Cold Mountain: A Novel

Amazon.com

This unabridged audio version of Cold Mountain, read by author Charles Frazier, deserves at least as much acclaim as the bestselling print edition, which won the National Book Award. The tale chronicles a Confederate army deserter's search for home and love in the last days of the Civil War.

Much has been made of the story's homage to The Odyssey, the origins of which are found in an oral tradition. One can't help but hear echoes of Homer when listening to Frazier's soft, deliberate voice give life to his lyrical writing and to his understated, yet convincing rendering of the overwhelming events of war. Both Frazier's prose and reading are leisurely, recalling a slow foot pace. His delivery is uniquely suited to Innman's arduous, adventure-filled walk toward home and to the possibility of a reunion with Ada, the woman he loves. The author's reading does equal justice to Ada, who is being transformed by her struggle for survival on her father's farm. There is precious little dialogue, and Frazier makes no effort at acting out the characters.

One small irritation in the production is a beeping noise at the end of each side. Another minor complaint is that the tapes don't have individual boxes, which was perhaps an attempt to make the overall package appear more booklike. The recording does, however, make deft use of two brief musical interludes. In a subtle twist, the fiddle music that opens the first cassette, when repeated as an accompaniment to the epilogue, carries a bittersweet and unexpected resonance. By all means, forgive Random House Audio the tiny glitches, pass over that slender abridged version, and take home the real thing. This audiocassette is a journey that will leave few listeners unchanged by the experience. (Running time: 14.5 hours, 12 cassettes) --Naomi J. Cohn

Book Description

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

One of the most acclaimed novels in recent memory, Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain is a masterpiece that is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished American in all its savagery, solitude, and splendor.

Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, Inman, a Confederate soldier, decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge Mountains and to Ada, the woman he loved there years before. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign. At the same time, Ada is trying to revive her father's derelict farm and learn to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away. As it interweaves their stories, Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic American Odyssey--hugely powerful, majestically lovely, and keenly moving.

Customer Reviews:

Looking forward to reading again.......2007-09-12

This award winning story takes us back to the waning years of the Civil War in the lands east of Tennessee. The story uses two action fronts to relate the struggle of one ex-confederate soldier, Inman, to reach his beloved Ada. Both are struggling just to survive. He must cross hundreds of miles of rugged terrain on foot while simultaneously avoiding those who would kill him for desertion while Ada must learn how to survive on the farm she inherited from her recently deceased father. The vocabulary and descriptions in Cold Mountain are so very rich and full of colorful imagery that it is sometimes easy to mistake the prose for poetry. And though recently published, I'm sure that this passionate novel will constitute a welcome addition to the canon of American literature. Highest recommendations.

If you saw the movie, disregard it. Doesn't even compare to this work of literature.

Eh-.......2007-09-08

I just read a review from another reader that said that they threw this book in the trash when they were about 100 pages from the end. I am at that point, and while I won't throw it away, I am struggling to get through it. It's not that I feel it's written poorly or the characters lack depth, it's just boring. A whole page devoted to the task of yard work. I don't enjoy yard work so why would I want to read page after page about doing it? I know there there are other things going on but the detailed descriptions of corn cribs and bedspreads do not entice me to turn the page. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but I wouldn't recommend spending full price on it. Do go near it if you have ADD.

Lyrical, small history.......2007-09-05

I am realy coming to appreciate the modern trend to approach historical fiction from the standpoint of the small, personal history rather than the large, sweeping saga. Cold Mountain takes you down to the grassroots of the Civil War, a view you won't find in Gone with the Wind. (no offense intended - I enjoy those epic novels as well!) Frazier's language draws clear pictures that draw you into his protaganist's journey. I actually had no desire to see the movie, as the book had been so well brought to life in my mind by Frazier's words.

It ain't easy.......2007-08-26

Wow, just finished it. I had seen the movie, and knew that I liked it, but had forgotten the ending by the time I got to the book. My first impression was that it was not going to be something that I was just going to breeze through. The pictures that Frazier paints are so in depth, but rather than become cumbersome, it drew me in even more. The character development was unlike anything that I've ever read. It made me long for simpler times and the day when I can get out of the rat race and settle onto a farm myself. Highly recommended.

Let's Switch Focus .......2007-07-02

'Cold Mountian' was a book of great character development, but contained little else. When we first decided to read this book, both Kyle and I noticed that we could find many copies of it at the used bookstores that we frequented. This is usually a bad sign that we did not notice. Most of the story is occupied by the adventures of Inman on his odyssey home as he turns-tail from the fighting during the Civil War. He meets many interesting characters that always seem to cause problems for his journey following his overcome of the last troublesome situation. While the story of Inman hogs the book, the side account of Ada and her pursuit to revive the family farm gives us a glimpse of how 'Cold Mountain' might be a National Award Winner. The character development of Ada and her helping-hand, Ruby, is much more elaborate and enticing to the reader. I would feel better about seeing that gold sticker on the front cover of this book had I been able to focus my attention on Ada and Ruby instead of the overwhelming conflicts of Inman.

An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation

Average customer rating:

Misleading title; really just a medicore climb journal
Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure
An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD.

An Eye at the Top of the World: The Terrifying Legacy of the Cold War's Most Daring C.I.A. Operation
Pete Takeda
Manufacturer: Thunder's Mouth Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs (Modern War Studies)
The Boys of Everest: Chris Bonington and the Tragedy of Climbing's Greatest Generation
To the Ends of the Earth: Adventures of an Expedition Photographer
High Infatuation: A Climber's Guide to Love and Gravity
Illustrated Atlas of the Himalaya

ASIN: 1560258454

Book Description

At some point during the inhumanly cold Himalayan winter straddling 1965 and 1966, a peculiar collection of box-shaped objects — one sprouting a six-foot, insect-like antenna — plummets nine thousand feet down the sheer flanks of a remote peak. Ripped from its moorings by an avalanche, the jumbled apparatus slides down a funnel-shaped hourglass of hard snow and shoots over a black cliff band, careening a vertical distance six times the height of the Empire State building. The boxes come to rest on the glacier at the mountain's base. One, an olive-drab casing the size of a personal computer, begins to sink. Then, trailing a robotic dogtail of torn wires, it slowly burns through the snow, melting into solid blue glacial ice, eventually disappearing beneath the surface, and never seen again.

