Book Description
Here is the astonishing true story of Ruth Harkness, the Manhattan bohemian socialite who, against all but impossible odds, trekked to Tibet in 1936 to capture the most mysterious animal of the day: a bear that had for countless centuries lived in secret in the labyrinth of lonely cold mountains. In The Lady and the Panda, Vicki Constantine Croke gives us the remarkable account of Ruth Harkness and her extraordinary journey, and restores Harkness to her rightful place along with Sacajawea, Nellie Bly, and Amelia Earhart as one of the great woman adventurers of all time.
Ruth was the toast of 1930s New York, a dress designer newly married to a wealthy adventurer, Bill Harkness. Just weeks after their wedding, however, Bill decamped for China in hopes of becoming the first Westerner to capture a giant panda–an expedition on which many had embarked and failed miserably. Bill was also to fail in his quest, dying horribly alone in China and leaving his widow heartbroken and adrift. And so Ruth made the fateful decision to adopt her husband’s dream as her own and set off on the adventure of a lifetime.
It was not easy. Indeed, everything was against Ruth Harkness. In decadent Shanghai, the exclusive fraternity of white male explorers patronized her, scorned her, and joked about her softness, her lack of experience and money. But Ruth ignored them, organizing, outfitting, and leading a bare-bones campaign into the majestic but treacherous hinterlands where China borders Tibet. As her partner she chose Quentin Young, a twenty-two-year-old Chinese explorer as unconventional as she was, who would join her in a romance as torrid as it was taboo.
Traveling across some of the toughest terrain in the world–nearly impenetrable bamboo forests, slick and perilous mountain slopes, and boulder-strewn passages–the team raced against a traitorous rival, and was constantly threatened by hordes of bandits and hostile natives. The voyage took months to complete and cost Ruth everything she had. But when, almost miraculously, she returned from her journey with a baby panda named Su Lin in her arms, the story became an international sensation and made the front pages of newspapers around the world. No animal in history had gotten such attention. And Ruth Harkness became a hero.
Drawing extensively on American and Chinese sources, including diaries, scores of interviews, and previously unseen intimate letters from Ruth Harkness, Vicki Constantine Croke has fashioned a captivating and richly textured narrative about a woman ahead of her time. Part Myrna Loy, part Jane Goodall, by turns wisecracking and poetic, practical and spiritual, Ruth Harkness is a trailblazing figure. And her story makes for an unforgettable, deeply moving adventure.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Good background on an endangered species.......2007-08-01
A lot of good research on pandas, wealthy adventurers of 1930s and NY's Cafe Society. It was a good story, although it was hard to identify with the spoiled Lady. She loved China, but only as seen from the backs of the coolies carrying her. It has a lot of good information and is a worthwhile read. The Lady's life goes downhill rapidly after the experience with the pandas.
What a story -- and every word true!.......2007-05-28
I bought this book as a gift for my mother. She loved it, and gave it back to me to read. I let it lie for a couple of months, then picked it up one day and started reading -- and, to my surprise, could hardly put it down! What Ruth Harkness accomplished was amazing, given her background and the difficult times (1930s). I learned a lot about China of the times and did not realize the extent of its war with Japan in those years. With that backdrop, it was nothing short of a miracle that Harkness was able to bring even one panda from China to the U.S., much less two. The hardships she endured along the way made me truly wonder why she put up with them when she could have had a much "cushier" life staying home in New York City. The author has woven a truly fascinating tale -- all the more amazing that it all really happened. I believe anyone would find this a great read.
A surprising adventure .......2007-04-14
Ruth Harkness became famous in 1936 for undertaking an exploration into the Chinese wilderness and bringing back the first live Panda. Her story is amazing if only for the fact that she was a woman with no skills and no experience in the outdoors never mind that she did it in a country where the terrain, culture, language and politics were completely foreign to her. Luckily she had some great supporters but she also made some bold choices and took a lot of risk to accomplish her goal.
The author does a fine job of bringing into focus the people and politics of the time along with insight into China, Pandas, zoos and natural history museums. I will not think of any of them the same way again.
If you tend to think that non-fiction is dry and boring this book may change your mind. A very good read. The Lady and the Panda: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China's Most Exotic Animal
------Amazing adventure story------.......2006-08-12
Although, a little slow to start, this book took off and became a fascinating read. It's the true story of Ruth Harkness, a sophisticated New York dress designer. Ruth's husband, Bill was from a wealthy family which enabled him to live the life of an adventurer. His desire was to bring a giant panda back from China. He ventured out early in their marriage and headed for China. Unfortunately, Bill became ill on his trip and died in China. This story is how Ruth adopted Bill's dream and had her own expeditions to China in search of the illusive panda.
