Garcia Books

Being new to SQL 2005 and a "part time" DBA, this book has helped me with a number of situations I needed to solve. I use it daily.

The information is displayed in a easy-to-find manner. The style is clear and concise.

If you are new to SQL Server 2005 administration, this is the book to keep on your desk.

This is one of the most complete books on SQL 2005 available.
It may be a bit much for a beginner, though. Brush up on the terminology
and basic concepts first, and then this book will explain a great deal
about the day to day workings of a database in a production environment.

I have read the book as a pro.. i do have been working with sql server for a number of years now. So going thru the initial sections was pretty quick... i am quite impressed with the format and the step by step approach to a number of configuration procedures which is not so common and where it hurts the most.

Enjoy reading...

Kumar

My department is in the process of migrating to MS SQL2005 from SQL2000 and this book is a must have for any administrator. If your familar with previous administrator companion books, this one is very similar in nature. The book has already paid for itself in tips in performance configurations. The author's include small 'Real World' sections in most area's that provide a good information and suggestions.

In addition, if you are new to MS SQL2005, this book will provide good background information and review all the concepts that make a good DBA.

A few writers in each generation are gifted with such writing talent that they create books that make you catch your breath. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of those writers. His gift with prose, the way he uses language, his storytelling ability is staggering. This is an engrossing read from the very first sentence. You will be captivated by the magical world that has been created and the all too human characters that populate the story.

For reading pleasure, I would recommend the Harper Perennial Modern Classics edition of this book, which has those very convenient flaps on the front and back covers that make perfect bookmarks to save your page when you do manage to put the book down!

If you understand "house of mirrors" is the name of the town, and you understand that each generation repeats the errors and mistakes of the past, and Melquiades, and the inventions, and the click-clocking of the bones in the wall, and the magical realism, and the cyclical pattern of the stories, and the corkscrew tail of a pig on a wailing child being carried off into the jungle by ants, you will get this story. There is a reason this book won the Nobel Prize for Literature. This is a book for lovers of literature, for those who search the world for meaning. Amazing. Blinding in its beauty and brilliance. A sheer joy to read.

Marquez book's have always amazed me, the way he has to transport you through the pages of the book to a world full of imaginative, mystery, laughs, its a book to read more than one time. Highly recommended.

This is one of the hardest to read most pointless books I have ever had the misfortune of trying to read.

I'm not sure I would classify this book as one of my favorites, and yet it is entirely profound. Written in a beautiful style that is amazingly complex at the same time it is beautifully simple, One Hundred Years of Solitude reveals a true mastery of composition. The themes are as grotesque as they are beautiful, realistic and at the same time fantastical, bright and full of hope and at the same time cast in a hopeless darkness. Definitely worth reading.

From his leaving Bogota in a misty dawn, the mules, the solitude, the little convoy, with Palacios, his black butler, and his faithful Irish aids de camp. To the San Pedro Alejandrino Estate, venue of his death, and his last letter to Fanny. His recognition in letter to Urdaneta of error in having fought General Santander. It has a valuable Succint Cronology. It has Miranda Lindsay, a novel by itself. Bolivar himself would have cried reading this masterful if sad account of his last days.

This book started off great. It tells you about this town and, if you've read more about Marquez, you realize that some characters are the same from previous novels, which was great, I found myself smiling. It is a great story and it really makes you think. You have to pay attention to what you read to understand what he tells us next, which was also great. And I love how the town has characteristics of ANY town.

It kind of put me off that he leaves off when I feel he should've continued.

"La Mala Hora", It is Latin America, its life, its governments, its people. But only he can paint its image in words without missing a detail. Many have tried to immitate him, and sometimes you can even hear "she writes like García Marquez" its impossible!! La Mala Hora is an old book, but its contents continuous alive thus Latin America has not changed.
I have read "La Mala Hora" many times, as well as many other books from Gabo and would like to memorize so many paragraphs that are simply out of this world. Gabo's imagination has no limits. La Mala Hora - his description of how the fathers gets up in the morning, his description of the cow stucket on the river, or when the secretary of the former judge explains to the new judge how the former judge was killed. Every single page of the book is a work of art forever. I love you Gabo! I was born in Germany but am more latin then German, having grown up in Costa Rica and living now in Panama. I wish I could write like you, I wish I could make my children read you as intensely as I have. You are "The Writer".

