BE OUR GUEST

BE OUR GUEST
Average customer rating:

A great lesson from a mouse

another one for Disney

Service Excellence

Should we be Surprised?

The Science Behind the Magic

BE OUR GUEST
Ted Kinni
Manufacturer: Disney Editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Disney Magic: Business Strategy You Can Use at Work and at Home

ASIN: 0786853948

Book Description

Whether they are called clients, customers, constituents, or, in Disney-speak, guests, all organizations must best serve the people who purchase their products and services or risk losing them. Now, for the first time, one critical element of the methods behind the magic that is the Walt Disney World Resort-quality service-is revealed in Be Our Guest. Even before Tom Peters and Bob Waterman profiled Walt Disney World Resort in their groundbreaking book In Search of Excellence, the most popular resort destination in the world enjoyed a reputation as a company that sets the benchmark for best business practices. Be Our Guest outlines proven Disney principles and processes for helping your organization focus its vision and align its people and infrastructure into a cohesive strategy that delivers on the promise of exceptional customer service.

Customer Reviews:

A great lesson from a mouse.......2007-03-24

From the first page this book began teaching lessons worth well more than the cover price! Im a retail manager that often looks for ways to drive my teams and actively engage my customers.

Through well written examples of several operating practices you slowly begin to learn how the daily operations of Disney World apply to your own business. Within the first few chapters I was sharing the principles with my team leaders.

The entire book is written in a way thats not typical of business improvement books. The Disney template allows you to understand the theories by recalling your own visit to Disney World or Disneyland. You remember the small details that you encounter during your stay. The book even points out those elements taken for granted that would detract from the experience if they werent there; like pavement textures and garbage cans and it all makes sense.

I bought this book after a very positive recent visit to Disneyland. This is actaully when I would recommend buyng the book. Either before or right after a visit. Trust me, this will impact your understanding of the books priciples.

If Walt Disney had known how his own business beliefs would affect the 21st Century business person I feel he'd be proud. Forget the old corporate templates and listen with your heart to Walts vision of how to please your customers. Be our guest will provide the magic carpet ride, you just have to get on.

another one for Disney.......2007-02-11

lot's of great info from the Disney point of view. It may seem the book only applies to the theme park environment, but it's easy to apply their guidelines to almost any business

Service Excellence.......2007-01-10

Great book with actionable ideas that I have implemented in my company and they are making a possitive difference. Even if you are not in a "leadership" position, by sharing these processes with your boss or even testing them on a small scale and letting others see the possitive impact, you will look like a star. Disney is not a huge success by accident.
Bottom line: it all comes back to customer service. You want to keep customers or get more customers; get this book and don't be afraid to try what is in it.

Should we be Surprised?.......2006-08-26

Disney, as reflected in their stellar "guest satisfaction and loyalty," at their theme parks has brought this resource to the manager, and customer retention specialist. In so doing, the writers reveal the "magical secret" of how to create loyal raving fans of your business. It is no secret that with today's globalization, expereince economy, and scare of commoditization for businesses, this is a MUST read for anyone that has anything to do with a customer. Great work once again!

The Science Behind the Magic.......2004-11-23

This book is a quick read, yet has a very detailed and adaptable structure around which to build a customer service organization. The process presented in the book works systematically to create a self-renewing customer service structure, while allowing those using it to retain the distinctiveness of their organization. In addition to historic examples of how Disney has consistently applied their own principles, the book uses examples from former clients, including details of how they adapted those principles to their businesses.

This is the perfect book for someone looking to create more than just a laundry list of policies and procedures. For fans of Disney, the book also gives terrific insights into Walt Disney's vision and the Disney way of doing things.

Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam

Average customer rating:

The First "War On Terror" (or should have been).
War on Terror
Good book, heavily biased
Well-written and thought-provoking
Excellent telling of the Iran Hostage Crisis

Guests of the Ayatollah: The Iran Hostage Crisis: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam
Mark Bowden
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802143032

Book Description

From the best-selling author of Black Hawk Down comes a riveting, definitive chronicle of the Iran hostage crisis, America’s first battle with militant Islam. On November 4, 1979, a group of radical Islamist students, inspired by the revolutionary Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. They took fifty-two Americans hostage, and kept nearly all of them hostage for 444 days. In Guests of the Ayatollah, Mark Bowden tells this sweeping story through the eyes of the hostages, the soldiers in a new special forces unit sent to free them, their radical, naïve captors, and the diplomats working to end the crisis. Bowden takes us inside the hostages’ cells and inside the Oval Office for meetings with President Carter and his exhausted team. We travel to international capitals where shadowy figures held clandestine negotiations, and to the deserts of Iran, where a courageous, desperate attempt to rescue the hostages exploded into tragic failure. Bowden dedicated five years to this research, including numerous trips to Iran and countless interviews with those involved on both sides. Guests of the Ayatollah is a detailed, brilliantly re-created, and suspenseful account of a crisis that gripped and ultimately changed the world.

Customer Reviews:

The First "War On Terror" (or should have been)........2007-09-28

This book provides an excellent explanation of the crisis, which partly cost Jimmy Carter the election and where America should have conducted its first "War On Terror" (perhaps, that would have dealt with the current "president" of Iran and the others with him sooner, rather than later, and he wouldn't have come to the U.S.). True, the U.S. shouldn't have let the Shah in, but it wasn't right for the "students", including the current "president" of Iran to take people hostage. I applaud all those who stood up to these thugs, and Bowden gives great detail. He also provides excellent notes and descriptions of what happened to the hostages, after their release. I have my own thoughts about what should have happened, after our people arrived safely in the U.S., but I won't go into them here. Suffice it to say that if anyone wants to understand why we are having the troubles we are with Iran, read this. I wouldn't have wanted to have been in former President Carter's position. I think it was a betrayal, after what the hostages went through, that the U.S., in the succeeding administration, did "deals" with these people, and admitting this "terrorist thug" [Ahmenejad] into our country recently; a former hostage taker, but this is an example how our political system works. [Sometimes, we're our own worst enemy.] Anyway, an important book.

War on Terror.......2007-09-20

The author is correct in his use of the term "inapt" for the phrase "war on terror." It was indeed inapt prior to 9/11 and certainly was not in use in 1979. But it's appropriate use since 9/11 means that finally after nearly 30 years we are taking the threat seriously and have finally begun to wage this necessary war.

