Realism Books

You're allowed to journey into the intricate mind of a clever writer when you read this book. What's neat about the biographical content is that it's very generic yet creative, as if it allows anyone to relate to it. It's interesting that the book is fun and easy to read, but there was no extensive outsider editing or proofreading. The book is a bit disjointed at times but this gives it a comfortable, home-grown, and realistic quality. It's sort of like a biography, philosophy, psychology, reference, and short-story book all rolled into one volume. At times, the text hints that it's something like a mysterious diary but it's not quite a diary. You can read about eccentric and bizarre characters that the author personally knows, modern philosophy of life and death, personal experiences, Internet pioneering, childhood, adulthood, a glance back at Y2K and 9/11, and all kinds of other underlying perspectives. I think both men and women of would get a lot out of it. It was quite a different type of book. Whether you agree with its content or not, it definitely makes you think. I felt like I had the chance to examine the life of a fascinating writer from a bird's-eye-view.

It's like an anonymous autobiography that could be anybody or everybody. Of course, I don't agree with some of the points presented in this book, but it changed my outlook after reading it. I couldn't help but see aspects of my own self between the lines of this one! I relate to most parts of it, learn from other parts, and blatantly deny some parts (so far). As an interesting addition -- it's quite interactive with a list of Web pages where you can e-publish your own thoughts on the topics that are discussed in the book and see what other readers had to say. You get the chance to communicate with others who have read the book and website. The author also leaves an address in the front of the book so people can write direct letters. (I have never seen that before!)

I can't quite explain the style of writing in this book. I haven't read anything like it before. I really wish I could write something like it. It must have taken a lot of courage. It's like a personal journal and outlook on life that was *meant* to be published.

This is a fascinating interpretation of New Deal art--meticulously researched with extensive photos. I agree with Mike.

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK IN IT'S CATAGORY. I HIGHLY RECOEMEND BUYING IT. HELP UP THE SALES ON THIS GREAT BOOK. DON'T MAKE BARB FELL BAD BY HAVING ONLY A COUPLE PEOPLE BUY IT. :)

THIS IS THE BEST BOOK IN IT'S CATAGORY. I HIGHLY RECOEMEND BUYING IT. HELP UP THE SALES ON THIS GREAT BOOK. DON'T MAKE BARB FELL BAD BY HAVING ONLY A COUPLE PEOPLE BUY IT. :)

The simple story of the love of a man for a woman, set amidst (an intense study of) tribal life and wolf packs 100,000 years ago. Eve leads her tribes out of Africa intent on finding the Tribe of Lost Brothers and Sisters. She meets up with Brother Wolf and his packs, and Neanderthals. In the 21st century, Dr. Arny Singer, Nobel Laureate discovers the link among Eve, the Neanderthals, and wolves (just as the Earth Mother had planned). Arny is treated to a trip back in time to witness his discoveries. He falls hopelessly in love with the most beautiful and fiesty woman Earth Mother had ever created. Discover who the Earth Mother favored: wolf or man, and why.

This novel was the most romantic epic I have ever read. I loved it. The protagonist, Eve, is in her forties. Eve leads her people to an Eden that is pure and free, not only for mankind but animals as well-nirvana. The love is appreciated not only between Eve and Arny, other tribe and Clan members, but between mankind and wolves as well. The author speared my heart through the deep connections expressed between people, the love of animals, and the respect of nature. I hope he writes his next book with the same sensitivities. The author mixes hunting, mysticism, customs, song, wrestling, tie-matings (weddings), art, and story-telling to create a dynamic portrait of the times, people and wolves. There are cameos by ravens, cave bears, cave lions and an arctic fox that spice the stew and steal your heart.

I was so happy to see a story about BLACK EVE and even happier after reading it. Eve is a role model for all of us. I can recommend this beautiful story. With wolve, cave bears, cave lions, ravens and neanderthals it has something for everyone. My son says, "It's the wolves, mom". Ok, my grandson won't give the book back. Read and enjoy it.

Simply brilliant; a fantastic read that engages and entertains while weaving together unique scenery with the use of images from all over the pop-culture spectrum. The stories are excellent in their own merits, showing the creative depth and an artistic flair as Grindley moves from one story to another. My personal favorite would have to be "The Memoirs of a Supervillain".

I've read the introduction and am on the 2nd story... the intro was absolutely hilarious and riveting all at the same time, a real page turner! Highly recommended. Grindley has a knack for describing a scene in a way that's just like what you wanted to say. Stories: the 1st story was a lot of thoughtstream stuff, a la Joyce... the 2nd story has been quite fun so far!

I've just read the intro and first story, but am floored by this novel so far. A must read for fans of post-apocalyptic scenarios. Dark, very dark, and funny. David Foster Wallace + Chuck Phalaniuk + Poe + Lovecraft?