Please forgive my poor English.

Frauke Schnell de Muñoz

From his leaving Bogota in a misty dawn, the mules, the solitude, the little convoy, with Palacios, his black butler, and his faithful Irish aids de camp. To the San Pedro Alejandrino Villa, venue of his death, [and his last letter to Fanny], his recognition, in letter to Urdaneta, of grave error in having fought General Santander. It has a valuable Succint Cronology. It contains Miranda Lindsay, a novel by itself. Bolivar himself would have cried reading this masterful if sad account of his sad last days.

This book is quite difficult for me to rate, because it didn't really follow the conventional plot structure of most other books I've read. There are so many interesting things going on but they all seem unconnected. For example, Marquez begins describing the events surrounding a group of people, and when you are just beginning to understand what is happening to them, he whisks you away to someone somewhere else and while trying to work out the link between this and the first group, he sends you to a third

Another thing about this book is that it assumes you have some knowledge of the events that happened in South America, (even if this is a mythical town) which means that some things might not make sense to you if you didn't happen to grow up there. I was wondering why the Dentist was hated by the mayor (apparently he was involved in some subversive activity), and what the significance of los pasquines were. There were also some unresolved issues in the novel, like did Trinidad's parents eventually find out about her abusive uncle? What happened to the mayor? and what about the `missing boy?

It was this incompleteness that ruined what was otherwise an excellent book for me. The moral of the story, you should know some background information before you begin In Evil hour. Unfortunately my copy of the book did not have any introductory notes. It's a good story, and I'd recommend it, but like I said, it might be confusing for those not from South America.

For those learning Spanish, I would suggest the English translation by Gregory Rabassa.
As you can tell, my Spanish isn't adequate enough for me to write a review in it.

In A Handbook to Luck, Cristina Garcia has given us a skillful treatment of universal themes and multilayered, compelling characters. In different parts of the world, revolution creates upheavals in the lives of characters who are set in unforeseen circumstances. They try to function within the arbitrary and unpredictable reality of their lives as they deal with political brutality, institutionalized violence, immigration, alienation and conflicting family loyalties. Survival depends on regeneration and reinvention. But to what degree are they masters of their destinies and to what degree does their survival depend on pure chance?

I really enjoyed the complexity and unique-ness of all three of the main characters. They each had their own motivations to drive their choices--which were not always noble, but true to their characters. While "luck" wasn't an obvious metaphor each character did take a chance and it was just as much a gamble for them as it was for the reader. For all three of the characters I was willing to follow the choices they made--not knowing who would turn out the big winner, or who would lose it all. Just like in life sometimes there were high stakes, and sometimes it was just about breaking even. The journey of this book is a good one to follow.

Cristina Garcia brings an array of characters to her latest novel, including figures from Cuba and El Salvador, and thus adds to the dimensions of Hispanic writing in the United States. A splendid read!

"A Handbook To Luck," by Christina Garcia, is a lovely novel about the bittersweet roles that luck, coincidence, happenstance, and choice play in our lives.

It's a very short novel that feels more like three intertwining novellas. The stories unfold chronologically as we follow three separate protagonists--Enrique Florit, the mathematically gifted Cuban-American son of a flamboyant professional magician; Marta Claros, a child of abject poverty from the slums of San Salvador; and Leila Rezvani, a wealthy and privileged daughter of an Iranian surgeon and his vain Russian wife. We watch their lives in brief snapshots from 1968 through 1987. We learn about the sorrows, joys, difficult decisions, and everyday pleasures that mark their existence as each struggles to build a decent and happy life. The character's lives cross paths in unexpected ways. Luck comes in many guises. Sometimes the characters recognize their good fortune and seize the moment, but at other times they are totally unaware of these golden opportunities and let them slip away. This is a book about choices, about the paths taken and not taken in our lives.

