Rhode Island Books

This is a wonderfully poetic, sophisticated, and learned story of the isle of Corfu as experienced by Lawrence Durrell during a two-year idyll there in 1937 and 1938. Durrell was young (mid-twenties), he was still married to the first of his four wives, Corfu was beautiful and unspoiled, life there had changed little for generations, and World War II was yet to come. (When it did erupt, Durrell remained on Corfu until the fall of Greece, but he does not date any of the entries in this book, save the last, later than 1938.) Durrell wrote the book in 1945. Thus, it is scarcely surprising that there is a distinct sense of nostalgia, that the book is almost elegaic for a Corfu that, in 1938, was still a place out of time -- but by 1945, who knew? And we, reading it 60 years later, know all to well that globalistic forces have overwhelmed the Corfus of the world.

The book proceeds gracefully back and forth among anecdotes about Durrell's life on Corfu and his circle of friends there (all of whom are true characters and quite engaging); tales of history, mythology, and folklore; evocative descriptions of the land and sea; accounts of local practices and customs and livelihoods (principally fishing); snapshots of the Greeks as a people; philosophizing; and on and on. Throughout the writing is leisurely and superb. I compiled a lengthy list of striking quotes, but here I will limit myself to several examples.

On the Greeks: "The loquacity, the shy cunning, the mendacity, the generosity, the cowardice and bravery, the almost comical inability of self-analysis." Or, "We Greeks are not religious, we are superstitious and anarchic. Even death is less important than politics."

On land and sea: "The little bay lies in a trance, drugged with its own extraordinary perfection -- a conspiracy of light, air, blue sea, and cypresses. The rock faces splinter the light and reflect it both upward and downward; so that, staring through the broken dazzle of the Ionian sun, the quiet bather in his boat can at the same time look down into three fathoms of water with neither rock nor weed to interrupt the play of imagination . . .."

On local customs (and on time): "Not that time itself is anything more than a word here. Peasant measurement of time and distance is done by cigarettes. Ask a peasant how far a village is and he will reply, nine times out of ten, that it is a matter of so many cigarettes."

PROSPERO'S CELL (the title comes from speculation that Corfu was Prospero's island in Shakespeare's "The Tempest") is often classified as a travel book, but that doesn't really do it justice. It is virtually sui generis. If you are going to spend some time on Corfu, by all means read it (in addition to your Fodor's or other generic "travel guide"). But even if you are not fortunate enough to have been to or be going to Corfu, or even if you do not normally enjoy "travel books", you may very well luxuriate in this literate, sophisticated, and poetic book of a place and time that are no more. It is a splendid gem.

... this book is probably excellent. Poetic at times, amusing at others, and funny almost always, it's a good read and a nice introduction into the landscapes and people of Corfu. You get to know Zarian, Nicholas, N., and the rest of the uncanny people that seemed to be the expatriate tribe in Corfu at the time.
However (I wouldn't have given it 3 stars if there weren't a "however"), that's not always what you're looking for in a travel book. If you're into Theroux, you'll probably find this book boring at times, too intent on seeking brilliant metaphors.

The English writer Lawrence Durrell spent four years on the island of Corfu together with his first wife Nancy Myers in the years 1935-1939. He has collected his memoirs on this period during his staying in Alexandria during the WWII.

Prospero's Cell evades genre classification. It is an autobiography, but not a particularly factual one - for instance, along with Lawrence and Nancy, the whole Durrell family - his mother, two brothers and sister - came to live on Corfu for the same period, a fact he only acknowledges in a passing remark or two. It is written in a form of a diary, but the story flows without paying any attention on the interpunctuating dates. It claims to be a guide to the landscape and manners of the island of Corfu, but is useless as such. It spends a considerable time discussing the history and myths concerning Corfu, but the material is not laid out in a systematic and scholarly manner, and is probably of low value as a historical text.

