Reviews Books

This is a fantastic book about sex -- it will make you want to have more and more of it. The book is more exciting than "Wordsmart Junior" (another Princeton Review book by Brantley), but it's written for a different audience. It's a thoughtful, intelligent, humor-filled look at sex on campus today, including the down side, like STDs and rape. Should be required reading for everyone who's going to college.

A tremendous guide for any student or parent. Worth its wait in gold

As a college student and lover of non-fiction, I found this book not only enjoyable, but a good bit fascinating. In a time when sexual activity is becoming much more public, this book has many answers that a student may find embarrasing or awkward to ask. Most books based on statistics are dull and used for reference only. "Sex on Campus" was not, putting the reader at ease with its candid language and humor. A great read.

Highly recommended for someone who has some familiarity with the plays and wants to see this terrain through sharper eyes. This is not "CliffsNotes." These are essays by a master critic who loves Shakespeare, written *for* readers who love Shakespeare. But be prepared when Van Doren plays the critic, not the worshipper. If your favorite is "Henry V," for example, keep an open mind and wince along.

A pleasant aspect of this book is that you can take the essays in any order. This means that if, like me, you know some of the more popular plays (Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Lear, Julius Ceasar), but not some of the seldom-performed ones (Titus Andronicus, Troilus and Cressida, King John, Pericles), you can see what Van Doren has to say about "your" plays and then come back when you have hunted up the others.

Van Doren's prose is familiar, easy, and full of love. It is almost a conversation, and hardly less a joy to read than Shakespeare himself.

How often have you encountered a book on Shakespeare or his works that attains a level of writing that is often heart-meltingly gorgeous, even at times comparable to the beauty of the Shakespeare quotations it contains? Probably only once, and this is the book.

A helpful introduction by David Lehman reminds us that Mark Van Doren was a celebrated professor of literature at Columbia University, and a poet of considerable accomplishment, who served as mentor to a long list of students who later achieved great things. In his courses he generally spoke without notes, and this 1939 book on Shakespeare's works was also written without notes or references, other than a well-thumbed one-volume edition of the works, printed in about 1906.

Any modest power of description which I might possess fails utterly for this exquisite book. Instead, let me give a sample of Van Doren's commentary: "It may well be that Shakespeare in 'The Tempest' is telling us for the last time, or consciously for the last time, about the world. But what he is telling us cannot be simple, or we could agree that it is this or that. Perhaps it is this: that the world is not simple. Or, mysteriously enough, that it is what we all take it to be. Any set of symbols, moved close to this play, lights up as if in an electric field. Its meaning, in other words, is precisely as rich as the human mind, and it says that the world is what it is. But what the world is cannot be said in a sentence. Or even in a poem as complete and beautiful as 'The Tempest.'"

I have always loved Shakespeare but, even though I have studied it, sometimes, he is a little difficult to pin down on what exactly he is saying or meaning and it is often hard to get the feel or mood for certain scenes. After all, he was a playwright, not a journalist! And he wrote five centuries ago in the idiomatic English of that time. This critique is absolutely brilliant. Van Doren's feelings on Shakespeare are that he wrote his plays to be enacted on a mostly-bare stage in front of a noisy crowd of Joe Q. Publics, not enacted in an elaborate hushed stage setting in front of a group of phychologist, phychoanalists, etc. I have often felt that some critics see deep, mystical, dark meanings in Shakespeare that he never intended (I feel it is more a reflection of the critic's own phyche). Not to say that Shakespeare is shallow! I feel his "well-written" plays are awesome and unmatched by anyone, anywhere, anytime. Van Doren brings Shakepeare to the light of day in a clear, logical, yet so very elegant way. This book literally brings me to tears, it's so beautiful!

Sleeping Upside Down will stun you with its poetic brilliance and raw honesty, its starry adolescent dreams and gritty farm girl observations, its unearthed and pulsing passion. Its carefully constructed lyrical poems weave the narrative threads through gardens and bedrooms and into your heart.

As soon as I began to read this slim, beautifully-bound volume of poems, I realized that I had slipped into a world of honest emotion and brilliant observations. These poems are sensual and soft as a first kiss, hard-edged and raw as the first shuddering sob after a difficult breakup with a lover. Hibbard evokes human sensuality and desire with a deceptive simplicity and clarity; second and third readings create echoes that resonate long after you have put the book down. There are poems here to delight and astonish, not only about love and loss, but about the isolation and joy of farming in the Midwest, about coming to terms with the aftershocks of rape and violence, about being middle-aged and slowly becoming one's mother. Hibbard's eye is acute and wise, her range is broad, and her hopeful vision is grounded in the physical. The title poem is one of the most original and finely detailed poems about nascent desire that I have ever read, and the opening line from "The Trouble with Language," "The trouble with language is / it follows you everywhere," could be said of the poems from this book. I recommend it both for those who already love and appreciate brilliant, well-crafted poetry, and for those who are new to poetry. Both will be more than satisfied.

