Journals Books

In this curious autobiiography, Anthony Trollope sketches in the outlines of his life. He relates the misery of his childhood, the heroism of his mother, the tragedy and ultimate failure of his father. If not banal, at least typical material for an autobiography, and makes for good reading. The second two-thirds of the book summarizes his writings, and relate his ideas on everything from literary criticism to suggestions for young writers. Perhaps most interesting are his assessments of his own work, praising or condemning them with little emotion. Of course there is the famous analysis of his working methods, where he counts words and disciplines himself to an astonishingly regular routine of writing. He produced 47 novels, edited and wrote for magazines, all the while working full time for the post office. One distressing feature of this work is the almost complete lack of intormation about his wife and family....It is clear that he lived with and loved his fictional characters more than his corporeal family. Also, the grammar and punctuation are often awkward but this is still a highly readable and fascinating book.

If one has read a number of Trollope's novels, one would expect that Trollope would have written precisely this sort of autobiography. In fact, it is almost impossible to imagine it having taken any other form.

Trollope writes not so much of his life (though he does touch upon the major events), as of his occupation. Although employed most of his adult life by the postal service, Trollope decided to engage in a second and parallel career as a writer. He is forthright about his motives: the satisfaction of writing, but also fame, financial reward, and social standing. Looking back on his career, Trollope is proud of a job well done. The oddity is that he seems quite as happy telling us about how much he sold each work for, and the financial dealings with his publishers, as he does about his books and characters. In fact, near the end of the book he gives a complete list of his novels and how much he managed to sell each one for (with very few exceptions, he preferred to sell the rights to a novel, rather than getting a percentage of sales). What emerges is a portrait of the novelist not as an artist so much as a dedicated, disciplined craftsman. He explicitly denigrates the value of genius and creativity in a novelist in favor of hard work and keeping to a schedule of writing.

The early sections of the book dealing with his childhood are fascinating. By all measures, Trollope had a bad childhood. His discussions of his father are full of pathos and sadness. What is especially shocking is the lack of credit he gives to his mother, who, in early middle age, realizing that her husband was a perpetual financial failure, decided to salvage the family's fortunes by becoming a novelist. He notes that while nursing several children dying from consumption, she wrote a huge succession of books, enabling the family to live a greatly improved mode of existence. Her achievement must strike an outside observer as an incredibly heroic undertaking. Trollope seems scarcely impressed.

Some of the more interesting parts of the book are his evaluation of the work of many of his contemporaries. History has not agreed completely with all of his assessments. For instance, he rates Thackery as the greatest novelist of his generation, and HENRY ESMOND as the greatest novel in the language. HENRY ESMOND is still somewhat read, but it hardly receives the kind of regard that Trollope heaped on it, and it is certainly not as highly regarded as VANITY FAIR. Trollope's remarks on George Eliot are, however, far closer to general opinion. His remarks concerning Dickens, are, however, bizarre. It is obvious that Trollope really dislikes him, even while grudgingly offering some compliments. Quite perceptively, Trollope remarks that Dickens's famous characters are not lifelike or human (anticipating E. M. Forster's assessment that Dickens's characters are "flat" rather than "round" like those of Tolstoy or Austen) and that Dickens's famous pathos is artificial and inhuman (anticipating Oscar Wilde's wonderful witticism that "It would take a man with a heart of stone to cry at the death of Little Nell"). Even the most avid fan of Dickens would admit that his characters, while enormously vivid and well drawn, are nonetheless a bit cartoonish, and that much of the pathos is a tad over the top. But Trollope goes on to attack Dickens's prose: "Of Dickens's style it is impossible to speak in praise. It is jerky, ungrammatical, and created by himself in defiance of rules . . . . To readers who have taught themselves to regard language, it must therefore be unpleasant." If one had not read Dickens, after reading Trollope on Dickens, one would wonder why anyone bothered to read him at all. One wonders if some of Trollope's problems with Dickens was professional jealousy. For whatever reason, he clearly believes that Dickens receives far more than his due.

