Book of Thoth A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians, Equinox Volume III, No. V

Customer Reviews:

Best book on the Tarot on the market.......2006-11-30

This book brings the great Hermetic tradition which spawned tarot cards into clear focus. The meanings and magical significance of each of these cards is described in detail. You won't find this invaluable information anywhere else. The ancient tradition exhibited in the Tarot deck comes to life with Crowley's ideas in mind. Any magician would find this knowledge worthwhile. "Book of Thoth" is a must for any practitioner's occult library.

The Master of the Tarot.......2006-09-11

Crowely's Book of Thoth shows his mastery of the tarot, cabala, astrology and occultism in general. I have read this book four or five times, and I still don't understand some of it, but the portions that I have been able to assimilate are outstanding -- far better than the fuzzy wuzzy new age writing that has been creeping in to the occult genre since the advent of modern paganism in all its incarnations. Herein lies power and truth so seering and bright that it will blind you. I am not a Thelemite, and I am not a Crowely worshipper, but I must take my hat off to good writing.

I chose one random sentence from the book to illustrate the power of the writing. Crowley writes on the Death card, "The card itself represents the dance of death..." and elsewhere concerning the Princess of Wands "...she is unclothed, shewing that chemical action can only take place when the element is perfectly free to combine with its partner." I dare you to find another tarot book more powerfully written. I daresay you won't be able to accomplish such a task.

The Book of Thoth is the Tiphareth of my occult resources. I refer to it even before I refer to Agrippa or Hall. Buy it. Read it. Commit it to memory, O' thou seeker of wisdom.

Consider both books.......2006-08-28

Unless you're an expert Crowley reader, you might also appreciate Lon Milo Duquette's Book of Thoth, which aggregates the tables better and explains Crowley's writing in Duquette language -- a definite plus for one not completely attuned to Crowley's prose. But you really might consider ordering both together -- you'll appreciate from time to time looking at Crowley's original explanation which Duquette references.

Invaluable .......2006-06-30

This companion text to the Thoth Tarot is packed full of information straight from their creator's mind. While that can at times be problematic, in general the exceptionally detailed accounts that make no sense to the average individual can be passed by until applicable content is found. The text is an invaluable tool to use in connection with the Thoth Tarot. An excellent companion work to this text is DuQuette's "Understanding Crowley's Thoth Tarot" which I highly recomend if you find yourself lost in Crowley's explanations.

Aleister Crowley - Master Racist.......2005-10-12

This man was a fraud and racist of the most sinister class. He and his group of hate mongers used to chant to send "hate vibrations" into Black communities so that we would kill each other. He stands in a long line of confused, sick people who became fascinated by (and eventually set out to distort) the religious mythology of ancient Kemet (Egypt). If you buy this book it should be to burn it.

Questions & Answers: Civil Procedure (Multiple Choice and Short Answers Questions and Answers, First Edition Reprint)

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Questions & Answers: Civil Procedure (Multiple Choice and Short Answers Questions and Answers, First Edition Reprint)
William V. Dorsaneo III , and Elizabeth G. Thornburg
Manufacturer: LexisNexis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 082056186X

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A Modern Classic
Write what you know
Collected Stories of a Work in Progress
Reality in Fiction
Cry for the loss

The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake
Breece D'J Pancake , John Casey , and Andre Dubus III
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316715972

Book Description

Breece DJ Pancake cut short a remarkably promising career when he took his own life in 1979 at the age of 26. In 1983 Little, Brown and Companys posthumous publication of this booka collection of stories that depict, with astonishing power and grace, the world of Pancakes native rural West Virginiaelectrified the literary world with a force that still resounds across two decades. The Stories of Breece DJ Pancake has remained continuously in print, and Back Bay Books takes pride in now making the collection available in this new trade paperback edition. Andre Dubus III, who contributes a new introduction to this edition, is the author of the #1 bestseller House of Sand and Fog. A perennial favorite among aspiring writers, participants in creative writing programs, and students of contemporary American fiction. Trilobites, the first of Pancakes stories to be published in The Atlantic, elicited an extraordinary response from readers in 1977 and continues to be widely anthologized. Upon its initial publication, The Stories of Breece DJ Pancake received front-page reviews in newspapers and literary periodicals throughout the country.

