a day. I will be reading it again and again though. His command of the language is so brilliant and his storytelling, enchanting. If you are not aquainted with this author, go back to the Amazon search and buy everything.
Coal Black Horse.......2007-07-14
I love this book. It's been a long time since I've read anything that's hard to put down.
Unusual Civil War Saga.......2007-06-27
I am halfway through "Coal Black Horse" and enjoying the excellent writing. The story is engrossing and reminds me somewhat of the style of Cormac McCarthy, who us my favorite author.
Definitely worth the read.
Moving anti-war tale very well told........2007-06-25
During the Civil War, 14-year-old Robey Childs is ordered by his mother to go and find his father and bring him home - she has had a foreboding and wants no more to do with this war. Robey's odyssey, on the back of the titular horse, is fascinating and beautifully told, ultimately heartbreaking. Robey's education on the road and on the battlefield of Gettysburg is painfully delineated, but so very revealing about human nature. The book can be graphic and unsentimental about violence, but it's the violence done to Robey's soul that most resonates. Quite good as a bildungsroman as well as an anti-war statement.
Average customer rating:
- Read under the author's name. . .
- How..... Zen.
- Quality without six sigma
- Like it
- Thought provoking!
|
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values
Robert M. Pirsig
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
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ASIN: 0060589469
Release Date: 2006-04-25 |
Amazon.com
Arguably one of the most profoundly important essays ever written on the nature and significance of "quality" and definitely a necessary anodyne to the consequences of a modern world pathologically obsessed with quantity. Although set as a story of a cross-country trip on a motorcycle by a father and son, it is more nearly a journey through 2,000 years of Western philosophy. For some people, this has been a truly life-changing book.
Book Description
One of the most important and influential books written in the past half-century, Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a powerful, moving, and penetrating examination of how we live . . . and a breathtaking meditation on how to live better. Here is the book that transformed a generation: an unforgettable narration of a summer motorcycle trip across America's Northwest, undertaken by a father and his young son. A story of love and fear -- of growth, discovery, and acceptance -- that becomes a profound personal and philosophical odyssey into life's fundamental questions, this uniquely exhilarating modern classic is both touching and transcendent, resonant with the myriad confusions of existence . . . and the small, essential triumphs that propel us forward.
Customer Reviews:
Read under the author's name. . . .......2007-09-24
I had heard of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig long before I read it. But when someone compared some of my emails on Postfix mail servers to this book, I had to read it. I am glad I did.
The one mistake people make with this book is thinking it has to deal with zen and motorcycle maintenance. It has little to do with either, but under the author's name, in the sub title, the truth is exposed.
Pirsig's work is not some giant philosophical leap forward. In fact, there are many earlier works that cover the same material as Pirsig's with far more detail and accuracy! But where they fail to make things digestible to a layman, Pirsig succeeds.
That is perhaps the one bad thing in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." He has made some mistaken quotes by simple mis-remembering, and hands them out as accurate information. But even this is not terrible when you look at the overall goal of the book, to inspire people to examine quality in their lives.
I think that this book should be required reading in every high school. There is a lot in there that people coming of age need to learn, and so rarely do. The allegorical examination of quality through the tools of Zen and Motorcycles is very wonderfully written. And with a teacher to correct the few misquotes, even the down side can be eliminated.
Now while I feel that Pirsig's viewpoint is somewhat polarized, I do not find that hinders the learning process or enjoyment involved in reading this book.
So please, read this book, even if you are interested in philosophy, zen, motorcycles, or quality. You may be surprised about the other parts of your life that it touches on.
How..... Zen........2007-09-01
This is one of those books I always thought I should read and when I finally got around to it I was blown away. I am reminded of catcher in the rye and one... cuckoos nest. This book was not what I expected. It is not about motorcycles or philosophy, it is about people. The story is skillfully woven between these elements. This is not a book you read once. This is not a book though, to escape from thinking. If that's what you need try Matthew Riley.
