Caribbean Books

...que cuando antes de amarte me olvidé de tus besos mi corazón quedó recordando tu boca".
Uno de los sonetos de amor mas lindos y mas profundos que se han escrito! Neruda sabe como tratar su tema sin dejarse llevar por la melodia de sus palabras, escribe del amor como la siente y como la piense sin decir mas ni menos. Sus palabras se sienten, los disfrutas, son una bella cancion que suena real pero no estas seguro si es tu realidad, la que siempre sabias de ser asi o un suenio...

Neruda sigue siendo uno de los grandes. Y este libro, uno de los clásicos indiscutibles.

The "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" is the best-selling book of poetry ever in the Spanish language and established Neruda as one of the great talents of the 20th century. Each of the 21 poems is touching, full of illusion and warmth, with an amazing use of imagery. The last two express loss and heartbreak in a breathtaking way. Poem #20 is perhaps the most famous: "Tonight I can write the saddest verse."

The "100 Sonetos," written many years later, contain some gems, though I much prefer the first book. Don't make the mistake of thinking that these were all written for the same woman -- they weren't! Neruda seduced many of his muses with his poetry.

Los "Veinte poemas de amor y una canción desesperada" es el libro de poesía más popular en la historia del idioma español, y estableció a Neruda como uno de los talentos más grandes del siglo XX. Cada uno de los poemas es conmovedor, lleno de ilusión y calidez, con un uso asombrante de imágenes. Los dos últimos expresan el dolor de la pérdida en una forma espectacular. El poema #20 es probablemente el más famoso: "Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche."

El libro de los "Cien sonetos," escritos años después, contiene algunos poemas excelentes, pero carece de la misma vitalidad que el primero. No vayas a pensar que Neruda compuso todos estos poemas para la misma mujer! Sedujo a muchas de sus musas con su poesía.

This is one of the first books of poetry that Neruda published back before the middle of the 20th century. It is an excellent and very recognized book - of poetry. I think the most important thing of Neruda is that he celebrated the goodness of poetry and good art. In that it is a way of enjoying life, and not gettting caught in the vanity or less popular ways of living or acting towards others (selfishness, greed etc).

This book is that. It is full of beauty. His poetry is one of the most recognized unversally, selling many copies (over amillion in spanish, and that was by 1956.

The most gratifying thing of this book and Neruda in general is the happiness, sadness - different emotions - that it depicts. And most importantly a work of quality.

Each aphorism is a statement from a knowing heart that has experienced peace and happiness from the inside. Read this and enjoy the nectar of a spare few words that say it all. Don't interpret what he says. Feel it.

Antonio Porchia (1886 - 1968) emigrated from his native Italy to Argentina where he became somewhat of an enigmatic poet, a poet while recognized during his lifetime is growing in popularity now, much to the superb translations by W.S. Merwin. Oddly enough Porchia's output was limited to one book, so becoming an avid fan of his thoughts placed so carefully on the printed page takes only a small book (127 pages) to absorb.

But what lines of beauty he created! Some examples:

Suffering does not follow us. It goes before us.
*
More grievous than tears is the sight of them.
*
Would there be this eternal seeking if the found existed?

Porchia's pregnant lines find a home in our minds, in our hearts, and give us encouragement and those particular words to share with our own psyches as well as the agonies of loved ones. He was a gifted writer and W.S. Merwin has done a fine job in reassuring us that his words remain alive. Grady Harp, November 06

Porchia never ceases to amaze; on the shelf next to Thoreau and Emerson, he fits perfectly. I agree with the first reviewer; buy ten and give nine to your closest friends.

Life is incomplete without certain things; this is definitely one of them.

wonderful to see this book back in print again. no one has read it, and everyone should. a classic of 'wisdom literature'; porchia was right up there, in his own quiet and modest way, with cioran and lichtenberg - i.e. he's one of the few writers actually worth committing to memory. buy ten and give nine away to your most thoughtful friends.

This is one of the better cd sets available on birds of Central and South America. There are two cds, covering 220 birds- available as of this writing from Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithollgy for $29.95.