Customer Reviews:

A Modern Classic.......2007-09-26

Writing instructors looking for a story that illustrates the "show, don't tell" principle will be pleased with Pancake. For example, there's a line in "Trilobites" in which the story's narrator recalls seeing the shadow of an airplane pass over the mountains in which he lives and thinking, for a split second, that it was ("I swear to God") the shadow of a pterodactyl. No thick blocks of exposition about how the land of his birth seemed to lie at the intersection of the ancient and the modern--Pancake gets it across in one sentence. I return to this book every few years, and I gain new insights and see new things to appreciate each time. It's hard to believe that the author was so young (in his twenties) when he wrote these stories.

Write what you know.......2007-06-14

I must have first seen this collection shortly after it came out in 1983. It was impossible not to be struck by the author's name, which seemed to me at the time to embody a uniquely American authenticity. Despite the hyperbolic praise heaped on it even then, I heard nothing of Mr. Pancake or his work until I came across a mention of it recently in another book. Perhaps too close to the author's age upon my first encounter, and unfortunately, too far from his level of maturity at the time, it was better to wait nearly a quarter of a century before reading him.

What impressed me the most was the author's command of his medium: not one superfluous word, and most remarkable in someone so young, the utter lack of artifice, of "cleverness," of the desperate attempt to impress the reader with the writer's erudition. Pancake clearly wrote about what he knew, and like Tolstoy, chose those details of environment and character that by their precision and descriptive power best evoked the whole.

Stylistically, the stories vary between first and third person, and except for "The Salvation of Me," take place in very short periods of time. In the temporal as well as the descriptive, the carefully chosen part succeeds in standing in for the whole.

The foreword by James Alan McPherson, and the afterword by John Casey, both who knew Pancake well, augment the stories by illuminating the man who wrote them. I am baffled by the inclusion of "A New Afterword" by Andre Dubus III, who never met Pancake, but like many people, was strongly affected by his writing. Pancake made his living as a teacher; I would have much preferred a reminiscence by one of his students, and if possible, by "the girl who had allowed him to kiss her cheek after several dates."

What comes through in each story is Pancake's genuine affection, and even more, respect for his characters. He is willing to allow them to be themselves, unlike many writers who use their characters simply as a means to make a point, to elucidate an argument, to convince us of their contempt. Pancake has no desire to prove anything, except the gentle observation of ordinary people limited by their circumstances. There is no blame, no "other" responsible for his protagonists' conditions, aside from the inherent limitation of life itself, of being human in a not entirely indifferent universe.

Unlike Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, and other writers who killed themselves, Pancake died too soon to realize a measure of success, and based on his popularity at this juncture, probably never will. Had he lived, even if he had never "matured," any additional work (dare we imagine, a novel or two?) would have assured his place among the great American writers of the last century. Sadly, the paucity of his production, despite its quality, can only render him a curiosity.

Collected Stories of a Work in Progress.......2007-01-06

Most of these stories, set in West Virginia, were written in the late 70's and early 80s. At that time the people of the hollows of WV were suffering through a period of recession comparable to the Great Depression. Mining which had been the backbone of the WV economy for over a hundred years, was dying or dead. Ecological and environmental concerns, as well as the growth of the use of oil to fire electric plants, had diminished the need for appalachian coal (also replace by the hugh open pit mines of Colorado and Arizona).

By the beginning of the 80s, towns were literally closing down and people were on the road like Oakies in the thirties. It was at this time that Pancake, having graduated from Marshall University, was beginning his writing career. He saw stories all around him, and his eye for detail is uncanny. Having lived the part, he has little trouble evoking the effect of poverty and hopelessness in his characters.

The problem I have with his stories is that many of them are plaintive narratives, without a beginning or end. They bring forth well defined problems and characters, but that's as far as they go. But maybe that's the way that Pancake wanted them to read.

Knowing that one day he put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, you can see his pain in the words of many of his characters. What was the cause of this pain? All are assumptions, only he knew the real reasons. But I'll say, having been there, his seems to me to have been an uncontrolled malaise (maybe a chemical imbalance or alcohol induced ennui)
that was never treated. On the other hand, maybe he was just bored. Either way, you have to take his stories from his standpoint and go on from there.