The author, Christina Garcia, is a 48-year-old Cuban-American who studied political science and international relations at Barnard and Johns Hopkins before starting work as a journalist for "Time" magazine. Eventually, she turned her attention to writing poetry and novels. This work is her fifth novel. According to a newspaper interview about the book (Charleston, "Sunday Gazette," July 22, 2007), the author recently took up painting and is making an artist studio for herself in her Napa Valley, California, home. I wasn't the least bit surprised when I read this. Garcia's prose is filled with subtle lyrical nuance and vivid imagery-exactly what I'd expect from a writer who is also a poet and a painter. For me, reading her prose was what I enjoyed most about this short, wise, and emotionally layered work.

This novel takes a large philosophical view on life, and it will probably cause readers to reminisce about their own lives and missed opportunities. The book gets only a three-and-a-half star rating from me (rounded up to 4-stars, here) primarily because I felt a bit let down by the end--I wanted more from the plot and the character's lives. But, the book is a beautiful, well-written story, and I recommend it. Don't hesitate to read it if you want a short, contemplative book that is as easy and quick to read, as it is beautiful and meaningful.

Cristina Garcia's "A Handbook to Luck" centered around Enrique, the son of a Las Vegas magician from Cuba who was a genius in mathematics and was thrown into the world of poker as he grew up in the casino environment. Enrique had always blamed his father, Fernando for his mother's death as she died from one of Fernando's acts. He met Leila, a beautiful girl from Iran who was in Las Vegas for a vacation before her arranged marriage to another Iranian. Leila had to make the ultimate decision of whether to stay with Enrique or to return to California where her fiance was waiting. Then, there was Marta, who wanted nothing but to leave El Salvador to seek a better life in the United States and to be away from her abusive husband.

"A Handbook to Luck" focused on the intervowen lives of these three main characters from childhood to adult. This was a somewhat interesting read as the decisions that each of these characters made were life-changing and how by random chances that they met each other. This was a bittersweet, somwhat tragic and moving novel.

Si tienes que vivir en Estados Unidos, necesitas este libro, EL MEJOR QUE HAY DE SLANG !, ya que te facilitará hablar el idioma...

First, the bad news. The book has a number of typographical and minor translation errors, which are irritating to a native English speaker and probably confusing to someone trying to learn the language. Several of the phrases in the book are very rarely used and would draw odd looks from most people. The book redeems itself by providing decent translations and examples for several of the more common "slang" expressions, and might prove useful as a reference for somebody new to an English-speaking environment.

woman who spoke English ...but not a word of slang!
She was frustrated and moody till she learned ALL!!

In this book !
It's a very good one !

Yo ya me las daba de hablar y entender bastante inglés, ggracias a Inglés en un Dos por Tres...Perop había muchas palabras que no comprendía bien y que no encontraba en ningún diccionario.
¡Claro ! ERA CALÓ O LO QUE AQUI LLAMAN SLANG !
Y grcias a este segundo libro... aprendí todo lo necesario y hasta mejor que cualquier nativo.!
Si tienes que vivir en Estados Unidos, necesitas este libro, EL MEJOR QUE HAY DE SLANG !

Ese idioma que todos los nacionales de un país usan tanto y que no entendemos aunque tengamos una mestría en inglés, ¡ nos lo da todo en este librito!
Es realmente fantástico porque no deja nada por fuera, da muchas acepciones para una sola palabra y, desde luego, nos indica la pronunciación !!!

Quien no sabe caló, no entiende inglés!!! Y además de sus beneficios, se reirá usted mucho con las explicaciones de este libro!

