Genres Books

Ruth Prigozy has written a balanced account of the life of a man who was tipped for mega stardom in his formative professional years but who through bad judgement and sometimes fate was destined to struggle for the rest of his life.

Several marriages including to film beauties Joanne Dru and Rita Hayworth not to mention the sultry Fran Jeffries kept his name in the press but after a short term contract with Capitol Records in the middle 1950s failed to interest the public or music industry his career faltered. In the early 1960s after the failure of his marriage to Fran Jeffries he left the USA and headed for Europe, which was to be his home for almost a decade.

South African born BBC DJ and Record Producer Alan Dell rediscovered Haymes in 1969 and managed to get him into a recording studio for an album entitled "Then & Now" which was instrumental in getting him back to the USA and giving him another chance.

Ruth Prigozy unravels the story of a man who was a complicated gentleman almost from another age. Loved and respected by his peers Ruth delves into the insecurities that dominated his life.

A mix of facts, memories via interviews with family, friends and those associated with Haymes and even extracts from his own unfinished autobiography. Plenty of excellent pictures too. This is an "I couldn't put it down" book.

A compelling read full of highs and lows, surprises and sometimes despair. This long awaited biography addresses many of the stories that had been circulating around Hollywood about Haymes and presents the facts for the first time.

A must for any fan of the 1940s, musicals, crooners and film stars.

Ruth Prigozy has done an admirable job in bringing Dick Haymes life story to light. He is certainly someone who had been forgotten and whose story deserves to be told. I found this to be a well-researched biography that held my interest and which I enjoyed reading.

This book shows how a person can totally mess up his life by not addressing some basic problems -- for instance, the way he was raised clearly was responsible for his inability to foster healthy relationships. He kept repeating the same mistakes, drinking too much, etc. Certainly this was a man with a lot of troubles -- many self-inflicted. Interestingly enough, this book shows he never really did find stability and peace in his personal life. I agree with a previous reviewer who said high school students should read this book -- how NOT to live your life.

However, at times I think author Prigozy is too quick to excuse some of these faults and too willing to make allowances for Haymes' behavior. Here is an intelligent man who was handsome and talented, who nonetheless "blew it" in both his professional and personal life. He does not seem to be a very nice person -- cheating on his wives, mean or neglectful to his kids, a drunk, selfish, a deadbeat, at times arrogant, etc. He may not have been "Mr. Evil," as he has been dubbed, but he apparently wasn't "Mr. Nice Guy" either.

I think it would have been interesting for the author to explore more of his professional decline and the reasons for it. Why exactly did he fail to become an established movie star? Why did his popularity fade in the late 1940s and early 1950s? What happened to his radio career? His record contract was cancelled several years before the rock revolution -- was it his style of music that was passe, was the public tired of him, or did he exhibit a lack of range or an inability to adjust with changing tastes and times?

This book doesn't delve into that as much as I would have liked, but it's still an excellent read, and very worthwhile in bringing the story of this forgotten star to today's public.

Many better biographies have been written over the years, but none more urgent than this. High schoolers should read this book and discuss it with friends. Dick Haymes was a great talent, and intelligent. But he couldn't seem to make the right decisions in life, his values were screwed, and he suffered dearly because of it. The comedown was crushing.

Ruth Prigozy writes a poignant biography of an otherwise neglected big band and beyond singer whose rich baritone rivaled Bing Crosby's. Ruth Prigozy is an accomplished author and English professor at Long Island's Hofstra University. She spent a number of years researching this story and presents it faithfully and validly engaging many in interviews to promote accuracy. She has covered all the bases in this very meritorious book that is a long time coming. It tells the truth. And makes it a very valid book.It places Dick Haymes in his rightful place in music and singing.

This book was good for a short read. It was not as good as the original little women. The book was about 4 sisters Joe, Meg, Beth, and Amy and what their life was like. If you are looking for a good short read this is one I would sugest.