Reality in Fiction.......2006-09-07

The skillful rendering of characters rather than caricatures distinguishes Breece D'J Pancake's one and only book from many other works of contemporary fiction. The stories are set primarily in the hills, small towns, and hollows of West Virginia. The stories illustrate the hardscrabble lives and emotional struggles of characters on the periphery of many things: society (in "A Room Forever"), love (in "Trilobites" and "Hollow"), depravity (in "Fox Hunters"), acceptance (in "The Scrapper"), success (in "The Salvation of Me"), and a sense of self (in "First Day of Winter"). The fact that Pancake wrote these stories in his twenties gives them a certain kind of patina, a sadness of unfulfilled possibility, his characters would understand. In tight phrases, apt description, and with an ear for the cadence of speech, Pancake draws the fortunate reader in to be shocked, amazed, horrified, and altered by the slice of reality he has recorded.

Cry for the loss.......2005-05-28

Wow, if you have read previous ten reviews you'll think that Mr. Pancake was the embodiment of Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Malmud. It is truly unfortunate that he killed himself in 1979. If he had lived, today he might be one of America's great short story writers. His writing style is measured and sparse. It is as if he had not looked to expand his writer's pallet of possibilities.

Pancake's is a story worth knowing for its sense of profound loss not its sense of contribution. His stories of West Virginia draw you in and leave you with a satisfaction of understanding the protagonists and their situations. But, there are no deep messages. The deep messages were still in the heart and brain that were stopped by a self inflected shotgun blast. Cry for the loss. There is not a volume of work to celebrate.

We Don't Live Here Anymore: Three Novellas

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Effortlessly entertaining and ultimately relatable...
As Fine a Collection of Novellas as Anyone Ever Published
I Will Champion This Collection Until I Die
You'll think about it long after you've put it down.
Immaturity abounds in these dismal stories.

We Don't Live Here Anymore: Three Novellas
Andre Dubus
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1400079268
Release Date: 2004-08-17

Book Description

In these three stories—two of which form the basis of the award-winning film We Don’t Live Here Anymore—literary master Andre Dubus traces the lives of two couples who married too young, and who are intricately entwined by love and friendship, jealousy and understanding.
Hank and Jack have been best friends since high school. Hank married Edith, the prettiest girl Jack had ever seen, and Jack married Terry, whom he thinks he may no longer love. But Hank and Edith’s adultery didn’t begin or end with Jack and Terry. Moving, perceptive, rendered in clear-eyed prose, We Don’t Live Here Anymore maps with preternatural insight the often separate lands of love and marriage.

Customer Reviews:

Effortlessly entertaining and ultimately relatable..........2007-07-27

Andre Dubus is a masterful storyteller, as anyone whose read his work can attest to. He may generally focus on the one subject of relationships and marriage but he is so connected with that subject that the lack of creative range is forgiven. In this collection he gives us three novellas that focus on a group of four people. Jack, Terry, Hank and Edith, and with each respective story he breathes life into his characters and further cements them into the readers memory.

`We Don't Live Here Anymore' is the first novella in this collection and it's a brilliant way to start things off. Told through the eyes of Jack we are brought in on the lives of two married couples, Jack and Terry and Hank and Edith. We quickly learn that Jack is sleeping with Edith. They both love each other very much. Jack has slowly grown cold concerning his wife Terry. She is lazy and boring and not the woman he thought he knew. Edith on the other hand is spontaneous and young and she showers him with affection. Edith's husband Hank is an adulterous man who doesn't love her and has betrayed her before, leaving her adultery to come easy. Hank in fact has fallen in love with Terry who still loves her husband deeply but has grown depressed and hungry for attention, attention that Hank is willing to provide. Told with such brilliant dialog and heart breaking realism, the reader can truly find a place within this all too real story.

In `Adultery' we get a better look into the eyes of Edith and her relationship with husband Hank. We see that they have both come to a mutual understanding and carry on in their individual affairs, but while Hank seems to stay stifled in his way of thinking Edith grows from her relationship with dying ex-priest Joe. Edith becomes much more alive here and becomes endearing to the reader. I fell in love with her and sobbed along with her in the end. You can see that much of her character's persona in the film adaptation of the first novella is a direct derivative of the life Dubus breathes into her here.

It's in `Finding a Girl in America' though that my heart was truly touched. There's a passage in the first few pages where Hank, now separated with Edith and falling in love with nineteen year old Lori, dreams of his unborn child, the one he never knew almost was, and it brought me to tears. Now maybe this has to do with the fact that my wife and I are expecting our first, but regardless, the dream and Hanks reaction to the dream is both moving and emotionally connected to the reader. The balance of the story as well shows how this one event in his life helped mature him and push him in a new direction where he craves the stability and normality he once considered unnatural.

