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.D.C. Noir (Akashic Noir)
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from: Akashic Books,U.S.

February 01, 2006
This Washington, D.C. entry in Akashic Books' series of city-specific crime anthologies could have no better editor than the George Pelecanos, author of 13 crime novels set in and around the nation's capital. And for the most part, the stories here mimic Pelecanos' M.O. by ignoring the corridors of power one sees on TV, and taking one into the neighborhoods, history, and lives of D.C.'s true residents. The stories are loosely grouped into four sections.

The first section, "D.C. Uncovered", is probably the best, featuring three excellent stories. Pelecanos leads off with a great portrait of a Park View hustler helping the police as "The Confidential Informant." Kenji Jasper turns the clock back to 1993 in "First", an excellent economical ... Read More:
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.Geisha: A Life
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by: Mineko Iwasaki, Randee Brown, Rande Brown

September 30, 2003
Geisha, A Life, by Mineko Iwasaki

I bought this book some time ago but only just got round to reading it. Western ideas of the Geisha are based largely on Arthur Golden's novel, Memoirs of a Geisha and, although his depiction has to a great extent been exposed as fanciful (he was successfully sued for defamation when it was released in Japan), there is little available to give a clearer picture of this secret world.

As I started reading Iwasaki, I had some scepticism - ok, as the number one Geisha maybe the elements involving prostitution didn't happen to her personally and so on - but as I read on I realised that Golden's fiction was based on Western fantasies and simply given a feeling of 'authenticity' by adding less important ... Read More:
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.The Egg and I
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by: Betty MacDonald

1987-09
I picked up this book thinking it was a novel, but not being too disturbed to find it was an autobiography (hey, I'm adaptable). Then I discovered it was a remarkably ordinary life being documented in a remarkable interesting manner. Betty MacDonald writes in a very amusing and also vivid style - I could see in my mind's eye the chicken ranch she ran with her husband, and also her crazy neighbours. Her eccentric family get an airing too - I particularly like the grandmother who always wrote letters to her addressed "Child Bride". But then it struck me - she was indeed married and working and raising a baby before she was 20, which does seem a great responsibility to me!

She also was responsible for the creation of Ma and Pa Kettle. (Well, they existed ... Read More:
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.Love Poems (Everyman's Pocket Poets)
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from: Everyman's Library

October 21, 1993
This book is a wonderful collection of love poems. I couldn't imagine anyone being displeased with it. It has been one of my most favorite collections of poems ever.
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.Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes from and Why
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by: Ellen Dissanayake

December 31, 1992
Tracing evolutionary roots to human creativity is a risky endeavour. The Romantic Era dismissal of "nature red in tooth and claw" misapplied to humans has its adherents even today. In more modern terms, the "postmodernist school" attributes human creativity solely to cultural environment. Dissanayake takes up the challenge and responds to these allegations from widely spread scholarship sources. She makes a solid case for human universals in many areas of expression, from graphic art through music and dance to poetry and prose. Even spoken language is addressed with an eye to derivations and commonalties.

She presents her support for a Darwinian basis for art and expression with flair and enthusiasm. There's no hesitation in offering new terms or definitions ... Read More:
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.AA CityPack Washington DC (AA CityPack Guides)
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from: Automobile Association

January 15, 2007
Tracing evolutionary roots to human creativity is a risky endeavour. The Romantic Era dismissal of "nature red in tooth and claw" misapplied to humans has its adherents even today. In more modern terms, the "postmodernist school" attributes human creativity solely to cultural environment. Dissanayake takes up the challenge and responds to these allegations from widely spread scholarship sources. She makes a solid case for human universals in many areas of expression, from graphic art through music and dance to poetry and prose. Even spoken language is addressed with an eye to derivations and commonalties.

She presents her support for a Darwinian basis for art and expression with flair and enthusiasm. There's no hesitation in offering new terms or definitions ... Read More:
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.If on a Winter's Night a Traveller (Everyman's Library Classics)
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by: Italo Calvino

May 20, 1993
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame ... Read More:
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.Elliptic Curves: Theory and Cryptography, Second Edition (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications): Theory and Cryptography (Discrete Mathematics and Its Applications)
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by: Lawrence C. Washington

April 07, 2008
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame ... Read More:
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.Crepusculo: Un Amor Peligroso = Twilight (Twilight Saga)
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by: Stephenie Meyer

November 30, 2007
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame ... Read More:
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.Odessa Memories (A Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)
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by: Nicolas Iljine, Patricia Herlihy

March 31, 2004
What on earth are all these reviewers who've given this book five stars DOING with their lives?! Do they really believe this stream of self-absorbed intellectual showboating is worth the considerable effort that's required to finish it?

I read If On A Winter's Night...because it was prescribed by my book club (!) and I only struggled to the end because I wanted to see if Calvino's mental doodlings would eventually pinpoint some universal truth - surely the purpose of all serious literature?

Instead, it left me completely cold. There is nothing here for anyone who spends their time engaging in the real world, with real people. The book says nothing of any significance about love, courage, dignity, humility or any of the other great themes that frame ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Odessa Memories (A Samuel and Althea Stroum Book)

Used Price: £26.12