Customer Reviews:
I Love A Good Book.......2007-09-25
First of All, I picked this book up at the library and was attracted by the cover. It kept me enthralled and I found myself unable to put it down. I saw myself in a few of the characters in this book and I never knew Christian Fiction could be so good. This book really spoke to me and the scriptures explained and put in here were appreciated. I related so much that some things I would apply to my life. I have been sharing this poor little book. I believe I will buy it to give to my sistahs that can also get alot out of reading this.
Real Life Here.......2007-08-23
I found this book to be similar to my life. It may be considered fiction, but it sure did seem like things that happen in real life. I believe persons who purchase this book will truly enjoy it.
Great Ministry Tool.......2007-08-20
I picked up this novel by accident while searching for something else. I believe it was divine intervention because elements of the story hit close to home and what was therapy for the main character became my therapy as well.
I found Farther Than I Meant To Go, Longer Than I Meant To Stay to be a good solid story that I could truly label as Urban Christian Fiction.
My only critisms would be that I felt the novel was very "safe". I wished the author would have dealt with a few more natural issues a little more realistically just as she dealt heavily with spiritual issues. For example, after being intimate with someone who is cheating, I felt the character should have gotten tested for STD's, etc. That was never explored.
I also felt at times that the characters were one-dimentional and lacked "flavor".
Over all, I do think that the story was good and the ministry was undeniable. I only wished the author would have given it more of a "punch".
I would highly recommend this novel for women in their late thirties and over who are single - particularly those who are full figured.
What a Ride.......2007-07-28
Okay the main character is definitely a mirror image of some of today's women. But no matter your situation you will find that you can relate.
Farther than I meant to go, Longer than I meant to stay........2007-06-10
This was a great book, it is an example of what we experience in life.
Book Description
Madison has been ice skating as long as she's been walking. Jack has been her best friend since she was six years old and now at sixteen, Madison is completely oblivious to his deep feelings for her. When tragedy strikes unexpectedly and she is told she doesn't have much time left, Madison is forced to look at her life differently. Only after she opens her heart entirely does she understand the magnitude of the sacrifices her family made, realize the depths of Jack's love and know in her heart that she was blessed in every way. "Before I Go" has been called a brilliant novel, breaking your heart in a beautiful way and an amazing story of life, love and loss.
Customer Reviews:
Sorry, but..........2007-08-25
Oh man, I really wanted to love this book. A mother/daughter tearjerker about figure skating? I had no qualms about buying this one in hardcover. However, I ended up terribly disappointed in the plot, the characters, and the writing.
Much of the writing sounds like a couple of twelve year olds text messaging. Annie, mother of a 16 year old and presumably at least in her 40s, says things like "Oh my God! Jack asked Maddie out!!!" (multiple exclamation points and all). Even more distracting than the adolescent dialogue is the author's habit of over-explaining nearly every one of her characters' thoughts and actions: "Her mind drifted to Jack again. She wondered what he was doing. She thought he had mentioned soccer practice. Maybe that's what he was doing." Cut out the extraneous description and the book would have been 200 pages instead of 400. There are also numerous grammatical errors: "friend's" where it should have been "friends", "I have to make due" (instead of "do") - very sloppy editing.
Although much of the plot revolves around Madison's skating and her preparations for Olympic trials, the author uses almost no technical jargon. Instead, the only moves Madison does are "jumps", or sometimes "triple - triple combinations". Triple what? Axles? Salchows? I have never been on ice skates in my life, but I know those terms simply from having watched the Olympic games, as I'm sure most people picking up a novel about figure skating do. A little more detail might have brought these scenes to life.
As for the characters, the only fully developed one is Annie, and she is utterly unlikeable. She's more interested in Madison's career than in her well being, making her train for hours every day on only a few hours' sleep, and not allowing her any kind of social life. Hours after Madison is hospitalized when she collapses on the ice, Annie is arguing with the doctor to have her released so she can go back to her gruelling practice schedule. "I'm her coach, I know, but I'm her mother first," she insists to the doctor. Really? Not according to anything we've previously seen.
