Product Description
The destruction of Buffy's hometown, plus covert and powerful slayer "cells" around the world, add up to a new label for the Scoobies: Terrorist threat. Speaking of Sunnydale, the crater formerly known as, has opened to reveal the witch Amy, and boy is she mad.
Season Eight continues as Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to Season Seven of the smash-hit TV series.
Customer Reviews:
And the story continues.......2007-04-22
Warning: Thar be spoilers ahead!
Remember each week those exciting words (which alerted us that we were about to get a new exciting episode of the best show on TV)? "Previously on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER . . . " The new comic series seems to be doing something along these same lines. On the inside of the outer cover are printed the following:
"This story takes place after the end of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Season Seven.
"The Slayer population of the world has gone from two to nearly two thousand. Almost five hundred are working around the world with Buffy's organization in squads--or "terrorist cells," according to the American military. Buffy, Xander, Dawn, and a passel of Slayers are currently bunked out in a Scottish castle, where the latest mission revealed a strange symbol carved into human bodies.
"Also, Dawn's a giant."
This may be a summary that is rewritten each month to reflect what has happened in the previous issues.
The first episode in Season Eight established the situation; this one begins moving the story forward. The U.S. military (or rather, a military leader who has on his chest the strange symbol referred to in the monthly summary) has authorized Amy the witch and her army of zombies to go after Buffy and her cohorts. After the story begins with three very different approaches to training the new slayers by first Giles, then Buffy, and finally Andrew (who actually couldn't be said to be training them at all) we find Xander explaining why Dawn took the form of a giant when it was possible she could have assumed other forms instead (obviously, she is trying to get her sister's attention in the most blatant manner possible). The catch is, does Xander really tell any of this to Buffy or is it all just part of what we later learn is a spell-induced sleep in which she experiences an unbroken nightmare. And in a fairy-tale twist she can only be awakened by the kiss of true love. We can, of course, imagine a line of possible candidates for that: Angel and Spike fighting to be first in line. Well, of course Buffy will be awakened, and sooner rather than later. Can't imagine her being asleep at the end of the next episode. The tricky part is how one defines "true love." That needn't mean romantic love. My gut tells me that the kiss won't come from any of the usual suspects. My money is on Dawn. Yeah, I know. No one likes Dawn. But the brute fact is that except for struggling to save her in Season Five, Buffy has been a truly awful sister. Not in a Cinderella step sisterly way, but in the completely neglectful, can't-spare-her-a-minute way. But early in Season Six, Dawn seemed to miss her more than anyone. Like I said, my money is on Dawn.
The issues ends with Buffy asleep, the castle under assault by hundreds of zombies they can't keep at bay, Amy gloating that she could handle slayers with ease, so there was no one there who could take her on. The final frame is of someone who says that they would "like to test that theory." And thus Willow makes her first appearance in the story.
I am going to say something that I don't think I can say often enough. I don't want Joss Whedon writing comics. I want him creating new television shows. I suspect he enjoys the control that a comic gives him. I am sure he is tired of battling studios and networks. I can understand that. But once the battles have been waged and the BS has been waded through, Joss Whedon has been able to create some of the most extraordinary, most timeless television that has ever been made. He needs to get back to it. That being said, I am so much happier with him doing BUFFY Season Eight than either his X-Men project or the Runaways (and mind you, I like both the X-Men and the Runaways). There are others who can tell further stories about the X-Men and the Runaways, but Joss Whedon is only one who can give us authoritative Buffy stories. So I am acquiring these with joy and my heart and impatience in my soul. But I want him back in television. We've had some great TV since BUFFY and ANGEL left the air. LOST, 24, VERONICA MARS, and especially BATTLESTAR GALACTICA have filled the huge gap BUFFY left at its departure. But LOST needs to start winding down (whether it will has to be seen), BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (the only show to completely match the brilliance that was BUFFY) has possibly only one more season left and at most two before Ron Moore brings his series to an end. 24 is definitely in decline. VERONICA MARS might be cancelled. In short, JOSS! WE NEED YOU TO COME BACK TO TELEVISION! But in the meantime, I'll wolf down every one of these issues.
Episode Two: Attack of the Rat.......2007-04-05
Buffy fans will be expecting a lot after seven stellar seasons on television and the success of the first issue of "Season Eight." So the question here is this: Does Issue #2 deliver?
