Crescent: A Novel

Average customer rating:

Ride on a Magic Carpet

No

Longing for the Middle East

Read this book

Romance novel marred by poor writing

Crescent: A Novel
Diana Abu-Jaber
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Arabian Jazz: A Novel

The Language of Baklava

The Language of Baklava: A Memoir

Origin: A Novel

West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story

ASIN: 0393325547

Amazon.com

It's a positive relief to read a novel that treats Iraqis as real people. Diana Abu-Jaber's second novel, Crescent, is set in Los Angeles and peopled by immigrants and Iraqi-Americans. Thirty-nine-year-old, half-Arab Sirine is a chef in a Lebanese restaurant. Her uncle works at the university with Han, an Iraqi-born academic who begins frequenting Sirine's restaurant, drawn by her beauty and her exquisite cooking. Part of the book's charm is in its determination to impart the sheer glamour of Arabia, here personified in Han's face: "Sirine watches Han and for a moment it seems that she can actually see the ancient traces in Han's face, the quality of his gaze that seems to originate from a thousand-thousand years of watching the horizon--a forlorn, beautiful gazing, rich and more seductive than anything she has ever seen." Too, the book addresses head-on the one-dimensional view Americans possess of Iraq. I used to read about Baghdad in Arabian Nights," says one American character. "It was all about magic and adventurers. I thought that's what it was like there. And when I got older Baghdad turned into the stuff about war and bombs--the place on the TV set. I never thought about there being any kind of normal life there." As she falls more deeply in love with Han, Sirine discovers that part of being Iraqi now means learning to live with not knowing: not knowing where people have disappeared to, not knowing if your family is alive or dead. In the book's thrilling, romantic denouement, these lessons come perilously close to Sirine's Los Angeles home. Crescent brings alive a vibrant community of exiled academics, immigrants on the make, and optimistic souls looking for love. --Claire Dederer

Book Description

"Abu-Jaber's voluptuous prose features insights into the Arab American community that are wisely, warmly depicted."—San Francisco Chronicle

Thirty-nine-year-old Sirine, never married, lives with a devoted Iraqi-immigrant uncle and an adoring dog named King Babar. She works as a chef in a Lebanese restaurant, her passions aroused only by the preparation of food—until an unbearably handsome Arabic literature professor starts dropping by for a little home cooking. Falling in love brings Sirene's whole heart to a boil—stirring up memories of her parents and questions about her identity as an Arab American.

Praised by critics from The New Yorker to USA Today for her first novel, Arabian Jazz ("an oracular tale that unfurls like gossamer"), Diana Abu-Jaber weaves with spellbinding magic a multidimensional love story set in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles.

Written in a lush, lyrical style reminiscent of The God of Small Things, infused with the flavors and scents of Middle Eastern food, and spiced with history and fable, Crescent is a sensuous love story and a gripping tale of risk and commitment.

Customer Reviews:

Ride on a Magic Carpet.......2007-07-22

Reading Diana Abu-Jaber's novel, Crescent, we can fly with her on a magical carpet to Iraq and Jordan. Fly to a fairytale world of minarets and domed mosques, we can taste rich baklava with her and savor the sweet fragrance of mint tea in a Bedouin's tent, counter pointed by exploding Iranian missiles in 1990's Bagdad. Diana is the daughter of an Irish Catholic mother and a dominant Arab-Jordanian father, she spoke of what it meant to grow up Arab in America. A tale lyrically told illuminating for us the minds of people of the Midle East.

No.......2006-09-14

All four thumbs, including those on my prehensile feet, down. Seven hundred or thousand pages about an illiterate goober with the hots for a nice guy. Played-out insights on immigrant life. Deployment of the most aggravating Arabic literary conventions. If you didn't want to bomb them before, you will after this. Even the recipes, so relentlessly an articulation device in the plot for the aforementioned goober, aren't good enough.
For them, go check out the Empress Claudia Roden, and the magnificent, irreplacable, mind boggling, Edda Servi Machlin.

Longing for the Middle East.......2006-08-30

Crescent

This is the story of Sirine, half Iraqi-half American, who works in a Lebanese Cafe in Los Angeles. Still single at 40, Sirine lives with her uncle, enjoys her fullfilling work as a Chef, and is the centre of attraction for men coming to the cafes, attracted by her middle eastern dishes which remind them of home and her mysterious ways. In a setting of homesickness, love for a lost country and longing for the middle east, Abu Jaber weaves a slow tale of love, woes and food. Sirine meets mysterious Han, Aziz and Nathan, all haunted in some way or another by Iraq and Sirine. This is quite a slow story which I thought could have benefited from deeper character development, especially for Sirine, but the whole Middle Eastern setting I thought was beautifully recreated. This is a great book for anyone interested especially in Iraqi culture.