When Ruth took on her on first adventure, she initially received very little support from the big game hunters of that time period. Many of those men had been friends of her husband, but it was unheard of for a woman to make such a difficult journey. Of course, Ruth persevered and came back with a Su Lin, a baby panda. Ruth Harness was a smart and fascinating woman! The love and care that she gave Su Lin is what kept the panda alive.
The search for the pandas was in many ways horrible because they were difficult to locate and capture. It wasn`t uncommon for a hunter to just shoot one and bring back it's hide for a natural history museum. The habits and life of the panda were unknown and many of those beautiful animals died shortly after they were captured. This was due to the fact that the conditions with which they were kept and the food they were given to eat wasn't acceptable to their bodies. Also, the competition to bring a panda out of China was so great, that many of the "so-called" experts were just hunters who wanted fame and fortune and had no concern at all for the wildlife that they sought. Unfortunately, many pandas died in their cages before ever leaving China.
Besides the basic story, the author gives us some history of China, its people and terrain. On many levels, this is an unforgettable story.
THE LADY AND THE PANDA.......2006-03-09
Knowing the author (Vickie Croke) made this all the more special for me. The book is easy to read, her research is thorough, and the true life drama is made so REAL. It is hard to put it down and get back to work!
Book Description
EVERY CITY HAS A NOTTING HELL . . .
"A spot of extramarital nookie with a close neighbor is one thing. We're all grown-ups here. But selling a rare-to-the-market mid-Victorian house -- not merely a house but our children's ancestral family home -- on a communal garden, the sort of house that a banker would trample over his own grandmother to spend his bonus on -- is another thing entirely. It's wrong."
Meet Mimi. Mimi may "have it all" -- the house, the children, the part-time vanity job, the skinny jeans, the feng shui guru -- but life chez Fleming is not as cushy as she'd like (husband Ralph prefers the trout stream to the fast lane). And when Mimi meets Si, the new billionaire on the block, at a sushi party, she soon faces a choice of keeping up or keeping it real.
Then there's her best friend Clare, neat-freak garden designer, deep in biopanic about her childlessness with eco-architect husband, Gideon. Clare monitors all illicit activity in the private West London compound, from light adultery to heavy construction, and she is watching Mimi. . . .
Notting Hell is a wickedly funny and oh-so-recognizable comedy of manners, filleting life on a communal garden in London. So take your irreplaceable numbered key and enter Lonsdale Gardens, the world of wealthy one-upmanship, where the old-fashioned laws of love still rule among the stainless steel kitchen appliances, cashmere throws, and compassionately produced cups of latte.
INCLUDES
"Notting Hill for Beginners," a witty guide to the must-haves and must knows of Notting Hill
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing.......2007-08-17
I had read reviews of this book and was looking forward to reading it. It took me a 1/3 of the way into it to start to be interested, but then it sort of lost me. I kept reading hoping it would improve, but I felt it really fell short. A few funny parts and definately a "chick book" but not worth the effort overall.
Pretentious, dull, and lacking insight.......2007-07-19
Every page has at least three examples of name, brand, and place dropping that only someone living in this pretentious world would actually care about. In very few cases does this serve to help the reader visualize what's happening, leaving the adjectives completely pointless. There is very little wit or insight into the few things that actually cross the minds of the exceedingly shallow characters. The two main characters have different lives and viewpoints but the author fails to develop distinctive voices for them. No one in the novel is particuarly likable since they are all so far removed from reality. A garage addition is a petty focal point for a plot that is already lacking depth.
Better Book Than the Title Suggests.......2007-07-13
I was a little wary about purchasing the book based on the corny title....it all seemed a little contrived. What a pleasant surprise! This is most certainly not "chick-lit". The characters are older than one expects, and their problems are not overly fluffy. This book is engaging and clever and gives a very accurate portrayal of Notting Hill and all the neighborhood hot spots.
The sinker? This is extremely well-written.
Very glad I got past the scary title and gave it a try.
Another Bridget Jones.......2007-06-18
Any book that makes me LOL can't be all bad. This actually reads as a suspense novel, the suspense being what they are going to do with the Americans who build an annex aka garage in the middle of a communal garden in posh London. In the style of Prada etc, this is a better written book. Every once and a while she repeats her cute expressions, and I wasn't keen on the adultery, but its definitely a brilliantly witty book.
