Amazon.com
Ugly Americans documents the "Wild East" of the mid-1990s, where young, brilliant, and hypercompetitive traders became "hedge fund cowboys," manipulating loopholes in an outdated and inefficient Asian financial system to rake in millions. Using a concept called arbitrage, they made their fortunes mainly on minute shifts in stocks being sold on the Nikkei, the Japanese stock market, collapsing banks and nearly bankrupting the Japanese economy in the process. Other schemes were also concocted, most of which were technically legal, though certainly unethical. This true story revolves around "John Malcolm," who, in exchange for anonymity, agreed to give Ben Mezrich all the access and information he needed to write this book. As a recent Princeton graduate in the mid-1990s, Malcolm accepted an undefined job offer from an American expatriate in Japan to work in the investments field. Though he had no prior experience, he facilitated 25 million dollars worth of trades on his first day on the job, and it just got more exciting from there. He soon joined a small group of expatriates, all in their twenties and mostly Ivy League graduates, who lived like rock stars, thriving on the stress and excitement of their jobs to create their own steroid versions of the American Dream half a world away. Mezrich tells this riveting story well, incorporating elements of the culture into his narrative, including the infamous and pervasive Japanese "Water Trade," or sex business, romantic intrigue, and even run-ins with the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia. Though there is little real analysis of their financial dealings and how they ultimately changed the rules of finance in Asia, this entertaining page turner does offer a glimpse into a world little explored in print until now. --Shawn Carkonen
Book Description
Ben Mezrich, author of the
New York Times bestseller Bringing Down the House, returns with an astonishing story of Ivy League hedge-fund cowboys, high stakes, and the Asian underworld.
John Malcolm was the ultimate gunslinger in the Wild East, prepared to take on any level of risk in making mind-boggling sums of money. He and his friends were hedge-fund cowboys, living life on the adrenaline-, sex-, and drugs-fueled edge—kids running billion-dollar portfolios, trading information in the back rooms of high-class brothels and at VIP tables in nightclubs across the Far East.
Malcolm and his Ivy League-schooled twenty-something colleagues, with their warped sense of morality, created their own economic theory that would culminate in a single deal the likes of which had never been seen before—or since.
Ugly Americans is a story of extremes, charged with wealth, nerve, excess, and glamour. A real-life mixture of
Liar's Poker and
Wall Street, brimming with intense action, romance, underground sex, vivid locales, and exotic characters, Ugly Americans is the untold true story that rocked the financial community.
Customer Reviews:
An Exciting Read and Look into the Asian "Wall St".......2007-09-12
For those who enjoyed the movie "Boiler Room," this book is a must-read. Mezrich tells the tale of wannabe big-time US investors who use the opening of the Japanese stock market to weasel in and stretch the law and their own morality to make deals and steals. It's an honest, gritty portrayal of the Asian nightlife and the ex-pat's who work hard by day and play hard after the bell signals close. You don't need to be a swing-trader to enjoy it; this is a great book for those who either want to learn about big stock trading or just read an adventure about a ex-football player who got roped into a shady, billion-dollar enterprise.
The characters are as real as they can get on paper. The protagonist is trying to make the one big score and get out and the antagonists are just reprehensible enough to remind you of business folks you know in your life. Add in Yakuza (Japanese Mafia), black market plotlines, and the urban backdrops of Osaka and Tokyo and you have a real grabber. It was tough to put this one down and the ending does not dissappoint.
Not even that interesting.......2007-07-31
I really enjoyed the author's other two works, which I read quite quickly. Whether they were totally factual or not was immaterial...they were fun and interesting reads. This book disappoints. I didn't find the story interesting or fast moving. The "danger" element seemed forced, almost as if it was added in to "spice things up".
If you're looking for a fast reading "true" story of big money makers, try Mezrich's other books. Avoid this one, whether you're a Mezrich fan or not.
Much ado about not so much.......2007-07-21
This book had a very similar tone to the "Breaking Vegas" book, which is not unexpected given that the books were written by the same author-- however, too much stylistic overlap is still too much.
On the good side:
1. The writing was fast, light, and easy to follow. Not needing of too much concentration, and something that can be picked right up and settled into.
2. There was some explanation about the concept of arbitrage.
3. There was interesting insight into the sex-for-sale culture of Japan. This alone could have spun off and made a whole new book.
On the bad side:
1. The explanation of the nuts and bolts of trading was too thin. It might have only taken one extra chapter to give us the details that many of us who bought the book were looking for.
2. I wonder how much the author *really* knew, given that he used the word "farang" to describe foreigners-- even though that word is 100% Thai. Was he throwing in technical terms to make it *look* like he had done his homework? And if he made that mistake, how many others did he make that we might not have recognized?