In Laura Gallego Garcia's The Valley of the Wolves, young Dana is taken on as an apprentice to the Maestro, an archmage, in part because of her relationship with Kai. Kai is a boy Dana's age nobody else can see. Most people regard Dana as a little "off"; the Maestro views Dana's ability to communicate with Kai as a sign of Dana's sensitivity to the magical world. Over the course of the next six years both Dana's abilities as a magician and her relationship with Kai grow. So do her suspicions about the Maestro and the Tower in the Valley of the Wolves where she has lived and studied.

The book is translated from the Spanish. My only complaint is that though the story has a fantasy medieval setting, the author or translator employs too many contemporary idioms. But this doesn't detract from the compelling story or the richness of the characters. I highly recommend this book (Tammie read and enjoyed it too).

I was first introduced to Laura Gallego Garcia's work when her book LEGEND OF THE WANDERING KING was published in English last year. When I saw she had another book translated and published, I was quite excited. LEGEND had thrilled me last year, and I was hoping for more of the same. There was something about LEGEND that was epic...it was beautiful...it was haunting...it was truly one of the best books I'd ever read. So perhaps I expected too much when I picked up THE VALLEY OF THE WOLVES.

The novel is fantasy. A young heroine is befriended early in her childhood by a playmate only she can see--a ghost--not that she'll know he's a ghost for quite a while. The two have a unique bond that makes it hard for her to relate to kids her own age. But her life, Dana is her name, changes when she is adopted by a mysterious sorcerer named Maestro. He takes her to live in a tower/castle which becomes surrounded by wolves at night. There she learns to become a sorceress. Her fellow companion--in addition to the ghost--is an elf. Not an ordinary elf, but a were-elf...who has the ability to keep the wolves from invading the tower.

Full of magic, VALLEY OF THE WOLVES moves quickly. She ages from 8 to 16 in two or three chapters. The Maestro remains ever-mysterious and untrustworthy. The truth is Dana doesn't know who to trust and who her allies are.

It was an okay fantasy book...but not outstanding either. It was interesting. But not one that I think will be memorable in the long run.

The Valley of the Wolves
By Laura Gallego García. (Uncorrected Proof, April 2006)
Review by: Tessa Yang
Amazing; that is the word to describe The Valley of the Wolves, by Laura Gallego García. Others might be surprising, exciting, a twisting rollercoaster...Immediately after reading it; I knew there was something about it I would never forget. Through her simple but meaningful words, and her use of common legends such as that of the unicorn and that of the werewolf, García has created for us a fantastic story filled with magic and uniqueness.
Now, I'll bet you are wondering what this great story is all about. Dana is the main character. Born a simple girl, living the simple life, her destiny changes forever when she uncovers an astonishing secret about herself. Kai, a boy her age who is invisible to everyone besides her, aids her in her quest to rescue the treasure that lay deep in the Valley of the Wolves, and fight for what she knows to be right. However, Dana's strong friendship with Kai, though it helps her in many ways, does not vanish all of her troubles. García keeps you inside the world of the book by applying her writing to all of your senses. More than once I found myself so absorbed in the text, it was as if I was seeing everything firsthand. Perhaps the only negative thing I found was the section in the middle, where Dana spends countless hours in her room studying. This became slightly tedious after a while, but García makes up for this monotonous stage with the wild chapters that follow.
The ending of the book is definitely one of these wild rollercoaster-like moments. It pleased me greatly, because somehow through all the difficulties and horrors Dana has faced, the fact that she was good at heart remains, and will always remain, the one bright spot through all the darkness. Though characters switched between the "Good" and "Bad" side many times, my expectations were filled about them. Fenris, another main character who faces many troubles as well, in the end, selects his side and remains loyal to his comrades. The story itself was very fulfilling, but I could definitely think up many ideas to go into a sequel of The Valley of the Wolves, just because though many things are solved, there is still so much to think about.
Overall, I would give this book an excellent rating. I recommend it to all who love surprises, adventure, and fantasy. Really, any age level over 9 could read it, but to understand all the discrete details that form in places you would least expect, it's very helpful if you have more knowledge and practice in analyzing stories. To sum up what this book review has been about, I would say that García has proven that books can be so much more than just words on a page. It takes true talent to write like she has in her successful story, The Valley of the Wolves, and anyone who is eager to see how far a great talent can go, stop what you're doing, and read this book.