I read Sleeping Upside Down under a spell of wonder. These poems are accessible but cover complex ground between men and women, women and women, and the writer and her subjects. The title poem is a beautiful coming of age poem in which the narrator describes the electricity between two teen girls on a hot night in the Midwest. Awakening sexuality is made visceral through "[...]ing/as if threaded with wires." The heat and vibrancy inside a young woman's bedroom is in interplay between the dark night outside and "the crackle and hiss of the electric fence on the all night Top 40 radio." This evokes the buzzing and heat present everywhere in pubescent adolescence. Juxtaposed against the energy of desire is a claustrophobic closeness, which captures the discomfort many of us have known when faced with an attraction that can't be expressed. What the narrator is seeking is barely suggested beyond the hint of an open "pajama top," which is remedied by "feigning sleep." The phrase, "sleeping upside down" is a superb use of metaphor for the confusion and worldview changes that occur when people recognize their attraction to the same sex.

There is a lot of humor throughout this book as well. In Fever, Hibbard expertly establishes the tensions between lovers about to split up. Certainly the idea of sex with someone we're about to leave is a compelling premise for a poem. While having sex with her male lover for the last time the narrator is distracted: "she noticed things the way she thought a firing squad victim would." The sweating and haze of fever leaves the woman "too witless and weak to argue" and "she felt a great reverence for what the body is still willing to do." Quite the opposite of pathetic, as break-ups can often be, the tone of this poem is hilarious and all too familiar to anyone who tried to leave a relationship gracefully.

Buy this book. It is delightful, brilliant, reverent, funny, and original.

As long as books have been published there have been those who have felt the need to comment on them. We call such folks 'reviewers'. These literary critics can be self-appointed volunteers, freelance professionals, employed journalists and academicians whose commentaries about what is being written and published is a part of their job. Reviewers (much like the authors and publishers whose work they pass judgments upon) come in three basic categories: The Good; The Bad; and The Mediocre. There really hasn't been a 'how to' guide of any appreciable length or substance to explain the role of a book reviewer, how to become established as a credible reviewer of books, or how to create and operative a book review business. That is, there really hasn't been such an instructional manual until the publication of Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards collaborative work titled "The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing". Following an informative foreword by James A. Cox (best known within the publishing industry as the Editor-in-Chief of the Midwest Book Review), "The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing" is divided into three major sections: 'The Art of Reviewing' which lays out in considerable detail the actual 'nuts and bolts' of what a book review actually is, how to go about reviewing books, and the basics of creating a professional reputation and maintaining a successful book review operation; 'The Influence of Book Reviews' which focuses upon the relationship of book reviews to libraries, bookstores, publishers, authors, publicists, book clubs, and readers; and 'Resources' which provides advice and extensive lists of resources for book reviews as they relate to print publications, academia, online review sites, and more. ""The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing" concludes with providing a 'Sample of a Press Release'. Offering a wealth of practical, experience-tested advice, commentary, technical information, techniques, and resources, "The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing" should be considered mandatory reading for novice and aspiring book reviewers, as well as having a great deal of enduring value as a reference for even the more experienced reviewer. Additionally, "The Slippery Art Of Book Reviewing" will provide to be informed and informative reading about the book review process for authors, publishers, publicists, booksellers, librarians, and the general reading public.

Newspapers continue to drop their book review columns and few magazines include them in their issues. What is a reviewer to do to get that much needed visibility? The answer might be in the proliferation of reputable online websites devoted to reviewing books. But where do the reviewers come from? And how can a lover of books break into the reviewing business?

There are numerous answers to these two questions, but an excellent place to start is by reading and studying The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing by Mayra Calvani and Anne K. Edwards. Calvani and Edwards give detailed, practical tips and techniques to help the reader learn how to review books. It also covers information about the review organizations themselves.

As an experienced reviewer I learned that I do not know it all and will keep my copy of The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing for reference. It is not a book I will loan outbecause it won't be returned.

If you want to break into book reviewing, The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing is a must-have reference. Heed the author's advice and you can write reviews that will get you and the books you review noticed.

Armchair Interviews says: You won't get rich, but you'll have a lot of fun.

