Barry Books

For those that know New Zealand, you have probably heard of Barry Crump. He is the eponymous bushman of this country, and luckily an author who recorded it for posterity in both fiction and non-fiction. His first book, a good keen man, written about Deer cullers and published in the 1960's was an instant best seller and hasn't been out of print since then.

In this book, Crump talks about a lot of his experiences over the years and you can see how the stories he wrote were shaped. These include his time shooting Salt-water crocodiles in Australia, how he got his first book published, and shooting an elephant in the main street of Wellington.

Humour is never far away from any of them, but they don't rely solely on humour. Crumps writing is deep and well crafted. He has the ability to draw the audience into his world and manipulate the emotions, and to alter the perspective of the story to allow other sides to be seen and understood.

I especially liked the story of how Crump had his first book published. In the 1960's there were only three publishers in New Zealand, and he tried and was rejected by two of them. His third try was marginally successful and he was told to go to Wellington to work with a journalist who would help him 'knock' the manuscript into shape. So the story involves then month long car ride to get the 400 odd miles from Auckland to Wellington in the 1960's - and including several layovers, tows and working stints to pay for repairs.

These stories would be a great addition to anyone wanting to add to their Barry Crump library, but it is also a nice book for anyone wanting to read some classic New Zealand literature, and to learn more about the country. Off-beat, off the track and good fun.

Software professionals familiar with process improvement are familiar with the name Victor R Basili. The man and this book are classic and should be on every software engineers bookshelf. I found this book useful and a great foundation for implementing process improvement in any organization. His ideas of experience factory, goal/question/metric paradigm, and the quality improvement paradigm are definitely worth understanding.

Throughout the two decades from 1964 to 1984, Fontana published a remarkable skein of ghost story collections, piloted by R. Aikman and later by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, no mean supernatural authors themselves. Some of the paperbacks in this series, which winds its way up to the "20th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories" are now collectors' items and worth over a hundred dollars apiece.

For this fourth book in the series, Robert Aickman selected eleven supernatural tales, including Alexander Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" which was also made into an opera--an unusual fate for a ghost story!

These are the tales in the 4th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories:

"The Accident" by Ann Bridge--Many great ghost stories are set in the Alps and this is one of them. A pair of climbers, brother and sister, come across a set of tracks that begin in an open snowfield, near the place where two other climbers had fallen to their deaths a month earlier. Then the sister begins to receive postcards from one of the dead climbers.

"Not on the Passenger List" by Barry Pain--A young widow takes passage on a ship to England, where she is to remarry. Her late husband appears in her cabin and tries to persuade her to drown herself.

"The Sphinx without a Secret" by Oscar Wilde--Aikman cheated by including this story, which has no ghost. A mysterious young woman is confronted by her fiancé, who breaks off their engagement.

"When I was Dead" by Vincent O'Sullivan--A young man witnesses his own funeral.

"The Queen of Spades" by Alexander Pushkin--An 87-year-old Countess dies before revealing her supposed secret for winning at cards. Her ghost appears to the man who frightened her to death, revealing the cards he needed to play in order to win a fortune. Would you trust the ghost of the woman you frightened to death?

"Pargiton and Harby" by Desmond MacCarthy-- Harby meets his old friend, Pargiton who seems to be making amends for an ill-spent life. Pargiton begs Harby to visit him, because he seems to bring out the best in the reformed evil-doer. Harby comes, but so does something else.

"The Snow" by Hugh Walpole--The two Mrs. Ryders, one of them dead, battle over their meek, inoffensive husband.

"Carlton's Father" by Eric Ambrose--I would classify this story as science fiction, since it involves a time warp, disguised as a room in Carlton's house, where no-one ages.

"A School Story" by M.R. James--Two men reminisce over the ghost stories that were told about their public schools. One of them concerns a master with a homicidal past.

"The Wolves of Cernogratz" by Saki--Wolves howl around the castle when one of the Cernogratz family dies.

"Mad Monkton" by William Wilkie Collins--Generations of the reclusive Monkton family suffered from hereditary insanity. Alfred, last of the Monkton line falls in love with the beautiful young Ada, but before he can propose to her, he must travel to Italy to recover the body of his Uncle Stephen, the black sheep of the Monkton family, who was killed in a duel. Everyone thinks Alfred is crazy for trying to recover the body, but an old family prophecy and the ghost of Uncle Stephen urge him onward.

Even though I'm only about halfway through Vol I, I am REALLY enjoying the book. It is a very enjoyable book and easy to read. The chapters are well organized and describe nicely how the war started, the Prussian and French high command and the battles. It is very clear to read why the war has progressed so well for the Prussians and so poorly for the French. I can't wait to finish it - highly recommended!

This is a terrific entry in the U of Mississippi series of interviews with famous filmmakers.

The earliest interview comes from 1945, but the bulk of the interviews are from the Sixties and early Seventies, after Lang had retired from filmmaking. However, he hadn't retired from thinking about film. While his comments on his own works are very interesting, what amazed and pleasantly surprised me was that he was willing to talk about the New German Cinema of the Seventies, "Deep Throat," and the impact of TV on movies.

Fritz Lang has the reputation of being a one-dimensional martinet. However, the interviews collected here reveal a complex man with an unexpected breadth of interests. It leaves the reader wishing he could have known Fritz Lang and envying those who did.

This book was written by a man after God's own heart, my brother! God has blessed him with the ability to relate to young people, parents, grandparents, people of all ages. I have watched the fruits of his labor as his own children have grown up and young people he has coached over the years have graduated, gotten married and are having children of their own. His spirituality and passionate, commen sense approach to lifes' issues is a gift to each of us who know him and now to each of YOU who will be blessed by reading his book. Give copies of "From My Heart" as gifts to your family and friends. Share "From My Heart" from your heart to those you love and care about!

We're planning a trip for May. The books appears very complete. I recommend all Frommer's guides.

I love all these books. They're very helpful and we enjoyed them before and after the trip.

Very interesting book. So many details about each of the nine shots from the first one (Sarazen in 1935) to the last one -- the chip by Tiger at the Masters when you saw the swoosh on the ball before it dropped.
I am not a low-handicapper, but I do love golf and know the sport very well. This book kept my interest from page-1. He writes about not only the stars, but all the great characters of the game too.
Very entertaining.

This book is now called Syrup. Barry Re-released it and changed the name. This book is a very good read, so go and buy Syrup.