Quality without six sigma.......2007-08-24
I have probably purchased over 25 copies if Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for friends, family and customers. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM) is about finding quality through "being the job" instead of 25 pages of process documentation for a 55 second operation.
Implied in this is identifying yourself with the job and finding satisfaction in a job well done. Being the job.
Like it.......2007-07-28
I love it that I can find used books at a great price, fair shipping price, plus they show up in a timely manner in wonderful shape! Thanks!
Thought provoking!.......2007-07-26
The book is based on true accounts experienced by the author. The book doesn't really talk about Zen, but is more based on Western Philosophy. The author writes, "What follows is based on actual occurrences. Although much has been changed for rhetorical purposes, it must be regarded in its essence as fact. However, it should in no way be associated with that great body of factual information relating to orthodox Zen Buddhist practice. It's not very factual on motorcycles, either."
The book is about the author's cross-country motorcycle trip with his 8 year old son Chris, which leads to a journey of self-discovery. It is an examination of the spiritual relationship between a parent and a child, and man's search for reason. During this journey, the author teaches us about life and the human condition in a profound and thought-provoking way. It is a terrific book about philosophy and life, albeit a difficult read. After reading this book, you might reevaluate the way you live, go on a personal quest for the meaning of life, and be interested in reading more books on philosophy. In my case, the book made me want to read more about Kant and Hume, and review some of the books I read before on Plato and Aristotle.
Some of the deep philosophical questions and conundrums raised by the author are:
(a) Before Newton discovered The Law of Gravity, was there gravity? Did gravity exist before Newton or is it the thought of Gravity that suddenly manifested the Law of Gravity? Is it the thought of something that suddenly creates it?
(b) The Arabs and Indians used the `zero' before the Romans and Greeks. Why did the Greeks not invent the zero? How did their societies function for so long without the zero? Could it have continued without the discovery of `zero'? Was the `zero' always there regardless of whether it was discovered or not?
(c) All arguments, solutions, and scientific `truths' have already been invented. We simply discover the best solution.
(d) How do we define the "present" when everything we're conscious of has already happened, and is already a part of the past?
(e) Which self is the real you?
(f) What is good and what is bad? The book opens with the following quote:
"And what is good, Phaedrus,
and what is not good--
Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"
(g) "Astronomers would be telling mankind that if he looked long enough through a telescope powerful enough, what he would see is the back of his own head."
(h) In life there is no grade, no pass or fail.
(i) "Any intellectually conceived object is always in the past and therefore unreal. Reality is always the moment of vision before the intellectualization takes place. There is no other reality."
(j) "Religion wasn't invented by man. Man was invented by religion." [No idea who invented women, hihihihihi]
(k) How can something can be exclusively "material," when our reality is exclusively spiritual
(l) We should remain open to the part of the world that is beyond appearances, beyond the so-called matter, and cannot be experienced but only imagined.
(m) How do you deal with technology and remain sane?
(n) Man searches for something that he can't quite define, identify or reach.
Plato and Aristotle, the author argues, conceived a system of thought in which beauty is severed from functionality. Functionality became less attractive to us than beauty. Plato and Aristotle, according to the author, committed a murderous act by this system of thought that is still carried out till today. "Quality" has thus been victimized.
The author went insane as a graduate student as he searched for the answer to "what is quality?", and spent considerable time at the asylum. He was subjected to shock treatments that wiped out his personality and most of his memory. He later realized that he was not really insane, but thought in a different level than most people.
Pirsig sees the problems in our world as the result of an overemphasis on beauty, when functionality is more essential. One reviewer puts it nicely, "...pure `function' has problems of its own. For example, our bodily organs carry out the function of allowing us to live, but one doesn't really desire for our skin to be translucent so we can watch these functions. In fact, we would have a revulsion to such a thing. Therefore, we have a combination of both "form" [beauty] and "function"; our organs work very well without our having to see them. This is the desirable state. This desirable state is called `Quality'."
