Blake Books

Fantastic book, well made and bound and a old book shop look. I loved uncle when i was young my favorite was Uncle and the treacle trouble and im hoping they will bring this out in the same format. Uncle is a great book for children and adults to read and the illustrations by quentin blake are excellent - if you like uncle you'll love walter moers!

Author Wensley Clarkson does a commendable job in uncovering the tragic murder of a British agent who got too close to the ruthless world of international arms dealers. The book goes behind the news stories, and provides a keen insight to what really goes on in the world of espionage and counter-intelligence. It's also a who-done-it mystery that keeps the reader guessing until the very end. Clarkson's work is enhanced by its focus on the human tragedy of two loving parents forced to deal with the loss of an only child, and their stuggle to see justice done. Anyone with an interest in this subject area will love it. "The Valkyrie Operation" is an absolute must-read for British citizens who want a taste of how the secret-side of their government operates.

_Varied Harvest_ is an sustained investigation of one of the pivotal figures in American novel writing: Henry Blake Fuller. Scambray analysize what may be the most important influence on Fuller's aesthetic, namely his homosexuality: "Fuller made a seminal contribution to the development of the American novel in the 1890s. But his conflict with society is as contemporary as the struggle for acceptance waged by such writers as Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, and Allen Ginsberg" (10). Scambray uncovers sources not yet utilized in other biographies and looks more closely at Fuller's "gay" novel, _Bertram Cope's Year_, than have other writers on Fuller. _A Varied Harvest: The Life of Henry Blake Fuller_ broadens the scope of Bowron's _Henry B. Fuller of Chicago_ (also an excellent resource), reinterpreting traditional views about Mr. Fuller and his works. A must read for anyone interested in Fuller's life and work as well as for anyone interested in gay historiography. Well done Mr. Scambray.

Vince Dooley and Blake Giles have captured the hallowed 1980 season with a spirit and accuracy that have no equal. This book helps those old enough relive the season and educates those young enough on what it felt like to live through the season.
The book begins with what any coach will tell you is the foundation of any season, albeit an unlikely one for a book: the end of spring practice the year before. 'Tales' lays the groundwork for why the team had unparallelled unity as the leaders of the team had to pay their debts to society after stealing a pig.
From there, the book tackles each game, one at a time, with a chapter devoted to each. The history leading up to each game, with details not found anywhere else, helps the reader feel the sense of all fans in the days and weeks leading up to each game of that season.
There is even a chapter introducing all of the coaches, who had coached for whom and teases apart the intricate incest that is southern football. And what account of the 1980 season would be complete without a chapter devoted to Herschel, his high school days, the recruiting process, his personality, and his phenomenal athleticism.
Vince Dooley and Blake Giles are the foremost authorities on this season: the coach and the sports editor of the local newspaper. This is evidenced by the exquisite details that simply cannot be found anywhere else. This is the ultimate book on the 1980 season for the serious Georgia Bulldog fan.

Edward Ahearn, honored University Professor at Brown University, here commits to paper subjects he has examined through reading and teaching. To deal with the visionary, he makes the obligatory stop through Blake, whose fiery social conscience and mythological incoherence made him the template for future literary "visionaries": Nerval and Lautreamont among the French; Burroughs; and the voices of Dadaism and Surrealism. As some of these writings are impenetrably concentrated, and outright antagonistic towards the reader, it is Ahearn's task to bridge the reader and these fictions, in order to communicate his own analyses of them. This task he handles with the same directness and precision of his college lectures, along with the exactness of a critic who presupposes some familiarity with these texts. As a work of criticism and of writing, an achievement

Just got this book today. I'm starting in painting with watercolors and this is a great guide if your just getting started. It shows step by step techniques and complete pictures of landscape watercolors, great for beginner or intermediate.

This beautiful book, based on a true story, moves back and forth between the realistic and the magical. A young woman signs on as nanny for the children of the scientists on a research vessel that plans to follow and study the sperm whale. With echoes of Moby Dick, the story follows the voyage, the days of excitement watching the whales and of boredom when they're nowhere to be found, the rare and treasured visits ashore, and the stunning experience of being surrounded by a vast ocean. We go back and forth from the everyday world of the sometimes tense human relationships of people confined together on a very small boat, to a world where people can breathe underwater and fish can talk to them. The scientists are portrayed without deference but warmly and humanly; we may see them acting cranky or foolishly, but we always see through to their love for the whales and for their work. One young woman scientist who befriends the nanny, who is a bit of a prankster, is an especially fun character. I hadn't read much of this kind of story (magical realism?) before, but it works well. What is more magical, anyway, a talking fish or the dome of stars you can see at midnight from the middle of the ocean? If you love boats, whales, the sea, or Moby Dick, give this book a try.

I quite enjoyed The Widow's Cruise (1959), the eleventh Nigel Strangeways mystery by Nicholas Blake (a pseudonym for Cecil Day-Lewis, poet laureate from 1968 until his death in 1972). Highly reminiscent of an Agatha Christie story, The Widow's Cruise is a delightful exercise in deduction. Several solutions are quite plausible. The actual solution is a surprise, an entirely fair one as all the clues are indeed visible, at least in retrospect.

The poet Nigel Strangeways and his friend, the well-respected sculptress Claire Massinger, are relaxing on a Greek cruise ship. As so often is the case, Strangeways becomes entangled in affairs that lead to murder. Seemingly every passenger has some secret, and much of the fun is sorting out which secrets are red herrings and which are indeed relevant to the mystery itself.

The Widow's Cruise was reissued in 1977 in a Perennial Library paperback by Harper and Row Publishers. It can also be found in The Nicholas Blake Treasury, Volume 4, a hardcover book club edition published by the Mystery Guild.

This is a wonderful book about Will Rogers from his wife's perspective. I feel I got to know more about Betty Blake Rogers, as well as getting more insight into her husband's character. It was quite interesting to get the family's view of life with Will. This book is a wonderful addition to my library of Will Rogers books, rounding out the public image from the other books, with a private viewpoint in this book.

The works of William Blake seem so modern I was surprised to learn he lived during the 1700's. He art must have seemed scandulous at that time especially with all the nudity and fixation on angels and other spiritual themes. I find it fascinating.