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (5/08)

Calvani and Edwards certainly produced a much-needed reference book that covers all aspects of becoming a book reviewer. Their concise narrative covers areas such as defining a book review and explaining the difference between it and a book report and press release; the don'ts; tips; ownership; as well as many other pertinent concerns. They also include resources and how libraries, book clubs, booksellers, etc. are influenced by reviewers.

As an owner of a book review service I was very interested what other reviewers had to say about the industry and what advice they give potential reviewers. Calvani is an author as well as a freelance reviewer and I'm sure much of the information came from her own experience although throughout the book there are excerpts of advice from other known online reviewers. The authors of "The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing" are very much to the point and it doesn't look like they missed anything.

Although this book is targeting potential reviewers, I encourage authors looking for reviews to peruse the book. The information about reviews, specifically if it's a negative review is enlightening. As well, there is an appendix with a list of online reviewers. Although the list is somewhat dated, it is a very thorough list. And, I don't mean dated in a negative way but I encourage the authors to also research the net for new services that recently emerged or reviewers that didn't make the list.

I do recommend "The Slippery Art of Book Reviewing" as a must-have resource guide. Calvani and Edwards present a well-written gold-mine to potential reviewers as well as a source of information for experienced reviewers and authors.

So I've Heard: Notes Of A Migratory Music Critic comes from a music critic whose published music criticism column has decades of appearance here gathered under one cover for the first time. From an unenthusiastic account of a Leonard Bernstein world premiere to encounters with conductors and classical musicians in different settings both on stage and off, So I've Heard provides a set of rich insights on musicians, their inspirations, and the future of music as a whole.

There are people who understand music so well, and write about it so well that their writing is far more than educational but highly entertaining as well. Many of these people write for transient media such as newspapers and their writing tends to disappear with yesterday's trash (or hopefully it's recycled).

Once in a while one of the masters at the trade finds a publisher willing to publish some of his work in book form. This is one of those. Alan Rich is more than just a music critic. Over sixty years he has written about music.

He has writen about the ancient Medieval chants. He has written about the electronic music produced by instruments that bear little relationship to traditional musical instruments. Over the years he has had a close relationship with musicians, conductors, performers, composers - basically the entire musical world. He wrote about them and here those words are preserved.

If you've never read an article by Alan Rich, you're in for a treat. As a music critic, his opinions are easy to disagree with, but the insight he offers into the lives and works of composers (especially contemporary ones like Ligeti and Glass) is truly thought-provoking. Living in California, he reviewed many local symphony/opera performances.

With catchy titles like "Let's Hear If for Ockeghem" (one of my favorites :), "Armen Ksajikian: Akbar of the Armadillo," (about a movie villain actor/accomplished cellist) "La rondine: Momma Domingo Gets It Wrong," and on and on - Rich compiled an amusing and educating collection of articles spanning a good chunk of the American music scene (Rich turned 80 in 2004).

This is also a great book for those who enjoy picking up a book every so often for a short excerpt.

I've used this book a lot over the years, for both personal and professional research. It is an alphabetized guide to every soap opera TV show until 1987, with background info and a quite-robust cast list for each. It's amazing to read through and see how familiar the names become -- how many actors and actresses hopped from show to show over the years. Ironically, the author comments that he did a second edition because the soap opera world had changed "tremendously" from 1985 to 1987! Twenty years later, that's all the more reason for an update.

This book is just what it says, an encyclopedia of EVERY soap opera with story sumaries and cast listings up unto the time of publication. The best part of it is it's insight in the behind the scenes of the shows! I've had this book for years and still love it! I agree with the other reviewer and wish there would be an update! Highly recommended to anyone who is interested in the history of soaps!

No soap opera enthusiast should be without this immaculately researched and detailed manual of daytime television. Brilliant in its simplicity and execution and I still find myself referring to it for accurate information. I don't know why there hasn't been an update, but even so...it still serves as one of the all time handy authorities on the subject of the American Soap Opera.

June Strong successfully manages to portray the world before the flood, the sinfullness of man, his lust, his greed and the loving God. She portrays a world where the children of God are despised. This book shows how God can touch lives and bring new meaning. It is one of the saddest and yet most beautiful of stories ever told.

Even though the whole concept of a story set in that mysterious world that was our earth before the Great Flood may seem naive or presumptious depending upon one's point-of-view, Strong's description of the antediluvian world and of the people who lived at that time comes across as highly believeable. We need to take seriously the lessons conveyed in this story and in the Scriptures Strong quotes. Otherwise, we will be just as doomed as the wicked antediluvians.

I am a big fan of books set during Bible times, and this one is one of my favorites. I enjoyed reading about the time before the flood. Actually, this is the first book I've ever seen written about that time in history. I think that the author does a fabulous job of helping us to understand this time period and the people in it.

