Book Description
In January 2002 Rory Stewart walked across Afghanistan-surviving by his wits, his knowledge of Persian dialects and Muslim customs, and the kindness of strangers. By day he passed through mountains covered in nine feet of snow, hamlets burned and emptied by the Taliban, and communities thriving amid the remains of medieval civilizations. By night he slept on villagers' floors, shared their meals, and listened to their stories of the recent and ancient past. Along the way Stewart met heroes and rogues, tribal elders and teenage soldiers, Taliban commanders and foreign-aid workers. He was also adopted by an unexpected companion-a retired fighting mastiff he named Babur in honor of Afghanistan's first Mughal emperor, in whose footsteps the pair was following.
Through these encounters-by turns touching, con-founding, surprising, and funny-Stewart makes tangible the forces of tradition, ideology, and allegiance that shape life in the map's countless places in between.
Customer Reviews:
Left in limbo by The Places in Between.......2007-10-01
If you are into a lot of facts about history and culture, then this might be the book for you. As for myself, I felt like I was reading college history and sociology textbooks. So many facts, with little or no human connection to Rory Stewart, or the people who accompany him on his trek across Afghanistan. Stewart writes early on in the book, "I feel like I have been preparing for this all my life". To me that is a powerful statement, which in my opinion Stewart never really expounded on, and in the end could have made this book a little more interesting.
The Places In Between.......2007-09-28
Well written and exciting journey that a brave man wrote about. Very good reference to the differences between villiages and provinces encompassed by the overarching history of the country.
Highly recommend - a Bold look at a slice of Afghanistan.......2007-09-08
This book is a fascinating and easy read for anyone looking to learn about Afghanistan.
The audacity of what Rory Stewart does in this book is amazing. Walking from Herat to Kabul across central Afghanistan relying on the hospitality of the local in each village he passes through. It is not a comprehensive look at Afghanistan but a first hand micro level look at life in a select few Afghan villages. At the same time, he throws in larger historical and research perspectives. Like all books that I've read about the country, there is a pointient sadness to what these people have been through.
Excellent book.......2007-09-05
I recommend to anyone who has a burning desire to know what Afghanistan is really like... My husband was deployed to Afghanistan in 2005. He doesn't talk much about it so I started looking for a book to help me understand how the local people live, and if they really are as barbaric as the news and media leads on. This was it...
Beyond good!.......2007-08-13
If you really want to understand something basic about Afghanistan, read this book. I have read columns by Rory Stewart in the NYT and thought he was a very clear thinker, so I bought this book. This man is an amazingly accute observer of his environment and brings a great deal of wisdom to bear on his subject.
But don't think this book will be chore to read! It is a real page turner.
One of the best books I have read in a year.
Read it!
Book Description
One of the most extraordinary survival stories ever told -- Aron Ralston's searing account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home.
It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him.
It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall.
And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. As he eliminated his escape options one by one through the days, Aron faced the full horror of his predicament: By the time any possible search and rescue effort would begin, he'd most probably have died of dehydration, if a flash flood didn't drown him before that.
What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using the video camera from his pack, Aron began recording his grateful good-byes to his family and friends all over the country, thinking back over a life filled with adventure, and documenting a last will and testament with the hope that someone would find it. (For their part, his family and friends had instigated a major search for Aron, the amazing details of which are also documented here for the first time.) The knowledge of their love kept Aron Ralston alive, until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder. Aron then committed the most extreme act imaginable to save himself.
Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- a brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life -- will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories.