However, `Quality' is indefinable. It comes before thought, and before actions. Any attempt at describing it is useless, because as soon as you attempt to, you are only talking about one aspect of it.
This is one of those books that you either both understand and enjoy or you don't. It is really all about timing, your past experiences and knowledge, and your reasons for reading this book in the first place. If you don't understand it put it down and wait until the time is right. Don't throw it away!
Read this book slowly if you really want to understand it. If you like to read thought provoking and intellectually challenging books, you will love it!
To close, one reviewer wrote, "Many of the negative reviews are from people who had a preconceived notion of what this book was before they read it (either from the title or from a recommendation) and were upset that it didn't meet their expectations. It seems to me that these folks have received their Zen lesson..."
Customer Reviews:
You just don't get it.......2007-09-11
I read all the bad reviews and this is my answer to them. Why should I care about these characters? Because these characters are you and all the people in your boring insignificant life, why should we care about you?
Why is the book so long? Why is life so long? Because it is...
The essential lesson that I felt Steibeck was trying to hit home through all his meandering is that life essentially is everything, it is right, wrong, predetermined, self determined, selfish and selfless. Everything has reason and absolutely no reason at all. It makes no sense but its your job as a human to be a good person and try to go beyond the circumstances that life presents you. The only destiny you have is the one you make and he couldn't just say that because that's not how people learn. People learn by doing messed up and evil things or great good things and that's just it. Steinbeck is explaining the purpose of life in this book, maybe you should give it another go.
East of Eden.......2007-09-02
Simply put, this book is a masterpiece and is my all-time favorite book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
A Joy to Read.......2007-08-28
I have never felt the need to review a book before, but I just finished reading East of Eden for the second time. I read quickly, but this time I read slowly and savored every page. As a long-time resident of Monterey County, I am touched by the poetic descriptions of places locals take for granted. The Salinas River which runs underground in summer made a dry river bed into a lyrical image that I have never lost. The beauty of the conversations between Samuel Hamilton and Lee, the sadness of the anecdotal stories that claim only a page or two, and the history of the area combine with the larger story seamlessly. Steinbeck didn't just write -- he conjured full-blown images that stay with me long after I put the book down.
"greatest book ever".......2007-08-23
I actually bought this for my wife. She reads every night before going to sleep and according to her this is the best book she has ever read. She commented on the writing as being very desciptive and making her feel like she was there. "A very satifying read"
Steinbeck Rocks.......2007-08-04
I just finished this book a week ago! What an amazing story as told by an amazing author.
I tend not to provide a synopsis of the book in my reviews and I will continue that trend in this review. I will say that East of Eden is basically a grand morality play using the Biblical Story of Cain and Abel as its backdrop.
As in Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck throws in chapters that are very omniscient in scope, some might even say Biblical in tone. It is in one of these chapters that Steinbeck basically asks the reader to make a choice between good and evil in his or her life. I had to stop reading at that point and just think for a little while....that is the sign of a great author at the top of his game!
Highly recommended!!!
Amazon.com
The Monk and the Philosopher is a collection of father-son dialogues between Jean-François Revel, a French philosopher and journalist famous for his leadership in protests of both Christianity and Communism, and Matthieu Ricard, his son, who gave up a promising career as a scientist to become a Buddhist monk in the Himalayas. The conversations recorded in this book took place during 10 days at an inn in Katmandu. The range of their subjects is immense: What is Buddhism? Why does it have such appeal to many in the West? Why do Buddhists believe in reincarnation? What are the differences between Buddhist and Christian monastic life? How do science and individualism make authentic Buddhist practice difficult for Westerners to achieve? Despite the simplicity of many of these questions, Revel and Ricard never give simplistic answers. Their discussions are rich without being dense, and, even more notably, they take every question very personally. The result is a book perfectly suited as an introduction to the elements of Buddhist religion (with a good bit of Tibetan history thrown in) that is also an excellent description of what it has been like for one man (Ricard) to practice Buddhist faith. However, as Ricard wisely notes at the end of this book, "No dialogue, however enlightening it might be, could ever be a substitute for the silence of personal experience, so indispensable for an understanding of how things really are." The greatest strength of The Monk and the Philosopher may be its power to return readers to careful attention to the way we pass our days. --Michael Joseph Gross
Book Description
Jean Francois-Revel, a pillar of French intellectual life in our time, became world famous for his challenges to both Communism and Christianity. Twenty-seven years ago, his son, Matthieu Ricard, gave up a promising career as a scientist to study Tibetan Buddhism -- not as a detached observer but by immersing himself in its practice under the guidance of its greatest living masters.