This edition of LITTLE WOMEN is great! First of all, there's the wonderful story of the March family in the years during and after the Civil War, as the 4 daughters -- Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy -- grow to womanhood, experiencing joy and overcoming obstacles and tragedy. This edition stays true to the language and grammar used in the original. I have read versions of the novel in which the girls' grammar is cleaned up for them!

In addition, the introduction by Susan Cheever is first-rate; it is neither too long or too short, and she beautifully ties it to her own experience without being cloying.

Another reason why I so highly recommend this edition is because there is a glossary at the back to explain some of the obscure (to modern readers) terms and obsolete slang. Also, there's a nice essay/review by G.K. Chesterson, who warmly praises Alcott's book.

Read the tale of four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, & Amy as they grow up together. Learn about their hardships as they face each problem thrown at them side by side. This is a wonderfull book and is beautifully writen. I teches someone a lot about the value of family, friends, and true love. This book is more than what others amount to and would reccomend this author to anyone.

Louisa May Alcott wrote many books, but "Little Women" retains a special place in the heart of American literature. Her warmly realistic stories, sense of comedy and tragedy, and insights into human nature make the romance, humor and sweet stories of "Little Women" come alive.

The four March girls -- practical Meg, rambunctious Jo, sweet Beth and childish artist Amy -- live in genteel poverty with their mother Marmee; their father is away in the Civil War. Despite having little money, the girls keep their spirits up with writing, gardening, homemade plays, and the occasional romp with wealthier pals. Their pal, "poor little rich boy" Laurie, joins in and becomes their adoptive brother, as the girls deal with Meg's first romance, Beth's life-threatening illness, and fears for their father's safety.

The second half of the book opens with Meg's wedding (if not to the man of her dreams, then to the man she loves). Things rapidly go awry after the wedding, when Laurie admits his true feelings to Jo -- only to be rejected. Distraught, he leaves; Amy also leaves on a trip to Europe with a picky old relative. Despite the deterioration of Beth's health, Jo makes her way into a job as a governess, seeking to put her treasured writing into print -- and finds her destiny as well.

There's a clearly autobiographical tone to "Little Women." Not surprising -- the March girls really are like the girls next door. Alcott wrote them with flaws and strengths, and their misadventures -- like Amy's embarrassing problem with her huge lobster -- have the feeling of authenticity. How much of it is real? A passage late in the book portrays Alcott -- in the form of Jo -- "scribbling" down the book itself, and getting it published because it feels so real and true.

Sure, usually classics are hard to read. But "Little Women" is mainly daunting because of its length; the actual stories flow nicely and smoothly. Don't think it's just a book for teenage girls, either -- adults and boys can appreciate it as well. There's something for everyone: drama, romance, humor, sad and happy endings alike.

Alcott's writing itself is nicely detailed. While certain items are no longer in common use (what IS a charabanc anyway?), Alcott's stories themselves seem very fresh and could easily be seen in a modern home. And as nauseating as "heartwarming" stories sometimes are, these definitely qualify. Sometimes, especially in the beginning, Alcott is a bit too preachy and hamhanded. But her touch becomes defter as she writes on.

Jo is the quintessential tomboy, and the best character in the book: rough, gawky, fun-loving, impulsive, with a love of literature and a mouth that is slightly too big. Meg's love of luxury adds a flaw to the "perfect little homemaker" image, and Beth just avoids being shown as too saintly. Amy is an annoying little brat throughout much of the first half of the book, but by her teens she's almost as good as Jo.

"Little Women" is one of those rare classic novels that is still relevant, funny, fresh and heartbreaking today. Louisa May Alcott's best-known novel is a magnificent achievement.

This book reveals a lot about life as a rock musician. Genya Ravan is a Rock & Roll Queen, and this book is a must for a peek into the 60's and 70's rock world. Genya lived it & tells it all, from her many incarnations as a musician with the FIRST all female rock band, Goldie & The Gingerbreads , lead singer of Ten Wheel Drive, solo artist, & record producer . If that isn't enough, how about starting your life as a prisoner of the Nazi's and escaping with her parents & sister, sharing beds & buses with Mick Jagger, Jeff Beck & others, and reaching the depths of drug addiction & surviving cancer. Genya Ravan is an extraordinary woman, and she tells honest tales that will make you see how it was for one of the original women in rock & roll.

