Average customer rating:
- What fun!
- Good but Not Really Funny
- Bestseller 1995 and entertaining.
- Classic Hiaasen
- Perfect Hiaasen: The comic morality tale.
|
Stormy Weather
Carl Hiaasen
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Tourist Season
-
Skin Tight
-
Double Whammy
-
Sick Puppy
-
Native Tongue
ASIN: 0446677167 |
Book Description
A seductive con artiste stumbles into a scam that promises more cool cash than the lottery. A shot-gun toting mobile home salesman is about to close a deal with disaster, while tourists by the thousands bail from the Florida Keys. They are now entering the hurricane zone, where hell and hilarity rule. And in the hands of the masterful, merciless Carl Hiaasen, everyone is in for some stormy weather!
Customer Reviews:
What fun!.......2007-09-18
I seldom find a book, much less an author, that I can't put down. Carl's plots and wacky characters make for great, fun, light reading that barrels along it's crooked path. I've become a real fan and highly recommend if you have a demented sense of humor and justice.
Good but Not Really Funny.......2007-06-26
With everyone else raving about how funny this book was I bought it. I was not disappointed with the story, but it really wasn't all that humorous. Dave Barry has a much better feel for humor, especially in Florida. Still, I will read other Hiassen books. I will simply change my expectations to drama rather than humor. That's why I gave it a 4 instead of a 5; false advertising.
Bestseller 1995 and entertaining........2007-05-05
As a hurricane hurtles through Florida, a handful of unusual people react in peculiar ways. Honeymooning Max Lamb eagerly videotapes the wreckage but is soon kidnapped by a reclusive ex-governor called Skink. Meanwhile two hustlers try to stage an insurance scam, and Max's new wife hunts for him with the help of a millionaire who juggles skulls. Book contains strong language, some violence, and some explicit descriptions of an adult nature. Even with all that, this is a humors tale with a strange sense of justice.
Classic Hiaasen.......2007-03-12
This is as classic as a novel by Carl Hiaasen can get. The plot is evolved during and after south Florida gets hit by a hurricane with all the characters, the twists and humor that you would expect from Hiaasen.
If you have not read one of his novels yet, I should note that Hiassen is an enviromentalist (who is a regular columnists for the Miami Herald) and and all his novels take place in Florida. Full of different (and sometimes extreme characters) and a unique humor/satire he is enjoyble to read. His novels are not exactly crime stories but rather about life in Florida that has a bit of everything.
Enjoy it.
Perfect Hiaasen: The comic morality tale........2006-12-05
I'm an environmentalist on the basis that I like clean air, water, etc., as opposed to being a watermelon environmentalist: green on the outside, communist red on the inside.
I like Carl Hiaasen's books because the environmental message isn't preachy. Instead, he simply writes hysterically funny stories about the assorted unfortunate (and self-inflicted) fates of people who show up make a quick buck on Florida, at the cost of Florida.
This book is a hilarious romp through post-Andrew South Florida. The bottom line is that hurricane's are nature's way of saying "Don't build here!" and people who move to South Florida to buy shoddily-constructed, never-inspected houses are simply getting what they deserve.
Of course, not everyone is a dupe or a huckster. There are some actual decent people in his books, and their sterling qualities are the perfect foil for the dupes and hucksters that constitute the rest of local humanity.
Hiaasen's genius is in his caricatures and how he plays them off against each other.
Great book.
Average customer rating:
|
Stormy Weather
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 0788706691 |
Product Description
Library edition on 10 cassettes... Carl Hiaasen, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author, has earned a reputation for perceptive, sharp-edged suspense that also cuts to the bone of environmental issues. His novels have been translated into many languages and are touted worldwide for their quirky characters and surreal adventures set in the ravaged cultural wasteland of southern Florida. Stormy Weather centers on the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. The devastation of the storm has attracted crowds of voyeurs and impostors to Florida. Drawn by the chance to prey on Andrews victims, misfits like the murderous ex-con Snapper and the dangerously seductive Edie find easy targets for their insurance scams. Theyre not prepared, though, when they meet their opposition, led by a hoary ex-governor who smokes toads. Both hilariously funny and deadly accurate, Carl Hiaasens novel will take you into a Florida that is far from the frilly palms and pink flamingos of its post cards. Strap on your seatbelt. Stormy Weather is an unforgettable, turbulent ride.
