White Books

I am half Croatian, and since 2006 have been to "the old country" twice, searching out more information about my great grandparents, finding my relatives, bonding (beautifully!) with them, immersing myself in their culture. This book is a wonderful, wonderful way to see things through the author's eyes, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and have read it twice (both times on the plane on the way to Croatia!)

I especially enjoy reading about the people he knew in Cleveland, as half of my relatives moved to Cleveland after clearing Ellis Island (the other half went to Welland, Ontario, Canada which has a large Croatian population)

also love the title. Croatians make some fine, fine brandy.... :-)

This is a collection of stories from an award-winning author who straddles two very different worlds. Born in Croatia when it was still part of Yugoslavia, he emigrated to the United States at age 20. He has traveled back to Croatia many times and spent some time there during the brake up of Yugoslavia. As both a native Croat and an American he was able to view the turbulent times of the 90s with the detachment of an outsider looking in and the insight of a native son. This book however is not about the war in former Yugoslavia but a collection of personal experiences that took place at that time.

In the following example he manages to tell us, in a personal way, something about the Serb rebellion in the Krajina region of Croatia. In the Guns of August essay, he writes: �I took a train ride to Rijeka � or rather I wanted to. The train was cancelled: the line passed along the Krajina region. I took the bus, and it went right to the Slovenian border. Krajina had squeezed the rest of Croatia all the way to Slovenia at one point.�

In another essay, he describes in lyrical prose moments of his childhood in a Croatian village: �My sweating father interrupted carving wood and gave me leafy red bank notes to buy loaves. Yeasty smells drew the townspeople who were still fresh from rising in a cold dawn to the old bakery with its uneven walls and swelling mortar. Beyond the threshold, I saw naked and skinless white loaves slide into the metal oven above the random licks of flames. Soon a pale man sprinkled water from a crimson cup, glazing the emerging an tanning bread skins into polished crusts.�

Josip Novakovich is an extremely gifted writer who offered me, the reader, genuine pleasure out of the simple act of reading. I recommend this book highly because I am certain it will have the same effect on you.

I laughed out loud at the wry and tender humour Novakovich brings to these intimate essays. Several of these essays belong alongside David Sedaris' writing about his misadventures in France--insightful, intimate, and heartbreakingly funny observations on our human predicament. Picking up this book is so much like sitting in a Balkan cafe with a long-lost friend telling exquiste funny / sad stories that leave you hanging on every word that later you swear you can smell the espresso, brandy and smoke. Reccomended!

I agree with the prior reviews re: "Plum Brandy." For me, the final chapter on Josip searching for his grandmother's grave in Cleveland is worth the price on its own. Reminded me of my search (less complicated!) for the grave of my Slovenian great-aunt Marija in Saint Louis. The effect was very sentimental and uniquely personal. The memories of time spent and years since her death race through the mind. Glad to see another example of good relations between Slovenes and Croats. We are much more culturally and politically similar than different.

Lorca had a pessimistic and dark impression of the New York during the Great Depression years. Lorca describes a city populated by ghosts and nightmares. This is one of the most shocking poetic works of the XX century.
I recommend the CD 'Omega'. It is an experimental 'flamenco' work by the `cantaor' Enrique Morente, based on the poems of `Poet in New York'. This music album will help you to go deeper into the book.

After reading "Poeta en Nueva York" I found out that it was really worth learning spanish. I am not exaggerating but some of Lorca's verses make me cry. They have so much emotion and fantasy in them, and they talk about experiences that take place deep inside me. The poems are surrealist but that is also what makes them amazing. The best poem is probably "Fabula y Rueda de Los Tres Amigos" where Lorca beautifully conveys his feelings towards his relationships with others and the struggle he sees within them. Strangely enough at the end of the poem he describes a lot of events concerning his death which actually coincided with his murder a few years later. Lorca's relation with the moon reflected through his simple yet overwhelming words is also charming and inspiring. I discovered through them that there was a lot more in that celestial body orbiting the earth than what I used to see before. You will feel that poetry is just flowing out of Federico. He didn't to exert a lot of effort to sound that marvellous and that right.