3. It might also have been interesting to get a better idea of just how much the Japanese government and Yakuza were in bed together. Is this really the case? Or is this poetic license? There were more than a few topics in this book that just weren't covered as much as a reader might have liked-- though I can appreciate that this is done for the sake of brevity. (An extra bit here and an extra bit there, and the next thing you know you have a book that is as overwrought with detail and most of what Ayn Rand has written.)
A story of the people, not of the business.......2007-07-15
This book is clearly written to entertain rather than inform, as it orders the exposition of events to maximize suspense rather than efficiency of information presentation. Additionally, it is a very shallow read, revealing absolutely nothing about the mechanics of trading or the business operations of the financial world, focusing instead on the lavish and crazy lifestyles of the rich and tasteless who run this world. For example, the author constantly refers to Nikkei trades done by the people in this book but never explains what it is about the trades that these men made that makes them so special. As an entertaining read, this book gets 3 stars, but as an exposition on hedge funds or stock trading this book gets 0 stars.
Thoroughly enjoyable!.......2007-05-19
A quick, smooth, fun read. Has all the tension and plotting of a good movie. Although the details might be somewhat inaccurate and/or exagerated, it's worth it for the inherent drama of the story, and the basic story is a corker.
Product Description
Parade Knight hates her complexion. As a result, she considers herself to be unattractive and condones the misuse of her body. Sky Taylor is beautiful, fly and wanted, and loves reminding Parade of her imperfections especially after suspecting that she may be sleeping with her man, Jay Hernandez. Miss Wayne is hilarious and a self-proclaimed girlfriend who enjoys the attention his friends bring. If you let Miss Wayne tell it, he s not a gay, he s just one of the girls. Daffany Stans uses her body for profit and hides a health secret so serious that it could endanger the lives of her friends, considering their sex partners are so closely related. Black and Ugly is a tale of four totally different friends from the same block, whose friendship is tested during a seemingly innocent game of Truth or Dare. When fatal secrets begin to surface, will Parade give up the friend whose shadow she has walked in all her life? And will Miss Wayne and Daphne abandon their friends to save themselves?
Customer Reviews:
BLACK (not )UGLY.......2007-10-02
OMG this book was a very great read... I am so happy that Parade turned out the way she did in the end... I am glad she learned throught it all... can't say the same for Sky... "Miss Wayne" was funny... and Daffany well she is something else...
hottttttttttttttttttttttttttt........2007-09-15
this book was so good i read it in one day no words can say anthing ,about this book but hot.
Dramatic!.......2007-09-10
I thought this book was very interesting, the characters were pretty real and it showed just how close friends can treat each other. Its definitely a great read and it just teaches people to love themselves more.
Powerful.......2007-08-21
This is the first book I read by this author but it won't be the last. So many young, beautiful sisters believe they are ugly because they are dark skin and they are so wrong. My heart went out to Parade and that Sky got exactly what she deserved. This book held my interest and would not let it go. Keep up the good work!!!!!!!
Black and Ugly .......2007-08-09
I give my props to T. Styles this is a good book it is so unpredictable you never will know what will happen next. If you are somebody that like drama this is a book for you. This a shocker series lol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Book Description
The multi-million-copy bestseller that coined the phrase for tragic American blunders abroad. First published in 1958, The Ugly American became a runaway national bestseller for its slashing expos of American arrogance, incompetence, and corruption in Southeast Asia. Based on fact, the book's eye-opening stories and sketches drew a devastating picture of how the United States was losing the struggle with Communism in Asia. Combining gripping storytelling with an urgent call to action, the book prompted President Eisenhower to launch a study of our military aid program that led the way to much-needed reform.
Customer Reviews:
Book Review - THE UGLY AMERICAN by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick .......2007-09-26
I've had this book lying around for a long time, but I never read it until it was assigned in my International Mass Communication class, even though it's been a classic for fifty years. The novel is set in the fictional southeast Asian nation of Sarkhan. It was written before the Vietnam War, and proved eerily prescient concerning how and why the United States would lose that war. What is most frustrating is how the United States continues to make the same foreign policy mistakes today.