Book Description
In his newest provocative book, prominent social critic Henry A. Giroux shows how the tragedy and suffering in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina signals a much larger crisis in the United States—one that threatens the very nature of individual freedom and inclusive democracy. This crisis extends far beyond matters of leadership, governance, or the Bush administration. It is a crisis that strikes at the very heart of democracy and must be understood within a broader set of antidemocratic forces that not only made the social
disaster underlying Katrina possible, but also contribute to an emerging authoritarianism in the United States.
Questions regarding who is going to die and who is going to live are driving a new form of authoritarianism in the United States. Within this form of “dirty democracy” a new and more insidious set of forces—embedded in our global economy—have largely given up on the sanctity of human life, rendering some groups as disposable and privileging others. Giroux offers up a vision of hope that creates the conditions for multiple collective and global struggles that refuse to use politics as an act of war and markets as the measure of democracy. Making human beings superfluous is the essence of totalitarianism, and democracy is the antidote in urgent need of being reclaimed. Katrina will keep the hope of such a struggle alive because for many of us the images of those floating bodies serve as a desperate reminder of what it means when justice, as the lifeblood of democracy, becomes cold and indifferent.
Customer Reviews:
A challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy.......2007-01-10
"Stormy Weather" by Henry A. Giroux is a penetrating and compelling analysis of the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe. Mr. Giroux places the event within its historical context in order to illuminate how the U.S. has been digressing away from democracy and towards authoritarianism. Intelligently applying Michel Foucault's concept of 'biopower' to discuss how the state chooses to exercise sovereign control over its citizens, Mr. Giroux presents an exceptionally powerful deconstruction and critique of the frightening world that neoliberalism has spawned. Mr. Giroux's erudite and passionate commentary also proposes how we might begin to reclaim our lost democracy.
The book has two chapters. The first discusses how the suffering of the poor in New Orleans underscores how neoliberalism has found it more convenient to dispose of populations considered to be economically unproductive than to care for them. Mr. Giroux contends that the media images of the poor, sick and elderly among the predominantly African-American populations who were left to fend for themselves exposed the persistence of racism. Mr. Giroux suggests that neoliberal policies that sacrifice the public interest in favor of privatization schemes and tax cuts for the wealthy are to blame for eroding the social compact where public works projects are gutted and large sectors of the population are marginalized, inlcuding those who were simply unable to leave New Orleans without access to private transportation. Suggesting that the government's response to the disaster was not simply a matter of incompetence but "malign neglect", Mr. Giroux discusses how security forces later cleansed the city of its poor in order to allow redevelopment for the benefit of corporate interests.
While much of this has been commented upon by others, a distinguishing characteristic of Mr. Giroux's work is his methodical peeling of the layers of the onion to connect the Katrina tragedy with the inner logic of the neoliberal economic system. To that end, the second chapter discusses the increasingly authoritarian practices of the U.S. government under the Bush administration. Mr. Giroux believes that preemptive war, spying, torture and illegal detentions are proof that the U.S. has embraced militarization as a domestic and foreign policy solution; this is intended to quell dissent and promote a market fundamentalism dedicated to consumerism and free markets where the rich are rewarded and the poor are punished. However, the author hopes that the outrage stirred by the Katrina disaster will compel citizens to challenge the prevailing orthodoxy and work cooperatively to restore justice and democracy.
I highly recommend this insightful, timely and powerful book to everyone.
