Average customer rating:
- A good historic fiction read
- Powerful
- One of the best books I've ever read
- A different view.
- Spartan Ethos Alive Again
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Gates of Fire
Steven Pressfield
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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300
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The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece
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Thermopylae: The Battle for the West
ASIN: 0385492510
Release Date: 1998-10-20 |
Amazon.com
Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, that here obedient to their laws we lie.
Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defense--and eventual extinction--unbearably suspenseful.
In the tradition of Mary Renault, this historical novel unfolds in flashback. Xeo, the sole Spartan survivor of Thermopylae, has been captured by the Persians, and Xerxes himself presses his young captive to reveal how his tiny cohort kept more than 100,000 Persians at bay for a week. Xeo, however, begins at the beginning, when his childhood home in northern Greece was overrun and he escaped to Sparta. There he is drafted into the elite Spartan guard and rigorously schooled in the art of war--an education brutal enough to destroy half the students, but (oddly enough) not without humor: "The more miserable the conditions, the more convulsing the jokes became, or at least that's how it seems," Xeo recalls. His companions in arms are Alexandros, a gentle boy who turns out to be the most courageous of all, and Rooster, an angry, half-Messenian youth.
Pressfield's descriptions of war are breathtaking in their immediacy. They are also meticulously assembled out of physical detail and crisp, uncluttered metaphor:
The forerank of the enemy collapsed immediately as the first shock hit it; the body-length shields seemed to implode rearward, their anchoring spikes rooted slinging from the earth like tent pins in a gale. The forerank archers were literally bowled off their feet, their wall-like shields caving in upon them like fortress redoubts under the assault of the ram.... The valor of the individual Medes was beyond question, but their light hacking blades were harmless as toys; against the massed wall of Spartan armor, they might as well have been defending themselves with reeds or fennel stalks.
Alas, even this human barrier was bound to collapse, as we knew all along it would. "War is work, not mystery," Xeo laments. But Pressfield's epic seems to make the opposite argument: courage on this scale is not merely inspiring but ultimately mysterious. --Marianne Painter
Book Description
Thousands of years ago, Herodotus and Plutarch immortalized Spartan society in their histories; but today, little is left of the ancient city or the social structure of this momentous culture. One of the few antiquarian marks of the civilization that has survived lies scores of miles away from Sparta, at a narrow Greek mountain pass called Thermopylae.
It was there that three hundred of Sparta's finest warriors held back the invading millions of the Persian empire and valiantly gave their lives in the selfless service of democracy and freedom. A simple engraved stone marks their burial ground.
Inspired by this stone and intrigued by the lore of Sparta, author Steven Pressfield has brilliantly combined scholarship with storytelling. Narrated by the sole survivor of the epic battle--a squire in the Spartan heavy infantry--Gates of Fire is a mesmerizing depiction of one man's indoctrination into the Spartan way of life and death, and of the legendary men and women who gave the culture an immortal gravity.
Culminating in the electrifying and horrifying epic battle, Gates of Fire weaves history, mystery, and heartbreaking romance into a literary page-turner that brings the Homeric tradition into the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
A good historic fiction read.......2007-10-09
If you enjoy this time era and especially The Spartans, you will not go wrong with this book.
Powerful.......2007-10-01
I don't read much fiction, but a friend of mine bought this book for me. I read it and was impressed by how well written this historical fiction is. Anyone interested in warfare, modern or ancient, should look into this book. Pressfield gives such an authentic account of how Spartans would have acted on a day-to-day basis.
One of the best books I've ever read.......2007-09-25
This book is absolutely amazing. One of the best reads ever. Not only does it describe the battle but it also details the life of a Spartan. I wish 300 was based on the story presented here
A different view........2007-09-21
The story of the 300 is generally limited in scope. "The Spartans had 300 guys who fought to the death to keep the Persians out."
Pressfield gives us the background. He tells us about the politics, the geopolitics, the war, the characters such as Leonidas and his wife. He has vignettes in the words of Spartan warriors.
With Pressfield, we can see the stand of the 300 in its place. I was reminded of something the aviator/writer Wolfgang Langweische said half a century ago. Boulder Dam, he said, is enormous. But when you fly over it, it's in its proper place, like a child jamming a pebble in the narrowest part of a trickle of water. Which, when you think about it, is what is supposed to happen.
Circumstances conspired to put 300 Spartans and several hundred of their tough allies in a tiny mountain pass. They were the pebble, but instead of blocking a trickle, they were trying to hold back a torrent.
Pressfield has Leonidas say that the performance of the Spartans in killing Persians should be such that, although victorious, the Persians will quail at seeing a battle line containing not 300 Spartan shields, but six thousand.
Pressfield gives us glimpses of training new soldiers and the field work of the experienced soldiers. His characters refer to the more or less normal fights between the city states, with enough detail and immediacy to put the reader into the fight.
We learn a lot about classical Greek combat.
It's a fabulous story. The stand of the 300 was very likely one of the few battles which could be said to have preserved the West, matched with Tours and Lepanto.
And yet. And yet. Pressfield has the Spartans nearly as philosopher kings. See, instead, Hanson's "Soul of Battle". The Spartan society was a vicious, fascist slave empire. It was as if a couple of Waffen SS divisions had found themselves a big, fertile valley in the Ukraine someplace and missed the end of WW II, being left untouched and unknown by the outside world.