You should read the book, if you were a fan of the Ten Wheel Drive. But you could read it, too, if you are just and simply looking forward to a great story. Just when it becomes incredible, commence to listen to some of her music (you wanted that all the time, you notice)...

It blows you away, no matter what we choose to write, here.

This fascinating book covers the life of Genya Ravan, who, among other things, founded Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the first all female rock band that played their own instruments, fronted the ground breaking rock band with horns Ten Wheel Drive, recorded multiple solo albums and was the first female major label record producer. The story is an exhilarating roller coaster ride which begins in a concentration camp, takes you through rock stardom, drug addiction and finally recovery from cancer. Along the way many famous icons of rock history are described first hand and Genya's experiences should make for a real page turner for any fan of rock music as well as an inspirational story which can be appreciated by all.

This book is just incedible. I've been a fan of Ten Wheel Drives Brief Replies & her (just rereleased) Urban Desire & And I Mean it albums, but I was not expecting the intense story about to unfold before my eyes. Holocaust survivor, first all girl band, first woman music producer ect. Does it realy take a hit record to recognize a true original? You must buy this book & get blown away! Also go to www.genyaravan.com SHE'S NOT DONE YET!

As always Gervaise Fen is whimsical and funny. In this book he enters a tiny English village under another name as he sets out to discover the authorship of some very unlovely poisoned pen letters. Inevitably, these letters lead up to a murder, and Fen is there to aid the local constabulary in their investigation. The funny part in this book is the cat called "Lavender". The book weaves in and around this wonderful cat who is always on the hunt for "Martians" in the house of Colonol Babbington. Although, I figured out the murderer fairly quickly, I still enjoyed the getting there. And Mr. Crispin introduces a parallel storyline that may or may not have had something to do with the initial poison pen letters. That kept me guessing. Wonderful characters, and a wonderful, sleepy little village where lots is happening below the radar so to speak.

Edmund Crispin is a fabulous English mystery writer who is not well known (at least in the U.S.) but deserves to be. He's literate without being pedantic, although a classical education will help you appreciate his humor (for example, a character who has taken the pseudonym of Mr. Datchery from a character in a Dickens novel). I will admit that one or two of his works are just a little bit too stylized for my enjoyment -- I think he's joking about things in Britain at the time he wrote that I don't understand. But this one -- although it is set in the post-WWII period and very topical -- has a puzzle mystery at its center that is timeless. The problem for the reader is, how could a very likable character NOT have committed the murder, given the evidence?

The setting is a pretty little English village, made less pretty by the presence of someone sending anonymous letters that are very distressing to the recipient. One letter drives the recipient to suicide, so it is particularly important that the sender be caught and stopped. Then there's a murder, which appears to be related to the letters -- or maybe not.

If you haven't discovered Crispin yet, I highly recommend him. My favorite by him remains The Moving Toyshop, but this one is also excellent.





This

Edmund Crispin is not known as a writer who features animals in his mysteries. Yet in "Swan Song," he gave us the bald, pub parrot that recited Heine in the original German.

In "Love Lies Bleeding," Mr. Merrythought, the ancient, slovenly bloodhound thwarted a double murder.

"The Long Divorce" introduces Lavender, the cat who sees Martians. (Either you have a cat who sees Martians---there is one perched on my printer right now, staring off into what humans refer to as `empty space'---or else you will have to take Mr. Crispin's word that such perceptive cats exist.) Lavender, the marmalade-colored tomcat with unusual visual powers is instrumental in the capture of a murderer.

Murder is really secondary to the story of a village plagued by an anonymous letter-writer. Some of the letters are merely obscene. Others are poisonously factual.

Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Oxford is importuned by an old friend to expose the anonymous letter-writer. And so Fen, microscopically disguised under the name of `Mr. Datchery' (borrowed from Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edmund Drood") takes himself off to his friend's bucolic village.