Book Description
Usually sunny Odyssey is about to get hit by a downpour of disasters. From a violent tornado to a turbulent voyage with Jonah, anything's possible in this little town. Will Connie, Jack, Lucy, and the Barclays ride out the storms? One thing is certain: the climate is always right for learning priceless lessons, through rain or shine.
The Gold series includes bonus tracks, fun facts, and behind-the-scenes details!
Volume 2 contains the following stories (and themes):
- The Family Vacation, 1 & 2 (The very first episode with the Barclays)
- The Day Independence Came (Revolutionary War)
- Stormy Weather (Faith and friendship)
- Kid's Radio (How Kid's Radio started)
- VBS Blues (Perseverance)
- Camp What-A-Nut 1 & 2 (Everybody's favorite summer getaway)
- The Last Great Adventure of the Summer (An around-the-world adventure)
- The Case of the Secret Room 1 & 2 (A thrilling mystery)
- Return to the Bible Room (Jonah)
Book Description
Stormy Weather deals head-on with our most urgent environmental challenge yet, and is the only book to put simple, effective solutions to global warming in the hands of ordinary citizens, communities, businesses, power utilities, state governments, and national leaders.In a clear style, Stormy Weather explains why the planet has reached this crisis and how scientists predict "runaway" climate change will affect the Earth and our lives. The solutions to global warming revolve around 12 core methods of reducing our use of fossil fuels and filling our energy needs with solar, wind, tidal, and bio fuels. Each user-friendly solution is organized on two facing pages with a description, illustrations, quotations, resources, and a detailed "how-to" section. Solutions are grouped by social sector-Individuals; Citizen Groups; Towns and Cities; State Government; Power Utilities; Businesses; Oil, Coal & Gas Corporations; Automobile Corporations; National Governments; and Developing Nations-breaking-up these vital planet-saving tasks into manageable activities for both individuals and larger organizations.
Customer Reviews:
The Good Book.......2003-02-25
Guy Dauncey and Patrick Mazza's book is THE best I have ever seen in non-fiction. I'm still amazed that I don't get overwhelmed by the amount of information but it's so user-friendly that I just can't.
It's a great honour to have it on my bookshelf. Every time I go by it I think about the time and effort it took to create a masterpiece like that one.
A Cure for the Environmentally Depressed!.......2002-01-29
Tired of hearing all the bad news about our environment?
Feeling hopeless about your ability to change anything?
Wondering how so many people can ignore such big problems for so long?
So was I. Until I got my hands on Guy Dauncey's book. It's a solution-oriented cure for the Global Warming blues. It's written in short, clear, visually appealing sections, so it's easy to find the information you need. The 101 solutions aren't just a long rambling list, they are organized according to their level of application - from individual and local through national and global. I found the many concrete examples of people and communities that are making a real difference very heartening. So wether you're in the market for an environmentally friendy car, or you're an elected official trying to formulate a policy on fuel additives, or you're in a general state of despair like I was, this book is for you!
deserves a peace prize.......2001-11-03
This book is a gem! It takes the most urgent of environmental issues, global climate change, and translates the science and the complexity into simple language that is understandable and interesting.
But it really excels when it moves beyond the problem, which can be paralyzing, to solutions that work. The book is chock full of simple and profound actions that can be taken to reduce our impact on the earth's atmosphere, in ways that save money and would be politically popular.
If you want to find out more about wind power, it's in here. If you're wondering what your city or town could do to become more climate friendly, there are websites and contacts galore within. If you want to take personal action, look no further.
The global climate crisis is real, impending, and scary. But a time of crisis is also a time of opportunity. This book shows what the opportunities are. It should be on the desks of every policy maker and politician.
And it deserves a peace prize for illuminating the way out of the climate mess we have created.
Stormy Weather positive practical and informative.......2001-11-01
When I read this book my first reaction was to feel great relief.
Most predictions about the long term effects of global warming
are to say the least disheartening.
Yet this book is filled to overflowing with practical solutions for dealing with the global climate challenge positively.