No one actually witnessed this event. But as you read these words, nearly four pounds of plutonium — locked in the glacier's dark unknowable heart — are almost certainly moving ever closer to the source of the Ganges River.

Eye at the Top of the World, provides a harrowing present-day account of Takeda’s expedition to solve the mystery of Nanda Devi.

Customer Reviews:

Misleading title; really just a medicore climb journal.......2007-10-08

Quite disappointing. I was expecting a documentary about the CIA missions, instead it is a journal of a modern climb along the same route. Unfortunately, the story is poorly told: the characters could be compelling (they're real people!), but the writing just never develops them as the author just dumps detail on us leaving us with an impression of cardboard cutouts. The story could be compelling (high altitude climbing is tough and tricky), but again, the author choses the wrong details. Combine the poor telling with with poor fact checking by the editor (e.g., Padilla was not a dirty bomb maker, a fact known in 2005 whereas this book's copyright is 2006, etc) and numerous spell-checker induced spelling errors and low quality photo reproductions...

Apparently I wanted Spies in the Himalayas: Secret Missions and Perilous Climbs (Modern War Studies) by M.S. Kohli and Kenneth Conboy. Perhaps you do as well.

Gripping Read; Chilling Historical Event; Modern Day Adventure.......2006-12-21

This book is a rare breed--a story that blends the recounting of a gripping and alarmingly serious historical event with a fascinating 1st person story of personal discovery and adventure. For anyone from history buffs to armchair mountaineers to concerned citizens, this book has something to offer. If anything, I'm surprised that the book hasn't garnered more attention, especially considering that the environmental crisis that may result from the botched CIA mission in the 1960s could become a chillingly deadly and vicious situation for one of the world's most populous nations.

Read the book, you won't be disappointed!

An Eye At The Top Of The World wins 2007 HIMALAYAN LITERATURE AWARD........2006-10-23

An Eye At The Top Of The World has jointly received the first prize from the 2007 Kekoo Naoroji Memorial Himalayan Literature Award.

The Himalayan Club, based in New Delhi, awards the Kekoo Naoroji Award in association with Naoroji family and Godrej Industries for the best book on mountains of Himalaya published during a year.

JURY VERDICT:
"Well written with crisp authority on both scientific and mountaineering matters Peter Takeda`s AN EYE AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD is a survey of secret climbing expeditions to Uttarakhand in the 1960`s crafted with considerable skill. It combines in an expedition narrative the details of earlier clandestine climbs where American and Indian operatives placed and lost on Nanda Devi a nuclear powered spying device and replaced it with another (later recovered) on Nanda Kot. Radical in its concept, Takeda tracks down convincingly the planning and execution of this startling CIA operation, and has written a mountaineering thriller into the bargain. For years rumours have floated around the mountaineering fraternity and it is fascinating to have a good many of them confirmed though their sequence may have been mixed up. Despite being written for a lay American readership and from an American point of view, this a sensitive enquiry and the author`s feelings for the Nanda Devi region come across as both intimate and real. Bound to be controversial, the book`s sober tone guarantees its uncomfortable disclosures and their presumed fallout on the environment will find a lasting audience. The jury is unanimous in according joint first place to this compelling story."

Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition

Average customer rating:

Apple Seeds Hollywood
Not required reading
Disappointed. Not what I expected
How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition
A Must Have Book!

Behind the Seen: How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition
Charles Koppelman
Manufacturer: New Riders Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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In the Blink of an Eye Revised 2nd Edition
The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film
The Cutting Edge - The Magic of Movie Editing
First Cut: Conversations with Film Editors
On Film Editing

ASIN: 0735714266

Amazon.com

Cold Mountain, the recent film based on the Charles Frazier novel, is a love story set during the American Civil War. Behind the Seen, being the story of how accomplished film editor Walter Murch (of Apocalypse Now fame), is also a story of love in a time of internal conflict. The difference being that Behind the Seen has to do with how Murch used Final Cut Pro, a software package that runs on any modern Macintosh and costs less than $1000, to edit Cold Mountain and thereby incite debate among professional film editors. Can such a mass-market product, accessible to anyone with a camcorder and a FireWire cable, be a serious tool for professionals? Murch proved that it can.

Behind the Seen deals with the technical accomplishment of using Final Cut Pro to assemble a feature film, but more importantly explains to its readers how shooting and editing work--and how the personalities involved in Cold Mountain worked together. This is a book of nonfiction that you can read from beginning to end; it is a technical book but not in the click-and-drag sense. Rather, it's a story about a creative team and the tools they used to deliver a work of drama. --David Wall

Topics covered: How Cold Mountain was shot and edited, using Final Cut Pro as the principal editing suite.

Book Description

The first volume to reveal the post-production process of a major motion picture (Cold Mountain) edited entirely in Final Cut Pro!

Offers a rare inside glimpse at the creative process of one of cinema's giants: threetime Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch.
Includes anecdotes from the director, edit staff, and producers; photos, emails, and journal entries from Murch; and behind-the-scenes insights.
Accounts from Apple's Final Cut Pro team about what they think about the future of it in feature films.

As the first software-only desktop nonlinear editing system, Final Cut Pro sat the film industry on its ear when it debuted back in 1999. Now it's shaking things up again as editor Walter Murch, director Anthony Minghella, and a long list of Hollywood heavy-hitters are proving that this under-$1,000 software can (and should) be used to edit a multi-million dollar motion picture! This book tells the story of that endeavor: the decision to use Final Cut Pro, the relationship between the technology and art (and craft) of movie-making, how Final Cut Pro was set up and configured for Cold Mountain, how the software's use affected the work flow, and its implications for the future of filmmaking. More than anything, however, this is Murch's own story of what seemed to many a crazy endeavor-- told through photos, journal entries, email musings, and anecdotes that give readers an inside view of what the film editor does and how this particular film progressed through post-production. The book includes, in his own words, Murch's vision, approach, and thoughts on storytelling as he shapes Cold Mountain under the intense pressures of completing a major studio film.