Good book, heavily biased.......2007-09-14

An excellent blow by blow account of the Iranian hostage crisis. Bowden's bias knocks a star off. He basically sides with the hostage takers--describing them as just a bunch of goofy misguided kids engaged in mere horseplay. The hostages weren't tortued and beaten that bad, and plus they "mistakenly" referred to their captors as "ragheads." How ignorant! Perhaps Bowden thinks they should have stayed there a little longer just to make up for such transgressions?

In an attempt to make Jimmy Carter look competent, he wisely spends little time on the President's futile attempts to resolve the crisis--keeping the focus on the hostages themselves. But it's still a factual account--and the facts don't lie; Carter was a horrible negotiator. It was only a year into the crisis he figured out what "contingency" meant. Bowden's sly parallel of Ronald Reagan with the Ayatollah at the end of the book is also not lost.

Well-written and thought-provoking.......2007-09-06

What more could there be to say about a crisis that happened a quarter century ago? As it turns out, there are some very important things to say about it, and Mark Bowden's masterful history of that crisis says them.

First, this is an absolutely first-rate "you are there" account of what the American hostages went through as Iran descended into chaos and near madness after the ouster of the shah. You will literally feel their anger, fear, and depression, and you will feel their pride when they can defy or denigrate their captors, even fleetingly. However, you will feel the smugness and religious certainty of their captors, too. Make no mistake: Bowden clearly sees the American diplomats as victims of an outrageous act; there is no moral relativity here.

Second, the book is thought-provoking in ways I didn't expect. The ostensible trigger for the crisis was the decision by the US to admit the shah to this country for treatment of the cancer that would eventually kill him. However, that decision was sold to President Carter by his Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, who in turn was sold on it by Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller. As the years roll on, it's interesting how many disastrous US foreign policy decisions come back to Kissinger.

Further, the CIA was no better then at understanding and predicting events in the Islamic world than they are now. Shortly before the crisis erupted, the agency reported that the religious radicals would soon be relegated to the background there, so the US could deal with an emerging secular state with confidence. In reality, the country degenerated into a hurricane of religious nuttiness that soon swept aside all of the secular leaders. Quite literally, no one at all was really in charge of anything in Iran, and that's the reason the crisis dragged on for over a year.

This brings us to the role of President Carter. Nearly everyone felt at the time that he was too weak and vacillating to resolve the crisis. Not so; he tirelessly attempted to find a way to deal with the situation, but every attempt failed when the connection at the Iranian end fell apart. No one could have done much more, which is why presidential candidate Ronald Reagan continually criticized Carter, but never offered a word of explanation about what he would do.

The failed rescue attempt was blamed on Carter, too, but as Bowden makes clear, it had little chance of succeeding, mostly because the equipment available at the time was inadequate, and the situation was impossible. Even if Delta Force had made it to Tehran, it's likely that most or all of the hostages and rescuers would have died in the operation. Carter and the troops deserve credit for daring the attempt, even in the face of near-certain failure.

This book is must reading as the authoritative account of the first battle in the war with the "Islamofascists." And it's worth reading as a rich account of the courage that the hostages and their would-be rescuers displayed in very trying circumstances.

Excellent telling of the Iran Hostage Crisis.......2007-07-10

For those interested in history and especially the history of the relationship between Iran and the U.S., this book is essential. This book is well written, fine storytelling, and appropriately detailed without belaboring the point. Probably the best one source history of the hostage crisis. Some may find it a little too charitable to President Carter, but it appears to be a fair portrayal.

Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church

Average customer rating:

Helpful but unremarkable...
Beyond Helpful
Guesterize Your Church!
A Book the Motivates
Worth the read

Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church
Gary L. McIntosh
Manufacturer: Baker Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0801091845
Release Date: 2006-09-01

Book Description

All churches like to think that theirs is the friendliest in town. But do visitors see it that way? Church consultant Gary McIntosh invites readers to take a look at their church through the eyes of visitors and potential visitors. His starting point, grounded in an understanding of God as a ''welcomer,'' is that churches should see those who enter their doors as not merely visitors, but as guests, and themselves as gracious hosts. This practical book offers sound advice on assessing and improving the ways in which churches attract people, welcome them, do follow-up, and bring them into the church family. It also offers suggestions for making a welcoming attitude part of the very fabric of the local church.

Customer Reviews:

Helpful but unremarkable..........2007-09-19

I'm on staff at our church in the area of First Impressions, and the subtitle of this book ("Connecting Guests to Your Church") is a major part of what I do. When I first saw this book, I knew that I needed to read it.

Quite frankly, I was disappointed on several fronts. First and foremost, this book felt like it was written for the church of the 1980s. I was taken aback by the almost complete failure to mention internet strategies. When it was discussed at the end of Chapter 5, it was almost as if the reader was supposed to be only vaguely aware that the "World Wide Web" even exists.

I was also frustrated by the rather hokey feel of many of McIntosh's suggestions. The DWYPYWD principle (Do what you promised you would do)? Come on, that's a ridiculous and utterly useless acronym. The rule of three-thirty-three? The MOT (Moment of Truth)? I just think that this stuff is silly.

I was disappointed by one underlying message throughout the book, that the purpose of making good connections with guests is to convince them to attend your church rather than another church. But this totally misses the point of caring about guests. We don't need to be very concerned about the folks who are going to end up at a church somewhere. Our energies should be directed to the folks who are going to choose between attending our church and never attending church again. Those are the folks for whom first impressions and guesterizing strategies should be focused.

Finally, I could not see how Chapter 13 fit into this book. In the midst of all of his connection strategies, McIntosh spends this chapter providing a brief summary of the emergent church movement. Maybe this primer would be helpful for older pastors who have missed the entire emergent thing (and have only recently discovered the World Wide Web and really enjoy acronyms like DWYPYWD), but it seemed completely out of place in this book.

Having been rather critical and even somewhat sarcastic so far in my review, "Beyond the First Visit" was not a complete loss. The strength of this book is that it is relatively comprehensive. McIntosh speaks into a host of topics and goes to great lengths to explain why each of these seemingly insignificant details is actually quite important. His attention to the little things is commendable and should help the reader be aware of the myriad of things that churches need to consider as folks outside the church investigate what we do every week when we come together for corporate worship.

