Marshall Books

These twelve new stories from William Trevor are "small gestures," resonating with meaningful nuances, requiring one's full attention. For this reason, it may be worthwhile to read each story twice to fully grasp the meaning from within its depths. Reading these stories will leave you in awe.

This was my first encounter with Trevor's short stories. Truly, he has mastered the form. Born in Ireland in 1928, Trevor now lives in Devon, England. The stories in this collection are drawn from those two countries. They are filled with barking sheepdogs, laborers, misty hills, tulips and bluebells, and rays of sunlight "like arrows in the sky" (p. 144). They are about everyday turning points in life, and lost opportunities. In the first story in the collection, "Three People," Trevor reveals a secret that binds three lonely characters together for fourteen years. In "The Mourning," we follow a lonely, 23-year-old Irish laborer as he carries a bomb through the streets of London. In "Good News," we find a nine-year-old actress "wondering in what way her dreams would be different now, reminding herself that she mustn't cry out in case, being sleepy, she ruined everything" (p. 62). A "melancholy" 51-year-old mother misses her children in "A Friend of the Trade." When she and her husband attempt to drop an "unpresentable" friend, she discovers "empty love is not absurd" (p. 106).

This is a collection of well-crafted short stories that has inspired me to read more William Trevor.

G. Merritt

This is the first time that I have read the work of Mr. William Trevor. If his collection of short stories, "Hill Bachelors", is any indication of the man's talent I will read whatever else has been published. The volume contains 12 stories that all share parallels, however they do not need to be read as a collection, they all can stand-alone.

The stories could be classified as redemptive, however at least one describes a Faustian Bargain. Many of the stories are dark, and others bear results that were never intended. Still others are the results from lack of attention or care, and they are of wreckage both physical and mental. I think it is valid to say they describe the fragility of many relationships, and the ignorance that prevents the forming of contact until a destructive event takes place. It is not a collection of tales that portrays the best in people, but it somehow does not read as oppressively as the storylines would seem to demand.

One story details a horrible crime and uses a snapped rose bush as a metaphor. The same unlikely force cleans up the debris from both, before the mess from either becomes too great. A wedding eve party shows how uncertain the next day's events can be when the smallest of unintended events does or does not take place. My favorite had to do with Priests and Ministers, burned out homes and lost congregations. In this story Mr. Trevor illustrates the senseless behavior of a people, a nation, and the religions they adhere to. He brings together that which should not meet, and the result is what should happen but somehow surprises when it does.

This is a wonderful set of stories that are all complete, however when read together have enough commonality that the Author's message is not so much repeated as it is reinforced as they are read. Marvelous writing, highly recommended.

In several of Trevor's sparsely worded stories we find characters who give too much of themselves. "The Virgin's Gift", "Good News" and "The Mourning" all tell of those who turn their souls over to others, and are unsettled with the outcomes. I was sad when done, particularly when finishing "Good News", because I knew that the characters had been disappointed or were about to be.

I was drawn to the character of Clione in "A Friend in the Trade" - she was decisive enough to know that she was the object of unstated affections, but not strong enough to confront her admirer frankly. She was so powerful in her humor and her work, but she had long accepted her status quo, so she did not know how to be single-minded in adversity. She acted like a shallow school girl in telling her husband of their friend's affections, but she became more complex in that telling. I wonder about her still - I wanted to know more about her after the story was told.

Good stories, these. Minimalist short stories are my preference - they allow me to imagine, to dream, and to pretend.

The late Mr. Hadcock's "The Working Clarinetist" is a must have for anyone seriously interested in pursuing a career in clarinet performance. He covers all of the bases, from orchestral repertoire, solo literature, basic techniques of breathing, hand position, and sound, and then tops it all off with practical knowledge of equipment. Particularly useful are the LEGIBLE versions of unattainable orchestral excerpts such as Bartok's "Miraculous Mandarin". The excerpt commentary is written as though Mr. Hadcock were sitting next to you giving you a personal lesson. All is easily understood and extremely helpful. My thanks to his dear wife for sharing this gem of clarinet literature with the rest of us. BUY IT NOW!