Most infomed scientists would agree that the consequences of the
terrorists attack on the World Trade Center, whilst horrific, are
minuscule in comparison to the long term effects of gobal warming.
Hunger; massive food, fuel, water and energy shortages will likely reap a terrible human toll, but rather than take up room in this insightful book by attributing blame or by being overwhelmed, Dauncey's entire focus is on finding practical solutions, --in the most part by utilizing technologies which already exist.
Dauncey is no Pollyanna, he is a pragmatist and a realist.
I am indebted to him for providing concrete solutions which can if we will only take note rescue us from the abyss.
This contribution provides clear guidance on climate solutions delivering a road map which can help move us forward.
I am spellbound by the breadth and depth of research required to produce this remarkable volume.
This book has succeeded in addressing and tailoring its message to non scientists, business people and governments.
I highly recommend this book
Roger Colwill,
Book Description
This book delves into the history of the involvement of women in jazz. It covers how women participated in the music as well as in-depth interviews, and also includes a discography of recordings by female artists. "Dahl boldy goes where no man (or woman) has gone before. For people who love jazz...who get bleak when they think of what happened to Billie Holiday, this is their book." - Los Angeles Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book .......2005-10-07
Linda Dahl's 'Stormy Weather' is one of the best among the many old and new books on jazz, women in jazz, etc. It is objective, well researched . If you want to learn about women in the jazz world , this is a must.
Customer Reviews:
Stormy Weather : Crosslights on the Nineteen Thiries.......2001-01-26
I found this to be the most interesting book I have ever read! Furnas has the most alluring style , and the use of words is utterly fantasic. I learned more from this book than just history ; Furnas paints a picture with the text , you can feel the emotion of the times . The Grapes of Wrath has now a new meaning to me. I feel that the completeness of this work allows me to feel as though I lived during the times. So many intering parts of history , that I have never before known .
Amazon.com
Penzler Pick, September 2001: This is the author's second book featuring Los Angeles homicide detective Charlotte Justice (the first was Inner City Blues). Paula Woods, who earlier wrote Spooks, Spies and Private Eyes, a fascinating nonfiction study of the African American sleuth in fiction, follows where other black women mystery writers such as Blanche Neely and Eleanor Taylor Bland have led, while putting her own stamp on the form.
While Charlotte Justice makes for an admirably complex heroine, always serious and ambitious in her approach to her law-enforcement career, what really lies at the heart of Woods's books (and gives them their complexity) is the relationship between Charlotte and the large, embracing clan to which she belongs. The "Nut House" is what she calls her parents' home, located in an upper-middle-class black L.A. neighborhood, and inside its walls there is always a surfeit of bantering, advice-giving, juicy anecdote-telling relatives on hand, a contemporary Greek chorus commenting on Charlotte's cases and on her life. Inner City Blues and Stormy Weather are both more than mysteries: they are the equivalent of family albums.
In her latest adventure, Charlotte sets to work, unofficially, on a case in which a legendary black filmmaker and social activist, the elderly Maynard Duncan, has just died of cancer. The trouble is that there is a strong possibility that his path apparently crossed that of a killer nurse known as the "Angel of Mercy," recently convicted in the deaths of several black men in geriatric care.
Several plot threads eventually converge, and some readers will undoubtedly complain that Woods provides a lot more talk than action. But, when all's said and done, her creative ambitions can only be applauded. Whether she's imagining an early 1940s black mystery film set in Watts (Murder in Mudtown, complete with musical numbers), or dispatching Charlotte on a dangerous collision course with a corrupt LAPD superior, Woods never shirks from the more difficult scenarios, the sort that can be pretty challenging to tidily tie up.