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"One of the most extraordinary survival stories ever told -- Aron Ralston's searing account of his six days trapped in one of the most remote spots in America, and how one inspired act of bravery brought him home. It started out as a simple hike in the Utah canyonlands on a warm Saturday afternoon. For Aron Ralston, a twenty-seven-year-old mountaineer and outdoorsman, a walk into the remote Blue John Canyon was a chance to get a break from a winter of solo climbing Colorado's highest and toughest peaks. He'd earned this weekend vacation, and though he met two charming women along the way, by early afternoon he finally found himself in his element: alone, with just the beauty of the natural world all around him. It was 2:41 P.M. Eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, Aron was climbing down off a wedged boulder when the rock suddenly, and terrifyingly, came loose. Before he could get out of the way, the falling stone pinned his right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. And so began six days of hell for Aron Ralston. With scant water and little food, no jacket for the painfully cold nights, and the terrible knowledge that he'd told no one where he was headed, he found himself facing a lingering death -- trapped by an 800-pound boulder 100 feet down in the bottom of a canyon. As he eliminated his escape options one by one through the days, Aron faced the full horror of his predicament: By the time any possible search and rescue effort would begin, he'd most probably have died of dehydration, if a flash flood didn't drown him before that. What does one do in the face of almost certain death? Using the video camera from his pack, Aron began recording his grateful good-byes to his family and friends all over the country, thinking back over a life filled with adventure, and documenting a last will and testament with the hope that someone would find it. (For their part, his family and friends had instigated a major search for Aron, the amazing details of which are also documented here for the first time.) The knowledge of their love kept Aron Ralston alive, until a divine inspiration on Thursday morning solved the riddle of the boulder. Aron then committed the most extreme act imaginable to save himself. Between a Rock and a Hard Place -- a brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life -- will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. "
Customer Reviews:
I have mixed feelings on this one.......2007-09-15
Aron is either very brave or irresponsible, possibly a little of both.
I give this man points for bravery and his thirst for the outdoors, but I found myself shaking my head and rolling my eyes about the things he did.
The book starts out with him stuck in the rock quite early in the book, but after the 2nd or 3rd chapter, he alternates every other chapter to his Present Stuck situation and his stories of hiking around the great outdoors.
I found myself needing to get to the end of the book so i can read about him hacking his right arm off, so the book had me wanting to keep reading. For that it was a good read.
Lessons of Aron: Don't "SHOO" off a bear, don't bring your friends skiing into a Potential Avalanche zone, and never go hiking with out telling friends and family where you are or leaving a map or note at your bike or truck so they can find you.
Oh, I almost forgot, you can drink your own urine for up to 3 days in the wild apparently...haha
I recommend this book, but barely.
Somewhat Boring .......2007-08-31
Throughout the writing, Aron Ralston constantly strays from the actual plot. The book has constant flashbacks to his past adventures become monotonous after the first few chapters. The main storyline of is entrapment was very interesting. The fact that he was able to survive for so long in the Moab desert is nothing short of a miracle. All in all I enjoyed the book, despite some boring chapters that strayed from the point.
Wasted Opportunity.......2007-07-12
The story seems compelling: an unfortunate hiker has his arm pinned by a boulder and must cut off his own arm to rescue himself. It is a terrible thing for anybody to lose part of a limb (indeed, ask any of the many Iraq War casualties), and we like to look for some positive outcome from such a loss. I read this book because I was curious what changes such an experience would cause in one's approach to life. I was left disappointed and angry.
Aron Ralston survived what should have been a life-changing experience, yet came away from it the same arrogant, self-centered boy as before. The reader hopes and prays that the tiresome egotism of the early chapters is simply a literary device, designed to set the stage for Ralston's transformation. Instead, the egotism remains the constant in his life, both before and after his accident.
Although Ralston claims to have had a revelation while pinned behind a boulder -- finally understanding it is not what you have done, but how you have lived -- this revelation is discarded the moment he survives. Once healthy again, Ralston returns to stupid, dangerous activities (e.g., solo winter ascents) with no consideration for those he loves. He has learned nothing. He was given the opportunity to make a major change in his life. He ignored the chance to mature and act responsibly, and returned to reckless behavior that only puts his family and friends at risk of heart ache.
