Classics Books

A must read. A great selection of non-fiction material. If you know and like Borges you know you'll be pleased, if this is your first time reading Borges I guarantee that it won't be your last, you'll keep buying all his work. Borges wasn't a man, he was a library, a portal to knowledge and wisdom.

Enjoy

To read Borges, you become Borges. You see yourself in his mirrors, you regard the books you read as the books he reads. You appreciate what he appreciates, loving the literature he has absorbed, finding your way through the complex interweaving of his passions: Romantic English Poetry, Shakespeare, H.G. Well, Edgar Allan Poe, Dante, Icelandic Sagas, German Idealism, the Kabbala, Schopenhauer, Bergson, English Empiricism, Sufism, etc... All literary roads lead to Borges.

He lived a long, rich life. He is the Librarian you might meet in heaven. If only he were still alive to guide the reading public. If only he lived today and had a website, to think of all the books he might recommend. And wouldn't it be wonderful, to learn about his opinions on modern writers.

With the Collected Fictions, this book is a testament to the literary critic/philosphical wanderer in us all. Each essay is a delicate delicacy. This book is for you if you're a gourmand of good writing, great thinking and the pleasure of exploring the vast expanding world of literature. This book is rich, complex and wondrous. His writings on Dante and Shakespeare, his reviews, his philosophical essays... just read the book and become Borges becoming you.

Eliot Weinberger has done a real service to the world of literature by selecting, and translating these pieces. They show the range of interest, the incredible ability to make inventive creative cross- connections of one of Modern Literature's true masters, Borges.
Borges covers worlds in his writing, worlds of Literature , worlds of the Argentinean society he and some of his ancestors grew up in, worlds given in a universal encycopediac reading, which seems to cover all continents and all cultures.
Borges greatest work is considered to be his ' Ficciones'. But his signature is present in all , in a single page of a book- review or a philosphical meditation.
For him worlds mingle and combine, and are retranslated in such a way as to reappear as Literature.
He also in this work reveals himself to be a decent and courageous opponent of Fascism.
He confounds and surprises us at times with these strange mixings of things, but the poetic and parable- like element is so strong in this work that it engages us, and forces us to question our own small pictures of reality.
What a great and interesting writer. What a pleasure to have this work to enrich our minds with.

Because Borges lived and worked in Argentina, few have heard of him in the English-speaking world. Those that have are probably most familiar with his fiction stories. This book of non-fiction essays shows the vast knowledge and wide variation of interests of Borges. Therefore, this collection really does have something for everyone. Unfortunately, there are also many essays that are unreadable, some annoying repititions, and some essays are just plain dull.

So, what does Borges write about? He covers some metaphysical ground on the nature of time and infinity. He defines heaven as an infinite library, and then goes into the nature of infinity. On the more mundane end, he reviews movies and gives capsule biographies of authors - King Kong, Citizen Kane, and more obscure (and not necessarily Hollywood) films. He writes on contemporary (at the time) politics - Nazi Germany, the curators of the national library, etc. He gets intensely personal - there is one essay on the progression of his blindness. But if there is a main theme that permeates these pieces, it's his love of literature in all languages - Spanish, English (old and modern), German. He has an abiding love of the Greek classics (Homer, Virgil) and great admiration for Joyce, Poe, and Chesterton.

Unfortunately, those of us with a less classical education cannot keep up to everything that Borges says - I, for one, will never have the time to learn ancient Greek! - which makes certain essays difficult. There are other essays (especially early on) that are simply unintellegible (this may be the fault of the translators, especially since there are times when two or three essays cover the same ground with increasing degrees of murkiness). But it always happened that a real gem would appear just when I was getting frustrated with a series of uninteresting essays.

On the balance, about a third of the essays are not interesting (or badly translated, or repetitions), a third are interesting if not spectacular, and the final third have at least one moment of sheer brilliance. It's well worth buying, but it's unlikely you'll read it from cover to cover without taking a break - I took many breaks to read other things, and it took me over 1.5 years to complete the whole book. But you know what? - on the balance, I like his non-fiction better than his fiction

Borges claims in one of these articles that he was "more proud of the books he has read than the books he has written." I imagine I would feel the same way, had I written any books! And I think this statement captures the unifying theme of this compendium. Herein Borges will astonish and charm you with the breadth, variety, and whimsy of his literary taste.

