Book Description

The Doctor Is In . . . Again!

Did the mega-bestselling Why Do Men Have Nipples? exhaust your curiosity about stuff odd, icky, kinky, noxious, libidinous, or just plain embarrassing? No, you say? Well, good, because the doctor and his able-bodied buddy are in! Again! Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D., now take on the differences between the sexes—those burning questions like Why doesn’t my husband ever listen? or Why does my wife ALWAYS have to pee? And of course, Why do men fall asleep after sex?, plus plenty of others to keep you fully informed.

Full of smart and funny answers to an onslaught of new questions, all in a do-ask-we’ll-tell spirit that entertain and teaches you something at the same time, Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? offers the real lowdown on everything everyone wants to know about all things anatomical, medical, sexual, nutritional, animal, and mineral, but would only ask a physician after a few too many, like:

• Why do you have a “bionic” sense of smell when you’re pregnant?

• Does peeing in the shower cure athlete’s foot?

• Is a dog’s mouth clean?

• Can you breastfeed with fake boobs?

• Does thumb sucking cause buckteeth?

• Do your eyebrows grow back if shaved?

Bigger, funnier, and better than ever, Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? proves that in the battle of the sexes, as in most things, a little Q&A is a safe, effective, minimally invasive remedy.


Also available as an eBook

Customer Reviews:

A sequel as good as the first.......2007-09-11

Despite my bad experience with many sequels, I still had high expectation of this. I had not been disappointed. This is still "funny, interesting, entertaining, and "helpful"!" as the first, and in particular I like some authentic answers to some of my life long doubts as follows:-

Why do men fall asleep after sex?
How does aspirin find the pain?
Why does sucking on helium make your voice sound funny?
Why do Asians turn red after consuming alcohol?

plus over one hundred other questions I am interested in their answers. In short, it's knowledgeable and entertaining. A great resource for chat, too. Dont miss it.

Great entertainment .......2007-09-07

I found this book to be sooo funny, I am glad I came accross it by accident. The humor is everywhere and although this type of humor is not for everybody, if you do not like the IM conversation you can skip through them and still get some of the witty humor. I loved the comment "if Dr. Phil can't do it, why couldn't the authors?" I reccommend it! If you are skeptical because the bad press got to you first, start with reading the questions that are interesting to you and you'll soon be hooked.

Good idea, not so good turnout........2007-08-25

Some of the questions are rediculous, for example: If I swallow a watermelon seed, will a watermelon grow in my stomach?

I hate to believe that enough people were seriously that concerned about something so rediculous that they had to print it in the book.

As for half of the other questions, you got roundabout answers that weren't really answered, but fluffed to take up room.

Not worth the buy. My suggestion is to go to your boostore, find it, flip through the questions and read the answers you are honestly curious about and save your money.

Awesome.......2007-05-14

This book is not only informative about many myths and queries we have all heard, but it is funny too!!! I have learned some very funny and quirky facts so far. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes interesting, funny facts.

Fun for everyone.......2007-04-13

I really enjoyed reading this book. A lot of questions I always wondered about have now been answered. And, it's in a very easy to read format.

Average customer rating: Disappointed listener Not for me Very nice sleep aid... If Clarissa doesn't put you to sleep, nothing will Like Being a Child Again

Bedtime Stories: A Unique Guided Relaxation Program for Falling Asleep and Entering the World of Dreams Clarissa Pinkola Estes Manufacturer: Sounds True ProductGroup: Book Binding: Audio CD Meditation | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books Stress Management | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Anthologies | British | Canadian | General | United States Folklore | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books Relaxation & Meditation | Health, Mind & Body | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books Similar Items: Warming The Stone Child: Myths & Stories About Abandonment And The Unmothered Child Women Who Run With the Wolves The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About That Which Can Never Die The Creative Fire The Beginner's Guide to Dream Interpretation (Beginner's) Accessories: RESPeRATE Blood Pressure Lowering Device Airborne Effervescent Health Formula, Original Orange, 10 Tablets (Pack of 3) ASIN: 1564559610