Madison, too, is unlikeable. She's often obnoxious to her mother and Jack, the only people she interacts with much. While her attitude is looked upon by Jack and Annie as sarcastic wit, she actually just comes off as a nasty little brat. A kid like Madison wouldn't have had any friends in my high school either - but it wouldn't have been because of her training schedule.
Annie's husband David is a wimp who will not stand up to her even when she has their daughter going to school and skating during her chemotherapy (against doctor's orders). And the relationship between Madison and Jack, supposedly so touching, just had me wondering how they managed to maintain this close friendship throughout their childhood and teens, when they barely see each other. Jack is one of the most popular kids at school, while Madison is an outcast. Realistically, they would have drifted apart years earlier.
It's apparent from the beginning how the story will end. There would be nothing wrong with that, if I'd had any emotional investment in these people for the duration of the book. Unfortunately, by the final pages, I simply didn't care.
An Absolutely Wonderful Book!!.......2007-08-04
Every once in a while a book comes along that moves you in a way that words simply can't describe. Before I Go is THAT book, the one that reaches into your soul, touches and envelops your heart and soul and has such a strong impact on your emotions that you find yourself truly moved and changed forever. Finally, a book that is real, that deals with real life subject matter, takes you on a wonderful and heartbreaking journey and does not sell out for a happy ending.
Before I Go is the story of a 16 year old figure skater, Madison, who is coached by her mother, taking her protégé to the Olympics. We see the trials and tribulations of a mother/daughter relationship and the will of the human spirit. We see a young girl fall in love for the first time, learn of sudden tragedy in her life and witness a mother who will sacrifice anything and everything for her young daughter. This book has it all; humor, heart, and moments where you almost find yourself listening to an actual conversation, rather than reading a book. This book reads as though you are watching a great classic movie. One moment I was laughing hysterically, the next moment I was so overcome with emotion, I wanted to reach out and comfort the characters.
For those of you who are looking for a cheap, light summer beach read, this book is not for you. This book deals with serious subject matter, real life scenarios and will surly make you feel as though you have found, then lost a best friend or sibling. I absolutely loved this novel and would highly recommend it to mothers, daughters and is a must read for every book club looking for a book that will inspire great discussions and debate.
Warning: Once you start reading this book you won't be able to stop. And make sure you have a box of kleenex at your side.
WOW!.......2007-07-30
One of the best books I have read in a long time. Especially great from a brand new author. It will have you crying, laughing, and always wanting more.
Sappy and Sad..........2007-07-05
OK...very predictable from the start. But, I found that once I got into it, it was hard to put down! Get the tissues ready for the ending. Good summer reading if you like sad endings...
Insipid dreck for the romance novel crowd.......2007-07-02
From the first page you'll know what will happen when you finally trudge your way through the next unspeakably rediculous 403 pages. I WANTED to like this book - Riley Weston is charming and very likeable. But it just got worse and worse, more and more hackneyed, formulaic and cliche- ridden with each page. Spunky, long-suffering but oh-so-talented Madison, her true love Jackson, her devoted mother ..."Their eyes locked instantly with a silent understanding only the two of them were privy to..." More annoying than funny, more maudlin than sad, sentimental without substance. And the balloons - the absolute worst! Ack!
Customer Reviews:
Offensive and stereotypical.......2006-02-14
I had high hopes for this book after hearing its praises sung by my grad school prof and reading the reveiws on the back of the book. I was truly disappointed. By page 20, I could predict what was going to happen because it is the same tired book about teaching that has been written hundreds of times before. Just another example of the assault on teachers--everyone knows more about teaching and kids than the teacher! A sentimental piece not worth the time or effort.
Veteran Teachers.......2002-07-11
This a great book for those veteran teachers who have been teaching longer than I have been alive. I have a college profesor who uses this term "teachers who have taught one year thirty times" to make some comments on teaching. I feel that this book is a great example of that term. Those teachers that he is talking about should get a hold on this book.