Meeting in an inn overlooking Katmandu, these two profoundly thoughtful men explored the questions that have occupied humankind throughout its history. Does life have meaning? What is consciousness? Is man free? What is the value of scientific and material progress? Why is there suffering, war, and hatred? Their conversation is not merely abstract: they ask each other questions about ethics, rights, and responsibilities, about knowledge and belief, and they discuss frankly the differences in the way each has tried to make sense of his life.
Utterly absorbing, inspiring, and accessible, this remarkable dialogue engages East with West, ideas with life, and science with the humanities, providing wisdom on how to enrich the way we live our lives.
Customer Reviews:
Meaningful & Intellectually Provocative.......2007-09-02
The dialogue between Revel & Ricard are meaningful & intellectually provocative. Their open, critical & coherent discussion not merely enabled me to learn more about meaning of life, thru the lenses of both Western philosophy & Eastern Buddism, but also guided me to see things in a more lucid perspective. I look forward to exploring, learning, & experiencing more about the path to enlightenment introduced by Ricard.
Wonderful conversation on religion and philosophy.......2006-10-21
This is a father son conversation on religion and philosophy. It is a wonderful and enlightening look at Buddhism and rationality. What an extraordinary opportunity to explore the juxtaposition between a father and his rational philosophical beliefs and his son having grown up a westerner in a rational family and moving to the spiritual realm of Buddhism. His western lens is very helpful to understand this body of belief.
A must read if you are interested in a conversation that leads to understanding and learning that bridges the rational and the spiritual.
Fantastic.......2006-06-03
I really enjoyed this book at various levels. First of all, as an intellectual exchange of views between father and son, both of whom are obviously very knowledgeable in their fields of expertise. Most of the conversations between them took place in Nepal, and some in northern France. Secondly, I enjoyed it as a means to elucidate some points of Buddhist epistemology and metaphysics. Matthieu did a very good job as a spokesperson for Tibetan Buddhism. Thirdly, I enjoyed it because of what it made me aware of: views like those of Revel, an atheist and skeptical philosopher who stands in the ethical traditions of both Epicureism and Stoicism, are not enough to satisfy my spirit's quest for a comprehensive and organic view of life, since they are issued from a merely philosophical and scientist perspective.
Every time Matthieu made a good point, Revel's reply would be like : "Oh, this idea too was known in the Western philosophical tradition...So and so said the same thing..." It may well be true, but all of these views are part of the Buddhist organic, comprehensive tradition, the chief aim of which is to attain liberation from the illusion of the self, or enlightenment. Clearly Revel prefers a syncretistic approach to a straight forward, comprehensive one, like the Buddhist or the Christian paths.
This was obviously a conversation, not a debate, in which Matthieu would have won hands down. There are many unfavorable reference to Christianity, which makes me wonder if either one, especially Revel, has ever studied the Christian theological tradition.
Intelligent and insightful.......2005-08-05
As some others have said, I have dipped my toes into Buddhism here and there and can say quite frankly that this is the first book that I thought really helped me to understand and visualize this religion/living system without getting too abstract immediately, or without being over simplified and childish. I truly felt that the dialogue challenged my understanding of Buddhism yet helped me get my grounding so that I can begin a deeper and wiser exploration. The usage of metaphoric and poetic language on the part of Matthiew was helpful for me to begin visualizing the ideals of Buddhism, and having Jacques play devil's advocate ensured that it was a healthy and balanced discussion that I truly got caught up in. It's an insightful conversation that makes you feel you are almost the third at the table and I look forward to revisiting this discussion often.