"To an obbligato of bird-song Mr Datchery marched beneath a bright sky towards Cotton Abbas. And he carolled lustily, to the distress of all animate nature, as he walked....The directions given him at Twelford had been explicit. But since he believed himself to possess an infallible bump of locality, he was soon tempted to modify them with a variety of short cuts, and after about three miles he discovered, much to his indignation, that he was lost."

Is that or is that not Fen to the life?

"The Long Divorce" (1952) is eighth in Crispin's series of mysteries starring his literate, cynical, sometimes bumptious amateur detective. It is also a comedy of rural, post-war England. The characters are dead-on: the army veteran who is trying to stop smoking; the female physician who is struggling to build a practice in a conservative backwater; the teenager who both loves and is ashamed of her obnoxious, money-grubbing father.

Many of the mystery writers of the 1940s and 1950s were guilty of creating one-dimensional female stereotypes, or going off on the occasional anti-feminist rant. Margery Allingham, Rex Stout, and John Dickson Carr come readily to mind as producing examples of this type of writing. Crispin also creates the occasional stereotype, especially in his early novels and some of his short stories, but the characters in "The Long Divorce" are fully and fascinatingly realized---especially the women (okay, okay---except for the innkeeper's wife and the sluttish barmaid. But they are very minor players).

Crispin also works in an ongoing and thoughtful dialogue on suicide, and there is a hair-raising scene where Fen just manages to prevent a young girl from killing herself.

"The Long Divorce" is a classical Golden-Age British mystery, a thoughtful essay on suicide, and a marvelous, occasionally hilarious study of the rural English character. I feel the same frustration that Fen felt, when at story's end he reveals his true name to a gathering of the book's characters---and very few of them have heard of him.

Why isn't Fen at least as well-known as Lord Peter or Miss Marple or Nero Wolfe? He certainly deserves to be.

Edmund Crispin is not known as a writer who features animals in his mysteries. Yet in "Swan Song," he gave us the bald, pub parrot that recited Heine in the original German.

In "Love Lies Bleeding," Mr. Merrythought, the ancient, slovenly bloodhound thwarted a double murder.

"The Long Divorce" introduces Lavender, the cat who sees Martians. (Either you have a cat who sees Martians---there is one perched on my printer right now, staring off into what humans refer to as 'empty space'---or else you will have to take Mr. Crispin's word that such perceptive cats exist.) Lavender, the marmalade-colored tomcat with unusual visual powers is instrumental in the capture of a murderer.

Murder is really secondary to the story of a village plagued by an anonymous letter-writer. Some of the letters are merely obscene. Others are poisonously factual.

Gervase Fen, Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of Oxford is importuned by an old friend to expose the anonymous letter-writer. And so Fen, microscopically disguised under the name of 'Mr. Datchery' (borrowed from Charles Dickens's "The Mystery of Edmund Drood") takes himself off to his friend's bucolic village.

"To an obbligato of bird-song Mr Datchery marched beneath a bright sky towards Cotton Abbas. And he carolled lustily, to the distress of all animate nature, as he walked....The directions given him at Twelford had been explicit. But since he believed himself to possess an infallible bump of locality, he was soon tempted to modify them with a variety of short cuts, and after about three miles he discovered, much to his indignation, that he was lost."

Is that or is that not Fen to the life?

"The Long Divorce" (1952) is eighth in Crispin's series of mysteries starring his literate, cynical, sometimes bumptious amateur detective. It is also a comedy of rural, post-war England. The characters are dead-on: the army veteran who is trying to stop smoking; the female physician who is struggling to build a practice in a conservative backwater; the teenager who both loves and is ashamed of her obnoxious, money-grubbing father.

