Carnegie Mellon University Books

An unjustly neglected classic, fast-paced, funny but with considerable pathos--with a well-orchestrated group of characters and plenty of incident in a relative handful of pages. All the more impressive because it was written by a Yorkshireman who set himself the task of mastering American vernacular, both in narrative and dialogue. Imagine a combination of James M. Cain and Nathanael West and you'll have a sense of the overall tone and approach; hard to believe that the author also wrote Lassie, Come Home!

This is about a girl named Elizabeth that mets a girl named jennifer and jennifer is a witch.I recomend this book because there are your main charecters.There is cynthia,cynthia is that girl that is mean.Then there is jennifer wich is the normal one that just moved there.Then last but not least there is Jennifer the witch.In the book jennifer is trying to make Elizabth a witch but elizabeth has to eat raw food and fallow the Taboos with out cynthia getting in the way.

The story is about Elizabeth moving in this town where she knows no one, but one day she meets a girl named Jennifer. Jennifer says she is a witch but Elizabeth doesnýt believe her. Through out the beginning of the story Elizabeth learns its true. Jennifer teaches Elizabeth to be a witch an apprentice witch. Every Saturday Elizabeth and Jennifer meet in the park to learn witchcraft. Elizabeth has to eat one thing every day a week such as an onion, or a raw hotdog. One Saturday, Jennifer and Elizabeth start to make a flying ointment, it will take them about 5 months. One day Jennifer and Elizabeth got in a fight, and Elizabeth came down with a cold. Then one gloomy afternoon Elizabeth thought that she would go and apologize. After that they were the best of friends.

I first read this book when I was in third grade (27 years ago!). Then, I was proud of just learning the name of the title by heart! It is definitely one of my favorite books from childhood. I can't wait to share it with my daughter (who is only 2 years old now). I recommend it for all young girls.

This story was about Elizabeth, the new girl that just moved in town. On Halloween, while Elizabeth was walking to school, she met Jennifer, a strange and weird witch. Elizabeth became Jennifer's witch apprentice. They met at the library every Saturday. Elizabeth became a journeyman (the next step to being a witch). They were trying to make a flying ointment. One day, Elizabeth gets invited to Cynthia's birthday party. Her mom makes her go to the party. She got permission from Jennifer to go. At the end, Elizabeth and Jennifer fight, but they became friends again.

The story is about two girls. One girl is a witch and the other girl has just moved to the town. Elizabeth was walking to school one day and saw a shoe hanging off a tree. The shoe looks very old and Elizabeth's shoes' look new. So Elizabeth told Jennifer your shoe is about to come off. Jennifer jumped off the tree and talked to Elizabeth. Jennifer and Elizabeth would meet every Saturday at the library first and then they would go to the park. Elizabeth became Jennifer's helper. Jennifer would tell Elizabeth to eat a weird food every day of the week. At the end of the story of the story Elizabeth finds out that Jennifer isn't a witch she just wants to be one. Elizabeth and Jennifer are best friends

Peter Oresick, Warhol-o-rama (Carnegie Mellon, 2008)

It's a credit to Peter Oresick that I feel exactly the way about Andy Warhol's art as I do about this book; in that sense, Warhol-o-rama does its job exceptionally well, and thus I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to it fans of Warhol's art. For those like me, though, who have always been stuck on that line of considering Warhol's work art and considering it crass opportunism, well, that makes for a much more difficult recommendation. Oresick uses many of the same techniques Warhol did (and makes no bones about pieces that are readymade, or heavily influenced by, say, Allen Ginsberg ["Andy Warhol for the Taj Warhol"]). Which makes it quite clever, to be sure, but does it make this poetry? I've gone off on this discussion long enough that the horse is now just skin and bones, so I'm not going to whip it any more here. I'll just say that you should be looking at it for content and subject matter, not for craft or artistry. But then, again, I'd say the same thing about Andy Warhol's stuff (and have). So you be the judge. ***

A book of poetry about one man is unusual approach, but Peter Oresick makes it work in "Warhol-O-Rama". Andy Warhol was a pop artist who was known for associating with wide variety of people from all walks of life and using the ideas such diverse encounters engendered in his art, be it painting, film making, or writing. Oresick uses an artist's inspiration to write about the artist who inspired him, and the poetry is as original and entertaining as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. "Warhol-O-Rama" is highly recommended as a book of deftly written poetry and a fascinating read for the legendary Warhol's legions of fans.

This is a unique and creative volumn of poetry---words, works that capture the life of Andy Warhol written in a variety of forms--and some with no form at all. Oresick, at times, writes the way Warhol himself would create. To understand exactly what he is doing you are at an advantage if you have some understanding of Warhol. If you don't understand Warhol, this book gives you background and knowledge of the man and his life. Andy himself would have loved this collection.