Read this book.......2006-06-10

This is the best I've read in the last couple of years. The main character is a cook (I hate cooking). It's set in L.A. (I mostly read books set in London). But the story is beautiful, at times heart breaking. It's rare that a book can make me sob, but this one did. Not in a cheap way, where you feel manipulated by the author, but because I was so involved with the characters. I would recommend this book to just about anyone.

Romance novel marred by poor writing.......2005-10-30

I bought this novel cold based on a rave review by an employee at my local bookstore. As I began reading, I was dismayed to discover what I had bought was a poorly written romance novel swathed in Arab-American culture. Each chapter begins with an Arabian nights style continuing fable. They mostly fell flat with me and did little to illuminate the contemporary plot, in fact they came across rather silly with the references to Omar Shariq and Lawrence of Arabia. After reading aloud some of the clinker similes and adjective-heavy sentences to my daughters as examples of bad writing, they asked me why I didn't just put the book down and read something better. I stuck it out to the end, though, because bad writing is not necessarily dull, intrigue by the construct of a Arab-American community in West Los Angeles, nice rifts on cooking, and the hope that my perseverance would be rewarded. I'm glad I found out whether the lovers were reunited in the end, but I doubt I would recommend Crescent to anyone else. I hoped by reading it I would gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the Iraqi world view and the Arab immigrant experience in America. To be honest, I finished Crescent with no deeper knowledge of Arab culture than I had to start with. If the author's intent was to humanize Arab-Americans and immigrants, I guess their humanity was never in doubt for me. The contrived finale came across as a romance genre cliche, as was the discovery that a mysterious character had a connection to the family of the central love interest. The loss of a scarf and protagonist's betrayal are not very subtle referencea to Othello. Unfortunately, Ms. AbuJaber is no Shakespeare. Still, I am glad I stuck it out, and perhaps better things will come from this writer in the future.

Crescent Moon (A Nightcreature Novel, Book 4)

Average customer rating:

3 1/2 Stars
Immensely entertaining!
A different take on the paranormal romance
A great installment in this series
Romance and the paranormal

Crescent Moon (A Nightcreature Novel, Book 4)
Lori Handeland
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312938489
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Book Description

New Orleans is known for sinful pleasures and strange magic, but for cryptozoologist Diana Malone it offers one irresistible attraction. For over a hundred years there have been whispers of wolves around the Crescent City, and the recent discovery of bodies in the nearby swamps hints at a creature even more dangerous...one that could make Diana's career and fortune, if she lives to capture it.Adam Ruelle is a reclusive former Special Forces officer, the last of a mysterious Cajun family rumored to be cursed, and the only person skilled enough to guide Diana in her search. Rugged and captivating, he fills her nights with desire...but by day, Diana is plagued with doubts. Adam clearly knows more than he's telling, but is his aim to protect her or distract her? Something is stalking its prey in the Louisiana bayous, and every step towards the horrifying truth brings Diana closer to a centuries-old enemy that lives for the smell of fear and the thrill of killing, again and again...

Customer Reviews:

3 1/2 Stars.......2007-08-15

Diana Malone goes to New Orleans to study wolves...particularly werewolves...in the Bayou.

She meets Adam Ruelle (who was just STRANGE). His family was cursed to become werewolves, etc.

Adam was...weird. And I don't mean that in a good way. LOL

Diana moving into that delapidated house in the bayou was just odd to me.

Not one of my favorite's but introduces an important character in this book that will get her own book...so a necessary read if you are following the series.

Immensely entertaining!.......2006-08-19

As a lover of the Handeland series, I was not disappointed in Crescent Moon, the fourth installment in the series. Widow/Cryptozoologist Diana has been hired to hunt a wolf in New Orleans, where a series of deaths have been occurring. Trying desperately to hold on to the belief that her late husband was not insane, and that he really saw the things that he said he did, she sets out to solve the mystery of "who or what is killing people and why"? Once a reknown person in his field of study, the academic community now shuns her husband and has labeled him "crazy" because he believes in werewolves, and died while trying to prove it. Could werewolves and monsters be real? In order to find out, Diana heads into the swamps of New Orleans to solve the mystery.

Crescent Moon has everything a romance/paranormal fan would want....a sexy/mysterious tracker/guide who is possibly cursed, and who also appears to be helping to capture the evil wolf (or he is simply protecting the wolf, that he is), while solving several and lots of murders. You also realize, halfway through the novel, that Diana will make a wonderful addition to the Jager-Suchers organization.