Federico García Lorca is among the most celebrated Spanish poets of all time. The beauty of his writing has given him a place in the gallery of the best Spanish writers. This book he wrote when he was a student at Columbia University relies on the influence he got from the surrealistic movements that were running on Europe at the time. Thus, it gets far from the poetic language used in his other books, most notably in Romancero Gitano: verses leave the regularity of the romance to explore new and rich arrangements; the metaphors grow more complex and ellaborate, making a delicious challenge to the reader; one can read a poem time and again for days and will still be unsure of its real meaning. Besides this some of the poems reach a new height on Lorca's poetry. To anybody just seeking to discover Lorca and his world, Romancero Gitano seems to be a best approach in my oppinion, but if you know it and like it, I can't help recommending Poet in New York as a new horizon to discover. If your approach to this book is open-minded, you won't be disappointed.

After reading "A Poet in New York," I can say this much:
"I don't think I am planning a trip to New York very soon." Lorca's account of the city was so visceral, raw and cruel, I could feel the hauntingly dead interactions between people, and those people's relationships to the material world around them. The accounts of violence in the streets are equally as cold and boldly unapologetic as his observations of the early morning hours when the city is first waking up.

Gabriel Garcia Lorca truly shows that when it comes to the movements as a city with ties to industry, capitalistic gain and material wealth, there is no division between the life of the human being and the life of the machine. There is almost an automated, "conveyor belt" feeling to the mechanical movement of life in the city. As soon as energy is poured into an endeavor, it is also poured out just as easily. People are as disposable as sheet metal. Their blood, their organs and their instruments of movement could be ripped away and demolished as quickly and non-emotionally as one would destroy the framework of a building and it would be of no concern to anyone else.

I believe that Lorca's observations and journal entries are a reflection of not only the mindset of one of the most well known cities in the world, applicable to the 1930s, but is also quite accurately a reflection of the state of the world today.

This is a really excellent book, especially for those people who loved the first story about Pollyanna. The first half of the book is a wonderful reintroduction to the little girl Pollyanna and the second half is the story of Pollyanna-grown-up. Her manner of talking has matured with her, but she still plays the Glad Game in a way to win over even skeptical readers. Altogether, it is a most satisfying conclusion and a book I would recommend to anyone who loves the winsome character known as Pollyanna.

"Pollyanna Grows Up" is the sequel to the 1912 classic, Pollyanna and it is surprisingly just as wonderful as the first. Eleanor H. Porter mantained all the magic of the original novel in this very exciting continuation which takes us far away from our well known town of Beldinsville to the grand City of Boston, where little Miss Pollyanna Whittier arrives to cheer up some new friends.

Fully recovered from her previous automobile accident, Pollyanna returns once again to the city of Boston, in request of her kind nurse, Della Wetherby. This last has a sister by the name of Ruth Carew, who is miserable and depressed as a consequence of a great loss, a young nephew by the name of Jamie who was taken away by his father, the woman's brother-in-law and who was never seen again. Della Wetherby's sorrow was just as grand, but her career as a nurse allows her to forget, while Ruth Carew lives alone in her big house in Commonwealth Avenue with nothing else she does or wants to do but to think of the lost Jamie. However, with her visit, Pollyanna soon changes things around, at first driving Mrs. Carew mad but soon she enters her heart.

Pollyanna finds a lot of new friends in Boston, beginning with the servants in Mrs. Carew's own home, Jerry, a young newspaper selling boy, Jamie, a crippled boy who Pollyanna is sure is the lost "Jamie," and Sadie Dean, a homeless working young girl. In Boston Pollyanna spends most of her time trying to locate Jamie, in desperate hope to please Mrs. Carew, but of this I shall say no more, the surprise twist is for the very reader to discover on his or her own.