Nah-sayers may be on alert, the same way they were when Pop Art became popular but remember Art is and always will be subjective to the viewer.
My only criticism is when Oresick "reports" some of the poems in a newsclip form. I understood what he was doing but it fell kind of flat to me. The rest of it flies in originality and creativity.

Point to note: While toting around this book, people took unusual notice and interest in it. The ones that flipped through were both amused and fascinated by the work. Conclusively, this is a book worth a read for many, many reasons.

Peter Oresick's smartly designed new book of poems, Warhol-O-Rama, delights first with its inspired thematics. 54 poems, each containing the name Warhol in the title, are smartly divided into six sections; each section is appropriately named Warholevision, Warholanomics, Warholocaust, Warholastalgia...well, you get the picture!

In a protracted political season in which we're all enduring and trying to survive the personality-driven focus of the media, it's also entertaining and instructive to immerse oneself in the joint consciousness of poet Oresick and Warhol, the late Pop Culture and media icon.

Perhaps more than any other figure, Andy Warhol personified the brashness, excesses, and joyous genius of the Sixties. We're rapidly becoming a forgetful nation, so it's with a grateful heart that I read and re-read this book, recalling as I do so that poetry truly does, as Frost suggested, remind us of important things we knew once but forgot.

Peter Oresick's sheer delight in his task, and his line-by-line inventiveness, will charm you. In fact, you'll derive much of the guilty pleasure one enjoys while reading celebrity biographies. I have had so much fun with this book of poetry! And, oh yes, that's right! Poetry should be fun, too! I'm grateful to the author for reminding me!



--Robert McDowell (www.robertmcdowell.net), The Poetry Mentor, is the author of the bestselling Poetry As Spiritual Practice, published July 15th, 2008 by Free Press/Simon & Schuster

Peter Oserick's Warhol-O-Rama was published in tribute to what would have been the highly influential pop artist's 80th birthday. The poetic cycle explores the connections (and influences, both ways) between Warhol and American pop culture--its tabloids, its urban legends, its media, its tourism, etc.). Even the table of contents is a tribute to Warhol--"Andy Warhol" starts the title of nearly every poem to create a verbal reminiscence on the repeating images of Mao or Monroe or Campbell's Soup in Warhol's work.

And some of these poems are rather inventive and witty and spiritually connected to the thoughtful kitsch of Warhol. Poems like "Andy Warhol for Bollywood on Dueling Screens above the Bar at India Garden Café, Durham, England, July 2006" interlace two different texts in inconvenient ways for pleasurable effect, and some poems present themselves as Village Voice classifieds or fictional letters. Other poems, probably the strongest poems in here, like "Andy Warhol for Beginners" or "Andy Warhol for the FBI" or "Andy Warhol for the Andy Warhol in the Vanity Mirror," offer humor and high energy and Warholic sensibilities that all come together quite exquisitely to make them not just tributes to Warhol, or flights through pop culture, or experiments in form, but all three concurrently, letting the work rise to something higher as well.

But other poems simply don't do much more than poke at a single dimension of the three mentioned above, and they come across as experiments more interesting to the poet than to me, or streams of information that are the typical mistake of research (Oresick includes an explanation at the end [a bad move, to include explanations on poetry] of the kind of research he did, but even before I came across this, I had the feeling of reading someone who was `too into' Warhol, who can rifle off all kinds of information but has little capacity to filter it in a way that proves most interesting--Oresick reads this sycophantically at times). Some poems also lapse into treatises of praise, which are less interesting than seeing Warhol's philosophy in action.

Perhaps many of my above criticisms could be couched as reaction to a philosophical ideal in the book, and I don't dispute that Oserick has thought through the implications of this series and the rationales behind this cycle, but rationales do not poetry make, and sometimes it's the resistance to rationale that creates poetry. By the final section of this book, "Warholastalgia," Oserick's method has become a little tiresome--the fault of many themed collections is that the theme does not change, but instead runs itself into attrition. I waited for the theme to step up to the next level, to work against its initial intentions and create something that I had not previously expected, but this did not prove so by the end.

A great compliment to Wagner's "A wine Growers Guide".





These two books are virtually bibles to the grape grower and amateur winemaker. If you have one, you will no doubt enjoy and use the other as well. "A wine growers guide" has helped me immensely in establishing my seven acre vinifera vineyard near the Southeast shore of Lake Erie. "Grapes Into Wine" is as absorbing and informative as the previous work.

wagner is the original guru on grape growing and wine making. how he found the time for all of his interests is a story we will never know. first, of course , he was the editor of the baltimore sun newspaper. he founded and operated boordy vineyard and winery,which became a grape vine nursury. he somehow found more time to write books on all of this, books that were clear, consise, that covered these fields with a fullnes of purpose that is amazing everytime i read and reread them. when i am planting grapes or making wine , his books are never far from my elbow. if you have limited funds and want to buy the best books for the most reasonable prices, buy wagner!

