Christie Books

In this compilation of correspondence between two erudite artist/writers, the reader is allowed to eavesdrop on the communications of John Berger and John Christie. These are two real renaissance men, interested in everything and commenting on all to each other with such intelligence and candor that we are compelled to read further, taking joy in their knowledge of color, art history, bookmaking, and literature. The book is obviously put together with the input of the book artist, with covers and pages you must touch, luscious color, fold-outs, and lovely photographs of the hand written letters, the books, and even the envelopes that traveled between the two men. The insight into their personal lives and their friendship adds an irresistible dimension. This bok is a must for anyone interested in art in any form.

Sometimes a resonant voice leaps off a bookshelf and whispers promises. This book both whispered and sang to me and fulfilled my hunger eyes. I read it, leisurely in one sitting, but I can imagine going back to touch it or rather fondle it, again, and then again. Two voices, not as one, but as a seamless whole is what delighted me in finding "Send me a Cadmium Red" and caused a profound artful ripple in my otherwise quiet day. Colour excites, cadmium red excites twice over and if I could I would gather together my own loose threads and follow the course of these two fine friends and send a single swatch of colour that would stir them to respond.

Like a bee, under vibrating equilibrium and full of gold : thats the emotion felt after reading this colorfull-voices.

Rick Osborne knows how to write in a language that connects with children. Elementary-age children (and their parents!) will find this book theologically sound, filled with interesting information, and visually appealing. Gives great teaching on how children can make the Bible a part of their lives. A wonderful resource for captivating children with the uniqueness of God's word and its life-changing nature.

The authors know how to write in a language that connects with children. Elementary-age children (and their parents!) will find this book theologically sound, filled with interesting information, and visually appealing. Gives great teaching on how children can make the Bible a part of their lives. A wonderful resource for captivating children with the uniqueness of God's word and its life-changing nature.

This fun book is short (32 pages long), but tall and wide, making it easy for smaller hands to hold open. Using bright colors and informative sidebars, it talks about the Bible, giving a lot of information in a simple, easy-to-understand format. Along the way, the reader is treated to a picture search, a maze, and lots of other fun projects. If you wish to introduce a young person to the Bible, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

This is a great collection of short stories. I was knocked out, been telling all my friends, all that stuff. Anyone sick of Dan Brown and his ilk of clumsy sensationalists should pick this up, spend time with a writer who knows how to find insight into the small moments life offers.

Highly recommended.

This book is really something. I generally am hesitant to spend so much dough on a writer that isn't a sure bet, but after reading her prize-winning title story in a lit mag I had to grab it. God, she's refreshing. Comparable (sort of) to Denis Johnson without the reliance on dope as a plot element. Funny, wry, dark, intelligent. If you want to see what's going on in contemporary fiction check this out (She's got a novel too if you're not much into short stories that comes out in a month or two).

The sheer verbal energy and inventiveness of this collection pulled me straight through to the last page in less than two days, a personal recond for reading a story collection. The stories are edgy, unpredictable, funny peculiar, funny haha, and most of all wisely discerning about lives quietly lived on the margins of our society. I was reminded somewhat of Confederacy of Dunces. Christie Hodgen is so talened: Ephram lives! The book was really a delight to read.

This book was delivered to me very quickly and in very good condition. I am glad I purchased this book. It was a very good experience.

on time delivery. book was in perfect shape!! I would order again from this seller.

The laboratory manual is very helpful. It is to be used with the Seventh Edition of Puntos de Partida.

The Lost Days is not an easy read, but if you are interested in solving the mysteries of the human mind and the mystery of Agatha Christie's disappearance in 1926, The Lost Days is a very satisfying experience. Author Owens, a therapist, has done a very interesting thing, she has taken Agatha on as a client and the therapy session solves a seventy-year-old mystery as no one else ever has including the great Queen of Mysteries, Agatha herself.

The queen of mystery biggest mystery was her own. It was incredible to me to find out that Agetha had a mystery of her own that she could not solve. Doctor Owens approach to solving Agetha's mystery was fascinating and a real page turner. It was the most uniqe books I've ever read. Using Agetha history and passages from her books to coherently solve a previously unsolved mystery was a stroke of brillance. Dr. Owens takes us on an intelletual ride that keeps you interested from the first to the last page. The solution was so satisfing that I felt 100% confident that the ultiment mystery was finally solved. YOU WILL HAVE TO READ IT FOR YOURSELF TO BE LET IN ON THE SECRET! The solution and writting is something that Augetha would be proud to have authored herself 5 STARS!