Favorite moment: Trollope recounts being in a club working on the novel that turned into THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BARSET, when he overheard two clergymen discussing his novels, unaware that he was sitting near them. One of them complained of the continual reappearance of several characters in the Barsetshire series, in particular Mrs. Proudie. Trollope then introduces himself, apologizes for the reappearing Mrs. Proudie, and promises, "I will go home and kill her before the week is over." Which, he says, he proceeded to do.

you should consider reading this too! Trollope writes candidly about his education (and about being a poor, mostly overlooked student), his lack of professional ambition (and how he finally got around to witing his first novel),and the ups and downs of his literary career (and his early rejections). He does all of this in the same conversational tone employed in his novels, making this autobiography feel more like a chat with an older, experienced friend than a learned, classic autobiography

Redolent of the Victorian Age, and beautifully written. Some of the amusement comes precisely from his occasional pedantic preaching of Victorian virtues. He is capable of being self-critical. If elsewhere he is self-satisfied, he has much to be self-satisfied about. A man who from the most unpromising beginning came to live life to the full.

The quality of the book is very good and what is nice as well is that it contains the preface by Juan Valera who wrote it for the second edition of the book.

Yo quisiera saber mucho mas de lo que dicen la palabras escritas
por el Maestro Dario en ese ensallo de (Azul)titulado "A una Estrella". Mi conocimiento literario en el idioma Espanol es muy
limitado y desafortunadamente no me codeo con gente que tengan
la menor idea de lo que estoy hablando. Yo tengo varias preguntas
acerca de este "Ensallo" del maestro Dario, por ejemplo unas de mis
preguntas es: Cuando el maestro Dario se dirige "A una Estrella"...es en realidad que el se esta dirigiendo a una mujer
cual cuyo amor es inalcansable?...tengo otras muchas mas preguntas pero quisiera que alguien erudito en la materia me
contactara. Gracias, Benjamin

"Azul" es una obra con la que facilmente podemos definir que tipo de escritor fue el célebre Rubén Darío. En este libro encontramos una puerta que nos hace ver mucho mas allá de lo que generalmente el ojo capta. Nos hace reconocer las realidades de nuestra sociedad y abrir la jaula en nuestra cabeza para que nuestros pensamientos vuelen...

Me gustaría encontrar las palabras exactas para definir este libro, pero no las tengo. La verdad, es que este es uno de esos pocos libros que de definen por si mismos. Es un pasaje a un mundo oculto, lejos de nuestras persepciones, además de ser uno de los mas dignos ejemplos de literatura hispanoamericana.

Muy bien, compren el libro y vean que tengo razón.

My 15 month old loves books and loves music and loves animal sounds. He brings this to me over and over to "read" it to him. Older sister likes to sing it to him too. I love the pictures and the theme of giving to others.

This is a very entertaining version of the old nursery rhyme. My daughter loves this book, and so do we. Its great for traveling, not too heavy like the board books. And its just long enough to keep her attention throughout the book!

I was fortunate to buy 4 hardback Iza Trapani books through a special offer at my child's school. This is my favorite of the set (the others books are The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and I'm a Little Teapot, my other favorite). All of these books are just beautifully done. Ms. Trapani takes favorite nursery rhymes and turns them into entertaining stories that just beg to be sung (she even puts the music on the last page in case you don't know the tune). Her exceptional drawings really add to the fun. My 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter absolutely adore these books and they are short enough that I don't mind reading them every night (only Twinkle Twinkle sort of wears me out singing it). Baa Baa also provides a morale to the story centered around not assuming and giving from the heart.

Baa, Baa Black sheep have you any wool? So goes the age old rhymn.But did you know it had verses about dogs, pigs cats and even a horse. Everyone is knocking on black sheeps door but all sheep wants to do is knit, knit, knit. The other animals feel black sheep is not being a good friend and neighbor but are they all too quick to judge their woolly pal? Children and adults alike will smile when they see what black sheep has been up to.THIS is my favorite of Iza Trapani's books. A must have!

i bought this a a remainder at borders. it is absolutely adorable and for the price you cant go wrong. it makes a fantastic gift for mothers to be. it has 2 journals and a set of cards.

This is a gift package that parents-to-be and new families will love, with a gorgeous collection of photos and two journals to record the entire process of creating a family-be it pregnancy or adoption. Plus, the box makes a neat holder for all the "souvenirs" from the journey. You can't miss.