Book Description

Bedtime Stories Clarissa Pinkola Estes As a child growing up in a family of cantadoras (keepers of the old stories), Clarissa Pinkola Estés learned first-hand how a story told at bedtime can soothe away the troubles of the day, and prepare the way for another night's dreams to follow. Now a beloved cantadora herself, Estés shares this treasured family tradition with you on Bedtime Stories, her own special collection of tales to relax and ease you into sleep. Join this world-renowned Jungian analyst and bestselling author as she explores: How to use stories as healing companions that open an "aperture" into the divine world of our dreams; the meaning of archetypal figures like Mother Night and the Sandman, and themes such as renewal, enchantment, and transformation; original tellings by Dr. Estés of her bedside favorites, including Sleeping Beauty, the Mouse and the Lion, and more.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointed listener.......2007-08-24

This was not what I expected. The good reviews led me to believe it would be great. Unfortunately, it does not do justice to the hype. Some stories are very long and are read too slowly.

Not for me.......2007-04-01

Soothing bedtime stories - what a great idea! I was looking forward to listening to this CD, especially considering all the great reviews. Unfortunately, I found most of the tracks are Dr. Estes *talking about* stories rather than telling stories. There are 10 tracks on this CD. I did not expect the 38-second introduction to be a story. However, of the other nine tracks only four, in my opinion, are actually Dr. Estes telling stories. Those four are "The Sleeping Beauty", "The Lion and the Mouse Fable", "The Jumping Mouse Tale", and "Winken, Blinken and Nod". Also, listening to these stories, or at least the style in which she tells them, did not help me relax or fall asleep. For me, when I go to bed I basically want to relax and "turn off" my mind. These stories did not help me do that.

If you really want a CD that will help you relax and fall asleep, I recommend "Your Present: A Half Hour of Peace" by Susie Mantell, or "Journey into Deep Relaxation" by Doreen Blumenfeld. Those two worked for me.

Very nice sleep aid..........2007-01-05

I have a terrible insomnia issue at times. Clarissa has such a soothing, beautiful voice, you can't help but be relaxed listening to her. The first time I listened, I was so interested in the stories, I didn't want to fall asleep and miss the endings! But, after the first time, it was very easy to fall asleep to her soothing voice. Excellent cd for fellow-insomniacs!

If Clarissa doesn't put you to sleep, nothing will.......2006-08-20

I mean that in a good way, of course. She has a soothing voice and knows well how to read her own work (which I cannot say of all authors who read their own material on audiobook format). I am bias as I don't think Clarissa has written anything less than a 5.

Like Being a Child Again.......2006-03-10

Clarissa Pinkola Estes reached a lovely taproot for me with this CD. I am a chronic insomniac and now I easily drift off to sleep, feeling as warmed as I did when my grandmother used to lie down with me, petting my forehead with her soft, papery hands.

How simple and brilliant. We have all read our children to sleep with classic bedtime stories, yet we neglect ourselves completely, forgetting how soothing it is to be read to. Just told a story. I'm so glad Dr. Estes thought to do this in her lovely voice.

Average customer rating: "Disaster's always best when it's on a grand scale." Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius. Whither the Amphibians!

Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas Tom Robbins Manufacturer: Bantam ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Robbins, Tom | ( R ) | Authors, A-Z | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates Skinny Legs and All Villa Incognito Jitterbug Perfume Even Cowgirls Get the Blues ASIN: 0553076256 Release Date: 1994-08-01

Book Description

When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you — an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker — are
convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell. Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but
there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in your
life of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses. Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from
mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after
all, a Tom Robbins novel — and the author has never been in finer form.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Download Description

When the stock market crashes on the Thursday before Easter, you -- an ambitious, although ineffectual and not entirely ethical young broker -- are convinced you're facing the Weekend from Hell.

Before the market reopens on Monday, you're going to have to scramble and scheme to cover your butt, but there's no way you can anticipate the baffling disappearance of a 300-pound psychic, the fall from grace of a born-again monkey, or the intrusion in yourlife of a tattooed stranger intent on blowing your mind and most of your fuses.

Over these fateful three days, you will be forced to confront everything from mysterious African rituals to legendary amphibians, from tarot-card bombshells to street violence, from your own sexuality to outer space. This is, after all, a Tom Robbins novel -- and the author has never been in finer form.