Not really a dialog; more of an introduction to Buddhism.......2005-04-30
As many reviewers have explained, this book is the transcript of a long series of discussions between French philosopher Jean-Francois Revel and his son Matthieu Ricard, a Tibetan Buddhist monk.
The majority of the book consists in Mattieu Ricard explaining basic principles of Tibetan Buddhism, and his father asking questions. They spend a lot of time clearing away basic misconceptions. In reading this book I felt that Revel could have answered nearly all the questions he put to his son by simply reading a few introductions to Tibetan Buddhism.
When I bought the book, it was under the belief that they would be having a two-way dialog, discussing issues from their different perspectives. That is not at all what happens, and this book really works best as an introduction to Buddhism. If you are new to Tibetan Buddhism and you are interested in learning a lot about it, this is a very good introduction, because Revel is not a Buddhist and asks a lot of the kinds of questions Westerners will inevitably ask of Buddhism. It succeeds well on its own modest terms.
Amazon.com
Edward Boyd's agnosticism rested "not ... too much on any positive position ... but rather on a host of negative ones" about Christianity. In an attempt to address these negative issues, his son Greg, a professor of theology, asked his father, a strong-willed, highly intelligent, and stubborn 70-year-old, to enter into a correspondence in which "all of their cards would be laid on the table." Greg would give his father the opportunity to raise all his objections to the veracity of Christianity, and Greg would "answer these objections as well as give positive grounds for holding to the Christian faith."
Three years and more than 30 letters later, Letters from a Skeptic was published and Edward Boyd came to accept Christ. During his journey, he and his son hash through such topics as why the world is so full of suffering; why an all-powerful God needs prayer; how you can believe in someone who rose from the dead; and how another man's death can pardon others. Despite their brutal honesty, both men exhibit respect and love toward one another as they address these volatile subjects. In Edward's second response to Greg, he boldly says, "Well, your distinction between the 'Christian Church' and 'Christians' is interesting and novel, but frankly, I don't buy it." Greg responds, saying, "I've got to admit that you are raising some extremely good points in your letters. You are raising the most difficult questions a theist can face." --Jill Heatherly
Book Description
A son and his skeptical father debate issues such as suffering, Biblical inspiration, and whether or not all non-Christians go to hell. This book will help the reader to wrestle with the rational foundation of his or her own faith.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful, authentic, insightful father-son conversation.......2007-09-25
All individuals of faith are at times either skeptical or apologetic for their faith beliefs. So, we can identify with both the skeptical father in his forceful, honest questioning and the remarkably insightful son in his clear, loving explanation of Christian faith. My MIT education and my seminary education both prepared me to appreciate the mystery and complexity of finite living in an infinite reality. Surprised at the unexpected depth of thought in this book, I enjoyed it from beginning to end---and purchased 3 copies for my sons! Highly recommended. You might also want to check out Greg Boyd's website and download (free) his fantastic and very timely sermon series The Cross and the Sword!
you may need to re-read this one.......2007-07-27
I really enjoyed this book, mostly as a glimpse into one person's faith journey. I did find some of the apologetics and theology a bit over my head and I would need to re-read this book several times to gather all that Boyd is saying. This would be a great book to use in a discussion forum at church.
The book covers a series of letters written between Boyd the son (who is a pastor at a church) and his father (the skeptic). The letters deal with many of the hard questions that make Christianity unbelievable to some people.
Besides providing arguments for Christianity, this is a story of one man's journey into a life of faith. The tribute at the conclusion was very moving.
I personally found C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity easier to understand, but they are both excellent books.