This is a wonderful book, full of sound, practical and necessary information for clarinetists of all levels--I can't think of another book on the clarinet that offers so much. There is an extensive l54 page-section dealing with tips on how to play most of the most important orchestral excerpts. There are sections on the basics--hand position, embouchure, articulation, and intonation. There are sections on auditioning, on making and adjusting reeds, even on basic clarinet repair. And there are master classes on the Mozart and Nielsen concertos. This book is a treasure trove of information which will be useful to all clarinetists everywhere. And equally wonderful is the way it is written--for those not fortunate enough to have known Pete it is as though he is speaking directly to you. The prose throughout the book captures his warmth and spirit as a teacher and player.

Forget that this is the best collection of orchestral excerpts for the clarinet ever compiled. This book is the single most thorough and pragmatic book ever written on playing the clarinet. The excerpts contain not only audition repertoire, but also difficult tutti passages in order to help both people who are performing these works with an orchestra as well as people who are preparing for auditions. In the extensive and insightful notes on each excerpt, Hadcock offers tips in both contexts - audition and on the concert stage with an orchestra. The rest of the book examines every aspect of playing the clarinet including the mental, psychological, and at times, the philosophical. To top it all off, Hadcock infuses wit, humor, and most of all, compassion into this cornucopia of information.

this book is a great size for my diaper bag and it never fails to mezmerize my little one. of course he wants to grab at the 3-D features, but we do our best to touch "nicely". and, i'm sure it's a book that will continue to amuse him as he grows.

My 16 month son loves his Zany Zoo. Every night he brings me the book, climbs in my lap and waits for me to read to him. He really loves it when mommy makes the pets move and adds sound effects.

I highly recommend this book for young children.

This book is so cute! These smaller pop-up Snappy books are on par with the bigger versions, but are 1/3rd the price! I was shocked at how cute the animals inside are! There is an alligator, like on the cover, an elephant, a bear, a tiger, and a hippo. They are all surrounded by bright colors and other animals. They pop out of the page in true 3D style. It amazed me so much, I quickly bought the entire series...You can not go wrong at any age group! My 9-month-old baby loves these books and so do I at 36! This book is one of the best ones out there and is destined to be around for decades to come.

Whether you are a businessperson, an educator, or a parent, this book gives great ideas and strategies for motivating others. Chapters are broken into small chunks. I'm using this with teachers as a discussion book. I shared it with my friend who owns his own business, and he is using it with his managers.

Whether you're in the corner office of a Fortune 500 company or chairing the local Girl Scout Council, this book will help you run more productive meetings. (I'm using it for the local Library Board!) Nancy Stevenson makes difficult concepts easy to understand and provides lots of quick tips. This is a real "must have" book!

Christopher Palm's exquisite collection of black and white photographs is a must have for anyone who has lived or travelled in Asia. Palm's abilty to capture the beauty of daily life in this fascinating region is truly impressive.

Award Winning Photographer, Christopher Palm has put togeather yet another stunning collection of fine art phtographs- this time in a book form that you can view in your own living rooms. It is a stunning collection of sureal and dreamlike images celebrating the human condition on the Asian Continent.

This book is an excellent, no-nonsense, logical and creative report on fitness for life. I have been "acting on" the recommendations for about 6 weeks and my experience is 100% validating. I have ended my twice weekly visits to the chiropractor as I was over-exercising periodically, creating muscular soreness and discomfort, instead of exercising moderately every single day. I now do 30 minutes of sweat producing exercise every day on home equipment. No nonsense. 30 minutes straight out of bed. Its liberating and exhilarating. So simple and so effective. The changes in my metabolism and the positive effect of the endorphins make for easier and better food/nutrition choices. Try it.