Ralston begins his story by documenting his many stupid mistakes that almost cost him his life. He makes winter ascents of Colorado peaks without spare outer gloves. He pushes himself to the point of hallucinating, putting himself and his partner at risk. He goes solo canyoneering and mountain biking without a first aid kit. He ignores advice of a park ranger and goes hiking in inappropropriate snow conditions, and almost is attacked by a bear. He puts himself and friends at risk skiing in areas with a high risk of avalanche. Despite his supposed training in search and rescue, his ignores the first rule (always let somebody know where you are going and when you should be back). Yet, Ralston seems baffled when his mother doesn't want to hear the details of his latest in a long series of scrapes with death. Perhaps she cares about him. Perhaps she wonders why he insists on always doing things the dangerous way. Perhaps she wonders how he can do these things to her.
There are many ways to immerse one self in the great outdoors, and there are many ways to test one self. Many a young person has thought that placing themselves in life-threatening situations is the ultimate test. Luckily, most of us outgrow this stage. We start to recognize the value of life. We start to recognize the devastation that our deaths would have on our family and friends. We mature.
There are many, many skilled mountaineers in Colorado. Many have the requisite skills to complete solo winter ascents, but most forego the activity because it is stupid. There are too many variables, and the odds of dying are too high. Ralston fancies himself a Super Man because he is dumb enough to go on winter solo ascents. Despite repeated narrow escapes, it never occurs to Ralston that he is being cavalier with his life, the lives of his friends, and the emotions of his family and friends.
The baffling thing about Ralston's history is that he never matured. He had plenty of occasions for reflection, and he had friends endeavoring to change his perspective. Yet, he continued on his own little self-centered journey. He wanted to be bigger than life, no matter what the cost.
Indeed, the bizarre thoroughness of his photo-documentation of his struggle attests to his dreams of grandeur. If he lived, he was going to be famous. If he died, he was going to be a legend. Ralston would have us believe that he was fighting for his life on the hike out, yet he never even considered leaving behind his video camera and digital still camera.
At some point in Ralston's effort to show that he was the prime mover in the many good times with his friends, he recounts making fun of 1980s music. I found this ironic, in that Ralston is the embodiment of the 1980s Me Generation. It is all about Aron, without any consideration for anybody else.
Do not buy this book. To do so is to encourage a reprehensible approach to life. To do so is to reward a selfish little child. To do so is to buy into a false hero. To do so is to support the extreme of self-centeredness. To do so is to cast a foreseeable event (based on poor preparation and a belief of invincibility) as an unavoidable accident. Do not buy this book.
Mr. Ralston was given an opportunity to see the light and to mature, but squandered that chance in exchange for celebrity. If he continues with his solo winter climbing, I fear that he will eventually pay the ultimate price for his contorted self-image and lack of judgment.
Boring and pretentious.......2007-07-06
I first saw this on Dateline or 20/20, and thought what a wonderful story, that the book must be better and give us better details. Well, TV was apparently a better medium for this story, because they could edit out his pretentiousness and direct his story to more of what actually happened, rather than a stage for him to tell the world how great he is.
And even after having to drink his own piss and cutting off his arm with a pocket knife, he still hasn't learned a single lesson.
Mount of the Holy Cross.......2007-06-28
A very detailed account of what Ralston had to endure. I enjoyed his descriptions of the outings that he took up to the point of getting trapped. Even though Aron was often stupid in his choices, his love for the outdoors comes sailing out. He has a life that is envied by many and one that I have dreamed of from time to time. I especially liked when he described his ascent of the Mount of the Holy Cross. When I was in my church's high school youth group at the Branson United Methodist Church we would yearly go to Colorado in the summer for a hiking trip. The trips were my most memorable religious moments where nature and God easily fused. The high point of the trip, both in altitude and in amazement, was when we climbed to a point on an adjacent mountain to view across at the snow filled cross on the Mount of the Holy Cross. There on the granite rocks with marmots all around we would gather for a picture of our accomplishments as mere teenagers. To this day I yearn for that feeling when you are able as a human to overtake the natural boundaries. So, I understand where Aron gets his drive, though I hope not as stupid.
Average customer rating:
- Knowing other cultures is important for all children.