Most significant is the theme that the majority of Americans who go to Sarkhan to help or work are woefully ignorant of what is required of them. These Americans are unable to understand the need to learn the Sarkhanese culture and language. They are unprepared to put forth the necessary effort and unwilling to make such a commitment. Many Americans in Sarkhan are more concerned with their own business interests than with sincerely helping the Sarkhanese. This collective approach culminates in an ineffective policy of throwing money at the problem regardless of the results, which are most often quite poor. The most alarming aspect of this mindset is the consummate arrogance that the American policies will work in spite of continued and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
The reader shares the manifold frustration of those few characters who understand how to achieve results in Sarkhan. The powers-that-be are, for a variety of shameful reasons, by and large unwilling to accept these characters' simple, pragmatic solutions, despite the success they have achieved. Numerous characters remark on how simple it would be for America to win the hearts and minds of the Sarkhanese and drive out the communists, but America's continued unwillingness to be flexible in its approach only compounds their frustration. Certainly the irony of the novel's title is not lost here. Homer Atkins, the "ugly American", is one of these few people who understand how to interact productively with the Sarkhanese, and he does so with great success. Meanwhile, the attractive, rich and well-to-do continue to flog America's ineffective policies.
Although the authors were experts on the topic, the novel is not without its minor faults. The dialogue is stilted in places, particularly early on. But this is hardly unforgivable; the dialogue is not a focal point of the novel, and the accepted writing style for fiction was different fifty years ago, and continually changes. Additionally, the pacing is good, which helps overcome that particular weakness. The introduction of a new character nearly every chapter is unorthodox, but works fairly well as a means by which to portray the myriad examples of the various strategies of foreign diplomacy.
The novel is not a tremendously enjoyable read, nor is it supposed to be. The authors want the reader to feel the frustrations they feel, the frustrations that the few who employ effective methods feel. In sharing this frustration, the reader comes away from the novel with a clearer understanding of the situation, and with the knowledge that there are alternatives to the United States' ongoing policies of antagonism and alienation.
The Ugly American has become a timeless classic, and this is immensely regrettable. That the plain and simple explanations of how to and how not to achieve success in foreign policy have been and continue to be utterly disregarded by the United States government in spite of repeated failures and constant admonitions is nothing short of a travesty. Had the United States heeded the warnings of this book and changed their policies accordingly, the novel would certainly be left with little to say to a twenty-first century American audience. Until such a sweeping diplomatic overhaul occurs, however, The Ugly American will remain valuable to each succeeding generation.
In the world in which we live, this novel must be
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Not much has changed since 1958.......2007-09-24
First read "The Ugly American" in 1958. Just finished the 1999 reprint and found it to be just as revelent today as it was nearly 50 years ago. The foreign policy of America has not changed much over the past half century. If only our policy makers would take time to understand what the authors were telling us, the world situation may be better off.
It rings true.......2007-07-21
This is a novel, but only quasi-fictional. Written in 1958, the story involves the behaviors of our U.S. foreign service diplomats in Southeast Asia. I'm sorry to say it just as well have could been written last year and applied to many in the current State Department.
As other reviewers have noted regarding The Ugly American, it is a critique of how Americans often behave (badly) abroad. TRUE. It is also a discomfitting look at how people often behave (badly) when given power and privilege. Further, it is a primer on how to generally relate with other people, at home or abroad, socially and honorably.
The authors are tough on institutionalized communism, but gentle and gracious to the people of the Third-World. Very convincing.
An interesting word-play from the book: As most boomers, I grew up applying the term "ugly American" to bad social actors abroad. Interestingly, the individual "ugly American" referred to in the novel is a saavy, wise and generous - but not physically attractive - engineer. Ironically, his industrious and giving nature (and that of his wife), actually make them the "beautiful Americans".
A smart book. One to be read by anyone interested in travel, or politics, or getting along well with other people - especially disadvantaged or different people.
Very good story and a quick read........2006-09-27
This is a popular book among US military members and I was very impressed with the story and the message.
A Timeless Warning--Still Crying in the Wilderness.......2006-03-12
Burdick and Lederer combine a brisk writing style with a breath-taking breadth of knowledge to create a timeless classic. I first read it in 1963 as Kennedy was getting us increasingly mired in Vietnam. At the time, the graphic description of the French failure just a few years before as well as the anti-American riots of recent memory in Nasser's Egypt, Sukarno's Indonesia and, of course, Caracas, Venezuela vividly suggested this book had a message which desperately needed heeding.
Now, forty years later, the lesson remains unlearned, making this book worthwhile reading, particularly for young Americans interested in serving our country overseas. The obscene arrogance of power displayed in Vietnam in the Johnson years still scars those of us who remember it. Yet even after that and its humiliating aftermath... that awful day on the rooftop of the embassy... the problem persists. I've been privileged to live in a Third World area in the process of nation-building for several years now... and I only wish I could hand a copy of this book to the heavy-handed arrogant federal functionaries, who as the authors describe, couldn't begin to cut the mustard at home yet lord it over the locals in excesses of Byzantine proportions. Burdick and Lederer have created a timeless classic about human understanding. They don't just criticize the failures... they show with equal eloquence over and over again the type of curious, friendly, unbiased helpful Americans who've made a big difference where they have lived and worked. And they make the point over and over that many influential Third World people (such as their fictional Burmese newspaper editor) remain deeply impressed with the kind of Americans one still can occasionally find back in America.