The book is a compilation of critical essays, social commentary, reviews of the fledgling film art, and other oddities published in various media from throughout Borges's literary life. Each offers you new horizens for literary pursuit and further reading, and all are executed with Borges's renowned concision.

What I like most of all is that Borges is more interested the kinds of books people really enjoy reading, such as Bradbury, HG Wells, Lord Dunsany, and Kipling, rather than the fossilized academic "classics." One of my favorite features are the several recommended reading lists, in which Borges passes on his own most pleasurable reading experiences. There is also a refreshing eclecticism in Borges's taste--for example, this book lead me to Mathematics and the Imagination, a fun popular math book. Another personal highlight is the essay on Edward Fitzgerald.

This volume is not something one would read from cover to cover in several sittings, but rather a treasure trove to be mined from time to time, like the famous cave discovered by Ali Baba in that book so dear to Borges's heart!

Bruce Watson's "Bread and Roses" tells the captivating story of the 1912 textile stirke in the mill town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Now known as the "bread and roses strike", it united dozens of communities of immigrant workers under the leadership of the radical anti-capitalist Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to win a months-long struggle against all odds. One of the IWW's greatest victories, it also proved to be a short-lived one. In less than a year, the union in Lawrence had been all but exterminated, victim of a violent reaction the likes of which wouldn't be seen again until the jingoistic hysteria of the First World War and subsequent red scare.

Watson's telling of the story is a beautifully written, meticulously detailed and documented account. His fast-moving, journalistic history stretches beyond the strike itself in frequent tangents, to provide a glimpse at labor organizing and class conflict in early twentieth century America, starring Big Bill Haywood, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Smiling Joe" Ettor and hometown organizer Angelo Rocco, with cameos from Gene Debs, Joe Hill, Clarence Darrow, "T-Bone Slim", Morris Hillquit, John Reed, Emma Goldman, Teddy Roosevelt, Nicola Sacco, and many others.

My chief criticism of Watson's account is actually that he makes it too much a story. He gets swept up in the romance and legend of the "Wobblies", which leads him to neglect a serious analysis of their program and goals. Watson never really comes to grips with the radical anti-capitalist agenda of the IWW and the strike itself, characterizing it merely as part of the "struggle for the American dream".

Although Watson tries to maintain journalistic neutrality, it becomes clear that his sympathies lie with the strikers, if not their self-proclaimed "historic mission... to do away with capitalism". This is especially the case when he discusses the aftermath of the strike, when the union was violently suppressed and equal violence was done to history. In the sanitized history of the strike that was then established, Lawrence was a peaceful, idyllic town, with no poverty, no slums, no hunger, no low wages, no oppression. Then a handful of outside agitators descended on the town, exploiting flighty and feeble-minded immigrants, to manufacture a labor dispute where none truly existed.

Nonsense, of course, and Watson does a good job of demolishing it, and an even better job of telling a more accurate tale. The story of the Lawrence strike is one we all should know, and even those already familiar with it are not likely to find a more engaging account of it than "Bread and Roses".

I saw this reviewed on one of the public television shows. I read it, then passed it on to my Union to add to their library. Excellent work, very informative.

I was raised in Lawrence. My grandmother was a polish immigrant weaver at the Wood Mill and my grandfather was an Irish plant foreman at the Arlington Mills as was my father. I have been reading and researching Lawrence for some time. In fact in my book about growing up in Lawrence "A Summer with Charlie" now listed on Amazon, I include a short synopsis of the Strike of 1912. When I saw Mr. Watson's book advertised, I had to have it. He did an excellent job as did Mr. Moran on "The Belles of New England". If you really want some fun books about Lawrence get Images of America, Lawrence Massachusetts by Ken Skulski and friends. These are two volumes full of old pictures and descriptions of good old Lawrence. Whenever I get nostalgic and lonely for the old days and the good times I go over and start browsing through one of these volumes.
Bruce Watson's book is much the same - I loved walking with the strikers up and down all those familiar streets and learning about the history of my old hometown. This book should be a required reading at Lawrence High and Central Catholic, that's for sure.

I grew up in Lawrence and had several members of my family work in the woolen mills....

Although the strike was not talked about, I was very aware of how hard the work was and how much sacrifice was made by each family.