The demands of war and the bonding of the combat units, in addition to the classical Greek view of man-love, required the distortion of the family and the degradation of women. The necessity of keeping the helots in thrall required routine terror and, indeed, the young Spartan was used to execute those serfs whose deaths might be a salutary lesson, just in case, as a way of blooding the youth for combat.
Vlad the Impaler fought the Turks in Southeast Europe and to him, unfortunately, we owe a bit of our existence. The same is true for the Spartans. It's too bad we couldn't get this lesson of courage and honor from, say, the democracy of Athens. It appears that some of the doomed allies of the Spartans who stood with them, and died alike, came from somewhat more acceptable polities. But they didn't get the ink.
Nevertheless, it's a fascinating book which actually is one of those examples of the cliche about not being able to put it down.
Spartan Ethos Alive Again.......2007-09-17
This is one of the best historical fictions I have ever encountered--certainly one of the best evocations of ancient warfare. Without the benefit of personal experience of either subject, ancient warfare or warfare of any kind, I would also guess that this novel is one of the most insightful anaylses of the psychology of combat. This book is an impressive achievement of the imagination. Steven Pressfield has re-discovered or re-created the Spartan ethos in terms of what it surely was in its time--a spiritual force. And he does it without disguising it origins in a slave revolt and a deliberate policy to crush the resistance of its Helot population. From those ugly and life-denying origins, a way of life--an ethic of sorts and a vision of essentials--emerged and took on a life of its own. Appropriately, this novel is about personal transformations under the aegis of that way of life.
Book Description
In 480 BC, a huge Persian army, led by the inimitable King Xerxes, entered the mountain pass of Thermopylae as it marched on Greece, intending to conquer the land with little difficulty. But the Greeks—led by King Leonidas and a small army of Spartans—took the battle to the Persians at Thermopylae, and halted their advance—almost.
It is one of history's most acclaimed battles, one of civilization's greatest last stands. And in Thermopylae, renowned classical historian Paul Cartledge looks anew this history-altering moment and, most impressively, shows how its repercussions have bearing on us even today. The invasion of Europe by Xerxes and his army redefined culture, kingdom, and class. The valiant efforts of a few thousand Greek warriors, facing a huge onrushing Persian army at the narrow pass at Thermopylae, changed the way generations to come would think about combat, courage, and death.
The battle of Thermopylae was at its broadest a clash of civilizations; one that momentously helped shape the identity of classical Greece and hence the nature of our own cultural heritage.
Customer Reviews:
Thorough in most things, lacking in others........2007-09-03
The author goes to great lenghts to accurately depict the events leading up to the battle of Thermopylae,as well as a detailed look into the spartan way of life and the overal state of the Greek civilization as well as that of the Persian Empire. A detailed look at the immediate and long term consequences of the said battle is also depicted to great extent, leading up all the way to comparisons to past and current western vs eastern conflicts.
What baffles me, very dissapointingly is the lack of content concerning the actual battle of Thermopylae itself, a mere 11 pages cover chapter 7 (the battle) I was expecting a little more on that subject. Perhaps more detailed info on the naval battle of artemisium would have been nice, (although perhaps not directly related to sparta, I find it an important piece of the battle of Thermopylae)
Although throughout the book, one will find added bits of information of the battle, I still wish more was devoted to the actual accounts of the battle, I understand that perhaps very little about is actually known to separate facts from fiction, I'll just have to look elsewhere and hope to find a literarly piece that depicts what I was hoping to learn about.
The author's extensive research is remarkable and his efforts are certainly notewhorthy, I consider it still a must read if one wishes to find out the intricacies of that time period and the way of the spartan society.
Theromopylae Review.......2007-08-19
While I thought this book was very good, with authentic, true detail, I felt the author's writing style was just a bit challenging to follow. I read the book twice, back to back, and missed some details the first time.
While I don't give it four stars, it is good enough to be someone's first purchase in beginning to learn about ancient Greek battles.
Wonderful in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. .......2007-08-10
The former reviewers imagine that you can write a book on a three-battle day in some more than 340 pages (Spanish edition). If that is indeed the case, they'd better read a novel on the topic. No source, now and ever, will tell you the feelings of Demaratus, Megistias, and all the actors of this epopeia during the three day battle.
Homer did that in the Trojan war, due to the very nature of the conflict. Aristocratic, one vs one combats, in an age six centuries earlier than the Thermopylae battle, with a quite different concept of war.
Some others tend to ignore the fact that a war is a business of a state and its allies against another one and its allies. Politics cannot be ruled out of a war, because, as "someone" put it, war is politics, by other means, as politics is war, by other means. In essence they cannot be divided.
Others suggest that he is making a direct comparision between Thermopylae and the 9/11 hijackers' suicidal massacre of innocent people. Having read the book, from the beginning to the end, I don't see where, when Paul Cartledge states in no uncertain terms his awesome aversion for such acts as 9/11 and related massacres.
Finally, many fail to see what the intent of this book is all about. That if we're to defeat terrorism in all its faces, we must show, at least, no lesser degree of 'assabiya (Wikipedia: Asabiyya) than that of our foes. And that playing to division and partisan games we are risking all the civilization we've created.
The number of times he recall Simonides quotation, should make us see that we have our laws, voted by all, and that we have elements to develop such 'assabiya.