I become inordinately happy whenever I have a chance to discover a new children's book title from a foreign land. The dearth of translated children's books available in the current American market is shameful, to say the least. I've had the pleasure of reading German and Indian and British titles galore. One country I did not enjoy until now, however, was Spain. Now that problem has been solved. Though it reeks of Tolkein influences through and through, "The Valley of the Wolves" is a rather joyous and exciting book ready to be enjoyed by hoards of fantasy-loving kiddies.

Dana didn't realize right off the bat that she was the only one who could see Kai. Honestly, it didn't make sense. Ever since she was six-years-old Dana and Kai have been best friends. He's just a normal blond kid who helps her out with her chores and plays games with her. It's with great shock that Dana realizes that to everyone else, Kai is her "imaginary friend". None of this seems important, however, until the day the stranger on the horse saw her. The stranger turns out to be a rather important mage and before she knows what's happening, Dana and Kai are going to the man's tower home. There, Dana becomes an apprentice in magic and her powers grow. Yet when she starts seeing more mysterious visions and finds a mystery at the heart of her home, Dana must decide what to trust and what to avoid if she wants to stay alive.

Garcia has taken the old "imaginary friend" idea and given it a particularly nice spin. Kai as early friend and, later, object of real affection manages to conceal his background so well that even the canniest of readers will probably fail to figure out what he is. In hindsight it seems obvious, but reading the book you'll be honestly baffled. Garcia is magnificent with her characters as well. There's a bad guy in this book, sure, but the villain isn't all twirling of the moustaches and evil laughs. There's a depth to each person we meet, especially poor intangible Kai. Plus, there's a connection to the characters that comes across as especially alluring. No one can doubt the depth of feeling Kai and Dana feel for one another. The ending of the book also invoked a little of that old, "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman, as well.

Ah, but it is incredibly difficult to read a book these days with elves and dwarves in it without wanting to retch. Are we so lacking in creativity that we must continually turn to elves and dwarfs when we want something pseudo-magical? "Eragon" did it. "The Spiderwick Chronicles" did it. Now "The Valley of the Wolves" has done it. To Garcia's credit, that's where her reliance on Tolkein begins and ends. Honestly, the dwarf and elf in this story could have easily been human and it wouldn't have made a lick of difference to the tale.

As for her storytelling, Garcia keeps the action going at a steady clip. Exciting scenes are never bogged down in useless details. The book trips lightly over five or six years without feeling lost or, for that matter, necessary. All in all, this is a more than worthy fantasy addition that may well go unnoticed for all its charms. I'm also especially fond of the 3-D effect the cover has if you stare at it in just the right way. Definitely a rather nice take on the old a-child-learns-magic genre, currently so popular. Even reluctant readers should enjoy it.