Many of the mystery writers of the 1940s and 1950s were guilty of creating one-dimensional female stereotypes, or going off on the occasional anti-feminist rant. Margery Allingham, Rex Stout, and John Dickson Carr come readily to mind as producing examples of this type of writing. Crispin also creates the occasional stereotype, especially in his early novels and some of his short stories, but the characters in "The Long Divorce" are fully and fascinatingly realized---especially the women (okay, okay---except for the innkeeper's wife and the sluttish barmaid. But they are very minor players).

Crispin also works in an ongoing and thoughtful dialogue on suicide, and there is a hair-raising scene where Fen just manages to prevent a young girl from killing herself.

"The Long Divorce" is a classical Golden-Age British mystery, a thoughtful essay on suicide, and a marvelous, occasionally hilarious study of the rural English character. I feel the same frustration that Fen felt, when at story's end he reveals his true name to a gathering of the book's characters---and very few of them have heard of him.

Why isn't Fen at least as well-known as Lord Peter or Miss Marple or Nero Wolfe? He certainly deserves to be.

For anyone interested in the pre-1920 recording industry--and especially in the history of the earliest recording artists of color--Lost Sounds is the archaeological dig of your dreams. Immaculately researched, beautifully written, and illustrated with photos, advertisements, and lyrics, it's a big stately volume: the growth of the popular song, the emergence of the mass media and entertailment industries, the appalling state of period race relations, the existentially twisted story of the minstrel show, and the amazing evolution of recording technology are all on readable (and sometimes haunting) display. So are the riveting stories of legendary artists George Washington Johnson (the ex-slave whose "Laughing Song" was used briefly in a recent Xerox ad), Bert Williams (featured in PBS' Broadway documentary series), Charley Case (a vaudeville comic who was rumored to be "passing"), and dozens of others. You'll be moved to comb the local antique shops for cylinders, and to try building your own record-yourself-on-tinfoil kit.

This is an excellent addition to the study of African American history, So many of the facts presented are those that not even the "seniors" knew. I have used this book to include information in lectures and class settings.

What a delight this thick book is, and what a challenge to describe adequately in a few sentences.

"Lost Sounds" is a detailed look at an aspect of the American music industry that is not just forgotten; it seems never to have been fully appreciated -- the early years of recorded music, with an emphasis on the essential contribution made by African American artists. The book has been praised as a unique reference work, and it is that; but it is also a rich history of late 19th- and early 20th-century American popular culture, as well as a collection of poignant personal stories of the entertainers who created it. Along the way, the book offers a primer on recording technology. And, although these accounts of once-popular performers and their now-unfamiliar careers and music are not in the least preachy, they do constitute a carefully documented examination of a key -- and painful -- era in American race relations.

Author Tim Brooks is himself an unobtrusive character in these adventures, the modest yet sympathetic researcher who has come along a century after the fact to ferret out the information, breathe new life into it, and in many instances save it from oblivion.

All of which makes "Lost Sounds" not only an extraordinary good read, but also an exceptional good deed.

A few pages into this book, one realizes the title is a double entendre. The recorded sounds documented here - which include popular music, ragtime, jazz, cabaret, classical, spoken word, politics, poetry, and more - are not merely "lost" in the sense that their existence has been uncelebrated. They are also in danger of being lost to us forever if immediate steps are not taken to preserve the fragile materials upon which they live.

Additionally, U.S. copyright laws have made it nearly impossible for anyone to reissue them as CDs. According to the author, there were approximately 800 recordings made by African Americans prior to 1920, the majority of which are still intact but half of which are owned by successor corporations like Sony and BMG who will neither reissue them nor allow anyone else to do so. Which explains why the majority of this material ends up being released overseas.

The book documents more than 40 artists chronologically, assessing their work and skillfully placing their biographies within the context of a complex and tumultuous era. It covers the famous (Bert Williams, Eubie Blake, Fisk Jubilee Singers) and a host of lesser-knows. The Discography provides a listing of CD reissues (if available) for each chapter, plus web sites where you'll most likely find them.

While seemingly an exhaustive tome, the author himself reminds us it's intended to stimulate preservation and future research: the final chapter "Miscellaneous Recordings" examines unissued recordings, "custom" noncommercial recordings, rumored but unconfirmed recordings, records by artists sometimes misidentified as black and more, in the hopes that future research will turn up more information.