Upon closing this book one feels closure because all the lose ends that seemed to unravel within the first novella seem to find themselves by the closing words and make good for all their misspent mistakes. I still feel a sense of solace for Jack and Terry for I fear they may never find happiness, but Edith and Hank are so well fleshed out and discovered that I feel warmth towards them both and am encouraged by their struggle to find themselves and their journey. `We Don't Live Here Anymore' tackles some very controversial yet ultimately familiar subjects and is a collection that will sit well with the reader and remain in their minds for a long time to come.

As Fine a Collection of Novellas as Anyone Ever Published.......2006-06-09

The three novellas collected here -- We Don't Live Here Anymore, Adultery, and Finding a Girl in America -- all concern an overlapping cast of characters, notably our man Hank, a Dubus doppelganger who can't seem to find the right balance between freedom and devotion, but who is drawn with such empathy that we forgive him even as those he has loved and wronged forgive him in the stories. My favorite of the three is Finding a Girl in America, and it's good enough as a standalone novella, but even better when read against the backdrop of the two that precede it.

My only gripe about this collection is that the publishers removed "The Pretty Girl", which was included in an earlier edition, but it's a choice that makes perfect sense, because "The Pretty Girl" is not linked with the other three novellas.

If you enjoy these stories, consider checking out "Voices from the Moon," Dubus's finest novella, collected in his Selected Stories. Check out "Rosa," too, and, hell, everything he ever committed to print.

I Will Champion This Collection Until I Die.......2006-04-18

Important lessons from this amazing book:

1. Less is not always more, more is more.
2. Characters can be complex. In fact, they must be.
3. Dubus' world is a luscious, richly painted place--why do other writers render their world in black and white?
4. Stories can wrap their arms around you and embrace you for days--even weeks. They can slow you down, in all the best ways.
5. Details--By the end of this trio of novellas, you will have been to another place. It's good to get away.

Get lost here. It's an important place to be.

You'll think about it long after you've put it down........2006-01-22

This book is a collection of three novellas. Each containing the same characters as we trace them through the years. The stories follow two young couples, Jack and Terry and Hank and Edith. Jack and Hank are both literature professors at a small New England college and Terry and Edith are housewives and mothers. They're all best friends and they all married too young. This book is broken into three novellas, "We Don't Live Here Anymore," features Jack's first-person narrative. "Adultery" is Edith's version of events, and the final story, "Finding a Girl in America" is Hank's saga of trying to move on after a failed marriage. The characters in these stories are so vivid. That's the one thing I love about Andre Dubus's writing power. The characters just aren't fictional people, they become people living in the house next to you. Sure, it is bleak and depressing at times, but what marriage isn't?

Immaturity abounds in these dismal stories........2005-12-06

I was very interested in the first story in this collection because at the outset it looked like it would take a look beneath the surface of relationships. Instead the story quickly became a silly adolescent soap opera acted out by supposed adults. The four central characters are comprised of two married couples. Each spouse has an affair with his/her friend's spouse. And they all pretend this isn't going on and that they're still all friends. The four characters are among the most unlikeable, narcissistic, immature, non-credible characters I've ever read about. The two male characters teach at a college, but could just as easily be portrayed as accountants, factory workers, or computer programmers. The characters have absolutely no depth. The men in the story clearly suffer from "Peter Pan" syndrome. The author is trying so hard to say something important with these stories, but it's a mystery what that is. In short he seems to think that immature behavior somehow represents honesty. If you want to read about four people who never outgrew high school adolescent behavior this may be the book for you. Apparently Dubus saw something he liked in these characters because he wrote three novellas including them. Unfortunately the movie is just as dismal as the book--even more so actually.