The second part of the book may not arrive too welcomed by some readers, like Jimmy 'Bean' Pendenton stated, we readers weren't ready to see little Pollyanna grow up. However, although Miss Pollyanna Whittier has indeed grown up, she has managed to mantain her usual personality, even if some of her more innocent charm is gone. Pollyanna indeed needs her gladness and her famouse Glad Game to be able to survive the terrible dark times that have arrived at the Harrington homestead, where she grew up with the strict, but changed Aunt Polly, who has gone almost back to square one.

In conclusion, if you've enjoyed the first part of this story, then you will definitely enjoy the further adventures of the glad girl and all of her old and new friends. Definitely a great sequel to an unforgettable classic!

This is a pretty good story. A little more romance than I expected, but well written. Although grown up, Pollyanna is still her normal optimistic self and her Aunt Polly is really exasperating sometimes. It's a book to read when you just want to relax.

I love this book!!!! It's just as good as the first one. My sixteen-year-old older sister kept this treasured book in her shelf and urged me constantly to read it. I brushed her off saying that I didn't have time and that it looked boring. One day, I had nothing to do so i picked up the well worn book and began reading. Surprise! I couldn't put it down. Not because it was exciting or suspenceful, but simply because it's one of those feel-good, sweet and uplifting books. On first examanation it doesn't seem deep or like it would have something important to teach, but after a closer look you find what a beautiful message it has to share. A girl, who with her kindness and ever cheerful outlook on her surprisingly hard life, make her a role model for any one. This is a perfect book for any girl who likes a delightful story and a sweet romance. I aggree with the other reviewer about Aunt Polly. She is quite exaperating, but the other wonderful charatures make up for it and she keeps it interesting. So, get a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle down by a warm fire with this book and be prepared for a wonderful time!

Good story, lots of action and fairly suspensful. I enjoyed the read-a page turner. A little less believable than Indiana Jones but in the same genre. I am a fan of the time period it was set in-WWII.

This novel is pure entertainment. White has a knack for great visuals and good character development. The protagonist is like the terminator..nothing stops him! I hated him more and more as the story progressed!
This is going to make a great family feature..I cant wait to see it on film!

Being an author myself, I enjoyed the exciting storyline and generally well written descriptions of the ongoing action and character development. It is clear, the author has based much of the narrative on his own experiences as a pilot and a world traveler. The plot reminds one of the Raiders of the Lost Ark Series, but is unique enough to hold your interest throughout. Good job, Keith!

When it comes to intense, fast-paced, riveting suspense and exciting adventure, then Keith White's new novel, "The Portal" is the one to read. Once started, you will not want to put it down. It is fun and entertaining, full of suspense and drama, but also intelligent and creative. It is a quick moving adventure story that is very exciting, yet the characters are well developed with a good complex plot, with the usual climaxes, but also with many, many, twists and turns right to final page.

The author has taken time to create his characters fully. We have the good, the evil, the interesting, the intelligent, etc. All interesting people to fuel the plot. They also provide somewhat of a frame story as they all do come together as the novel progresses with the ever-present conflict of good and evil.

White is a good writer, who develops a complex plot, interesting characters, who has done the thorough research, and who has carefully constructed settings to provide just the right atmosphere for his novel of intrigue and high adventure. His use of diction is excellent as even with the title and his detailed, descriptive language just enhances this thriller.

As with many works of art, we are asked to suspend reality and enter into the world of illusion and imagination, well,no, maybe it actually is reality after all. Maybe it just depends on than portal of knowledge.

Drawing upon personal experiences and travel and actual historical records, White has created a very exciting work of fiction, which allows the reader to escape into the wonderful world adventure and imagination and who will keep askng, "What will happen next?"