In short, yes. I have to say though--there is so much going on, so many jokes, and so much foreshadowing that I wasn't able to completely enjoy the Jossy goodness until my second read. The first read intrigued me, but the second wow-ed me.
The plot continues directly from the previous issue. Amy (the former rat) is working with the government to take out Buffy and the slayers, and she has an army of zombies to back her up. The ending sequences are amazing--I'm already itching for May 2nd to come so I can get my hands on the third issue. There was a big revelation about half-way through the comic, and clues to who the Big Bad of the season will be as well. Giant Dawn is great, Buffy is true to herself, and Xander is playing the biggest role he's played since the first season.
This issue also re-introduces two fan favorites: Giles and Andrew. So, all in all, this issue is just as good as the first. But did anybody expect anything less? I mean, come on--Joss Whedon wrote it.
9/10
Book Description
If you love the joys of eating home-garden vegetables but always thought those joys had to stop at the end of summer, this book is for you. Eliot Coleman introduces the surprising fact that most of the United States has more winter sunshine than the south of France. He shows how North American gardeners can successfully use that sun to raise a wide variety of traditional winter vegetables in backyard cold frames and plastic covered tunnel greenhouses without supplementary heat. Coleman expands upon his own experiences with new ideas learned on a winter-vegetable pilgrimage across the ocean to the acknowledged kingdom of vegetable cuisine, the southern part of France, which lies on the 44th parallel, the same latitude as his farm in Maine.
This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter.
Customer Reviews:
Does this book even need another 5-star review?.......2007-10-06
Even if you don't want to garden year round (if you do this is the only book you need), it's a fascinating and fact-filled read. He tells how to garden more efficiently, how to compost and rejuvenate soil with crop rotation and "green manure" and which direction to plant rows for optimal time in the sun. There are formulas throughout such as how high a retaining wall to build to protect plants from cold (the wall heats up during the day and radiates warmth back during the night), or how many degrees to slant a bed to maximize sun and minimize cold wind damage. He tells how to plan succession planting to have vegetables year round, rather than one humungous crop all at once. His tone is congenial, never talking down or above his target audience. It's fascinating--if you buy you won't be sorry!
ORGANIC HOME GARDENER.......2007-08-04
This book is loaded with dynamite information. I have enjoyed reading it and will certainly make use of the info therein in the future!
Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long.......2007-07-15
Eliot Coleman has combined how-to text with drawings that inform and inspire. Highly recommended reading!
Helpful info.......2007-06-28
I am very excited about becoming self-sufficient in feeding my family of six. This book has extremely helpful ideas that are very cost effective. Highly recommend this book.
The bible of 4-season gardening.......2007-04-18
There is nothing like the satisfaction of talking to another seasoned gardener and having them say "isn't it too early for snap-peas?" and responding "nope, mine are doing great". This book gave me the confidence and knowledge to plant a month and a half earlier than I have ever planted before, without protection for the plants even!
It lays out in simple terms variety selection, location, timing and all the information you need to be harvesting vegetables literally all year round all the way down to zone 3!!
Book Description
They are the Season sisters, bound by blood, driven apart by a tragedy. Now they are about to embark on a bittersweet journey into the unknown, an odyssey of promise and forgiveness, of loss and rediscovery.
Jillian, Beatrice and Rose have gathered for the funeral of their younger sister, Meredith. Her death, and the legacy she leaves them, will trigger a cross-country journey in search of a stranger -- a stranger with the power to mend their shattered lives. As the emotions of the past reverberate into the present, Jillian, Beatrice and Rose search for the girls they once were -- in hopes of finding what they really lost: the women they were meant to be.
Customer Reviews:
Bland.......2006-02-11
The Four Seasons was my first novel by Mary Alice Monroe.
It's the story of the four Season sisters: Jillian, Beatrice, Rose, and Meredith. The novel opens when the sisters reunite for Merry's funeral, and it takes its shape from her final request - that they find the child, now an adult, that one of them gave up for adoption as a teen.
I confess that I didn't find anything unique or particularly interesting here. Her theme seems to be the effect of the past on the present and the necessity to break down walls and 'share.' I felt rather battered over the head by her heavy handed didacticism by the time I finished the novel, but at least I did finish it.