This book provides an interesting overview of the history of American winemaking. However, being written in the 1970's this text as a practical guide for winemaking is hopelessly dated. Much of the information is either contradictory to modern stylistic norms or simply innacurate. Better chioices for the home winemaker include Jon Iverson's "Home Winemaking, Step by Step" and Desmond Lundy's "Handmade Table Wine".
Cheers.

Philip Wagner's death in 1997 was a loss to the winemaking community. Wagner lived through a broad period of wine history. His significant life experience spans prohibition through an illustrious life as a successful commercial winemaker. Wagner practiced what he preached. His life honors a love for the grape and the art of turning grapes into wine.

His book, "Grapes into Wine," chronicles the history of winemaking told from the perspective of one who knows the subject. This book is not a step-by-step guide towards the process of making a fine wine; it's an exposition on the history and high-level science of grapes and grape growing (viticulture) and the cultivation of grapes, and the manufacture of wine (viniculture).

Wagner explains the origins of winemaking, from its earliest documented sources to the present. He describes the early French winemaking period, the effects of phylloxera and other diseases that practically wiped-out this industry, the emergence of east and west coast American wine making, prohibition, and winemaking in the modern world. He then delves into the process of winemaking, both commercially and in small lots. Sugar and bacterial (malolactic) fermentation are described historically and as a modern process. He discusses the entire process of winemaking, from pitching the yeast, to racking, cold stabilizing, fining, and finally bottling. Common pitfalls are cited with a description of how these problems are addressed on a small and large scale. Different wine types are discussed, including dry, sparkling, fortified, and sweet. The book ends with a brief discussion about wine tasting. A number of Appendices are also included as are numerous pictures that give a glimpse into historical periods, people, tools and machinery, and places.

While Wagner describes the winemaking process in some detail, it's not written as a guide towards making wine. For this, I'd suggest Jon Iverson's book, "Home Winemaking Step-by-Step." Iverson takes amateur winemakers by the hand and guides them through the necessary steps towards the creation of a finished table wine. Wagner's book describes this process topically, touching on the details but not describing them in a step-by-step fashion.

The cover of this book states, "A newly written, completely up-to-date version of his now-classic American Wines and Wine-making, with new maps, charts, and illustrations." I think this was true at one time, but from my perspective in 2003, this book more closely reflects the 1976 revision.

For example, p.64 shows a chart of California wine production from 1956 to 1973 in millions of gallons. Yet on the p.67 a 1982 note references how production has increased in 1980. It seems this note was inserted to make it more current while the preceding text was left untouched. I would rather have seen the chart updated to include wine production into the 1980s or 1990s rather than end in 1973. Eliminate the note and update the text and graphic. Much of the book is from the perspective of 1976.

This aside, Wagner's book is a superbly valuable text. I don't mean to give the impression it is sorely outdated; it's not outdated in a way that degrades the value of what he has written. Wagner has documented a snapshot of history and I have enjoyed the book immensely. Many chapters I've read numerous times. I especially enjoy the chapters on the history of viniculture and viticulture. Wagner is gifted in his historical knowledge and I think these beginning chapters are the book's crowning achievement.

Highly recommended, I only wish Wagner was alive to provide an update that includes a look into the 21st Century.

Philip M. Wagner's earlier "American Wines and Wine-Making" became a bible for small producers and winemakers in America. First printed in 1933, it was revised several times and then completely rewritten over 40 years later under the current title. Although dated, it is still one of the more valuable resources for the small commercial or home winemaker intent on making excellent wine from grapes and grape concentrates.

Wagner discusses the grape and all its inherent qualities in clear, concise language. His treatment if both old French-American and new American hybrids is still a good historical and practical guide for grape selection. His appendix on wine grape varieties is a handy compendium for the single plant to small vineyard grower, while his appendix on "Wine Analysis Simplified" is invaluable to anyone wishing to make award winning vintages.

The "meat" of the book discusses the fundamentals of winemaking as an art. This is amply illustrated with chapters on making red, white, rosé, sparkling, and other fermentations. He discusses clarification, filtering, testing, blending, and bottling with the experience of someone who is at ease with their finer points. He devotes a chapter to the then growing interest in making wines from concentrates and another on what can go wrong. While not a tutorial or handbook, his treatment is more a dissertation that any but a master winemaker would find instructive and beneficial.

It is his chapter on wine tasting and drinking that sets his work apart, for these are the culminative activities for which all wine is ultimately made. His dissection of the anatomy and physiology of taste is a primer for any who aims to make really good wine. It won't make you a wine critic of Hugh Johnson's stature, but it will make you more conscious of what happens when wine is taken into your mouth. And that, after all, is what it is all about.

This is a solid addition to any home winemaker's library. For historical insight alone, it is worth the price.

Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah was a fantastic story of two people's journey through life together. It is broken up into two sections: Mandolin, and Canary in Bloom. The first section is written through the eyes of Thomas and the second is from Beulah's perspective. What is fantastic about the way this book is written and organized is that all the poems are connected in sequence and tell a story. Unlike many of the books of poetry that I have read, I did not have to bounce back and forth from this book to my dictionary. Dove's approach to writing poetry is very straight-forward and from the heart. The book reads as if it was a personal memoir from both Thomas and Beulah.

You can relate to the couple and really are drawn in by the imagery and metaphors that Dove uses. Pay attention to the use of wings, salt, fish, canary, feet, heart, music, yellow, flowers, and tears. All contribute in great deal to the depth of each poem. One of my favorite poems from this book is "Courtship, Diligence." In this poem, Beulah is listening to him play the same old mandolin that he has played for years. As she sits she imagines a life where she doesn't have to listen to the same old mandolin and see his same old yellow scarf. Thomas has no idea of her thoughts and is playing as well as he could to make her happy. This really made me think of past relationships and how one person could be very happy and try their best to please the one they love with what they are given. Yet, sometimes no matter how hard one person tries, the other is just simply unhappy. The use of mandolin in this poem is just one example of Dove's imagery. When she is using mandolin, it is representing some feeling or stage in Thomas' life. Whether young and recalling memories, anxious in new love, or old and recovering from a heart attack, the mandolin is an intricate imagery tool. Another fantastic poem is "Variation on Pain." This poem draws back memories of slavery when African Americans were forced to have their ears pierced. The mandolin is again used in this poem, and it draws forth these memories of "two greased strings for each pierced lobe." The third stanza, however, is the most powerful. "There was a needle in his head but nothing fit through it. Sound quivered like a rope stretched clear to land, tensed and brimming, a man gurgling air." This is one of the finest examples of the eloquent power that Rita Dove expresses in her writing.

All in all, this is one of the best written works of poetry that I have come across. It is an easy read and as far as books of poetry go, its progressing story makes Thomas and Beulah a real page turner. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is just getting in to reading poetry or even someone who is a poetry connoisseur.

Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah is a fantastic story of two people's journey through life together. It is broken up into two sections: Mandolin, and Canary in Bloom. The first section is written through the eyes of Thomas and the second is from Beulah's perspective. What is fantastic about the way this book is written and organized is that all the poems are connected in sequence and tell a story. Unlike many of the books of poetry that I have read, I did not have to bounce back and forth from this book to my dictionary. Dove's approach to writing poetry is very straight-forward and from the heart. The book reads as if it was a personal memoir from both Thomas and Beulah.

You can relate to the couple and really are drawn in by the imagery and metaphors that Dove uses. Pay attention to the use of wings, salt, fish, canary, feet, heart, music, yellow, flowers, and tears. All contribute in great deal to the depth of each poem. One of my favorite poems from this book is "Courtship, Diligence." In this poem, Beulah is listening to him play the same old mandolin that he has played for years. As she sits she imagines a life where she doesn't have to listen to the same old mandolin and see his same old yellow scarf. Thomas has no idea of her thoughts and is playing as well as he could to make her happy. This really made me think of past relationships and how one person could be very happy and try their best to please the one they love with what they are given. Yet, sometimes no matter how hard one person tries, the other is just simply unhappy. The use of mandolin in this poem is just one example of Dove's imagery. When she is using mandolin, it is representing some feeling or stage in Thomas' life. Whether young and recalling memories, anxious in new love, or old and recovering from a heart attack, the mandolin is an intricate imagery tool. Another fantastic poem is "Variation on Pain." This poem draws back memories of slavery when African Americans were forced to have their ears pierced. The mandolin is again used in this poem, and it draws forth these memories of "two greased strings for each pierced lobe." The third stanza, however, is the most powerful. "There was a needle in his head but nothing fit through it. Sound quivered like a rope stretched clear to land, tensed and brimming, a man gurgling air." This is one of the finest examples of the eloquent power that Rita Dove expresses in her writing.

All in all, this is one of the best written works of poetry that I have come across. It is an easy read and as far as books of poetry go, its progressing story makes Thomas and Beulah a real page turner. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is just getting in to reading poetry or even someone who is a poetry connoisseur.