Sadly, the history of the strike was not taught in our classrooms - I strongly believe that it is as relevant today..... I urge everyone to read this book and to take it to your heart. Bruce Watson did an extraordinary job presenting this story.

I always was and always will be proud to be a member of one of those hardworking immigrant families.....and continue to be proud to have been raised in Lawrence.

This is a surprisingly exciting read. A 10 star book, at least. I can't imagine this history being told better although I don't know what others have written about this strike, other than a brief reference from the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World). Watson captures the importance of the IWW to this strike but also shows the great problems that the IWW had in holding on to the strikers after the strike ended.

So much detail but it flows so well. Watson seems to largely let the details tell the story rather than editorialize. This is history with the emphasis on history and not salesmanship. This is effectively a "you are there" episode accomplished in text.

What motivated Bruce Watson to do such exceptional work? I suspect that, unlike the author of "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, And Got a Life", Bruce Watson did not get anything like a $500,000 advance for "Bread and Roses". We need more people like Bruce Watson. And more money directed to support them: so buy this book!

So much about U.S. History I'm ignorant of. That a Kansas Socialist newspaper was our most popular weekly. That the IWW, afer having so much success in Lawrence, would be nearly crushed by the federal government. That one young man of the IWW, Joseph Ettor, would have such a profound influence of the Lawrence strike but die largely forgotten. That so many women would play important roles in a strike at this time. That within a year of the 1912 strike, the Lawrence strikers would be in denial as the IWW membership in their city plummeted: but there was a lasting impact on the strike on wages and working conditions in other cities, afraid of what the IWW and people of Lawrence had done.

The strike went from just Jan 12, 1912 to March 14 of the same year. But so much happened that it is amazing Watson was able to present it all clearly.

Imagine that after holding to such a hard position in 1912, the mill owner William Wood, would, about seven years later give his employees insurance, maternity benefits, sick pay, help them buy homes, provide English lessons. Yet die by suicide within another decade after losing his children.

These are powerful facts powerfully presented. At a time when globalism is weakening labor in the U.S. and everywhere else in the world, it seems worthwhile to learn what people did. And don't forget what Bruce Watson has done, by bringing that event to life again.

I bought six of my favorite childhood books for my great-grandson..."Little Black Sambo", "The Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Henny Penny", "Chicken Little", "The Three Little Kittens", and "Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit". My great-grandie is 2-1/2 and I can't wait to read these wonderful stories to him.

Timely delivery. The book was great. My great grandson loved it.

I bought this book on an impulse, simply based on the brightly colored illustrations and a brief refrain that that appears when you look inside the book. I couldn't be more delighted with this purchase. The book is a wonderful addition to my fairy tale library and my kindergarten kids absolutely LOVE listening to and participating in the retelling of the story, especially the rhyming refrain..... "I'm a troll from a deep dark hole - my belly's getting thinner. I need to eat and goat's a treat - so I'll have you for my dinner!".

PS - I agree: How lame that Amazon has mixed together reviews for all these various versions of "Three Billy Goats Gruff." They are all so different and all by different illustrators and authors!

Anyway, this is a comment about Marcia Brown's 1957 version, which I found to be incredibly gory. Rather than merely knock the troll off the bridge, this billy goat gruff graphically dismembers him, poking out his eyes and reducing him to "bits, body and bones." Yuck! There are other, mellower version out there... This one's not a favorite. (ReadThatAgain!)

Cute book with pictures that keep their attention. My boys walk around all the time saying "who is going over my bridge" in their gruff little troll voice! "Don't eat me... I too little," they say. I am so glad I added this book to our collection.

Thankyou Mr. Mason for helping me understand the Vietnam war and it's impact on those who fought. I was born about the time that you were touching down at your first LZ, and only grew to know the war from television and from my uncle, who was a helecopter pilot as well in vietnam. This book is a must-read sequel that will also shed light on what soldiers returning from the Gulf area must be going through. Congratulations on such a contribution, and Jerry Fowler is right, God is working through you without a doubt. You're an inspiration, I am just sorry that you and your family had to suffer so much.

This is a great book, as you can see by the previous reviewers!

What I want to know is why this book has been out of print for so long?

This book was recommended to me by a veteran that flew with the First Air Cavalry. He commented, "This book described my life in Vietnam".

The book is vivid in it's descriptions and extremely well written. I have read the book twice and both times have been moved by the ending. If you enjoy reading about flying, the Vietnam conflict, and people, this book is for you.