A shot in the arm book for teachers,a real jewel!.......1999-04-12
Bill McBride takes a tired out teacher and shows how everyone can learn new things. The book is popular with teachers...and for good reason. It helps them see how there is always the possibility of renewal and transformation. The search for the title reference is worth the whole reading and it makes perfect sense. Especially now, as the end of the year begins to roll down, teachers will relate to the situation! Buy it now.
A truly uplifting read!.......1999-04-10
One of my all-time favorite teacher books is Bill McBride's Entertaining an Elephant: a novel about learning and letting go. The dedication is to those who have chosen to teach love rather than fear. McBride's heartwarming story is about a teacher who resisted change, clung to the grammar drill and kill and had trouble dealing with students. The janitor shows him a better way to relate to kids, people in general. "The future will depend on what we do in the present." Gandhi As we struggle with new strategies, reform movements, and the demand to change the way we are as teachers, this book can soften our hearts, relieve our stress, lessen our fears, and give us hope for the future.
This book is a "must read" for every teacher!.......1999-04-10
As a 28-year veteran high school English teacher, I entered Entertaining an Elephant with minimal expectations. After all, I pride myself on being "up" on current research in the teaching of writing, language and literature. I'm not afraid to gut my curriculum when something better for my students comes along. However, after reading Bill McBride's book, I realized that I still had much to learn about "letting go." In fact, the book so influenced me that I have altered my annual plan for English I Honors for the year 2000 already! I found the book to be extremely realistic in its depiction of the broad spectrum of humanity we teach every day. It was equally on target in relating the kinds of conflicts, the stress, the burn-out many professionals experience, particularly in public education. I understand that over 20 colleges and universities around the country are using the book as required reading in various education departments. Every teacher, whether in English or not, and every wannabe teacher should read this truly insightful and inspirational text. Wannabes will gain insight; veterans will acquire either affirmation or an epiphany! Either way, our students win as well.
Amazon.com
A novelist, essayist, playwright, and public intellectual, James Baldwin's writings on the subject of race in America undeniably made him one of the greatest African American writers of the 20th century. As the civil rights movement gained momentum in the two decades following World War II, Baldwin landed squarely in the public eye, and his prose communicated the hope and frustration of the fight for racial equality. In James Baldwin: Early Novels and Stories, editor Toni Morrison draws heavily on Baldwin's early work, including his first novel Go Tell It on the Mountain, as well as Giovanni's Room, which was praised by the New York Times for its "unusual candor ... and intensity." As pertinent today as it was some 30 years ago, the fiction found in this collection is powerful, eloquent, and a fitting tribute to a consummate writer.
Book Description
With burning passion, the authority of experience, and a sharp, epigrammatic wit, these essays articulate issues of race, democracy, and American identity. This edition--the most comprehensive gathering of Baldwin's nonfiction ever published--presents the complete texts of the landmark collections "Notes of a Native Son" (1955) and "Nobody Knows My Name" (1961); "The Fire Next Time" (1963), a classic analysis of America's racial divide; "No Name in the Street" (1972); and "The Devil Finds Work" (1976); and 36 more essays, including nine never before collected.
Customer Reviews:
A valuable edition of some of the best writings on race........1998-04-14
The Library of America is engaged in publishing definitive texts of the best-known writing in the U.S. Including James Baldwin in this series - and having Toni Morrison edit these volumes - has generated considerable critical review. It is remarkable that James Baldwin can still exercise so much hold over us. Both the fiction and the essays have a kind of raw power: it makes us realize how sensitive the nerve of "race relations" still is. "Go Tell It on the Mountain" - one of the early autobiographical stories - has already become an American classic. Baldwin's homosexuality and his ambiguous feelings towards the white establishment makes this a painful coming-of-age novel. There is no easy access to some one so at-odds with himself and his society - and no greater rewards for anyone interested in the literature of self-discovery. These are fine volumes. They are well worth owning and belong on the shelves of anyone interested in American literature. Not all collections are worth having. The Library of America - and these Baldwin volumes - are worth owning, and they are certainly worth reading.