I really enjoyed this book because of the unconventional way it was written. I really admire Rita Dove's use of a series of short poems to tell a story. After reading Thomas's half of the book, I couldn't wait to read Beulah's half. The different ways that these two experience the same events, is wonderful. Every poem shows so much feeling; it makes the reader feel like part of what is going on. Once it was pointed out to me that certain symbols stay constant through the entire book, I appreciated the way it was written even more. It gives the reader something to grab onto and follow throughout the sets of narrative poems. In the poems, there is not a use of extremely difficult language. Instead, Rita Dove uses very simple language. The use of simpler words helps convey the time the events were taking place and the people whose point of view they are coming from. By this I mean that historically, because of racism, during these time period many African Americans where not even allowed an education. My favorite poem in the book would have to be "The Zeppelin Factory." In the first stanza, I love the use of the term "whale" to describe the air craft. It gives the image of this gigantic, lumbering piece of machinery. To me it also relates the hollow moan of a whale, to the moaning and creaking of the joints of the airship. The feelings of sadness in the first stanza, quickly translates to the second and third stanzas, as the airship floats out of control, and three people lose their lives. In the third stanza, the image of these tiny looking men falling is absolutely horrifying. It made me realize that I can't even imagine witnessing something so terrible. It made me feel sorry for Thomas, because he didn't even want to be part of the airship in the first place, when he had to work on it, and now he had to witness this depressing event. In the fourth stanza, the reader gets a glimpse into Thomas's feelings of the event. He seems to have feelings of guilt because he did not lose his life that day. The last stanza brings you back to now, with Thomas looking at a Goodyear blimp. When reading this poem, I experienced so many feelings, and so many images ran through my head. The poem just gave mea feeling of guilt, much like Thomas had in the fourth stanza of the poem. This one poem is a great example of how heartfelt and emotional, some of the other poems in the book are. I don't want to give the idea that the entire book is depressing. There are many poems that are lighthearted and will bring a smile right to the readers face. Even though these poems are written about events in a different era, the reader can relate many times throughout the book to the feelings and thoughts going through Thomas and Beulah's head. I would recommend this book to anyone. It is a short read that is definitely worth every second spent reading it.

The collected poems of Rita Dove in the book "Thomas and Beulah" are about the lives of 2 people. These poems also tell two sides of a story. Rita Dove is a 1987 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. This book of poems is refreshingly different and I strongly recommend it. This book tells a story with these poems. Everything is in sequence from the 1900's, which is when Thomas and Beulah were born, to the 1960's when Beulah passes on. This book tells the lives of a married black couple back in the day. And is separated by "Mandolin", which is Thomas' side, then "Canary in Bloom", which is Beulah's side of the story.
An example of what both people think about the same situation is in the poem "Courtship" on Thomas' side. This is when he wants to please her and so he "warps the yellow silk still warm from his throat around her shoulders (he mad good money; he could buy another.)" On the other side though of what Beulah is feeling in "Courtship, Diligence" is that all she sees is " a yellow scarf run[ing] though his fingers" she also says that "she'd much prefer a scent in a sky-colored flask" and "not that scarf, bright as butter." With that, you can clearly see how the two people are feeling. Thomas is thinking the yellow scarf is something expensive of his that he can give, and Beulah doesn't like it. You have two sides of a story and what each person is feeling and thinking. Through out the book it is the same from. From Thomas' death and how he was feeling then and what Beulah was thinking and feeling at that time too. This book is like a balance between two people. A balance needed for a marriage and it shows the complexity of two lives that see each other and the world in two different ways.
But there is also a closeness that the reader gets because this book draws them in from the realistic situations. In example, from the poem "Variation on Guilt", Beulah is having a baby and he really wants a baby boy. He's scared to find out what she will have and when the doctor comes out and sees a "smirk" on his face he knows it's a girl and "he doesn't feel a thing" but is "weak with rage." This book is really interesting because you can go into the lives of the married couple and know more about their feelings and emotions than what Thomas and Beulah know about each other. Their relationship and building a family is sometimes complex, simple, yet it is still only a shallow view of their lives. From beginning to end this book always keeps you interested. And with the description of how each person had passed away and their experiences brings the reader a little bit closer to them.

Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah (1987, Carnegie Mellon)

Rita Dove won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry with Thomas and Beulah, and it's pretty easy to see why. Dove's poetic biography of her ancestors is hyperkinetic, jazz-infused poetry rooted in the Depression, full of life, sass, and vinegar. Nothing is sacred, from motherhood ("She dreams the baby's so small she keeps/misplacing it") to death ("Later he'll say Death stepped right up/to shake his hand, then squeezed/until he sank to his knees."), and some contemporary jabs mixed in ("...Joanna saying/'Mother, we're Afro-Americans now!'/What did she know about Africa?"). Dove has been one of America's shining poetic voices for two decades now, and there's never not a right time to go back and revisit this stunning collection. Perhaps her strongest work. ****

This instructional manual is a must have for all computer users, grandma or not. It gives simple, easy to follow instructions for the basic things most people do with their computers. The book is well organized, comprehensive and not the slightest bit threatening to the novice user.

In addition to the basics, there are sections dealing with word processing, graphics and downloading files. It should be on every emailer's desktop. As a computer consultant, I train people to use their computers. I bought copies for my husband, his father and my two best friends.

As a dean at a California community college, I've had the opportunity to review many introductory computer books. "For Grandmas Who Do Windows" is an excellent tutorial with a cookbook feel to it that will teach even the Luddites among us the basics of using computers. The section on Toolbars is one of the easiest to understand that I've ever read. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has not yet joined the computer revolution.