Book Review: Notting Hell by Rachel Johnson.......2007-06-14
Notting Hill is one of London's premier communal garden communities. Mimi and Clare are residents of Notting Hill as well as best friends. However, they experience life in their communal garden from different ends of the spectrum. Mimi's husband inherited their home and they are barely making ends meet. Her husband wants to move to a more affordable part of town, but Mimi can't imagine raising her three kids elsewhere.
Clare, a garden designer, cares for many of the gardens in Notting Hill. She's now trying to land an account with their new neighbor, a billionaire named Si Kasparian. She's also trying to get pregnant, but after years of trying she can feel her biological clock running out of time.
Problems abound in Notting Hill. Friendships and marriages in the community may be at their breaking points. Can Mimi and Clare's marriages -- and their friendship -- survive the trials of Notting Hell?
Rachel Johnson brings Notting Hill to life in this chick-lit novel about the upper crust of British society. Johnson is also the author of The Mummy Diaries, a collection of her columns for the Daily telegraph about life as a "yummy mummy."
I wasn't sure what to expect from Notting Hell. I don't read much British chick-lit, but thought this novel looked worth a try. Unfortunately, I found it somewhat dull. Not much drama other than the occasional adultery and garden party. It was a light read, maybe good for an afternoon on the beach.
Book Description
Amy Stewart had a simple dream. She wanted a garden. When she and her husband finished graduate school, they headed west to Santa Cruz, California. With little money in their pockets, they found a modest seaside cottage with a small backyard. It wasn't much-a twelve-hundred-square-foot patch of land with a couple of fruit trees and a lot of dirt-but it was a good place to start.From the Ground Up is Stewart's chronicle of the seedlings and weeds, cats and compost, worms and watering that transform a tiny plot of earth into a glorious garden. From planting the seeds her great-grandmother sends to battling snails, gophers, and aphids, Stewart takes us on a tour of her coastal garden and shares the lessons she's learned the hard way. In the process, she brings her California beach town to life-complete with harbor seals, monarch butterfly migrations, and an old-fashioned, seaside amusement park just down the street.Delighting in triumphs and confessing to a multitude of gardening sins, Stewart dishes the dirt for both the novice and experienced gardener. With helpful tips in each chapter, From the Ground Up tells the story of a young woman's determination to create a garden in which the plants struggle to live up to the gardener's vision
Customer Reviews:
The neighborly art of gardening.......2006-11-01
This is a quick, enjoyable read for anyone who can still remember the joys and tribulations of their first garden. Amy Stewart makes many of the mistakes we all made concerning bed preparation, the inappropriate flowers and vegetables planted with such hope, the unexpected hordes of four- and six-legged diners---no wonder 'paradise' is a common theme in most religions. Most of us have tried to create our version of the perfect garden in our own backyard, but this author is one of the few who have tried to tell the tale.
And a very sprightly job she does of it, too. She doesn't make the mistake of overloading her prose with too many adjectives (a common fault among gardening writers) and the short sentences keep us reading briskly onward. Each chapter is followed by a series of hints in bold type on subjects such as "Sheet Composting" and "Tomato Trouble." The author actually found a product that chases gophers out of her garden (usually) which I'm going to have to try on our moles.
Even though Amy Stewart's small backyard garden luxuriates in the sun (and shade) of Santa Cruz, California, she still has much to share with us gardeners in less fortunate climates. She's still got to do battle with snails, aphids, and gophers. The plants that looked great in the gardening center succumb to all kinds of nasty diseases and acts of Nature. Tomatoes seem especially prone to yellowing, drooping, curling up, and getting spots. The author refused the heartless advice of the gardening books to "destroy all infected plants" and nursed her tomatoes with her "crude and ineffectual remedies, feeling like a Civil War doctor who has nothing but snake oil and dirty bandages to offer the wounded."
Doesn't that sound like something you did or might do with your first tomato plants? As my husband is prone to say, 'enjoy your hundred dollar tomatoes,' and take a trip through the mishaps and discoveries of this honest, sometimes hilarious first-time gardener.