Book Description
Kees Popinga is a solid Dutch burgher whose idea of a night on the town is a game of chess at his club. Or so it has always appeared. But one night this model husband and devoted father discovers his boss is bankrupt and that his own carefully tended life is in ruins. Before, he had looked on impassively as the trains to the outside world swept by; now he catches the first train he can to Amsterdam. Not long after that, he commits murder.
Kees Popinga is tired of being Kees Popinga. He's going to turn over a new leaf—though there will be hell to pay.
Customer Reviews:
Nihilism is not only despair and negation.......2006-10-19
but above all the desire to despair and to negate. Camus.
Despair and negation predominate in Georges Simenon's "The Man Who Watched Trains Go By", a book that I considered to be darker than noir.
Simenon was nothing if not prolific in both his literary and public life. Born in Belgium in 1903, Simenon turned out hundreds of novels. Simenon's obsession with writing caused him to break off an affair (he was prolific in this area of his life as well) with the celebrated Josephine Baker in Paris when he could only write twelve novels in the twelve month period in which they were involved. Although perhaps best known for his Inspector Maigret detective novels, Simenon also wrote over a hundred novels that he referred to as `romans durs' (literally "hard novels"). As with many of his contemporaries such as Chandler and Hammett, Simenon's books were marketed and sold as popular, pulp fiction. Also like Chandler and Hammett, Simenon's books have stood up well over time. The New York Review of Books publishing division has reissued much of Simenon's books. They are well worth reading and "The Man Who Watch Trains Go By" is an excellent place to start.
The story's protagonist and narrator is Kees Poppinga. As the book opens Kees is seen and sees himself as a stolidly middle-class Dutch citizen living a life of relative comfort in the coastal town of Groningen. He is secure in his job as the manager of a ship's supply company. His sense of security is reflected in an attitude best described as smug and more than a bit conceited. On the surface, Kees' life seems well insulated from the harsher side of life. But Simenon shows us quickly that this appearance of security was really a thin veneer that could be washed away at a moment's notice. One night, Kees discovers that his company's owner has driven the company into bankruptcy. Kees will soon be out of the job and will likely lose everything he holds dear.
The rest of the book focuses on Kees' decent from smug satisfaction to nihilism and despair. Stripped of his middle-class sense of security Kees finds that he is also stripped of all those societal restraints that most civilized members of society have. Kees embarks on a journey of death, deceit, and madness. The only character trait that remains is one of conceit and superiority as he travel to Paris and falls in with the Parisian underworld.
The reader experience this journey through the narration of Kees and Simenon does an excellent job of allowing the reader to look out at the world through the eyes of a madman. It is something of an uncomfortable feeling but it made for compelling reason. I have already compared Simenon to Chandler and Hammett because they wrote in a similar genre and were contemporaries. As far as contemporary writers are concerned, the French-writer Michel Houellebecq (Elementary Particles) seems remarkably similar in both tone and style.
I have now read two of Simenon's romans durs and three of his Inspector Maigret mysteries. They have all been worth reading and if you are interested in either the detective genre or the type of dark psychological novel described here, Simenon is well worth discovering. L. Fleisig
Captured by the author.......2006-09-09
Simenon in a slow but progressive manner has the ability to draw the reader into the life of the protaganist no matter how heinous the situation. This is well manifest in this typical Simenon psychological thriller. If you like this type of ouevre The Man Who Watched Trains will fit the bill.