Ultimately, I'm glad that I read this book. There is much good content that can help church leaders to think through the impression that they leave with guests. However, it was far from what it could have been. If you're looking to think about these things in a totally new and refreshing way, I'd recommend Mark Waltz's "First Impressions" instead.

Beyond Helpful.......2007-06-27

Great - practical book. Helps you see your church from a "guest's" (not visitor) point of view. Practical questions to ask for all teams within the church from worship to nursery to building and grounds. Easy to implement in your own setting, not a cookie cutter approach to church. Very helpful

Guesterize Your Church!.......2007-06-19

Inviting guests to your church is easy. Getting them to stay is not. Gary McIntosh's new book offers concrete suggestions for getting guests to stay "beyond the first visit."

I began reading Beyond the First Visit in January 2007 when my wife and I moved to California's central coast to pastor a church. We didn't know anyone in the area or the church, so for a while we felt like guests in our own congregation. I grew up in a pastor's home and was associate pastor to a long-time friend, so this was a new feeling for me. But it was a very valuable feeling, for it gave me an important insight into how guests at our church feel all the time. (And I have a very friendly church!)

According to McIntosh, we need to "guesterize" our churches. That is, we need "to make a church more responsive to its guests and better able to attract new ones." From the moment guests step foot on our campuses, they need to feel a welcome invitation to be there as well as opportunities to connect with others and get involved in the life of the church.

Each chapter of Beyond the First Visit includes numerous suggestions for making your church guest-friendly, real-life examples of what works and what doesn't, and discussion questions that can be used individually or among leadership groups.

If your church has many guests, but few who stay, read Beyond the First Visit. It will open your eyes to your guests' point of view.

A Book the Motivates.......2007-04-02

This is an excellent, practical, and insightful book on how growing a church to the next level can be done. The author has writen it from the biblical, psychological and sociological perspectives which therefore makes it a wholistic and comprehensive treatise on how to boost the attendance of a declined or declining church. Read it and put it into a action. The growth of your church will surprise you.

Worth the read.......2006-11-10

He has several, practical steps for making your church more hospitable. From the 10 foot rule, to the 5 minute rule, to such advice as "Recruit for attitude, Train for people for skills," it was worth the purchase.

Average customer rating:

Better the second time around
Woolf in Her Prime
An expanding web
Septimus Warren Smith
Flowing prose

Mrs. Dalloway
Virginia Woolf
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Hours
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ASIN: 0156628708

Amazon.com

As Clarissa Dalloway walks through London on a fine June morning, a sky-writing plane captures her attention. Crowds stare upwards to decipher the message while the plane turns and loops, leaving off one letter, picking up another. Like the airplane's swooping path, Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway follows Clarissa and those whose lives brush hers--from Peter Walsh, whom she spurned years ago, to her daughter Elizabeth, the girl's angry teacher, Doris Kilman, and war-shocked Septimus Warren Smith, who is sinking into madness.

As Mrs. Dalloway prepares for the party she is giving that evening, a series of events intrudes on her composure. Her husband is invited, without her, to lunch with Lady Bruton (who, Clarissa notes anxiously, gives the most amusing luncheons). Meanwhile, Peter Walsh appears, recently from India, to criticize and confide in her. His sudden arrival evokes memories of a distant past, the choices she made then, and her wistful friendship with Sally Seton.

Woolf then explores the relationships between women and men, and between women, as Clarissa muses, "It was something central which permeated; something warm which broke up surfaces and rippled the cold contact of man and woman, or of women together.... Her relation in the old days with Sally Seton. Had not that, after all, been love?" While Clarissa is transported to past afternoons with Sally, and as she sits mending her green dress, Warren Smith catapults desperately into his delusions. Although his troubles form a tangent to Clarissa's web, they undeniably touch it, and the strands connecting all these characters draw tighter as evening deepens. As she immerses us in each inner life, Virginia Woolf offers exquisite, painful images of the past bleeding into the present, of desire overwhelmed by society's demands. --Joannie Kervran Stangeland

Book Description

This brilliant novel explores the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman’s life. Direct and vivid in her account of the details of Clarissa Dalloway’s preparations for a party she is to give that evening, Woolf ultimately managed to reveal much more. For it is the feeling behind these daily events that gives Mrs. Dalloway its texture and richness and makes it so memorable. Foreword by Maureen Howard.

"Mrs. Dalloway was the first novel to split the atom. If the novel before Mrs. Dalloway aspired to immensities of scope and scale, to heroic journeys across vast landscapes, with Mrs. Dalloway Virginia Woolf insisted that it could also locate the enormous within the everyday; that a life of errands and party-giving was every bit as viable a subject as any life lived anywhere; and that should any human act in any novel seem unimportant, it has merely been inadequately observed. The novel as an art form has not been the same since.
"Mrs. Dalloway also contains some of the most beautiful, complex, incisive and idiosyncratic sentences ever written in English, and that alone would be reason enough to read it. It is one of the most moving, revolutionary artworks of the twentieth century."
--Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours

Download Description

A masterpiece by one of the greatest writers in English literary history, Mrs. Dalloway is both a moving and innovative novel that breaks new ground in the representation of inner experience. A day in the life of a London woman, Clarissa Dalloway, Woolf's novel is a meditation on time, perception, memory and experience. Informed by the great novelists of the previous century as well as contemporary trends in philosophy, art and literature, Mrs. Dalloway is a towering achievement by an extraordinary artist.

Customer Reviews:

Better the second time around.......2007-08-27

This was the first Woolf novel that I read and i am glad that it was. I was a college freshman who had just seen The Hours. I was immediately drawn to this author. After reading it the first time, it is possible to know what the basic story is about: a woman giving a party and wondering about the choices she has made in the past. But each reading helps bring out so many details that are easy to miss. People may claim this is a hard read, but Mrs. Woolf's books were NEVER meant to be read quickly. The word usage and details are so precise that is should be read slowly to appreciate it more. A great book to start getting into Woolf.

Woolf in Her Prime.......2007-07-15

Virginia Woolf (1882 - 1941) was a well known writer, critic, feminist, and publisher. This was her fourth novel.