I've Found the Bill James of Gardening!.......2005-04-16
When I'm diving into a new field I know nothing about - Buddhism, photography, wine, wrestling, or gardening, to take a few recent examples - I'm always looking for a certain kind of writer: an opinionated, first-person guide to this confusing new world. My model for this kind of writing is Bill James, the great baseball analyst. I'm always on the lookout for "the Bill James of wine" or "the Bill James of wrestling."
The point isn't that I want an expert to tell me what to think. Rather, I want to hear about this new universe from a distinct, coherent point of view. From there, I can develop my own perspective. I don't want an authority so much as a critical sensibility. These new subjects always teem with boggling amounts of details - the eightfold path of Buddhism, the varieties of wrestling holds, the latin names for all those flowers. I'll never learn all this stuff by trying to memorize it, and that wouldn't be much fun, anyway. Rather, what I want is to absorb the perspective of a savvy participant, so that the field as a whole makes sense to me. Once I do that, the details can fall in place over time, if I decide to stick with it.
I appear to be in the minority in this preference - most people seem to prefer the bland-to-cutesy textbook style of the Dummies guides. Guide series do have their places - I'm a big fan of the " . . . for Beginners" series of cartoon guides. When they're done right, as in the classic Marx for Beginners by Rius, those are a great way to get your bearings on a subject. The newer "Introducing . . ." cartoon series is also great. And Oxford University Press has a nifty ongoing series of "Very Short Introduction to . . . " books. The Jung books from both of the latter series have been great entry points into a massive body of work.
All this brings me to From the Ground Up, my entry point into the daunting world of gardening. I've picked up a half a dozen gardening reference books over the last few years, but all of them succeeded only in dazing me with a boggling array of disconnected tips, warnings, and factoids. What I needed was a theory of gardening that made sense to me. So I switched over from Borders's "Gardening Reference" section to the "Gardening Writing" section. I was wary, because I find nature writing often unbearably twee and smug in that Year in Provence mode. I was wary of this book too, given its sweet but very Provencial impressionistic cover painting of a front yard garden. I browsed the book over several Borders visits, each time wavering, then finally took the plunge.
It was a good call. I devoured the book over just a couple of days, and now I feel a new sense of comprehension of all this gardening stuff. Stewart writes about her first year of building a garden from scratch, as an enthusiastic but inexperienced amateur. Her tastes, reassuringly, are for wildness over rigid structure, and a few weeds and bugs over pesticidal warface. She strongly prefers organic methods, but isn't a compost Nazi when chemicals seem to be the only way to go. I don't really like her taste in vegetables - I can't stand tomatoes or zucchini - but I think I'd really enjoy hanging out in her garden.
This isn't one of those books where the putative subject becomes a metaphor for the writer's life. Sure, we learn about her husband, her beloved great-grandmother, and her two amazing cats. But the focus is always on the garden for its own sake, and that's plenty. We learn a lot about the virtues of compost, the overratedness of roses, and, in a great chapter, the lives of earthworms. (The latter subject must have really inspired her - she followed this book up with a whole book on worms.)
Stewart did have an inspired location for her garden: a rental house in Santa Cruz, across the street from an amusement park and just a block away from the beach. Gardening so close to the ocean - and to druken tourists - has its own specific challenges. And this microclimate has its own specific charms. One thing I'm learning is that gardening is always local. You can browse all these giant coffee-table books full of fantasy gardens, but what really matters is what will grow in your soil, under your sky. (That's why my next step is to start reading books specifically about gardening in the South - Tough Plants for Southern Gardens looks particularly promising.)
I'm still not sure I'll end up planting much more than my current batch of containers. Or maybe I'll just grow a huge row of something simple and useful, like mint - I really like mint. But even if I punt on this whole gardening project, I understand the gardener's worldview a little better now, thanks to Stewart.
An interesting, beautiful, fascinating book!.......2004-01-24
I read Amy Stewart's fine book, From the Ground Up, last week on a very long plane ride home to California from Indianapolis, Indiana. I'd been to Indianapolis to speak to the Indiana Arborists' Association convention, as I am a garden writer myself (Allergy-free Gardening, Safe Sex in the Garden, etc.). My flight was delayed due to a snowstorm in Detroit but the extra long trip was made more than okay because I had this delightful book to read.
I'd received From the Ground Up as a present from my Mom. It is the story of one lady's first attempt at gardening, and as one who taught horticulture for 20 years, and who has gardened for almost 50 years, it was remarkable fun for me to see all the little mistakes she made, the discoveries she uncovered, the personal disasters and achievements that accompanied her quest to create a wonderful garden.