CD 1 covers tinamous, raptors, doves, parrots, owls, hummingbirds, trogons, motmots, barbets, woodpeckers, foliage-gleaners, and antbirds.

CD 2 covers antbirds, becards, manakins, wrens, thrushes, warblers, caciques, oropendolas, euphonias, tanagers, grosbeaks and sparrows.

Since there is much variety, songs and calls do not become monotonous as in other Cornell releases featuring only antbirds, or only parrots. The wren family comes across as having the most consistently beautiful voices in this collection.

Here are the (for me) outstanding voices of the set:

Black-breasted Wood-Quail, Gray-breasted Crake, Red-lored Parrot, Common Potoo, Rufous Motmot, Gray-throated Leaftosser, Black-chested Jay, Plain Wren, Stripe-breasted Wren, Bay Wren, Black-throated Wren, Gray-breasted Wood-Wren, Song Wren, Slaty-backed Nightingale-Thrush, Chestnut-headed Oropendola - and the piece de resistance, the Montezuma Oropendola.

If you are planning a trip to Costa Rica, the set is indispensible. For sheer pleasure though, it is a delight to listen in wonder at the variety of voices in this tropical setting. Recommended for ornithologists, travelers and bird lovers in general.

I've been to Costa Rica on several trips. If you are a nature person, or birder that is interested in nature sounds, and knowing what they are, then this tape is indispensible. There is more information available on this title from tinkfrog.com, or any websearch of the title. These CDs cover several vocalization types for many of the over 220 species, call, songs, drumming of woodpeckers. With this and the voice descriptions in the field guide, you've a chance at recognizing, and finding more birds.

For a location that gets a lot of birders there is very little in the way of recordings available for Costa Rica. Don't let the title fool you, a great number of the birds presented on this set are also on the Pacific Slope. The quality of the recordings is very good, and over two-hundred species are resented. I found it very helpful in learning the calls of the birds of Costa Rica

Want to train yourself to recognize the 25% of the Costa Rican birds species by its voices? Then, you have to listen both CD's. I heard them few months ago when my fauna teacher put emphasis in the bird identification (I'm a forestry student --Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica). Sometimes, when you are in a dense forest or thicket you can only hear the birds, so, you need a non-visual way to identify them....and here it is. I bought the "Indicator Birds of the Costa Rican Cloud Forest" (from the same Laboratory of Ornithilogy) and I hear it in my house to train my ears in the identification of non common birds.

Buy it, I'm gonna buy it too.

Having traveled with Nilda to meet the weavers and observe the weaving process in most of the villages featured in the book , I can attest that the stunning color reproductions (kudos to the publisher for the choice of so many wonderful examples and for selecting a outstanding printer!) in the book accurately represent the superb work still being done under the direction of the Center for Traditional Textiles Cusco. If you are looking for "visual understanding and aesthetic appreciation" of the best of Peruvian textile weaving today, this is the book to buy! And the economical text thoughtfully complements the numerous illustrations.

Eric Waples

The pictures and text in this book are wonderful! First, it's a visual delight and when I went back to read the text, the background on weaving is thorough and very interesting. I highly recommend it!

This is a marvelous contribution to understanding the beauty and cultural importance of traditional weaving in the Andean heart of the Incan empire. The author, whose Center for Traditional Textiles in Cuzco, just opened (2007) as a museum, market, and center of learning and research,
is superbly qualified, as the expert who is illuminating her own traditions. She has produced a stunning, accessible and fascinating work which should appeal to weavers everywhere and to anyone who is traveling to the area, or armchair travelers who wish to learn more about the vibrant traditions of the Andes. Highly recommended for artists, weavers, and travelers.

