Murray Books

Easy reading with short chapters. Interesting biographical information with great photo's.

It's said among horse breeders that a stallion's last get is his best. This is certainly true of James Lees-Milne. His last two diaries, Ceaseless Turmoil and The Milk of Paradise are equally as wonderful as the first two volumes of the 12 volume series, Ancestral Voices and Prophesying Peace.

In the case of the latter two mentioned, J L-M is a young man, full of the hurry to experience the newness of life on offer, making his way socially in the great world of war-torn and postwar London. At the far end of his life, we are given an insight into the life of a man who has experienced all that he wanted to do and who now enjoys the life that his laurels have earned him.

This diary is astonishing. Even on the literal brink of death he was prodigiously disciplined and creative, continuing his writing and socializing up to the very end, together with setting himself little goals like visiting every church within 20 miles of Badminton.

Full of social detail, elagiac description of J L-M's beloved English countryside, and much thoughtful musing on the nature of life and death, The Milk of Paradise is a perfect setting into which to put the jewel of James Lees-Milne's life.

Interestingly, the author sometimes leaves out little details, which he surely knew, which would have been particularly touching, like the fact (unmentioned in the Diary) that Caroline Beaufort was buried with her favourite childhood doll.

There are some curiosities as regards J L-M that puzzle me. How could it be that throughout his diaries he should consistently -indeed, almost invariably- not know what Church vestments he is describing? Throughout them all he describes surplices as chasubles, chasubles and surplices, and a rochet as a surplice. Most puzzling from a great aesthete.

Most amazingly, astonishing, really, in the present volume J L-M confesses that his oculist discovers that he is, of all things, colour-blind. How could it be that the very oracle and arbiter of taste could have such a disability. It only proves his true greatness in his chosen field, obviously.

Why, I wondered, did I not review this volume a long time ago? While I have read it three times, all I can say to the question is this: I'm unworthy to do it. It would require a greater mind than mine to do it justice. Buy it. Buy them all.

I originally came accross the hardbound version of this book at the Tacoma Public Library Northwest Room while doing research for a book I am writing on the old Cascade Paper Company.

Mr Morgan did a great job on this book. It is very well researched and contains a great deal of detail not only on the St Paul and Tacoma Lumber company, but on the lives and personalities of the men who started and ran the company.

The chapters follow a natural flow of history and are emensely enhanced with lots of old photographs of the company and the Tacoma area.

Whether you are doing research on Tacoma, the lumber industry or you just like reading about history, this is a northwest classic. I intend to order my own copy and will probably read it several times.

Great job, Mr. Morgan!

The Miracle Man is an inspiring piece of work about a truly unique individual, who lived the American dream against all odds and managed to revolutionize the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Amid the turmoil of World War I and a campaign of genocide by the Turkish government against the Armenian people, Kazanjian, a dentist with broken English, managed to bring some peace to the ravaged allied soldiers. Revered on the battlefield, Kazanjian found himself relegated once again upon his return home to the US. However, this is the story of a resilient man and impressively, one who maintained his humble and humane attitude in life. This is an important piece of history for all to read.

I was looking for this book, and found it here. It was in near mint condition. Thank you.

Mister Good Morning by Murray Pura is one of the finest collections of short stories that I have read in the past year. Pura's characters have a realness about them that most authors fail to achieve: the characters practically warm the page in your hands. Pura avoids the maudlin and emotive pitfalls that often affect writing dealing with 'transitory' experiences. I look forward to his next collection of short stories and hope that he can achieve the same authenticity and vivacity that he has here. Highly recommended.

I have been buying this calendar every year for almost two decades now and have found other photographers who have published calendars and books on Claude Monet's home and gardens at Giverny, France - however ELIZABETH MURRAY is the best. She combines both her photographic skills and her obvious love of the subject in her calendars. You don't throw one of hers away! Even years later friends who I have given one as a gift tell me that they keep there calendars also!

"Elizabeth Murray's enchanting photographs capture all of the charm and vivid color of Monet's inspiring gardens at Giverny, sometimes referred to as his 'living canvas.' Murray had the unique experience of living at Giverny for a year, working in the gardens in exchange for her room and board. She returns to the gardens annually to capture Giverny's many palettes with her camera. Here are forty of her favorites.

"Our deluxe address books are hardbound with a hidden spiral binding that allows them to lie absolutely flat. Forty full-color reproductions complement information pages with room for 480 names, addresses, home and business telephone numbers, cell/pager, and e-mail addresses. A lovely gift. Shipped individually shrink-wrapped for safety. ISBN: 0-7649-0039-0; size: 7 x 8 1/4"."--© Pomegranate

"Claude Monet was one of the masters of nineteenth-century French impressionism, but he considered his garden, and not his painting, to have been his greatest work. A skilled horticulturist, Monet transformed the grounds around his Giverny home into a living canvas, with carefully sequenced blooms that produced a changing fountain of color.

"Forty-seven of Elizabeth Murray's finest Giverny photographs are presented in this deck, along with one historic color chrome showing Monet proudly standing in front of his house, which is covered with Virginia creeper and roses. Informative text describes the various facets and flowers of the garden and provides important planting and care instructions for the home gardener.

"With 48 fact-filled cards per package, Knowledge Cards™ are a great source of condensed information--all in a deck the size of a pack of playing cards. ISBN: 0-7649-1351-4; size: 3 1/4 x 4"."--© Pomegranate

Moneypenny Diaries was written mainly as journal entries from Jane Moneypenny, the secretary to "M" at MI6, and colleague of James Bond. In the book, her niece, Kate Westbrook (the supposed author of the book), has been sent Moneypenny's journals many years after her death. Kate learns by reading the journals that her aunt actually worked for the Secret Service. She then tries to find out if the journals are real, and in doing so, proves that Ian Fleming's Bond novels were based on fact as well.

This was a clever idea, written from both "Kate's" and Moneypenny's points of view to make this work of fiction appear as non-fiction. There was even an overload of history tied in to the stories to make it appear genuine. My only complaints are the long history lessons throughout the book, mainly on the Cuban Missile Crisis, as this set of journal entries were from 1962. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Besides the cleverly written story, it was incredibly fun to read stories from Moneypenny's point of view. She was written as a deep and complex character. The men in her life are mysterious, and she gets thrown into dangerous situations. And best of all, Moneypenny gets to go on a couple exciting adventures with 007.

This is the first in a supposed trilogy. Now, off to see if I can find a copy of Secret Servant (the 2nd novel), as there is no plan to release them in America.