I had done scores of diets, exercise programs, etc., and never kept the weight off. I had put on 20 extra pounds in the early 1990s, and simply couldn't get it off--not to mention that I have always struggled, dieted, procrastinated, etc., about my being overweight.

In February, 2000, I went on Acting Well. The key is using the log, doing the brief mental preparation in the morning, and understanding--just a little bit--how a properly trained actor creates a new role. It's all in the book, and it's all very simple.

Two years later? I took off around 25 pounds in the first year, going from 172 down to 145-150. I have settled in at 149 (I thoroughly enjoy weighing myself every day!), and sometimes drop a bit lower. It's important that I lost slowly, and even more important that I have NO trouble keeping it off. Now I am a thin person, and I enjoy the habits of a thin person. I know this will last for the rest of my life.

My only disappointment is that I didn't do it (it wasn't available, unfortunately) sooner.

I love my new me, which is really the me I always wanted to be. I never thought I'd make it though. Amazing!

And, incidentally, the book is a fun read; very well written. It debunks lots of stuff, medical and otherwise, and makes it clear that the problem is psychological, not physical. Calorie counting, excess exercising, dieting--they all don't work for more than a short time. This is a sensible, doable program; not a program, in fact, a life! After all, Shakespeare said that we're all only actors on a stage. With this plan, we can be good actors!

Richard

A brilliant bravo to a task well done. G. Marshall & D. Poling have captured succinctly the life of the last of the 'Enlightenment' minds. Albert Schweitzer was true to the principles of reason, naturalism and thought. He took these principles and undauntedly applied them to his religion and his culture. Albert Schweitzer was a critic of Christianity and modern civilization and this book captures Albert Schweitzer, "the critic".

In the world and church around him he saw conformity and the lack of individual reflection. This is a book about a nonconformism, a brilliant theologian/philosopher and a humanitarian genius.

Unlike other biographies of Schweitzer I have read, these authors write with a fluid, engaging style, pulling you closer to the man that they knew and profiled. Albert Schweitzer lived 90 years and the length of his life is a challenge that biographers must face. They must capture the individualistic spirit of Albert Schweitzer youth, the brilliance of his middle years and the tenacity of his old age.

Albert Schweitzer's Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 spoke of his sacrificial work in Africa, his vital practical philosophy of life, his call to clear comprehension of the historic Jesus that Christianity needs to embrace, his musical brilliance, his compassion for the animal kingdom and his love of healing. Yet, to brush stroke with ink a portrait of this unbelievable figure is a demanding undertaking and Marshall and Poling have done it right, and they did right to one of the greatest personalities of the twentieth century. Strongly recommended. 4.5 Stars.

This is a fine biography of one of the greatest humanitarians of the twentieth century. During his lifetime, (ninety years) Schweitzer the great man transformed into Schweitzer the great myth; the great white hope, saving the bodies and souls of the primitive black man of Africa. In our post colonial age, with its post modern, abstract cultural theories of the `other', Schweitzer became an easy target for cultural critics, using the man and his work as representative of everything evil about the self-perceived superiority of Western man over `primitive cultures'. It is without question, that, for the most part, European imperialism justified their greedy exploitation of developing countries as efforts to `civilize' them. Our culture, knowledge and religion were superior to these `savages', and while we stole their natural resources, we gave them enlightenment. Further to this, however, as we stole and enlightened, we also gave them our diseases, which, in some cases, virtually wiped out entire peoples. From the very beginning, Albert Schweitzer was aware of the European's injustices to these people, and deeply felt some kind of atonement or restitution had to be made. Schweitzer's intention was to essentially help; his inspiring example paved the way for present humanitarian organizations to make a difference or at least become more effective in their aid. This biography successfully dismantles the `great white hope' myth, and presents the man as an insightful critic of Western values and traditional theology, a man who lived his philosophy - or as Schweitzer said, "Live his argument". One can never truly understand or judge someone based on what they say or what they write; only through the results of a person's actions can we really know them. Marshall and Poling's biography of Schweitzer includes his writing and many quotes from conversations and interviews, but argue his greatness from the stand point of his actions. In other words, his fifty years of service and the establishment of the Lambarene hospital, speaks for itself.