With Academy Awards for his work on Apocalypse Now and The English Patient, sound and film editor Walter Murch is one of the few universally acknowledged editing masters in cinema. Along with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, he is one of the founding members of the Northern California cinema community. Author Charles Koppelman has been writing screenplays and directing video and film since the early 1980s, including the independent feature film, Dumbarton Bridge, award-winning documentaries, and commercials.

"An exploration inside the editorial engine-room of a major feature film - the first book of its kind ever and sure to remain the best. Charles Koppelman chronicles Walter Murch's astonishing high-wire trapeze act as he works his way through the first large-scale implementation of Apple's Final Cut Pro editing software. Must be read by anyone interested in film, computers, or how the creative process unfolds."-- Francis Ford Coppola, director of The Conversation, The Godfather,Apocalypse Now

"This is probably the subtlest and most tender account of what a craftsman brings to a motion picture ever written. It is fascinating in its detailand awesome in its gradual uncovering of the ear, the eye and the soul ofWalter Murch. The book may seem technical, or 'professional,' but anyreader will be thrilled by the description of a struggle and the necessarycommitment to it. To be read by anyone who has ever thought it might be funto make a movie."-- David Thomson, film critic and author of The Biographical Dictionary

"BEHIND THE SEEN is not only revelatory in terms of technicalinnovation, but it reads like a thrilling suspense novel. Superblywritten and paced, the book captures the brilliant and daringfilm/sound editor-scientist Walter Murch in all his passionate andcreative glory. Charles Koppelman has crafted a truly unique additionto the canon of film history, delivering a must-read for anyoneinterested in how movies are made."--Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart, Lost Highway and City of Ghosts

"... excellent, original and tremendously informative book...Koppelman's account reads like a thriller... Behind the Seen achievessomething remarkable: a chronicle about technology and data, machinesand methodologies which also manages to record a story of friendshipsand dreams-not least the dreams I have been lucky enough to sharewith my friend and editor over three films and for almost a decade."--from the book's foreword by Anthony Minghella, writer and director ofCold Mountain, The English Patient, and The Talented Mr. Ripley

Customer Reviews:

Apple Seeds Hollywood.......2007-01-06

This book offers a fascinating record of the interaction between art and technology, artist and corporation. It describes in thorough detail the logistsics of shooting and editing a feature film from start to finish using a totally untried and discouraged software and hardware tool chain formerly for amatuer efforts only.
The meeting of Silicon Valley and Hollywood industries creates a riveting plot that is hard to put down. The gorgeous graphic layout and attention to detail also help.
Only grumble was the detachment of one page from the binding, but if you don't sleep next to your copy, it probably won't be a concern.
Anyone interested in cutting edge (hah!) technology and/or legendary Bay area genius Walter Murch must read this book.

Not required reading.......2006-08-01

Get this is book if you want to read all about...

1. Walter Murch.
2. Cold Mountain.
3. What it was like to edit a feature film on consumer software that was not ready for prime time.
4. The practical problems facing an editor.

Do not get this book if you want to improve your editing technique. While Murch drops some nuggets of useful information here and here, I think that you have to go through too much irrelevant material to make it worthwhile. The lessons that Walter learned from FCP 3.0 are outdated, for the most part.

Disappointed. Not what I expected.......2006-04-05

I picked up this book expecting to get a blow-by-blow account of the editing of Cold Mountain and how Walter Murch translated his film cutting techiniques (that are well explained in either "In the Blink of an Eye" or "The Conversations...") into Final Cut Pro.

Instead the bulk of the book was spent in excruciating detail about the selection of Final Cut Pro as an editing platform. There was much talk of the concerns around using FCP3 to edit a feature-length film project. Likewise there was too much detail about the worries they had about shipping these systems to Romania for the edit. Would they have tech support?!? Would they have enough hard drive space?!? Would it survive customs?!?

There are even copies of e-mails of the order of the system and how grand a moment it was... Sorry, I found the inclusion of this material to be boring. I lost interest well before the edit actually started.

To me it was more a story of how Digital Film Tree (God Bless 'em. They ARE good people.) took a big chance on championing this effort and how they supported Murch and his Assistant Editor to provide the technical knowledge of FCP than it was about the actual Edit of Cold Mountain.

The information IS dated now that FCP is in version 5.1 (as of 4/2006) and that may have tainted my read of the book.

How Walter Murch Edited Cold Mountain Using Apple's Final Cut Pro and What This Means for Cinema, First Edition.......2006-03-24

Interesting, well written and easy to get your head around.

A Must Have Book!.......2005-08-10

I have been using Final Cut Pro since version one, and when I heard about Walter Murch using it to edit Cold Mountain, I was so excited. The book is well written and it gives you first hand knowledge of the pain and excitement of editing.

I'm not a big book reader, but I couldn't put this book down.

Walter Murch is a true pioneer.

A must have for your book collection!

Average customer rating:

Just to add my stars
Moon over sea / Wave against rock
Like a cold refreshing breeze
Rarefied Air: New Translations by Red Pine
Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi

The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (Han Shan)
Manufacturer: Copper Canyon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Diamond Sutra
The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma: A Bilingual Edition

ASIN: 1556591403

Book Description

This authoritative, bilingual edition represents the first time the entirety of Cold Mountain's poetry has been translated into English.

These translations were originally published by Copper Canyon Press nearly twenty years ago. Now, significantly revised and expanded, the collection also includes a new preface by the translator, Red Pine, whose accompanying notes are at once scholarly, accessible, and entertaining. Also included for the first time are poems by two of Cold Mountain's colleagues.

Legendary for his clarity, directness, and lack of pretension, the eight-century hermit-poet Cold Mountain (Han Shan) is a major figure in the history of Chinese literature and has been a profound influence on writers and readers worldwide. Writers such as Charles Frazier and Gary Snyder studied his poetry, and Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums is dedicated "to Han Shan."