One of those satisfying mystery moments comes at the end of Stormy Weather when our heroine realizes that what she has been seeking has been hiding in plain sight all along. The denouement manages to be both melodramatic and satisfying, with all the loose ends firmly tucked away. --Otto Penzler
Book Description
Following the much-acclaimed Inner City Blues, a journey through Los Angeles's mix of politics and police corruption, secrets and lies. Los Angeles is in the midst of rebuilding in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots when Detective Charlotte Justice of the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide division takes on a high-profile case. The victim is pioneering black film director Maynard Duncan, a show business contemporary of her father. Charlotte, fueled by a desire to see the job done right and out of respect for a great man's memory, plunges badge-deep into the murky relationships between the director, his family, caregivers, business associates, and an elusive young man who seems to hold the key to unlocking the crime. Even when storm clouds gather, Detective Justice won't give up—putting her career, her personal relationships, even her own life on the line.
Download Description
Despite her education and training, Charlotte Justice has concluded that being a black female in the Los Angeles Police Department is no day at the beach. Instead, the elite homicide detective's days are filled with incompetence, bigotry, and the mayhem of the streets.
First, Charlotte confronts the work of a self-styled "angel of mercy" that her colleagues helped convict... and who may have an active accomplice still at large. And now she faces the baffling case of Maynard Duncan, a pioneering African American film director and community activist who was all but forgotten -- until he was found dead in his elegant Hancock Park home. Was it an accident, murder, or suicide -- by his own hand or with assistance?
As Charlotte unravels Duncan's tangled web of relationships -- family, friends, business associates, and secret liaisons -- she finds herself on a journey from Hollywood myth to L.A. reality. It's a journey where Charlotte must risk everything -- her career, her relationships, even her life -- to hunt down a murderer hell-bent on exacting the ultimate revenge....
"A first-rate mystery... Terrific, engrossing... Woods is a smart, savvy writer who has delivered a definite page turner."
CAROLINA GARCIA-AGUILERA, AUTHOR OF HAVANA HEAT
"Fast-paced... [A] charming but pointed police procedural."
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"You'll soon add Paula Woods's name to the list of mystery writers whose future works you eagerly await.... In Stormy Weather, her sharp observations bring the reader a new awareness of Los Angeles and its history."
JAN BURKE, AUTHOR OF BONES AND FLIGHT
"[A] terrific mystery. Stormy Weather keeps it exciting, and keeps it real."
JAMES PATTERSON
Customer Reviews:
Okay.......2004-02-21
SW was a well written mystery by Paula Woods and she has created a character who is very likeable and is highly driven in her job as an LA Homicide detective.
The book has way too much dialogue but not enough action scenes, however. Also, there were way too many characters in which to keep track making it hard to follow.
Keeps Raining All the Time.......2003-05-27
In Inner City Blues (1999), set during the LA Riots, Detective Charlotte Justice burst onto the sister sleuth scene with a vengeance. Now, in the second Justice novel, Paula L. Woods continues the story of this sharp homicide investigator as she searches for the answers surrounding the death of a pioneering black Hollywood director.
Charlotte continues to loathe her superior Steve Firestone, who made sexual advances towards her and has her riding the desk, where she is adrift in a sea of paperwork and administrative duties instead of out in the field. So when Charlotte's comrade Billie from across town tips her to the death of the director, Maynard Duncan, Charlotte is ready to get back down to business. The death seems strikingly familiar to a recent Kevorkian-like case Billie was an integral part of, and Billie needs Charlotte's help to find out if the two cases are connected.
The circumstances surrounding the death of Maynard Duncan allow Charlotte, and her not-so-friendly partner Gena Cortez, a look into the lives of the director and his close associates and into the depths of what Duncan himself dubbed "Hidden Hollywood."
STORMY WEATHER picks up right where Inner City Blues left off, but adds more insight to Charlotte's family and personal life. Her beau Audrey and her brother Perris are recurring characters, as are the ghosts of her deceased husband and daughter. Woods is a great storyteller, and she keeps you intrigued and allows you to easily become enraptured with the newest addition in the Charlotte Justice saga.