Though massive at 656 pages, the book is highly readable and entertaining, very well organized and indexed making it easy to zoom in on particular aspects of interest. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the era of early recording in general, or African American studies in particular, and feel no library shelf should be without it. It's a wonderful resource for interdisciplinary studies.

If you like jazz, Armstrong, "Potato Head Blues," or life itself, read this book.

Satch fans will find a whole lot more to our hero than we knew before. For one thing,his 1954 bio was severely edited and we get some of the raw stuff here. Satch wrote as eloquently (and uniquely) as he sang. He does not hold back on his views of race (see "Louis Armstrong and the Jewish Family" (1970) which may shock some people and outrage others, as is true with almost everything else here. He holds forth on his love of "Swiss Kriss" and its after effects and delivers a heartfelt letter to a fan in Vietnam closing with the lyrics of "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Would be nice if the complete unedited documents were here in a multivolume series,but this will suffice. Swiss Krissly yours.

He was the greatest of all jazz-musicians. He was a founding father of the form. No one could play the horn like him, and no one could sing his gravelly voiced songs like him.
"I'm white inside
that can't help my case
cause I can't hide
what is on my face.

Old feather bed,
Filled up with lead
Feel like Ole Ned
Wish I wuz dead,

What did I do to be so black and blue?

One of the finest music critics writing today, Terry Teachout, says that this book is true Satchmo and he would have loved it to be twice as long as it is. The more Satchmo the better.

While it is true that he knew problems with the black-community in later years because some held him to be serving the 'Man' the truth was he brought great honor and dignity to not only blacks in America but all Americans.
And above all he brought joy and beauty through his music into the lives of so many.

Of the 21 books I have collected which are either by or about Louis Armstrong, this is definitely the one I would choose if I was allowed to keep only one. Basically a collection of autobiographical pieces, interviews, letters and so on, it reveals more of Armstrong as a man than all the other books put together. It also proves that, just as Armstrong had his own unique voice as a musician, so he has virtually invented his own language when doing his "typing" as he modestly called it. Grammar and punctation have been used this way nowhere else. Particularly moving are Armstrong's lengthy reminiscences of his early life in New Orleans, Chicago and elsewhere. Yes, his childhood was severely deprived but he recalls it not just without self-pity but with a kind of joy - joy in his family, in the friends who helped him along the way and, of course, his discovery of his own innate talent for both playing and singing. The book is filled with affectionate pen-portraits, as well as sharp social comment and, at times, with indignation at the injustices of life, whether suffered by himself or others. Equally moving are the pieces written when his life was nearing its end yet still exuding that same extraordinary open-ness and generosity of spirit which are humbling to experience. If anyone wants to know what Louis was like, and if they can take a little time to tune in to his vivid and utterly unself-conscious style, this is the book they should read.

Hey - it does what the title says. It is not the greatest book on the subject - but I appreciate the writing style, and the journey that the author leads us on. It is a very very broad subject - Louisiana Music - and the book could be 100 times bigger and not cover it all. This is an OK book for the beginner student on Louisiana Music.

Rick Koster's Louisiana Music is the first and only guide to the variety of musicians in this southern American state: others have focused on specific styles (Creole, Cajun, Zydeco) but Louisiana Music considers the past and present of jazz, rock, gospel and other styles of both urban and lesser-known areas, including the Mardi Gras Indian tribes. Louisiana Music is a `must' for avid fans of Louisiana music.

Just finished this book. It is another great effort on the part of this very talented writer. This will make for a wonderful addition to my music collection as a fantastic reference book. This work is HIGHLY recommended! Rick Koster -- keep writing!

This book contains a plethora of very valuable histories
of many well known and (more importantly) lesser known Louisiana bands and artists. Mr. Koster, although from neighboring Texas, has really done his homework on this project. You can also find Mr. Koster's dry humor come into play throughout.