I was surprised to find out that Ms. Christie herself had a mystery surrounding her disappearance in 1926, so I was interested to find this book. But I would have called it, "The Agatha and the Ecstasy."

Upon opening this exciting book,I was drawn into the bright colors and the words that were simple, yet quite powerful. As an elementary school teacher, I was looking for poetry to share with my students that was beyond the same few it seems they see year after year during February. This fit the bill perfectly. It was language my children could relate to, yet it showed some insight into important issues such as racism, segregation, and slavery. The added bonus for me was the additional text about how each poem related to Langston Hughes' life. In the book, Mr. Medina mentions that as a child, he opened one of Langston Hughes' books of poetry and saw his photograph. Not only was he moved by his work, he was pleasantly surprised and inspired because he saw an artist of color in a published work for the first time. Since then, he has been inspired to create poetry. Tony Medina has given us a beautiful tribute to Mr. Hughes as well as fresh poems for new generation!

Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902 (in Joplin MO), and his centennial was celebrated with the publication of books honoring his poetry & life, including "Langston Hughes, an American Poet" by Alice Walker . . . & also, "Love to Langston" by Tony Medina.

For this book the author writes poems in a style similar to Hughes' - - each being biographical. These are followed by three pages of helpful notes. Some of the dates make for surprises: In 1914 Hughes protested against "JIM CROW SEATING" in his 7th grade! In 1923 he began an odyssey to learn about the world firsthand, starting with Africa: "going around the world digging life, . . mining for riches" by observing people.

His poetry was influenced by Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg, but also by the rhythms of jazz. "Jazz makes me sing - - the blues makes me feel . . . a whole lot better . . . hits my heart in the funny bone." The bold colorful illustrations by Gregory Christie are a happy choice and complement Medina's hopeful text. This happened, too, with the 1982 "Langston, A Play by Ossie Davis" for which Jerry Pinkney illustrated the cover.

In the 1950s the specter of Senator Joseph McCarthy threatened Hughes' ability to earn a living. He was quite ill in 1967 when "dear sweet Alice (Walker)" one of the young authors inspired by his works, visited him: " ... she brings me oranges like a bag of sun." The sun can also shine into your heart through reading Langston Hughes' poetry, suggests REVIEWER mcHAIKU.

Meet James Langston Hughes in a unique and entertaining biography that brings this great poet of the Harlem Renaissance to life. Written in free verse, Tony Medina's fourteen poems follow Langston from his boyhood in Kansas marked by racism and poverty, to his trips to Africa and around the world, and finally to life in his beloved Harlem..."Harlem is the capital of my world/black and beautiful and bruised/like me..." Mr Medina's simple, yet powerful poems speak volumes, and are full of energy, rhythm, wisdom, and truth. "In Topeka, Kansas/the teacher makes me sit/in the corner/in the last row/far away from/the other kids// She rolls her eyes/and sucks her teeth/with heavy heavy sighs/and lies and lies// She tells one kid/not to eat licorice/or he'll turn black/like me// When Mama finds out/she takes me out of school/she rolls her eyes/and sucks her teeth/with heavy heavy sighs// And why why why" R. Gregory Christie's expressive, bold, and riveting illustrations complement each poem beautifully, and draw the reader into the world Langston Hughes loved and remembered. Together word and art present an engaging and evocative tribute to a remarkable and vibrant man who loved people, books, and jazz. This is much more than a creative and innovative biography, it's a labor of love. Perfect for youngsters 7 and older, Mr Medina includes notes, details, and insight to help flesh out, complete, and enrich these original poems about Langston Hughes' life, and introduce Hughes and his work to a whole new generation. This engaging biography is sure to whet the appetite of both young and old alike, and send you out looking for more. So come celebrate the life of Langston Hughes on what would have been his one hundredth birthday... "Sometimes life ain't/always a hoot/or a holler// But if you manage/to give it/a bother// Even if you miss/your mother/or don't like your father// There'll be better days/up ahead// A whole mess of/happenin' days/up ahead// You can sit and sulk/suck your teeth/and sigh// Or love and laugh/and live life/by and by"

"A Murder Is Announced" ushers in a wonderful parade of English village characters, which gather together to a most unusual invitation -- on Friday at 7 pm there will be a murder in Little Paddocks. It seems like a bad hoax - until the murder really happens.
If there was one Miss Marple novel to be chosen as the most ingeniously put-together plot, it might well be this one. The aforementioned first murder, meanwhile, is not the last. Miss Marple is fortunately on hand to stop murdering and divulge the true nature of tragic events that shake one home in that little English village, with the repercussions from a few years ago, during the war.