---

"If reality is starting to feel a little too much like a Tom Robbins novel, Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas is a good source of inspiration to start making some sense of it."
   THE HOUSTON POST

"A whirlwind of mad incidents . . . and an endless supply of great lines . . . a very funny book that might incite a bit of thinking as well as laughter."
   LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Once again, Tom Robbins has proved he is the emperor of description, the master of metaphor, the sultan of simile -- the man is like Jackson Pollock with a word processor."
   SAN ANTONIO CURRENT

"Turn off the television, unplug the telephone, curl up in bed (with or without pajamas), and consider this book an interactive experience that requires neither a CD-ROM nor a modem."
   ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY (RATING: A)

"For people who enjoyed the decade of greed, this is a quite subversive book."
   THE SUNDAY ADVOCATE, BATON ROUGE

"It's hard not to fall under Robbins' seductive spell."
   ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

"Like good Psilocybin, Robbins shows us things that we would not otherwise see, and after the light of his particular vision has shone upon an object, we will never see it again in quite the same way."
   THE PARK CITY (UTAH) RECORD

"More than mere entertainment . . . Frog hops over its bright and clever zaniness to plop us into a shadowy plot rippling with caution and prophecy."
   THE OREGONIAN

"Frog Pajamas is . . . a ribbeting read."
   FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

---

Customer Reviews:

"Disaster's always best when it's on a grand scale.".......2007-08-22

... and the scale certainly is grand in Tom Robbins' rollicking riot of a novel. It opens with the beginning of a disastrous three-day weekend for one Gwendolyn Mati, a lovingly unlikable stockbroker whose ambitions are sky high and whose perceptions seem hopelessly shallow. It is the night before Good Friday and there has been a disastrous plunge in the stock market that has the whole economy screaming disaster, and Gwen finds herself facing termination on Monday morning thanks to some shady ethics she exercised in her client's portfolios that have been brought to light by the crash. Her once-promising boyfriend, Belford, is annoying her to no end after developing an unhealthy dose of Christian guilt that is compelling him to leave his promising real estate career for (gasp!) social work. Gwen desperately needs to find a way to keep her job before Monday morning, but she can't seem to get a seemingly sleazy former stockbroker named Larry Diamond off her mind. And things only get worse the following day, when Belford's born-again pet monkey escapes and Gwen's best friend, a 300 pound psychic named Q-Jo, vanishes. All this happens in the first hundred pages of "Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas," and the Robbins roller coaster has only just begun. There's still a curious cancer treatment, a bunch of overly rich and rowdy teenagers, celestial interference, a sex offender, disappearing frogs, a transfixing Van Gogh sketch, aliens, and more to come.

"Half Asleep" is at its riotous best in its first half, when Robbins gives free reign to his limitless imagination, and the result is a philosophical-comedy mind-warp that could give Vonnegut's masterful Breakfast of Champions a run for its money ... until the second half of the novel devolves into a talky jumble of rambling philosophical dialogue that does more to annoy the reader than to enlighten him. I like what Robbins is saying underneath it all (that we need to chill out, think about how we define our lives, and focus on what really matters instead of allowing money and ambition steer us off course), but he weakens his argument by muddling it with random references to alien mushroom spores, enemas, et al. His specious asides confound more than anything else, and make you long for the carefree opening salvo that had said so much more without trying nearly as hard. The ending is also truly disappointing because it is all too sudden and leaves you with too many questions.

This was my first Robbins novel, and despite its flaws I did enjoy it. I am particularly impressed by his unique descriptive style: instead of telling us that someone has the chills he writes that "ice cubes clink against the swizzle stick of your spine." Nice touch, Mr. Robbins. I look forward to exploring the rest of his canon in the future. I just hope that there's more madcap glee than abstruse philosophy.

Grade: B-

Wuf! So long, and thanks for all the frogs.......2007-05-27

This book is classic Tom Robbins in the sense that almost every page has some hilariously humorous play on words, or unreal observation about real events, including a lot of incisive commentary on the subject of Washington's allegedly wooden teeth. (I kept wondering if he got knot holes instead of cavities, and whether he used Terminix for dental services*)

That said, this is not one of his best books by a long shot. It starts slowly, works up to a purple passion and then lands flat on its squatty Buddha-esque rear end. The tortuous tale twists around a feckless female Filipino stock broker, facing the fall of the fickle stock market over the Good Friday weekend, frantically forming far-fetched formulae to foil her forthcoming firing. Her acquaintances include a traditionally built psychic, whose fall-back occupation is watching home movies of the lonely and attention-deficient, a philanthropic Lutheran real estate broker who desperately wants to marry her, and last of all, a born again Barbary ape with a yen for banana popsicles and larceny.