1.B>

storied cliffs were the fortune I cast
bird trails beyond human tracks
what surrounds my yard
white clouds nesting dark rocks
I've lived here quite a few years
and always seen the spring-water change
tell those people with tripods and bells
empty names are no damn good

71.

someone sits in a mountain gorge
cloud robe sunset tassels
handful of fragrances he'd share
the road is long and hard
regretful and doubtful
old and unaccomplished
the crowd calls him crippled
he stands alone steadfast

205.

my place is on Cold Mountain
perched on a cliff beyond the circuit of affliction
images leave no trace when they vanish
I roam the whole galaxy from here
lights and shadows flash across my mind
not one dharma comes before me
since I found the magic pearl
I can go anywhere everywhere it's perfect

Cold Mountain

A mountain man lives under thatch
before his gate carts and horses are rare
the forest is quiet but partial to birds
the streams are wide and home to fish
with his son he picks wild fruit
with his wife he hoes between rocks
what does he have at home
a shelf full of nothing but books

Customer Reviews:

Just to add my stars.......2007-05-04
As other reviewers have already stated, this is a very nice volume of poetry, very nicely put together with the original chinese on one page and the translation on the opposite page. This is the third volume of Han Shan that I have, and it is by far the best in terms of completeness and the essence of the translations. Get a copy or three before the print run is over!
Moon over sea / Wave against rock.......2007-03-21
Cold Moutain chuckles still
as he reads through my eyes
those poems that he carved in stone.

Appropriate now
as they were back then,
his laughter knows no bounds.

No center, no boundaries,
all opposites dissolve.
Suchness beyond "as one".

Moon over sea,
Wave against rock.
All returns instantly!

Like a cold refreshing breeze.......2006-11-28
Somehow Cold Mountain, limping along from his mountain, creates seemingly simple and clear songs ("called by others crippled / he stands along steadfast") . Wonderful footnoted by "Red Pine" explain deeper references to Taoist or Buddhist texts and humorous digs at Chinese officials. Cold Mountain avoids the dogma or sophistry of any organization or religion, and avoids the chains of strict poetic for:m
"I've made elixirs and tried to become immortal
I've read the classics and written odes
and now I've retired to Cold Mountain
to lie in a stream and wash out my ears".

He has no problem mixing Buddhist and Taoist metaphors if it will make his point. This book provides a nice refuge and finding of a relation to nature:
"Spring water is pure in an emerald stream
moonlight is white on Cold Mountain"

Cold Mountain also finds peace inside:
"we all posses a miraculous creature
with neither form nor name
call and it answers clearly"

To top off the book are 4 poems by Big stick and 49 by "Pickup" friends of Cold Mountain. A great book!

Rarefied Air: New Translations by Red Pine.......2006-11-09
The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain may seem to the non-poetry lover to be a book of music form the regions of America so well described in Frazier's novel Cold Mountain. But to those potential readers of this touching book there will be the surprise the 'Cold Mountain' is the name Han Shan, a poet whose works were written on the trees, the rocks and the walls of temples in China some twelve hundred years ago. Han Shan was a Taoist/Buddhist monk who spent his life begging for food and living among the isolated farmers while he grew to become an immortalized Zen poet.

This beautifully produced book offers a fine introduction by John Blofeld and an even finer translation and commentary on the poems of Cold Mountain by translator Red Pine. Pine has not only provided us with eloquent English translations of the poet's 300 odd poems, poems that breathe of mysticism as well as of human foibles and humor, but he also relates these ancient poems to the cultural and literary history (and yes, even political!) of China. A taste: '...how could I know beneath the pines/ I would hug my knees in a frigid wind'. Indeed, these poems are songs, and songs that will hopefully find a wide audience. Grady Harp, November 06
Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi.......2006-06-23
The great thing about Cold Mountain is that he is transparent to translators. Arguing the merits of one Cold Mountain translation against another is like comparing a Gudo Ishibashi 2.8 shakuhachi to a 2.9 Mujitsu shakuhachi by Ken LaCosse. Both flutes will get you "there." But the journey will be different.
The same is true of Cold Mountain. Snyder is as good as Watson is a good as Red Pine is as good as Henricks.
Or like Dogen translations...
why sink a straw that floats on the water, when the moon itself rides in ripples beside the straw?

Average customer rating:

A Treasure Of Medicine For The Mind...!

"Try coming to Cold Mountain sometime!"

Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi

wonderful book of poems

When I'm totally fed up with "civilization"....

Cold Mountain: 100 Poems

Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

A Treasure Of Medicine For The Mind...!.......2007-02-02
I was given this book while travelling in Nepal some years ago. It has become my most loved book.
What lies behind the words is such beauty, sadness and humour... true mind medicine for those who would be so daring as to go beyond the lonliness of solitude, to the world of Han Shan...

"When night comes I sing to the bright moon; at dawn I dance with white clouds."

After living in solitude for some time I really got a sense of the aching sadness in some of these poems, such as...

"I came here to sit on Cold Mountain and lingered here for thirty years.
Yesterday I went to see relatives and friends-- over half had gone to the Yellow Springs.
Bit by bit life fades like a guttering lamp, passes on like a river that never rests.
This morning I face my lonely shadow and before I know it tears stream down."

But above all I see Han Shan as a rebel who found his way to Cold Mountain, shunning and often making fun of the worldly life that he left behind. With regards to spiritual seekers he offers:

"Honey is sweet - men love the taste; medicine is bitter and hard to swallow."

This book is filled with jewels!

"Try coming to Cold Mountain sometime!".......2006-09-08
I don't know Chinese. I know a little about Chinese Buddhism. But Han-shan and Watson have made these poem's familar: it's our condition.

Each poem is a neat little eight line chunk. Nothing elaborate here, just simple poetry for our simpler side. Given all the bloated religious teachers and poets I've read, this is a refreshing change. Try to imagine how long it might take you to come up with a similar brief wise poem. Then consider Watson only translated 100 of Han-Shan's roughly 300 poems. How cold was that mountain?
Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi.......2006-06-23
The great thing about Cold Mountain is that he is transparent to translators. Arguing the merits of one Cold Mountain translation against another is like comparing a Gudo Ishibashi 2.8 shakuhachi to a 2.9 Mujitsu shakuhachi by Ken LaCosse. Both flutes will get you "there." But the journey will be different.
The same is true of Cold Mountain. Snyder is as good as Watson is a good as Red Pine is as good as Henricks.
Or like Dogen translations...
why sink a straw that floats on the water, when the moon itself rides in ripples beside the straw?
wonderful book of poems.......2004-03-25
this book deserves to be read by anyone interested in the outdoors or eastern poetry. it is striking, pensive, simple, and beautiful, while allowing for rich emotion and endearingly opinionated topics. the contextual notes are helpful, and are not so heavy as to turn the light volume of poetry into a textbook on history or literature. an easy read for anyone.
When I'm totally fed up with "civilization"...........2003-01-25
I first read this Gem-like little book because Kerouac mentioned it in his _Dharma Bums_. I'm glad he did- this is one of the most profound and satisfying books that I've ever read. It is the book I tuck into my breast pocket when I'm totally fed up with civilization and just have to get away into the back country.
This is the finest example of the writings of the tradition chinese mountain man hermit. Yet, the chinese version of the hermit was most unlike the western pattern. These men didn't reject nature and the natural world to find the divine- they merged with it. These were men who could live life with an almost dionysian intensity complete with wine and wise cracks. These men could cut to the marrow of what is truly important in life. I'm sure old Han-shan must have driven Confusius and the imperial bureaucrats nuts....