A different take on the paranormal romance.......2006-08-13

Like Handeland's earlier works, I enjoyed this book. It is always jarring for me initially because most of the paranormal romance/suspense books I read portray the werewolves as the heros or heroines. Not so with Handeland and I like the refreshing twist. This book wasn't as good for me as some of her earlier ones but I will give her the benefit of the doubt and figure that had more to do with me as a reader than her as a writer. Nevertheless, I did like the book and have liked her previous books a great deal. I will continue to buy Handeland's books.

A great installment in this series.......2006-08-03

I almost gave this story 4 stars but decided that, taken overall, it deserves 5. I really liked the two main characters of Adam and Diana. Handeland does a really good job of introducing very interesting new characters and letting us see characters from the other books. They are integrated very well. The chemistry between Adam and Diana was explosive to say the least...I loved it. My one criticism was the continued angst that Diana felt over her dead husband Simon. I felt it was a little over the top but the rest of the story was great. It leaves you with just enough information that you can't wait to read the next story.

Romance and the paranormal.......2006-07-23

If you like hot romance mixed with the paranormal, you'll love this novel. It's a sequel to 'Blue Moon', but can stand on its own if you haven't read the previous novel. I loved the added flavor of New Orleans mystique as well as a bit of history about voodoo and the Acadians (French/Canadian settlers). When rumors of wolf attacks lead to the legendary werewolves in the bayous, Diana Malone sets out to prove they exist. What she isn't prepared for is tangling with a mystery man who may be more animal than human. This is a great suspense tale with spicy sex scenes! If I met a werewolf that hot, would I even care if he ripped my throat out?

Chrissy K. McVay - Author

Average customer rating:

The Fantasy Crusher....STRIKES AGAIN! (and I'm still a girl)
AMAZING!
Wonderful, if you care to read into it
She isn't just a girl in a swimsuit
Wasn't impressed.

Crescent Moon, Vol. 3
Haruko Iida
Manufacturer: TokyoPop
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591827949

Book Description

In a desperate move, Nozomu and the Moonlight Bandits send Hokuto and Mutsura a ransom note, telling them to bring the stolen Teardrop of the Moon to a prearranged location, or Hokuto's fiancée will be killed. Meanwhile, Mahiru is guided by a friendly spirit to Lake Biwa, the resting place of the seventh and final Teardrop of the Moon--but it is a place where danger awaits as well. Now Mahiru and her companions must find a way to break the magical seal protecting the Teardrop...before it's too late!

Customer Reviews:

The Fantasy Crusher....STRIKES AGAIN! (and I'm still a girl).......2006-07-11

Well...here I am, writing negative reviews about the books I hate...what fun, eh? I figure that people like me will enjoy being saved from books I hate...or something like that! Anyways, sorry to the people who liked this book! This book really didn't keep me focused on it. I kept on getting distracted. I also didn't like the main character. In real life, I would probably kick her. Because...um, BEcause...uh...ANYWAY, the story is also kind of garbled. Maybe the plot thickens in the next one...? I don't know. I don't happen to care, either.It's also not very entertaining. No jokes. No stupid stuff. Just all of this nightcreature-hoopla. Oh yeah...HOOPLA!HOOPLA!HOOOOOOPLA! Okay...I'm done. I gave this book a two instead of a one because the story, at least, has SOMETHING going for it. It may be very small, but it's there. I think...But I'm not gonna waste MY money on it!

AMAZING!.......2006-06-14

This series is spectacular, not only is the artwork amazing, but the storyline and characters are gripping too! And as to the allegations of this being about a girl being groped by her schoolmates, there is absoloutely no sexual content in there AT ALL. Guys don't be put off, there's plenty of humour and action, I'm not a fan of really girly books either but I looooved this. This series really stands apart from the others, it's worth buying even just for the artwork alone. Even if you just buy a cheap used copy to give it a go, this is a definate must. I guarantee you'll be hooked!

Wonderful, if you care to read into it.......2006-05-02

This is an absolutely wonderful manga. It may be a bit confusing at times (all the characters tend to look alike) but if you read into it and dont just scan through the pictures it really has a great story line

Plus, theres a vampire xP

She isn't just a girl in a swimsuit.......2006-01-22

When I first started reading Crescent Moon, I was hooked. I loved the art, especially of Mahiru in her underwater world. It's so beautiful. And in response to another reviewer. I didn't realise that it was even supposed to be a Shoujo or Bishounen manga. Maybe if you'd finished the book before reviewing it, you would also have noticed that there is more to the plot than "a young girl being groped by all her schoolmates".