If only for this message, I would award this book 10 stars. Being only able to award five, I award five, with honours.
look elsewhere.......2007-08-02
I agree with many reviewers who stated that this book is mostly a long and painful description leading up to the battle and seeingly a fly by with just a few words about the actual battle. The writing is terse and reminds me of my least favorite courses in college. Please consider purchasing:
The Battle of Salamis: The Naval Encounter That Saved Greece -- and Western Civilization by Barry Strauss. I learned a lot more about Thermopylae with Strauss' book plus a TON about the naval counterpart. Extremely well written and engaging. It was hard to put Strauss' book down.
Not a good book.......2007-07-10
Carteledge seemed more impressed with his knowledge of the events leading up to the battle than the battle itself. The book should have been named differently. His connections with the Greeks and the 9/11 terrorist floored me - not to mention his interjection of modern "Bush bashing" and even a dig at this website.
I wish I had not purchased this book.
Customer Reviews:
Delicious food from a fascinating culture.......2007-10-06
This book is an enthralling combination of recipes, culture and history. It is more than merely a cookbook. It offers a glimpse into the vibrant culture of this fascinating part of the world. The recipes are diverse and well-categorized. Though not every dish is photographed, the pictures are gorgeous, with traditional displays. Delightful!
A must have.......2007-08-04
As a Persian who loves to cook (and eat), I enjoyed this book so much. I have been a fan of cooking and consuming Persian delicacies my whole life, whether in the US or Iran. Batmanglij provides authentic recipes that are not too complex for the novice in a Persian kitchen. Her descriptions of Persian customs and their deep and intricate meanings are very helpful and insightful for those wishing to broaden their knowledge of a fascinating culture. I especially enjoyed her wedding description, because it is still done that way! The pictures are really a work of art; anyone who has ate Persian food knows presentation is everything and the layout Batmanglij displays is simply breathtaking. What I loved most about this book is that it is a great conversation starter! I discovered dishes I have never heard of and wound up asking my relatives in Iran about them. I have used this book not only for cooking, but referenced it for research papers, and given it to many people as gifts. If you buy this book, it will be the only book you need in your kitchen to create a true Persian feast. Noosh e Joon!
Brilliant book on how to make the best food in the world !.......2007-03-10
This book is well written, recipes are well documented, and easy to cater for and follow. This cuisine is indeed timeconsuming but ever so rewarding, results are always VERY impressive ! Lots and lots of compliments to the chef, which, of course translate to compliments to the authors of this amzingly useful, practical, informative and also beautiful book.
Having tasted it a few times at a friends' place, I decided that this must be the best and most beautiful cuisine in the world. Since I have no Iranian roots or relationships the cultural references and poetry are a nice addition. And now, I can also add that there is intense pleasure in taking lots of time for the preparation of these gorgeous dishes.
A visual treat.......2007-02-06
This book is visually stunning....and the recipes produce delicious dishes. Any serious cook must have a copy.
This is my favorite of all Cookbooks.......2007-01-11
I love this book. After using it for two years I bought one for each of my sisters, and for a few friends. Everyone loves it. The food is always healthy, the flavors are distinct and the recipes are very easy to follow. Nush-e-jan! -liese
Amazon.com
Hafiz, a secret Sufi, came to prominence in his day as a writer of love poems. That love transformed into an all-consuming passion for union with the divine. In The Gift, Daniel Ladinsky bestows on us the impassioned yet whimsical strains of Hafiz's ecstasy. Never forced or awkward, Ladinsky's Hafiz whispers in your ear and pounds in your chest, naming God in a hundred metaphors.
I once asked a bird,
"How is it that you fly in this gravity
Of darkness?"
She responded,
"Love lifts
Me."
Like Fitzgerald's version of Khayyam's Rubaiyat, the language of The Gift strikes a contemporary chord, resonating in the reader's mind and then in the heart. Ladinsky's language is plain, fresh, playful--dancing with an expert cadence that invites and surprises. If it is true, as Hafiz says, that a poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, reading Ladinsky's Hafiz is like gulping down the sun. --Brian Bruya
Book Description
An extraordinary new translation of the world-renowned mystic poet Hafiz.
More than any other Persian poet--even Rumi--Hafiz expanded the mystical, healing dimensions of poetry. Because his poems were often ecstatic love songs from God to his beloved world, many have called Hafiz the "Invisible Tongue." Indeed, Daniel Ladinsky, the accomplished translator of this volume, has said that his work with Hafiz is an attempt to do the impossible: to translate Light into words--to make the Luminous Resonance of God tangible to our finite senses.
With this stunning collection of 250 of Hafiz's most intimate poems, Ladinsky has succeeded brilliantly in translating the essence of one of Islam's greatest poetic and religious voices. Each line of The Gift imparts the wonderful qualities of this master Sufi poet and spiritual teacher: encouragement, an audacious love that touches lives, profound knowledge, generosity, and a sweet, playful genius unparalleled in world literature.
Customer Reviews:
Inspired Translations.......2007-08-08
These poems are inspiring in the truest sense of the word. Reading each poem/prayer is liking breathing deep on fresh sweet air of wonder and delight. The vital energy of each short meditation doesn't fail to touch the people around me--even those who do not like poetry. I've given away several copies of this book, and so far everyone has responded with absolute joy.