I suppose my verdict is 'so/so.'
Such an inviting cover photo! Come on in and join these sisters on their journey of personal growth........2006-01-14
I am thrilled to have discovered Mary Alice Monroe! This is my first experience with one of her books and I found it to be a wonderfully woven tale of acceptance and self-discovery, with well-drawn characters who pulled me into an emotional connection, and natural-flowing realistic dialogue. The friendly and loving bonds of sisterhood and the journey of each woman to break out of her dysfunctional role and find closure and new meaning to life infused this story with depth and warmth, making it was an engaging page turner.
Warm and Lovely Summer Read.......2004-07-06
Here is a book that could be a cliche, but is not, because the four main characters (one of whom we know after death) are so original and so likeable.
This is the story of the four Season sisters, hence the title of the book. The youngest sister, Merry, has passed away at 32 after a long illness as the book begins. As the remaining sisters convene at the family's aging Victorian house, all their long-time hurts, dreams, failures and successes are almost palpable as each grieves in her own way. It sounds like a million other books of this type, but a different twist makes it all brand new, and very interesting.
That is the search for the illegitimate daughter of Jilly, the sister who went on to become a top model in Paris, and a minor celebrity. It turns out that at age 17, she was shunted off to a strict Catholic home for unwed mothers, and forced by circumstances, the time in which she lived, her unyielding parents, and the nuns themselves to give up her baby without being allowed to hold or see it. That momentous situation, it turns out, has colored the lives of all the sisters--even Merry, left brain damaged after a childhood accident. Her last wish was that Jilly and the other sisters find "Spring," the name she has, in her childlike innocence, chosen for the missing Season.
This is not a deep and unforgettable book, but it is well worth reading, and simply perfect for the beach, which is where I finished reading with a long sigh and many tears. Go for it!
Engrossing.......2004-06-05
This book was great. The characters were well developed and I felt like they were real people. I was sad this book ended. A must read!!!
Excellent.......2004-06-05
I purchased this book as a beach book and was not disappointed. This is the first work I have read by this author and immediately after finishing Four Seasons began to search for more books by her. This was a wonderfully woven tale of family tragedy and triumph as well as individual growth within the protagonists as women and as sisters.
Book Description
Everyone knows their songs. Few know their story. Named for a bowling alley that refused to book them, The Four Seasons—Frankie, Tommy, Bob, and Nick—were high school dropouts who emerged from New Jersey to become true American Idols: one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time.
With a shiny doo-wop sound highlighted by lead singer Frankie Valli’s stratospheric falsetto, they wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds, and sold 175 million records worldwide—all before they were thirty.
Jersey Boys, Broadway’s 2006 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, is the electrifying tale of the Seasons’ rise; of the moment when they realized their sound; their breakout with “Sherry,” becoming a sensation on American Bandstand; of riding the rocket of success against the irrisistible pull of the Jersey mob and the old neighborhood. Like the show itself, this gorgeous, full-color companion book captures the magic and the original excitement of the band’s life and times through all-new interviews with the band members. It also features the show’s unabridged libretto; interviews with the show’s cast, writers, and director; and over 200 photos from the band members’ personal collections and rarely seen memorabilia. For anyone who's ever sung along or danced to "Oh, What a Night!," Walk Like a Man," or "Big Girls Don't Cry," and for those just discovering the timeless sound of The Four Seasons, Jersey Boys is the ultimate keepsake.
Book Description
When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power.
All this he did. And then he met Sachiko.
Vivacious, attractive, thoroughly educated, speaking English enthusiastically if eccentrically, the wife of a Japanese "salaryman" who seldom left the office before 10 P.M., Sachiko was as conversant with tea ceremony and classical Japanese literature as with rock music, Goethe, and Vivaldi. With the lightness of touch that made Video Night in Kathmandu so captivating, Pico Iyer fashions from their relationship a marvelously ironic yet heartfelt book that is at once a portrait of cross-cultural infatuation -- and misunderstanding -- and a delightfully fresh way of seeing both the old Japan and the very new.