I read her first novel "The Voyage Out" before buying the present book, then skipped her second novel - which is considered to be a flop - then read "Jacob's Room," her third, then "Mrs. Dalloway," her fourth, and then "To The Lighthouse."

"The Voyage Out" is simple and straightforward work and it might remind the reader of a Jane Austen novel, but it set on a ship and then at a remote location. It is over 400 pages long, and has an Austen theme. After her second novel - which did not do very well - Woolf decided to be more risky and creative with the next book. She changed her style and approach to the novel and Woolf uses the stream of consciousness technique to bring a sense of the chaos and shortness of a young man's life around the time of World War I, Jacob's life, i.e.: from the pandemonium of Jacob's life as portrayed by Woolf through the use of the stream of the consciousness technique, we eventually have clarity in the novel. She carries this writing style on into the similarly chaotic story in the novel "Mrs. Dalloway."

She carries this writing style on into the similarly chaotic story "Mrs. Dalloway." Mrs. Dalloway, or simply Clarrisa Dalloway the character, was used in her first novel "The Voyage Out" but only as a minor character who the protagonist, Rachel, meets on a sea voyage. Mr. Dalloway makes a pass at Rachel and kisses her. Woolf brings them back in force here with their own novel.

The present story is set in the summer in post WWI London and it revolves around a few days in the life of Mrs. Dalloway. She has a party and during that period an old suitor, Peter Walsh, makes his return appearance from an overseas job posting in India, and does so after thirty years. Part of the story involves her thoughts about that relationship and her life choices. The second plot element is mental illness and the appearance of Septimus Warren Smith and his Italian wife Lucrezia. He is a war survivor but is suffering from depression. The third element is her present husband and his love for her.

The compressed in time and chaotic story which involves Clarrisa, her husband, Peter Walsh, and Septimus, lends itself to the stream of consciousness technique. Some make comparisons with Joyce and his stream of consciousness novel "Ulysses." In any case, Woolf uses it to advantage here. Finally, Woolf is an author who promoted aesthetic purity in fiction. But here she uses the novel as a chance to attack the care for the mental illnesses.

This is an excellent novel written by Woolf at her prime. Her approach lends itself to the subject and it is quite effective. If you want to read a conventional novel by Woolf, then I recommend her first novel, "The Voyage Out."

An expanding web.......2007-07-04

This is a spellweaver of a book, slipping lucidly from minute to minute over the course of a perfect London summer's day, its gossamer threads forming an expanding web as complex and interconnected as a symphony. I came to it after reading TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, written two years later (1925 and 1927). Both books are set in summer, and both are confined to a single physical setting. But whereas the house and garden in TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, nominally in Scotland, might almost be anywhere, London is a real and precise presence in MRS DALLOWAY, lovingly described over a range of several miles. The later book, though concentrating on two specific days, has a span of almost a decade; MRS DALLOWAY follows the classical unity of time, starting in the early morning and continuing until night in a single unbroken span (a precedent perhaps imitated by Ian McEwan in his SATURDAY). Conversely, while TO THE LIGHTHOUSE confines itself to about a dozen characters, MRS DALLOWAY moves in ever-expanding ripples, adding more and more people as guests arrive for Clarissa Dalloway's party in the book's concluding scene.

The hours of the day are marked by the sound of Big Ben: "First a warning, musical; then the hour, irrevocable. The leaden circles dissolved in the air." The image of expanding and dissipating circles is central; as in TO THE LIGHTHOUSE, Woolf is preoccupied with the passage of time; both books are a memento mori. But neither one is grim; there is a summer freshness here, a feeling for the charm of society life in a great city, that fits the preliminary musical chimes of the great clock -- but the irrevocable toll of time is not forgotten. We see Clarissa Dalloway, a little over fifty, wife of a respected politician with an assured place in society. Like the sound of the clock, like ripples on the water, her circles have also expanded since her marriage, but have they also dissipated, dissolved in the air? Near the beginning of the book, she is visited by Peter Walsh, a former suitor whom she refused some thirty years before, now back home after many years in India. Both of them have changed, but the memories take her back and force her to weigh and reweigh her concepts of success and happiness.

All the characters in the novel are known personally to Clarissa Dalloway, with the exception of only two: Septimus Warren Smith and his Italian wife Lucrezia, whose story, weaving in and out of the main one, takes up about a fifth of the whole. Septimus, a clerk by profession but something of a poet and aesthete, has returned from the war unable to feel. When his best friend is killed in the last days of the war, he congratulates himself on surviving without cracking up, but soon begins to recognize his lack of emotion for the curse that it is; he married Lucrezia largely in an attempt to overcome this. He must be one of the first victims of shell-shock to appear in literature (but not the last: see Pat Barker's magnificent REGENERATION and all of Jacqueline Winspear's MAISIE DOBBS series). Virtually everything in Woolf's mature novels is connected primarily by thought rather than through action, but this takes the principle even farther, linking Septimus to Clarissa in theme only, as her Doppelgänger; the author admitted as much in a later preface. In some ways they are opposites: Clarissa so full of life, a society hostess married to an establishment figure; and Septimus, potentially suicidal (like Woolf herself), a provincial nobody married to the daughter of a foreign innkeeper. And yet, for all his inability to feel, there is an immediacy to the scenes between Septimus and Lucrezia, whose lives are played out in emotional primary colors, whereas Clarissa's world, for all its brilliance, is in iridescent shimmers and half-tones.

And what of Mr. Richard Dalloway, MP? We see surprisingly little of him, but what we do see only emphasizes the theme of lost feeling that runs through the book. Something makes him realize that it has been years since he has told his wife of his love. So he buys a great bunch of flowers and we see him "walking across London to say to Clarissa in so many words that he loved her." The phrase is repeated again and again. When he does get home, the scene does not go quite like that, but it is a touching one all the same. For Richard is one of those Englishmen who can only show their feelings obliquely. Poor Peter Walsh, on the other hand, who weeps openly and is an emotional wreck, is considered a failure, "not quite the thing." And Clarissa, still precariously aware of both sides of her nature, must steer her way between the two. And we rejoice that she can.