This is a gift package that parents-to-be and new families will love, with a gorgeous collection of photos and two journals to record the entire process of creating a family-be it pregnancy or adoption. Plus, the box makes a neat holder for all the "souvenirs" from the journey. You can't miss.

This is a gift package that parents-to-be and new families will love, with a gorgeous collection of photos and two journals to record the entire process of creating a family-be it pregnancy or adoption. Plus, the box makes a neat holder for all the "souvenirs" from the journey. You can't miss.

I read an article by Edward Said during the December 1998 bombing of Iraq which mentioned this great book. I bought it thinking that I will read a simple diary of the hardships of war. I was wrong. It is a beautiful mixture of everyday events, which Al-Radi makes humourous. It is only humourous because our tears have dried over Iraq's suffering. It is a book I recommend for Iraqis because it states all that we hear about from visitors of Iraq. I recommend it to others because the media never shows these aspects. Perhaps it will help to make people realize that the distant pictures of green lights broadcast on T.V. are much more damaging than "degrading weapons of mass distruction". That is not to say that Saddam Hussein is not a dictator who must be eliminated. The final part of the book 'exile' is particularly moving as the suffering does not end with leaving Iraq. A great book, please read it.

This is a memoir of a middle-class Iraqi artist in Iraq - during the sanctions (i.e. after 1990).

Nuha Radi presents a much needed voice from Iraq.

Ms. Al-Radi gives an amazing play-by-play of how the war (the massive bombing campaigns by the US and allied forces in Baghdad and neighbouring cities and the ensuing embargo) unfolded before her and the people of Iraq. I couldn't put it down.

Ms. Al-Radi has a knack for turning a seriously tragic situation into an almost funny account through her matter-of-fact statements. Still, somehow she manages to not lessen the impact of the tragedy.

Ms. Al-Radi does not paint an "Oh woe is me," picture but she invites the reader to walk by her as she takes us through the experiences of the people of Iraq, (her friends and neighbours, and even her dog Salvador Dali and his "friends," etc.). She paints vivid images of the various stages of the war. For example she describes, in the beginning of the war, how the Iraqis had filled up their freezers to the hilt with meat and vegetables and anything they could fit in there fearing the onset of war. But, as the first bombs hit taking out the electical plants and leaving Iraq without power, in total darkness and every refrigerator and freezer unfreezing, the Iraqis are left gorging themselves as their food begins to rot inside their quickly defrosting freezers.

Ms. Al-Radi then takes us into bowels of the war itself describing the massive bombs that obliterate and take out innocent human and animal lives by the hundreds (at any given time).

She finally steps into the final blow of the war (pun intended) -the cruel and unusual punishment of the embargo and the ensuing anarchy that it creates, in addition to the odd occurrences in nature. Her trees die, her vegetables don't grow, strange insects never before seen take a hold of the trees and shrubs struggling to live, birds die by the thousands for no "apparent" reason, the cancer rates go up immeasurably, etc.

This is a much needed book. The human face of Iraq has all but been eliminated and replaced with the menacing one of Saddam which in turn justified/s the punishment that the people had to endure(are still enduring)as a result.

It is a wonderful book. It is sad that a book of this sort had to be written in the first place.

Ms. Al-Radi gives an amazing play-by-play of how the war (the massive bombing campaigns by the US and allied forces in Baghdad and neighbouring cities and the ensuing embargo) unfolded before her and the people of Iraq. I couldn't put it down.

Ms. Al-Radi has a knack for turning a seriously tragic situation into an almost funny account through her matter-of-fact statements. Still, somehow she manages to not lessen the impact of the tragedy.

Ms. Al-Radi does not paint an "Oh woe is me," picture but she invites the reader to walk by her as she takes us through the experiences of the people of Iraq, (her friends and neighbours, and even her dog Salvador Dali and his "friends," etc.). She paints vivid images of the various stages of the war. For example she describes, in the beginning of the war, how the Iraqis had filled up their freezers to the hilt with meat and vegetables and anything they could fit in there fearing the onset of war. But, as the first bombs hit taking out the electical plants and leaving Iraq without power, in total darkness and every refrigerator and freezer unfreezing, the Iraqis are left gorging themselves as their food begins to rot inside their quickly defrosting freezers.