The last poem of the 101 states: "Do you have the poems of Han-shan in your house? They're better for you than sutra reading." I couldn't agree more.

Average customer rating:

Don't waste your money

Accomplished whodunnut

Rachel Returns

Leave the dead lie

excellent mystery

Disturbing the Dead
Sandra Parshall
Manufacturer: Poisoned Pen Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Heat of the Moon, The

Final Undertaking: Buryin' Barry Mystery

Effigies

Hard Row

Free Fire

ASIN: 1590583787

Book Description
Tom Bridger, who is half Melungeon, thought he had escaped his mountain community's lingering prejudice against the mixed-race group when he left to work for the Richmond, Virginia Police Department. Tom was moving up the detective ranks when a family tragedy brought him back home and moved him into his father's job as a county sheriff's deputy.

Now the bones of a Melungeon woman who disappeared ten years ago have surfaced on a remote mountaintop, and all evidence points to murder. Violence escalates as the victim's poor family and the wealthy white family she married into scramble to protect their secrets from Tom's probing. But as he probes into his father's investigation of the case, he finds his father was not the man he idolized.

The woman Tom is falling in love with, veterinarian Rachel Goddard, is struggling to start over in a place that holds no memories for her. Rachel puts herself in danger when she befriends the dead Melungeon woman's niece, Holly. As a child, the girl witnessed something that could implicate her aunt's killer, but she is too terrified to tell anyone what she knows. While Rachel is determined to keep Holly safe and help her piece together past events, the guilty are equally determined to silence the girl--and Rachel too, if necessary.

Will this murder be Tom's and Rachel's undoing or will it free them to look into the future?
Customer Reviews:

Don't waste your money.......2007-08-28
Poorly written and badly organized, I remain astonished that such amateur efforts can get published. Books like this seem to justify decreasing interest in reading in America. A previous review points out that Parshall "introduces too many characteristics into the book as well as expresses her opinion with more words than needed." Such opinionated drivel in this book further demonstrates Parshall's inability to construct a viable novel as she is too busy trying to portray herself as an expert. But I supposed the bookstore bargain bins need constant fuel from hack writers like Parshall.
Accomplished whodunnut.......2007-04-05
Long-time Washington, D.C.-area resident Sandra Parshall has
written Disturbing the Dead with the same grit and inventiveness
characterizing her debut title, The Heat of the Moon (2006).
Her heroine, veterinarian Dr. Rachel Goddard reappears, now
living in hilly, remote Mason County, Virginia. She's
attempting a fresh start there after a thug's vicious assault in
The Heat of the Moon. But Rachel's transition to Mason County
isn't an easy one.

Reader fascination with local color and regional writing adds to
Disturbing the Dead's appeal. Parshall's work will satisfy the
fans of Dana Stabenow, Nevada Barr, and Karin Slaughter who
excel in using outdoor themes and rural settings. Parshall's
quaint dialogue ("That bunch would skin a flea for its hide.")
crackles with authenticity. Her characters are also complex and
original to transcend the clichéd versions of provincial
townsfolk.

This time Rachel shares twin billing with Captain Tom Bridger.
His deputies have recovered mysterious bones on a wintry
mountain. They speculate the bones belong to Pauline McClure, a
lady missing for a decade. She'd married into the affluent
McClure family, and most of her in-laws still castigate Pauline
as a gold-digger.

Jim Bridger, Tom's late dad, was the lead investigator. Tom
vows pick up where his dad left off and ferret out the truth.
To complicate matters, Tom is half-Melungeon, the
dark-complexioned locals thought descendent from Portuguese
settlers and Indian natives. Many whites feel a prejudice
against Melungeons and some treat Tom as a pariah. As a tough,
relentless professional investigator, Tom follows the clues and
stokes the plot twists.

At first, Troy Shackleford, a handyman and drug pimp, is the
primary suspect. Fearing Troy's violent nature, his plucky
daughter Holly goes to work for Rachel. Tom tracks down
Pauline's daughter Mary Lee Scott who lives in McLean, Virginia,
Rachel's former home. Rachel and Tom believe the cause of
Holly's recurring nightmares holds the key in solving her mother
Pauline's murder. The mystery deepens when additional gruesome
evidence turns up on the same mountain.

Parshall uses a visceral prose style, deft pacing, and intricate
plotting. She deals in enough clues and red herrings to keep
readers guessing whodunit. Rachel and Tom in Disturbing the
Dead is a successful teaming, calling to mind S.J. Rozan's
popular detective business partners Bill Smith and Lydia Chin.

Rachel Returns.......2007-03-29
I loved Sandra Parshall's debut mystery (The Heat of the Moon), with its high suspense and leap-off-the-page characters. I loved Parshall's follow-up, Disturbing the Dead, even more.

This time around, Rachel Goddard's moved her veterinary practice to the mountains of southwestern Virginia, hoping to escape the violence she left behind. Fat chance. When Rachel befriends the niece of a woman whose decades-old skull is found on a remote mountaintop, she's up to her feisty neck in a decades-old murder investigation and sidestepping the advances of Tom Bridger, the sheriff's deputy in charge of the case.

Tom's a Melungeon -- and a special feature of this book is a look inside that community, a racially mixed people of Appalachia who are "tri-racial isolates" -- a mixture of white, Native American, and black.