A gift.......2007-08-02
I bought a copy of this book and could not find other copies locally so I ordered 5 copies from Amazon. I gave them to friends. Every page is special to all. Open this book anywhere and start. His words touch the soul. If you like Rumi, buy this you will not be disapointed.
The Christ's Breath is Here.......2007-07-30
Hafiz (c.1320-1389) sometimes spelled Hafez, says in this book,
"I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through--listen to this music."
What an extraordinary claim that is, that my heart feels is true--for the wonder and magnificent gift of any great poet is to somehow touch our souls with God's hand--with divine music.
The Gift has been considered one of the best-selling spiritual poetry books in the English language for nearly a decade now. It's showing all the signs of becoming a lasting, well-deserved classic. In these brilliant, deeply tender, witty and full-hearted renderings, Ladinsky releases the true spirit of this most beloved Persian poet and spiritual teacher and makes him fully accessible to our times.
Hafiz has influenced and nourished many writers, poets and scholars through the centuries, including Nietzsche, Byron, Hugo, Lorca, Goethe and Emerson. If you're interested in knowing more about some of these eminent poets own words about translation/renderings, please read on, below, following some of these shorter gems from The Gift.....
The Sun Never Says
Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens
with a love like that,
it lights the whole sky.
The Scent of Light
Like a great starving beast
my body is quivering,
fixed on the scent of Light.
You're It
God, disguised as a myriad things
and playing a game of tag,
has kissed you and said
"You're it --- I mean you're Really IT!
Now it does not matter
what you believe or feel,
for something wonderful,
major-league wonderful,
is someday going to happen.
And an excerpt from, I Have Learned So Much
I have learned so much from God
that I can no longer call myself a Christian,
a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.
The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me
that I can no longer ...
For those interested in the conversation that goes back and forth about the legitimacy of renderings and translations of Hafiz, this may be helpful information:
Professor R. A. Nicholson's scholarly work with Hafiz in the late 1800's and later, that of Professor A.J. Arberry, have long been considered the gold standard of Hafiz's literal translations in to the English language. In a 1948 review of Arberry's translations, Harvard Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Eric Schroeder, praises his work and agrees with Arberry about the difficulty of presenting this greatest Persian poet to English speaking minds. "For Hafiz' beautiful verbal surface is too complex to retain the felicity of poetry when fully rendered into English. The acoustic structure of English equivalents, it is superfluous to say, could never echo the flawless music of the Persian words." Schroeder's review states too, "The only service of translation is to make the foreign poet a poet of one's own country."
Goethe translated Hafiz and said of him..."Hafiz had no peer!" Of the task of translating, Goethe says, "I revere the rhythm as well as the rhyme, by which poetry first becomes poetry; but that which is really, deeply and fundamentally effective--what is really permanent and furthering--is what remains of the poet when he is translated into prose... I therefore consider prose translations more advantageous than poetical ones... Those critical translations that vie with the original seem really to be only for the private delectation of the learned."
Emerson too rendered Hafiz, about whom he stated, "He fears nothing. He sees too far; he sees throughout; such is the only man I wish to see and be." Emerson's translations were both free renderings and translations all made from German sources, for he did not read or speak Persian with any fluency.
Contemporary poet/translator Kenneth Rexroth states, "The writer who can project himself into the exultation of another learns more than the craft of words, he learns the stuff of poetry. It is not just his prosody he keeps alert, it is his heart." One can't find a more alert and exultant heart for our modern world, than Hafiz in the pen of Ladinsky.
I find Mr. Farhad Bahrami's five star review here (May 8, 2002) edifying. Bahrami, who says he reads Hafiz in Persian "all the time", calls Ladinsky's The Gift, "The Best Hafez `translation' ".
If you're drawn to know more, by all means read scholars' translations. If you want to dive in to the complex beauty of the Persian language, go there. But if you want immediate holy refreshment and the encouragement and joy of Hafiz's perfect heart, take The Gift -- or one of Ladinsky's two other Hafiz works, I Heard God Laughing and The Subject Tonight Is Love -- home with you!
These are NOT TRANSLATIONS OF HAFIZ........2007-06-30
This book was my first introduction to Hafiz. The poems in this book are all very beautiful. However, anyone picking it up, and anyone who is interested in Hafiz, should know that these are contemporary poems and are not genuine Hafiz poems. They are NOT translations of Hafiz poems. Ladinsky's poems are the ones most people in the West are likely to associate with the name Hafiz, and I guess that's good for Ladinsky, but many people have been upset by what he is doing. I encourage people to read the actual works of Hafiz.
delightful and enlightening..........2007-05-16
Whether you are a seeker of spiritual insights, or of great love poems, or both, this book belongs on your nightstand. Hafiz' poems are radiant with his delightful understanding of God and Love, and Ladinsky's translation of them is brilliant, rendering them as accessible and poignantly zany as e.e. cummings. It's wonderful for reading to someone you love (including yourself.)
Average customer rating:
- Calculations are only as good as your numbers
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History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Anatoly Fomenko
Manufacturer: Mithec
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They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies
ASIN: 2913621058 |
Book Description
Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.
Customer Reviews:
Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03
Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.
Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19
Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.
Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09
There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.
For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.
Very Interesting.......2007-03-07
It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.
History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10
Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.
I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.
Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.
Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.
I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.
This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.
Average customer rating:
- Economy of language, never of Spirit.
- the essential rumi
- the "best" Rumi book?