I have read this book three times. I know what an extraordinary story this is and have tried to turn others on to it.
Bob Mason's transformation from eager pilot trainee to jaded combat veteran/burnout, while probably not anymore remarkable a story than any other pilot's is well written and that is what makes it great! After reading the book I felt as though I know Bob Mason. Not a bad thing.
When Mason describes the deck inside the chopper,covered in blood you can almost smell it.
Serious life and death stuff with some of the funniest stories of human screw ups wrapped up in a truly memorable account of one
helluva chopper pilots' experience in Vietnam.
It's like I say:" 'Chickenhawk' is the best damn war movie they never made!"

unless you stumbled onto this book somehow, you probably picked it up because you had been through the "chickenhawk" experience with him in his first book by that name. this book is the perfect sequel to his vietnam story. mason's deeds in the war were heroic, and yet,he ends up struggling for his life even more as soon as he is "home". he is brutally honest about his own misdeeds--to his wife and son, his friends and associates, and to himself.you feel that you are trying to claw your way upward with him, as his life spirals downward.his salvation lies in his ability to tell his story, and you become part of it as you read this book

I was looking for ideas on simple structures for the homestead. The book is a bit dated, but you have to go back to find simple, uncomplicated ideas. We have grown so accustomed to specialized fasteners, tools and other hardware. Building a simple shed can be expensive when you have to buy materials. We have an abundance of raw materials and this book provided some ideas towards cost effective structures.

This book is great! I would recommend this to anyone 12+, because the shelters are quite hard to build. It is excellent for boy scouts. I got this for Christmas and in my troop were starting on plans already! Great for any wilderness lover and I recommend all the related books!
1/16/08

I know that most people will find this book to be anything but "green" however, I found this concept to be perfect in a world that sometimes forgets what it is like to be young at heart. Some of the shelters are not safe and one should always supervise young children who if left alone will build forts and such, yet there is a certain allure about thinking you are back in time and surviving on your own wits. Great ideas for survival campouts or if you like getting out "there" and just might once or twice get too far out "there" and find yourself in the need of an overnight shelter. Loved the book and will use or adapt many of the detailed plans.

This book is great! I would recommend this to anyone 12+, because the shelters are quite hard to build. It is excellent for boy scouts. I got this for Christmas and in my troop were starting on plans already! Great for any wilderness lover and I recommend all the related books!
1/16/08

This book is geared towards building structures that were used by outdoorsmen from years past. It covers how to make a bed from natural materials, a log cabin, Native American log house, and how to work an axe just to name a few topics covered in this book. The drawings of the dwellings in the book are simple (but not in depth plans or charts). The author does a great job of explaining how to construct these devices, but as I said a drawn picture is all your going to get if your a visual learner. Over all the book does what it says it will do, gives the reader good information, and I personally wouldn't be caught dead without it if I was trapped in the middle of nowhere by myself.

Richard Bondurant arranged a great trip to Moorea and Tahaa for my wife and I for our 10 year anniversary. This spectacular book is a great memory of our trip to Tahiti, and does an outstanding job of detailing all the exotic recipes that we jotted down on bar cocktail napkins while sipping fabulous drinks and sitting in the sun. I need to stock up on a few obscure ingredients before I can make all these wonderful drinks, but while it's snowing here for the winter, it's nice to just sit back, look at the amazing photos, read some of the trivia about Tahiti, and dream of going back someday soon. Thanks again Richard, for another great time!

The format of the book is very well done. Makes you want to go to Tahiti.

Wow! What a great book! We received it as a gift, which was perfect since my husband and I spent our honeymoon in Tahiti. Several things make this book great. First, the information about Tahiti is factual and entertaining to read. Second, the photos are amazing. Third, not only are the drinks easy to make, they are awesome! Kudos to Richard Bondurant.

Not only does this book have a wealth of information on a destination we long to travel to, but it offers a wide variety of fun and DELICIOUS drinks.
We love to entertain and it has been great having 'Cocktails in Tahiti' out at our parties...quite a conversation piece! Everyone loves the stunning photos of Tahiti, the scrumptious drinks, and the intriguing facts of the islands. Thank you!

Always looking for new and exciting cocktails to try, I purchased this book. Each page became more interesting, not only for the drinks presented but for the knowledge that Mr. Bondurant shares about Tahiti, it's culture, local accomodations, etc.