All in all it's worth buying.

Wasn't impressed........2005-09-03

Usually a Shonen Ai and Yaoi fan I decided to try a different genre and I wasn't impressed with this Shoujo Title. A young girl being gropped by all her school mates, talking about her period and always in a swimsuit? Not to my liking. I put it down after reading 20 or so pages. No real Bishonen, seriously try Yaoi, this Shoujo genre has nothing to offer to what I've seen.

Cardington Crescent (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels)

Average customer rating:

The best one so far
Couldn't hold my attention
Review or Plot Summary?
The Ellison family's bad luck continues...
Another Perry winner

Cardington Crescent (Charlotte & Thomas Pitt Novels)
Anne Perry
Manufacturer: Center Point Large Print
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1585470155

Book Description

"A detailed period puzzler suffused with atmosphere, emotion, and suspense!"
BOOKLIST
When George March, a womanizing aristocrat, is found dead over his morning coffee, his wife Emily is accused of murder. But Emily's sister is none other than the indomitable Charlotte Pitt. Together, she and her husband, Inspector Thomas Pitt, take on the seemingly irreproachable March clan--and uncover an insidious web of corruption and depravity that leads them from the elegant Crescent town house to the hideous London slumbs, from genteel society to murder--again.

Customer Reviews:

The best one so far.......2006-02-28

I have been reading the Pitt series in order from the beginning, and this is the best one yet. They are all good reading, but this one in particular offers the classic English mansion who-done-it feel. I highly recommend this series, but do read them in order. A complete ordered list can be found on the author's website, anneperry.net.

Couldn't hold my attention.......2005-07-26

Being an Anne Perry fan I was disappointed in this mystery. It is the 8th in the Pitt series, and by far the least interesting. I don't know if I didn't like it because there wasn't much about Charlotte and Thomas and their children or what. Perry just seemed to rattle on with too many details. I hope the 9th book is better.

Review or Plot Summary?.......2000-12-16

The customer "reviews" of this book are plot summaries which will spoil a potential reader's enjoyment. This is the best Anne Perry I've read so far (I've read about ten.) As usual, it exposes Victorian crimes against the poor and rebellion against one's own class by a few of the wealthy. But, in addition, Perry this time crafts several middle of the night, suspenseful horror scenes.

I'm often let down by Perry's endings. Not enough analysis/explanation is provided, and only the principals are allowed to react to the denouement.

I would like to see a chronological listing of her books. If you read them out of order, too much about earlier happenings is revealed. I knew, for example, that ____ could not have been the murderer in this book because he is alive and well in a LATER book which I had already read. Also, another character's death (from an earlier book) is referred to repeatedly.

I still love the Victorian settings and a glimpse into the rigid lifestyle and the grinding poverty of that time.

The Ellison family's bad luck continues..........2000-05-27

In the first mystery in the Pitt series, the Ellison family lost a daughter to the Cater Street Hangman. Since that time friends have suffered unspeakable tragedies, and now Emily Ellison March, Lady Ashworth, is suspected of murdering her husband George by putting belladonna in his morning coffee. Families with this kind of luck need to have someone married to a police detective!

If you are reading the stories chronologically, you will have followed the relationship of George and Emily through several novels. While I was initially sad to think his good-natured presence would be missing from future stories, I have to confess that there was little spark between the two. Maybe a change of pace is what Emily (and Perry's loyal readers?) need.

Charlotte (Emily's sister) and Thomas Pitt continue to develop as characters and sleuths in this story. Charlotte is even beginning to learn a bit of judicious caution and investigative skills! While the solution to the mystery was not entirely surprising, the twists and turns of the plot take the reader into some interesting and unforgettable aspects of late Victorian England. I highly recommend this book, and even if this is the first one you read you will enjoy getting to know the characters.

Another Perry winner.......1997-01-29

George March, Lord Ashworth, married Emily Ellison, Charlotte Pitt's sister. While the Ashworths are visiting his extended family, he dies from poison in his morning coffee. As he was the only one in the family who drank coffee, it obviously wasn't an accidental death. The Marches are ready to close ranks against Emily, who had been seething at George over his gratuitous attention toward a cousin's wife at the opera the night before. As far as they're concerned, she's just a woman scorned, and an outsider--so better she hang than one of them. But do you think Charlotte will stand for that for one minute? Not a chance. . . The Marches are what 100 years later we refer to as a dysfunctional family. Some things never change. . .have fun reading

Crescent City Kill (Skip Langdon Novels)

Average customer rating:

Another spiffy adventure
Great mystery and intrigue
A deliciously evil villain takes on Skip for Round?Great!