Apart from ephemeral characters, the four personae make out the main cast: apart from Lawrence and his wife, there is also a doctor, biologist and polymath, Dr. Theodore Stephanides, and a bohemian Armenian journalist, Ivan Zarian. (Both are actual persons, of course; apart from here, Stephanides also appears on Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals, and Henry Miller's The Colossus of Maroussi.) However, Durrell has taken the liberty to interrupt occasionally this chronicle of their living, their thoughts etc. with a treatise on the Saint Spiridon, the island patron; or Karaghiosis, the puppet theatre hero; or a long treatise on the island history and myths concerning it. Prospero's cell ends with "some peasant remedies in common use against disease", a "synoptic history of the island of Corfu", lists of places to see, things to visit etc., and finally concludes with an anthology of letters written by Edward Lear, an English painter who spent on Corfu several years in mid-19th century.

Durrel's language is like brocade: rich, heavy and very sophisticated. He is too serene and spiritual to talk humour, even when the topic is indeed funny, e.g. the accident with the Corfu fire brigade, the Zarian's obsession with "Mantinea 1936" and the Stephanides' confusion with the brain cutlets, he merely cites the narrator. Still, it is a nice holiday reading, an intellectual supplement to any *real* guide to Corfu you happen to take with you. And, while you are there, don't forget to get yourself Hilary Whitton Paipeti's guide, In the Footsteps of Lawrence Durrell and Gerald Durrell in Corfu (1935-39), which will help you connect the world of Durrells with the contemporary Corfu.

William Durrell's investigation of modern love in THE ALEXANDRIA QUARTET announced the author's interest in blending geography and metaphysics, which probably originates in his Indian heritage.

The Corfu that the British author knew in 1936-7 might have disappeared already, yet his romantic portrayal of Mediterranean culture captures the spirit that despite inevitable historic changes and the ravashes of modernisation still prevails on the coasts of this historic sea. The bittersweet mixture of melancholy and happiness that is at the soul of everything Mediterranean, and even his philosophical reflections are impregnated with the soft sensualism in which the Mediterranean tradition of tolerance and antiquity is embodied.

PROSPERO'S CELL was published in 1945, four years after the author had left the island, and thus the nostalgia that pervades his writing further contributes to the beauty of this book. Some narrative chapters seem far-fetched in their anglicising romanticism, like the moonlight discussions on "Greekness" with the rich and bohemian Count D., but still Durrell's passionate portrayal of Greece should help enliven some rainy winter afternoons.

I've lost track of how many times I've read "Prospero's Cell." Durrell's use of metaphor and simile is at times brilliant; it is always interesting. Every time I return to "Prospero," I become Durrell's companion, walking the cobblestone streets, swimming in aquarium-clear waters, treading grapes. He has the finest understanding of Greek character I've ever seen in a non-Greek. His honest respect and affection are so real. The books of he and his brother Gerald ignited the mid-twentieth century tourist boom to Greece. Deservedly so!

Reviewed by David Lundberg, author of Olympic Wandering: Time Travel Through Greece

The book was a fun read, and I guessed the means long before it was revealed, because it was in fact the "means" used in the Dorothy Sayers classic, The Nine Tailors. In the Sayers novel, the "murder by sound" was unintentional, but appears to have caused the same cadavaric spasms. I kept waiting for Poppy to bring up Sayers' use of that method.

I got this book because I had just been down in the RI/CT area and the premise sounded interesting. In fact, the plot was interesting, the concepts were good and the method of murder something I have never heard of in real life or in books so that was intriguing. The writing style is not that great, conversations are sometimes hard to follow and some scenes seem repetitive and the pace could have been picked up. Also the heroine is imbued with too much goodness : the "native Block Islanders" are described as keeping to themselves yet they take to her immediately? And can she really cure an alcoholic by meeting him??
All in all the author has great ideas and shows great promise but needs a better editor.

Apparently for a "reviewer" here, there is some confusion about what a novel is and what fiction is. Speaking as a novelist whose novels are all set in real places (where else should they be set? Anytown, USA? An imaginary generic Eastern European village? The planet Zurgle?), I can say that SHE'S NOT THERE is a wonderful work of fiction for many reasons, and one of them is, in fact, the way the setting embraces the plot. Lively, imagnative, witty, suspenseful -- this is one of Smith's best. I can't wait for her forthcoming Poppy Rice novel next month!