Simenon's Existential Man.......2006-04-16
This book stands as evidence of the literary crime that has been perpetrated against the legacy of Georges Simenon over the last century. Written in 1938, 'The Man Who Watched Trains Go By' predates Camus' 'l'etranger' by eight years. Simenon's work is the study of what happens when a once uber-respectable bastion of bourgeois values watches as the very foundations of his existence crumble before his eyes. The pace at which the novel's central figure degenerates from an upstanding business leader obsessed with managing appearances to a bestial creature succumbing to every whim and fancy--all the while meticulously recording each step of his progress in his little red notebook--is dizzying. The questions raised by Simenon regarding man's confrontation with the ephemeral nature of meaning in existence are addressed at least as skillfully as Camus would nearly a decade later. This work--and many of Simenon's other romans durs--remain an essential link in the chain of existential novels ranging from Dostoevsky to Camus and Sartre. The fact that Simenon's works are not celebrated as such represents a significant injustice.
Book Description
This collection of sports-related uniforms - applicable to all fields of art including manga, book illustration, and animation - is full of sexy offshoot costumes such as race-queen and cheerleader uniforms. Featuring more than 3,000 images, this volume presents sports uniforms from a wide range of angles. To boot, the end of the book also includes a discussion of basic uniform structure and design.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome!.......2007-04-22
This book is full of great tips. It has hundreds of various poses and positions that can defintely help in the long run. It shows the creases in certain skirts and tops and also covers swimsuits, such as one and two-pieces. It even shows the styles from way back in ancient times with the Eqyptians and their swimsuits!
It is a great reference book for poses. There are not step-by-step instructions, but it is definetly worth the time and money. It's a definte keep on my How To Draw shelf.
A good book.......2006-11-28
Trust me when I say, some of the titles can be very misleading. Fortunately, this book was not misleading at all. This book has what the title suggests, sport wear. In the book, it shows you a variety of sport wear that characters wear in their active lifestyles. Not only does it have sporty wear, but they also managed to sneak in some fantasy style clothing as well as cheerleading outfits in there as well. This book has a good bit of poses that would be very useful, and it shows how the body would look in certain outfits. If you are looking for a book that helps you come up with some cute and sporty ideas for a sport genre manga then this is definately a must buy! Also, there is very, I mean very little nudity in this book, so I would also recommend this book for those who are offended by nudity.
Lousy name, but inspiring designs.......2005-09-30
I was a little skeptical when I first saw the cover of this book, not to mention the title of this book. I think they titled it that so men would be drawn to it and buy it. But I must say this book is actually pretty good. It has some really creative ideas when it comes to fashion designs. You can also use the ideas to not only make sports wear, but anything your imagination can come up with. You could design simple bathing suits to active sports wear to even a hero's outfit or even yet a cool space suit. With this book you can even design a fashion that best suites a unique characters personality, that could have nothing to do with sports, the book is fantastically inspiring.
The only down fall is its awfully weak when it comes to men's. Not that very many men will have sexy sports wear, but neither the first or second Costume Encyclopedias have much of anything for the men. The whole How To Draw Manga series kind of left in the dark when it comes to men. They have one book for Male Characters and five for Female Characters.
Yet, this book is worth buying. But if you don't have the first Costume Encyclopedia, get that one first and skip over the second one.
Average customer rating:
- A Wonderful Story
- Extremely disappointing
- War and Love
- Japanese/Chinese History as seen through the eyes of the participants.
- Heart shattering..windswept descriptions of love, loss and war
|
The Girl Who Played Go: A Novel
Shan Sa
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Literary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
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First Kyu
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The Master of Go
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ASIN: 1400032288
Release Date: 2004-10-12 |
Book Description
As the Japanese military invades 1930s Manchuria, a young girl approaches her own sexual coming of age. Drawn into a complex triangle with two boys, she distracts herself from the onslaught of adulthood by playing the game of go with strangers in a public square--and yet the force of desire, like the occupation, proves inevitable. Unbeknownst to the girl who plays go, her most worthy and frequent opponent is a Japanese soldier in disguise. Captivated by her beauty as much as by her bold, unpredictable approach to the strategy game, the soldier finds his loyalties challenged. Is there room on the path to war for that most revolutionary of acts: falling in love?