Great book for mature believer or skeptic.......2007-05-14
This book addresses questions that most people have about God and Christianity. It contains a series of letters written between an unbelieving dad, and his believing son. You find yourself saying about the dad's questions, "I can understand why he asked that". But the responses by the son are quiet effective and thought provoking.
I have given away over 20 copies of this book. It also lends itself to group study. I highly recomment it.
Definitely Worth Reading.......2007-04-11
I read excerpts from this book during our WHY> campaign at church. My pastor had this book and loaned it to me. I was so impressed that I had to not only buy a copy for me, but for a couple of friends who have very skeptical family members. Growing up in a Christian home, there were things I just always believed and never questioned, so it was difficult answering questions from skeptics. Greg Boyd answered his father's heartfelt questions with honest and Biblical answers in a way that was easy to understand. Now I feel more confident to answer those tough questions, too.
A wonderful book.......2007-04-11
This book is a wonderful blessing in my life. It has set turned my world upside down (actually right side up) and provided a spark to my Christian life. I have been so moved by this book that my life has taken on new meaning and direction. God has used this book to change a life forever.
Book Description
What does it mean to be a man? Moreover, how does a father instill these qualities in his son? Using as an example the process by which a boy moved through the medieval stages of knighthood, author Robert Lewis identifies parallel stages for today’s fathers to create ceremonies to commemorate significant milestones in a young man’s journey toward becoming a modern-day knight. Beginning with a biblical perspective of manhood, author-pastor Robert Lewis shares a unique approach to shaping a boy into a man by equipping him with three essential elements: a vision, a code of conduct, and a cause (Christianity) in which to invest his life. Complete with ceremony ideas to celebrate accomplishments and ingrain them in his mind, this softcover is as insightful as it is practical in raising a boy to be a chivalrous, godly man.
Customer Reviews:
An Awesome Must Read for Fathers with Sons.......2007-09-06
My husband does not take the time to read much since he reads so much at work, but when he started this book he could not put it down. It was very encouraging, insightful and is a must read for fathers with sons !!!!!
Exceptional book.......2007-05-13
I highly recommend this book. It's unique, creative, insightful, and provides numerous excellent tools for dads to use with their sons. It's the best of its kind that I've read ~ have sent copies to my three sons-in-law. Am also recommending it to all the dads in my church.
Rev. John P. Splinter, Ph.D.
Raising A Modern-Day Knight.......2007-03-31
Important information for every dad that wants to raise a son according to biblical principals. A must read book to move beyond good intentions and give what every son needs--love, affirmation, vision, direction and a father's blessing.
A book every father should have!.......2007-02-09
I picked up Raising a Modern Day Knight while attending a recent Family Life marriage conference. I'm sure there isn't a dad out there that doesn't want to raise his kids properly, and especially his son. I have a five year old and know that right now, I am his hero, his best friend, the best guy in the world. I don't want to squander his admiration and unconditional love. I want to know how I can raise my son so he will be a strong man. This book attempts to answer that question. This is a Focus on the Family book and broaches the subject of parenting from a Christian point of view. It's also a very short book and can probably be read in a couple of hours. In its brevity, you aren't going to get a lot of content, but what you do get is good stuff.
Author Robert Lewis equates raising a son to the process of raising a young man to be a knight back in the dark ages. At times, the analogy is cumbersome, but the book still offers a lot of good points. Also, the book is filled with tons of scriptural references, which at times caused my eyes to glaze over. I feel the scripture references needed to be backed by more examples or antecdotes. This book is primarly about teaching your older kid how to be a man, and how to do it through ceremonies. The book doesn't include much discussion on how kids think and act, so don't expect that in here. This book is probably for men with kids approaching puberty and older, because it focuses a lot on guiding your young boys into manhood through memorable ceromonies.
Lewis men need to teach their boys how to be men by providing a strong example in Jesus, living right in their own lives, guiding them through memorable ceremonies and surrounding them with a community of men. The ceremonies are a big focus of the book, and although the author says he provides a lot of examples of different types of ceremonies, they really are all the same. You may not want to give your son a family crest at his college graduation, but the book does stress the importance of ceremonies for your children Some of the most power ful segments of the book are when fathers mention they failed their sons, or when sons said their dads weren't there for them.