Ms. Al-Radi then takes us into bowels of the war itself describing the massive bombs that obliterate and take out innocent human and animal lives by the hundreds (at any given time).

She finally steps into the final blow of the war (pun intended) -the cruel and unusual punishment of the embargo and the ensuing anarchy that it creates, in addition to the odd occurrences in nature. Her trees die, her vegetables don't grow, strange insects never before seen take a hold of the trees and shrubs struggling to live, birds die by the thousands for no "apparent" reason, the cancer rates go up immeasurably, etc.

This is a much needed book. The human face of Iraq has all but been eliminated and replaced with the menacing one of Saddam which in turn justified/s the punishment that the people had to endure(are still enduring)as a result.

It is a wonderful book. It is sad that a book of this sort had to be written in the first place.

This book was very interesting. Not only did it have plenty of photos, the text was actually useful and have a great message. Reading Galen's work is just as great as looking at it. I had never even heard of or seen most of the places in the book until I got the book. Now, I'm walking some of the same trails I discovered in the book.

An incredible photographic argument that nature is ever-present, fecund, and indomitable! Rowell and Sewell capture the majesty of one the world's most beautiful urban areas to describe nature's ability to adapt and thrive next to mankind. A surprising array of wild animals are photographed within the ex-urban landscape and combine with dramatic Bay Area landscapes to make a compelling story of the beauty that surrounds us--if only we can take time out from our busy lives to see it! This is a great gift to bring back East for the holidays.

Galen Rowell is showing here surely the nicest landscape shots I have ever seen. The Bay Area, that I didn't know, is here in spades, and if you know a little bit of tech, you see several uses of Galen special shooting way (flash, A2 Nikon filtering, s.o.)

Galen Rowell and Michael Sewell have compiled their photography of the San Franisco Bay Area's remaining natural areas into an excellent book. The photography in Bay Area Wild illustrates the Bay Area's vast greenbelts and natural areas. For someone who has only been involved in still photography for eleven years, Sewell is an amazing wildlife photographer. The text is extremely interesting and informative--Rowell reminds those of us who live in the Bay Area how lucky we are to have such a wonderful backyard abundant with a great diversity of flora and fauna. However, conservation of our wild places didn't come easy. Rowell discusses the many struggles involved in preserving these places. This is a book I've been waiting for!!!

Martha Smith is entertaining and light. A great read to lighten your heart and load after working outside in the heat all day.

I found this gardening memoir to be both feisty and funny. I love the way Martha Smith describes her "Mae West Memorial Garden". I could almost smell the lilacs and dahlias as I was reading. For anyone who loves gardening essays with a humorous slant this book is a must read!!

This is a must read for anyone who loves the joy of gardening and knows it's Nature's Prozac. Smith is a funny, witty, spirited writer and my only woe was that it was too short. Yes, 300 plus pages was simply not enough of her wonderful outlook on life and gardening and people and giving. As a writer and writing teacher, I'm sensitive to good writing and Martha Smith's work exceeded my expectations.

Please take my advice and read this collection. Then go out and get your hands dirty. You'll be in good company. I'd say more, but my garden and my dog are waiting!

My husband and I are both avid gardeners and on a recent road trip, I read this book aloud to him as he drove and he almost wrecked from laughing so hard. This is a very funny book and the author knows too well the joys as well as the back-breaking hard work that gardening can be. My favorite chapter - "Canna lily kill you?" - a must read for gardeners who enjoy a spike of humor.

It's a long book, so I thought it would last. No such luck. The writing is simply amazing, across the board. Buy it, enjoy it.

No one could possibly take The New Yorker, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Esquire,The American Scholar, the Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Time, Gourmet, Harper's and Vanity Fair and read all the stories in them every month for a year. But what if the greatest experts, The American Society of Magazine Editors read 1,586 stories and picked just the best 17 of them for you to read. Even if you didn't think you'd like the subject, you will love reading each and every one of these. I'm using it for a seminar I'm giving -- one article and its author to discuss each week for 14 weeks. It's Terrific!!!