- Excellent..... read why.....
- Rumi, sigh of wonder...
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Essential Rumi
Jalal al-Din Rumi
Manufacturer: HarperOne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems
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Rumi: The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing
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The Love Poems of Rumi
ASIN: 0062509594 |
Amazon.com
No translator could do greater justice to the gorgeous simplicity of Rumi's poetry than Coleman Barks has done here. These exquisite renderings of the 13th-century Persian mystic's words into American free verse capture all the "inner searching, the delicacy, and simple groundedness" that characterize Rumi's poetry while remaining faithful to the images, tone, and spiritual message of the originals. Barks's introductions to each of the 27 sections (described as "playful palimpsests spread over Rumi's imagination," and "meant to confuse scholars who would divide Rumi's poetry into the accepted categories") are themselves wonderful achievements of a poetic imagination; searching explanations of unfamiliar concepts and funny stories provide colorful background and frame the selections as no dry historical exegesis could.
While Barks's stamp on this collection is clear, it in no way interferes with the poems themselves; Rumi's voice leaps off these pages with an ecstatic energy that leaves readers breathless. There are poems of love, rage, sadness, pleading, and longing; passionate outbursts about the torture of longing for his beloved and the sweet pleasure that comes from their union; amusing stories of sexual exploits or human weakness; and quiet truths about the beauty and variety of human emotion. More than anything, Rumi makes plain the unbridled joy that comes from living life fully, urging us always to put aside our fears and take the risk to do so. As he says: "The way of love is not / a subtle argument. / The door there is devastation. / Birds make great sky-circles / of their freedom. / How do they learn it? / They fall, and falling, / they're given wings." --Uma Kukathas
Book Description
The best–selling Rumi book ever is now better than ever! This revised and expanded edition of the comprehensive one–volume edition of America's most popular poet includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks, and 57 new poems never published before.
The ecstatic, spiritual poetry of Rumi is more popular than ever, and The Essential Rumi continues to be far and away the top–selling title of all Rumi books. With the addition of many new poems and a new introduction, The Essential Rumi is now clearly the definitive, and most delightful selection of Rumi's poetry.
Customer Reviews:
Economy of language, never of Spirit. .......2007-10-04
"Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
in the pomegranate flowers.
If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter."
With amazing economy of words and with a deep understanding of his art, the luminary Persian poet, jurist, and theologian Jalal Rumi takes us on a profound and deeply moving journey into the mind of the spirit.
the essential rumi.......2007-07-30
Coleman Barks crafts scintillating translations of Rumi's ecstatic, poetic prayers. Speaking directly to the modern heart across centuries, Rumi captures the most poignant and mystical ways we seek to commune with a vast and unknowable creator who is at the same time an intimate companion, a friend. Wonderful prayers, poetry and parables bring Rumi's world to life, and enliven this life, injecting joyful surprise into the eternal mysteries.
the "best" Rumi book?.......2007-07-13
As a lover of Rumi with many friends similarly smitten with him, I hear many opinions about which Rumi book is "the best". One criticism of this Barks translation is that it is a translation of a translation, not direct from the original Persian; but a Persian friend maintains that the feeling Barks gives is the truest to the original that my Persian friend has found. For me, this is the best because of that feeling, and also because of the breadth and depth - including the sheer number - of poems translated. For me Rumi is more teacher than entertainer; and for a practical, day to day study of his work, I know no better book than this.
Excellent..... read why............2007-06-09
This book is an excellent translation of Rumi. However, it is NOT, nor can it ever be a perfect reflection of the original text. It is quite impossible to capture all the internal rhyming, layers of esoteric meaning and connotations of the original language no matter who the translator is. I believe EVERY scholar agrees on that point.
With the above said, Coleman Barks is faithful to the spirt of Rumi and of Sufism. It is obvious this is a lifelong passion and he is a Sufi himself having been directed to do this work by a recognized teacher in a Sufi order. While some argue that you can only be a Sufi within the context of Islam, equal numbers of scholars many from the Middle East argue that you can be a Sufi outside of this context and some argue that Sufism pre-dates Islam.
Whatever school of thought you espouse, it is clear that the important communication that speaks across the ages through Rumi's words is love for God in the moment and a longing to realize it fully. While Coleman Barks may have studied English translations of Rumi's work to compile his own, it is clear to me that he was guided by his heart, learned advisors and good scholarship. If this were not so, I doubt that Robert Bly, Huston Smith (world authority on comparative religion) and others would appear on the video Rumi: Poet Of The Heart which is about Rumi and the Coleman Barks translations of his poetry.
If you only speak English, I agree that you miss a lot by not having access to the original language. However, a concept accepted by all of Sufism is that everyone has a piece of the truth and a unique perspective. In the case of Coleman Barks, this is certainly an educated perspective that is complimented by many other translators. If you are serious about Rumi, then I recommend getting other translations and finding the ones that most move your heart which I'm sure would make Rumi very happy indeed.
Some may find Coleman Barks accent a bit irritating. However, it is also a good reminder that the most important thing is the message and the intention behind it. While analysis of literal poetry is very useful, this volume tries to strike a balance between literal translation and relevance to a modern context. I've read some other translations and used Coleman Barks translations in a class on Sufism given by a 30+ year Sufi with a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Harvard. If he finds these translations useful to present to a class, I can't imagine that Coleman Barks can be too far off the mark.