I remain impressed that such a real, well developed gloom and doom theme can read like a riveting novel. The Ugly American is an impressive literary, historical and social achievement turned out by two very well-rounded men who happen to be very gifted writers. BRAVO!
Average customer rating:
- Loved It
- Just Okay!
- Monroe, honey you are wonderful!
- LET'S SEE....
- Where is Book 3????
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God Still Don't Like Ugly
Mary Monroe
Manufacturer: Kensington
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ASIN: 0758203438 |
Customer Reviews:
Loved It.......2006-11-08
I absolutely loved this book. The characters are so funny that I catch myself cracking up. I feel like I know each one of them personally. I can't wait to read God Don't Play.
Just Okay!.......2006-05-26
"God Still Don't Like Ugly" by Mary Monroe, I felt was a okay book, I didn't read the first novel God Don't Like Ugly, so this book started off really slow, it took me a week to get into this book, but once I started understanding who the characters were and what part they played in this book and the first one, then I was able follow the book, and it was okay reading...
Maybe I should have read the first novel, then this one...
Monroe, honey you are wonderful!.......2006-05-18
I liked "God Don't Like Ugly" and I also liked this sequel, "God Still Don't Like Ugly". The two books told an incredible story of endurance and forgiveness. Though this book was truly an enjoyable read, it revisits the first one too much.
In this half of the tale, Annette and Rhoda are both adults and still face their share of trials. Annette comes into contact with her long lost father and her siblings. She also finds herself a fiancee by the name of Jerome Cunningham. At first, they are happy together, but when one of his family members find out that she is a former prostitute, he calls their entire relationship off. So, she finds love in her childhood friend Pee Wee. Rhoda resurfaces and has a family of her own. But, by the end of the story, she endures a bad turn of events.
I enjoyed this book. I read it in no time. This author has a gift and it is illustrated in her writing. I really like Mary Monroe! I know Mary, God don't like ugly...
LET'S SEE...........2006-04-21
NOT AS GOOD AS THE FIRST. I WANTED TO SLAP ANNETTE A FEW TIMES. AND HER FRIEND IS STILL CRAZY. WORTH A READ IF YOU RAN OUT OF ALL YOUR DRAMA FILLED BOOKS!
Where is Book 3????.......2006-03-25
The book does start off with some flashbacks, but it does get interesting. Annette is all grown up now and ready to do things at an adult level. As an adult she address the things that she held in bondage throughout her childhood. She begins to tell those secrets she swore never to tell.
It did end the same as book one: YOU JUST WANT MORE!!
Average customer rating:
- A hilarious, sometimes jaw-dropping tale of the Mulberry, Georgia peaches
- BRAVO!!!!
- ugly ways is excellent
- No Way
- Ugly Ways
|
Ugly Ways
Tina McElroy Ansa
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
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ASIN: 0156000776 |
Customer Reviews:
A hilarious, sometimes jaw-dropping tale of the Mulberry, Georgia peaches.......2007-07-14
I love this book. I give it 5 stars for being a thoroughly entertaining page turner. The author's style makes this a fast, fun and easy read. If you are reading this book in public, invariably someone will walk up, notice the title and start laughing out loud. You won't regret buying this one.
I called my own Mom in the midst of reading it and said, "I'll explain later but I just want to thank you for NOT being Mudear."
We discussed Ugly Ways during my recent vacation to visit family in Georgia. I'm ordering copies so we can all read this book together. I'm sure I'll enjoy it the second time around just as much. It's probably been over 10 years since I read it and it still sticks in head as one of the most fun novels I've ever read.
This novel is not as profound and deeply disturbing as a good Morrison novel (whose books I absolutely LOVE reading), but Mudear IS a real case study. Which makes "Ugly Ways," a memorable novel it's own right. You'll never, ever forget Mudear and what happens when she goes through her "change" (hint: it's NOT about menopause).
Buy this book. Have a good time. You deserve it.
BRAVO!!!!.......2003-03-18
I loved it, loved it, LOVED IT!!! Mudear reminds me so much of one of my relatives that it's not funny. Mrs. Ansa's writing style is refreshing and profound. Great book and I look even more forward to the movie.
ugly ways is excellent.......2003-01-25
I read it a few years ago and it was better the second time around. Awesome. I knew the three sisters, mudear and the dad
on an intimate level
Thank you Mz McElroy
Dr Patricia Gordon
No Way.......2002-05-13
Anyone who knows me would tell you I truly enjoy reading. I am an avid reader known to finish an interesting book within hours. It took me two weeks to get past the first seven chapters of this book. The story just could not keep my interest. I felt no real affinity to any of the characters. I have other books by this author and come away with an interst in what would happen next with her lead characters. She writes with real emphasis on how characters interact with each other and usually leaves you wanting more. In the case of this novel I just didn't feel it. Her other novels will not leave you dissapointed. Ugly ways is not a good example of the Ansa's true talent as a writer. If you have not done so try her other novels. I guarantee you will come away wanting to read more.