- Beautiful book
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Between Earth & Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places
Joseph Bruchac
Manufacturer: Voyager Books
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ASIN: 0152020624 |
Book Description
The silent stories of our ancient land and its native peoples are given voice in reverential prose poems and radiant paintings.
Customer Reviews:
Knowing other cultures is important for all children. .......2007-04-04
This is my third copy. . Its a wonderful overview of many Native American cultural traditions. The map in the back is also outstanding. I keep giving it away. I really think it is special
Beautiful book.......2007-01-12
This book is beautiful and has inspired my class to write & draw.
Book Description
"Owens Valley is a land between, a place tucked behind high mountains, arid yet soaked in water history, draped in desert vegetation yet remembered for its verdant farms, sparsely dotted with towns--some no more than dreams on a map. It exists between stories, between vitality and decline, between granite mountains."--from the Introduction
A unique landscape history, A Land Between explores the central idea of how people's preconceptions and perceptions of a place--in this case, Owens Valley--influence their interventions on the land. Rebecca Fish Ewan draws on primary sources, oral histories, and conversations, offering a story that reaches beyond the oft-told tale of water wars with Los Angeles. Ewan's gentle and poetic essays, illustrated with historical images and her own photographs of the region, provide a complex, multifaceted perspective on the land, the history, and the people of Owens Valley.
Beginning with the land itself, the book's introduction describes the physical setting of Owens Valley and examines first impressions of the land--including accounts from Numu myth, observations by nineteenth-century settlers, and excerpts from the author's journal of her own travels on horseback from the valley into the Sierra Nevada. The first essay explores the valley's natural history, focusing on the water, mountains, and plants to show a connection between the ecology of place and human use. The second essay chronicles the major periods of human occupation, beginning with the Numu (also referred to as Owens Valley Paiute in many sources) and ending in 1913, when the Department of Water and Power first diverted Owens River into the Los Angeles aqueduct. The third essay considers the valley after the diversion of water, from 1913 to the present--including its use as a World War II Japanese internment camp and as a scenic locale for movies, especially westerns.
Owens Valley is renowned for its unique topography and its striking contrasts in elevation--rising from the below-sea-level depths of Death Valley to the 14,496-foot peak of Mt. Whitney. To search for the natural and cultural history embedded in Owens Valley, the author hiked to the top of that mountain, traveled on horseback across the meadows of the Kern Plateau, ventured on every forgotten dirt road in the valley that her truck could negotiate, and rambled on foot over the ancient stones of the Alabama Hills. A Land Between tells the stories of the people who have lived in the valley and uncovers the marks they have left on the land.
Customer Reviews:
Engaging, informative, scholarly, and highly recommended.......2001-04-29
Rebecca Fish Ewan's A Land Between is an engaging, informative, scholarly, and highly recommended title which examines the idea of how people's preconceptions of California's Owens Valley influenced their decisions about managing the land. Primary sources, oral histories and research provide a perspective on the land and residents of Owens Valley, examining its natural history, human occupation, and use over the decades. A unique and intriguing study.
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Between the Tides: A Fascinating Journey Among the Kamoro of New Guinea
David Pickell
Manufacturer: Tuttle Publishing
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ASIN: 0794600727 |
Book Description
Being a teen is not simple. There are a wide range of issues demanding their attention and examination, from discrimination to drugs, sexuality, friendship and stress. The Diary Project website(www.diaryproject.com), started in 1995, was created to give young people a safe place to discuss issues anonymously. From the privacy of their computers, they could share thoughts, dreams, fears and advice-and, most importantly, find that they re not alone. Today there are tens of thousands of diary entries on the site. Some are funny, some poignant, some profound. All are vividly real.
The Diary Deck collects a sampling of these writings. Each card includes one entry and three thought-provoking questions about its topic. The box also includes a mini-journal filled with guided questions to help teens start a diary of their own. The Diary Deck is a powerful tool to get teens, parents and teachers talking.