For anyone who enjoys feature writing and investigative journalism this is an excellent read. I have made it through 9 of the 17 stories and have thoroughly enjoyed 8 of them. The topics are broad (John McCain, seal hunting in Greenland, a fat wine critic, campaign finance reform and many more.) The writing is so good that even topics that usually bore me (wine for one) became interesting.

No matter who you are, what your interests or where your political affiliations lie, if you enjoy reading good writing, you will enjoy this book. It represents some of the tightest, best researched and most insightful writing of a year's worth of magazine articles. The magazines in which the articles were originally published range from The Atlantic Monthly to Zoetrope: All-Story (did they include the ends of the alphabet for such a sentence as this?). The subjects, writing styles and tones of the stories smatter widely, but have in common one thing: they are stories worth your while. You could be forced to walk, sit and suffer with John McCain through his torturous 5-year imprisonment in a North Vietnamese p.o.w. camp, as well as with the cast of characters behind one week of McCain's presidential campaign tour. You could bask in the glory of Bob Parker, a burly, middle-aged Maryland guy whose freakishly acute sense of smell, coupled with his rigid integrity, led to his publication of The Wine Advocate and the author's well-founded claim that Parker may be "single-handedly changing the history of wine." The book is replete with the end product of authors whose diligence, sensitivity and dexterity with the English language have culminated in some rock-solid reading.

Ed Wilson has added another brick to the edifice he's been constructing. For years he's struggled to enlighten us on our place in Nature. His building is a market where Nature's bounty and wonders are displayed. If we shop carefully, these goods will continue to be supplied. We must learn to read the labels with care and use what we take wisely. This collection of essays is part of the learning process. Reading them, one is struck by Wilson's expertise in choice. The writing is good, the subjects are worth your attention and you may come away better understanding how to browse in Nature's shop. Although the title of this book is something of a misnomer - it would be better labelled "science and society" - the compilation is enlightening in many respects.

The essays most directly related to society's concerns cover expanded roles for mathematical concepts, the emotional question of abortion, how we impact wild lands and how technology works to change our lives. David Berlinski offers a description of a mathematical artifact, the algorithm and how it affects our lives. A simple, repeatable instruction, the algorithm is now recognized as fundamental in both Nature and human culture.

Humanity's relation with Nature comprises most of the remainder of the essays. Human settlement of wild land is an topic of growing importance. Mark Cherrington's essay on this contentious issue in Israel might be duplicated in many parts of the planet. Bernd Heinrich describes the Endurance Predator, the animal whose unusual gait allowed it to occupy the whole planet. Human walking and running are unique in Nature. We test our abilities in these unusual capacities with games, and Heinrich speculates on how far those tests can take us. As we come to understand how Nature works in better detail, the impact on our cultures will be reflected in law, as well as the scientific world. Gregg Easterbrooke and Malcolm Gladwell describe new understanding of newborns and the unborn. How should the law be changed to reflect what has been learned about embryos and children?

What of adults and the natural world? Jerome Groopman provides a view of an unusual, but widespread human disorder, The Doubting Disease. Do you suffer from it? Our future health in many areas will be impacted by what we learn of our genetic base. Craig Venter, former president of human genome mapping firm, Celera, is portrayed in depth by Richard Preston.

No collection of writings on Nature would be complete without David Quammen. Here, he takes us along on his jaunt with Michael Fay as the scientist surveys the conditions in central Africa. Quammen's' ability to bring the reader into his adventures is unsurpassed. On this trek you share both his enthusiasms and painful experiences through his captivating prose. He adroitly captures the mood of the field scientist.

Regrettably, we can't say as much about the essay on Costa Rican macaws. While Barbara Kingsolver and Steven Hopp had a pleasant, interesting jaunt in the Central American jungles, the inclusion of this account in this collection seems almost far-fetched. It's a well-written story, but only sparsely appropriate here. Far more meaningful is Sandra Postel's account of water management. "Troubled Waters" is the story of just that condition, which is growing increasingly prevalent around our globe. North American water consumption is one of the major shames of our society, and Postel's survey should give every reader a moment's pause.