Let me mention upfront that I live on Block Island. Not a native, but I moved here and live on the Island year round. I got the book because of the nature of it's setting, not the storyline or the author.
I found the book slow without a "hook" to keep my interest. The storyline is unimaginative. The "real" story, it seems, is the Island and island live and characters. To that end the author goes to great pains to write as if she actually knew anything about the island. However, beyond some topographical knowledge, she has none. Indeed, she completely distorts the live and people here. To be sure, we actually have a complete police department, Police Chief and all. Moreover they do live in nice homes, not broken down lean-tos. As for the "rich" natives riding in customized, fancy cars, I have never seen a single one. These are just a few examples of many.
Now don't get me wrong, I believe very much in "poetic license" but not under the cloak of personal, intimate knowledge of a place and people. Clearly, as the previous reviews show, the author dupes readers with her alleged knowledge when in reality there is none. In an interview to our local paper she explained this complete lack of local knowledge and distortion by calling her work "fiction". I would accept her rational, had she desribed a "fictional" place. Instead the author has gone through all her pains of picking a real place, seemingly describing this real place and people who live here.
So - if you like slow, unimaginative stories about a real location distorted by ignorance, this one's for you.

Block Island is the perfect place for FBI agent Poppy Rice to recuperate--along with her lover, ATF agent Joe Barnow. Admittedly, the law on Block Island is comprised of one aging Constable and an alcoholic state trooper, but that's all right. There was never any crime on Block Island. At least there wasn't until Poppy almost runs over the body of an overweight teenage girl twisted and tortured in death.

A con man has opened a camp for overweight girls on Block Island and someone is targetting the girls. Joe goes into retreat, unwilling to accept the possibility that his island harbors a serpent in its heart, so it's up to Poppy, along with alcoholic Fitzy, to get to the bottom of the case. Bumbling officials in Rhode Island and in the Center for Disease Control end up making things more difficult for Poppy.

Author Mary-Ann Tirone Smith writes a compelling page turner. Her descriptions of the people of this north-eastern island are convincing and three-dimensional. Poppy is sympathetic and smart, without being superwoman. I especially enjoyed the character of Fitzy--a hugely damaged individual who battles himself and his own fears.

I very rarely send a book back, but I did this one. It should have been called "Restaurants in Providence", as that is what most of the book seemed to cover. I have lived in Tiverton and Little Compton for twenty years, and found nothing that I did not already know. It certainly did not cover the state comprehensively.

This is a very insightful book that goes beyond the usual Providence 'Bling' restaurants and uncovers some great local flavor. Oak, for example, is probably my favorite restaurant--not only in Providence, but maybe in the whole world--and the author clearly recognizes its quality. Chef John Cully's inventiveness and hospitality also comes through loud and clear. Bravo!

This book is a revelation. We moved to RI because we suspected there was a vibrant, fun civilization humming away under veneer of Cardi's and I-95....this book confirms our suspicions! The shops and restaurants in it are delightful, fun-- and the writing, which is amusing, does give you a distinct impression of things. We have tried four new restaurants and they were all top-notch; I can't afford to visit too many of the shops, because the 2 guide-approved ones I've tried triggered shopaholism. Great book.

What I love about this book--and I do love it--is that it's like having an incredibly cool friend. A cool friend who's done a huge amount of legwork to find a ton of restaurants and stores that pass her coolness test and then taken beautiful pictures of them and written about them in a really organized and useful way. It's not trying to be Michelin or Frommers or some stuffy authoritative guide. Like any cool person it's got it's own point of view, which is honest and interesting and full of new ideas. In five minutes with this book I found as many interesting new places as I've found in the last few years living in Rhode Island, and so far there hasn't been a dud among them.

This fascinating work reveals the fact that Templar baptisteries started with the discovery of Jerusalem's secrets. They spread to Ireland, Portugal, Scotland and France and finally to America. Before Columbus. This book proves that the so-called Viking Tower could not have been built by anyone but an initiate who understood the advanced astronomy known to the Templar knights. This is groundbreaking and will forever change the debate over the Tower's origins.