Customer Reviews:
A Wonderful Story .......2007-06-22
This novel is perhaps the most sophisticated, sensual, tragic, uplifting, and horrifying examination of the experience of love that I have read. The complexity of emotions in the awakening womanhood of a teenaged Chinese girl at the onset of China's "War of Resistance" against Japan in the 1930s, as well as the poetic quality of the author's prose, at least in the original French version, make this a novel to remember and to reread. The tale of the heroine, Night Song (Chant de nuit), whose name appears only on the next to last page, is paralleled by that of the young Japanese army officer of samurai origin, whose uncritical acceptance of his nation's wartime imperialist outlook is put to the test when he must suddenly and unexpectedly choose between an act of terrible bestiality and one of transcending humanity.
Extremely disappointing.......2007-04-09
As a reasonably strong amateur Go player(3 kyu), I found the author's usage, and knowledge, of the game very limited. The gameplay could have been used to give more insight into the two main characters and their relationship, but instead was used only as a plot device to bring them together. I also did not like the girl, who came off as selfish and immature; the Japanese soldier's side of the story was more compelling. Because of the constant switching between perspectives, the narrative becomes a little disjointed, but the major problem is the florid writing. The shockingly brutal ending was suitably dramatic, however, and redeemed the book for me a little. If you like overheated romances set in WWII China, then this isn't a bad read. Everybody else can probably pass.
War and Love.......2006-07-17
I didn't enjoy this novel, partly because it is about war - extremely ugly war between the Japanese (invaders) and the Chinese (victims) - how could people ever behave like this towards other people? - but also because the love scenes read like war to me (such the young Chinese girl and her lover) - how could people ever behave like this towards other people (and submit to it!).
As a go player (very amateur) myself I was both disappointed and comfortable about the way the game is used in the novel. Disappointed because there wasn't much really about the game, but comfortable for the fact that the game was perhaps one of the few things that could draw the Japanese (who had adopted the game) and the Chinese together.
But, like the young girl's acceptance of sex and management of its outcomes - all gruesomely described - fate plays an inexorable part in the resolution of the novel.
Other recommendations:
'The Master of Go' - Kawabata
Japanese Fairy Tales (for some insights into the Japanese)
'Riding the Red Rooster' - Theroux (for some insights into the Chinese)
Japanese/Chinese History as seen through the eyes of the participants........2006-03-04
This is an outstanding novel of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in the early 1930s, through the eyes of a high school aged Manchurian girl (The Girl Who Played Go) and a Japanese officer (whom she played Go with, not knowing that he was a Japanese officer stationed in Manchuria}. The officer was involved in actual missions against insurgents from time to time. The story is interesting from a factual historical point of view, even from the mindset that led to the estblishment of the "Comfort Women" as an officially sanctioned Japanese policy. The historical aspect is enlightened by the complex human relationships of the two main protagonists. The novel brings to light the personal contradictions of the two also;their human relations; the national pride of each; the loneliness of their circumstances; and finally the heroic actions of each that ends in mutual tragedy. The story reminded me to a degree of the story of Romeo and Juliette; though they never professed love for one another verbally, their actions implied that affection between them was possible.
I would definitely recommend it as a must read. The style is also intriguing as the two and three page chapters switch back and forth among the protagonists, both in real time and in flashbacks of times past that were happier and led to the developed personalities of the present.
Heart shattering..windswept descriptions of love, loss and war.......2006-01-20
well it goes over quickly, but not painlessly. she spares you no descriptions. she lays all her pieces out on the table and the it ain't a pretty picture. this is back when Japan invades Manchuria. a japanese soldier acting as spy, goes down to a local Go playing park and plays against a young manchurian girl. supposedly through the playing of GO the come to know each other, though they never speak. the descriptions of Japanese treatment of the manchurians and the rebellion are heartbreaking and painful. this is not a happy story. but a powerful and original one.