What "improvements" have been made for the Black Dog & Leventhal edition? There are already major differences in punctuation, word choices, and scene breaks between the original Collins and Dodd Mead editions of this novel. There are further differences between the Dodd Mead editions republished by Random House/Avenel and the Dodd Mead editions republished by Simon & Shuster/Pocket. There are further additions still in the Signet, Bantam, and Berkley editions. For every publishing house putting out her works, there seem to be a new batch of editors altering Agatha Christie's words and the sound of her voice. What's the matter with these publishers? Whose voice do they think we want to hear when we sit down to a novel by Agatha Christie? And what will she sound like twenty years from now? It's frightening that her estate has failed to see the importance of guarding her words as she wrote them. Please tell me I'm not the only one here who senses that a crime has been committed.

A MURDER IS ANNOUNCED was published for the first time in 1950. It was adapted for the stage in 1977 by Leslie Darbon :Agatha Christie's "A Murder is Announced" (Adapted for the Stage).

I can't but recommend this book that presents one of the most inventive mysteries ever concocted by Agatha Christie. For once, if you're very careful, it's possible to find the murderer before the last ten pages of the novel because all the clues are given by the smart Lady of the Crime. As always in Agatha Christie novels, light notes about the English social and political climate spreaded all along the chapters allow us to better imagine the everyday life in an English little town some five years after the end of WWII.

A book for your library.

I will soon be opening a cafe and have been desperately looking for a book like this. It is a detailed text book covering everything, plus hundreds of "quick bites" that offer tips and examples to help with understanding. I know its a reference that I will go back to over and over.

Although this book is expensive, the quality of its contents justifies the aquisition. It's a comprehensive manual of all the aspects the you must take into account when you are running a restaurant or you wish to start one. Nobody should start a business in this industry without reading books like this.

It's been a year since we opened our restaurant in Chicago without any prior experience in the food industry. Having read this book helped me create and maintain our financial controls and understand our customer expectations. For less than 90 bucks, this book has provided me with invaluable, easy to understand and directly applicable concepts. A must read for anyone starting out in the restaurant business.

With all this obession over testing in school and phonics, researchers have repeatedly found that access to books and libraries are really the key to literacy for a people. Apparently segregationists understood this and tried to limit the accessibility of books to African-Americans in the South. William Miller's fictional account of Richard Wright's attempt to access a library and books illustrates how reading can change lives and help people to grow. Richard Wright grew into a writer and was able to use words and writing not because he learned phonics or took tests but because he had books to read.

Richard Wright grew up in the early 1930s . . . thinking that a library card was the TICKET TO FREEDOM. His mother used 'funny papers' to teach him to read but his formal education went only through 9th grade. A chance for a job took him to Memphis, Tennessee, and there he continued to yearn for books.

How difficult it is now to imagine not being allowed a library card because of race. Thousands of books, but only white folks could check them out! At work Richard finally approached one white man who was willing to loan his library card. Bending the truth a bit to use the card, young Richard found a new life spread out before him.

This 5 STAR story was drawn from an incident that Richard Wright wrote about in his famous 1945 autobiography. The books he read inspired his own talent. He worked with words all his life to express his beliefs in freedom and equality. Everyone MUST see the portrait of Wright on the cover of "HAIKU, This Other World" and be moved by that handsome face which reflects such great strength of character.

Libraries are more than symbols, and books are treasures that never stop 'giving back'. Parents & Teachers: Encourage children to tell about their first library experiences.

REVIEWER mcHAIKU believes fervently that their memories are also treasures.

Richard Wright is an African American author best known for his novel "Native Son" and his autobiographical work "Black Boy." In "Richard Wright and the Library Card" author William Miller fictionalizes a story from the latter work that tells of how Wright was inspired to become a writer. Growing up in the Mississippi of the segregated South of the 1920s, Wright was only allowed to go to school through the 9th grade. His mother had taught him to read by using the newspaper and Richard read everything he could find. At the age of 17 Wright traveled north to Memphis, where he got a job sweeping the floors and doing other jobs in the office of an optician. Wanting to check out books at the local library Wright is told he cannot do so because he is black. The only things he can read are old books and newspapers that he finds in the trash. But then, with the help of a white co-worker, Wright is able to come up with a strategy for circumventing the rules.