Really great gardens don't just happen, not at all. They are created with huge effort, smarts, learning, help and advice from other gardeners, with tips from garden books, and most of all by the vision of the gardener in charge.
There exists within the wide range of garden writing a host of some rather fabulously good writing. These are the books that combine solid garden advice with a large dose of very personal observance and experience. Although From the Ground Up is a first book, it reads as though written by someone who had been writing for many years, someone who had honed and polished her writing so that every line sparkled. I would expect that this book would appeal most to those who love to garden, but because the level of writing is so unusually excellent, I'd guess almost anyone who appreciates literate writing would enjoy it.
If you're one who is new to gardening you'll find a wealth of useful tips here, interspersed with some darn good recipes too for making gourmet meals of all that extra fresh produce you'll eventually have. I really can't say enough about this marvelous book. Reading it was pure pleasure.
Inspiration for a garden.......2003-05-17
This lovely book is a definate "must-read" for anyone starting out on the daunting task of a first garden or if you find yourself needing a reminder as to why you dug up all that ground in the first place! Tips and helpful info at the end of each chapter will give even the most experienced gardener a bit of a hand, and the writing style is at once elegant and funny.
Wonderful.......2003-02-26
I loved this book and felt as though I were reading about myself - the excitement of discovering the world of gardening, battling weeds, loving both birds and cats but realizing that the two don't mix and thinking about gardening while at work sitting in a boring business meeting! No matter what type of garden we have or where it is located, the author's experiences are universal. She writes about establishing her first garden in Santa Cruz with passion and humor and leaves you wanting more. I hope that she will write about her new garden in Eureka!
Amazon.com
This survey of contemporary landscape architecture may come as a surprise to those who imagine that the high art of garden design, which reached its zenith in the classically former gardens of 19th-century English manor houses, is an exhausted field. Guy Cooper and Gordon Taylor, partners in a London landscape design firm, have assembled a sumptuous collection of photographs of some 30 modern designers. Many of the examples are quirky, even bizarre, such as Martha Schwartz's "bagel garden" in Boston, featuring two rows of lacquered bagels (plain, not onion). Some of them, such as Dan Kiley's elegant, modernist venues, are seductive and stylish. Others are simply beautiful. "Gardens should be freed from the boxwood of history," one landscape architect featured in the volume proclaims. The landscapes presented here certainly achieve that aim.
Book Description
An international survey of contemporary landscape architecture, from the elegant modernist compositions of Dan Kiley to the postmodern gardens of Martha Schwartz.
Average customer rating:
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My First Garden Book
Angela Wilkes
Manufacturer: Knopf Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Agriculture
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0679814124
Release Date: 1992-03-17 |
Average customer rating:
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Your First Garden Book
Marc Tolon Brown
Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Agriculture
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
Fiction
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General & Reference
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0316112178 |
Book Description
General Content includes:
- Site and Soil Evaluation-What's Important
- Gardening Zones-Climate and Microclimates in Your Yard
- How Plants Grow-Basic Understanding
- Plant Types: Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, Woody Plants, Edibles, Lawns and Ground Covers
- Water-How to Use it Wisely
- Planting and Plant Maintenance
- Sun and Shade Considerations
Your Rocky Mountain Garden:
Ground Zero: Soil Amending, Mulching, Fertilizing
Design Choices: Formal, Naturalistic and More
Plants for Success: Top 50 Plants for Rocky Mountain gardens
Troubleshooting in the Rockies: Pests, Invaders, Diseases
Book Description
Set in a world on the brink of destruction-Iran before the revolution-this haunting and passionate novel tells the story of a doomed love affair. Mahastee grew up in the privileged inner circles of Tehran's aristocracy. Reza, whose father once worked for Mahastee's family, has become a revolutionary leading clandestine meetings in the city's shadowy underworld. When they come together for the first time in 20 years, their volatile love assumes new and threatening implications as the political situation in Tehran becomes increasingly explosive. - A novel that richly evokes a complex, exotic, and alluring culture largely unknown to readers in the West. - Anahita Firouz belongs to the last generation in Iran who witnessed an entire way of life fall apart.
Customer Reviews:
A book you must read........2006-07-31
This is one of the best books I have read in a while. The character development and interplay and the attention to detail is incredible. I cannot believe this is Mrs. Firouz's first novel. I was unable to put this book down and it was difficult to part with these characters once I finished the reading. I bought a copy for my aunt, and she loved it too, and told me how much it reminded her of Iran (pre-revolution). I am so proud of the author and her contribution to Iranian writing.