Book Description
This book, which marks the final edition to the six-volume series, unfolds using a unique format, whereby an entire work of manga is created as if it were a cinematic feature being formulated and shot. This volume features topics such as casting the actors (i.e. designing characters), creating the set (i.e. establishing and portraying the setting and setting up the background), dramatizing memorable scenes (i.e. camera work, lighting, detailed dramatization) and other totally new content.
Customer Reviews:
A great book, just not for me........2007-07-06
So, I bought this book based on a review by another aspiring artist. The review said it was "good for beginners". So, naturally I thought being a NOOB, that it meant me too. Unfortunately, it was good, but in the "here it is, draw it" kind of sense. Now, while perspective is better, I found it hard to break down some of the more complex hairstyles, among other things. This book is good for clothing, hair, setting, perspective, and pretty much everything in it. However, being "good for beginners", but not in the A, B, C, D sort of sense. Still a great book, but don't expect miracles if you can't draw a circle...
Striking the right note? Fleshing out characters? Are they the same book?.......2007-01-19
Though it covers a topic that is covered in many how to draw books, I have to say it is a pleasant addition to my reference collection. I bought it because the title was 'striking the right note,' which I assumed would help to translate mood into environment, and other basic storytelling-meets-illustration techniques; however, the book is not appropriately titled. "How to draw manga: Ultimate Manga Lessons Volume six: Fleshing Out Characters" is the actual title, and to be honest, I would not have purchased it if I had known that it would be mostly about developing characters. However, the book has decent artwork, and some pretty good reference and review, so I'm keeping it. I'm giving it a four out of five because this book belongs in anyone's reference collection!
Definitely worth your money.......2007-01-04
Another book that I am proud to own from my fav how to draw artist Hikaru Hayashi. In this volume of how to draw manga ultimate manga lessons, Hikaru shows us how to flesh out our characters. This book teaches you about using hair styles to distinguish the character as well as their personality,their costumes,
designing the settings such as backgrounds, stylized backgrounds, hand-on practice on drawing easy backgrounds, and backgrounds to establish a setting,
The lighting and angles of your scenes to make them more dynamic, and learning from the orginal manga draft.
This book is truly worth looking into, and I think you will be very pleased with this book, as well as all the other volumes to this book (which I own all 6!) A must buy, I totally recommend this book!!
Book Description
For the last half century, the novels of Philip Roth have re-energized American fiction and redefined its possibilities. Roth's comic genius, his imaginative daring, his courage in exploring uncomfortable truths, and his assaults on political, cultural, and sexual orthodoxies have made him one of the essential writers of our time. By special arrangement with the author, The Library of America now inaugurates the definitive edition of Roth's collected works. This first volume presents Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories, the book that established Roth's reputation on publication in 1959 and for which he won the National Book Award, and his first novel, Letting Go (1962).
The title novella, Goodbye, Columbus, the story of a summer romance between a poor young man from Newark and a rich Radcliffe co-ed, is both a tightly wrought tale of youthful desire and a satiric gem that takes aim at the comfortable affluence of the postwar boom. Here and in the stories that accompany it, including "The Conversion of the Jews" and "Defender of the Faith," Roth depicts Jewish lives in 1950s America with an unflinching sharpness of observation.
In Letting Go, a sprawling novel set largely against the backdrop of Chicago in the 1950s, Roth portrays the moral dilemmas of young people cast precipitously into adulthood, and in the process describes a skein of social and family responsibilities as they are brought into focus by issues of marriage, abortion, adoption, friendship, and career. The novel's expansiveness provides a wide scope for Roth's gift for vivid characterization, and in his protagonist Gabe Wallach he creates a nuanced portrait of a responsive young academic whose sense of morality draws him into the ordeals of others with unforeseen consequences.