In November, 2006, archaeologists hired by Chronognostics completed still another excavation of the Newport Tower. They came to the same conclusion as the excavation in 1951 by William Godfrey; i.e. it was built in 1650-1670, probably by Benedict Arnold's grandfather who owned it and claimed it in his will. So much of the book focuses on this that it is suspect in my mind. Additionally, the factual evidence on Sinclair having been in Rhode Island is meager, indeed. Dr. Diane Holloway

The lost Colony of the Templars uses a wealth of historical evidence to support its controversial theories regarding the Newport Tower and other evidence of the Knights Templar in North America, and I highly recommend it. Also highly recommended are two other fine Grail books, one non-fiction and the other fiction, and both are by Michael Bradley, a renowned Grail expert who served as a researcher for the Da Vinci Code movie. Bradley's Swords at Sunset is a non-fiction work that also contends the Knights Templar spirited the Grail to North America, primarly Niagara Ontario and Vermont state; while his fictional novel, The Magdalene Mandala is a wonderfully written thriller with a twisting plot that moves at break-neck speed. It also has well drawn characters and in the view of many is superior to the Da Vince Code. For anyone like me with a growing interest in the Grail, do yourself a favour and check out Lost Colony; Swords at Sunset and The Magdalene Mandala, which sent my heart pounding. These are three very good books and they're all highly recommended.

This book is like one of those people who insists on giving you every little detail and all of the detours in what could be a straightforward story. It has its moments but it takes forever to get there.

I don't read a lot of novels but I'd read them much more if they were this good. He is an amazingly gifted writer. I wish he would start writing again.

Early in his magisterial On Becoming a Novelist, John Gardner cites this book's virtuoso opening as proof that David Rhodes had a good "eye." But the book itself has fallen, not just out of print, but out of memory--I've met nobody who has read it and almost nobody who's heard of it, and Rhodes himself has successfully eluded multiple Googlings. Few readers will ever know that this book only gets better after the first two paragraphs.

His eye for detail, his sentence rhythms, his invention, his brilliant characterization--short vignettes and descriptions that tell you so much about the characters that you pass beyond feeling you know all about them, to the stage where they all seem bottomless and mysterious--all mark Rhodes as a rare craftsman. It's the story of a boy driven from a paradisal life in Iowa to Philedalphia by the deaths of his parents ... but the heck with plot summary, it's all in the execution. Demand this book from your local library, deluge used bookstores with requests, until Rhodes pops up on some reprint publisher's backlist.

This book was so riveting that I read it in one evening. And I don't read books! It really gets a person to thinking how they would handle a situation such as Mary's. It also gives you insight into how the court system is somewhat flawed. After having done everything Mary was supposed to do and did do by the book, the system failed her leaving her so desperate that she had no choice but to take the course of actions that she did. At the end of the book, it left me wanting more to read. That's how engaging this book was. I highly recommend getting and reading this book!!!

This book takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of the unanswered rage the main character feels as she plans and then implements her revenge on the one person she feels stole her soul.
I think perhaps, there could have been more preamble as to how the main character came to such rage. More of the background, early childhood, flashbacks, would have helped the reader step more easily into her shoes.
In any event, having never felt such blind hatred, I feel the author does a good job of taking you into the the heart of the killer.

This is more of a book to experience than it is to enjoy, due to the frustration of the main character and the gore of some graphic details. The story gives the reader much unrest with the constant hope that another character, a hero, will appear to make it all right, or the main character will somehow find a way to resolve this matter in a different way.
What I found most amazing about this book is the author inserts a piece of poetry between each chapter. Each poem is so incredibly moving that each piece could stand alone. While reading the book, I would find myself rereading each poem, relating the meaning to the story, all the while trying to hold back tears. I would love to read more of the writer's poetry. Perhaps she will continue with this talent.