Every father should read this book and every father should understand that the role of a father is the most important job they will ever have.
What is a man?.......2006-08-10
That is the key question for men born and raised under the infuence of a society burdened by political correctness and absent fathers. The most disturbing askers of this question are young males themselves, who are receiveing so many inputs from so many unreliable sources. Robert Lewis has not only answered the question for himself and his sons, but provides a model based on the most noble parts of the mideval concept of knighthood. His answers are compelling, soundly based in Christianity, and illustrated with many "how to" methods that have worked for him and others. While the book is targeted at fathers with juvenile sons, it has meaning for all of us.
Amazon.com
Listening to the author William Pollack read Real Boys, it doesn't take long to find out that being a boy these days isn't all fun and games. As codirector of the Center for Men at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical Center, Pollack has seen behind the stoic masks of troubled, modern boys as they struggle to cope with the mixed messages, conflicting expectations, and increasingly complex demands they receive from our evolving society. "New research shows that boys are faring less well ... that many boys have remarkably fragile self-esteem, and that the rates of both depression and suicide in boys are frighteningly on the rise."
What are parents to do? They could start by listening to the author's thoughts on contemporary child-rearing techniques, analysis of the root causes of many male behavior problems, and recommendations for avoiding all-too-common pitfalls. In Real Boys, Pollack draws upon nearly two decades of research to support his theories and makes an impressive assault on the popular myths surrounding the conventional definition of masculinity.
While listening to Real Boys, it is important to remember that Pollack is a psychologist, not a professional narrator. His enunciation is less than perfect and his reading sometimes strikes a clinical tone, but his intelligent writing and the obvious concern he holds for this important subject help carry a passionate message and compensate for any vocal shortcomings. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --George Laney
Book Description
Featuring a new preface by the author on how parents can make a difference.With author appearances on Good Morning America, The Today Show, 20 /20 and NPR's Fresh Air, and featuring articles in Newsweek, Time, and The New York Times, Real Boys is one of the most talked-about and influential books published this year.Based on William Pollack's groundbreaking research at Harvard Medical School over two decades, Real Boys explores why many boys are sad, lonely, and confused although they may appear tough, cheerful, and confident. Pollack challenges conventional expectations about manhood and masculinity that encourage parents to treat boys as little men, raising them through a toughening process that drives their true emotions underground. Only when we understand what boys are really like, says Pollack, can we help them develop more self-confidence and the emotional savvy they need to deal with issues such as depression, love and sexuality, drugs and alcohol, divorce, and violence.
Customer Reviews:
Not Just About Boys.......2007-08-20
As the sister of six brothers and the mother of two boys, I found myself agreeing with the author on many fronts.
What the author calls "The Boy Code" is what Steven Covey would probably call using efficiency rather than effectiveness as a goal in raising males. The problem is that efficiency leaves the boy with a limited arsenal when it comes to understanding and taking responsibility for his own emotional life. It certainly leaves the boy with limited resources when it comes to understanding or helping others who are wrestling with problems in their own inner life. The lie of "The Boy Code" is that recognizing one's own "negative" emotions is a self-indulgence that simply makes a person weak, a weakness that is permissible in famales, but not in males. Nothing could be further from the truth.
We don't do our boys any favors by teaching them to ignore their own emotions. We also do them a disservice if we let the expectations learned from females dictate what kind of emotional life we expect of males. I know men who live by what this book is espousing. They aren't "wimps", as some reviewers have implied that boys raised in this way will be. They are adults who understand their own emotions well enough to not be unknowingly ruled by them. They know when they are angry, they can admit when they feel fear, and they know how to choose to act under those circumstances, rather than simply reacting, which is what people who refuse to acknowledge their own inner life tend to do. They are certainly not men who expect themselves to experience emotion in the same way as their wives or other women in their lives do, nor do they feel some authority to dictate emotional taboos to other men. They process their emotions in their own ways, they let others do the same, and they don't apologize for it.