Disturbing the Dead has a complex plot, fascinating characters, plus lots of suspense and lots of heart.
Leave the dead lie.......2007-03-20
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (11/06)

Sandra Parshall makes her home with her journalist husband in South Carolina. She has written fiction since childhood, and expanded into her favorite genre of mystery/suspense in the past few years. "Disturbing the Dead" is the sequel to her debut novel, "The Heat of the Moon."

This author has an excellent story to tell, but introduces too many characteristics into the book as well as expresses her opinion with more words than needed. A few times while reading, one must reference back to a chapter several before to refresh their self to a character introduced then. Overall, the story is told with a surprise ending. What begins as a murder investigation turns into not only one, but two family secrets. At times this story reminds one of the Hatfields and McCoys. The suspense is continued throughout the book not only with who committed the crime, but what secrets almost all of the individuals are hiding from others or themselves. Not only is the murderer a surprise, but also the relationship among the other characters. There are many contrasts in this read between good and evil, rich and poor as well as cultural and geographic differences. Also, one will learn what a Melungeion is, and discover the difference in those who wish to acknowledge their heritage as well as those that desire to hide it.

Because of the nature of the book being a murder mystery, this book would be best suited for a young adult or adult reader. The scenes are not graphic, yet the main character is a young girl which would make this unsuitable for a young reader. Women would find this book in their favor with the love that develops between a police officer and a veterinarian. Ms. Parshall provides the reader with many surprises throughout the book. My recommendation would be to shorten the length of this book by deleting what appears to be fill in words. The story could very easily be repeated in a future book with the main characters continuing with their work and lives.

"Disturbing the Dead" has a good story line. At times, the reader might lose interest, and then a surprise in the plot brings your attention back. With the suspense of a murder mystery mixed with a love story and new friendship, the reader will find themselves immersed in the secrets left untold. You will discover the truth as well.

excellent mystery .......2007-03-10
Ten Years ago, Pauline McClure, a rich and desperate Melungeon widow, vanished from her country estate and hasn't been heard from or seen since. She was a child of poverty and racism but the wealthy McClures accepted her because she gave them an heir.

In the present on top of the mountains a skeleton is found and dug up. Near the first burial site another skeleton is discovered. The dental records of one of the skulls match Pauline's; police Captain Tom Bridget is out to find the killer.

His father was obsessed with the case because it was his first that he failed to solve. When he goes to question Pauline's mother, Mrs. Turner, he runs into her grand-daughter Holly. Holly's mother left the family though she supposedly sends money from time to time. When Tom mentions to veterinarian Rachael Goddard how great Holly is with animals, the vet hires her on the spot even though her grandmother tries to guilt her into staying and her father, Mr. Shackelford, the local drug supplier, uses threats to make her return to her grandmother. Both Holly and Rachel refuse to be intimidated but someone really wants Holly out of the way because she is shot at, the office is torched and her family tries to physically get away from Rachel. Tom is determined to protect Rachel but when another skull is found and he begins to hear rumors about his father's relationship to Pauline, he finds his objectivity is not what it should be.

Sandra Parshall is a wonderful storyteller who creates a small rural backwater town where race and class divisions still exist and people of mixed blood are subjected to prejudice. Her characterizations are fantastic especially Tom, who is half Melungeon heartwarming and sensitive willing to give Rachel all the time she needs to figure out what she wants even as he investigates a mystery that creeps closer to home.

Harriet Klausner

Average customer rating:

easy forensic investigation reading...

Maybe The Movie Will Be Better

Poorly written

Cold Burn was a page turner!

Great- I Couldn't Put It Down!

Cold Burn (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
Max Allan Collins
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 1416521771

Book Description
Remote. Peaceful. Picturesque. That's how the Mumford Mountain Hotel bills itself in its brochure, and it lives up to its billing -- most of the time. But this year, the hotel is hosting a prestigious conference for the study of forensic science, and the organizers have extended CSI head Gil Grissom an invitation he can't refuse. Joined by fellow investigator Sara Sidle, Grissom leaves the department in the capable hands of Catherine Willows and heads east. But he and Sara soon find themselves in all too familiar territory -- and back in Las Vegas, Catherine, Warrick Brown, and Nick Stokes have uncovered trouble of their own.

Customer Reviews:

easy forensic investigation reading..........2007-02-08
*CSI: Cold Burn* was an easy reading that didn't dwell too much on forensic jargon and processes. There were processes but they were simplified so that readers can still feel connected to the stories.

Gil and Sara have flown to New York for a forensic conference. However, just as soon as they landed, a blizzard is just now starting. They make it to the hotel. Restless, Sara and Gil take a short walk around the hotel. However, their stroll is interrupted when they discovered a murdered and burnt body.

With the conference cancelled, due to the non-stop blizzard, Sara and Gil preserve evidence surrounding the burnt body with haste. They also have to improvise to make their own homemade forensic lab.

Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas, a woman has been found, dead, at a park near Lake Mead. Catherine and the gang have found the crime scene to be odd. Apparently, the woman had been frozen and then wetted down before being dumped. The forensic team discovered that this particular woman had been missing for a year.

Both were good stories. I think I liked the one with Gil and Sara. With the help of a Canadian forensic specialist, it felt like they were playing Clue. You know, so-and-so killed and burned this guy with this weapon in this room. Of course, everyone had a different theory.

Like I said, *CSI:Cold Burn* was an easy and enjoyable read.
Maybe The Movie Will Be Better.......2006-10-03
I should start out by admitting that I've never seen an episode of CSI. I'm no a television person these days. On the other hand, I'm a forensics addict dating back to the grand old Glory days of Quincy. So I grabbed a couple of the Max Allan Collins series in the hope of even more grand autopsy scenes and sifting of the fine details. Cold Burn is the first of these I've read, and I find it something of a middling effort.

The story is actually two stories. Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle attend a forensic science convention in the wilds of upstate New York. On arrival they are greeted with a corpse and a record snowstorm and must battle the elements and the inconvenience of a nearly empty 5 star hotel to discover the sordid tale behind the killing.

And back at home in Las Vegas, Catherine Willows and the rest of the team are up to their ankles in defrosted bodies. A year after a young woman disappears, leaving behind a devastated husband. Her body turns up in a nature preserve. Remarkably well preserved, as she has apparently been kept frozen for all that time. Suspicion shifts from the husband, to friends, and wandering whackos, and another corpse makes an appearance. Somewhere out there a chilling mind is playing fatal games.