Septimus Warren Smith.......2007-06-27

In this novel, we see into the consciousness of the characters, in particular, Clarrissa Dalloway and the war-beaten Septimus Warren Smith. Woolf writes with empathy which is based on her own inner torment. This causes him to commit suicide due to his aversion to being placed in an institution by Dr. Holmes Bradshaw. Unrequited love for Isabel Pole, resonant in the beginning, shown as his poetry is corrected by her in red ink. This must seem slightly amusing to the author, but I find it sad.

I think I am him.

Flowing prose.......2007-06-27

coherrant, long, rythmic sentences on daily life of upper middle class of 18th century london.I found the book interesting and a delight to read.

Average customer rating:

My daughter cried.
Gorey Beautiful
A Gorey story for kids and adults
"It Betrayed A Great Liking For Peering Up Flues..."
Grab your galoshes

The Doubtful Guest
Edward Gorey
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0151003130

Amazon.com

Originally published in 1957, The Doubtful Guest serves as a prime example of the beauty, eccentricity, and brilliance of Edward Gorey's work. If the book was read aloud without revealing the accompanying black-and-white drawings, you might guess the tale came from the quirky genius of Dr. Seuss. The rhyming couplets and nonsensical verse (about an even more nonsensical creature) feel familiar, but in Gorey's skilled hands, the experience becomes altogether new.

The doubtful guest shows up unannounced and unwelcome, yet its presence is accepted after only a brief interlude of screaming. The staid, pale, Victorian inhabitants of the mansion alternately stare and glare at the doubtful guest as it tears out whole chapters from books, peels the soles of its white canvas shoes, and broods while lying on the floor ("inconveniently close to the drawing-room door"). Strangely, or rather, typically, as this is a Gorey book, the stymied occupants never ask the guest to leave--and in 17 years it has still "shown no intention of going away." Maintaining a matter-of-fact tone in spite of true oddity is pure, delicious Gorey, and his trademark drawings are not to be missed. The ghostly, stark, and undeniably amusing illustrations make The Doubtful Guest an entrancing tale in which reserved, insular lives meet with the unexpected and bizarre. (Ages 5 and older)

Book Description

“An artist and writer of genius” (New Yorker) gives us a small-format edition of one of his favorite tales-a deliciously twisted comedy of manners.

Customer Reviews:

My daughter cried........2007-08-03

I picked up a copy of the Doubtful Guest because I heard Steven Speilberg optioned the rights to turn this into a movie. Not sure how he's going to do it, because there really isn't a story to tell. It's about a weird-looking penguin that shows up at a house and doesn't leave. Big whoop. I love the art. I like the whole idea of the story. And I'm sure at the time, it was what children's book critics would consider 'avant-garde' and a bit dark. But, it just didn't do it for me. I read it to my daughter. She was so angry that she grabbed the book out of my hands, took it over to the fireplace and threw into the fire. Then she went PFFFTHTTPT! Whatever that means! Maybe she was tipsy on the expired-date cow's milk she was drinking. Maybe it was because she was teething. Maybe it was because she's only a year old, but she didn't like it at all. Would I tell someone else to buy this book? Not really. Although, on a personal note, I may check out more of Gorey's work. This guy may have been on to something.

Gorey Beautiful.......2007-02-07

A macabre classic. Perfect for any collection. Adds a little whimsy to any day you open the cover.

A Gorey story for kids and adults.......2006-03-18

Edward Gorey's humor is delightfully absurd. Although this particular tale is unlike any other Gorey story, the humor and pen & ink illustrations are beautifully done and unmistakably Gorey.

"It Betrayed A Great Liking For Peering Up Flues...".......2005-01-13

This is my single favorite Edward Gorey book, partially because of the amusing couplets it is written in, but mostly because of the appearance of the guest himself, which never ceases to amuse me. The concept of a strange creature who mysteriously visits and decides to stay (seventeen years) while exercising odd whims (like fits in which he removes all towels from the bath or hiding inside a soup tureen) is particularly suited to Gorey's odd brand of humor (although it is not one of his more unusual books, by any stretch of the imagination.)

I have liked Edward Gorey since I was in my teens, and still find him as unique and entertaining as ever. This is my very favorite Gorey book, and would make an excellent introduction to one of the oddest cartoonists of the twentieth century.

Grab your galoshes.......2003-12-05

You will not be doubting this book as a guest on your shelf. The Doubtful Guest is a Gorey masterpiece in all its pawky nature. If you find that you are fond of it, you might drop it in the pond, as the doubtful guest does to things it's fond of: "It would carry off objects of which it grew fond, And protect them by dropping them into the pond." You'll surely be all wet if you do, because you'll want to fetch it out for a read quite often.

Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village

Average customer rating:

An amazing piece of work
Timely book
Review of Guests of the Sheik
A time capsule
A Great Ethnography

Guests of the Sheik: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Iraq | Middle East | History | Subjects | Books

Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman
Dancing Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa
Conformity and Conflict: Readings in Cultural Anthropology (12th Edition) (MyAnthroKit Series)
Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India
In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio (Structural Analysis in the Social Sciences)

ASIN: 0385014856
Release Date: 1995-10-01

Book Description

A delightful, well-written, and vastly informative ethnographic study, this is an account of Fernea's two-year stay in a tiny rural village in Iraq, where she assumed the dress and sheltered life of a harem woman.

Customer Reviews:

An amazing piece of work.......2007-05-17

I have never in my life come across a book that has captured me in the way this book has. It's amazing in every sense of the word. The difference between the Middle Eastern world and the world where Elizabeth came from is great. It's definitely the most honest book. The stereo types that people carry with them every day, the assumption that you know a group of people when in reality you never know how different someone might be, and how that can change your life in many wonderful ways. It's definitely educational, informational, and just plain entertaining to read. I have read this book over and over again. I lost it, and I had to buy it again, so that I can...(guess what) read it again!! :)

Timely book.......2007-03-09

Even though this book was written in the last mid-century Iraq, the reader comes away with the feeling that it could have been written today, or 2 centuries ago. It's descriptions of the isolation of Iraqi villages, resistance to change, and brief insights into Iraqi politics makes it a book that should be read by those working to rebuild Iraq, those heading to Iraq, and those interested in why Iraq's move to democracy is so difficult.