The photos are exceptional and each drink I have mixed has been better than the last. I have bought several as gifts for coworkers and friends. You won't be disappointed!

I was not familiar with Singer's work at all -- having not even seen the movie "Yentl" which was based on one of them, but the stories are quite engaging, with compelling characters and surprising plot twists. Singer is a masterful storytelller; and though obviously rooted in Jewish culture (both his father and grandfather were Rabbis) his exploration of the vicissitudes of life, character and relationships is universal.

A collection of Jewish tales, essentially from Poland and full of the fatalistic themes permeating the diaspora, along with a spicy dash of the demonistic.

This is the first ive read of Bashevi Singers work but its sure aint the last.
Ive read quite a lot of the classics and more than a couple of the Nobel prize winners, but I can honestly say that I have a hard time remembering such joyous storytelling. Singer was amazing; it all seems so easy when he tells his stories; its almost like the stories flows from his pen.
The fact that the stories often stem from the culturally rich jewish community in Europe makes it even more interesting. We tend to forget today, that much of what we call art was carried at great length by that community, together with the russian.
Anyway...if we forget all this and center on the prose, i end up with the following recommendation:
If you want to read something marvellous, enchanting and extraordinary,
dont miss Singer.

This truly excellent collection of Singer's stories (all originally composed in the Yiddish language) are as colorful as the people about whom the stories were written. Here are tales of weddings, of jokesters, of happy occasions of all variety, of feuding farmwives, and of unrepentant fools. After reading through a handful of Singer's works, a person gets the feeling of how it must have been to live as a Jew in eastern Europe a hundred years ago. This was a culture rich in its traditions and lore, a people who loved life and kept their identity through good times and bad. Singer, himself born and raised in the region so many of his short stories describe, was one of very few authors I would unhesitantly dub "a human treasure".

Isaac Bashevis Singer was a master storyteller and any reader will be well-rewarded for spending time with his "Collected Stories." Many of these stories are set in Poland before World War II or post-war New York City, but there is a spiritual energy that drives all of these tales, regardless of location. Old World demons and devils can be found in "The Unseen," "The Destruction of Kreshev," "Henne Fire," "Zeidlus the Pope," about the Devil tempting a Rabbi into becoming the Pope, and one of the collection's best, "The Dead Fiddler," about a would-be bride inhabited by dueling dybbuks. New World mystical forces are recounted in "Powers," about a man's seductive past, and "The Psychic Journey," about war breaking out during a writer's trip to Israel. Several stories involve survivors of World War II, among them "The Cafeteria," about a woman who imagines seeing Hitler in a New York City deli, and the unexpectedly heartbreaking "The Joke," about a practical joke taken seriously. Every story is deeply felt and richly detailed, including the more comic ones such as "Gimpel the Fool," "The Yearning Heifer," and "The Admirer," about a writer's fan disrupting his day. Choosing favorite stories in this collection is almost impossible, because they are all unforgettable, but ones that resonated most richly for me include "Taibele and her Demon," about a woman's mysterious night visitor, "The Little Shoemakers," about a family of cobblers who courageously survive two world wars, "The Manuscript," about a mistress who saves her lover's novel from destruction, and the transformative "A Crown of Feathers," about a young woman losing and then trying to regain her faith.