I wouldn't, however, limit the observations in this book to boys. There are women and girls who, for whatever reason, have learned to live by what the author calls "The Boy Code." There are men who don't process their emotions as this book implies that men raised in earlier decades will. For that reason, I would caution that the reader not presume after reading this book that he or she now "understands men." The book gives tools for understanding others and helping them to understand themselves, and points out some ineffective but "efficient" ways that people often use in dealing with strong emotion. Knowing these common human patterns isn't a substitute for paying attention to the actions and emotional style of the person you're actually dealing with.
The reviewers who complain that the book takes a great many pages to repeat the same story over and over have a point. A reader who does not want or need so many examples to get the author's point won't lose much by simply skimming the book after the first 100-200 pages or so.
Author wants boys to be "nurtured" to be wimps and sissies !.......2007-08-12
In a nutshell,(which is where this book belongs), the "author" wants boys to be wimps and sissies. The fact that a major New York publisher would print such nonsense pretty well proves that Communism is not dead, but like a snake has simply changed it's skin; AKA Social Marxism. Had William S. Pollack been around in 1776, his advise to Patrick Henry would no doubt have been to "let it all out" and cry about it, and counselling for the depression.
The fact that you can buy this book for a mear penny pretty much says it all.
Few people who have actually owned and read the book feel any need to keep it on their bookshelves. Mine is now going in the trash. As an antdote to this nonsense, I recomend "THE WAR AGAINST BOYS" by Christina Sommers, also sold bt Amazon.
this book is boring.......2007-06-20
It took so much effort to get through this book, and I'm not even sure why I read the whole thing--I must have been really bored. If you want to read a book full of stories about wealthy teenage boys who can't decide which ivy league school to attend written by a man who clearly thinks academic achievement is the single most important thing in life, this is the book for you. And most of the stories sound fictional; maybe that's just because Pollack isn't a talented writer.
I gained nothing from this book and I want my money back.
Great balanced account with concrete and practical suggestions.......2006-12-08
William Pollack certainly has impressive credentials with respect to writing on this topic. This is apparent from the editorial reviews above. More importantly, he is a good writer who brings the inner life of boys and the challenges they face in our society to life. He provides both an inside view and a worthwhile outside perspective.
One of the repeating themes in the books is that we have contradictory expectations of men (boys) in our contemporary society. For example, on one level we expect men to be strong, tough, etc. At the same time, there is also a tacit expectation that contemporary men embrace the "New Age" ideal of being tender and vulnerable. Dr. Pollack points out that this causes many men to feel conflicted and often reduces them to painful silence and often isolation.
While Dr. Pollack covers the inside life of boys, he also does an admirable job of citing relevant statistics on how boys performance is slipping academically and other useful objective sociological data. He covers this issue from every angle and goes beyond diagnosing the problems to making concrete suggestions for parents, schools and society at large.
This book is a valuable addition to the literature on boys and the challenges they face. It is definitely a must own book for anyone who is raising a boy along with "Parenting from the Inside Out" by Daniel Siegel which is great for any parent.
find another book .......2006-08-05
Makes many accurate observations about boy behavior and its origins,however,the book leans a little too much toward "feminization" of boys in preventing behavioral problems.This may be the politically-correct way to help boys,but not the productive way or the ethical way.
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- The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo: A Novel
- The Swiss Family Robinson (Unabridged Classics)
- The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
- The Tale of Genji: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
- The Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction (Bantam Classics)
- The Unvanquished
- The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About
- The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
- The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
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- The Art of Fair Isle Knitting: History, Technique, Color & Patterns
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- New Perspectives on Microsoft Office Project 2003, Introductory
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Middlesex: A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
Water for Elephants: A Novel
The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography (Oprah's Book Club)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