Crescent City Kill (Skip Langdon Novels)
Julie Smith
Manufacturer: Ivy Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804113971
Release Date: 1998-07-29

Book Description

Who or what is The Jury? To her horror, NOPD detective Skip Langdon discovers it is a new, national, fast-growing, and very volatile organization headquartered in New Orleans. Its mission: to execute those who have "escaped" prosecution. What's more, Skip perceives that behind this deadly, clandestine group lies the evil brilliance of her old adversary, charismatic con man and cold-blooded killer Errol Jacomine. She's been waiting for Jacomine to orchestrate his twisted plan for revenge. The time is now. . . .

Customer Reviews:

Another spiffy adventure.......1999-06-26

While maybe not one of the greatest of the Skip Langdon novels, Crescent City Kill delivered all the excitement I've come to expect from Smith. However, I'm getting a bit tired of the Jacomine business, and I'd like to move on. It may be an easy way to come up with new novels, but I think some different plot lines might be good every other book or so. Still, while it isn't the earlier Skip Langdon novels, it's worth reading.

Great mystery and intrigue.......1998-11-14

This book was especially wonderful for me because I am originally from New Orleans.

A deliciously evil villain takes on Skip for Round?Great!.......1997-07-09

There is a national movement called The Jury that has arrived out of nowhere, hides behind a veil of secrecy, and is attracting the attention of many good people who are covertly cheering them on. Who is this group? Ostensibly, they are a group of citizens concerned that the justice system in America is letting too many guilty people go free. Rather than sit idly by, they intend to do something about it. Their first act of vigilante justice is to kill an OJ like sports figure who was found not guilty of murdering his wife. The public felt that the man bought his innocent verdict and that justice was finally served.

In New Orleans, a corrupt white police superintendent resigns and is replaced by an honest black man. The people have hope that the wide spread corruption will be swept away by the new top cop. Instead, the man is gunned down by a supremacist, who loathes the idea of a black running the police department. When the police, including Detective Skip Langdon, arrest the perp, The Jury assassinates him. Skip smells the evil odor of her old enemy, the psychopathic Errol Jacomine, as the mastermind behind The Jury. In a cat and mouse game where the stakes are Skip's life, the officer and the criminal must enter the other's head if they expect to win the fight.

CRESCENT CITY KILL is a classic good Vs evil battle with the villain being so alluring he obtains the support of good people. The intrepid heroine is forced to risk her soul in an epic war against the evil genius. This is an excellent novel in a superb series that fans will not want to miss.

Customer Reviews:

Very poignant.......2001-10-22

I found this book to be extremely poignant, with well defined, strong convictions, right or wrong. Family loyalties in the face of extreme differing opinions.. overcomed inner strugles.. unfulfilled affairs of the heart.. the whole gamut of what makes a readable story with heart pounding and mind absorbing.. I will make a point of reading more of Ms Plain's books.

Not that great...........2000-12-29

Belva Plain has created a story that is historically accurate and completely believable as you are reading it....but there is something that she just fails to capture in writing this book. As you are reading it you are not drawn to the characters and they really aren't deep characters at all but rather shallow and superficial. The plot, while interesting, is not a page turner and it is mostly concentrated on the love aspect. Also the ending in my opinion was rather disappointing.

Crescant City.......2000-02-08

This book swept me into the passion, politics, and struggles of the Civil War era. What amazed me about this book, page after page, was Belva Plain's vivid choice of words. I felt moved by every scene, however significant, through the book. Belva knows her characters intimately and draws you into their hearts. I read paragraphs over and over again because I was so moved by Belva's ability to bring the 1800's South to life and the emotions of love, commitment, duty, religion, and heritage. This is a book that will be cherished on my shelf forever and I will surely re-read when I want to escape to power that it offers.

Horrible.......1999-08-11

This book doesn't know whether it wants to be a short story or a novel. Belva Plain skios over many crucial parts and devotes most of her energy to sex scenes rather than story content.

Bound by Shadow: A Novel of the Dark Crescent Sisterhood

Average customer rating:

Bound by Shadow: A Novel of the Dark Crescent Sisterhood
Annie Windsor
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0345498534
Release Date: 2008-06-24

Average customer rating:

Crescent City,: A novel
William Edward Wilson
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007E87QI

Average customer rating:

Crescent City: A Novel
Belva Plain
Manufacturer: Delacorte
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Average customer rating:

Crescent: A Novel
Laurie Devine
Manufacturer: Carlton Books Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0233980369

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