In The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Augustine concentrates on his powerful and zealous ongoing spiritual questions. His dairy- type book tells of the history of one man's struggle to obtain and maintain a close spiritual walk with God. John K. Ryan translated the book in an attempt to make Augustine's work more reader friendly.
John K. Ryan's translation of "The Confessions of Saint Augustine" is a very easy book to read. His 22-page introduction and notes with Bible scriptures at the back of the book help the reader understand and tie together St. Augustine's work. The scriptures that Ryan provided the reader appeared to come from the King James Bible. With this in mind, I examined the possibility that Ryan was Protestant and not Catholic in his own spiritual ideology. I than questioned if that had tainted his translation. Therefore, I read parts of other translations of the Confession found on the Internet and discovered them all to be like-minded. I concluded that Ryan's translation didn't show any bias, but tried to relay to the reader that Saint Augustine's true desire was to understand God's "Will". Therefore, Augustine was portrayed as a sinner turned saint. The book was organized in a chronological manner, taking the reader from the beginning of Augustine's spiritual journey to being known as a saint and a church father. Ryan's approach to translating "The Confession of Saint Augustine" was a social history because his translations were geared toward the aspects of civil society that show the evolution of social norms, behaviors, and more.
"The Confessions of Saint Augustine" is a valuable read because it offers a first hand look at how Augustine struggled to understand God's divine power and aspiration for his life, and to be of assistance to others in the future. He raised questions that men and women since time began have questioned during their sacred walk with the Supreme Being known as God. His personal thirst for righteousness consumed his life, and he is known as one of the great Christian thinkers.
The Confession was not what I thought it would be. I truly thought it would be a book full of confessions from a saint that was "suppose" to be a prefect person that had fallen by the spiritual wayside. Instead, the Confession was like an autobiographical journal, which did included doctrine, scriptures, studies, praise, memories, and confessions. I was impressed by his ability to swing from scriptures to his own thoughts, but had you not read the scriptures prior to reading the book you may not have realized the source of this information.
Augustine was a wonderful philosopher/thinker and his writings have been the subject of many discussions throughout history since it was written in 397 A.D. However, the Confession was written in a prayer-like manner addressing various issues making it difficult to focus on the subject for long periods of time.
Some of the things Augustine questioned to the "simple-minded" or should I say "non-philosopher type" is somewhat of a given. For example: in The Infant Augustine, he wrote, "I myself do not remember this. Therefore, the comfort of human milk nourished me, but neither my mother nor my nurse filled their own breast. Rather, through them you gave me as an infant's food in accordance with your law and out of the riches that you have distributed even down to the lowest level of thing." (7) Why did he question such things? Female animals of all types feed their young from the breast. This is natural. He apparently was so far above me as a thinker that where he was going with this is beyond my comprehension, unless, he was just saying, "Thank you Lord for supplying my needs even as a child, when I knew you not." He almost said these same words in the next few sentences but to go back so far and question every aspect is as I said before, beyond my comprehension.
As you can tell I have never read a book of this nature before unless you count the King James Bible, but I did try to keep an open mind. I was surprised that he didn't appear to be a happy Christian in all his efforts to be "Christ like". This disappointed me. However, there were times while reading the book I could relate to Augustine and many of his questions. This book reminded me that no matter what God a person chooses to serve, as human beings we want to become the best we can be spiritually.
During my reading I realized that Augustine through his quest for righteousness must have gone through many of the same stages that persons in earlier cultures and time periods have. For example: he questioned what pleased God, how should he praise and show his thankfulness to God, and in what way did he want to serve God. Throughout world history these same questions have been asked at one time or another.
Ryan did a wonderful job of translating the Confession. Augustine's book written like a diary made the confessions more personal. He was one of the greatest thinkers and Christian fathers of his era. His spiritual struggles were genuine; his desire for righteousness was obvious in his writing. I sit in awe at his wisdom and his pursuit of knowledge. This book was a good read and I will study it again someday. It gave me insight to what other cultures throughout history underwent to comprehend and to determine what path of Christianity they would embrace.

Any edition of Confessions of Saint Augustine is "must" reading for anyone who has traveled a road of self-examination about right/wrong, good/evil and finding truth. Augustine surely dissected his own belief system and came to terms with the meaning and purpose of life. I have read several translations of Confessions and have found them all worthwhile reading. I shall yet, read them again.

Let me just begin by saying that this book is brilliant. Augustine is one of the greatest thinkers that the world has ever known, and it shines through in this book. In this book, Augustine manages to cover an amazing number of topics, and does so in a beautiful way, filled with prayers to God.

I am not sure what the reviewer from June 10, 2005 is talking about. I think that they were reviewing the wrong book. This book is 400 some pages, not 90, and it is the complete version, not an introduction or abridgement.

Normally when I read books I underline quotes or passages that I think are especially good, or that I think I will be able to use in papers in the future. I then write the page numbers of the pages that have underlining on the back page. In this book, however, I ended up writing the pages numbers of pages I DIDN'T underline in on the back, since I underlined something on nearly every page. This book is absolutely filled with wisdom and knowledge of God and how He and the world He created works. This book inspired me to find a copy of The City of God, which I am now just beginning. If it is one-tenth as good as the Confessions, it will be well worth the money.

