Iowa Books

Indepth review and wonderful colour pictures of diagnosis and treatment of traumatic injuries to teeth. A must-have book for all dentists.

In the land of the vikings, Harald Blue Tooth was the Danes first king - a prediction of what was to come one thousand years later. Now the time has come. Harald's vengeance for those that jeered him for his funny tooth still have to pay the price. They fall over their feet, they walk into clenched fists and fall from their bicycles. Harald laughs. But now thanks to a viking pair - JO and FM Andreasen - Harald has become more thoughtful. Dentists now have the weapons to fight his anger and save teeth. Any dentist who knows the fear and uncertainty of facing a trauma patient will appreciate the treasure trove of knowledge between the covers of this brick of a book (it weighs 3.5 kg!). If it's sold out here - contact Munksgaard publishers in Copenhageen - they can help. Your patients will appreciate you.

I just happened to purchase this book of short stories because Iowa Short Fiction winners are usually good, quality reads, and I fell in love with the characters in nearly all of the stories. My favorite was "Saint Francis in Flint." The writing was lucid and engaging (often sad - which I happen to enjoy), and the characters were intensely pitiable, yet hysterical. I haven't seen a novel out by Trevor yet, but I'll be looking. I HIGHLY recommend this collection!
Amy T

Douglas Trevor does for fiction about loss what David Sedaris and Joan Didion have done for nonfiction. They all write movingly about how people can be unhinged by untimely death. But his characters, though imaginary, seem even realer. You'll never forget them. And you yourselves may never recover from his gorgeous, final paragraphs.

With "Ticket to Minto" Sohrab Homi Fracis has given the world twelve brilliantly written short stories and, beyond that, has set a new benchmark for the genre. Substantively different from mainstream narrative writing, his writing is a reminder of what finely crafted literature is able to accomplish. He has something to tell, and he spend ten years to render his thoughts and feelings into this excellent prose. The book is not an easy read through (superior literature never has been and never will be), it demands the reader to take his or her time to feel the beauty of every single sentence.

The stories are set in India and the United States, related by their protagonists - Indian people of different religious groups - Hindu, Muslim, or Parsi - who are condemned to live as outsiders and strangers, abroad in America or even at home in India. Fracis writes about his characters with knife-like insight, but not without humour and poignancy, to show their (inner) struggle. His protagonists fight for recognition, search for love, and try to live a decent live. The writing draws the reader into the stories and into the live of those people. The narrative voice is so startling and colourful and one that takes the reader along on an unforgettable journey between two continents.

I came across the book by chance - but this has been one of the luckiest coincidences ever. I translated the story "Keeping Time" into German and read it to friends and other audiences. The responses were great. It is the underlying universal validity of the stories that make the collection a rewarding read for people even outside India and the United States.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who likes valuable literature and is interested in Indian an American contemporary life and life in general. I can't wait to read more by Sohrab Homi Fracis.

Reviewer John Green errs blatantly in calling most of these stories "first-person accounts." Only four are told in first person. The other eight clearly show third-person. I also disagree with Green's view that "these stories often lack a clear and consistent narrative voice and tend to end with contrived imagery of closure."
Sohrab Fracis creates a rich variety of Indian characters, beginning with the Parsi schoolboy whose religious faith helps him defeat a bully in the first story, "Ancient Fire" and ending with an Indian-American whose artistic faith keeps him going as a talented author in the last story, "The Mark Twain Overlook."
I notice an underlying sensibility in this collection that appears almost like a character. This sensibility is upper class, cultured, dynamic. It thrives on nuance, at times challenges with ambiguity. It lives as an uneasy minority in India and in America. It values stability and family life but prefers mobility and single life. It searches for love less by convention and more on its own complex terms. It portrays promiscuity with serio-comic effect. It feels for the downtrodden and is painfully aware of class divisions that contribute to India's misery. It casts a keen eye at American provincialism and residual racism. It understands the dilemma of mainstream Americans who are identified with past wrongs to minorities and are trying to right the wrongs but in ways that bring the mainstream more condemnation. It empathizes with the elderly, especially with those who live their declining years with calm and dignity.
It often closes stories with images of remarkable subtlety like the broken tree branch in "Stray" and the drifting hairs of a pickled rabbit's paw in "Rabbit's Foot" (stories in which students from India feel the tug of their country's traditions and life in contemporary America). Arguably, the most skillful use of imagery occurs in the conclusion of "Keeping Time." Here music and writing interweave to underscore an aging piano teacher's alleviation of frustrations and sadness with stoic acceptance.

i thought this was a great book i already have found my one buddy (not a towwn)

This book explains how to get a weight lose community started. It is very motivational! I was able to get started in the program immediately and have already started making better choices based on material in book. If you are trying to lose weight, this book can really help!

WHAT A GREAT SOURCE OF INFORMATION ON BOTH IOWA AND NEBRASKA. IT TRULY IS A BLOCKBUSTER OF A READ! I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT FOR ANYONE TRAVELING TO EITHER IOWA OR NEBRASKA - OR BOTH. IN FACT IF I DIDN'T ALREADY LIVE IN IOWA - AFTER READING THIS BOOK - I'D CERTAINLY CONSIDER A VISIT. I MAY EVEN GO OVER TO NEBRASKA.