In the walled gardens.......2002-10-28
The book paints a very perceptive picture of pre-revolution Iran through the eyes of a sensitive upper class house-wife and a left wing radical. The love story though poignant is almost incidental.This novel has resonances in many countries of the region both in the Middle East and Asia of that period. The author has done an outstanding job. In the walled garden( or is it pairi daeza?) is a book difficult to put down.
Tragic tale of history's web.......2002-10-15
"Exile is its own country," Anahita Firouz write in this, her debut novel. Set in the brewing years of the Iranian revolution, it follows two people's lives, Mahastee and Reza, friends as children, who have now been inextricably tied in to the politics of their land. Warning to all who may have a mistaken view of where this is going: this novel is definitely not a love story! It is much more about the history of a place, and its people, about how much we can and cannot control our own destinies.
Reading this novel you can almost feel the wind rush off the Alborz mountains, feel the sense of impending doom that is about to crash down on these characters and their countryside. While it takes a few chapters to get truly involved in their story, you'll find it hard to put down once you are. And believe me, it's worth it...this book as the most heartbreakingly realistic ending I have ever read.
Masterful story about a different edge to revolution.......2002-10-08
I've read several novels that are set against the backdrop of the Iranian revolution, and typically they're characterized by straightforward good vs. bad mentalities, and in the end, the two protagonists always end up in each others' arms. Not so with this masterpiece by Firouz. Don't be fooled by some of the editorial reviews and book jacket comments...this is not a romance. It's more a story of exile, of what happens when a country's politics end up shutting out an entire generation of people. And that's the book's power and beauty.
Mahastee and Reza are both smart enough to recognize that ultimately they have chosen their fates, and to realize that whatever they might do, by virtue of social class, revolutionary association, etc., their fates are now out of their hands. It's what makes this book profound and tragic, and ultimately, the most realistic book you'll ever read about 1979 Iran.
deep look at Iran just before the Khomeini revolution.......2002-08-13
In the late 1970s in Iran, Mahastee Mosharraf is a member of the mid-echelon of the upper class. Her husband Houshang runs a contracting firm that succeeds by bribing the right people. Houshang and Mahastee provide a civil public face, but have not shared sex in years.
At work, Mahastee finds out that the Shah's secret police arrested the son of a co-worker for rumors of participating in Marxist activity. Unable to ignore it, Mahastee uses her place in society that has given her substantial contacts within the government contacts to learn what happened to the incarcerated man. Mahastee discovers that the state prisoner was part of a Marxist revolutionary group. Her investigation leads to Mahastee meeting childhood friend and Marxist Reza Nirvani. Reza and Mahastee share a hatred of the Shah, which is enough to lead to an affair at the same time that the country's social and political order begins to collapse.
This is an exciting look at a moment just prior to a pivotal event in the twentieth century. The story line provides a deep look at Iran just before the Khomeini revolution. Though readers will feel little empathy or attachment to Mahastee, Reza, or Houshang, fans of late historical tales will enjoy this vivid description of the late 1970s in Iran.
Harriet Klausner
Customer Reviews:
Tasha Tudor.......2007-10-03
If we could all live in a fantasy world this book would probaly be more meaningful. Got this book as a garden/back to nature resource. Not for people who have to balance their families,work and of course money. Skip unless you are an absolute Tasha Tudor fan.
A Dreamy Book.......2007-07-18
I bought a Tasha Tudor print for my daughter's birthday and ordered this book to go with it. It came just in time.
What a treat !.......2006-08-07
The book was a delight, and I enjoy reading it over and over. The gorgeous illustrations are a joy. Tasha has done exactly what she wanted to do in life...spend it simply, and creatively. She is such an inspiration, that I've bought several of her other books, as well as one of her videos, "Take Joy."