Customer Reviews:
Vivid ..........2007-07-25
In my opinion, Pico Iyer seems to be a very moody writer. He usually writes well, but then there are moments when he comes into his own and writes with an amazing surreal quality. The transition from good to surreal is very smooth: It is like being transported to another (sometimes surreal, but very vivid) realm and you'll lose count of the time. I was particularly impressed by his prose wherein he describes his late night walks amidst all the floating lanterns.
Pico has an uncanny knack of doing accurate and exhaustive research about the place and cultures he visits. Japan is an intriguing place that is steeped in three religions, immense & immaculate aesthetics, humbling hospitality, spellbinding natural scenery and Zen. Pico's interpretation of Zen is very interesting (though not very complete) and will give you opportunities of reflection, contemplation and fulfillment: In effect, living in the moment, which is quintessential Zen.
There are some parts that Pico could have done without. These are:
1. Description of his visits to Kyoto's high-end and nouveau bars. In these chapters, he squanders his high-prose to a reporter's anecdotal write-up.
2. The hallmark of this book is his interaction and lovely relationship with Sachiko San. However, at time he has made some give-take remarks about Sachiko San (in my opinion). This in some ways taints the beautiful relationship between Pico & Sachiko.
Nevertheless, this is a very good read. I would highly recommend it.
"O brave new world/ That has such people in't!".......2007-05-23
Any reviewer can find something wrong with a book, if s/he tries hard enough. And many have been quick to do so here. I suppose I could as well (e.g., by picking on Iyer for not going into the implications of the faux-Utopian society Japan has created). But I have absolutely no desire to do so. The book is so beautifully and deftly written, the romance so touching and piquant without falling into bathos, that it would, to me be similar to picking at the lovely haikus interspersed herein, stylistically complementing the lyrical writing.
Yes, as one reviewer has pointed out, it is more memoir than what is called "Travel Literature"-though the boundaries between the two have always seemed blurry to me at best.
This book will be enjoyed most by lovers of poetry, lyrical poetry - such as that of Yeats and Shelley, than by readers of the "hard-boiled" school of travel writing epitomized in V.S. Naipaul's works. If you believe that poetry is the deepest sort of writing, that one can get to "know" a society or people better through a Romantic relationship with a member of that society than by doing a Sociological study of it, if your dream life is as important to you as waking life, in short, if you have a poetic nature: This is the book for you!
"Everyone falls in love with what he cannot begin to understand."--Or, as Pico finds out, thinks he cannot, but through patience and love finds that he can...begin.
PS-Pico and Sachiko are still together, according to wikipedia at any event.
A Different Sort of Travel Book.......2007-03-12
Most travel books follow a conventional path. An intrpedid traveller goes to an exotic locale and begins a journey from Point A to Point B. During the trip, the narrator describes the landscape and the intersting characters he meets along the way. The reader leaves the book feeling that they have a better understanding of some distant locale.
Pico Iyer's "The Lady and the Monk" is a very different type of travel book. First and foremost, Iyer goes to Kyoto for a year and never really leaves the city. His book is more of a sedentary tale that revolves around his romantic relationship with a 30 year old, married mother of two.
The emotional center of this book is about a Japanese woman's attempt to break out of the strict confines of a society that keeps her from realizing her dreams. This tale of rebellion and rebirth is not told by the woman but by her Anglo/Indian/American lover. His analysis and insights are interesting but they are by there very nature second hand. And yet the one area where Iyer is an expert, his own feelings, he is a bit coy. This is a very unusual traval narrative. It is interesting but not a classic.
Breaks trust between reader and writer.......2007-02-08
I loved this book at first and then began to slowly grow distrustful of the author. He's constantly hooking up with "The Lady" to goto various places around Japan but around halfway through the book, she's gushing feelings of love to him and he's weirdly stoic. The odd clue like them sharing a hotel room and meeting up in a foreign county make it seem as if he's hiding something. Once that feeling was in me, the book became a lot less fullfilling. I kept thinking about The Lady's two kids and, really, how lame the author was acting (especially after finding out they currently live together in Kyoto).
It's also a lazy book. the author doesn't even try to learn the language before moving to Japan and spends half the book with various foreigners living in the country. A far superior book about a foreigner residing in Japan and REALLY living with the Japanese and writing about their lifestyle/culture is LEARNING TO BOW.