This is an excellent collection of articles compliled from different magazines (The New yorker, Harper's Magazine, Discover, Outside, Orion, to name a few); this adds to the readability. I feel that there is some article of interest for every reader (no just science geeks like myself).
This would be a great gift for anyone who is interested in science (nature, technology, psychology).

The Best American Series delivers another winner here, with a fascinating and varied collection of articles and essays from a variety of sources. You know you're in good hands when the editor is Edward O. Wilson, who is among the best writers out there to present scientific thought in a way the more educated of the masses can understand (although his intro to this book is rather self-aggrandizing). In addition to writings on many different scientific disciplines, you also get a variety of philosophical viewpoints, most of which are very levelheaded. The best articles in this book include "Abortion and Brain Waves" which provides the most well-rounded, informed, and realistic viewpoint on the abortion issue you will likely ever see (you surely won't get this from politicians or activists on either side of the debate); plus "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us" which gives a very insightful outlook on the future of humanity in light of genetic engineering, robotics, and nanotechnology (though this article is too long and loses its focus near the end). Other winners include "Baby Steps" concerning infant knowledge and education, and "The Genome Warrior" which covers the politics of the human genome project. The nature and ecology-related articles here are generally weaker, including Jane Goodall's sappy and sentimental "In the Forests of Gombe," and "Being Prey" which starts with a harrowing account of the author being attacked by a crocodile, but then awkwardly attempts to tie this attack to ruminations on feminism and vegetarianism (I have no problems with those doctrines, mind you). But those are just a couple of missteps in a fascinating and entertaining collection.

Edward Wilson guest edits the second in the Science and Nature Writing Series, and unlike many of the guest editors in the other Series (like the Best American Short Stories for this year), he does a phenomenal job, and shows us what this series is all about. The essays come from magazines who focus on the general reader rather than the scientist. The essays are informative. They teach the reader quite a bit and point out things that come to a surprise to most of us (such as the state of the earth's water supply). And they do it in an entertaining way. Above all else, the essays collected here are fun to read and not loaded with jargon the layman can't understand. A special note: Bill Joy's essay on technology and our future should be read at least twice and thought on long and hard.

The only element lacking in this collection are re-issues of the prized "Southern Music" CDs which appeared with the annual "Music Issue" of the Oxford American. Otherwise, for those who have not archived each issue of the magazine, this is an excellent selection.

Sadly, the Oxford American's precarious financial situation perpetually places it in the southern `lost cause' cliché. Would that some subscribers of other moribund New York-based `literary' magazines, which perpetually lurch around the elite graveyard of memory for its existence, abandon the shell and support the living, and the future. Intelligent readers will both want to own this volume, and subscribe to the Oxford American.

The demise of The Oxford American magazine is a tragedy! Thank goodness a person can still sample its pages in this wonderful compilation of fiction, essays and reviews. Tony Earley's essay, Letter from Sister: What We Learned at the P.O., which concerns Eudora Welty's great short story, is probably the best thing in the book. It doesn't stop there however; there is a sample of John T. Edge's great writing on southern food, Hal Crowther's review of Erskine Caldwell, Donna Tartt's thoughts on Willie Morris and so much more. This book, like the old Oxford American itself, is pure bliss.

UPDATE: Spring 2005. "The Oxford American" is back!! I suggest that everyone with an interest in the American South spend some quality time with an issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The idea of "the best of the Oxford American" brings out a lot of expectations. This magazine has been the home for a lot of special writing. This book provides some of those moments. I especially enjoyed the narrative of the small town photographer burdened by the unwelcome insights of his coworkers and the blank misunderstandings of his Disney World roadtripping friends. I think that the criticism by Tony Earley would have made just as good an introduction to this book as did Rick Bragg's more metaphorical observation that this writing is "heavy on the salt."
I would recommend this book for anyone that wants to read about the South as it actually is -- unique, history-addled, and genuinely "salty".

This collection of works--fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reportage--by the biggest names writing in or about the South is a real treasure. For those already familiar with "the New Yorker of the South" it will remind those what have made the magazine so special for so many years, and for those who have not discovered the magazine, BOA will be a great introduction to the best in Southern belles lettres. The book, like the magazine itself, is a little trad and not good on commenting on the lives of blacks, gays/lesbians, and immigrants to the South, but there is much for everyone to enjoy here.