Ugly Ways.......2001-12-12
Ugly Ways, written by Tina McElroy Ansa was a fiction novel about three black sisters who are reunited due to thier mother's death. With the three totally different attitudes each has, it's most interesting to read how they encounter the situations after their mother's death. This novel was an excellent choice. I can most relate to it because my mother is the baby of three sisters also. Many of the situations and actions shown by the Lovejoy sisters are a lot like my very own mother and aunts. I think Ms. Ansa did a great job of displaying how family must be stong and stand together in times of need. This was a great book, I recommend it to anyone who needs a cry and laugh.
Amazon.com
Gregory Maguire's chilling, wonderful retelling of Cinderella is a study in contrasts. Love and hate, beauty and ugliness, cruelty and charity--each idea is stripped of its ethical trappings, smashed up against its opposite number, and laid bare for our examination. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister begins in 17th-century Holland, where the two Fisher sisters and their mother have fled to escape a hostile England. Maguire's characters are at once more human and more fanciful than their fairy-tale originals. Plain but smart Iris and her sister, Ruth, a hulking simpleton, are dazed and terrified as their mother, Margarethe, urges them into the strange Dutch streets. Within days, purposeful Margarethe has secured the family a place in the home of an aspiring painter, where for a short time, they find happiness.
But this is Cinderella, after all, and tragedy is inevitable. When a wealthy tulip speculator commissions the painter to capture his blindingly lovely daughter, Clara, on canvas, Margarethe jumps at the chance to better their lot. "Give me room to cast my eel spear, and let follow what may," she crows, and the Fisher family abandons the artist for the upper-crust Van den Meers.
When Van den Meer's wife dies during childbirth, the stage is set for Margarethe to take over the household and for Clara to adopt the role of "Cinderling" in order to survive. What follows is a changeling adventure, and of course a ball, a handsome prince, a lost slipper, and what might even be a fairy godmother. In a single magic night, the exquisite and the ugly swirl around in a heated mix:
Everything about this moment hovers, trembles, all their sweet, unreasonable hopes on view before anything has had the chance to go wrong. A stepsister spins on black and white tiles, in glass slippers and a gold gown, and two stepsisters watch with unrelieved admiration. The light pours in, strengthening in its golden hue as the sun sinks and the evening approaches. Clara is as otherworldly as the Donkeywoman, the Girl-Boy. Extreme beauty is an affliction...
But beyond these familiar elements, Maguire's second novel becomes something else altogether--a morality play, a psychological study, a feminist manifesto, or perhaps a plain explanation of what it is to be human. Villains turn out to be heroes, and heroes disappoint. The story's narrator wryly observes, "In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings. When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats." --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Is this new land a place where magics really happen?
From Gregory Maguire, the acclaimed author of Wicked, comes his much-anticipated second novel, a brilliant and provocative retelling of the timeless Cinderella tale.
In the lives of children, pumpkins can turn into coaches, mice and rats into human beings.... When we grow up, we learn that it's far more common for human beings to turn into rats....
We all have heard the story of Cinderella, the beautiful child cast out to slave among the ashes. But what of her stepsisters, the homely pair exiled into ignominy by the fame of their lovely sibling? What fate befell those untouched by beauty . . . and what curses accompanied Cinderella's exquisite looks?
Extreme beauty is an affliction
Set against the rich backdrop of seventeenth-century Holland, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister tells the story of Iris, an unlikely heroine who finds herself swept from the lowly streets of Haarlem to a strange world of wealth, artifice, and ambition. Iris's path quickly becomes intertwined with that of Clara, the mysterious and unnaturally beautiful girl destined to become her sister.
Clara was the prettiest child, but was her life the prettiest tale?
While Clara retreats to the cinders of the family hearth, burning all memories of her past, Iris seeks out the shadowy secrets of her new household--and the treacherous truth of her former life.
God and Satan snarling at each other like dogs.... Imps and fairy godmotbers trying to undo each other's work. How we try to pin the world between opposite extremes!
Far more than a mere fairy-tale, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is a novel of beauty and betrayal, illusion and understanding, reminding us that deception can be unearthed--and love unveiled--in the most unexpected of places.