This book aims to be a review of the series in pictures, and it does it very well. A lot of shots with great quality throughout the book makes it very enjoyable reading. An extensive reference for all series, even the animated ST:TOS. A lot of interesting behind-the-scenes information makes this book more then a bunch of pictures. Half of the book is on TOS, we also get a good section on DS9 (no Voyager, as it has been written in 1994). All and all, a great collection book for the Star Trek fan.

Over the years, many books have been written about Star Trek's growth from a popular-yet-low-rated television series to the huge cultural phenomenon it is today. Some are strictly technical (Gene Roddenberry and Stephen Whitfield's The Making of Star Trek), others are a mix of in-depth analysis and insider's insights (David Gerrold's The World of Star Trek), while still others are personal memoirs (William Shatner's Star Trek Memories). Most of them describe the growing pains of Roddenberry's concept of "Wagon Train to the Stars" and tell the now-familiar story of how NBC commissioned two pilots (rejecting "The Cage" for being too cerebral); how the fans saved the show for a second season but couldn't stop NBC from cancelling Star Trek in 1969; how those same fans kept the spirit of Star Trek alive during the "in-between" decade from the show's debut in syndication to the release of 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

J.M. Dillard, author of many Star Trek novels (The Lost Years, Mindshadow, plus five movie novelizations), contributed the text for Star Trek: Where No One Has Gone Before -- A History in Pictures. Published shortly after Star Trek: The Next Generation ended its seven season run and before both the premiere of the seventh feature film and the debut of Star Trek's third spin-off, Voyager, Where No One Has Gone Before covers Star Trek's first 28 years, from its creative genesis as the proposed chronicles of Starfleet Capt. Robert April and the Starship Yorktown to the pre-production of Star Trek: Voyager (which ended its run in 2001).

Although its well-written and includes two essays by the late great Isaac Asimov, informative sidebars in each chapter and an introduction by William Shatner, Where No One Has Gone Before's main asset is the wealth of pictures, many of them publicty shots of the several casts, but also many stills from the Original Series, the short-lived animated series, the first seven Star Trek features, and the first two spinoff series.

And even though it is a history of Star Trek, don't look for juicy "dark" revelations about the troubles (real or imagined) behind the scenes. Jeffrey Hunter's departure from the show is never examined in detail (the book Captain's Logs, an unauthorized history of Star Trek, blames Hunter for being excessively demanding, telling producers what camera angles not to use when photographing Capt. Pike and other prima donna behavior). It's not written as an expose -- Dillard, after all, is a Star Trek fan who also is an authorized Star Trek writer, and the intended audience is, of course, the vast number of other Star Trek fans.

It took Leonard Nimoy almost three decades to finally admit that he was Spock. It hasn't quite taken me that long to admit to being a "Trekker". The fear of being labeled a "geek" or a "nerd" was so overwhelming that I would shun any mention of the show outside of my circle of fellow Trek fans.

Well, I have come out of the Star Trek "closet", proudly announcing my enjoyment of all things Trek, past and present. This book is a treasure for those of us that have followed the original series as well as the subsequent spin-offs as of the book's publication.

Insightful background on the various shows along with great photographic stills and illustrations makes this a "must-have" for the devoted follower.

It's definitely for those of us grateful for the "journey" of which Gene Roddenberry initiated back in the mid-sixties.

It's also a good primer for those that don't quite understand what all the fuss was about.

great b/w picks and lot of links from star trek to the really worl

I liked this book. I haven't read much other Star Trek books, so I don't have much to compare to. I really liked the authors easy, concise explanations for things like warp drive, wormholes, alien biology, time... all the favorite sciences, and what's real and what's not! The segments are based on accounts from specific episodes with "science logs" from favorite Star Fleet personelle. The photo's and such add a nice touch as well. In short, if you like Star Trek, and ever wondered if what you saw was possible, I highly recommend this book. The science-minded will love it!

It is an interesting book and is easy to read. It is broken up into chapters, and in each chapter is a one to two page sections on a particular subject like telepathy. It hits a wide area of subjects.

Andre Bormanis, science advisor for the Star Trek franchise, explains the science in broad layman's terms, but enough to explain the basics and the logic behind what the team did.

I enjoyed reading it even with a sever lack of previous knowledge in some of the areas. It gave a neat look into the why they handle the science on the show. If you don't have too much time to sit down and read or you just want to have something to read during the commercials, this is an good book to have.

This is a complete collection of all the 'Misanthrope's Corner' columns Miss King wrote for the National Review from 1991 to 2002.