I bought this book for my mother who is just now learning to use a computer. (she's in her 60's) I had high hopes based on the description provided. My problem is that the main area she needs help with is using email. This book only deals with AOL...not anything about Outlook Express at all. I was very disapointed to learn this. I returned the book.

This book was written for senior citizens like me, but I can't imagine that it wouldn't help any beginner on the computer. Not only is it very informative and educational, it is written with humor. Ms. Lowenstein is a good teacher. I knew how to send and recieve e-mail messages and I knew how to play some games, but I was very confused and uninformed about anything else. Now I feel like a regular kid and don't have to ask my grandchildren how to do things that they do as easily as breathing. The book makes a wonderful gift, too.

I am a Grandma who does "windows" and a lucky Grandma to now own a copy of Amy Lowentein's latest book. As a senior citizen I had a late start into this new computer age. It seems that every time I sit down at my computer, a new problem arises and I find myself saying, "If only I knew how to do this." Well, now I know how--merely by looking up the correct method in this wonderful how-to manual. It is easy to follow and understand, concise and to the point. and best of all, a fun way to learn. My congratulations and gratitude to the author.

Exile's Return

This is a book of essays, anecdotes, and observations. They are primarily concerned with the 'Lost Generation' of American writers who spent time in Paris between 1918 and 1930. Donald W. Faulkner provides the Introduction and Cowley, who made some revisions to the 1934 publication in 1951, writes a note on the text.
I imagine that many of the 'senior citizens', such as myself, will have some sense of familiarity with the subject matter. A few may have read the book in the days of their youth. Unless they are experts on the subject they will find Cowley's intimate perspective interesting, and they will enjoy the easy accessible style of the writing.
For younger generations it may not be the best introduction to the period. The names Hart Crane, Harry Crosby, and Edmund Wilson should have some resonance, as well those more familiar ones such as Hemingway and Fitzgerald.
Appendices include A Selective Chronology of Events from 1915 to 1934, and A Tabular History of the Literary Life, 1924-1949.
Many detailed works on the authors and the period have been written since. Cowley's perceptions do not date, as they are more of less contemporary rather than historical. But it must be said that they do not provide a suitably informative introduction for those readers not already familiar with the territory.

Cowley was the ultimate in a thinking,toughly idealistic American living a literary dream in an epoch which permitted the indulgence. Jaggedly incisive as a writer, Cowley decided instead that editing was his prowess and observation his art. So he proceeded. Much romantic lore has been made of the many great American authors inhabiting the Left Bank scene in Paris in the 1920s. Exile's Return makes sense of the historical, literary and personal sequence of events leading to this decade-long picnic, and transforms the legend and nostalgia into the movingly profound minutiae of everyday life and thought amongst the loose collection of free spirits who changed modern conceptions of Western literary art forever. Artistic and intellectual achievements notwithstanding, "une generation perdue" comprised some very desperate and talented people trying to make sense of a world gone mad and define themselves within the insanity. A lot like now. Imagine an author being able to account for the global, tragic complexity emblematic in 9/11 and explain its implications for humanity and civilization's expressions. Flash back eight decades and you have Cowley's subject matter and his accomplishment. Let's hope someday somebody equals Malcolm Cowley's formidable ability to observe and explicate, and make us love, in retrospect, a loveless and temporarily hopeless age as it finds its way into our favorite novels and poems.

I had expected EXILE'S return to be more of a straightforward history of the Lost Generation, and was somewhat surprised to find instead a profoundly insightful, exceedingly well-written reflection on Malcolm Cowley's literary generation. As a result, many writers that we associate with that decade, e.g., Ernst Hemingway, receive almost no mention, whereas others, e.g., Hart Crane, get a considerable amount. The highest praise that I can bestow on this book is that in looking now at the poetry and literature of that period, I feel much more at home in their world than I did before reading Cowley. A marvelous book in man, many ways.

Cowley was many things: author, poet, editor, reviewer, American expatriate in Paris. He was aware of his diverse past and constantly strove to contextualize himself within what was going on around him. Exile's Return was his first such attempt. In it Cowley recounts his experiences in such notable hot-spots as pre-war Greenwich Village and inter-war Paris. Moreover, he examines the movements of which he was a part within larger historical/literary/artistic trends.

There are some things to bear in mind with this work, however. Cowley returned to his past often, and often his return would bring re-evaluation. While there is some evidence of this habit across the various editions of Exile's Return, the trail of revision is more apparent by comparing this work against other retrospectives (Dream of the Golden Mountains, View From 80, etc.).

Another issue with Cowley is that he (as most, especially Modernist, writers) tends to favor his own position. That is, he perhaps exaggerates his own part and importance. This tendency becomes controversial within the context of his chapter on Harry Crosby. While they were clearly acquainted, Caresse Crosby (Harry's wife), among others, thought that Cowley didn't know Harry well enough to write what they considered a spurious account of Crosby's last days.