If you like this book, you will also enjoy Mr. Koster's book on the history of Texas music called, you guessed it, "Texas Music".

If this book had consisted just in the reprinting of the great lyrics Ira Gershwin wrote then it already would be a treasure. But it also contains his descriptions of how he wrote the songs, and is filled with stories of his long- song- writing career. He comes across as a decent, family- person somewhat reserved but basically a very , fine human being.
There are many trivial and forgettable lyrics here. But these are cancelled out by being among some of the greatest popular song lyrics ever written.
Perhaps the lyricist is almost absolutely dependent on the quality of the ' melody' in order to have his words become memorable as part of a great song.
Ira Gershwin in this was fortunate enough to work with some of the greatest of all writers of popular song, first of course and above all his brother, George.
As I write this I am humming the melody of the Gershwins' classic " Embraceable you".
How much pleasure and delight did these two great brothers give, and how much do they still give, to the world.

If you know the lyrics, you know George Gershwin's brother was a witty and warm-hearted writer of verses. His prose paints a self-portrait of a somewhat reserved, witty, erudite, unpretentious man who deeply loves (now, loved) his family, his friends, and his profession of lyric-writing. The stories behind the songs sketch a picture of show-biz life of the 1920s, before everybody had stereo systems; when anybody middle class or richer had a piano in the house; and when parties necessitated a piano recital from anybody willing and able to give one, as Ira's virtuoso brother usually was. Brief snapshots of life with his brother are shot through with almost heartbreaking poignancy as one recalls that George died young. The poignancy and his love for his brother shine the brighter as Ira never explicitly calls attention to them -- he shows, he doesn't tell. A beautiful book, with many droll observations & humorous anecdotes wittily told.

Although Ira Gershwin was capable of lyric sloppiness -- you'd have to rate his work a tick lower overall than that of Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Yip Harburg, Alan Jay Lerner and Stephen Sondheim -- at his best his lyrics sparkle. In LYRICS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS, Ira wittily sets the conditions that lead to some of his best work. For the most part he wisely allows the words to speak for themselves, grouping his lyrics under charmingly appropriate headings and occasionally describing why one works (or doesn't) and what it took to get there. It's both a delightful compendium of Ira's best songs and a crash course in lyric writing that may make you wish the late Mr. Gershwin had conducted classes to aspiring song-writers.

Thank heaven this has finally been re-printed! No other lyricist of Gershwin's magnitiude ever took such a detailed and witty song-by-song look at his life's work. Wonderfully entertaining and informative. If you are interested in the craft of lyric writing or in the history of the musical, this book will be as essential as it is delightful.

100% happy with "Confessions" wall calendar. I have had every one of her calendars for the last 15 yrs. or so and I think she only gets better with time!!

No puedo opinar porque no me lo habeis enviado...a que esperais?????,hace ya como 3 meses,menos mal que no me lo habeis cobrado

Great photos in very special poses of this diva, the must wonderfull woman, of all, an example for young girls to follow.

This is an excellent calendar despite all the photos of a gaunt looking Madonna. The photos do only mount to a slight distraction when trying to operate the calendar. What is amazing about this calendar is how Madonna's merchandizing team have managed to sequence the months in the order as they appear in real life. An excellent job!

Included in this Omnibus are three of the first four 'Inspector Maigret' books (more like novellas) that Simenon wrote in 1931. They are both a police procedural as well as a murder mystery. They evoke a time between the two world wars that are seldom written about. You can feel the undercurrents of the French when they speak about the Germans or the Russians and still feel the 'grittiness' that followed the end of WW1.

Maigret is a large man for his times, he never smiles or laughs and sometimes will muse about his time in the 'trenches'. He knows the effect his size has on people and is not afraid to use it to intimidate witnesses or to get what he wants. His pipe is part of his hand and mouth and seldom found in his pocket. He is the kind of man who when he stands in front of you demands respect and attention to what he wants. Even before he announces that he is an 'Inspector of Police' people know that he has authority and will use it.