Reviewed by CandaceK
Really a 4.5.......2002-11-30
Charlotte Justice is on the case again. This time the case involves the death of Maynard Duncan, who in his day was one of the elite of black Hollywood. Was it murder, suicide or an accident;Charlotte will have to delve into the victims life to figure it out and Maynard has a few more skeletons in his closet than most of us.
This novel picks up where Inner City Blues left off. It's an entirely different case Justice is assigned to but there are a lot of constants. Steve Hightower, her supervisor, still needs a good castration;he continues to make Charlotte's days in the department a living hell. Her family which she affectionately calls the "Nut House" is still earning its' good name and her relationship with the "good" doctor is heating up in more way than one.
Paula Woods writes with such grace. Her story lines are so well thought out and clever, but I think I enjoy her characterizations the most. They are just as paramount to the enjoyment of her novels as the plot. She gives us some of the most interesting and flushed out characters.
Another Winner!
Reviewed by Ruby
APOOO Book Club
Stormy Weather.......2002-05-10
Writing a good story is an art; likewise, writing a solid, enthralling mystery is a gift. Paula L. Woods has the gift of weaving the threads of secrets, lies, love and hate into an intriguing mystery and captivating read.
In "Stormy Weather" Paula L. Woods gives us Charlotte Justice, a determined, intelligent, dedicated detective of the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
In her latest adventure, Detective Justice delicately negotiates the murky politics of the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the Rodney King Verdict, while attempting to solve a complex and potentially dangerous mystery.
The closer she gets to the truth, the more the threads of her personal and professional life become tangled in a web that proves almost impossible to untangle.
Charlotte's intense involvement in a murder of a renowned director of film noir creates an increasingly damaging effect on her relationships with her lover and her family. Even on the verge of losing her career and quite possibly her life, Charlotte Justice never wavers in her pursuit of the truth (Charlotte "Justice" - get it?).
This story inspires the true spirit of the traditional mystery while allowing the reader to marvel at a true heroine with rock solid integrity and vulnerabilities that make her human.
"Stormy Weather" is the second in what I hope will be a series of Charlotte Justice mysteries. For all you mystery buffs out there, this one will keep you on your toes.
Don't wait for the weather to be stormy to read this novel!!.......2001-08-22
Okay, here's the drill: Stock up on finger foods and drinks. Turn off the telephone. Take the day off from work and don't even answer your e-mail. Tell everyone that you're going away for the day and can't be reached. Get into comfortable clothes. Find a comfortable spot with comfort food within an arm's reach. Open Stormy Weather reverently and begin to read . . . By the end of chapter one you will have zoned out of reality and into Detective Charotte Justice's world and you will not want to come back . . . ever. Promise!!
Average customer rating:
|
Nature's Fury: A Collection of Stormy Stories
Manufacturer: Radio Spirits
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Nonfiction
| Books on CD
| Audiobooks
| Formats
| Books
ASIN: 1570198136 |
Books:
- Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4)
- The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!
- The Big Bad Wolf (Alex Cross Novels)
- The English Assassin
- The Godfather
- The Gold Coast
- The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
- The Jesus Family Tomb: The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History
- The Kitchen Witch (The Accidental Witch Trilogy, Book 1) (Berkley Sensation)
- The Last of the Red-Hot Vampires
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Best Practices in Writing Instruction
- The Master Cleanser
- Swept from the Sea: The Shooting Script
- The Brief English Handbook: A Guide to Writing, Thinking, Grammar, and Research, Seventh Edition
- The Employee Handbook of New Work Habits for a Radically Changing World: 13 Ground Rules for Job Suc
- The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How to Recognize it and How to Respond
- The Practical Mariner's Book of Knowledge: 420 Sea-Tested Rules of Thumb for Almost Every Boating Si
- All You Need to Know About Banks
- The Conditions of Agricultural Growth: The Economics of Agrarin Change under Population Pressure
- Irish Girls About Town: An Anthology of Short Stories