Anyone who has ever had a relative in intensive care will recognise the first few chapters of this book: the way a relative drifts in and out of a morphine induced fog, the attempts of others to communicate with them, and the apparent unreality of the whole situation. Anyone who has ever had their life tipped upside down will agree with the main character who wants his old life back.
I won't try to summarise the subject of this book, or its main themes: the first reviewer has done that well.
But Ms Shapiro has an eye for detail, an awareness of bodily sensations, a sense of smell and light that few writers have. Often as I read this book I thought, "Why didn't I write that sentence?"
I'd give it 5 stars. Anyone outside the US (like me) can buy it most easily from the publisher's website as an E book (SynergEbooks.com)
Richard Snow
www.snowinmelbourne.com

Jen-Zen and the One-Shoe Diaries written by Julie Ann Shapiro is a fictional account of one man's magical, and sometimes surreal, journey through life, love, death and the power of art and imagination.

Brad is a photographer with an artist's eye and is the central character of the novel. His one-time love, a woman who is known as Jen-Zen, provides Brad with a window into his past and soul. It starts with harrowing ordeal that challenges Brad's emotional well-being is soon transformed into a riveting mystery. A whimsical romp following a trail of single shoes culminates into an extraordinary journey into the human heart.

I found myself on a similar journey as I read chapter after chapter. As an artist myself, I was drawn in by Brad's experiences that were curiously a mirror of my own. However, instead of photography, my art-in-hand is writing. I discovered parallels between myself and Brad in such areas as creativity (what it means to be an artist) and vision (how we see the world is just as important as how we interpret it).

In all, I enjoyed reading Ms. Shapiro's novel on the basis of its 'truth-in-art' mystique as well as in its heart.

Jen-Zen is as likable as the title. The book straddles the romance and mystery genres, with enough "magic realism" to please a fantasy lover like myself. It is a very romantic tale of love between a photographer putting together a collection of photos of "one shoes" and a girl who falls into a coma. If Brad solves the mystery of the one shoes, he may be able to save his lost love.

A friend recommended this book to me. What had me hooked from page one was the prose. Julie has the most original, lyrical voice I've read in years. Being as I read a novel every two weeks or so, that is saying something.

All in all, a great read for anyone looking for a truly original story.

The story continues and in color too! A brilliant third volume from the curator of the Photorealist art movement and made more enjoyable because the six hundred plus paintings are all in color. I have the two previous books and good as they were I always felt they were let down by having too many of the 2,323 pictures in black and white but here's an interesting point, the first book had 710 color and 493 b/w, the second book had 560 color and 560 b/w, this latest book has 620 color and no black and whites, does this mean the Movement is on the wane? I hope not because I feel that Photorealism is somehow a uniquely American art movement.

The format follows the same style as the others, an upfront essay (in this case Linda Chase writes about the use of photography by artists over the last century or so) followed by hundreds of illustrations from the featured artists, twenty-eight in this book. These artists are continuing to record 'the fascinating in the familiar' as Ms Chase succinctly puts it and this is one reason I love these paintings, they record Americana so wonderfully, though it is worth remembering that when these paintings, many of them huge, are reproduced a few inches wide it tightens up all the detail and they become even more 'photographic'. On page seventeen of the first volume twelve artists work was shown (unfortunately in black and white) the same size as the original painting and you can see how different their brushstrokes are.

Of the artists, some of my favorites are Davis Cone for his movie theaters (and if you like him too, have a look at a lovely book about movie theaters and his paintings, eighty shown in 'Popcorn Palaces') Robert Gniewek for street scenes at night, Charles Bell the pinball wizard, Linda Bacon for her toy tableau's including one called 'Crash' which has a three toy car pile-up and artfully uses Grant Wood's painting 'Death on the Ridge Road' as a backdrop. Perhaps the most amazing paintings in the book are Don Jacot's 'Retro-Active' (it took most of 1998 to paint) and 'Garbo's' (2001) both show shop-fronts with the windows crammed with nostalgia antiques. I sometimes think these artists do their best to make the painting as hard to do as possible!

So, a lovely book to enjoy over and over and thank you Mr Meisel for your faith in these artists and the Photorealist movement. I'm looking forward to the fourth volume around 2010.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Louis Meisel et al. have produced yet another beautiful edition to the definitive series on photorealism. Like the two previous volumes ("Photorealism" and "Photorealism Since 1980"), this gorgeous coffeetable book contains page after page of beautiful plates. New work by all the old favorites is here including Estes, Goings, Bell, etc. plus many new artists not featured in the earlier volumes. If you liked either of the two previous volumes, jump on this quick before it's outta print and you gotta mortgage the pig farm to pay for a copy from a used art book dealer. Thoughtfully, this volume is the same dimensions as the previous books in the series so it looks real cool parked next to 'em on the old art book shelf.