Wuthering heights is like a black version of Wuthering Heights. The love story is between Cathy and Rayze. Rayze is a guy Cathy's father brought off the street to work for him. The two fall in love, but it can never work because Cathy is white, and Rayze is black. When Rayze leaves, and then return Cathy is married to another guy which runs Rayze crazy. This novel is told through the eyes of the people Cathy and Rayze comes in contact with, each chapter is written like a short story. I wasen't expecting Cathy's tradegy to take place so early in the book, I ithrought her and Rayze would have more time together once he returned. Rayze considered Cathy his soul, he was always trying to find a voodoo doctor to bring her back alive. I felt so bad for him, he love Cathy her so much. Rayze never get's over her death, and end up treating everybody in his life bad, his wife, kids. The book was good, and sad.

I love Conde's books, and if you like the lazy, almost nostalgic style of so many of the South American and Caribbean writers you will no doubt find this book a great read.

The characters are at once powerful and vulnerable - the women are especially fascinating in that they breathe sexuality yet appear within the rigid confines of the society of the day.

The book is a 'remake' of Wuthering Heights, but don't let that put you off - it manages to deftly weave the original with Conde's own unique blend of interests and concerns - race, social injustice and hypocrisy. As modern as it is classic.

With or without having read Wuthering Heights, I would have enjoyed this book. Vivid details, compelling situations and themes. She recreated the souls of Heathcliff and Cathy (and others), yet they belonged entirely to Guadaloupe. The ways Windward Heights was like and unlike WH were welcome. Conde never compromised her storytelling for the sake of the idea--a retold WH. As good as Crossing the Mangrove. The cultural portrait is a gift. Must reading for anyone who loves WH--or good novels.

The passionate tragedy created by different social classes in WUTHERING HEIGHTS is hard to comprehend in contemporary USA. In WINDWARD HEIGHTS Conde renews the emotional reaction by changing classes to skin color in a 19th century Caribbean setting.

Conde following the Bronte storyline closely which means a plethora of characters with confusing relationships, the only weakness in the novel.

The sickness of spirit that results when a child is not loved or accepted by the society in which he or she lives is dangerous to all of society. In Conde's version the Heathcliff character wreaks havoc on the region, not just family members.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS was never the romance portrayed by Merle Oberson & Laurence Olivier, it is a story of obsession and revenge. Conde's version is beautifully written and seems more up-to-date.

Bronte fans will enjoy comparing the original to WINDWARD HEIGHTS & Alice Hoffman's version in HERE ON EARTH.

I was born in Grenada but grew up here in the US. My parents and other family members made sure that I knew my culture. Although I have been back there many times,after reading this book, I was able to get eeven more knowledge of all that was instilled in my cultural knowledge by them. It is a great conversation book between family and friends who are not from Grenada. Well worth the read and teh money.

This book is a valuable resource for anyone seriously interested in Grenada. It is an enjoyable and informative read.

It makes great reading for those of us who of Grenadian heritage but have lost the connection to our culture. The book provides valuable historical information that is often lost over time and is a wonderful tool that I can share with my daughter.

"A-Z of Grenada Heritage" is an oversized, 283-page, color illustrated [on quality paper] compendium of useful information about multiple aspects of the island of Grenada.

John Angus Martin writes to the point and provides facts of historical and contemporary information in an easily understandable manner. Excellently chosen photographs and illustrations catch one's interest.
Martin backs up his knowledge with references.

A partial entry example:

"FISHERMAN'S BIRTHDAY is a Roman Catholic festival celebrated on 29 June each year as the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. In the town of GOUYAVE, one of the largest fishing communities in the islands, festivities are the 'grandest' and are attended by visitors from all across Grenada. Under the French the parish was dedicated to St. Pierre, the patron saint of fishermen. After church services in each parish and the blessing of fishermen's boats and nets, there are boat races, eating, drinking and merrymaking for the remainder of the day; the merrymaking dates to the mid-1960s . . ."

"A-Z of Grenada Heritage" is recommended for library 'Country' collections, for every travel and tourist-related organization's reception area, for those who live on the Spice Isle, for those who visit Grenada, and for those who plan to visit Grenada.