Customer Reviews:
Imaginative but Long.......2007-08-17
Maguire does a nice job of painting the sisters as woeful humans and Cinderella as this spoiled little girl, but the book runs too long. It was imaginative of him to design such a twist to the original piece, though. Props for creativity.
Ok.......2007-08-15
I guess this book was just not my style. I liked the fact that the ugly stepsisters were made to seem kind, and human, which we all know was not the original story line. But this book was very slow moving, and in the end not all that satisfying. I did read the whole book, as some parts held my interest. Other parts of the book I found myself daydreaming.
Blah Blah Boring.......2007-07-15
Ugly Stepsister was the reading choice of my book club and it was roundly disliked. The choice was based on the much better received Wicked, which I have not read.
The book was extremely slow to start. Although the characters were interesting, the writing itself was flat and uninspiring. It took me four weeks just to get through the first 100+ pages. By the date of the book club, seven weeks after I started the book, I still hadn't finished. In fact, the only reason I finished it was that I'd promised my fellow club members I would.
Our next book club read is Middle Sex (or Middlesex), which I hope is a better read. I can't imagine it will be much less entertaining. Thank goodness Harry Potter is being delivered next week so I can get the memory of Ugly Stepsister out of my head!
Fresh take on a classic tale.......2007-07-10
This was a different take on the cinderella story. It was a little too gloomy and different from the original for me. Still it was an intriguing work.
entertaining.......2007-06-26
When I read Wicked, I changed my mind about the classic good guy bad buy image in books/movies. This was no different. It was delightful to discover the 'evil step sisters' were not that bad at all... that Cinderella was not as she appears in the classic Disney movie is refreshing. I enjoyed this book from page one.
Average customer rating:
- The title maybe Ugly Vegetables, but it's beautiful story
- The Ugly Vegetables
- Enjoyable
- An awesome book and receipe included, how great is that!
- Should Be in Every Library!
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The Ugly Vegetables
Grace Lin
Manufacturer: Charlesbridge Publishing
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0881063363 |
Book Description
It's easy to appreciate a garden exploding with colorful flowers and fragrances, but what do you do with a patch of ugly vegetables? Author/illustrator Grace Lin recalls such a garden in this charming and eloquent story.
The neighbors' gardens look so much prettier and so much more inviting to the young gardener than the garden of “black-purple-green vines, fuzzy wrinkled leaves, prickly stems, and a few little yellow flowers” that she and her mother grow. Nevertheless, mother assures her that “these are better than flowers.” Come harvest time, everyone agrees as those ugly Chinese vegetables become the tastiest, most aromatic soup they have ever known. As the neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetable soup, the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose.
The Ugly Vegetables springs forth with the bright and cheerful colors of blooming flowers and bumpy, ugly vegetables. Grace Lin's colorful, playful illustrations pour forth with abundant treasures. Complete with a guide to the Chinese pronunciation of the vegetables and the recipe for ugly vegetable soup! Try it . . . you'll love it, too!
Customer Reviews:
The title maybe Ugly Vegetables, but it's beautiful story.......2007-05-13
I was drawn to this book for several reasons. First off, I have a child born in and adopted from China and am naturally drawn to books relating to Chinese people. As much as I want her to understand her birth culture I am also learning at the same time. We have several Grace Lin books in our library at home and have loved everyone of them. What I love about this book is that it illustrates how we all have something to teach one another and that through our sharing and teaching we actually become comfortable with ourselves. This isn't just a book about some unusual vegetables, it's a story about people and what we each have to offer the world.
The Ugly Vegetables.......2006-03-15
One of my two year olds favorite books. Beautiful illustrations and a fun story, especially if coming from a gardening background. My daughter also loves trying to say the Chinese words for the vegetables at the end of the book.
Enjoyable.......2005-10-04
I bought this book for my 3 year old, but I think it's a bit too complicated for her. The story is lovely, and I bought this based on our enjoyment together of several other books illustrated and/or written by Ms. Lin. However, her attention span at 3 is too short to get through all of the narrative, so we just looked at the pictures while I summarized. The pictures, as usual, were colorful and intriguing, but we put this book aside for next Summer, when she'll be closer to 4, and we can read it together as we plan our own "ugly" vegetable garden.
An awesome book and receipe included, how great is that!.......2004-08-22
Each Grace Lin book I get, I am just so impressed by her talent! Every child loves to get their hands into dirt and growing flowers or vegetables is always fun and gives the child great pride to show everyone their hard work and or beautiful flowers!
Every child wants to be just the same as their friends, especially those in the neighborhood. Mom and daughter start in the spring to plant their garden and while everyone else in the neighborhood each have their own way of tending their gardens totally different from how her and her mom garden. When their plants appear they look like grass, where other neighbors' appear they look like normal plants.