However, even with these negatives the book is highly recommended. In it, one gets a concise introduction to Modernism, important figures in the expatriate movement and inter-war Paris, and pre-war New York. Further, one receives a context of how these movements and people fit together. Among Cowley's works, this is one of his finest.

i strongly recommend this book to anyone who needs more insight into the idea of a lost Generation

Rain is an excellent collection of poetry! Carlile's unique and witty writing style really shines though in Rain. His language tends to play against conventional ideas while his words and style are blunt and though provoking; and example of this is his poem Desire, he says, "fire is a bad rhyme and a good remedy for desire". Rain is definitely a book I would recommend to a friend who loves great descriptive language. Awesome all around!

Anyone who has an appreciation for poetry would most certainly enjoy reading this wonderful book. Carlile has an incredible mastery of language and humor, an engaging blend of wisdom and innocence, and an exquisite capacity for writing the most poignant poetry imaginable. One cannot help but wonder why he is not a more celebrated author, because he is a truly magnificent contemporary poet.

Rain is an intimate look into the events and experiences that have made this particular poet into a man. With a strong male voice, the poet offers insight into his personal life on such issues as war, death, memories, family, and uncertainty. There are no unturned stones in this lively collection. Though written from a male perspective, this book in no way appeals only to male readers; this book is one of the most exciting contemporary works to be published within the last years for all lovers of poetry. I recommend this book to all experienced readers of poetry as well as all novices interested in what is happening on the modern poetry scene. This collection is so riveting that it could easily be read in one sitting.

In his volume Rain, Henry Carlile covers a wide swath of ideational ground, such as the trajectories of loss qua death and divorce, the ideological nuances of camouflage and "why poets write so much about death and... not jut go fishing instead" with unfailing attention the his craft. His poems exhibit an impressive understanding of the conventions of poetry, and in certain cases they actually gain momentum through a reversal of said conventions, such as in "Desire" where Carlile turns the usual fire/desire trope on its head, then all but looks up and laughs: "In one of the meditation" writes Carlile "you have to imagine / the object of your desire as her face blisters / and falls apart... You meditate on that, you think of fire. / Fire is a bad rhyme and a good remedy for desire." A similar, though usually less blatant, poetic self-awareness pervades much of the volume. I highly recommend it.

Henry Carlile's "Rain" exemplifies his brilliance through elegance,unpredictability, and the ability to sway the mood of the reader. Carlile finds the beauty of war in poems like, "Desire", "Camouflage", and "Fort Ord, California, 1953" while preserving the ferocity of battle. On the same token, he has the capability to produce poems such as "Girlfriend",or "Triangle" both of which are cunning, humorous, and cynical as well. In "Girlfriend," did he end up killing her? He writes as the last line,"she, of course, is gone." Does this simply mean she is not with him anymore, humorous in its obviousness In "Triangle", was the statue there just to block the ugly view of a parking lot? He forces the reader to enjoy the poem while reading as well as in retrospect hours after you finally can put it down. Through his poem "Her Things", he portrays the beauty of emptiness in comparison to material objects. In few words, Carlile also represents a forced love, empty of excitement through these material items. In "November Memo", he talks simply of a pumpkin, but gives the pumpkin life and personality. He takes a simple everyday object and shows the deterioration, thinking less of rotting and more about the pumpkin's lack of conviction. I found Henry Carlile to be an extremely gifted writer. His language and variety in tone and structure is only a small portion of what makes him a phenomenal poet. He tends to the likes of all readers, and I guarantee he will tend to yours as well.

I loved Dzvinia Orlowsky's last book of poems, A Handful of Bees. I'd gone to hear her read, and somehow her voice made the words completely transparent, so that the beauty and surprise of her lines seemed such a counterpoint to their directness. One Obscene Brushstroke is doing something different -- in all the poems she's trying to describe, from all sorts of different directions, where she finds herself right now. Wife, mom, hearth, but what she's mostly giving us is the Molly Bloom in her, and Molly's relationship to all the the other pieces. I found some of the poems difficult, but the collection comes together beautifully as a whole, as a portrait of a woman with a poetic gift trying to tell us where she finds herself and what it feels like.

"Except for one Obscene Brushstroke" is written from inside the heart, and more importantly, the body, of a woman who is fiercely carnal and spiritual. The point of view is that of ripened womanhood- capable of naming her experiences precisely, and desperate enough to actually do it. Orlowsky portrays the search for self-understanding and intimacy without revision or enhancement. Sexuality is linked to everything from a refrigerator door opening, to something a dog might lick, to the passion and tenderness of the Pieta. Despite the predominantly male reviewers quoted on the book's back cover, I think this is a woman's book, because of its emotional hunger and unvarnished honesty. I think women young and old will see pieces of themselves and glimpses of hope in these pages. My only quibble is with the title. Orlowsky shows us that our most private "Brushtroke," when exposed completely, is not in any way obscene, rather, it is sacred.