Rumi, sigh of wonder..........2007-05-20
As a huge poetry and literature fan, I couldn't pass up the chance to upgrade my penguin classics edition to this more comprehensive version of Rumi. Fraught with themes of life, love, lust, companionship, outlook, really any strata of emotional or human thought, this collection is a gem of Rumi's work. I am not one to dabble in qualifications or translating accuracy- I simply go with what feels right and this book felt beautifully right from beginning to end.
Book Description
Comprehensive Farsi includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus an introduction to reading.
Upon completion of this
Level I program, you will have functional spoken proficiency with the most-frequently-used vocabulary and grammatical structures. You will be able to:
* initiate and maintain face-to-face conversations,
* deal with every day situations -- ask for information, directions, and give basic information about yourself and family,
* communicate basic information on informal topics and participate in casual conversations,
* avoid basic cultural errors and handle minimum courtesy and travel requirements,
* satisfy personal needs and limited social demands,
* establish rapport with strangers in foreign countries,
* begin reading and sounding out items with native-like pronunciation.
Customer Reviews:
Effective & useful.......2007-06-27
I purchased this item prior to a trip to Iran and found it very effective. During my 16 days in Iran, I was surprised that I used just about every single phrase that I learned from the program--including phrases that I didn't expect to use.
It is indeed short on vocabulary. Some great complementary tools are Your First 100 Words in Persian, which is quite good for learning the writing system, and Lonely Planet Farsi (Persian) Phrasebook. Beware that in the Lonely Planet book, the transliterated Persian and the Persian script do not always say the same thing! (Same meaning, but slightly different phrasings etc.)
In any case I believe I finished the program with the equivalent of a solid semester of Persian at the college level, so it is certainly worth the price, in my opinion.
Excellent Course.......2006-05-05
This is really a splendid introduction to Farsi. The pronunciation is clear, voices interesting and indigenous, and material pertinent to a commencement in Farsi. I really do not understand why this course's reputation is MUCH less than any other of Pimsleur respectable courses. Whatever Pimsleur teaches in one language, it teaches EXACTLY the same thing in each of its other ones. What you learn in Farsi is precisely what you learn in Italian, Spanish, German, etc. It is not illogical to expect that the ratings of each Pimsleur set should all be the same. Apparently I was mistaken in that regard. If you're interested in Farsi Pimsleur series and are skeptical concerning this course's efficacy, check the reviews regarding Pimsleur's publications in major languages (French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Japanese). The reviewers there at least know what they're talking about. Again, Pimsleur is a perfectly approachable and preliminary first taste of modern Farsi.
It's not Farsi it is Persian.......2006-02-04
Remember that if a book doesn't even know the proper language name (Persian) then it most definately not worth looking at it. People want to learn Persian, which corresponds to Persia/Iran. I have never heard English Farsi dictionary! it is English PERSIAN dictionary. Pimsleur should've known that.
Intuitive Beginner Immersion.......2005-11-17
The Pimsleur system pretty much uses the same language lesson and teaching technique and translates it into as many foreign languages as they could hire speakers willing to make the recordings. The Farsi course is a slimmed down "beginner" version of this language learning course. It is excellent for training you in pronouncing the words correctly and in mastering a limited vocabulary of "essential conversation" terms. However, all conversations use the formal "you" form. Pretty much, it's set to give you enough skills for a quick business trip. If you want a more extensive understanding of the language, supplement the Pimsler course with a book and or another tape/cd course.
I love it, but it's not for everyone!!!.......2005-05-25
This set of CDs or tapes will get you started in basic Farsi. The teaching principle is sound linguistically in that it offers ample opportunity to repeat words in different contexts and teaches grammar by example in a transformational setting. However, if what you are looking for is a long list of grammatical constructions and explanations or vocabulary lists, this is not for you. You will learn basic greetings, how to ask for directions, and how to invite someone to go shopping or out to eat, as well as proper forms of address and how to tell time, but that is about the extent of the vocabulary used. However, you will also learn basic verb forms, and how to construct sentences intuitively, and when you learn new words from other sources, it will be easy to use the words in grammatically correct sentences based on what the CD teaches you. This is an excellent starting point, but by no means does it cover all possible grammatical constructions nor provide extensive vocabulary. What it does do is give you an intuitive feel for the structure of the language and the pronunciation of words. Some of my friends are Iranian, and I had managed to pick up a few words by listening to them converse, but after using this program for an hour a day for about 2 weeks, I was able to understand and follow much of their conversation, though I still cannot speak well. I agree that there needs to be either an expansion of what is currently on the program, or an intermediate and advanced course developed.
Book Description
Among the great works of world literature, perhaps one of the least familiar to English readers is the Shahnameh: ThePersian Book of Kings, the national epic of Persia. This prodigious narrative, composed by the poet Ferdowsi between the years 980 and 1010, tells the story of pre- Islamic Iran, beginning in the mythic time of Creation and continuing forward to the Arab invasion in the seventh century.
As a window on the world, Shahnameh belongs in the company of such literary masterpieces as Dante's Divine Comedy, the plays of Shakespeare, the epics of Homer— classics whose reach and range bring whole cultures into view. In its pages are unforgettable moments of national triumph and failure, human courage and cruelty, blissful love and bitter grief.