While living through the worst days of her lives, she meets a tattooed ex-broker recently back from Timbuktu, and tracks him to his den of decadence beneath a bowling alley. Through this earth shaking incident, not all of which could be blamed on the rise and fall of the bowling pins, she has an Alice in Wonderland experience involving a distant planet, a toothy Japanese doctor who is said to have found a cure for cancer, an inscrutable Indian and a whole lot of amphibians.

Highly pseudo-philosophic, with unlikeable characters and flimsy plot, the main thing this has going for it is the dry humor of the word play, and all the rain in Seattle can't wash that away.


Amanda Richards, May 26, 2007


*Not a Tom Robbins quote, but it might have been if I didn't write it first

The Beginning of the Descent Still Has Value.......2006-01-18

I think the reason this book represents Tom Robbins' descent into mediocrity is twofold. The first reason being the initial 100 pages simply aren't that good. The second reason is that the following 300 pages, while easy and enjoyable to read, aren't nearly as dense and full of wisdom as his previous books. Those who randomly pick up this book will probably like it, provided that this is your type of material. Those expecting the same Robbins you get in ARA, Cowgirls, Jitterbug, Woodpecker, etc, will surely be disappointed.

Looking at page 119, specifically the end of the second full paragraph, here lies all you need to know to see how off the mark this book is for Robbins. The Poona Tang? High school caliber writing. This typifies what we get in the first 100 (and then some) pages. For me, it's obvious that Robbins was straining too hard to write "knowledgeably" about the economy, something he likely didn't research carefully and cares little about. It shows in his writing - not that you can fault him for this. But it's there, and it shows.

The first paragraph of page 126 shows where he starts to turn it on. If I were to guess, I would say that somewhere between 119 and 126 he took a hiatus, and when he came back he was ready to dive into the book. The narrative takes on the expected Robbins narrative. The absurdity and craft that Robbins readers have come to know and love peeks it's head out of the clouds built up in the beginning.

This isn't to say that the book stands as one of his all-time best, because it doesn't. The reader will get more out of taking it in as it comes, which is rapidly, as opposed to the normal Robbins book which is 5-10 pages at a time. This book can be read briefly, whereas the typical Robbins book is so thick with brilliance that you want to savor it.

This isn't to say it's a bad book, it's not. The last 100 pages cruised by, I couldn't put it down. Again, that's probably saying something considering Robbins books tend to be more dense than that. In the end, it's still a good book - just not what you expect. The philosophies less deeply frequent, the metaphors less imbibing.

The actual content overview can be gleaned from any number of other reviews here, so restating it is a waste of time for the reader. What I will say is that the book tends to go into the typical Robbins realm, but as mentioned above, not quite so deeply. This isn't to say your average Joe Bestselling Reader is going to like Robbins, because he's not. Larry Diamond's dialogs are sure to annoy your typical 9-5 worker.

Still, there's a lot to be gotten from the book. Those who shy away from the typical best seller and look for alternative material will find this an entertaining read. While not as good as most of his others, it still stands as a good example of excellent writing.

Uncommon Robbins, Uncommon genius........2005-09-23

I, like many others, have read most of Tom's books and while some of his main characters have been slightly annoying (Still Life with Woodpecker, anyone?), Matti takes the cake. Don't let her character dissuade you from reading the book. Her character is a money-grubbing stockbroker containing no true love or passion for life. She is intended (I believe) to represent the consumer in all of us, albeit the worst parts. She is not supposed to be likable. A likable Matti would have taken away this stories point: how even the most vile, egotistical, greedy person can transform, or should I say be pushed to transform when the stakes are raised high enough. The story begins at the start of a four-day weekend, just after a major stock crash. Matti is in jeopardy of losing her job, she can't even make the payments on her new Porsche, boo-ho! Moreover, the boyfriend that she's been dating because of his giant paycheck has decided to give it to charity. On top of everything, his monkey gets loose (did I mention that this monkey was trained to steal jewelry and that the aforementioned boyfriend has taken it upon himself to convert the monkey to Christianity?) and may be heisting peoples belongings. Craziness!

As always, Tom's writing is spectacular and you'll be learning arcane bits of knowledge on every page. Some of his ideas are crazy, but deep down are not all ideas crazy?