The little girl constantly asks questions as all children do, why mommy, why mommy and her mommy patiently answers each of her daughters questions. When others in the neighborhood have beautiful flowersthat smell so good, the little girls garden has what she sees as ugly plants with no beautiful scents. Once the vegetables are ready to be harvested the little girl and mother gather their wheelbarrow with their vegetables. Later that afternoon the daughter is out playing in the yard and smells a wonderful smell and it's coming from her house! Her mom has made soup using their harvest and her mom gives her a bowl..... it tastes so good! Then there comes knocking at their door and it's the little girls neighbors wanting to trade their beautiful flowers for a bowl of soup. The Mom tells the neighbors about each vegetables and the next spring the little girl notices her neighbors growing " Ugly Vegetables" too!
I love that Lin includes a receipe to make using these so called "ugly vegetables" and that she included their names and even sounded them out. Keep up the good work Mrs. Lin and I'll keep on buying your books and singing praises to anyone who'll read my reviews!
Should Be in Every Library!.......2001-06-29
This was a wonderful story that my husband and children just loved. We learned about some new vegetables in the process. As a kid I wasn't fond of bitter melon, but I'm willing to give it a second try after reading the book! My 5 and 6 year old boys are clamoring for us to go out, buy some ugly vegetables, and make the soup! This book appeals to every member of the family and the illustrations are beautiful.
Average customer rating:
- God fearing?
- I Hated It!
- A good read
- Powerful
- How sad....
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God Don't Like Ugly
Mary Monroe
Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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God Still Don't Like Ugly
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The Upper Room
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God Don't Play
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Gonna Lay Down My Burdens
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In Sheep's Clothing
ASIN: 0758220324 |
Customer Reviews:
God fearing?.......2007-04-03
I am a Eurasian-American female. An African friend of mine loaned me this book with a promise that I would enjoy it. What a wonderful thought provoking book, full of the problems of growing up without guidance from anyone but God. When you are poor, you make due and make decisions that will change the rest of your life or your child's. I would never of thought to read a book by and African author not that I would not but it would never come to mind. The author of this book is extremely descriptive and you can visualize the pages as if you are there. I am in the process of reading all of her books. Thanks you
I Hated It! .......2007-01-22
This book was awful.I don't know if it was the continuous sexual abuse, Annette endured that got to me, or if it was, Mary Monroe's poor writing style.
My criticism is with how, Mary failed to give her characters depth and emotions. It was all just detached, surface reading considering she never took her readers into the character's minds. I realize this was Mary's first novel, and she acknowledged being a self-taught writer. So maybe that explains it, but either way, I hated it!
A good read.......2007-01-10
I really liked reading this book. I'm not much of a reader but this book definately kept my interest. I will definately read (God still don't like ugly).
Powerful.......2006-10-12
I enjoyed this book so much. I have seen it but I never thought it would be as good as it was. I loved the character and just purchased the sequel. I hope it is just as good as this book. If you haven't read it yet, shame on you.
How sad...........2006-07-23
Bad things happen to good people. I can attest to that. This was an excellent read. I hope Ms. Monroe allows Annette to find some peace and happiness in God Don't Play.
Average customer rating:
- LOVE IT
- Beauty isn't everything....but it helps!
- Great
- Ugly Duckling is a Gander of a Read.
- I loved this book
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Ugly Duckling, The
Iris Johansen
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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Long After Midnight
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And Then You Die
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Final Target
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The Killing Game
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The Face of Deception
ASIN: 0553097148
Release Date: 1996-04-01 |
Book Description
If fate suddenly made you more beautiful that you ever dreamed possible, would it be the beginning of a fairy tale, or your worst nightmare?
The brutal attack should have killed anybody, but Nell Calder did more than survive. She emerged a woman transformed, with an exquisite beauty found only in fairy tales. Nell Calder deserved a happy ending. Instead, her descent into terror has just begun.
Her attacker is still on the hunt, determined to finish what he's started. And Nell, protected by a new face, is just as determined to fight back and take her revenge. But to catch her prey, she will have to expose herself—even if it makes her a killer's prime target.
Customer Reviews:
LOVE IT.......2007-03-09
I LOVE IRIS JOHANSEN!!!! ALL OF THE BOOKS I HAVE READ OF HERS ARE GREAT!!!!! READ THEM, YOU WON'T BE DISAPOINTED!
Beauty isn't everything....but it helps!.......2006-10-03
Another great page-turner from Iris Johansen! Plain, timid, and overweight protagonist whips it into shape before setting off on her quest for revenge/closure. Thankfully, the improvement to her outward appearance (courtesy of kind and noble plastic surgeon) is eclipsed by the inner beauty/strength Nell finds. Interesting and suspenseful plot with a cast of heroic characters carrying their own dark secrets. You will cheer on the strong females and their cunning pals as they give the bad guys their comeuppance. Recommended.