In tracing the roots of Iran, Shahnameh initially draws on the depths of legend and then carries its story into historical times, when ancient Persia was swept into an expanding Islamic empire. Now Dick Davis, the greatest modern translator of Persian poetry, has revisited that poem, turning the finest stories of Ferdowsi's original into an elegant combination of prose and verse. For the first time in English, in the most complete form possible, readers can experience Shahnameh in the same way that Iranian storytellers have lovingly conveyed it in Persian for the past thousand years.
Customer Reviews:
At least as good as the Bible.......2007-07-30
Well, I'm only about 1/8 of the way through the book, but I'm going to recommend it to you already. If it turns out the last 7/8 is bad, I'll come back and qualify my review.
Acessible, readable and wonderful.......2007-01-17
This marvelous translation of the Shahnameh has resulted in a book that is accessible and readable. Dick Davies has managed to translate key passages into rhyming poetry, but the majority is well-written prose. He has omitted some repetitious passages to keep the length reasonable (around 850 pages) and to avoid testing the endurance of the general reader. This intelligent translation has succeeded in making the 10th Century epic accessible to the modern general reader..
Newest translation, great story.......2007-01-03
This is the newest translation of the famous Persian Book of Kings. Davis brings some great insight in from the original as much can be lost in translation. Love it, be aware it's very long, but a great addition to any family library or Persian buff.
Beautifully produced, but not aimed at scholarly research.......2006-12-14
This book is a beautiful hardcover book, and the text is written in an accessible prose style.
As an earlier reviewer noted, nowhere on the cover, dustjacket, or contents is it indicated that the text on offer is an abreviated version; indeed, I had asked the Penguin sales rep at a conference if it was abridged as was told that it was not. I am a bit miffed that in fact, it is, with no indication of where or how much beyond a brief note in the translator's preface.
As the original is verse, there are no footnotes, and no bibliography for further reading, I was dissapointed to discover that the vast majority of the book is in prose. I was hoping for a text that would enable me to easily find a way into more advanced scholarship related to this epic, but have unfortunately not found this edition helpful in that regard.
If you are looking for a good read in a new epic tradition this is a good book for you; if you are hoping to research Persian folk traditions and mythology, this book is probably not the resource for which you are looking.
An excellent one-volume condensed Shah-Namah........2006-11-02
With some of the material previously published in "The Lion and the Throne", "Father and Sons", and "Sunset of Empire" all published by Mage Publishers, Dr. Dick Davis has added some more of his translations and has crafted and compiled a very readable and compact version of the Shah-Namah in his latest publication: Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings.
The Shah-Namah is the National Epic of Persia/Iran, composed by the poet Abulqasim Firdausi in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The current standard edition of the poem which runs into nine volumes (roughly 300 pages per volume), includes over 50,000 lines. In its great length, and it's multiplicity of characters and generations, as well as in other significant ways, the Shah-Namah comes closer to the Indian Epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, than to say the Illiad, the Odyssey or the Aeneid of the western world.
According to history, Sultan Muhammad Ghaznavi commissioned Firdausi to compose the Shah-Namah, promising to pay the poet a gold coin for every line. The King does not fulfill his promise. Instead he sends the poet silver coins, which Firdausi despite his dire poverty refuses. The King finally realizing the worth of the poet, repents of his behaviour and travels to the city of Tus to console the poet. He is too late, as his procession enters the main gate of the city, it encounters another procession leaving the same gate, with Firdausi's coffin. While political power is temporal, history and literature are eternal. We remember the King, because we remember the Poet.
GIven the poem's immense length and repititions, some passages have inevitably been omitted and others presented in a summary form. The most substantial ommission is the episode of the "twelve champions" which occurs during the Kaikhushru's war against Turan. Variant editions of the Firdausi's text have been used in working on this translation, for justifiable reasons. The illustrations used in this edition are taken from the lithographs for popular nineteenth-century editions of the poem of Dr. Ulrich Marzolph.
The book is very readable with meticulous English and well framed sentences. The books ends with a sumptuous glossary of names. Every Parsi and Zarathushtrian the world over, who may want to know a little of their past heritage, should give this book their undivided attention.
Book Description
In 480 B.C., Xerxes, the King of Persia, led an invasion of mainland Greece. Its success should have been a formality. For seventy years, victory—rapid, spectacular victory—had seemed the birthright of the Persian Empire. In the space of a single generation, they had swept across the Near East, shattering ancient kingdoms, storming famous cities, putting together an empire which stretched from India to the shores of the Aegean. As a result of those conquests, Xerxes ruled as the most powerful man on the planet. Yet somehow, astonishingly, against the largest expeditionary force ever assembled, the Greeks of the mainland managed to hold out. The Persians were turned back. Greece remained free. Had the Greeks been defeated in the epochal naval battle at Salamis, not only would the West have lost its first struggle for independence and survival, but it is unlikely that there would ever have been such an entity as the West at all.
Tom Holland’s brilliant new book describes the very first “clash of Empires” between East and West. As he did in the critically praised Rubicon, he has found extraordinary parallels between the ancient world and our own. There is no other popular history that takes in the entire sweep of the Persian Wars, and no other classical historian, academic or popular, who combines scholarly rigor with novelistic depth with a worldly irony in quite the fashion that Tom Holland does.
Customer Reviews:
Great reading.......2007-10-09
Work was really well done. This book would give anyone a greater understanding of the complexities and cultural events of the day.