Every column is a joy to read as Miss King gives her views, usually jaundiced, on current affairs, and is always amusing, whether you agree with what she is saying or not. She is savagely funny writing about the Clintons, the Bushes, the feminisation of America, and anything else that takes her fancy.

she is painfully funny writing about the Clinton/Lewinsky affair. Reminising about her own teen years she recalls:

....It is 1952. Now 16, I hav elost my baby fat and gone from duckling to swan, and my mother, who normally pays no attention to anything except baseball and her hero Sen. Joe McCarthy, is being uncharacteristically maternal. We are washing dishes when suddenly, out of the blue, she says:
"If a man ever asks you to do something funny to him, you tell him to go to hell, you hear?"
"What do you mean, 'something funny'?"
"Never mind, just promise me"
Mystified, I promise. The mystery deepens as she swung off on one of her patriotic tangents.
"That's why the French can't win a war without us! It saps their strength! They're so busy doing something funny to each other that the Germans just walk right in!"

Another favourite passage of mine is where she is writing about the effect that the draft had on men of her generation:

The draft produced the kind of men that today's girls have never known, and relations between the sexes were better for it. What sticks in my mind about them is their self-sufficiency and competence in fixing things that broke and figuring out solutions to emergencies. Thanks to the draft I belong to the last generation of American women who could scream "Do something!" and get results. Most of my men were intellectuals, but they had been taught in basic traning to change a tire in 90 seconds, rig up electrical wiring, tie knots that stayed tied, and take a rifle apart and reassemble it while blindfolded. This last was never necessary in civilian life, but it made for a self-assured deftness that was awesome.

Occasionally Miss King becomes quite lyrical in her praises, whether of the Post office, of Woolworths, Mario Lanza, or Alice Faye. There is a quite enchanting description of her first trip to Paris, and a very touching tribute to her aunt.

Whatever Miss King's views on the subject she is writing about, every column is a joy to read.

"Stet, Damnit!" is the complete collection of Florence King's 1991-2002 columns for the National Review. This reviewer is one of many who used to read National Review beginning with her weekly posting on the last page. King's keen insight into human nature, stubborn common sense, and acerbic wit made her column entertaining whether she was goring sacred cows and pompous egos on the left or right of the political spectrum. Her frequent reviews of movies and books were equal parts insightful and unforgiving of sloppy or pretentious work. Her retirement was a real blow to those who enjoyed her writing style.

This volume is highly recommended for those who are nostalgic for her column. The content holds up pretty well in spite of being a little dated. Hard core junkies of political commentary will also find this entertaining.

Florence King authored "The Misanthrope's Corner," featured on the back page of "National Review" for many years. The column was known for "serving up a smorgasbord of curmudgeonly critiques about rubes and all else bothersome to the Queen of Mean," as NR put it.

It's a rare writer who is not only a skillful wordsmith, but insightful and witty as well; Miss King's columns never fail to be all three.

"She is an unconventional satirist," said Louise Rothe of the Chattanooga News-Free Press, "funny, unpredictable, sometimes raunchy. Nothing, however trite, escapes her wit."

And now, a few excerpts...here are some of Miss King's amusing musings on stress in America:

"The American way of stress is comparable to Freud's 'beloved symptom,' his name for the cherished neurosis that a patient cultivates like the rarest of orchids and does not want to be cured of. Stress makes Americans feel busy, important, and in demand, and simultaneously deprived, ignored, and victimized. Stress makes them feel interesting and complex instead of boring and simple, and carries an assumption of sensitivity not unlike the Old World assumption that aristocrats were high-strung. In short, stress has become a status symbol."

Nor does England escape her withering observations. Her thoughts after watching a week's worth of TV coverage on the death of Princess Diana:

"My saturation viewing helped me make a vital decision. For some time I had been thinking of emigrating to England to bring my nationality in line with my blood, but I have now abandoned the idea. There is no England, just this demi-realm, this scepter'd loony bin set in a sea of rotting flora, this U.K. of Utter Kitsch where the crud de la crud build teddybear temples to a gilded hysteric who was nothing more than Judy Garland with a title. If I must live in a country where people who once tipped their hats now tip the scales, I might as well stay home and save myself the trouble of learning to look right instead of left to avoid an oncoming hug. My hyphen, right or wrong."

I like how she summed up her writing efforts in another column:

"Being a writer has made me a lifelong practitioner of no-holds-barred insight, driven by an irresistible impulse to shovel through mountains of received bull to get to the bottom of things."

It was a said day in 2002 when Miss King wrote her final column and laid down her shovel. But at least with this volume we can keep enjoying all the digging she did.

Long live King, the Queen of Mean!