I didn't care much for the winter hotel story. Most of the plot was about guarding a frozen crime scene. Once the investigation actually starts it runs on auto-pilot to a very predictable conclusion. The Las Vegas story was better, but was marred by the distraction of the first story. The end result is a novel with a very flat affect.

Television has a great advantage over a novel. Good acting and direction can overcome a second rate plot. So a novelist has the disadvantage of having to bring life where none has been before. Cold Burn simply never clicks on its own. Perhaps those who have seen the TV series will find some spark that I don't, but I can only rate this story as 'OK,' but without big wows.
Poorly written.......2005-10-13
I must say, I have not been at all impressed with the CSI novels. I think they are poorly written and predictable. I have not enjoyed one thus far. CSI has a good show and a GREAT computer game series, but not a good set of novels in any way. Parts of it sound like a kid wrote it. The forensics used are all pretty standard... there aren't any really creative solutions to figuring anything out.

If just watching the CSI series isn't enough CSI for you, I HIGHLY recommend the computer games. Not the books though.
Cold Burn was a page turner!.......2005-09-13
This was the first of this series I've read and I was very impressed with how closely Collins stayed to the TV characters and how wonderfully descriptive he was. It was almost like sitting through a show, only to have the gift of not missing a single syllable due to the kids becoming loud or the phone ringing. It was so well written, it was like I was a part of the team. I highly recommend this book to all mystery lovers, but esp. to CSI fans!
Great- I Couldn't Put It Down!.......2005-09-13
I loved Cold Burn! It stayed with the characters and storylines. It was a great book and was clear and easy to understand. I highly recommend it.

Average customer rating:

Excellent music!

Cold Mountain

Manufacturer: Hal Leonard Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Songbooks | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

ASIN: 0634078593

Book Description
This stunning, Oscar-winning epic features a T-Bone Burnett-produced soundtrack of Appalachian-flavored folk, moving originals by Elvis Costello and Sting, performances by Alison Krauss and the White Stripes' Jack White, and an orchestral score by Gabriel Yared. Includes 18 selections: The Cuckoo * Great High Mountain * The Scarlet Tide * Wayfaring Stranger * You Will Be My Ain True Love * more.
Customer Reviews:

Excellent music!.......2007-03-12
The Cold Mountain instrumental piano score is most excellent! The theme songs are beautiful and haunting to hear as they are being played. If you enjoyed the music scores in the movie, you will surely enjoy playing them!

Average customer rating:

Subtle talks, just like the practice

A great help for ordinary people

A book to help you live better.

Filled with deep appreciation for daily intentional living.

Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains is exactly that.

Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains: Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation
Reb Anderson
Manufacturer: Rodmell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Zen | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1930485107

Book Description

Based on a series of dharma talks, Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains explores the life of passionate commitment that lies at the heart of the formal practice of Zen meditation. Reb Anderson draws on over 30 years of experience as a Zen priest with stories covering a range of topics and concerns, from what it feels like to be a father, to the simple task of cleaning up a desk. At once inspirational and practical, Anderson bows to an ancient tradition as he helps to forge a modern-day Buddhism that urges us "to sit still in the middle of all living beings." This third edition adds two new chapters: "Suzuki Roshi's Teaching on Shikantaza" and "September 11: Letting Go of Hatred".

Customer Reviews:

Subtle talks, just like the practice.......2006-08-28
Having done retreats with the author, I thoroughly enjoyed having these printed words to read or re read at my own pace. Reb is a teacher and master with few peers; his command of the dharma and penetrating insights never fail to amaze this listener. This text may not be for someone completely new to the practice. We're all beginners, but if you've sat for a while and done a sesshin or two, this is a terrific book.
A great help for ordinary people.......2001-10-31
I want to caution that this book is not exactly easy. It requires a little deep reading and thinking and it's not a beginner's book. It's a real help however to ordinary people like myself who live in the suburbs and try to practice Buddhism. Even though the author seems to have been a monk most of his life. The reason it is a help is that it presents an American background and understanding to the teachings of Suzuki Roshi (Zen Mind Beginner's Mind) which are often sort of alien and incomprehensible in the original. The book is also very warm like the smiles. To get some more insight into the title, you might want to check out Gary Snyder's Cold Mountain Poems, or the Burton Watson translation of Cold Mountain (Chinese Zen Poet Han Shan).
A book to help you live better........2000-12-13
I would like to start off by saying that you must read this book. Anyone who practices meditation will find this book rewarding--both seasoned practitioners and newcomers to the Buddhist path. The author has a special gift for relating the insights of traditional Zen teaching stories in a refreshingly contemporary manner. I felt like I was actually at the retreats as I read the stories. As mentioned elsewhere; Anderson, who teaches in the tradition of the great Zen master Suzuki Roshi, shows himself to be a worthy inheritor of this lineage and a powerful teacher in his own right.
Filled with deep appreciation for daily intentional living........1999-07-19
Book Review: Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains, Dharma Talks on Zen Meditation by Reb Anderson