The Valley of the Wolves
By Laura Gallego García. (Uncorrected Proof, April 2006)
Review by: Tessa Yang
Amazing; that is the word to describe The Valley of the Wolves, by Laura Gallego García. Others might be surprising, exciting, a twisting rollercoaster...Immediately after reading it; I knew there was something about it I would never forget. Through her simple but meaningful words, and her use of common legends such as that of the unicorn and that of the werewolf, García has created for us a fantastic story filled with magic and uniqueness.
Now, I'll bet you are wondering what this great story is all about. Dana is the main character. Born a simple girl, living the simple life, her destiny changes forever when she uncovers an astonishing secret about herself. Kai, a boy her age who is invisible to everyone besides her, aids her in her quest to rescue the treasure that lay deep in the Valley of the Wolves, and fight for what she knows to be right. However, Dana's strong friendship with Kai, though it helps her in many ways, does not vanish all of her troubles. García keeps you inside the world of the book by applying her writing to all of your senses. More than once I found myself so absorbed in the text, it was as if I was seeing everything firsthand. Perhaps the only negative thing I found was the section in the middle, where Dana spends countless hours in her room studying. This became slightly tedious after a while, but García makes up for this monotonous stage with the wild chapters that follow.
The ending of the book is definitely one of these wild rollercoaster-like moments. It pleased me greatly, because somehow through all the difficulties and horrors Dana has faced, the fact that she was good at heart remains, and will always remain, the one bright spot through all the darkness. Though characters switched between the "Good" and "Bad" side many times, my expectations were filled about them. Fenris, another main character who faces many troubles as well, in the end, selects his side and remains loyal to his comrades. The story itself was very fulfilling, but I could definitely think up many ideas to go into a sequel of The Valley of the Wolves, just because though many things are solved, there is still so much to think about.
Overall, I would give this book an excellent rating. I recommend it to all who love surprises, adventure, and fantasy. Really, any age level over 9 could read it, but to understand all the discrete details that form in places you would least expect, it's very helpful if you have more knowledge and practice in analyzing stories. To sum up what this book review has been about, I would say that García has proven that books can be so much more than just words on a page. It takes true talent to write like she has in her successful story, The Valley of the Wolves, and anyone who is eager to see how far a great talent can go, stop what you're doing, and read this book.

I had a great deal of C# Windows forms programming experience. What I needed was a book to help me leverage that into Web programming. This book fit the bill.

You will not learn C# in this book (it assumes you already know the language); but it will get you quickly into building Web applications.

The examples are clear, well organized, and most importantly run properly when typed in correctly! The examples also have one important feature I prefer, which is a lack of over embellishment. They show only the code needed to complete the given task, not additional bells and whistles that can confuse the point of the example.

After completing the book, I found it easy to adapt the examples for use in building my own web site.

I found this book to be a very good source of overall C# information. It was not an exhaustive resource, nor did it delve in minute detail to all the points, but I have not found a better book to get a complete picture of the web programming world.

The code samples are very easy to follow, and the reader can download the code from the publisher's web site. I chose to input the code samples manually and only had a couple of minor issues along the way.

One example late in the book (Chapter 11 or 12) left the code in a state where it would not execute.

I also had problems with the web service examples but that can most likely be attributed to the proxy/network configuration at my place of employment.

The only other issue I encountered was with the stress testing tools like ACT. I was unable to access the site and still have not been able to determine why. Of course, that's not a failing of the book or the author, just a configuration issue, I'm sure.

If you are looking at starting ASP.NET development, this book is a good, solid read.

This is an end-to-end introduction to the world of .NET development. The coverage, which starts with the architecture and ends with deployment, is never comprehensive, but is always thorough enough to get you started.

Graphics are used extensively, which is not appropriate for a reference, but which works here because of the introductory nature of the text. The book doesn't pander though.

I recommend this to anyone who is starting with ASP.NET, and who wants an introductory text in the step by step style. If you are experienced in other web application development technologies then you would be better served by one of the O'Reilly ASP.NET reference books.

The book shows how to write a C# web application on a server running .NET. Perhaps the most succinct description of the book is its cohesiveness. It describes using two crucial packages, ASP.NET and ADO.NET. ASP.NET essentially handles the client-server interaction, by making dynamic HTML pages and handling the user's input. While ADO.NET controls the interaction between the application server and the database.

As you go through the book, if you keep this simple demarcation in mind, then it helps your understanding of the many lower level details in each chapter.

It is clear from the book that Microsoft is pushing hard to have the entire web development process done on their .NET machines, by offering a tight and consistent tool integration. Gives the open source movement a serious challenge.

Book was very well written. Author effectively communicates with novice users in a 'For Dummies' style without being patronizing or condescending. By 'For Dummies' style, I mean that he literally defines which menu option to click, etc. in a similar manner to the popular series.

Intermediate to Advanced users will probably find this book to be a bit unwieldy, not because of the material presented but because of all of the detail given for the benefit of the novice user.

I would absolutely recommend it for someone just getting their feet wet in the VB.Net web development arena.

