Irish-American Books

I love this book of essays. Especially the ones by Minnie Driver, Samantha Dunn and Rachel Resnick.

Editor Emma Forrest bravely tackles a new facet of feminism in Damage Control--women writing unabashedly about the primping and refining they undergo not just for themselves, but for their partners, their professions, and for acceptance in society as a whole. The book is divided into five sections--hair care, beauty, therapeutic/surgical modifications, massage, and waxing. It's a good undertaking with some remarkable reads but, unfortunately, Forrest has far less than one book's worth of quality material, and much of the text is just filler that loosely relates to the overall theme.

Frances Lia Block wrote the standout piece in the collection. In her seven-page essay (one of the longest in the book), she confesses to body image discomfort that let her to a therapist who encouraged plastic surgery. Block is a thin, delicate, pale woman who was markedly disfigured by her surgical and laser treatments. With a few years of hindsight and the maturity that comes with motherhood, Block learned to accept herself, and undergo minor treatments only to repair the most physically uncomfortable of her previous body modifications (sinus repair, for example). As a fan of the fantastical, spunky, beautiful worlds Block creates in her fiction, I was surprised to learn about her own lack of self-confidence. I was comforted knowing that she is just like the rest of us.

Other delightful essays include the tale of a freelance author (Samantha Dunn) who was forced to cut her beauty budget in lean times. Image is everything in Los Angeles, however, so when Dunn's stylist found out, she immediately arranged for the author to perform custodial duties in exchange for salon services. The gratitude and elation Dunn felt from this arrangement is truly heart-warming, reminding all women to look out for one another. (Proceeds from this book, in fact, benefit the Women for Women organization, which can be located on the World Wide Web.)

The book also contains a number of beauty tips and tricks, from the best $25 cheapo blow-out in NYC (see Rose McGowan's essay), to the top Persian Beverly Hills waxer to the stars (Soraya), and to the $12 pedicure by a workaholic Vietnamese manicurist struggling to stay alive with a fancy salon across the street (see essay entitled "Jane and Joy"). Overall, I recommend this title, but be prepared to skim through some of the filler material.

The Dazzle of the Light is a poignant and provocative tale of one man's journey after the death of his older brother. The main character refuses to accept the platitudes of others and wants to face his grief head on. The book reminds me of early Hermann Hesse, a bildungsroman in which we follow the progress of one character over the course of the novel. Lyrical, funny, bittersweet, eventually uplifting. The Dazzle of the Light is a great read.

This is a truly amazing effort. There a very few modern authors that manage to have a genuine voice. I was astonished at Patrick Hegarty's ability to blend insight, honesty, humor, and literary accumen. I cannot remember the last time I was moved ny a book and impressed by it at the same time. I look forward to Mr. Hegarty's next effort and I will sing the praises of this book until I am hoarse.

John Evelyn's diary is a wonderful source-book for 17th Century England. It covers far more of the period than Peyps' diary (but is a little drier!)and gives a comprehensive picture of life in those turbulent times. Guy de la Bedoyere has done a fine job of editing this diary.

Evelyn is very different from Pepys, whom he knew. Unlike Pepys, Evelyn was a strait-laced fellow, so we get no juicy stories of his amours. He hardly speaks of his wife and consequently never mentions any arguments they might have had. He tells few personal anecdotes. He also has little to say about the great plague year or the great fire of London. Pepys gives a lot more detail on these subjects.

What he does deal with rather extensively are the meetings of the Royal Society, of which he was a member. It was hard for me to get excited about these. Nevertheless, it is good to have this book available.

I saw a production of The Drawer Boy at Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, Illinois starring John Mahoney (of Frasier fame), Frank Galati, and Johnny Galecki. The script is beautifully crafted, with a subtle and skillful coloring. The simple, truthful insights it provides into friendships with all their complexities are touching. I'd highly recommend this play to read, or better yet, watch.