Have you ever wondered why so many Westerners are getting involved with the many facets of Buddhism? Have you ever wondered what's so different about it? Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains is a book that answers these questions in an easy to understand simplistic way. Through stories and his personal experiences, Reb Anderson gives us an opportunity to look at our journey with fresh eyes and different awarenesses. Warm Smiles is filled with deep appreciation for daily intentional living and being in each moment as it arrives.
Don't try to read this book like a novel; there's just too much there to ponder and you'll miss a great deal if you do. I believe you'll read it through once, perhaps twice then keep it handy for day to day use. One thing I do with inspirational books is to keep them next to my favorite chair and periodically just open to any page and read whatever is there. Often, if there's something troubling my mind or I'm attempting to sort out an issue, I'll just open to a page in a book of this type. As I read that page, I'll usually relax a bit, pay great attention to what I opened to and discover that all is solved and answers are given. This is a look into a mirror, take your time, allow it to resonate deep inside your Being, meditate with the pages of this book.
I want to thank Reb for giving me an opportunity to see that Buddhism creates no conflict with anything in my daily personal life or belief systems. I was particularly drawn to Chapter Eight, "Life Is Not Killed." What a delicious way of viewing life. I recommend you check it out for yourself; it truly creates "warm smiles."
Jyoti Hansa, Vermont
Warm Smiles from Cold Mountains is exactly that........1999-07-11
There comes a point in some people's lives when they get a sense of their place in the universe. Sometimes it comes mystically, intuitively. Sometimes it comes from an accumulation of scientific data. In either case, it might well be mistaken. But we're building a picture here.
Reb Anderson presents an intuitive view of the universe, largely based on Buddhist tradition. He talks about what sitting (zazen) really is. He talks about the value of studying the paradoxical koans. He does, in fact, bring a broad and ancient tradition into the present. This is always a perplexing perspective, since Buddha himself pointed out that the essential realization would have to come outside of dogma or scripture. Still, if it were'nt for accumulated knowledge, what new would be possible?
For a just-the-facts ma'am approach to both views, you could, maybe should, read this book in conjunction with the recent The Elegant Universe-a popularization of String Theory that threatens at spots to get rather difficult-and you would truly have the Theory of Everything. From physics to zazen, we're looking for a way to adapt, to fit. The more we look, the more we see. It is a large, large universe. Reb Anderson shows us how to deal with it in terms of Zen; he is gentle, insightful, radical, and brilliant.
How do you come back from view of the universe that actually couldn't care less to some sort of ethical system? Why would you need or want to? I think Reb Anderson comes close to making this clear. I think he appreciates how vast the energy is and what kind of liberation is involved. (I don't really think it matters that he is a westerner with a life of Zen behind him.) As a starting point a reader might consider Anderson's statement: "I put quite a bit of effort into order, and I try to put almost no effort into control."

Average customer rating:

Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi

"Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup."

The book contains good early Snyder poems and fine translati

Luminous early poetry and translations by Poet Snyder

Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems
Gary Snyder
Manufacturer: Shoemaker & Hoard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

20th Century | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1593760159

Book Description

Forty-five years ago, Gary Snyder’s first book of poems, Riprap, was published by Origin Press in a beautiful paperbound edition stitched Japanese-style. Around that time Snyder published his translations of Chinese poet Han-Shan’s Cold Mountain Poems in the sixth issue of the “Evergreen Review.” Thus was launched one of the most remarkable literary careers of the last century. It is a great gift for all readers to now have this seminal collection back in print.

Customer Reviews:

Cold Mountain like Shakuhachi.......2006-06-23
The great thing about Cold Mountain is that he is transparent to translators. Arguing the merits of one Cold Mountain translation against another is like comparing a Gudo Ishibashi 2.8 shakuhachi to a 2.9 Mujitsu shakuhachi by Ken LaCosse. Both flutes will get you "there." But the journey will be different.
The same is true of Cold Mountain. Snyder is as good as Watson is a good as Red Pine is as good as Henricks.
Or like Dogen translations...
why sink a straw that floats on the water, when the moon itself rides in ripples beside the straw?
"Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup.".......2001-06-20
Amidst the poetry of the Sixties, Gary Snyder's early poems stood out as something very special, and are still very special. In contrast to the obscure and convoluted writings of an assortment of neurasthenic, super-sophisticated, and compulsive scribblers, types so totally and utterly wrapped up in themselves that they completely overlooked that insignificant thing hovering outside their window (ordinary folks call it the universe), and whose work goes unread because it is largely unreadable, Snyder's work came as a revelation.
Here was a poet who was very, very different - a poet who, far from being totally wrapped up in himself, was instead wrapped up in the universe. He appeals to us because, being himself wholly in touch with reality, he helps us get back in touch with reality ourselves. Ego is put firmly in its place, opening up a space in which the myriad things can come forward and announce themselves.
The secret of how Snyder was able to do this, of how he was able to bring us, not yet another of those obscure, tortured and anguished sensibilities who were and still are so thick on the ground, but who brought instead a sane and wholesome vision of the world, is all there in the very first poem of RIPRAP, 'Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout' :
"Down valley a smoke haze / Three days heat, after five days rain / Pitch glows on the fir-cones / Across rocks and meadows / Swarms of new flies. // I cannot remember things I once read / A few friends, but they are in cities. / Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup / Looking down for miles / Through high still air" (p.9).
Where did Snyder learn how to do this? The answer is that it could only have been in China. The poem is the perfect expression, in English, of that commonsensical attitude that grounds itself firmly in realities; that keeps ego firmly under control; that practises a reasonable, as opposed to an excessive, use of reason; and that is commonly found in the best Chinese and Zen poets.
To translate Zen-man Han Shan, Snyder penetrated so deeply into the spirit of Han Shan that he succeeded in becoming a sort of American Han Shan himself. The result is a poetry not of coteries, of academic and intellectual circles, of super-sophisticated and pretentious Ivy League graduates, but poems that have real meaning and that can be read with understanding and enjoyment by anyone
The poetry of RIPRAP and COLD MOUNTAIN, like the poetry of many Chinese and Japanese poets, is a wholesome poetry, a poetry that cleanses and refreshes the sensibility, and that transports us from the technoid madness of our own chaotic world to something more human and hence more meaningful.
There's real sustenance for the spirit in these poems. They're like "drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup." Readers would be unwise to pass them by.
The book contains good early Snyder poems and fine translati.......1998-08-07
This book passes the test of time because of its taut poetry and insight into the link between Sndyer's environment in the Pacific Northwest and his inner landscape. The second part of the book is priceless. Snyder's Zen practice and skill as a writer and linguist make him eminently qualified to translate the words of the reclusive poet Han-Shan, whose poems ring true today. I have read other translations of Han-Shan but Snyder's is the best. Its paradoxes move us in our modern times just as they must have in early China.
Luminous early poetry and translations by Poet Snyder.......1995-09-29
Riprap lets us see the world with Snyder's vision back in the days when Kerouac was writing about him in the Dharma Bums. The clarity, straightforward diction, and simple lyricism that have continued to characterize his poetry are all here in these early poems from the fifties. Astounding visual quality. Life in the mountains, in Japan, on the high seas. Cold Mountain Poems are translations of Han Shan, Chinese Zen poet. Han Shan stands with John of the Cross in his ability to illuminate the spiritual path through lyric imagery. Snyder's crystalline translations reveal Han Shan to us face to face, today, not some old exotic hermit but a vital presence.
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