This is a beautiful book even if you aren't familiar with the Saints. It opens like a flower as you read. It is completely about this wonderful man's own thoughtful analysis of his own emotional experiences. He reflects on his early life when he was actually a pagan worshipper, and then focuses on his conversion to the Christian faith. Once he converted Saint Augustine returned to Africa and set up a monastic community. What makes this book so special is that is told with the utmost candor and he holds nothing back. It is also a beautiful book in praise of God and how he changed Saint Augustine's life. Although religious in tenure, this is not a totally religious work. So many observations and thoughts that this man had in his lifetime (354 AD is when he was born). It is a book about friendships (both true and false), faith, celibacy and love.

This book is a Roman Empire era classic, but not for the reader in a hurry. The translation appears to attempt to faithfully follow the original Latin long sentences and has therefore had to deploy advanced literary English to deal with the frequent multiple midsentence clauses. This is one of the reasons I found it slow going from a time perspective, but worth persisting with. One really good addition to the book is the notes section with all the Bible references; this is where having a cleric as the translator is clearly a bonus.

As other reviewers have pointed out, the book is a combination of St Augustine's personal life and his discussion of theology and philosophy. His personal life details include petty theft of fruit from an orchard, sitting around unemployed, youthful indiscretions, living a few years with his girlfriend until they split up, and his personal spiritual realignment from a heretical sect to the Catholic tradition. The Biblical references are mainly letters from the Apostle Paul, the Genesis story of the creation, and the Psalms, and there is nothing much from the Gospels or the Prophets. The philosophy component includes a review of his personal experiences with sense of time and memory which was no doubt drawn from his experience as a professional teacher of rhetoric and philosophy.

What one gains from all this is a great snapshot of what someone of religious conviction in the fading days of the Roman Empire saw and thought, including the experience of just scraping by to make a living. Overall, recommended for the patient reader!

Instead of repeating what others have said, I will summarize: 1) Great Designs and Patterns; 2) Incredible and Doable embellishments to make the purses/handbags attractive and desirable; 3) Romantic but also give a vintage-feel to the purses/handbags; and 4)GREAT Inspiration for all interested in fiber/fabric arts as these can be applied to other items, dresses, belts, scarves, hats, etc. IF you are so inclined. Compared to my other purse books, I will definitely refer to this one more frequently for inspiration than any other one, yet each purse design book does provide this to one degree or another. Enjoy!

Unless you've got a really nice collection of antique laces, trims and appliqués, these projects are going to be expensive, and probably not as scrumptious as if they were made out of original materials. When I'm in DIY mode, I'd rather not spend hundreds at a couple stores to make one purse, I want to use what I have on hand --and be able to make substitutions, even big leaps of substitution. This book tends to use the same materials (looped fringe for example), and if I don't have it for one handbag, I'm not going to have it for another either. So a special trip for all the materials in one handbag would be required.

Yes, the purses are awesome while serving their purpose: holding your stuff. But know that your project will probably be very expensive, and if you don't bother to spare the expense, you're going to be highly disappointed (if you have good taste.) Also, these are all busy, frilly, Victorian handbags, so don't buy it thinking you'll get anything but.

Very rich book with great ideas! It needs some experience because does not explain step by step process, but it is worth enough to get it.

Very good tool for the handbag designer. Love all the detailed instructions and photos. Easy to follow patterns. Fun designs.

The book has beautiful photos of purses which would inspire even the least creatively challenged. There are detailed instructions, a material list, preparation, and construction instructions, and there are patterns in the back of the book(which you need to enlarge). There are at least 14 bags, all beautiful and distinct. I would highly recommend this book to anyone wants to create a lovely purse.

Milan Kundera gives us a new insite on what makes a novel a different type of literature. He is widely read, witty and light. At the same time his opinions are thought provoking and the breadth and appropriateness of his quotations a joy to read. I must say that I read the book in one rainy weekend sitting and that it has been a long time since I have enjoyed so much following an author's thought process.

The Curtain is Kundera's third work of literary criticism/theory and it is, in my view, the best. It is more focused than Art of the Novel and less bitter than Testaments Betrayed. Here Kundera presents extremely readable and pointed analyses of several works and, more importantly, provides a larger argument about the role of the novel in the world and its moral capabilities. He provides insights into several well known writers such as Cervantes and Kafka, but he has also alerted me to many writers with whom I was previously unfamiliar. It is one of those books that, after you finish, will make you want to go and read a dozen other books. And I think that is a good thing.