Great.......2006-09-21
This book along with Face of Deception is what hooked me to her books. Most of them are wonderful but there are a couple that turn out predictable.
Ugly Duckling is a Gander of a Read........2006-07-09
This was my first Iris Johansen book, and I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed it. Fast paced after the first two chapters, intriguing and suspenseful, this is a book you will want to keep reading until you reach the very ending. What mother wouldn't come out of her shell after some "boogie man" has murdered her innocent 4 year-old daughter?
The only problem I had with this book is how a cosmetic surgeon's makeover on Nell gives her immediate confidence once the bandages come off, and a lot of her humility disappears. Often, especially with the "Helen of Troy" face she was given by the surgeon, a woman has more misery than blessings, and it's hard to believe she didn't need counseling with the brand new face.
Other than that, there was a slew of great characters, and I especially enjoyed the character Tonya who quickly became Nell's friend through her own losses. Check this book out if you like good storytelling, high suspense, and a decent romantic plot. It's not my favorite book, but it's good enough to recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, involving suspense novel.
I loved this book.......2006-06-12
This is the first book by Iris Johansen I read and my goodness what a page turner. I just kept reading till I was finished into the wee hours of the morn.
I loved the characters of Nell and Nicholas and the other characters were also amazing.
I will most assuredly be buying another book by this author.
Book Description
Envy, irritation, paranoia--in contrast to powerful and dynamic negative emotions like anger, these non-cathartic states of feeling are associated with situations in which action is blocked or suspended. In her examination of the cultural forms to which these affects give rise, Sianne Ngai suggests that these minor and more politically ambiguous feelings become all the more suited for diagnosing the character of late modernity.
Along with her inquiry into the aesthetics of unprestigious negative affects such as irritation, envy, and disgust, Ngai examines a racialized affect called "animatedness," and a paradoxical synthesis of shock and boredom called "stuplimity." She explores the politically equivocal work of these affective concepts in the cultural contexts where they seem most at stake, from academic feminist debates to the Harlem Renaissance, from late-twentieth-century American poetry to Hollywood film and network television. Through readings of Herman Melville, Nella Larsen, Sigmund Freud, Alfred Hitchcock, Gertrude Stein, Ralph Ellison, John Yau, and Bruce Andrews, among others, Ngai shows how art turns to ugly feelings as a site for interrogating its own suspended agency in the affirmative culture of a market society, where art is tolerated as essentially unthreatening.
Ngai mobilizes the aesthetics of ugly feelings to investigate not only ideological and representational dilemmas in literature--with a particular focus on those inflected by gender and race--but also blind spots in contemporary literary and cultural criticism. Her work maps a major intersection of literary studies, media and cultural studies, feminist studies, and aesthetic theory.
Customer Reviews:
Good premise, but poorly executed.......2007-05-21
Overall the book is an interesting idea, but disappointing in its execution.
The objective of this book is to use literature and film as a means of exploring some of the more neglected emotional aspects of personal interaction. The major flaw is the writing style. It is overwhelmingly pretentious, to the point of being almost unreadable. Every chapter reads like a bad college essay in which the author is trying too hard to appear intelligent, using a long word (sometimes incorrectly) when a short one would have been a better fit and more readable, and packing each sentence with as many subclauses and parenthetical distractions as possible.
If you can make it past the bad writing, there is some good content here, but it's hard work, and once you unpack some of the arguments from their obfuscated language, they often turn out to be quite flimsy. This is a shame, because the author certainly seems to have a wide knowledge of literature to draw upon, and the premise of the book is a good one.
Disappointing .......2007-02-13
it was bound to be a rocky road when Ngai invented a word for a psychological state in the introduction. Ngai devotes an entire chapter to this newly invented term. Is this an attempt to mimic Heidegger? The word is even a quasi-Kompositor, rather like Dasein! Although filled with brilliant references, the book did not deliver. A philosophical who's who name and quote dropping nuisance with some pop-culture and psychology tossed in the mix. Adorno, Nietzsche or Heidegger directly were more exciting. I read this book in English and perhaps it is better if read in another language, but I won't be reading it twice.
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- Acres of Diamonds
- Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter)
- All the Rage (Repairman Jack)
- ASL Literature Series : Bird of a Different Feather & For a Decent Living, Student Workbook and Videotext
- Born to Be BAD (Bureau of American Defense - B.A.D., Books 1, 2 and 3)
- Brian Jones Straight From The Heart: The Rolling Stones Murder
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