The book is a delight; there's nothing quite like it.

one of the best books on the jfk assasination, ive read well over a dozen on the subject & this one was up near the top. Probably not the best written, the author makes a couple of minor mistakes including referring to the 1957 appalachin meeting of mafia bosses as the meeting in the appalachian mountains! however, does include some very important info about the people responsible for the jfk assasination- those same cia agents, cuban exiles & mafia bosses who were active in the plots to get rid of castro. read this along with craig roberts' Kill Zone & u will solve the mystery surrounding the jfk assasination. This book gets to the point of the actual people there in dallas that fateful day & craig roberts' Kill Zone shows the conspirators who actually ordered the assasination. Read them both if u want to know the truth about who killed kennedy.

I recently had a holiday in Cuba and found this book available in English everywhere. I found it very convincing as to who was behind the conspiracy. If you plan a holiday in Cuba pick up a copy there.

The same group that was trying to kill Castro did succeed in assassinating President Kennedy. They are: anti-Castro Cubans, CIA, mafia, and the Watergate burglers.

"ZR Rifle" appeared at about the time when Fonzi's "Last Investigation," Scott's "Deep Politics," and Prouty's "JFK" showed up in the bookstores. Since Ms. Furiati has been characterized as "sympathetic" to Castro's revolution, I approached it with caution, only because I needed to know if the book itself could be discredited as another strand of misinformation in an entire web of misinformation spun over the course of forty years.

What I find instead is another well-researched and objective attempt to explain more clearly the strands in the conspiracy web already suggested by the contemporary literature. As I began reading "ZR Rifle," I attempted to verify each fact presented in succession against what I know from other independent sources. I relaxed those efforts after fifty or sixty pages because the book is well-footnoted and the documentary support for its explanation is solid. The book, which can be read in one sitting, adds more detail and clarity to the speculations and background provided by the other authors of this last decade's research.

"ZR Rifle"s strongest point is its reliance on documents and testimony provided by General Fabian Escalante, a veteran official of the Cuban State Security Service -- Castro's intelligence agency. Imagine, if you will, a country in a state of seige, a country made a pawn in the dangerous game of Cold-War nuclear weapons strategies, and a country that began to suspect itself as the intended scapegoat of a conspiracy hatched on American soil to murder an American President. Escalante occupied a position at the center of Cuba's own investigation to discover the Truth about the Guns of Dallas. Such a perspective provides ponderous advantages, because, unlike the problem of the fox guarding the chicken-coup, Cuban intelligence was able to place its own agents among the Cuban-exile community with a primary objective of turning up new facts. And these new facts substantiate what we already know about the complicity of David Atlee Phillips and other non-mob actors within the CIA itself.

The book presents a new challenge for researchers of both the "serious" and armchair variety who want to unravel the complicated inconsistencies concerning the "Oswald in Mexico" story. Cuban documents -- specifically passport applications -- controvert the idea that Oswald was never in Mexico. The facts that document his presence there raise additional questions as to why the CIA propagated the photos of the beefy-looking Oswald imposter, and the meaning of last November's revelations about voice-print identification inconsistencies with the real Oswald. The one certainty that stands out, other than the Cuban evidence, is that all the paradoxes concerning Oswald in Mexico bear the trade-mark of David Atlee Phillips.

My own model of the assassination has the shape of an hour-glass, or two pyramids each facing the opposite direction and intersecting at their apex. As with any methodical murder investigation, the "bottom-up" approach represented by Furiati and Fonzi fills in the details of the actual operations and execution of the conspiracy. Prouty's book, "JFK: The CIA, Vietnam, and the Assassination of . . ." represents a perspective from the other pyramid. The implications about the power-elite responsible for the Guns of Dallas are clear, but more evidence is needed. Americans in the year 2000 can easily vote on their suspicions alone. Those citizens of a more cerebral inclination can simply cut to the chase and formulate their own alternative replacements to the US Constitution. But to actually implement such a change requires massive public support that can only derive from a ponderous body of facts.

That is probably why Furiati was unable to publish her book in the United States. Again, there is a smoking gun in the hands of unidentified media influentials. One can only speculate that someone -- someone -- still worries about the sort of name-dropping that occurs on page 15 of Furiati's book. The fact that the ARRB Final Report was published in the same month that Congress voted to impeach Clinton, and that chapter 6 of that report contains thought-provoking comments about the individual mentioned by Furiati -- is no mean or insignificant coincidence.