Andy McNelly is in error. EDGE OF HOUSE is Dzvinia Orlowsky's last book from which edge the speaker in EXCEPT FOR ONE OBSCENE BRUSHSTROKE departs. In these exquisite peems the speaker is fully fulfilled, grounded in a stable, loving domestic life yet, and, her body is necessarily appropriated by its demands. Rather than a life from which these poems escape , it is the scaffolding from which her rich inner life departs and returns to, nourished by forays into the raw and carnal, immersed in what D.H. Lawrence named the "blood consciousness" of the body.

Because these wonderfully crafted poems are a ladder up to to a window looking onto the psychic privacies of the speaker, the reader enters into the delicious, intimate, sideways thrilling complicity of a voyeur whose curiosity and astonishment keeps her riveted in recognition.

With precise, original, surreally-real imagery, Orlowsky fearlessly gives voice to the body's desire for itself, the need to step away from the warm, blurry comfort of family and feel its hard-edged outline against unfamiliar landscapes as in November: "Shall I go there, where tiles/of light lie in the fields,/ to the cobweb's maze,/blood illuminating words,/to where a stranger removes his gloves, /traces his finger from vein to heart.", or the rainy parking lot in Tattoo Thoughts, where the speaker, having left the family with menus, follows a young waiter, or the dumpster in Clock where the speaker will meet a phantom you .

Orlowsky poems are spun from the real givens of life, temporarily appeasing the body's clamoring so that it may return again to life at hand. Orlowsky's EXCEPT FOR ONE OBSCENE BRUSHSTROKE makes the risky journey into the psyche's deeper waters to recover the body to the self.

In poem after poem, we see Orlowsky answer the body's erotic longing with the body itself. This book is a gutsy, rare, intimate exploration of that woman who yearns for the wild heath as well as the warm hearth.

Dzvinia Orlowsky, Except for One Obscene Brushstroke (Carnegie Mellon, 2003)

Dzvinia Orlowsky's poems are likely to leave you needing to wipe your brow every once in a while. They straddle (no pun intended, of course) the line between erotic and brazen, and you're not usually sure which side of that line you're on; when you are sure, you've definitely crossed over into the latter.

It's pretty hard not to be intrigued by a book of poetry that's been blurbed by, of all people, "now" mystery novelist Dennis Lehane, who says in part "...images from several of the poems would stop me in parking lots, give me pause in the supermarket." Indeed. Not that most of them can be put into an Amazon review for fear of catching the automated review censor.

"The judges scrapped the bathing suit part,
scrapped the talent show,
most of us had none.
(Why embarrass the county?)
Intelligence, however,
would have to speak for itself,
excited by the mike. In the background,
cowboys played donkey basketball,
and a hot car prepared
to go up in smoke."
(--"Into the Keys")

Blatantly sexy, though sometimes in a tell-don't-show kind of way, but thoroughly satisfying for all that. *** ½

When I was 13, I asked my father what his favorite book was when he was my age. He told me "Quentin Durward". The next time we were in a bookstore together, I found a paperback copy of this book and bought it...for 75 cents! When I read this book, I entered the medieval world of knights, kings, lovely medieval ladies, and chivalry. I later learned that Quentin Durward is about fighting to preserve moral order in a changing world. What book could be more relevant today? I just bought this book for my 13 year old son, and he has it on his list of books to read this summer. The generations in my family will be connected by this book and the themes it addresses.

p.s. When going through my father's library, I discovered the old copy my father had read. It had his father's name written on the first page, and his grandmother's name on a bookplate inside the front cover!

This is the first Sir Walter Scott novel I've read since 1975. I was struck by how modern -- or even post-modern -- its structure is. For one thing, the novel is a narrated by fictitious narrator named Sir Walter Scott, honest, who stumbles into a private library salvaged from pre-revolutionary France; for another, its annotations reference sources which may or may not exist, but which the fictitious narrator claims he read in the private library referenced above. Further, with the exception of the heroine (dish-water dull, I agree), the characters all behave as modern people would. Yet, as far as I can tell, Borges never wrote about Sir Walter Scott. Go figure.

I read this novel forty years ago in the Modern Library edition and I am amazed that it is out of print except in expensive library editions. It is one of Scott's finest novels, full of action and with a fine portrait of King Louis. It was the first novel to use a gypsy as a character. It was made into a movie in the 1950's. Scott of one of the most neglected geniuses in literature and the world is the poorer for it.

Quentin Durward is good reading, right up (almost) to the very end. It's excellent historical fiction with very rich characterization, especially of Louis XI. Excellent, that is, except for the women. While two of the minor female characters are interesting, the female lead is as dull as dishwater. My real complaint is that the ending is bungled. After the tremendous buildup full of exciting action and convincing sets, you turn the page and...it's just over! Misses the crecendo and the denoument. Still, I enjoyed it, and recommend checking it out of the library, as I did.