Customer Reviews:
great journal tool.......2003-06-06
An excellent tool for both teens and adult journalers. While it Each card has a small portion of a diary entry and three relevent questions. While it is geared to jr. high and high school age people, pretty much every thing here will also appeal to older journalers. Get this deck, you won't be dissapointed.
Amazon.com
"Poetry is a river / And solitude a bridge. / Through writing / We cross it, / Through reading / We Return." So writes Lebanese poet Kaissar Afif in Naomi Shihab Nye's aesthetically stunning anthology of poetry and paintings from the Middle East, The Space Between Our Footsteps. As Afif's poem beckons, so does Nye, inviting readers into a lush, vivid world in which more than 100 poets from 19 different Middle Eastern countries share their innermost feelings about place, family, war, and peace, scattered amid paintings reflecting pain, hope, and joy with rich, bold strokes.
Palestinian American poet, novelist, and anthologist Nye has made a name for herself with critically acclaimed books such as the autobiographical novel Habibi and the striking poetry collections This Same Sky and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You. This anthology rivals her previous work in both beauty and inspiration, and was nominated by the Young Adult Library Services Association as one of 1998's Best Books for Young Adults.
But this collection is not for teens only. The personal yet universal sentiments expressed in these poems and paintings will pierce hearts of all ages--as in Sharif S. Elmusa's "But I Heard the Drops": "My father had a reservoir / of tears. / They trickled down / unseen. / But I heard the drops / drip/from his voice / like drops / from a loosened tap. / For thirty years I heard them." Notes on the contributors round out the collection and help bring footsteps a world apart just a little closer together. --Brangien Davis
Customer Reviews:
Naomi Shihab Nye is a philanthropist, poet, educator..........2004-01-31
We are living in a time where being Arab, Muslim, or Southeast Asian makes one a "terror suspect." In this age of fear and ignorance, it is more important than ever for educators and readers of poetry to take a look at Nye's touching portraits of Arab and Arab American life. If these poems reveal the beauty, intelligence, and vitality of Arab and Arab Americans, then -- to the seething reader from Denver, CO-- you may find Nye guilty of being truthful: All human life is precious, and all human beings are capable of exceeding our expectations.
I first fell in love with Nye's poetry through "The Words Beneath the Words" and recommend all of her works. Educators, activists, lovers of poetry, please read and share Nye's work. They are more important then ever in creating peaceful relationships for the future.
Looking at the space between our footsteps.......2001-05-06
This is a wonderful book. It is full of the imagery and feelings that in turn, delight, amuse and sadden. Naomi Nye has compiled a collection of writers from various countries within the Middle East. Although the writers come from many countries and competing nationalities, there is a common commitment to peace. Since the poems are translated,rather than presented in the original languages, the reader does not have the benefit of the natural rhythms of the languages the poems were taken from. What the translations lack in terms of rhyme is more than made up by the poets' use of Metaphor. One poet talks about "drinking in the melancholy of morning". Another talks about being passed by trains with eyes looking back at you. The language is effective and persuasive. Many of the poems deal with loss. They deal with the loss of loved ones, the loss of time, the loss of relationships, but more importantly, they deal with the loss of basic human rights and something as basic as a homeland. The book has many fine paintings that supplement the text. They are all very well done and add to the feeling of the book. The reader of this book will not only read, but will also have an experience. All the senses except hearing will be involved. I recommend this book to anyone, particularly to Young Adults.
Beautiful and sensitive collection not just for children.......1998-12-09
This book has room in its heart for the passions and longings of writers from all of the Middle East. It offers readers, in beautiful poetry, the longings for place, for a loved past, for a more secure future, felt by Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Turks, Palestinians, Iraqis, Saudis, Egyptians, and more. Meticulously designed and printed, it offers art from across the Middle East that illuminates these poems and helps us learn with our children important lessons about that part of the world.
An exquisite book, and not just for kids........1998-07-07
I bought this book from amazon.com, fell in love with it & wrote the following review for The Capital Times, Madison WI's afternoon newspaper:
That this exquisitely beautiful, painfully direct and ultimately joyful book, "The Space Between Our Footsteps,'' is published under the imprint of Simon & Schuster's Books for Young Readers is an example of how badly we adults need to learn the lessons we try to teach our children.