Beginning Visual Web Programming in VB.Net is well worth a read. The book is very straight forward and the examples are such that they guide you through quite easily so that the reader can follow along without much trouble. Chapters 7 and 8 are really nice with their XML information and examples. XML is great if you need a pages that load fast and are efficient.The descriptions that come in these chapters increase your understanding of why it is such an important part of the overall structure. MSDE I personally find can be a bit of a pain when setting it up but with this particular book things seemed to go ok. Overall the book is definately worth reading and will only help in your knowledge of .NET programming.

I'm really impressed by the thoughtfulness of the organization and writing in this book. Where the reader has questions that require deeper explanation the exposition is there. The content is well researched and the author has obviously spent the time to do some complex information distillation for us. An ideal book for anyone looking to start with VB.NET programming. And well worth the look for those already using the platform who want to broaden their understanding.

The title says "beginning" but the authors actually take you to very important topics that are at the forefront of much Internet activity. Namely XML and Web Services.

The book goes through a lot of necessary but mundane stuff concerning user interfaces, server control and ADO.NET. Yeah, to know VB.NET, you need this material. But more significant is the long exposition on XML. It is now a de facto standard for markup of structured data. Within the entire .NET portfolio, it is pervasive. And also in the J2EE world. The book shows how Microsoft has integrated web development and VB.NET tightly into using XML. Well worth understanding.

The other big buzz is about Web Services. Here the discussion is not as indepth. The basics are covered. But Web Services Description Language is only tangentially invoked. And what is seeming to be a more powerful language, Business Process Execution Language, doesn't even rate a mention. Perhaps this is why the title says "beginning"? There could well be a sequel in the works, to cover these.

I read this book for a class on American History during the 1960s and it gives a very good outline of the Chicano Movement of the time. For someone who knew nothing about the subject before picking up "Chicanismo" it was very eye-opening. Garcia is extremely knowledgeable about the topics he speaks to and I found this book to be a very good exploration of the causes, effects, and components of the Chicano Movement in the United States.

Garcia is an excellent writer, who clearly articulates his views. Unlike Acuna, Berrera, or Munoz, Garcia clearly establishes a synthesis of the movement. He is an excellent scholar on the La Raza Unida Party, and this is evident in his work. Great book for cultural and ethnical studies of American history. The only negative thing that I have to say, is that sometimes a reader may get lost in his ideological approach to many topics--Garcia is an excellent thinker.

This is a good analysis of the Chicano movement without the usual rhetoric and agenda that often times cloud such studies. "Chicanismo..." is a good book for those not fully versed in the subject matter, and for those who want to re-evaluate this unique movement. Recommended for Chicano Studies courses.

Garcia presents the Movement in four stages, emphasizing the rejection by Chicanos of the Liberal agenda and the attainment of a Chicano sense of historicity. He observantly points out that Mexicans had pursued social justice for decades prior to the 1960's and 1970's. It was the big letdown after the 'Viva Kennedy' campaigns that led to a more militant stance on Mexican issues.

When a people lack a firm sense of their historic value, they suffer. Chicanismo provided that vital sense that "it's okay to be brown"...in fact, it's a badge of historical honor.

Garcia also does an excellent job of exposing the sexism within the Movement against Chicanas, who were always among the first to join organizations, and among the last to leave. Chicanismo is an essential book for any self-respecting Chicana/o seeking to understand 'La Causa' and the sell-out "Hispanic / Latino" era that has transpired afterwards.

Whether middle-class Mexicans may want to deny the label of Chicano in favor of a milder, more Eurocentric 'Hispanic' or 'Latino' labels, the ethos that was generated by Chicanos remains the historical and political blueprint for modern ethnic politicans and organizations.

The Chicano record for building and creating community organizations and programs remains unmatched by the present Hispanic/Latino generation, who would rather change the names from Chicano to Hispanic or Latino.
The Chicano contributions stand alone.

Sorry I cannot submit a review at this time,the reason being i have not received this book yet.