Bought this cheap and new, and it came in mint condition. I was very satisfied. This was my first Amazon purchase, and u know what they say about first impressions and how much they counts!
I definitely trust Amazon and their efficiency~

I'd prefer the Today's English Version/Good News Bible over the NIV(New International Version). The text is easy to read but seems fairly accurate when compared with the King James Version too. I have both the Good News and King James versions for use in my Bible devotional time.

Wonderful Bible for Catholic children to grow with! This is a great first full text Bible with footnotes for beginners. Brief introductions with outlines precede each book. The color Precious Moments illustrations call attention to Jesus Love. The Presentation page makes this a great gift with the Record of Sacraments filled out for children to see that their journey has begun.

I was browsing at my local bookstore for a Bible. I wanted a Catholic version with the Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha and I wanted a Bible that was comfortable to hold, light weight, with a nice comfortable font for easy reading (some Bibles are printed so that you need a magnifying glass, others are so big and heavy you need to take up weightlifting!). This was the only one that fit the bill. I was looking for the NAB version, but am now glad I got this one, which is TEV (Todays English Version). It's a wonderfully fluid translation, not at all stilted like some versions. If you don't mind a pink Bible with cute childrens illustrations, this is a great Bible. It has very nice maps. It comes in a white leatherette version too. Unfortunately, it's not a red-letter edition, and it's not the typical study version with multiple scripture links. But for children that shouldn't matter.

As a nursing instructor I highly recommend this book to my students. Nursing students have very little spare time to spend sorting through a textbook looking for "important" information. This book takes all of the guesswork out of reading the text. My suggestion is to read your textbook but study from this book and then refer to the text for further clarification if neccessary.

I would definitely recommend all of the "reviews and rationales" books. As a nursing student, I find this is a great resource book that highlights the important things. It takes a lot of time to read a textbook and I don't usually get much from it. This book composes the information in lists and also includes some helpful tables as well as things that are important to know for NCLEX. My favorite thing is the disc that comes with the book. There are approximately 45 questions divided into 3 tests for each chapter that of course gives a score and the rationale for the answer. This book is very helpful to me and I think that you would find it a useful resource as well. Hope this helps!

This book really helps nursing students get through their peds rotation. All the essential lecture topics for peds are covered. Includes CD with questions, very useful!

I am a senior nursing student working towards my BSN. This book helped me out a great deal. Sometimes textbooks go on and on about certain topics instead of giving you the basics (getting to the point). This book breaks pediatric nursing down to the science. It gives you the information without all the unnecessary mumbo-jumbo. This book is a great aid when reading your text or during lecture. I received a B (88%) out of my pediatric nursing course just from studing this book 90% of the time. Quiet as kept, a lot of nursing professors take their information and exam questions from reference books. Trust me, its well worth the purchase!!

Tall men have a much better chance of becoming president, especially when running against a shorter man! Military service used to be an important aspect of a candidates qualifications; not so anymore.
This is a light, entertaining look at why our past presidents won their elections. It brings political history alive.

Ben Shapiro writes excellently on excellent subject matter. He has yet to produce a mediocre or sub par piece of printed literature.

Project President is an interesting take on a not so interesting subject. Don't be fooled by the latter, as Shapiro has fact-mined some really fascinating items and put them together in a delightfully entertaining and educational book.

Recommended for any politico or anyone with even the slightest of historical interest. You don't need to be a politics junkie to enjoy Bens work in general and this book is no exception.

I bought this book on a whim at the airport, and I gotta say that I was pleasantly surprised. It's a fun overview of our presidents from a unique perspective.

This book is great read. The analysis is flawless and the book is filled with numerous facts and pieces of information that will delight the reader.

I found this book extremely useful!!
Is all I wanted to know -as a first approach to protestant worship. I reccommend it to all the people interested in protestant traditions, differences and origins. Besides, the book is very well-written (so you won't get tired of it easily!) and it is not excessively long. It's a great option!

As one who has studied liturgy at the University of Notre Dame and as one who has had a long interest in Protestant worship traditions, I found Professor White's work exceptional. Few other persons, if any, could pull together so much information from such an array of sources and present it richly in a way that is very understandable. As one who has a library of several hundred books on liturgy, this work would definitely be one of the five or ten that I would keep if I had to get rid of all others.