A wonderful book that contains everything for the entire family.
There are love poems and ballads for the young and old alike; and there are some lovely ones which my niece and nephew are always asking me to read aloud for them like THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT and THE SPIDER TO THE FLY. There is a wide range of poets like William Wordsworth, Lewis Carroll, Dylan Thomas John Keats and many many more. It's amazing how they carry me right back to my schooldays and set off a spell of nostalgia; and I like that. With lots of humour Inspirational verse and Ancient Ballads, I would call this a proper book of poems because it has something in it for all of us. Read it at small family gatherings, or see your kids off to sleep with some of the lovely children poems. A good buy.
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 21/01/02)

This anthology is a great collection of many of my favorite poems. I have enjoyed reading these to my children at night before bedtime. There are some wonderful inspirational poems. I also like another anthology, "Poetry for a Lifetime", which has a similar selection but has more illustrations and has added comments from the editor. Both are fine additions to any home library.

T. S. Eliot masters the craft of play-writing, and his verse adds to this powerful and imaginative tragedy. He manages to keep his many characters separate and portray every one of them with acute individuality. Reading this book leaves the reader without any doubts as to why Eliot was awarded the Nobel Prize.

T. S. Eliot's second play is loosely based on Aeschylus' "Eumenides," though set in modern times. The integration of classical elements is only partly successful: the Greek chorus of meddlesome relatives is oddly effective, but the several appearances of the Furies are forced and strange (as Eliot himself came to conclude). Furthermore, the play is awfully talky -- lots of setup without much payoff in dramatic action.

But what talk it is! "The Family Reunion" was written in the interregnum between the first and second of "Four Quartets," and the play develops and amplifies many of the same themes as the poems. We return to the "Alice in Wonderland" rose garden of "Burnt Norton" (the first Quartet) -- "I only looked through the little door / When the sun was shining on the rose-garden: / And heard in the distance tiny voices" -- while looking forward to key passages from later poems: "Or the distant waterfall in the forest, / Inaccessible, half-heard. / And I hear your voice as in the silence / Between two storms ...."

Though "The Family Reunion" may be justly criticized for its dramatic problems and weak conclusion, the writing is vintage Eliot and will prove both enjoyable and enlightening for devotees of his poetry.

I must admit to being slightly prejudiced about this book. I stumbled on it during an ancestor search and found some of my relatives within the pages...Taliferro and Broyles. It was a great read and provided so much first hand insight into what it was like to live during the Civil War.I am so thankful that the authors thought the material was worthy of a book. I am sharing it with other family members.

This happens to be my fathers book, however I am compelled to comment despite my potential bias.

Firstly, the authors are Edward W. Simpson Jr. and Guy R. Everson (ie. not R.W. Simpson - he was a historical figure in the book). Dad found the letters hidden in a storage chest. He transcribed them over a period of four years and both authors spent another 3 years documenting the accuracy of the movements. Secondly, I am pleased to say it is truly one of the most wonderful bits of history that actually reads like a novel (important for me because I am not a Civil War buff). The story was a compilation of letters, written by a soldier dipicting everything from grand strategy, individual combat, to challenging personal experiences. The Simpson brothers (ie. the letter writters) served in Longstreets Corps under Robert E. Lee, in the Army of Northern Virginia. I am amazed at the courage that war required and how the letters capture the essence, the struggle, and the pathos of our Civil War.

I am jointly reviewing Frank Barlow's The Feudal Kingdom of England and Robert Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings. They deal with the same period, they are remarkably complementary, and I highly recommend doing as I did and reading them together.

Barlow's book, first published in 1955, takes a traditional approach and reviews the events of the Norman and early Angevin period chronologically. Bartlett's, benefiting from recent research, offers a more static but broader picture of the period's trends and features. To the newcomer (as I was) or, I think, to someone with basic knowledge of 12th century England, the combination will be as instructive as it is exciting to read.