Schweitzer became aware of his mission to serve his fellow travellers on this planet somewhat late in life. An established philosopher and theologian at age thirty, a principal of a respected seminary, he awoke one morning to realize everything life had given him, and it was time to give back. After reading an article calling for trained medical staff to work in West Africa, he knew what he needed to do. Against heavy opposition from family and friends, he returned to university as a mature-aged student to study medicine, attaining his degree. The public know much about his early life but as his daughter, Rhena Schweitzer, writes in the Forward, "It is the first biography that gives an account of the last years of my fathers live. It helps explain and dissipates some of the false ideas about his relationship to the Africans." This book dispels these falsehoods and myths, and is also a sensitive and objective appraisal of a man and his life.

An inspiring read.

Happy millionaires, floating above money. Tastemakers and models where the substance of sign are widgets produced from the mysteries of Eurocentric sytle. Even anti-stye is currency spoken at the proper moment. Castles in the sky held up by anti-gravity - the collective will of the subordinate and subordinated who dare not look the other way. Whether it is the act of looking away or looking as in appearing the Other way, those in thrall refuse to ignore the central process, their ennobling whitewash without which they become the non-audience, those left outside the theater of the West.

Marshall Blonsky, in American Mythologies, examines the symbolic discourse between the performers and the performed upon as if to examine the state of the ceiling in the house whose walls have already collapsed. Yet it remains a valid work because while we all stand in the cold ruins, the ceiling remains frozen in mid-air suspended like our disbelief, while from its reflections we measure our steps. As intellectual excavator and personal ruminator par excellence, Blonsky will become the McLuhan of the 21st Century.

Con este libro, el cual no entendi hasta mucho mas tarde como con algunas grandes obras, tuve mi primer gran encuentro con la semiotica, el estudio de los simbolos, y fue tambien la primera vez que lei a umberto eco. me gusto mucho su descripcion de una silla y de sus diferentes significados dependiendo de muchos factores. este libro trata de analizar la cultura norteamericana, la simbologia, el pop art, usando la semiotica y lo hace de una manera magistral aunque a veces no es muy clara.

excelente lectura. LUIS MENDEZ luismendez@codetel.net.do

An absolutely awesome piece of work. For anyone with even a passing interest in the 355th Fighter Group, this book is a must! Among the exciting information is a complete recollection of a mission flown by the Group from the Frag Order through to Debriefing and the Post-Mission Reports and everything in between!

An excellent research piece with lots of facts and pictures. The book is basically a flight log of all missions flown by the 355FG during WWII. Every mission is logged by flight number and a brief description of each flight by fighter squadron. The book also lists KIA, MIA or POW status of pilots that went down. If you know anyone that was in the 355th Fighter Group or are doing research on the group, this book is a must have!

Arowana: A Layman's Guide by authors Si and Sng contained information based on their personal experiences as arowana owners and breeders. Topics ranging from preparing the aquarium, finding the proper lighting, filtration, feeding, breeding and transporting are discussed. You will also learn how to distinguish sub-species and grades of each arowana. The authors also recounted stories from arowana owners of Asia whose lives have been deeply affected by their arowana. These stories about health, business decisions and friendships all somehow entwined through this mystical dragon fish. Arowana: A Layman's Guide can provide valuable information on how keeping arowanas involve more than just technical expertise. You too may begin to understand how keeping the arowana can come close to a religious experience for some.

Although it has less than 90 pages of content, it has a very detailed description on how to raise an arowana (e.g. set up, transport, food, disease, breeding, etc). It's a must for any Arowana lovers!