Miller takes some liberties with Wright's original description of these events in his life, but for the most part these changes simply reinforce the elements of the story; for example, the librarian is suspicious of Richard until he lies and says that he cannot read, at which point the librarian laughs. The detail is not in "Black Boy," but certainly having the librarian laugh reinforces both the irony and the injustice of Wright have to lie in order to gain access to books to read. For that matter the language in the story is made appropriate for young readers, who do not need to hear the epithets in use at the time to understand the prejudice Wright and other African-Americans faced in the segregated South. Miller also does a nice job of setting up the anticipation of young readers who, even if they know nothing of Wright's literary accomplishments, quickly realize that he is going to be able to get to read some books and have to wonder how he is going to do it and beat the oppressive system of segregation.

This volume has the advantage of wonderful impressionistic illustrations by Gregory Christie that pointedly capture the contrast between the face that young Richard shows to the suspicious white librarian, and the real face that comes alive when he is able to read books. This book is appropriate for young readers (Grades 2-5 in terms of interest level and Grades 2-3 for reading level) and emphasizes the wrongness of treating people as different in that Wright's co-worker, Jim Falk, is also considered an outside because he is Catholic, although clearly the Jim Crow laws are the implicit target of condemnation in this book. Wright considers every page of each book to be "a ticket to freedom," and when the young Richard leaves Memphis to go to Chicago and a new life, hopefully young readers will look forward to actually reading some of the important books that he wrote. But at this point the main benefit will be the sense of how things were different back then; I wonder how many young readers could look at the cover and the title of this book and guess correctly the story found inside.

Author Joosse chooses a tough subject and writes about it in the most touching manner. The love of a family, a mother and a younger brother, are not enough to keep a boy from joining a gang. Even though Richard tries to hide his gang activities from them, the young narrator of the story tells us "I know what I know." The boy and his mother come up with a plan that involves their neighbors, making them true "stars in the darkness." Every parent and child will find in this powerful book a way to connect to the feelings, fears, and hopes of the families whose lives are affected by gangs.

This book is worth buying twice just to support the author. Fantastic writing, illustrating, everything. As soon as I picked it up I was instantly drawn to its pages and once I began I couldn't put it down-and it's a book for kids! In any case, it's a book all pre-schoolers will cherish. It's about love and family and sticking together to overcome adversity. I can't wait for Barbara Joosse's next book. She's doing something great. And as always, I leave you with my favorite picks: most creative, The Butterfly: A Fable (Singh); most engaging, The Alchemist (Coelho); most interesting, Life of Pi (Martel); most enlightening, 9-11 (Chomsky); most thrilling, The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Sebold); and finally, the most creative, engaging, interesting, enlightening and thrilling book of all, The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery). These are the books I'd recommend to my family, friends, students, and wife. There are many more, trust me, but these are the first that come to mind (for having left an impact slight or proud as it may be). If you have any questions, queries, or comments, or maybe even a title you think I should add to my list, please feel free to e-mail me. I'm always open to a good recommendation. Thanks for reading my brief but hopefully helpful review. Happy reading. Donald S. Buckland

"Sometimes, Mama and me look down at the street and pretend it's not the city. We shut out eyes so only a crack is open, lookin' through our eyelshes, and pretend we live on the moon. The lights we see? They're stars, as many as the sky can hold. And sirens? That's wild wolves howlin' at the moon. If there's shots fired, we say it's the light of the stars crackin' the darkness..." So begins Barbara Joosse's nameless young narrator's story of the dangerous and tenuous life in the inner city. When his beloved brother, Richard, stops coming home at night, he and his mother realize he's become a gang banger. "We can't pretend no more," she says. "We gotta be strong now." His mother implores him, "Don't you be hanging' out with those bangers, Richard. Don't. Be somebody for this world." But Richard is caught up in the life, "walkin' that walk, like he's King Stuff." When Richard comes home injured and bandaged, Mama and Richard's little brother hatch a plan, a plan to take back the neighborhood. "We call 'em Peace Walks. Every night now, there's family on the street. We take turns walkin' the night. When it's my turn, I shut my eyes so only a slit is open, and I look through my eyelashes. I see streetlights, like before, but now I see flashlights, too. Stars crackin' the darkness." Ms Joosse's bittersweet picture book, geared to little brothers and sisters, "the stars in the darkness," is neither judgemental nor sentimental, but truthful and filled with hope. Her evocative text, rich in imagery and magic, is compelling, written in realistic language and complemented by Gregory Christie's powerfully bold and expressive illustrations. Together word and art paint a vivid portrait of life in the inner city, family love, and the courage and strength to try and make a difference. With an Author's Note about the real Richard, to enhance the story and help open important discussions, and a comprehensive list of resources on gang prevention, Stars In The Darkness is an inspiring narrative that shouldn't be missed, and definitely one of the best new books of 2002. Kudos to Joosse and Christie.