Average customer rating:

Unusual story, well written
Poignant at times, but otherwise hilarious!!!
Glad I followed my own judgement!
Interesting life, poorly written.
Stranger than Fiction

Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis
Eric Myers
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312246552

Book Description

Edward Everett Tanner III, under his pseudonyms of Patrick Dennis and Virginia Rowans, was the author of sixteen novels - most of them bestsellers - including the classics Little Me and Genius.But, despite the success of his other works, he is by best known and best remembered for his most indelible creation - Auntie Mame. Born and raised in the affluent suburbs of Chicago, Tanner moved to New York City after World War II and embarked upon a writing career.His first two books were published with a whimper - attracting few reviews and fewer sales - and his third book was rejected by nineteen publishers before being accepted at a relatively small house.But Auntie Mame became a phenomena spending two years on the bestseller lists, adapting into a successful play, movie, and later a musical.As a result of this and later successes, Tanner made millions and became the toast of a certain bohemian segment of Manhattan arts society. He also spent every cent he ever made.Torn between his wife and family and his own awakening realization of his homosexuality, he separated from his wife and moved to Mexico. By the early 70's, his writing career over, he embarked upon a new career - as a butler to some of the wealthiest families in America. Based on extensive interviews with co-workers, friends, and relatives, Uncle Mame is a revealing, appealing portrait of a great American character.Easily the counterpart of such revered wits as P. G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh, Dennis is not only the man who brought camp to the American mainstream but he also lived a life as wild, poignant, madcap, and intriguing as any of his own books.

Customer Reviews:

Unusual story, well written.......2005-05-18

Kudos to the author for tackling a very difficult subject and bringing him beautifully to life.

I read this book because I always wanted an Auntie Mame, and wanted to know about the life of the man who conceived her. His life and wit was every bit as colorful as his best known creation.

Edward Tanner's life was full of contradictions. He was a success who's father always considered him a failure. He was a gay man who loved having a family, including wife and children. He was a success who was afraid of the day he would become old hat, and saw that day arrive.

I was mostly interested in how he lost all his millions (he spent lavishly until it was gone), and went on to become a successful butler. I was especially fascinated by his brief stint as a butler to the Kroc family.

The best parts of this book are the inclusion of letters to his children and friends.

Poignant at times, but otherwise hilarious!!!.......2004-04-23

What a life!! Mr. Edward Everett Tanner (a.k.a. "Pat"...Patrick Dennis...Virginia Rowans) did EVERYthing, wasn't afraid of ANYthing. From the experiences of his deep and lifelong commitment to friends, to wife and children, sprang all of the side-splitting laughter he has left us---"Auntie Mame", though definitely his chef-d'ouvre, is nonetheless only a small part of the body of his extensive work.

Too bad it took him the better part of his life to come out to himself---maybe it would have made a difference in his literary output, since so much of his comedy was tied to then-clandestine camp. But who knows or cares? Any man who can find humor even in the penury of his last years is a creative genius on any level.

You'll laugh often, and out loud, and get some great lines for cocktail conversation!!

Glad I followed my own judgement!.......2004-04-23

I was in a quandry about which book on Patrick Dennis I would buy and after reading a few of the rather scathing reviews of this one I almost passed it. Glad I changed my mind! If you are the kind of person who is in love with the witty language displayed by the likes of Dennis, I can certainly see why the prose style of this straightforward non-fiction book might be off putting. However, I found it a clean read, fair minded, extremely well researched and, as someone who didn't know much about the era or the author, I appreciated the fact that some things were explained to me. I wasn't born yet and can't have been expected to gain this knowledge through cultural osmosis. I wasn't writhing with glee over the charming language, I was absorbed by the information in the book. One reviewer on this site went into a tizzy because the author actually had the temerity to explain the culture of "camp", as if all of us live in an urban atmosphere and can expect to be surrounded by witty drag goddesses. Some of us just don't live in that world and appreciate contextualization of the subculture that helps to explain the eccentric Dennis. I was touched in particular by some of the details of Dennis's life, such as his night time encounter with a German soldier who stole his cigarettes but left him otherwise unharmed and richer for a map back to his own troops. That kind of story is gold. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Interesting life, poorly written........2003-07-15

I was interested in this book after recently enjoying "Little Me" and I was especially curious about how that book was created and the "cast". I was especially interested in whatever-happened-to Jeri Archer, who portrayed Belle Poitrine in such a delightful way.