I never thought a travel book could be so literate and engaging. It's almost as if the author grew up on the border of Iowa and Nebraska, possibly on the Iowa side. He paints a festive atmosphere about all the visited locales, and he does it with such interest that you can actually SEE the diamond so big it's gonna make you puke at the Iowa State Fair, TASTE the cup-o-pizza they sell at the Grotto of the Redemption, HEAR the townsfolk of Kearney, Nebraska singing "Picking Out a Thermos for You" in the Bandshell on Sunday nights after church, SMELL the perfumed dancers on the private disco floors of Scottsbluff, FEEL the ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair at the Iowa Great Lakes.

There was a special on VH1 where a former roommate of Munson was telling a story about living in their apartment, Munson's first. "I just really remember after I'd lived there a while, the guy from U.S. West came with the phone books. Kyle picks it up and starts, like, freaking out about it. He's all, 'The new phone book's here! The new phone book's here! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity I need! My name in print! That really makes somebody! Things are going to start happening to me now.' And I was all, 'Chill dude.'"

Well, all I can say is that the new Iowa/Nebraska TravelSmart book is here. Buy it if you plan on going to either of those places, or, as the previous reviewer so insightfully stated, buy it if you're going to both.

Jim and Ernie do an excellent job with this book about the driftless area's archaeology. This was a required text for Jim's midwest archaeology class. It is a very readable book compared to most archaeology publications. A great introduction to the Upper Mississippi Valley regions archaeology. Jim and Ernie have worked in the area for years and are very knowledgeable about what is going on. Ernie is in constant contact with collectors to gain more information about what is going on in the area. Their work at MVAC has made this book possible. Overall it is a very good book on the subject that is interesting and engaging to read.

James L. Theler (Professor of Archaeology, Department of Sociology and Archaeology, University of Wisconsin La Crosse) and Robert F. Boszhardt (Associate Director of the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - La Crosse) are veteran archaeologists with more than twenty years experience in the field. Twelve Millennia: Archaeology Of The Upper Mississippi River Valley is a collaboratively written and thoroughly engaging overview of the Driftless region of the Upper Mississippi River Valley, featuring its ecological evolution throughout prehistory, as well as catalogs of animal remains and Native American rock art that can be found in the valley today. An excellent guide for vacationers and amateur archaeologists wanting background information for an area that roughly extends from Dubuque, Iowa to Red Wing, Minnesota, Twelve Millennia is a welcome and scholarly contribution to regional academic Archeology Studies reference collections and student reading lists.

It is very interesting to read about the invention that allowed the game of basketball to celebrate the slam dunk as it does. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the modern game.

This is a excellent book on the history of the break away
basket and how it saved the excitement of the Slam-Dunk that
makes a basketball game so enjoyable.
It also shows the steps needed in getting a patent and how
it is so hard to do.

This extensive checklist is a must for every fan of native plants. I used it extensively when planning my own wildflower gardens! Laara Duggan, author "The Best Flowers for Midwest Gardens"

This extensive checklist is a must for every fan of native plants. I used it extensively when planning my own wildflower gardens! Laara Duggan, author "The Best Flowers for Midwest Gardens"

Incredible photography, a nicely written text, a good bit of history, and the fine condition of so many of these buildings (mostly homes) make this an joy for anyone fond of architecture and a real treat for anyone seeking more knowledge of victorian architecture.

This book is like a treasure box. When opened it reveals the beauty of the midwest from an angle that not too many people have thought of. The photographs make you look at structures in another way,thus opening up a whole new "treasure box" when you begin seeing these architectural elements in real life no matter where you are--Midwest or not! It's even more exciting to take a road trip and actually drive by these featured homes and buildings. This is a must for those renovating victorians,those partial to victorians,and those interested in preserving the old structures in your town. If you are a RAGBRAI rider (The Register's Great Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa)and have been captivated with the simple beauty of Iowa,this book will open up yet another avenue of enjoyment as you proceed through the small towns of the state.

Walking on a Rolling Deck: Life on the Ark

Berken's first book is amazing! I didn't want to put it down! It hits on everything: spirituality, disability, family, community, cancer, humor and simply living life. Life on the Ark is very real and very down to earth.

What makes this book so great is that anyone can read it, and find something to relate to. Anyone who knows someone who has dealt with cancer. Anyone who knows someone with a disability. Anyone who has dealt with divorce, and family, and starting over, and then incorporating the power of spirituality into all of those things.

This book is amazing, and no matter who you are, or where you are on your journey, you will learn something from this book... and no doubt you will laugh and cry.

Walking on a Rolling Deck: Life on the Ark is the true-life memoir of author Kathleen C. Berken, of her life-changing choice to work as a live-in assistant in a L'Arche community in Clinton, Iowa, aiding men with developmental disabilities. A deeply spiritual testimony, Walking on a Rolling Deck tells of the inevitable difficulties of adjusting to change, confronting the specter of breast cancer, but most of all, of the benevolent power of God's love - a power all too often ignored, neglected, or obscured in today's world. Ultimately a simple story of Christian life and the resonance of faith, illustrated with a handful of black-and-white photographs, Walking on a Rolling Deck is highly recommended for Christian readers and anyone seeking to quietly contemplate the mystery of God that permeates even the most mundane aspects of daily life.