Whither the Amphibians!.......2005-08-12

A good quote at the beginning of this four day romp is from Isaac Bashevis Singer, "No doubt the world is entirely an imaginary world, but it is only once removed from the true world." Sometimes, it is hard to know what is real and what is only a fanciful idea in your mind.

The stock market crashed on the Thursday before Easter, and its the 'worst day of Phil's life.' He drowns his sorrow with a double gin martini instead of his usual white wine. At a time like this, the stronger drink is needed just to sustain some kind of acceptance of your fate. From here on in, you're on your own, and tht's had to do in a crisis.

On April 5, he's 'just back from Timbuktu, when the ball drops out of the basket. The next day, he decides 'the dream ain't over till the White Dearf Sings' as he gets more soused and more into a fantasy world. But, by the 9th, it's 'just another day in the life of a fool' as he returns to Timbuktu.

I have a stubborn skin cancer on my forehead above the browline between the eyes caused by the sun, I am told, but nothing helps and it hurts and stays looking ugly. So a friend named Linda gave me a semi-hat to wear in my favorite color blue with the I LOVE FROGS in bright colors on the front and a baby frog on the back. I feel silly wearing hats, or carrying parasols, which is the reason I have the skin cancer in the first place. But I especially try not to wear something which will draw attention to that area of my face. The other day, I ventured out without makeup to Walgreen's to buy some Revlon with sunscreen in it for a special occasion; when I cross over Cumberland to Macdonald's, the girl working there said "You look precious." I was shocked to say the least. She loved the hat, and said that God had sent me there that day for her to witness his love for me, to touch that place every day and talk to God. Well, I haven't done that yet, but I have found a more competent dermatologist who can remove this blasted thing so that the scar won't show. God sent me another 'angel' who'd had the same problem and gave me the name of the doctor who worked miracles on her. Monday I go to see if he can do a minor one on me as well.

I think I'd rather be 'half asleep in frog pajamas' than still wearing the 'frogs' hat. The brothers Grimm's first published fairy tale was THE FROG PRINCE.

I'd rather it be a cat or a bird or even a rose. She made my day by her greeting and now I may get the help I need to look good again. I'll know on the 15th.

Average customer rating:

Things: A Story of the Sixties; A Man Asleep (Verba Mundi) Georges Perec Manufacturer: David R Godine ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books General | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: W, or the Memory of Childhood (Verba Mundi) The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945 to the Present Life: A User's Manual The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witnessed in Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague A Void (Verba Mundi) ASIN: 1567921574

Product Description

With the American publication of Life, a User's Manual in 1987, Georges Perec was immediately recognized in the U.S. as one of this century's most innovative writers. Now Godine is pleased to issue two of his most powerful novels in one volume: Things, in an authoritative new translation, and A Man Asleep, making its first English appearance. Both provoked strong reactions when they first appeared in the 1960s; both which speak with disquieting immediacy to the conscience of today's readers. In each tale Perec subtly probes our obsession with society's trappings the seductive mass of things that crams our lives, masquerading as stability and meaning.

Jerome and Sylvie, the young, upwardly mobile couple in Things, lust for the good life. "They wanted life's enjoyment, but all around them enjoyment was equated with ownership." Surrounded by Paris's tantalizing exclusive boutiques, they exist in a paralyzing vacuum of frustration, caught between the fantasy of "the film they would have liked to live" and the reality of life's daily mundanities.

In direct contrast with Jerome and Sylvie's cravings, the nameless student in A Man Asleep attempts to purify himself entirely of material desires and ambition. He longs "to want nothing. Just to wait, until there is nothing left to wait for. Just to wander, and to sleep." Yearning to exist on neutral ground as "a blessed parenthesis," he discovers that this wish is by its very nature a defeat.

Accessible, sobering, and deeply involving, each novel distills Perec's unerring grasp of the human condition as well as displaying his rare comic talent. His generosity of observation is both detached and compassionate.