Suarez writes with great gusto, and his work is memorable and exciting. His poetry rings true with a tremendous sense of history, family, and memory. Many of the poems in this colleciton are gems. Wonderful lyricism and nuance. I am proud of his work not only because I too am Cuban, and of the author's generation, but because I have been a fan of his work for many years and I believe Suarez has consistently produced good work.

This is an inspired collection of poems. I've been a big fan of Suarez's poetry for a long time and this book is a must-have for anyone out there following contemporary American poetry. I highly recommend it.

If you've followed the work of Virgil Suarez, you'll know that he began his life as a writer publishing novels about the Cuban-American experience, novels that were extremely well received ten to fifteen years ago. And then he changed: he drew in his personna as a novelist/story writer and churned the elements of exile and longing into some of the richest poems published about the American experience in the past fifty years. His work, mostly narrative, boils down the novelist's craft to a beautiful set of images, a fluid line, a melodic, tense voice that is as filled with humor as it is with love and pain. 90 Miles is not only an amazing collection--it's an amazing revelation of a man, speaking for his lost culture, turning it into a song, and in doing so, making a new type of culture for himself.

My wife and I took this book with us on a recent "Yankee Clipper" cruise from Windjammer. The book was quite useful with good descriptions (usually a paragraph or two) of the accomodations and restaurants on the islands we visited (Grenada, Mayreau, Bequia, Carricou, Tobago Cays). The authors were very up front about the experiences they DIDN'T like which helped us to avoid frustration. The book also had a nicely organized table of contents which helped navigate the book quickly.

Three small strikes against the book... First is the prices given were in ranges. Thus a hotel has its rating of 1 to 4 dollar signs. However, you don't know if the hotel you're staying at with the $$ sign is on the low end ($110-$115) or on the high end ($190-$195). Some people may not mind this, but I found Lonely Planet's "Eastern Caribbean" to be a bit more specific on what kinds of prices you can expect.

Second, most of the maps were for the whole island, with the only city specific maps being Kingstown, SVG and St. George's Grenada. The Lonely Planet book had several "city-scale" maps which proved to be helpful.

Finally, the book is rather large physically, about one inch thick and almost 6" by 9". This made it somewhat of a hinderence to carry around; we just left it in our cabin and read it on the way to our next island.

However, don't let my negative comments discourage you. This is an excellent guidebook for the area and is highly recommended.

Grenada, St Vincent & the Grenadines Adventure Guide has been selected by the Caribbean Tourism Organization as "Best Guidebook to the Caribbean in 2004."

This guide is immediate and thorough; it give a host of places and activities that could fulfill even the most bored tourist's desires. The book is salted with the kind of personal experience that makes visiting these islands so special. They take us away from palm beaches, island vistas and rugged emerald mountains and put us in touch with the people who inhabit these beautiful places. From fishermen in Barrouallie to Rastas in the Port Elizabeth market and a botanist in St. George's, we get a sense of the lives that entwine to make up the fabric of these islands. Also, each section begins with a history of the place at hand, so important to understanding the southern Windwards. The authors have produced a journeyman labor, a product of discernment and enterprise tempered with warmth and humor. Those of us who have seen the southern Windwards as a special place for so long have reason to be thankful and relieved.
Paul Tyler, Caribbean Compass

I just returned from a trip to St. Kitts and Nevis and found this book very useful, from the time I was selecting a hotel until I was on the island and looking for a place to eat. Through this guide, I learned about many out of the way spots that were overlooked by other guides. I am looking forward to using other sections of the book on a trip next year to St. Martin and Anguilla.

I have been traveling to Anguilla for several years but just found some new discoveries in this guidebook.

I wish I had met this book before I went to St. Kitts & Nevis for the first time. It tells you everything about them and you can count on it. Very easy to find out what to do, where to go, stay and eat. Very organized and easy to read. Many pictures in this book.