In The Curtain, which in fact is a series of separate pieces, each of which are further divided into component pieces, Kundera presents the novel and novelists in a tableau of history, politics, and culture. His manner is discursive. Among his shaggy dog elements: the novel as psychological exploration of character or as existential analysis; phenomenological observations on the workings of memory; Rabelais, Cervantes, and Hermann Broch (The Sleepwalkers) as stand-alone contributors to the nonlinear history of the novel, along with Sterne, Flaubert, Kafka, Carlos Fuentes, and more; the influence of national culture on art (the difference between French "vulgarity" and Central European "kitsch"); the innards of a novel's process, and the workings of prosai-comi-epic imagination ...

It occurred to me, as I began to scribble notes on this or that observation, put so succinctly and well, that I hadn't felt the need to do that in a while, since reading E.M. Cioran's observations on life, in fact, and before that the aesthetic takes on visual art of Andre Malraux in Anti-Memoirs) and the comments on writing by Sartre in Why I Write. You can reread such books, as I expect I'll reread this one as well.I Think, Therefore Who Am I?

It is unfortunate many readers of serious fiction will never read this book. Milan Kundera (1929) is a Czech-born writer who writes mostly in French these days. He is best known for his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novel (Perennial Classics) (1984), a profound exploration of the fragile nature of the life of an individual. Following The Art of the Novel (1985) and Testaments Betrayed (1992), his seven-part essay, The Curtain, is part three in a trilogy of essays on the European novel. Translated by Linda Asher, it was originally published as "Le Rideau," in French in April 2005 by Gallimard. It should be considered required reading for anyone interested in knowing what the novel is all about.

Kundera believes that reading novels, from Cervantes, Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoy, to Kafka, Garcia Marquez, and Rushdie, offers a way of thinking that is essential to understanding human nature and our own lives. Reading allows us to tear down "the curtain" of pre-interpreted assumptions ingrained in our psyche, enabling us to have an unobstructed vision of the world we inhabit: "A magic curtain, woven of legends, hung before the world. Cervantes sent Don Quixote journeying and tore through the curtain. The world opened before the knight errant in all the comical nakedness of its prose" (p.92). For Kundera, "a novel that fails to reveal some unknown bit of existence is immoral" (p.61); its objective should be to reach into "the soul of things'" and the '"enigmas of existence." Understanding human life--that is "the raison d'etre of the art of the novel" (p.10). Anything less than that is mere "babble."

Although Kundera's subject is erudite, his writing is easy to follow--like sitting in a Paris cafe with a 78-year-old scholar, discussing why reading serious European literature matters.

G. Merritt

Kundera's book about the novel is not exactly as billed. These are not seven
essays. What we have is a set of notes, some speculations and assertions about
the past and future of the novel and its place in the world of literature and art.

Since these happen to be the spectulations of one of the most radically unsentimental
writers of our time, they are very valuable indeed. As the thoughts of a writer
whose work inspires other novelists (well, okay, this novelist) to keep writing,
they're especially precious.

Kundera urges us to see the novel in the context of its history. He suggests that its
reason for being is that the novel can tell a particular kind of truth, that it can
get to the heart of things and tear back the curtain of interpretation that veils
our realities.

The specifics of this arguement are as enlightening as the arguement itself:Cervantes'
humor as a reprise of what grownups know about the world, Rabelais' coinage of
a word for the humorless, Musil's irony, Stifter's prescience. Read Kundera to enlarge
your circle of acquaintance and turn literary acquaintances into teachers.

For all the inspiration that Kundera's work affords writers, this is a very pessimistic
book. With the death of historical awareness and appreciation for the moment comes
the death of the novel. Without 'the history of various arts, there's not much left
to works of art'. It's the pessimism of the true conservative-one whose heritage and
nation have vanished and being now incapable of growth can only be shored up
against the inevitable ravages of the new.

This perspective encourages-I think-an appreciation for the everyday, a Gestalt
shrink's awareness of the here and now. It's the kind of appreciation that rubs off on
the reader. If the reader is also a writer, this is the stuff that keeps you going.


--Lynn Hoffman, author of New Short Course in Wine,The and
the extremely charismatic bang BANG: A Novel ISBN 9781601640005