Me like!!! 'Nuf said.

This book, along with the earlier 'Photorealism' and 'Photorealism since 1980' are quite simply 'the best' in my collection of art books. I never get tired of looking at the masses of incredible images by these great modern artists. Louis Meisel is to be congratulated for allowing the rest of the world to share these great works, many of which would otherwise be hidden to most of us.

Lawler makes a valiant effort to rescue the name Postmodern from the clutches of meaninglessness but it is time for a change anyway now that more and more people are using the name. Lawler points in the right direction by saying "Postmodernism is the return to realism." So why not call it that instead of fighting against the tide? I can't see everyone getting used to the term "hypermodernism" instead. Imagine what Derrida would say?

Can this be overcome by the linguistic manipulation of the imagination?

This is a very rewarding book.

Peter Augustine Lawler is a rare find, and may be the most original and insightful political philosopher writing in America today. This book takes seriously the possibility that our age can meaningfully be understood as "post-modern," but concludes ultimately that what are taken to be indicators of the post-modern condition are actually artifacts of, as it were, hyper-modernity. An authentically POST-modern philosophical position would look very different from what is commonly believed. Lawler here begins to mark out a path which would lead us truly beyond modernity.

He does so, moreover, in a prose style that is direct -- readers who have slogged through the ponderous obscurity of continental European theorists will give thanks! -- but also seriously ironical. There is humor, playfulness here, but it is playfulness with a purpose.

For those enamored of Foucault, Derrida, and company, not least of interest in this book is that Lawler reveals the genuinely philosophical dimension of American thinkers. The book takes aim at Richard Rorty and ultimately finds our best philosophical guide in the reflections of the Southern novelist Walker Percy.

With surprising formulations on almost every page, a reader with an interest in things post-modern may at first be tempted to dismiss an author who says such unheard-of things. But give this book a chance. You just might have to conclude that Lawler has it right after all.

This is the first book to make sense of postmodernism
and the best introduction available to the thought of
Walker Percy--philosopher and novelist. It has become
a kind of cult classic.

The seller was excellent with communicating with me. Not only did he send the product the same evening - I ordered after 3p, he gave me helpful hints and immediate communication via email. The book was in very good condition and arrived in a timely manner, although next time I'd order 2-day since it was sent from the East Coast.

I used this for a fine arts class. It is a very nice book and has lot's of pictures too look at while the prof drones on and on.

book was needed for friend's class at college.
she is quite pleased with it.

During the Enlightenment it was widely thought the end of religion was near - and yet somehow the peoples of the world are in many ways more religious that ever. Why? Disillusion. Gurdjieff skillfully dissects our dissillusions in plain language and presents an alternate path to happiness. A masterpiece for those skeptics who haven't been able to communicate their issues with spiritualism.

This book gets at the heart of authentic spiritual practice. It is an antidote for the repressive and outdated religious beliefs that have been plaguing modern society for the last few centuries. Although you might not agree with everything Gurdjieff says, it is the challenging of our beliefs that ultimately sets us free from them. Take a chance and read this book, it could change your life for the better. At the very minimum, it is quite thought provoking. Highly recommended!

A must read! An extremely disturbing yet necessary book. Gurdjieff forces you to open your eyes and take a deep look inside yourself. You may not like what you find, but he shows you how to fix what you don't like. Gurdjieff gets at the core of spirituality, shedding superstitious and religious belief systems as readily as we shed our dirty clothes. Although the exercises seem simple, they are extremely effective. I highly recommend this book.

Plot,conflict,resolution so wonderfully presented in this magical book. A worthwhile experience for pleasure and thought. Enjoy...June

I love the characters in this story and the wonder of both the real world they live in and the mystical one they encounter. Set in a small Oregon town that turns out to have a mysterious link her ancient Irish heritage, Leah's story has much to teach about how we approach life, relationships, and community. The conversations she has with her students, her husband, her children and her friends model a healthy and honest way of relating, and her own journey into the unknown kept me moving through the book at a quick pace (I couldn't wait to find out what was in those letters!) with occasional breaks for reflection. The Celtic backstory is also rich with symbolism and stunning imagery. In short, a well-woven story that inspires meaningful reflection. I HIGHLY recommend it.

I loved this book! The plot is intelligent, addictive and believable. However, the writing style is the true gift of this book. There are few authors who can make language flow like M. Musmecci. Her writing brings attention to the sweet, intimate little things in life that most of the time just go by...

Read this story. You will think. You will savor.