An ethereal travelogue..........2006-09-17
Travel narrative writing is built upon one big theme: the intersection between fantasy and reality in unfamiliar cultural settings, and for whatever reason, it seems that the battle between one side or another of that thematic divide rages most intensely in the writings on Japan coming from non-Japanese.
It strikes me that it's always about the dream of Japan (and clutching that dream very tightly, lest it slip away permanently), or the desire to explode myths, or a need to explain business strategies to Western CEO's afraid of competition on the other side of the Pacific, or a guide to picking up Asian women, or something equally self-absorbed.
In the case of Pico Iyer's rich THE LADY AND THE MONK, it's all about the dream, and perhaps the women as well. The book is non-fiction, but very stylized in the fashion of a novel, so any sort of journalistic "this is how it is" conceits are tossed out quickly, and Iyer builds from a simple premise that is - nonetheless - laden with potential: move to some mythic place (in his case, Kyoto) knowing none of the language and little of the culture, and see if you can get by for a year.
Quickly it becomes apparent that Iyer is infatuated with the "dream" of Japan - the Japan mythologized by Roland Barthes in his inscrutable EMPIRE OF SIGNS, and Iyer's writing is similarly woozy and ethereal, which I suppose is inspired by his own conceptions of classical Japanese culture, or literature at least. It works, because Iyer's writing does have a certain rhythm, and the compressed time frame lends the book a structure, and though Iyer gains precious few serious insights about the place, he does write beautifully.
The book as a whole does propose an indirect, intriguing question that will hang around long after you finish the book: if you are an outsider (in any culture), what's the value of the myths and dreams you might hold about a place? Erroneous though they may be, how might they also represent ways of easing into the flow of a place both real and imagined, filtering the unfamiliar through the somewhat familiar? What are the risks in not just seeing a place as it is and diving in? In this fascinating book, Japan becomes Iyer's tabula rasa, a thing upon which he projects any number of fantasies and poetic imaginings, and somehow he does manage to gradually slip into a somewhat less woozy view of the place.
His cryptically rendered relationship with Sachiko is presented more poetically, which I think is approriate (though Iyer clearly is also reaching for Kawabata territory here, which he fails to achieve), and he sidesteps the moral implications of the relationship, which is perhaps ethically squirrely, but Japan has - at times - famously been a place where outsiders travel to get laid, so I don't think he violates anything any number of other writers (some far more smarmy about it) haven't also violated. And certain of his anecdotes: the shy Japanese man who makes a rather spontaneous pass at him, or the sad gaijin in hostess bars (you can almost see Iyer making a mental note: "Don't become THAT GUY.") are amusing and a little touching in the rendering, hitting upon some essentials that transcend cultural boundaries.
An odd, and perhaps difficult book which is more literary than fact-fixated. Nonetheless, far greater than most other reviewers would seem to think.
-David Alston
Book Description
Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the perennial best seller The Five Love Languages, provides an easy-to-grasp framework to help couples understand their marriage and seven practical strategies for strengthening or improving their marriage relationship. A valuable resource for couples regardless of how long they've been married, this biblically based book is a reference tool to help couples through every season of marriage.
Summary of features:
- Valuable insight for every couple, regardless of how long they have been married.
- Provides seven practical strategies to help couples understand and strengthen their marriage relationship.
- Includes a Marital Seasons Profile to help couples determine the season of their marriage.
Customer Reviews:
Refreshing of a New Marriage.......2007-07-30
This book is truly a blessing to I and my husband. We are always on the look out for books that will continue to enhance our marriage. We like to be pro-active and not re-active when it comes to enhancing our marriage. This book enlightened us tremdously on how to adjust to the seasons of marriage. It is helping us to do what's necessary to get the best out of each season.
Insight into Marriage.......2007-05-23
Gary Chapman has wonderful insight into marriages. This is a good follow-up to his Five Love Languages. It offers a simple, explainable reason for the things we all go through during the course of a marriage. This is a good book for anyone to read no matter what "season" your marriage might be in.
Strong Marriage Advice From A Wise Counselor.......2007-05-22
If you're looking for well-written, positive, up-to-the minute advice and counsel about marriage, here are three names you need to know: Dr. Gary Chapman, Dr. Gary Oliver, and Dr. David Frisbie. All three (you can search on amazon or elsewhere) are excellent writers with a gift for telling stories and showing you new ideas. "Four Seasons" walks you through the common adjustments that married couples make at different life stages --- showing you how to have a thriving union whether you're just starting out, or in the "third quarter" of your adult life. Very well written!