The poems and paintings of more than 100 writers and artists from 19 countries are loosely grouped by theme,without a condescending preface or explanations of how to feel when we read or view them...This book is an ideal gift for anyone old enough to read "The Diary of Anne Frank,'' and to know that just as, for Anne, life went on as war went on, so it does today. It is for anyone who thinks he or she understands the conflicts in the Middle East, and for anyone whose life needs a sudden rush of beauty.
(Lin Seagren teaches in Stoughton WI and for the UW-Extension.)
Customer Reviews:
Dig in! It's crunchy and hot, with a hint of Soy........2007-01-23
An easy flow opening with a slight edge off Magdalena's humor gave the feel of a contented woman who had recently acquired the warm sharing and weak-kneed stability of freshly hewed married life. She had the best of all worlds and so did her reader, with the Inn in cozy, spicy swing and Magda's bedroom temporarily returned while her "Pooky Bear" was taking care of a few loose ends in Minneapolis. The first leisurely description of the Inn took root in that mood of lazy summer contentment.
Magda was so laid back that Melvin actually invited her to be his sleuthing partner in solving the murder which opened the plot (almost as an effective afterthought) with the clue of a buggy wheel imprint rolling suspicion into Amish territory. Even that situation hadn't shaken Magda's newly arrived cool.
However, it did get shaken.
A few subtle changes occurred in this # 5 in the PenDutch series.
The first change I noticed (and enjoyed) was the release from Melvin immediately posing Magda as his # 1 suspect, and his switch to "hiring" her as his sidekick. His growing respect for her was believable, and warmed both his character and Magda's; and their relationship nearly lost its previous cheese-grater quality (which was hilariously entertaining, but I had no trouble snuggling into this smoother exchange).
Observing related changes, in Magda's notched up sleuthing techniques due to her upgraded, "hired-on" status, was a kick, especially as she tied them to the tether of her value, her lifelong (ancestral) awareness of Amish habits, and her "in" in that culture (as a Presbyterian Melvin was an outsider). One scene in particular brought out that value, as Magda paused to observe surroundings in her approach to the farmhouse of a suspect family. The simple details were informative: Thirty head of dairy cows in a field meant that, even if the family was gone at the moment, they would return by evening to milk; and chickens would not be left unattended, due to various types of predators, which Magda listed with brief, interesting notations of when they hunted.
I felt honored to learn a few more habits and beliefs seated into Amish life, which I hadn't known before, even though I've reviewed several Amish novels by two authors (Tamar Myers and Barbara Workinger) who can be trusted to know their subjects and to detail them without heated investment in idealizing, nor in condemning the subculture. One belief in particular surprised me, yet "I should have known." It had to do with no witch's hats on Halloween. A few habits of intimacy came out indirectly, as a result of Magda's funny asides on sexual subtleties referring to the upstanding member of Aaron's "sleep" interruptions. Also brought out somewhat subtly, with warmth and humor, were varieties of attitudes of wives toward such.
While listing highlights of Amish lifestyle here, I noticed that my thoughts returned periodically to Tamar's latest novel, THE DARK SIDE OF HEAVEN, a literary offering (set outside Ms. Myers' highly successful murder mystery bailiwick) which has been nominated for a Pulitzer. In my opinion, that novel has certainly earned The Prize (see my review). I'm trying to recall the connections I saw while reading DARK SIDE, similarities to this # 5 PenDutch novel. They seemed to relate to Myers' change in writing style, and inclusion of daily realities of Amish life contrasted to English ways; rather than having to do with plot or theme, since Dark Side was not a murder mystery. It was a sensitive, yet humorous investigation into the realities of shunning. Only this author could write gently about such a heart wrenching situation, yet ease the reader into warm smiles and bursting-forth chuckles.