Average customer rating: Superb collection Brilliant Poetry Collides

Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep: An Anthology of Poetry by African Americans Since 1945 Michael S. Harper , and Anthony Walton Manufacturer: Back Bay Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback 20th Century | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books African American | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Anthologies | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books Literature & Fiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books Similar Items: The Vintage Book of African American Poetry African-American Poetry: An Anthology, 1773-1927 (Dover Thrift Editions) I, Too, Sing America: Three Centuries of African American Poetry Does Your House Have Lions ? Black Theatre, USA: Plays by African Americans: The Recent Period, 1935-Today ASIN: 0316347108

Book Description

"Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep" is a rich collection of the work of post-World War II African-American poets. It brings together the voices of the most important African-American poets of our time, beginning with the highly influential Robert Hayden and Gwendolyn Brooks, and covers an astonishing range of styles and techniques. This extraordinary body of poetry is the flowering of an artistic tradition established earlier in this century by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes. The newer work comprises many different visions, ranging from the chiseled and layered modernism of Jay Wright to the plainspoken ferocity of Sonia Sanchez, from the dazzling witticisms of Ishmael Reed to the plangent lyricism of Rita Dove. Edited by the distinguished poet Michael Harper and his star student and colleague Anthony Walton, this notable collection of work will be the standard anthology in the field for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Superb collection.......2007-03-13

A superb collection of influential and inspirational poets, Every Shut Eye Ain't Asleep is a wonderful addition to any poetry enthusiast's library. Assembled by Michael S. Harper and Anthony Walton; this anthology of African-American penned poems features thought provoking and surprisingly emotionally pumping entries by post WWII writers Robert Hayden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Imamu Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Yusef Komunyakaa, Rita Dove, Elizabeth Alexander, and Harper himself to boot among others. Each author contributes a number of their poems, and among the hundred plus poems, there is not a single one that feels out of place or dated at all (Alexander's "Narrative: Ali", told in "12 rounds", is one of the best examples of poetry that I have ever come across). A required text for a class I'm currently taking, this is one of the few poetry books I've been assigned that I have actually enjoyed. Definitely worth owning for poetry enthusiasts, and worth checking out even for those who aren't.

Brilliant Poetry Collides.......2000-06-11

A collection of some of the greatest African-American poets. A wonderful synthesis of some of the most fantastic, most underestimated minds in society.

Average customer rating: Kloske just told our secret Not what I was hoping for fun for parents but not as fun for kids WONDERFUL! Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time, the End (Asleep in 60 Seconds) Geoffrey Kloske Manufacturer: Atheneum/Anne Schwartz Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Bedtime & Dreaming | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Anthologies | Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Humorous | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Similar Items: An Undone Fairy Tale Fancy Nancy Pop Bottle Science Please Bury Me in the Library Traction Man Is Here! (Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (Awards)) ASIN: 0689866194

Book Description

Once upon a time

there was a grown-up

looking for a book

with very short bedtime stories

for a kid who wouldn't go to sleep.

So the grown-up picked up this book

and read this flap

and took the book home

and read it out loud

and they both laughed

and fell fast asleep

fast.

Just like you.

The end.

Customer Reviews:

Kloske just told our secret.......2007-06-04

This book was a gift and now I am giving it to everyone I know with young children. Kloske has definitely been there--all those nights we parents cut out a few words from a story to get to sleep that much sooner--if the book weren't so funny, I'd feel like he told our secret. This book is hysterical. Our six year old gets the humor and the younger children love the stories. Now "are you asleep yet?" is a nighttime family catch phrase. It's well worth every penny.

Not what I was hoping for.......2007-02-09

I thought this would have short, cute fairy tales... instead I found "humorously" edited versions to abbreviate well-known fairy tales. Not really what I had in mind to read to the kids in the family. They didn't quite understand the humor.

fun for parents but not as fun for kids.......2007-01-17

I could totally relate to the underlying theme of this book so I bought it for our 4-year old because it sounded fun. While I can appreciate the humor, it doesn't keep his attention.

WONDERFUL! .......2007-01-09

This is such a charming, fun and happy book. My children (2 and 4) giggle all the through the book.
We love it so much, I have purchased more for gifts. So many wonderful bed time stories with such a clever twist!

Once Upon A Time.......2006-07-14

The shipping was prompt but the book was wrapped so tightly it was broken.

Average customer rating: Very Unique Writer Dreams inside cocoons of silence. READING AND DREAMING NOT QUITE ALIVE... JUST LIKE THE TITLE Ugh

Asleep Banana Yoshimoto Manufacturer: Grove Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Amrita Goodbye Tsugumi Lizard Hardboiled and Hard Luck NP ASIN: 0802138209

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Very Unique Writer.......2007-08-17

How could a book about sleep be so interesting? Asleep, by Banana Yoshimoto, is one of the best books I have ever read. Her writing style is a marvel. Reading Asleep was an experience the like of which I never before had. I plan to purchase this and every one of her other books, something I have never done before with any writer.