Unfortunately, the author simply quotes the photographer's (Cris Alexander) extremely spiteful comments about her, without any balancing commentary. An incident detailed in the book describes the source of the enmity: halfway through the shoot, Jeri Archer demanded double her promised fee to continue, creating bad blood and ill-feeling. Although she later expressed regret at her hardball tactics, the photographer Alexander is merciless in denigrating her in this book. A casual reader would gather that she was a mere prostitute pulled off the street for the project, when in fact she was an actress who had appeared in plays and vaudeville burlesques, worked as a model for both high fashion and Good Housekeeping, and did voiceover work for commercials.
In "Uncle Mame" Alexander crassly describes how many sex acts she would have to perform to earn the same amount as for "Little Me", insinuates strongly that she was a prostitute, calling her an "operator".

It strikes me as extremely unfair on several counts: most importantly,her portrayal of Belle Poitrine contributed immeasurably to the book's success; she played the role extremely well, and humorously; and as the endnote of "Little Me" attests, over half the costumes and jewelry used in the shoots were her own.

I only wish that the photographer's comments were balanced with some overview of her career and her contribution to "Little Me"- her expressions had me in stitches 42 years later, and I think it saddening that she is so denigrated in this book . She portrayed a gold -digger and acted like one- so what? Hollywood actresses do it all the time.

The final sloppy insult: in the endnotes to "Uncle Mame" it says that Jeri Archer died of cancer "ca. 1970" Circa? We're not talking about ancient history here, just lazy research and smears upon the person who helped make "Little Me" such a classic. She deserves better , I think.

Other than this, I found it very poorly written, chronologically incoherent at times, and the author is given to undignified,subjective declarations( "it was fabulous!") and tiresome attempts to explain "camp" humor.

Stranger than Fiction.......2002-09-03

This is an excellent biography of someone who was larger in life than his most famous creation. If you wrote it as a novel, no one would ever believe it, especially the denouement. The writing is droll and wise. This is well worth reading by anyone who loves farce or the theatre.

Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross (Penguin Classics)

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Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross (Penguin Classics)
no title
Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross
I'm not usually moved by books but....
Bringing It All Together

Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross (Penguin Classics)
Sigrid Undset
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0141182350
Release Date: 2000-04-03

Book Description

The definitive new translation of the masterwork of Scandinavia's most beloved author is now complete.

Kristin Lavransdatter is a story of love, loyalty, and betrayal, set against a richly detailed historical backdrop of fourteenth-century Norway. The Cross (1922) finds Kristin returning with her husband, Erlend, and their sons to her childhood home, Jorundgaard. As the boys grow older, Kristin is increasingly worried about their prospects, and she and Erlend become estranged. The most devastating and emotional volume in the trilogy, The Cross chronicles the trials and losses Kristin must bear. Tiina Nunnally's exquisite rendering of this unforgettable novel, both more faithful to the beauty of the original Norwegian and more readable than the existing translation, is the first new English translation of Undset's masterpiece.

Translated with Notes by Tiina Nunnally and introduction by Sherrill Harbison

Customer Reviews:

Kristin Lavransdatter III: The Cross (Penguin Classics).......2007-03-10

I recommend this book to anyone who loves to read good literature.

no title.......2006-02-02

After having read all three books - Wow! She deserved the Nobel Prize. This last book is a great read - much exciting stuff. And how she understood what a mother feels about her sons - and their leaving her.

Kristin Lavransdatter, The Wreath, The Wife, The Cross.......2004-07-10

Sigrid Undset is a master at character and place. She seamlessly draws you into medieval Norway while captivating you with the depth and humanity of her characters. I read them breathlessly captivated. No wonder Ms. Undset received a Nobel Prize for these historical novels--among the best I've ever read. Bravo, Sigrid Undset.

I'm not usually moved by books but...........2003-09-10

...this one brought me to tears in more than one place. If you're reading "The Cross," or considering purchasing it, you've probably already read the first two books in the series and are caught up in the story. Is this book worth it? Yes. It's not an uplifting read by any means, but it brings the Kristin story to a logical -- though heartbreaking -- conclusion. I am in awe of Undset for her creation of such believable characters, and grateful to her for this glimpse into medieval life. Nunnally's translation is clear and reads smoothly. This, along with "The Wreath" and "The Wife," is one of those books you hate to see end.

Bringing It All Together.......2002-08-05

THE CROSS is the final shattering novel in Sigrid Undset's KRISTAN LAVRANSDATTER trilogy. In it, Kristin reaps both the rewards and sorrows of the choices she sowed in the first two volumes.