Review of Guests of the Sheik.......2007-01-17

This book was very useful as an ethnography for the presentation needed for my daughters college cultural anthropology class. It was well written and offered a wonderful insight into the lives of a people we knew very little about. The professor appreciated the donation of the book to her library for students to use in the future.

A time capsule.......2006-04-02

I have always loved this book - I took Robert Fernea's class at UT in 1973 and this was the textbook. Actually, I did not do so well in the class and I discovered this book after I left college, but it is so well written I read it over and over.

Part of the reason I read it over and over is because I have always been interested in the Middle East, Egypt in particular,and I thought this book was a fascinating peek into domestic life in the ME which really hasn't changed much in 4000 years.

At the time EWF wrote this book the tribal government was still in power in Iraq - it was before the revolution in 1958 that put Saddam Hussein and the Baathits in power. That time was probably idillic compared to Saddam time or even now. Although I think we are trying to give the Iraqis a chance at self governance.

Anyway, I thing one of the big things BJ left out of this book is the female cirumcision issue - I know she must have known about it yet she did not mention it anywhere. She did allude to "honor
killings" when she took her friend with her in a sunset ride with men not related to her friend. She was worried that Laila would be "drowned in the canal" to save the families honor.

I think this is unacceptable in this day and age. Elizabeth should write a new introduction to her book that addresses these issues.

That said, Guest of the Shiek is a beautifully written book, but not indicative of the truth in Iraq at all on any level today.

A Great Ethnography.......2006-01-14

The Guests of the Sheik is a great ethnography about a newly wed American couple who visit a small Iraqi village called El Nahra, and the American couple's encounters with a third world country. While adapting to the new custom's like the clothing, the Arabic language, the Muslim religion, the celebrations, and getting along with the people. The story was mainly centered around Elizabeth Fernea (the wife) because she does not know the culture well unlike her husband Bob (the husband) who is an anthropologist.
While alot of events are taking place in El Nahra, Elizabeth is has it rough with the women in El Nahra. The women of El Nahra would insult her by saying she is flat chested, insult Elizabeth's religion (Christianity),they made fun of Americans by saying they stop having sex at an early age, making fun of non-polygamy couples in United States and etc. So as the book goes on you have to decide if Elizabeth is breaking away from her prejidism or not. Anyways, there's a lot more drama and details within the book and I highly recommend The Guests of the Sheik especially if you're interested in other cultures.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating read
A Great New Take on Vampires
A Wow Book!
well , who on earth needs logic in world building?
Not enough talent to attack such an ambitious plot

Night Life (Pharaohs Rising, Book 1)
Elizabeth Guest
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

Gothic | Romance | Subjects | Books

Fantasy, Futuristic & Ghost | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Kiss of Midnight (The Midnight Breed, Book 1)
Visions of Heat (The Psy-Changeling Series, Book 2) (Berkley Sensation)
Kiss of Crimson (The Midnight Breed, Book 2)
The Warriors of Poseidon (Atlantis Rising, Book 1)
Slave to Sensation (The Psy-Changelings, Book 1)

ASIN: 0425214826

Book Description

Ancient Egypt takes a bite out of modern-day Las Vegas.

Once a pharaoh, Adrian King has awakened thousands of years later-as a vampire. Now the owner of the Royal Palace in Vegas, he is falling for Egyptologist Christine Day. But others have awakened who will not rest until Adrian is destroyed again, even if it means taking the only true love he's ever known.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating read.......2007-08-27

Night Life is a fascinating look into a world of opulance and power. Merneptah Seti, King of Eygpt, awakens in the present. He's built the identity of Las Vegas Casino owner and collector of Egyptian antiquities, Adrian King. King meets Egyptologist Christine Day, the lover inhabiting his dreams, as he has hers. But others have awakened and Adrian must determine if they are friend or foe. The scent of evil warns an Eater of Blood and Breaker of Bones lurks nearby, bent on treachery, seeking revenge and Adrian's destruction. What better way than to destroy the one he loves? The book's ending kept me on the edge of my seat. Don't miss Elizabeth Guest's Night Life.

A Great New Take on Vampires.......2007-07-09

As an Egyptologist, Christine Day recognizes the authenticity of the breathtaking statues and artifacts exhibited at the Royal Palace hotel and casino. Christine has always had a sixth sense when it comes to ancient Egypt, and about one pharaoh in particular. That pharaoh is Merneptah Seti. Christine's family of archeologists has been searching for Seti's lost tomb for generations. As a child, Christine made a promise to her grandfather that she would find Merneptah Seti's tomb.

In his past, Adrian King's name was Merneptah Seti. Seti sat upon the Egyptian throne and he ruled the Black Lands of the Nile. Seti was always an honorable leader and a warrior without equal. Seti performs a sacred ritual, which allows him to reawaken years after his death. Upon his awakening, Seti realizes that someone within his trusted circle of family and friends was the instrument of his death.

In present day Las Vegas, Seti is known as Adrian King. Adrian is the owner of the Royal Palace casino and hotel. He still rules his people honorably. Adrian is haunted by dreams of a beautiful woman, the same alluring woman he dreamed of in ancient times.

While wandering the halls of the Royal Palace during her first visit, Christine finds herself beside a small, charming pool. A sensual waking vision overtakes Christine of a gorgeous man making love to her in a lovely lotus pool. She has dreamed of this man her entire life, but this is the first time she can see the details of his face. When the vision releases her, Christine finds herself face to face with the man of her dreams. Adrian King is astonished by the breathtaking beauty of the woman standing before him. The enchanting woman smells of the ancient perfume he created specifically for the woman from his dreams. Can this really be the woman Adrian has been searching for during his long existence?

Adrian knows that some of the men and women who were his trusted friends have also awakened in this new time. Are they friend or foe? Betrayed or betrayer? Whom can Adrian trust? Will Adrian be able to keep Christine safe now that he has finally found her?

Elizabeth Guest has created a new type of vampire in NIGHT LIFE. Guest has researched Egyptian lore and history and produced a remarkable story that grabs the reader's attention from the first paragraph. NIGHT LIFE is filled with spirit and intensity. Adrian and Christine's love story is wonderful and it touched me deeply. The idea of two people dreaming of one another for their entire lives is particularly poignant. I loved the characters, the action, the intrigue, and the ending to NIGHT LIFE. I look forward to reading more exciting books set in Ms. Guest's fascinating world of Egyptian vampires. Run out and buy a copy of NIGHT LIFE from your local bookstore; then sit back and immerse yourself in this captivating tale.