There are three stories included in this collections: 'Crime at Lock 14' which was the story in which he was introduced. It is a story of love, hurt and abandonment, and the ending is quite unexpected. 'Maigret and the 100 Gibbets' presents a problem to Maigret that comes from his constant need to understand why things happen. It is very much influenced by Edgar Allen Poe and the ending is 'Poe-ish' in style. 'The Strange Case of Pietr the Lett' hinges on finding out how one man can be in so many places at the same time, but never really there. The criminal is from that part of Europe that has undergone huge upheavals because of the end of WW1, and the break-up of the Russian Empire.

You have to keep in mind, the 'times' these stories are written in, they are post-WW1 Europe, that has been two years into the "Great Depression". Life is hard and most people see no future, just day to day drudgery and maybe starvation or life on the streets. At the same time, 'The Rich' are so far above the average person or worker to make them almost invisible. Money is power and people fear those who have it and know how to use its' power.

Read this book is a like a journey in the past (the firties) in the sailor's world and in the passion.

The atmosphere is splendid, the characters are interesting. The story is superb.

Read it you will not waste your time.

One of the very best Maigrets, in my opinion, and I've read most of them. This one is particularly memorable for its brilliantly evocative atmosphere.

This title is an English invention, unhappily signalling a facetiousness absent from a sombre Simenon story about double murder, decdence, broken lives and betrayal. A literal translation from the French is 'The Carter Of The 'Providence'', but perhaps that was seen as too leading, even if it was Simenon's choice; another alternative, 'The Crime At Lock 14' is the most satisfying, centring on the important aspect of the novel: place. 'Milord' is set in that strange, marginal, now obsolete inter-war world of canal barges, perhaps most familiar from contemporary films of the period, such as 'Boudu Saved From Drowning' or 'L'Atalante'. Indeed, the star of those films, Michel Simon, would have been an obvious choice to play the main non-Migret character in any film of this book, the carter Jean, a taciturn giant whose face and tattooed body are buried in a mass of hirsute overgrowth, a man who sleeps in dumb animal warmth with his horses in the barge stable, and into whose eyes Maigret can't decide whether to read imbecility or the keenest intelligence.

A beautiful, rich, well-dressed woman is found strangled between two sleeping carters in the tavern stable at Dizy, Lock 14. She is the wife of an elderly English aristocrat, disgraced Colonel Lampson, who is sailing along the canal tribuatry of the Marne on his luxury yacht The Southern Cross with his sleazy but charming companion Willy Marco, and his fat Chilean mistress. Despite his bearing and stiff-upper-lip, the Colonel conducts regular drunken orgies on board his yacht, and tolerated his wife's affair with Marco. The other principal boat in the story is the huge barge The Providence, run by a small, timid skipper, his garrulous, kindly wife and the carter Jean.

Simenon characterises barge-life as a kind of shadow-world adjacent to, but unknown to, normal life around it, with its own codes, customs and language. Although these are floating homes, not tied to any one place and potentially unstable, their slow, regular movements up and down the river, and the rules they must abide by are as rigid, claustrophobic and monotonous as any settler's. But Simenon brilliantly captures the sense of a shifting communal life, competitive (the dense traffic on a small stretch of water means much jostling for pole position), but full of cameraderie and good humour, helping out friends in trouble, carrying messages from relatives, tipping canal-side officials.

For a rooted outsider like Maigret, this world seems enchanted, his inability to crack the case matched by a terrible sense of suspension hanging over the twilit realm - it is only by breaking out of it, asserting his mobility by bicycle, that he can regain his detective prowess. Before that, he learns many fascinating facts about the mechanics of barge life, as well as its drabness and colour, its hierarchies of boats and petty bendings of the law, the land men, women and buildings who service it (lock-keepers, tavern- and shop-owners); a group world of work and routine in which transgressive individual desire can have the direst consequences.

The way Simenon himself, like a narrative elastic band, suspends the tension, allowing us to soak in the character and atmosphere, before accelerating the suspense and action, is so gripping, this must count as an exceptional early Maigret.