Caribbean Books

We've been to the Caribbean three times and this Access Guide, like the previous ones really helped us to narrow down the islands to visit. If you are unsure of where to go or where to stay this is the book for you. It provides a good overview of each island and gives you the feel of whether it is for you or not. While on the island it also gave us some great tips on where to eat, sleep and tour. In addition the organization method makes it easy to read. We went to Puerto Rico, Antigua, and St. Lucia and it covered them all well.

This story chronicles the lives of two people, Elizabeth and Josef. Elizabeth is a recently widowed Canadian who decides to take a teaching position on a tiny Caribbean island to heal from her sorrow. Josef is a Haitian laborer who is hiding from immigration after a thwarted attempt to escape to America. Josef starts working for Elizabeth in her garden and they work together to help a family whose mother is dying of AIDS. Along the way, they develop a special relationship.

I had a hard time putting this book down. I was fascinated by Author Ryan's ability to illustrate the plight of the native people, particularly Haitians. She succeeded in weaving it into the story without lecturing the reader. For example, a passage in the book chronicles the day of some construction workers on the island. Throughout the day though, she also writes of the dialogue overhead from tourists who remark disparagingly about what they think they are seeing. Those remarks illustrate the ignorance of the island visitors whose own typical workday is different.

I'll be watching for more work from Nora Ryan. Her ability to weave a story around these two people and the societal issues facing this little Caribbean island was outstanding. This is one of the best "love stories" I've read in a long time!

I checked out five book's from the library on St. Martin. The Hunter travel guide has more information than all the other book's put together.

If you step outside the luxury resorts (or manage to stay away from them), you can find nature and adventure around every corner in Jamaica. Author Steve Cohen shares a number of recommendations on hiking, biking, whitewater rafting and treks to reggae clubs. The book delves into the roots of Jamaican culture. Ron Mader El Planeta Platica

Now in an updated fourth edition, The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos is a travel guide covering the 700+ islands of the Bahamas as well as the Turks and Caicos. Fabulously illustrated with full color photographs on virtually every page, The Bahamas and Turks & Caicos lists the best hotels in different price ranges, restaurants, dive sites, dive operators, tours, fishing guides, historic forts and pirate hideouts, where one can walk through tropical forests or play with dolphins, find duty-free shops with bargains, and much more. An easy-to-use, reader-friendly field guide printed on durable, high-quality paper ideal for withstanding the rigors of travel. Highly recommended for tourists and business travelers alike.

My wife and I are active travelers and enjoy planning our own trips. When we decided to visit the Caribbean we were not sure which island to visit, but wanted someplace with lots of natural diversity. "Caribbean Adventures in Nature" helped us select a great adventure in the Windward Islands. We looked at dozens of other guides which were heavy on hotels and restaurants, but light on good practical outdoor information and opted for this guide. It is jam packed with all the information you need to plan every aspect of your adventure including, email addresses, web sites, operators, etc. The information is well organized and the down-to-earth writing style makes it an easy read. If you are planning a foray into the Caribbean then this book is all you will need to plan your adventure.

Chris Dixon has written the best scholarly book yet regarding the U.S. "Civil War" emigration to Haiti. It is not only exhaustive, but deeply analytical. His purpose was to demonstrate how this emigration and the ideas that spurred it reveal to us now the different intellectual and social dynamics of African American nationalisms. A book of serious scholarship, the main concern is African American (U.S. blacks) rather than Haiti. Yet, this book is a "must" for all interested in nineteenth century nationalisms, African American, and Haitian History.

Bettelheim has put together a gallery of art works by 25 noted younger, contemporary, Cuban artists. The closing section is on Belkis Ayon, who died in 1999. A representative work of each of the artists faces a one-page essay on him or her. Many of the pictured works are from the past year or two. The oldest are from the 1970s. It's an eye-opening catalog displaying the liveliness and imagination in Cuban art works on paper over the past 30 years. One sees that Cuban art has not been retarded by U. S. efforts to ostracize Cuban under the Castro regime; and that as far as its art goes, Cuba reflects the latest in modern and contemporary art with respect to content and style, and in some cases political and social perspective. The Afrocuban works on paper contain all of the irony, postmodern collage, and abstract and biological forms of art of any country, while at the same time reflect earthy African roots and the social tensions and artifices of Cuba. A professor of art history at San Francisco State U., Bettelheim area of concentration is the African Diaspora.

Alfonsina Storni had more guts than many men, although she was profoundly feminine, and, as she put it, she loved THE men. She used to say that she'd liked to have been a man "because you -the man- have the best part, that of the death and the hate". And she died as she liked to do, because she throw herself in the Atlantic Ocean, escaping thus of a cancer of her right breast, on October of 1938.

"Selected Poems," by Alfonsina Storni, brings together a wide selection of poems by an important Argentine poet. This volume has been edited by Marion Freeman, who also wrote the brief but informative biographical introduction. Unfortunately, this is not a bilingual edition; all of the poems are presented in English translation. The translations are by Freeman, Mary Crow, Jim Normington, and Kay Short.

Storni's poetry covers a number of topics. Some recurrent subjects include nature, women's issues, family, sorrow, and the urban environment. The specter of violence haunts many of her poems. At times, her sparse but elegant language, combined with a dark tone, reminds me of the work of United States poet Stephen Crane. At other times, the combination of sensuous, startling imagery and emotional nakedness reminds me of the work of Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos.

Editor Freeman has selected poems from eight of Storni's published volumes, as well as a selection of uncollected poems. One of her most striking poems is "Litany for a Dead Earth," an apocalyptic vision of a devastated world. Also excellent is "Fog," which uses fascinating imagery to describe a cityscape. Striking imagery is also used in her "Portrait of Garcia Lorca": "The Andalusian hills / of his cheekbones / and the trembling valley / of his mouth / are smothered in climbing vines."

In the first poem in this volume, Storni writes, "I am like the she-wolf. / I broke with the pack." Perhaps this describes her own approach to poetry. At any rate, hers was a remarkable voice, and this is a fine collection of her work. Those interested in Latin American literature or 20th century poetry should seek out this book.