Customer Reviews:
Where greatness began.......2005-12-01
Philip Roth is a giant of American literature, and this select volume by the Library Of America is a perfect addition to everyone who cares about great literature and likes to see where the greatness began and how it grows in the world of literature. Philip Roth's stature is right up there with Twain, Whitman, Hawthorne, Updike, Joyce Carol Oates, and Faulkner. He writes with clarity, and honesty about life, love, death, and has a sense of humor that is sometimes so subtle it is missed. To complain about the size of the print on the binding is as irrelevant as it is mean spirited. Great writers provide substance, how the publisher presents it is of little real consequence. This, and the second volume are a must for all bibliophiles.
SOURING ON THE LIBRARY OF AMERICA.......2005-10-29
The one star is not for Philip Roth, who of course is a major American novelist. The one star is for the book designer. Is Philip Roth such an incomparably great writer that, unlike James and Faulkner and Melville, his name needs to be emblazoned in giant white letters on the spine of the book? For the first time in the LOA series, the author's name does not appear in horizontal white calligraphic script; instead, it appears in giant white letters running vertically the length of the spine. So when you look at your bookshelves loaded with LOA volumes, "ROTH" leaps out at you.
I grow increasingly disenchanted with the LOA. It started promisingly enough, with the Northwestern-Newberry texts of Melville, the Univ. of California/Mark Twain Project texts for Twain, the Polk/Blotner texts for Faulkner, etc. Major writers complete in the most authoritative texts available -- a simple recipe for success.
Now, to fill its overly ambitious, overly prolific publishing schedule, LOA publishes journalism and second- and third-rate authors such as Dashell Hammett, Dawn Powell, and Paul Bowles. Why? Partially, at least, because the copyright on these authors' works is owned by Random House/Vintage, which seems to have a death grip on what LOA publishes. Commercial interest has, inevitably, overridden and diluted the initial vision of a canon of truly great American literature.
Not to mention that the series started with 1400- or 1500-page volumes being the norm. New volumes routinely have half that number of pages. The bean counters are doing math somewhere...
My two cents: publish fewer volumes and concentrate on the indisputably major authors. (Where is Melville's poetry?!) And publish no works by writers whose work has not passed out of copyright and into the public domain. Let time do its work of sifting out the writers who truly matter. Instant canonization is a farce. Unlike France with its comparable Pleiade series, America is a young country -- so of course the series will have fewer volumes. So what? LOA is sacrificing quality for quantity and going for the almighty dollar.
The stories tell us a star is born The novel a disappointment.......2005-09-05
The stories announce Roth to the world. The long title story 'Goodbye Columbus' seems to announce that a successor to F. Scott Fitzgerald has at last appeared in the world of American writing. The freshness, the youth , the energy, the romanticism tempered by irony. 'Goodbye Columbus' is not Gatsby but it signals the coming of a great new star.
In the other stories too Roth appears with a mastery beyond his age, a techical skill and brilliance, a power of irony, a delightful humor.
He also comes with an offensive irrevence and critical view of Jewish American middle - class hypocrisy. But I believe that as Roth himself would later intimate even the fiercest of that criticism ( as it would come late in the true genius work, 'Portnoy') bore in it a tremendous amount of real feeling, identification, love.
Roth too is a superemely American writer concerned with the broader American destiny and meaning. His politics are not to my taste but one feels in his writing a real sense of the touch and taste of American life, an exuberant appreciation.
These are the first writings of what will become a major American writer.
It is interesting that the novel is in my judgment a flat disappointment. And Roth's career does have many flops mixed in with the gems. Perhaps that is the price of experiment or speaking in many voices.
But the opening stories, the 'Goodbye Columbus' collection is a winner.
Books:
- Feeding the Hungry Heart: The Experience of Compulsive Eating
- Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Birds; The Clouds; The Frogs; Lysistrata (Meridian Classics)
- Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before
- God Is a Woman: Dating Disasters
- God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics)
- Going Against the Grain: How Reducing and Avoiding Grains Can Revitalize Your Health
- Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve (Magic Tree House, 30)
- Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel
- Hell Hath No Fury (Multiverse, Book 2)
- His Needs, Her Needs: Building an Affair-Proof Marriage
Books Index
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