A Wow Book!.......2007-07-05

I couldn't put this book down. The use of ancient Egyptian mythology in a vampire story was really different and exotic. It had just the right amount of world building for me. I don't want to get bogged down in a million details. That's not why I read romance. I loved the hero and heroine of Night Life and the idea that it was their destiny to be together. I guess we all like different stories when we read: this was one my personal favorites so far in 2007.

well , who on earth needs logic in world building?.......2007-07-04

I bought this book based on the AAR review, they are usually reliable. Well this one was the exception that proves the rule, as other people have mentioned here, there are literally NO explanations provided for anything that happens. Egyptians just die, happen to wake up 'vampire' and immortal, and take it from there. There are no explanations for practically anything that happen in the book, but there are pages and pages devoted to the oil the hero made for her,or embalming procedures (which was actually a good bit) and useless other tidbits. If the author actually sat down and tried to infuse some logic into her next story, it might be readable. This one was not.

Good paranormal/alternate reality authors ( JR ward, Nalini Singh, Sherrilyn Kenyon, to name a few) are so popular not only because of their excellent prose styles, but also because they devote a lot of time and thought to interesting and thorough world building...this author would do well to take her cues from them.

Not enough talent to attack such an ambitious plot.......2007-06-30

The reviewer who wrote that this book is filled with plotholes is absolutely right. I've never seen a less cohesive plotline. One dimensional and poorly thought out characterization (especially of supporting characters), bad dialogue, and nonsensical storytelling outweighs bonus points for a promising premise, an interesting take on vampirism and quasi-New Kingdom history. The book really falls apart after the main characters fall into bed together as if the author realized she had nothing more to say and hastily tied all the plot threads together haphazardly. In this way we are left with several key questions that remain unresolved and undermine the entire structure of the book . . .

How did any of these ancient Egyptians turned into vampires? What was the point of the bizarre elixir Adrian drinks in the forward if everyone he knew as Pharoah turned into a vampire without drinking the same thing? What is the Soul Gatherer and how does it affect our main characters (other than as a super convenient way to scare off the rather pathetic villain)? Then there is the question of just who is Christine to Adrian? Did they have a past life together? Is she some Egyptian goddess, is she really She-Who-Must-Be-Feared?

Throughout the novel we are told time and again that Adrian senses great evil but once the villain (irrationally) reveals himself, he is disarmed quite easily and even calls out to his mama as he is destroyed. Even if I could get around the plotholes, I can't forgive such a useless villain. There was no sense of urgency, no sense of peril. I found myself rolling my eyes instead of enjoying the suspense.

This novel truly had potential but needed someone of Susan Squires' or Meljean Brooks' caliber to pull it off. I think Elizabeth Guest bit off more than she could chew with this book. She wanted epic but produced cheesy. I know she plans this book to be the first in a series. It makes me shudder.

Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality

Average customer rating:

Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality
Robert Ford , and Cherrill Heaton
Manufacturer: Cengage Delmar Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Hospitality, Travel & Tourism | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Travel | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Hospitality Financial Accounting
Meetings, Expositions, Events and Conventions: An Introduction to the Industry
Hotel and Lodging Management: An Introduction
Hospitality Industry Managerial Accounting
Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry

ASIN: 0766814157

Book Description

This book is organized around the 14 "Service Principles" with a chapter dedicated to each. The most recent research is integrated throughout to support each principle and each chapter provides "Exemplars of Excellent Service". A "Moment of Truth" feature interspersed throughout the book provides an open-ended guest service vinette and allows the reader to provide an appropriate response or analysis of the situation that reflects an understanding of the principle being covered. A "Lessons Learned" section at the end of each chapter provides practitioners with a review of the material quickly, in a useful, applied way.

Average customer rating:

This is just a wonderful book.
Wonderful book.
Many summers, many guests
Luminous Prose...
This is a rare gem!

The Summer Guest
Justin Cronin
Manufacturer: Dial Press Trade Paperback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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Mary and O'Neil
Amagansett
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
The Savage Garden

ASIN: 0385335822
Release Date: 2005-05-31

Amazon.com

Set primarily in a rustic fishing camp on the northern tip of Maine, the first 50 pages of Justin Cronin's The Summer Guest read like a lazy fishing expedition--most of the time is simply spent waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, this expansive family saga goes on to explore countless intriguing topics, including love, war, disease, loss, betrayal, and redemption. The book revolves around the story of Harry Wainwright, a wealthy entrepreneur who falls in love with the camp as a young man and returns decades later for one last day of fishing before he succumbs to terminal cancer. With Harry as a centerpiece, Cronin artfully weaves the tales of Joe and Lucy Crosby, the camp's owners; their daughter Kate; and Jordan, the camp's guide; into a complex web of family drama. Using history as both a backdrop and a main character, Cronin guides readers from World War II to Vietnam, with the story reaching its climax on a late summer day in 1994.

The beauty of The Summer Guest lies in Cronin's ability to create meaning in each character's situation. Whether dodging the draft on a fishing boat in rural Canada, serving up clams by the Boston Harbor, saying goodbye to a loved one, or finding new love where you were once afraid to look, Cronin creates deep, sincere characters with whom readers feel a powerful sense of investment. ("Here is grief, I thought, here is grief at last: the full measure and heft of it... I watched myself enter it as if I were stepping into a pool of the calmest, darkest waters... a feeling like happiness, everything drifting away…") This ability to make what at first may seem like a quiet day of fishing seem extraordinary is what sets Cronin apart from other novelists, and what makes a story of the everyday business of living, loving and dying seem somewhat extraordinary. --Gisele Toueg

Book Description

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his radiant novel in stories, Mary and O’Neil, Justin Cronin has already been hailed as a writer of astonishing gifts. Now Cronin’s new novel, The Summer Guest, fulfills that promise—and more. With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man’s last wish into a rich tapestry of family love.

On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.

From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp’s owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime “trying to learn what it means to be brave”; Joe’s wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy’s daughter Kate—the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past.