Who knew there could be such a lot going on in our smallest state? "Peggy Thinks Back" by Matt Drummy is a highlight, but all of these stories have something to recommend them.

I came across this while browsing in a library in Providence. What a neat little collection! Nothing trendy, nothing hip, just a nice variety of styles and stories about Rhode Island.

This well written book covers a personal view of the early, happy days on Rhodes, to the occupation, and subsequent deportation to Auschwitz of the Jews. Understanding what life was like for the Sephardim in the camp, and what the moment of liberation, and aftermath felt like. All this through the eyes of a "Rhodeslis" survivor. A tremendous and powerful story, one that will make you sad, but one that needs not to be forgotten.

This book is not easy to read. Laura Varon goes into excruciating detail about the horrors she faced at the hands of the Nazis. But it is an important Holocaust memoir, one that should be read to realize the atrocities that took place five decades ago. It cements in history the details of the lost Jewish population from the Greek island of Rhodes.

Strange that it took so long for someone to think of this. Lovecraft was one of history's great letter-writers, and many of his letters contain autobiographical details, so why not gather those all together? Well, here they are, 343 pages of letters, Lovecraft's autobiographical sketch SOME NOTES ON A NONENTITY, and some explanatory notes. The letters don't really form a coherent autobiography, and someone who reads this book without having read Joshi's biography of Lovecraft first will probably not form a very clear idea of Lovecraft's life.

Most of the letters are new to me, even though I am familiar with the contents of the multi-volume Arkham House "Collected Letters." Virtually all the letters are a delight to read, since poor Lovecraft could find entertainment in even the most humdrum activities... consider the wild Arabian Nights bazaar-haggling fantasy he inserts into the account of his search for a good, cheap suit, after a thief made away with almost everything he owned in the way of wearables.

The text has one annoying defect; the letters are usually not introduced by telling us who they were written to, and one must repeatedly turn to a couple of pages marked "sources" for this vital info. Lovecraft's tone and style, and openness or reticence, varied greatly with correspondent, and this is background info you have to have to appreciate a given letter.

Typographical errors are very few; I spotted only about four, all probably transcription errors in copying from Lovecraft's microscopically hand-written originals.

Like the majority of university press books I have seen over the past 40 long-suffering years, this one suffers from what Lovecraft himself might call "preternaturally odious" design. The cover consists of a fuzzy snapshot of Lovecraft superimposed on a collage of details from old engravings, and each major section is defaced by a grey blob that is probably imagined, by someone with no sense of design, to be decorative. Chapter headings seem to have been affected by word-processing runaway, so that for instance the index is headed "Marriage and Exile, Clinton Street and Red Hook"!

Let's just say I loved every word of it. After you read it, this should go right on the shelf with your worn, much-read volumes of Lovecraft fiction, and you'll find yourself dipping into it at random, at odd times. What a man! Recommended!

If you don't have access to the 5-volume "Selected Letters" (published by Arkham House), this book is indispensible. This collection of letters spans Lovecraft's adulthood and covers such diverse topics as writing, eighteenth century antiquities, philosophy, politics, racism, economics, cats, travel, and even the art of buying a cheap suit!

Veteran Lovecraft scholars will enjoy this work because of the editors' efforts at placing each selection of letters in its proper context. These little annotations assist the reader in gaining a better understanding of the author's need to communicate with kindred spirits (despite his avowed misanthropy), his attempts to battle his depression with satiric humor, and the sometimes extreme lengths undertaken to cope with the slide into poverty and near starvation.

Well researched and ably constructed, Joshi and Schultz's offering is a welcome addition. Highly recommended.

The Mobile book has great maps. However, the layout of the book other than the maps is not user friendly. When we traveled in New England, we went to "regions" not just cities. The book is laid out with recommendations under each city. Some of the other books we used had regional groups rather than just cities. The maps were the most detailed and were what we relied upon most of the trip.

We checked out the Mobil Travel Guide New England 2005 from the library for our trip to Maine. We thought it was so good, that on our return we ordered it to have for the other states. The hotels, inns, and restaurants were very accurately described. No disappointments.