In the first novel, Kristin's passion for Erlend Nikulausson led her to break her betrothal to Simon Andresson. In the second volume, Kristin sought to atone for her sin (she was already pregnant when she celebrated her wedding with Erlend), but had to struggle to forgive Erlend for leading her astray. In THE CROSS, the consequences of Kristin's choices all come to a head. The first section of the novel focuses on Simon, who has been a faithful friend to Kristin and Erlend, even as he continued to harbor feelings for Kristin. In the mid-section of the novel, Kristin and Erlend strive to find peace with one another. While their passion for one another never died, they were never fully able to overcome the mismatch in their marriage. And in the final section, we follow Kristin as she seeks acceptance from her seven sons, and most importantly from God.

For while KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER seems to be a novel about love, friendship, and marriage, its deepest message is about the struggle of deeply-flawed humans to reconcile themselves with God. The trilogy is set in medieval Norway and all of the characters order their lives (as best they can) around the Christian moral order. Even as they knowingly fail, the Faith is a part of the very air they breathe.

The miracle of Sigrid Undset's trilogy is the clarity of her perception into the human condition. All of these characters live and breathe, and (more startling) we see clearly how they impact each other through the tangled webs of their lives. But Undset's literary talent is embedded in a sharp religious vision, which points to God's relationship with us as sinners. Undset never denies the good in Kristin's passion for Erlend. Nor does she hide the devastating consequences their passion had on each other and on all of the lives they touched. Often, to sin is not to choose that which is evil, but rather to choose a lesser good. Yet as the saying goes, God can write straight with crooked lines, and at the end of this extraordinary trilogy, Kristin comes to see how God has been with her through all of the light *and* through all of the dark. We walk away from the novel enthralled by the grandeur of the story we live out in this fallen world, and the enormous love God has for us.

Book Description

History shows that leadership is crucial in war, but there are other factors at work. What if history were given a twist or two, and great commanders on land and sea fought their greatest battles under different circumstances? Suppose General Douglas MacArthur had been captured before he could escape from Manila and became a prisoner of war? Suppose Joan of Arc had not been burned for heresy and had gone on to lead France to very different victories? Suppose Genghis Khan had been a convert to Judaism and his horde fought for a different cause than in our universe? Turtledove and his colleagues¿Esther M. Friesner, Judith Tarr, Mike Resnick, Brad Linaweaver, Roland J. Green, and more¿turn the past upside down and inside out, and the possibilities are endless. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Not awful but not fantastic either. .......2007-09-03

Oh all of the stories the kindest thing you can say about most of them is "uninspired." For the last time people Alternate History means Alternative not one more meaningless series of reversal stories and superman stories.

Reversal stories are what I call those stories where the historical events are the same but the players are on opposite sides. An example of this would be John Paul Jones fighting for the British Navy(Granted this appeared in Alternate Generals #1 but the theory is sound).

Superman stories are where the greatest military minds in history just so happen to be present for a particular battle at a particular time. One example of this story in this volume is "I shall return" where Billy Mitchell, George Patton and Omar Bradly stop the invasion of the Philippines.

The only story worth anything in this hum-drum so-so installment is about the conversion of the Mongols to the Jewish faith.

Overall-Are these stories all that bad or do I just read to many of them? I wish I knew which.

Any fan of alternate history science fiction will find this an excellent collection........2007-08-04

Harry Turtledove edits ALTERNATE GENERALS III, which provides a series of alternate reality stories recreating history as it could have been had decisive battles and encounters been different. Any fan of alternate history science fiction will find this an excellent collection.

Better Than the First, Less Than the Second.......2007-06-25

I like alternate history stories. That's what this is. Each short story asks "what if" to change an important point in history. They are generally very entertaining to me.

That being said, I did not care all that much for the first volume. The second was a great improvement and I had high hopes for this one. Instead, it fell somewhere between the first two.

The stories are generally creative and are technically well written but are not always that interesting. That does not keep the occasional nugget from being present but they are too far between.

One of the best I've read this year.......2007-05-13

I didn't even realize this book was out until I happened to pick it up. An excellent collection of stories, from the subtle to the totally weird, this collection is worth looking into. If you like alternative histories you won't be able to help liking this one.

Nice Alt-Hist Collection.......2005-09-29

As with the other two volumes in the series, this book ranges far and wide through the what-if universe. My particular favorite is Old Hickory's stand in Savannah, written as a series of letters between two brothers. This is a well written collection. However, I did not like "First, Catch an Elephant" at all, it doesn't seem to fit the tone of the book, especially when compared to "Murdering Uncle Ho."