Asleep contains three novellas all dealing not only with sleep and the other side of that coin, insomnia, but sleep as a border between dreams and reality, between life and death. What the stories are about does not matter so much as the vehicle of prose that carries the characters and the reader along on what truly feels like a literary cloud. Usually, in a book of novellas, one will stand out as your favorite. All the stories here are equally good. The very end of the last story wraps the theme up to a positive, upbeat close.

The book is of course translated from Japanese, but the character's stories, all told in first-person, contain universal feelings and emotions. Yoshimoto wends her pen so deftly that the book has an emotional healing quality.

I recommend reading this book when you are drowsy and about two hours away from sleeping. If that is not possible, at least be very relaxed with no interruptions if possible. Let her take you to the edge.

Ten stars for this book; highly recommended. Sweet dreams!

Dreams inside cocoons of silence........2007-01-18

These three novellas, written early in Yoshimoto's career, share the theme of sleep as a refuge and an escape. In each story, all told in first-person, a young woman moves from her sleep-cocooned state to walk the liminal space between her life and the death of someone close to her.

Although the translation is a little harsh at times, and doesn't always catch Yoshimoto's ambiguous, moonlit tone, this book is a welcome escape from reality into the silence and uncertainty of night.

READING AND DREAMING.......2006-01-30

The minimalist style of writing certainly has its virtues. Primary are the austerity of content, compactness of story and pure line of narration. Here there is no ostentation, no clutter of details, no ego asserting itself. The restrictive specifics of time and place, the drudgery of work, the tiresome reiteration of politics, religion, philosophy--all gone. Nothing is left but people meeting or remembering each other and moving through generic landscapes. It's a pleasure to read of their relationships and emotions without getting really involved, to feel that they are randomly picked from out of millions of others and become individuals only for the time that attention is given to them, then disappear back into the mass. Add to their stories the element of mystery, of intoxication and somnolence, of uncertain identities, and truly life is just a dream.

Possibly this is the best way to view the billionfold tragedy of human transience, but to achieve such a distant remove you must take a loss. First is the matter of caring. When life is a dream and people are mannikins, as in Banana Yoshimoto's ASLEEP, it is hard to care whether they love or hate, succeed or fail, live or die. And, since they are practically faceless, hard to keep them apart, to pin on them a value any greater than various fish in a vast school of fish. Second is the matter of remembering. During the reading the fish-characters may briefly sparkle and live, but immediately afterwards they are gone. What were their names, what did they do? You would have to go back and re-read the book to find out. All that is left is the memory of their passing, the mood that the author created by reducing her portrayals to clean and esthetically pleasing images on a paper screen. The third downside of minimalist writing is akin to that of aleatory (chance) music: the individual parts really don't matter, so you can skip around as you please. All that matters is the mood at the time, the experience of the work. Readers who want to get away from life's complexities, who want to dream awhile, will call this a plus.

NOT QUITE ALIVE... JUST LIKE THE TITLE.......2005-10-21

THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK I HAVE READ BY YOSHIMOTO AFTER A NUMBER OF YEARS.ALTHOUGH DAZZLED INITIALLY BY HER LIZARD AND KITCHEN I FELT VERY UNSATISIFIED AND ALMOST BITTER TOWARDS THIS BOOK.YEAH THAT SOUNDS A BIT STRONG,BUT THEIR IS A KIND OF GREAT INSENSITIVITY IN THIS BOOK.FROM A WESTERN PERSPECTIVE, THE BOOK IS AMORAL AND THATS WHERE IT FAILS.IT CELEBRATES HUMAN EMOTIONS FOR THEIR OWN SAKE,IN A VERY SELF INDULGENT AND HALF EXPLORED WAY, AWAY FROM THE MORAL CORE FROM WHICH THEY ORIGINATE.IT IS BOOK WITHOUT MEANING,JUST LIKE THE CHARECTERS IN THE BOOK WHO ARE DRIFTING ALONG MEANINGLESSLY.IT IS THUS SYMPTOMATIC OF EVERYTHNG THAT IS WRONG WITH CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE CULTURE.A CULTURE THAT HAS NO MEANING FOR ITS OWN EXISTENCE AND HAS NOTHINGTO LIVE FOR OR CELEBRATE EXCEPT ITSELF.
BANANA DEALS WITH INFIDELITY,DEATH, DRUNKENNESS,SEXUALITY ETC SO CASUALLY AND WITHOUT ANY MORAL OR SPIRITUAL CONSIDERATION,YET HER BOOKS ARE ALWAYS TRYING TO GRASP A CERTAIN SPIRITUAL OR OTHERWORLDLY DYNAMIC.
THIS BOOK DID MAKE ME FEEL FEELING VERY COLD, WHERAS I HAD PREVIOULY FOUND A KIND OF SOLACE IN YOSHIMOTOS CHILD LIKE PROSE I NOW ONLY FIND A SENSE OF EMPTINESS AND INDULGENCE.
THIS BOOK FEELS CONTRIVED,GENERIC(YOSHIMOTO IS GENRE ALL BE HERSELF HEHE)AND LACKING AN SUBSTANCE...LIKE A NICE LOOKING JAPANESE DISH THAT HAS NO TASTE AND LEAVES YOU FEELING HUNGRY.