There's no doubt in my mind that Tamar Myers is an author of complex talent which is expressed with such a natural, spirited flair that it seems simply entertaining to many avid fans. It is that. And more. This rich depth of wide-scope talent was exposed in DARK SIDE.
Still, all sides of Tamar Myers authorship could be seen in WOK if the reader were to dig into the flavors, especially by noting the way Myers dramatized Magdalena's changing feelings for Aaron Miller, and her coming to terms with what he exposed in BETWEEN A WOK AND A HARD PLACE. I was amazed at how Myers was able to poke around (both subtly and blatantly) in male/female connections in general, in and outside of marriage, dealing with these human issues with uncanny insight and un-canned humor.
Don't miss the hierarchy presented by an author guest at the PenDutch who arranged publisher, editor, agent, and reviewer in a frustrated writer's order of intelligence. I can identify with the relative genius capacity of each professional position, as seen from viewpoints of each regarding the others. A gem of a book which deals exquisitely with just those perspectives is THE NOVEL by James A. Michener (see my review).
Warm into WOK for another multi-faceted, tasty sizzler from Tamar Myers. Add the bonus of recipes recapturing long lost yums!
Linda Shelnutt
Magdalena Deputized!.......2003-09-30
As in the other books in this series, this book is really thin in the plot area, and in this one the motive for the killing is not plausible, but it's still a funny story in it's own way. Readers must be die-hard cozy fans to enjoy this series, and they must be willing to give the author a lot of latitude since Ms. Myers really needs an editor for her books. This book is about what appears to be a hit-and-run murder, and at first glance it looks like it might be local Amish boys that did it. That is why Melvin Stoltzfus deputises Magdalena to help him solve the mystery. I'm really not sure about this series. Each book seems more disjointed than the last one, and they make less and less sense. But I do finish the books, even though it seems like an almost guilty pleasure.
Good Fortune Predicted for This Book.......2002-02-27
I don't know how she does it, but Ms. Myers has written yet another truly entertaining book in this - her 5th in her Penn/Dutch mystery series. Her new marriage ends in this one, which is an important reason to read these in order (so why doesn't the publisher put the Number on them?). Each page is engaging; her writing and wit superb. However in this book I found it to be somewhat weak in plot (that's why the 4 stars). The book is not a disappointment, though, as she carries it thru with her unique sense of humor and just plain talent. Don't miss it!
A hit-and-run mystery.......2001-06-26
Magdelena Yoder has always been the nemesis of police chief Melvin Stoltzfus. It might have something to do with the fact that she tends to solve crimes before he does. In this addition to the Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery series, Melvin decides since he can't beat her, he'll ask her to join him. Magdelena is called upon to be a temporary deputy in order to help Melvin solve the murder of an Asian visitor who has been strangled and then run over by an Amish buggy. Magdelena has her usual group of interesting guests at the PennDutch Inn and they are suspects along with some local teenage boys who love to drive their buggies around town late at night. She is unwittingly aided by her father-in-law who is in search of aliens and flying saucers and who helps her uncover some important evidence. This one is a bit thin as to the plot, and the murderer's motive is pretty shaky, but it's still good fun if you're a "cozy" fan.
Good fortune.......2001-02-27
I had missed this one in my collection, so I had to buy it and fill in the blanks. As always, Ms. Myers kept me chuckling the whole way through. Once I got started, I literally couldn't put it down. I was glad to find out the details about what happened to Aaron (the rat!). I love her characters (especially Freni) and the humor is terrific. I'm ready for another one!
Books:
- The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (African American History (Penguin))
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (Perennial Classics)
- The Red Badge of Courage (Tor Classics)
- The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa
- The Tao of Pooh
- The Three Musketeers (Barnes & Noble Classics)
- The Ultimate Gift (The Ultimate Series #1)
- The Varieties of Religious Experience
- The Venomous Reptiles of the Western Hemisphere, 2 Vol. Set (Comstock Books in Herpetology)
- Theogony, Works and Days (Oxford World's Classics)
Books Index
Books Home
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