The Feudal Kingdom of England recounts the main political events from the Norman invasion to the forced grant of the Magna Carta by king John. Barlow tells the drama of the conquest, the tales of dynastic intrigue, the blow-by-blow of three-sided feuding between king, church and baronage in sometimes gory, sometimes inspiring detail. Some stories simply need to be given chronologically, which Bartlett doesn't do: the manoeuvrings of William's sons, the dispute between Becket and Henry II, Richard's crusade and capture, the crafty king John's miserable reign. Though the narrative remains central to it, the book also contains chapters on aristocratic society, the church, and the English towns and countryside. In fact, it begins with an overview of England under Edward the Confessor which is invaluable for understanding change in post-invasion England.

Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings paints a multi-faceted panorama of 12th and early 13th century England. It is equally awesome in breadth and depth. And it is free of the typical fault of medieval history, in which 90% of space is devoted to the doings of 10% of the population. Bartlett devotes more than half his book to ordinary people's lives, urban and rural: their work, their habitat, their relationship to the lords, their money problems, their beliefs. He offers fascinating information on perceptions of the world, how the day was spent and divided, on marriage, manners and pastimes, even on sex. His section on culture and language isn't the boring recital one often finds, but is lively and relevant to the rest of the book. He describes the church at all levels, not just that of the bishopric, and from both the institutional and the spiritual perspective. He makes the best use of available data to discuss economic developments, themselves key to some of the period's political events (e.g. late 12th century inflation and the disasters of John's reign). And of course, Bartlett describes government and political patterns, only not in sequence.

These two books are complementary in other ways. Where Barlow tends to use original words, Bartlett prefers their more explicit equivalents (for example danegeld in one book is called a land tax in the other). If you only have time to read one, I would probably recommend The Feudal Kingdom of England, as it will leave you with the period's basic milestones. Still, it would be a shame to miss the fun of Bartlett's big canvas.

This is one of my very favorite books in the world. Frank Barlow's scholarly account of Edward the Confessor, the Norman Conquest, and the Norman and Angevin kings has never been bettered. I bought this book in the late 1970s and have read it a dozen times since. I cannot sincerely recommend for the casual reader, but for anyone with a real interest in the period, it is a must. Barlow understood that most good history must be written as a narrative, and this is one of the most intricate and interesting stories of all time. I especially like his insights into Richard I and John.

Wonderful collection of essays by first-rank writers on the transition from the native language to our American version of English. Starting of course with the example of Joseph Conrad they offer insights into their intial contact with English in their childhoods and how this shaped their perceptions of the US and ease their entry into our society. Since I have first hand experience with most of the languages and cultures described (living in Bangladesh, Poland, and Russia, Scottish grandmother), this rang true. Useful for linguists to see how their theories work, something I don't quite understand, but which they do as perceptive writers. The brief essays are well-crafted and easy to understand, much more accessible than their own writings may be or a sociological analysis of the transitions they outline.

All fifteen authors have one thing in common: they love words. All of them were drop-shipped, via their parent's fiat, to worlds where their mother tongue was no longer heard. These are the stories of how they lived, learned, spoke and eventual wrote English. Initially, their minds were full of ideas, but the words to express them were no longer understood outside of their family. The need to communicate burned inside of them and drove them to English, and maybe drove to the unencumbered freedom found in writing.

If you are looking for a work in the field of linguistics, keep looking, for this book is a `niche' book that gives one an unusual vista on the joys of words via quasi-autobiographies. This anthology is as unique as it is interesting to read. Strongly recommended

The perfect book for anyone looking for a crash course in Gothic studies, with thoughtful, interesting summaries and several in-depth studies of canonical texts. Punter and Byron are well known authorities in the field; their clear, concise, humorous style makes reading this book a pleasure.

Here is a book that's a bit more conventional and will appeal to the average person with interest in Gothic themes. It highlights most aspects of Gothic and will give you a good, overall knowledge of the history of Gothic and where it is heading.