Ever wonder how different denominations came into existence? where did baptists come from? what is the history of methodism? in a consise chapter on each of the major denominational developments following the reformation, James F. White traces the origins of each denomination, and follows them through to their modern incarnations. excellent for the beginning church historian.

As I was going through my inquirer's class in the Episcopal Church, I ran across this book in the local Bible Book Store. It only encouraged me to continue. I absolutely recommend it to everyone interested in Protestant Christianity. For example, I was totally baffled as to why the church I was attending had the choir separated from the congregation and facing each other or a blank wall, in a completely illogical manner. Once I read Professor White's description of the church buildings encouraged after the rather ambitious Catholic Revival in the Anglican Communion, I understood.
But that is only about one chapter in this comprehensive book. Professor White describes with dispassion and accuracy the worship of virtually all the mainline Protestant denominations and their development since the Reformation. If you find this topic interesting, this is an indispensable book.

Being an avid collector of any book related to Egyptian history I was still knocked over by this superb new volumne exploring the life and times of one of Egypt's greatest Pharaohs, Ramesses The Second of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Utilising all the latest in information about this legendary ruler of one of the worlds greatest ancient civilisations author TGH James weaves an informative, non bias account of this Pharaoh enriched by some of the most magnificent photography that has ever been seen in any work devoted to Ancient Egypt.

Having been long associated with the Egyptian Antiquities department of the British Museum the author is more than well qualified to talk on the life of Ramesses the Second and his lavish volumne spends time in the introductory chapters painting a picture of the lead up to Ramesses' reign through the Amarna Period and Tutankhamun to the life of his father the magnificent Pharaoh Sethos the First. Various chapters deal with specific periods of Ramesses life and are devoted to the period as a young prince in his father's kingdom through to his military activites as Pharaoh and in particular Ramesses' well chronciled clashes with the Hitties culminating in the Battle of Qadesh. Of great interest in the book is the research that has gone into reconstructing the complex family situation of Ramesses and fascinating chapters are spent creating vivid images of Ramesses' great royal wife Nefertari, the royal harem and his many children. Of particular interest is the research devoted to the foreign brides of Ramesses especially the two Hittite princesses who became the brides of Ramesses as a result of his lasting treaty with the Hittites.

Of course no work on Ramesses the Great would be complete without an examination of his great reputation as a builder and the volumne is rich in many previously unpublished photos documenting many of the works attributed to Ramesses the Second. Ample space is devoted to his elaborate work in the temples of Karnak and Luxor, his work at his new capital of Piramesse, the beautiful tomb in the Valley of the Queens created for his wife Nefertari and of course the two great temples at Abu Simbel. A particularly interesting amount of space in devoted to the grand and still not entirely excavated tomb of Ramesses' son's in the Valley of the Kings which contains a summary of some of the very latest finds from this rich and still not totally explored site. All these places illustrated in this book are accompanied by eye catching and extremely beautiful colour photographs more sumptous than I have seen in most works on Ancient Egypt. So vivid are most of them that they almost seem to transport you to the very temple of sculpture being discussed.

For any Egyptologist or lover of ancient civilisations "Rammesses 11", is unsurpassed reading of the first order filled with terrific information, stunning photography and much new information that really enables the reader to get a vivid picture of Ramesses the Great and Egypt at this time. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of history and of ancient art in particular, it is a true treasure that deserves a special place on any book lovers shelves.

I couldn't wait to get this book and I wasn't disappointed. The photos are great and I highly recommend this book. Ramesses reign was magnificent. The building during his reign is unequalled. The Abu Simbel is absolutely fantastic,but there is so much more. He truly was the master builder. I love this book and it doesn't disappoint. Also,buy Tutankamun his other book.