The less said about 'Leaf Storm,' the better, I think. It was Garcia Marquez's first piece of long fiction, written in his twenties, and the truth is, it's not very good. Actually, it's pretty bad. It's overwritten in that 'bad Faulkner' way, and it lacks anything that would make for an interesting story--compelling characters, powerful conflicts, interesting ideas--none of these are to be found therein. It feels as if it should have received quite a bit of revision before publication. As it stands, its only real value is as an embryonic draft of One Hundred Years of Solitude.

'No One Writes to the Colonel,' on the other hand, is a truly excellent story. It's a slow, meditative piece with very little action, chronicling a month or so in the life of the title character and his wife in a stagnant Colombian town as he waits in vain for the pension, which he has been owed for fifteen years, to arrive in the mail. Although it's a subdued story saturated with sorrow and regret, it also features a strong undercurrent of hope which cannot be extinguished. The Colonel is an inspiring character, and, after One Hundred Years of Solitude, his story is my favorite thing I've read by Garcia Marquez. Apparently there's been a movie made of it, but I have no desire to see it.

'Chronicle of a Death Foretold' is also very good. It tells of the events surrounding and leading up to a brutal murder which ultimately implicates an entire town. Featuring the recollections of dozens of characters who were involved in the event, peripherally or seriously, it weaves a mesmerizing web of small events that all happen just the wrong way. The death is indeed 'foretold;' it could easily have been prevented by just about anyone in the story, yet somehow, no one does. In spite of knowing what's going to happen from the beginning, the story remains riveting, and even suspenseful, throughout. Don't miss it.

This volume is certainly a must-own for Garcia Marquez fans. Combined with Collected Stories, it includes the entire body of his early short fiction--so don't buy Leaf Storm and Other Stories, No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories, Innocent Erdendira and Other Stories, or Chronicle of a Death Foretold. They're redundant. No sense flinging money out windows, eh? Cheers!

LEAF STORM:

'Leaf Storm' is known as the first novella published by Gabriel García Márquez. And from this debut is possible to see how big he would become one day. This book tells a very simple story that acquires multiple levels as it is told.

After the death of an infamous doctor of Macondo his only friends, this friend's daughter and her son gather to the funerals. The dead man is known as the devil and everyone hates him. His death made the city very happy. As the story is unfolded, we learn why he's so hated and how come the threesome ended up there to mourn him.

Using multiple points of views, Gabo gives the three protagonists chances to speak to themselves and we can find out how dreadful is to each of one be there. The writer is able to switch the point of view, and also the language --after all, a little boy does not speak as an old man. This is one of the remarkable qualities of this wonderful novella.

This is the very first time that the imaginary place Macondo appears in Gabo's story and it became a seminal place of his stories --among them the masterpiece 'A Hundred years of solitude'.

Here between the bounds of this paperback we have 3 very good translations of short novels from the hand of Marquez...although I have yet to fully grasp "Leaf Storm", it does offer to the reader a sort of prelude to "Macondo"...although don't expect the world to be potrayed as it was in "One Hundred years of Solitude". ...the 2nd novella "No One Writes Colonel" is a great read...here is everyday life, as the colonel awaits a letter...however it is the third novella, "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" that drew me in, as a gripping page turner. Marquez holds our interest with his detailed account, even though we already know the outcome. It is a great collection and a good follow up if you have finished "One Hundred Years of Solitude". Highly recommended because in this edition you get al three works, whilst you could pay up to thrice as much if you pursued them seperately....

I read this novel which was written in spanish for part of my spanish A level course at school. I am now at university and have decided to do a topic about Garcia Marques as his work was so insperational to me. The novel portrays a poor mans strugle for survival and has a theme of poverty and deceipt running throughout the novel. The colonel is a symbol of hope whilst his wife is the complete opposite. The colonel waitsfor a letter that never arrives and at the end of the novel the colonel has to force himself to wake up to reality which is displayed by the ironic use of the word 'mierda' at the end of the novel. The imagery and language used in the novel is excellent and i would definatly recommend this novel.