As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself—a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.

Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

This is just a wonderful book........2007-09-19

Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and a friend who knows this gave me "The Summer Guest". I was not familiar with the author and didn't know anything about the book before I began. I have since recommended this book to all of my friends. It is truly one of the best books I've read and I am a voracious reader. The language is absolutely beautiful and the characterizations are wonderful. It is a book to savor and, although I rarely reread books, I will definitely read this one again.

John Citron's review from March 24, 2006 says it all. If you are in doubt about whether to purchase "The Summer Guest", do it anyway. You will not be disappointed.

Wonderful book........2007-04-04

Really ... absolutely wonderful. Captivating. I couldn't stop reading and I was very sorry when it was over. I look forward to reading more from Mr. Cronin.

Many summers, many guests.......2007-03-25

Justin Cronin writes beutifully! He weaves characters, their stories, big life questions, and time into something
larger than the norm, leaving this reader pondering my own life, family and sense of place. Cronin's Mary and O'Neill was rich, too. Bits of metaphor and vividness in both.

Luminous Prose..........2006-08-08

Justin Cronin has written an exceptionally beautiful novel- filled with scenes and characterizations that seem real to the touch. Even if you have not lived in the Adirondack mountains of New York state as I have, the summers of deep woods and deep lakes come alive on the pages. The story of lives and losses is tenderly recounted...luminous prose.

This is a rare gem!.......2006-04-05

I have told almost everyone I know to read this book! It is magnificently written. There is a truly memorable page in the book that made me cry as Mr. Cronin describes "man's best friend." I really loved that he told the story from the various characters point of view. I didn't want the book to end and have been hoping that Mr. Cronin will have a new book out by 2007. I am glad that he doesn't churn out books 3 times a year, it makes it that much more special when his next one comes and that we all have something to look forward to.

Average customer rating:

Absolutely Worth Reading!
Looking at the Bible Gaily
Come to the well!

The Queer Bible Commentary

Manufacturer: SCM Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

TAKE BACK THE WORD - A QUEER READING OF THE BIBLE
Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus & the Bible (Millennium Edition)
Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. Supplement Series, 334)
Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation
Where The Edge Gathers: Building A Community Of Radical Inclusion

ASIN: 0334040213

Product Description

The Queer Bible Commentary brings together the work of several scholars and pastors known for their interest in the areas of gender, sexuality and Biblical studies. Rather than a verse-by-verse analysis, typical of more traditional commentaries, contributors to this volume focus specifically upon those portions of the book that have particular relevance for readers interested in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues such as the construction of gender and sexuality, the reification of heterosexuality, the question of lesbian and gay ancestry within the Bible, the transgendered voices of the prophets, the use of the Bible in contemporary political, socio-economic and religious spheres and the impact upon lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. Accordingly, the commentary raises new questions and re-directs more traditional questions in fresh and innovative ways, offering new angles of approach. This comprehensive, cutting-edge commentary is prefaced by an introductory essay by Ronald E Long. Contributors draw on feminist, queer, deconstructionist, utopian theories, the social sciences and historical-critical discourses. The focus is both how reading from lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender perspectives affect the reading and interpretation of biblical texts and how biblical texts have and do affect lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender communities. The commentary includes an extensive bibliography that directs the reader to a full range of literature relating to queer interpretation of scripture.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely Worth Reading!.......2007-08-11

The very first light bulb gave off some light but certainly can't compare to the contemporary, energy saving light bulbs in common use today. This commentary deliberately does not give us a chapter by chapter and verse by verse format, which those following the Revised Common Lectionary faced with the challenge of weekly sermon preparation generally find more helpful. Overall this commentary feels more like a treatise on post modern, deconstructive theology and makes one wonder as to which came first the writer's politics or faith? Like most things "queer" it seems like there is a monochromatic approach -- ironic that the "rainbow nation" would paint with just one color.
Having said all this, this book is really worth having and reading (although why such a high price tag!) The Queer Bible Commentary is a start and does give off a bit of light...looking forward to seeing more work from this perspective that actually practically empowers those engaged in preaching the Gospel to all kinds of communities of faith.

Looking at the Bible Gaily.......2007-07-09

Guest, Deryn and Robert E. Goss, Mona West and Thomas Bohache, editors, "The Queer Bible Commentary", SCM Press, 2006.

Looking at the Bible Gaily

Amos Lassen and Literary Pride

Of the several queer commentaries available of the Bible, "The Queer Bible Commentary" is the most complete. It is comprehensive and covers both the New Testament and the Old Testament. It deals with a wide range of hermeneutical issues, principles and strategies which must be employed in queer interpretation. It is complete so that even if we do not agree with what is here, we can find out where to go for better explanations. And above all else, it is the very first book to deal with the Christian and Jewish Bibles in one book. For that reason lone, it is indispensable.
The book does not take a verse by verse look at the Bible. Instead it focuses on portions of the Bible that have particular relevance for those of us interested in Gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans gender issues. It looks at the construction of sexuality and gender, the reification of heterosexuality and the matter of gay and lesbian ancestry within the Holy Books themselves. It also looks at the transgendered voices of the prophets and how the Bible is used in the contemporary world--politically, from the socio-economic view, and religiously. It likewise shows the impact it has on the modern GLBT communities.
New questions are asked and traditional questions are redirected in new and very innovative ways thereby offering new approaches.
Contributions come from a myriad of sources and ideas are drawn from feminist, queer deconstructionist, utopian theories, from the social sciences and from historical-critical discourses. The readings are focused from the GLBT perspectives and this affects our communities.
Included is an extensive bibliography that can be of great help in accessing the full range of literature which deals with a queer interpretation of the scriptures.
Of course all of this information does not come at a cheap price but if you are like e and want to know exactly what scripture tells us about the way we live, no price is too high to pay.
A personal note--since I have been researching the Joseph story there have been times when I did not know where to turn or further pursue information. This book showed me exactly where to go and what to read. I am now the proud owner of my own copy and it sits proudly on my desk ready to be opened at any moment.

Come to the well! .......2007-05-13

I have written two exegetical papers using the QBC. It's easy to use, clearly written and insightful. Liberating, thoughful and edgy enough! More!!!

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