Average customer rating:

A SONOROUS AND THOUGHTFUL READING

The Short Stories Volume III
Ernest Hemingway
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 0743527291

Book Description

Before he gained wide fame as a novelist, Ernest Hemingway established his literary reputation with his short stories. Set in the varied landscapes of Spain, Africa, and the American Midwest, this definitive audio collection traces the development and maturation of Hemingway's distinct and revolutionary storytelling style -- from the plain bold language of this first story to his mastery of seamless prose that contained a spare, eloquent pathos, as well as a sense of expansive solitude. These stories showcase the singular talent of a master, the most important American writer of the twentieth century.

The Short Stories Volume III features Stacy Keach reading such favorites as: An Alpine Idyll, A Pursuit Race, Today is Friday, Banal Story, Now I Lay Me, After the Storm, A Clean, Well-lighted Place, The Light of the World, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen, The Sea Change, A Way You'll Never Be, The Mother of the Queen, One Reader Writes, Homage to Switzerland, A Day's Wait, A Natural History of the Dead, Wine of Wyoming, The Gambler, The Nun, and the Radio, and Fathers and Sons.

ALL STORIES ARE UNABRIDGED

Customer Reviews:

A SONOROUS AND THOUGHTFUL READING.......2003-03-13

Acclaimed film actor Stacy Keach gives thoughtful and sonorous reading to the words of Ernest Hemingway in this the third volume of Hemingway's stories from Simon and Schuster Audio. For many listeners Keach, who has read the two earlier collections, has become the voice of the unforgettable author who seemed to be as large in life as he was in literature. The very timbre of Keach's voice can evoke the 1920s, the years that Hemingway chronicled so indelibly.

While many favorites are included in this collection, one is especially probing considering our world today - "A Clean, Well-lighted Place." First appearing in 1933, this is a brief, poignant account of an hour or so in a Spanish café. Two waiters, one older, one younger, serve a much older man who has become inebriated. The waiters discuss the older man's life, and seque into deeper opinions of the value of existence.

"After The Storm" is set in one of the author's favorite locations, the Florida Keys. It is the story of a sponge fisherman and the booty he almost commands.

Well chosen for their variety and reflections of Hemingway's style and ethos, the many tales included in this collection are well worth listening to again and again - especially when read by the estimable Keach.

Book Description

To an avid reader, there's nothing better than discovering a great story . . . one that transports you to another world. Great Stories Remembered III, part of the Focus on the Family's Great Stories collection, contains stories such as "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" by Rudyard Kipling and "Something of Father's" by C. G. Kent. Most selections were penned over a half-century ago--preserved from a gentler era, when families were close and friends were forever--yet their vivid characters and poignant truths move us still. Beautifully written and suitable for the whole family, these short stories are great for gift giving or for reading by the light of the fire!

Customer Reviews:

A Literary Treasure.......2000-10-24

Great Stories Remembered is brimming with touching and inspirational stories that encourage the reader to cling to and uphold traditional values. They are perfect for reading aloud with your family and when the individual is seeking something that is both renewing and refreshing. The anthology contains de Maupassant's The Necklace and a charming love story called Letter to Edith.There are many other notable stories as well. Any reader who enjoys the Chicken Soup series will find this book to be just as impressionable.

The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: Seclections from the Frontier Stories: Volume III (Louis L'Amour)

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The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour: Seclections from the Frontier Stories: Volume III (Louis L'Amour)
Louis L'Amour
Manufacturer: Random House Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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A Trail of Memories: The Quotations Of Louis L'Amour

ASIN: 0375435352
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Book Description

With more than 120 titles still in print, Louis L'Amour is recognized the world over as one of the most prolific and popular American authors in history. Though he met with phenomenal success in every genre he tried, the form that put him on the map was the short story. Now this great writer – who The Wall Street Journal recently compared with Jack London and Robert Louis Stevenson – will receive his due as a great storyteller. This volume kicks off a series that will, when complete, anthologize all of L'Amour’s short fiction, volume by handsome volume.

Here, in Volume One, is a treasure-trove of 35 frontier tales for his millions of fans and for those who have yet to discover L'Amour’s thrilling prose – and his vital role in capturing the spirit of the Old West for generations to come.

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