A great pick-me-up!.......2003-09-10
Absolutely loved this book! Just picked it up from the library today on a whim and couldn't put it down. Talk about a match made in heaven (Tasha and Richard). Tasha must have sensed Richard would do her justice, and he most certainly did. Even though this is a libary loan, I am buying this book for my own personal collection. Tasha's philosophy on life and her love for family, theater, crafts, animals, flowers and art was most infectious. I love how she is honest with herself and alludes to creating a paradise on earth, but also acknowledges that she is human and has made mistakes in life, which keeps it all very real. Use your good china, wear your antique clothing, collect vintage seeds and transport/replant your favorite fruit trees if you so desire. Progress with the new, but remember to go back and learn from the oldest, simplest ways of living, as it can afford many unforeseen treasures. Truly admired Tasha's pure connection with animals to the point where she even took in an infant snake and nursed it until it was too big to keep in the house any longer. Wow! Buy your flower bulbs in multitudes and plant them in clumps. See the beauties in the branches of the trees (clip some and take them indoors to enjoy). Smell the flowers. Buy a dog or several. Buy some birds (or 40). Create your own menagerie. Cook with a talking parrot on your shoulder. It's the little things, folks. Have you ever seen a moon-lit rainbow? I haven't, but will be on the look-out. =)I wanna stick my nose in dove feathers and plant flower bulbs at random -- in large clumps -- wherever I please. I wanna get a dog and feed it homemade soup instead of that trash in those metal cans. Tasha claims that lots of garlic in her soups keeps the dogs flea-free. Never too old to learn. I honestly agree with nearly everything Tasha touched on. Step outside of the box. Live life a little. Get back to basics. Note your likes and dislikes. Learn a new craft. Learn something new. Recite your favorite authors' works or poems. Learn to be self-sufficient. Live life to the fullest! No book has touched me like this in a long, long time. I am going to run out and get me a real nice, old bookshelf and start my own dollhouse rooms on each level. I've always wanted my own canoe, but Tasha has given me the courage to seriously look into it. Look at her skin and body.....if she can carry a canoe and buckets of fresh water on her shoulders, so can I at 35. I wanna use my best China and have a yard full of animals that know I love them and love me back. I just wanna be me and Tasha has helped me to see how important that is. Most of all, I want to pass on to my husband and kids that it is okay to be who you are, but always remain open to the simple, free joys we have been given in everyday life.
Thank you, Tasha, for allowing us to enter your oasis and thank you Richard Brown for allowing us to have a sneak peek of Tasha's "paradise on earth".
All her books are great..this one is a gem.......2002-12-20
This was an early Christmas gift along with four other Tasha Tudor books and I LOVE it. Maybe because there is a bit of Tasha Tudor in me or because we live in a small cottage in the Sierras and have chickens, goats, vegetable, herb and flower gardens and love many of the same things she loves.
I like the fact that like Beatrix Potter another author I adore, she lives an authentic homestead life and loves her livestock, painting and making things with her hands. And I found some helpful tricks for catching the occasional mouse that gets in the place. And it is nice to read where someone else uses the good china daily and doesn't save it just for company. Or the joy of wearing clothes that some antique dealer would think are to valuable. And as she notes on page 112 "It satisfies me to spin and knit and weave. I love to be self sufficient, to learn how to make everything I use."
She speaks about and there are accompanying photos of the changes of seasons and the joys she encounters along the way. Her goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and wild birds. Her cooking, spinning and how she plans for the joys in her life.
But I guess one thing I liked so much was her philosophy which she says comes in part from Henry David Thoreau and says "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." As she says "That is my credo. It is absolutely true. It is my whole life summed up."
Books:
- The Last of the Wine
- The Mayan Oracle: Return Path to the Stars (Book, 44 Cards, 20 Mayan Star Glyphs, 13 Numbers,and 11 Lenses of Mystery)
- The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, Numbered Edition, Brown Alligator and Tan, Bonded Leather
- The Other End of the Leash
- The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists: A Novel
- The Post-Birthday World
- The Secret
- The Shawshank Redemption: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Script Series)
- The Snow Queen
- The Terror: A Novel
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Johnny Tremain
- Eclipse
- A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals
- Appleton & Lange Review for the USMLE Step 1
- Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings
- Financial Management: Theory and Practice with Thomson ONE
- Cat Breaking Free: A Joe Grey Mystery
- Land Development Calculations: Interactive Tools and Techniques for Site Planning, Analysis and Desi
- Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction
- Peril at End House: A Hercule Poirot Mystery
Zamba : The True Story of the Greatest Lion That Ever Lived
Chasing the Panda: How an Unlikely Pair of Adventurers Won the Race to Capture the Mythical "White Bear"
Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived
China - The Panda Adventure (IMAX)
Panda Cam: A Nation Watches Tai Shan the Panda Cub Grow
![THE PRIVATE WORLD OF TASHA TUDOR [first print] 1st Ed.](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/310HWVXRP8L.jpg)