In spite of misspelling the title of the book, Amazon.com makes available a large format publication that provides excellent viewing of fine photography and renderings. The details of wall reliefs and murals are rendered exquisitely and hilight otherwise missed opportunities to appreciate the finesse of ancient Egyptian artists. Mr. James' text is extremely readable and in writing the history of a notable king engages the reader in a variety of ways and maintains a high level of interest. A very worthwhile acquisition for anyone interested in ancient Egypt!

This book is a detailed look into the life of Ramses II. Much has been written about Ramses by other authors, therefore, this was a pleasent surprise. T.G.H.James is one of the most outstanding and important egyptologists alive today. His newly published book on Ramses should be in every good egyptologists library.

This collection of essays, in which Rebecca Lawton recounts adventures she's had in her many years as a boatman on Western rivers, is lovely. Though her descriptions of nature are not particularly lush, they capture memorable scenes with a brief, snapshot effect that leaves detailed images in the reader's mind. She fleshes out her descriptions with scientific and geologic facts--her writing is not burdened by science, but rather enlivened by it.
Lawton tells of how she nearly drowned a friend of hers with her own hubris; how she learned to get out of swift eddies; and how she became a boatman in the first place, despite the bias against females in that profession.
She also talks about her failed marriage, her mother's death from cancer, and a faithless lover. She draws life lessons from the characteristics of rivers, and although a few of the lessons seem too pat, or contrived to fit the river motif, many of them seem right on the money.
And always Lawson's writing has a sincere, honest tone, as if she is not trying to make herself look good so much as pondering what she has learned, from life and the river.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about lives they will never live, or who values the wisdom others have worked hard to attain.

This lovely book seems simple enough on the surface (the memoirs of a woman river rafting guide), but, like water itself, there's much more going on beneath the surface. Reading Water is part of the Capital Discoveries Book Series from Capital Books, chosen for their focus on "journeys of self-discovery, transformation, inner awareness, and recovery." This book is a perfect fit for that series.

Lawton weaves many threads into each essay, much like the interwoven currents of the braided rivers she describes in one essay. Some threads are past, present, and further past; others are experience, observation, and research. These threads feel somewhat unrelated until the questions gradually flow over the reader like a gentle sprinkle as opposed to a downpour of forced epiphany.

Her writing style is beautiful and poetic (with the minor exception of an undue fondness for sentence fragments). Her style takes a few pages to get used to, but then it becomes hypnotic. To pose an obvious metaphor, her phrasing pulls the readers along with the sureness and variety of a peaceful river with occasional rapids.

Lawton's greatest strength as a writer is how she combines a scholar's depth of knowledge with a romantic's depth of feeling. She does a great job of interlacing fact and experience. The curious patterns in the lives of salmon might be discussed objectively in one passage, followed closely by the delight of feasting on their flesh in the next. Turning the pages of Reading Water, like reading the best of memoirs, is a learning *and* feeling experience.

As a memoir or as an investigation of the power of moving water to affect human beings, Reading Water is strongly recommended.

"reading water" is the river runner's term for seeing things below the surface, things that might leave only a subtle sign on the surface but may be crucial to your survival. Lawton is a trustworthy guide to the subtle signs--signs of time and geological forces and biological creativity and poetic wonders and human truths--that are easily missed but which make life far more wonder-ful. This is a gem of literary nature writing, with a keen poetic eye, but unlike much of the genre, in which writers may have spent too many years in the classroom and then tried to impose too many abstractions or too many other writer's styles onto nature, Lawton's classroom has been the roaringly real and deep and raw and beautiful nature of the Grand Canyon and other wilderness rivers, where river guides must face real matters of life and death and meaning, and she has allowed it to speak to her directly and meaningfully.

Rebecca Lawton's collection of essays is lovely. She describes her rafting trips, the geology of the rivers she loves so much and draws comparisons to how rivers are like life. I thoroughly enjoyed the tales of her adventures and learned a lot about life by reading "Reading Water."