Barbara Sheldon, M.S.W.
I also recommend: Making a Marriage: 7 Essentials for a Strong Relationship
Four Seasons.......2007-05-19
I really enjoyed this book and other books by Dr. Gary Chapman. His explanation of the four seasons of marriage is helping me in my marriage ministry as well as in my own marriage. He explains the four seasons and gives strategies and tips on how to get out of the fall and winter seasons to stay in the spring and summer seasons.
A good buy.......2007-02-16
It is all too easy to get in a rut. I feel this helps to keep your marriage strong. It is a good investment. I bought it as a gift because I had it myself.
Customer Reviews:
Rites of Passage.......2000-10-17
Many years ago, I took the trail to the top of Mt. Whitney. Leaving my older, less confident companions behind in the predawn hours at Whitney Portal, I moved quickly up the trail. By mid-morning I was cooling my heels at Trail Camp, a campground of sorts, in a barren glacial basin at 12,000 feet. With another 2500 feet of climbing ahead of me, the trail lead off into a steep jumble of cobbles and boulders. I could see a notch in the ridge above, where the trail was likely headed, but it was not at all obvious how it got there.
I had no guide, but from training as a scout, I knew how to evaluate subtle trail sign, and before long, I was nearing the top of the ridge. From there, the final leg to the top of the mountain was much easier to follow.
A surprise lay below me. Looking back down the slope that I had just climbed so tediously, the trail was laid out like a map. I could see every switchback and turn. Invisible from below, but completely obvious from above.
Human life is more than mirrored in mythology. Each individual's adventure has a potential of mythic intensity and proportion. Our personal experiences are greater and more mysterious than we can often bear, without overlaying those experiences on the framework of mythology. But by properly framing our life's journey, paths once invisible become remarkably clear.
Foster has chosen the cycle of the seasons, and the wealth of mythos surrounding this cycle, as a model for the human life experience. And he uses his model to assist others in making difficult but necessary life transitions. His model, much more so than how he uses it, is the basis for this book.
Looking back, it's as obvious as the back of your hand - or my trail up the mountain - the truth of this model. Yet modern, mechanistic humanity cannot easily envision this model, because so few of us have actually made the transitions. We as a society, with all our complex tinkertoys and petty battles, are a world of children. We have forgotten how to grow up. Those of us that do, have largely done so by ourselves unaided. But for most of us, our core personalities cannot mature in a world that offers us nothing but a cacophony of media mainlining and pseudo-cultural posturing. There's not much chance of escaping this chaotic nightmare.
The vision of the "Four Shields" offers some hope amidst all of this. In truth, this is more than just a book describing a philosophy. It is a way of life - Foster and Little have been living it for decades now - which finally has found its way to paper. Conceivably it could be a blueprint for expanded consciousness. It is highly likely that this book was written with no thought of financial recompense. It was written personally for you - and everyone. For now the only thing I can say is: this book must be purchased, read, and if at all possible, understood. It may not change the path you are on, but it will make that path much clearer.
A both poetical and scientific approach of human change.......1999-11-18
Foster and Little combine modern psychological insight with indigenous native wisdom. Their approach is inspiring and yet down-to-earth.
Their image of the 4 seasons of nature is a metaphor for the seasons of human growth. Rites of passage are more important than focusing on the seasons themselves.
A helpful paradigm for healing and growth.
Book Description
A flower might bloom for only one season, but readers using the tips and techniques in Painting Four Seasons of Fabulous Flowers can enjoy some of their favorite flowers all year long! This book features:
-Three popular flowers for each season, including spring lilacs, summer roses, fall asters, and winter narcissus -12 step-by-step projects for all skill levels of acrylic enthusiasts -Traceable patterns, color charts and materials lists for each project -Quotations about flowers to inspire and tips on floral painting to carry that inspiration on to beautiful results
Customer Reviews:
Great help with choosing pastels, hard or soft, brand etc........2007-07-27
When I became interested in pastels, I took a dozen books out from the library including Mowry's THE PASTELIST'S YEAR, all of Paul Taggert's books, THE PASTEL BOOK, etc.