Add this to your reading list.......2007-08-12
If you are interested in Persian and Greek history this is an excellent read. It is very well written and provides a number of good illustrations, photos and maps. The author has a very good writing voice and is entertaining.
ONE OF THE BEST HISTORY BOOK.......2007-07-23
this book is so good that if i could rate it 10 stars i would rate it 20
Questions Remain.......2007-07-12
Tom Holland does a good job of summarizing what we know about the subject. If you have read Herodotus' "Persian War" or Plutarch's "Lives" or Thucidydes' "Peloponessian War" then you have the facts already. "Persian Fire" puts it all together into an entertaining and sometimes moving story. And let's face it, it is one of the world's great stories.
I kept handy my Times Atlas of World History and my Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia as I read it. There is also a lot of stuff on the net regarding the Persian Empire which will supplement Holland.
So why does he feel the need to use profanity to tell it? "S**t" and "f**k" have no place here. Those two words cost him a star, from me.
I feel the book would have benefitted from a deeper discussion of military matters. Just what was a "hoplite"? How was a phalanx made up? What means did they employ to fend off a cavalry charge?
I picked up a copy of "Rubicon" based on my enjoyment of this.
Holland back and at his finest.......2007-07-10
Tom Holland scored some major points with Rubicon, a terrific, narrative account of the fall of the Roman Republic. His clear prose, entertaining characterization and solid research and diverse use of sources can be apppreciated by all levels of readers. Holland may not have improved between his two books, but he certainly hasn't lost a step either. In Persian Fire, he recounts the rise of the Persian Empire and the revolutionary changes in Greek life, focusing on the late Archaic age in Sparta and Athens. I'm sure the point has been made before, but I like Holland's insistence that Marathon proved to be the first real test of the democracy of Athens. Holland traces their subsequent rise in prestige and the spread of democracy to this great victory over the hegemonic superpower of Persia. Holland's narrative is sleek, the various Athenian factions are (thankfully) clarified and the representation of the Persians is quite good. He tends to over-do his comparisons to the contemporary world, but overall, Holland treats my favorite historical event with his unique touch and has written a wonderfully accessible account of a stodgy, academic conflict. Well done, Tom.
Average customer rating:
- Loved it!
- You wish you had friends like these
- Loved this book and the friendships!!
- Not as good as some of Dallas' other novels...
- Disappointing
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The Persian Pickle Club
Sandra Dallas
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
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Binding: Paperback
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Book Description
It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there's not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their quilting skills to good use. When a new member of the club stirs up a dark secret, the women must band together to support and protect one another. In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad.
Customer Reviews:
Loved it!.......2007-10-09
This isn't a book I would probably have picked up, but it was assigned as a group read. It was a very fast read and I was hooked early on. I finished it in no time and absolutely LOVED IT!!
You wish you had friends like these.......2007-08-04
An 5- book, now that I think of it. Place: Dust bowl Kansas in the 30s. The women get together to sew. Friends you'd die for in the lonely and hard farm country in deep economic depression. Characters wonderfully present. And look at some of these names! Rita and Agnes Ritter, Mrs. Septima Judd, hushand Prosper, Opalina Dux, Ada June Zinn - husband Buck, Ceres Root, Ella Crook,Ben Crook, Nettie Burgett,husband Tyrone, Forest Ann, hill drifters Massie (Zepha, Blue, son Sonny and Baby). Hiawatha the hired hand. -
Queenie Bean tells the story of friendship, mystery, and loyalty that beats all.
Loved this book and the friendships!!.......2006-11-07
I saw this book while on vacation and thought it would be a fun read. I love quilting and sewing, so I was drawn to it. It was more than just a light read though - I loved the characters and how their lives intertwined through many years. I enjoyed the fact that there was a little mystery woven into the story which was set in the depression era, but most of all I loved the loyal friendships, which were timeless. It is a book about how important friends are in our lives - it was truly a gift and one that I will share with my special friends. I couldn't put it down, and I was sad when it ended - like saying goodbye to a good friend.
Not as good as some of Dallas' other novels..........2006-08-02
City and country living clash when the sophisticated Rita moves to a small Midwestern farm community during the Depression. Although she's always been content with her quiet life, Queenie suddenly feels inadequate beside Rita, whom she nonetheless tries her best to befriend.
When the body of a long-missing resident suddenly turns up, Rita's on the case. She wants to solve the mystery singlehandedly and write about her finds for an area newspaper...no matter who she hurts in the process. It's then that Queenie begins to realize just how much her family and friends mean to her, and how fortunate she is to have their loe and support in her daily life.
While the premise is good, I didn't find the writing to be as strong as some of Dallas' other books, like "The Diary of Mattie Spenser" or "Alice's Tulips." I liked Queenie Bean, and sympathized with her character; although I didn't think the readers were able to get into the protagonist's mindset as well as other books. It may, of course, simply be a subjective view on my part...so if you are a fan of Dallas, or historical fiction as a whole, I suggest you read the book and form your own opinion.
Disappointing.......2006-05-16
I read "The Diary of Mattie Spenser". It was a much better book than this one. I never felt like I got to know the characters except for Queenie and Rita. I never cared for the whodunit part of the story. I agree with the reviewer who said it was like two different books. However, I didn't care for either one. I didn't understand the end of it. A very shallow read.
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