Ugh.......2004-02-16

The works of Banana Yoshimoto have long been an important feature of my bookshelf. I tell everyone I know to pick one of her works up and read it, to experience the sheer captivation that is reading her fabulous stories. I cried for all different reasons through Kitchen and N.P., and Goodbye Tsugumi is also wonderful. I even tried reading Lizard in Japanese. They all have the ability to transport the reader into a new, but familiar world and delve deep into the human psyche.

Then I read "Night and Night's Travelers" in the Asleep collection. At the completion of this story I wanted nothing more than to throw the book to the ground and jump on it with all possible force. Perhaps this piece was not quite as compelling in English as in the original, but it nonetheless left a taste of disappointment in my dry, cynical mouth. The death in the story was not handled well, and the overuse of hyperbole and cliche is something to cry into one's brandy over. I hope the rest of this book proves to be back to her original, interesting self.

Average customer rating:

Animals Asleep (Aspca Henry Bergh Children's Book Awards (Awards)) Sneed B. Collard III , and Anik McGrory Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Nonfiction | General | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Leaving Home The Red Book (Caldecott Honor Book) Sidewalk Circus (Bccb Blue Ribbon Picture Book Awards (Awards)) Don't Laugh at Me (Reading Rainbow Book) The Forest in the Clouds ASIN: 0618276971

Book Description

The average human sleeps a total of twenty-four years over a lifetime. That's a lot of naps! Yet people aren't the only ones who enjoy a good rest; if you look around, you'll find that all animals have a biological need for sleep. But some animals snooze in ways that we would find startlingif not absolutely impossible. A sooty tern, an island bird, takes a nap in midair as it slowly flaps its wings. A fruit bat gets forty winks while hanging upside down from a tree branch. A bottlenose dolphin can put half of its brain to sleep while it continues to swim. What other remarkable methods of sleep exist?

Average customer rating: Graceland and Asleep on the Wind

Graceland and Asleep on the Wind Ellen Byron Manufacturer: Dramatist's Play Service ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books jp-unknown2 | Specialty Stores | Books General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Comedy | Humor | Entertainment | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books Similar Items: Proof: A Play Hooters Sylvia. The Clean House and Other Plays Doubt: A Parable ASIN: 082220469X

Customer Reviews:

Graceland and Asleep on the Wind.......2006-03-10

I thoroughly enjoyed Graceland. It is sweet and light hearted all at the same time. The characters are rich and well defined for a one act play.

Great play!

Books:

1. Gotham Central Vol. 4: The Quick and the Dead (Batman)
2. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
3. Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith
4. Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel
5. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
6. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
7. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
8. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
9. History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
10. Home to Big Stone Gap: A Novel

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books

1. StrengthsFinder 2.0: A New and Upgraded Edition of the Online Test from Gallup's Now, Discover Your
2. Science, Explanation, and Rationality: The Philosophy of Carl G. Hempel
3. Financial Management For Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations
4. Morphy's Games of Chess
5. Intermediate Accounting
6. The Conversion: A novel
7. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13
8. The New Accounting Manual: A Guide to the Documentation Process, 1995 Supplement
9. Macroeconomics - 2nd Edition: An Integrated Approach
10. Ashley and Jen