I found Mowry's books helpful regarding her use of color in this book to change the season of a scene - it's amazing. I learned a lot looking at her different views of the same scene painted to represent the different seasons. Very illuminating to say the least.
I thought thee pictures were small and could have been made larger for the serious student to see the illustrations better.
PRINT QUALITY IS FINE. THOSE ARE PHOTOS OF CONSTRUCTION.......2004-02-13
There doesn't appear to be any print quality issues with the photos in the book. There are several step-by-step photos that don't have some of the colors added yet because they are showing how the pastel sketches were made! See pg 81 for an example. There are also some extreme close ups which show the natural grain of the strokes to show how the larger image was created. These type of photos are exactly what any reader (beginner or expert) wants in an art technique book. The previous reviewers that didn't bother to read the captions of the photos should be a little ashamed if this is what they were describing. The book also has photos of the finished pastels. In general, the book and is filled with quality photos of pastel landscapes and appears to have good instruction throughout.
A Traditional Pastellist with a Modern Flair.......2003-11-13
Elizabeth Mowry has taken the time to establish a palate for the colors appearing in the four seasons; however, they were difficult to study since they were on different colored backgrounds. I especially liked the way she heightened the color temperature on some of her paintings. I wish she had used a greater variety of strokes. I recall that she favors the feather stroke, which was effective. She seemed to work more saliently with contrast, composition, color temperature, texture using traditional landscape themes. It would have been helpful to have a couple of paintings actual size so that I could have seen the "actual" painting. The cover has two flaps which could be used as bookmarks, which is a thought!
One of the very best !!.......2003-07-23
I have read this book twice and some portions three times. I find Elizabeth Mowry to be very sharing and knowledgeable and willing to show you how she achieves certain passages in her paintings. I had been going through a dry period, and this book opened up new worlds for me. I especially liked that she tells you to make small sketches, color sketches and use photographs. All these things were beneficial to me and I wish I could thank her personally for her very inspirational book. I have also given her book to friends and they all love it.
Poor printing quality detracts from a great book, won't buy.......2002-05-28
I bought this book and ws really disappointed when I leafed through more thoroughly and found MANY of the illustrations were out of focus, and one had a HUGH printer error where the image was blocked on one of the printer's colors.
I returned this book and have repeatedly looked at it at the book stores to see if a re-issued copy comes out that corrects these problems. My estimate is that there are 7-8 plates that are defective.
Customer Reviews:
Thimbleberries Four Seasons of Calendar Table Toppers.......2007-01-23
Excellent book including several sizes of projects. Beautifully photographed with Lynette Jensen's detailed and illustrated instructions for the construction of each project. Good choice for the quilter who is interested in making smaller projects with the Thimbleberries quality.
Great Projects!.......2006-08-03
I just received my book and cannot wait to try the projects in it. This book is full of patterns that look both easy and beautiful to make. A lot of times I'll purchase a quilt book and find that I like about 50% of what's in there. Four Seasons of Calendar Table Toppers is one that I like 100% of what I see! I highly recommend this book.
Thimbleberries Four Seasons Table Toppers.......2006-07-29
Excellent! I love quilting and this book gives me lots of ideas.
Books:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 2
- Can't Wait to Get to Heaven: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- Chicken Soup for the Prisoner's Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit of Hope, Healing and Forgiveness (Chicken Soup for the Soul)
- Circle of Friends
- Cold Day in Hell: A Novel
- Complete Vampire Chronicles (Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the body Thief)
- Daughter of Destiny: Kathryn Kuhlman
- Dead Run (MIRA)
- Dynasties: Fortunes and Misfortunes of the World's Great Family Businesses
- Eclipse (Twilight, Book 3)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- O.J. Is Guilty But Not of Murder
- History: Fiction or Science
- BOB MARLEY BASS COLLECTION
- Corporate Portals and eBusiness Integration
- Crystal Reports XI: The Complete Reference
- Learning and Soft Computing: Support Vector Machines, Neural Networks, and Fuzzy Logic Models
- History: Fiction or Science
- Make It Through Accounting: A Fun, Easy Study Guide to Help You Pass Accounting
- Employee Ownership: The New Source of Competitive Advantage
- The Golems of Gotham: A Novel
General
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 1
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 3
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 5
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, #6 (No Future for You)
