Virginia Books

I really enjoy this author's writing style. Unlike most fantasy, it's not filled with the verbose paragraphs of description and the characters don't all speak 100% proper English. Thank you! This is a great, exciting, fast moving read with wonderful, lovable characters. I look forward to the sequel!

The title says it all. First, the characters, by whom I judge a book. They are unique individuals. One cannot help but like them, sometimes in spite of themselves. They are real. The heroine may be a mage and have to rescue queen and crown, but she is a school teacher and wants to go on being a teacher. There is humor, spirit, and refreshing (even annoying) imperfections. Above all, there is courage, loyalty, love, and a driving sense of right and wrong.

The fantasy. Here is a well-crafted, fascinating society with a logical explanation for mage power, natural laws and restraints on its use, a completely believable integration with the 'normal' segments of society and life.

The adventure. Excellent, carefully directed building of tension and danger (emotional and physical both) until the final duel, the Mage Challenge. That is almost more experienced than read.

A good book. Good fun. Buy it and read it, preferably more than once. I did.

This has been the best book I have read in a long time! The reader is instantly swept into the story line and these characters will remain in your heart forever. I strongly encourage everyone with a love of great books to read "Mage Confusion."
A really good book is often thought of as buried treasure, and Mrs. McMorrow has struck gold! Can't wait for books 2 & 3!!!!

I hate to admit this but it has been years since I have been interested enough in a book to get past the first chapter. This book not only got me through the first chapter but I had the book done in two and a half days. For most that may not seem like much but if you had my schedule.....I honestly think this book along with the other two to come would make a great motion picture. You can picture so well in your mind the characters, events, places, ect. like you were there. I was so surprised to find that everything I thought was going to happen was wrong which is the kind of book people like to read. Mrs. McMorrow has done a wonderful job on her first book and I'm sure the sequels will be even better. Kudos to her and I hope more people will read this book and I'm so excited about getting the next installment. Thanks Mrs. McMorrow for a great book!!!!!

During the Civil War, it was only two promotions from command of a regiment to command of a division. Assuming you were not killed or crippled, two promotions in four years of war seems an easy project. Without a West Point education, a powerful patron and backing of a major state the second promotion was almost impossible to secure. This was even truer in the Army of Northern Virginia, the South's most professional army. A West Pointer and a Virginian fill almost every major command. The list of Brigadier Generals who assumed temporary division command but never get a division is long and distinguished. An example of these men is Evander Law. Their always seemed to be a reason that kept him from getting that second promotion. These few men lacked the necessary qualifications had to rise on merit alone. Simply put, they had to be much much better than the men in the approved group. This was no easy task. Some of the approved group was very good and all of them were connected by their West Point education and army service. Where would George Pickett have been without his association with James Longstreet?
Robert E. Rodes was a Virginian. However, he came into Confederate service from Alabama. This put him in a position of being almost but not quite a member of both state's group and lost political support, from both, for his advancement. Robert E. Rodes was a graduate of Virginia Military Institute. In 1861, VMI was not the respected fabled school that it is now. This was a school for those not good enough for West Point who wanted a military education. He was promoted after First Manassas to Brigadier General. In January 1863, he received temporary command of Hill's division and was promoted to Major General after leading the attack at Chancellorsville. He led that division until mortally wounded in September 1864. He was considered one of the best division commanders in Lee's army, respected by all and recognized as an excellent combat officer.
This is a military biography, Rodes was in his mid 30s when he died. Without the American Civil War, Robert E. Rodes and Thomas J. Jackson would be footnotes in a VMI history dealing with the early staff. Rodes would be one of the first graduates to assume a chair and Jackson would be known as "old Tom fool", reputed to be the worst instructor VMI ever had.
1860 found Rodes, newly married, employed as a chief engineer for an Alabama railroad. The book covers his non-military life in about 60 pages. This gives us a good foundation of understanding and some sympathy for the man. The next 350 pages is an account of the war through his eyes. This gives us a look at life from regiment to division, not in terms of grand battles but personal issues, traumas, disappointments, triumphs and endless effort. Death, illness, exhaustion, bad food, no pay, rain, mud are all woven together into an intensely personal and readable book. The author has a very readable style and is able to describe things in a way that allows us to see and understand them. I am not a great reader of biographies. This is as much a military history on the regiment, brigade and division level as a biography. Rodes is presented fairly, the author recognizes his flaws and failures as much as his strengths and triumphs.
The book contains nineteen excellent maps at the right location. There are pictures and illustrations throughout. One nice feature, the last picture is of Robert Emmett Rodes IV holding his Great Grandfathers sword. This is a Savas Beatie civil war book. We expect a physically attractive book, excellent maps, artwork that enhances the story. Within a well-written, informative, well-bound book. They have maintained these production values in this volume and it is a worthy member of an exclusive club.

I agree whole-heartedly with the earlier three fine reviews by Durney, Brunelle and Jordan that this work by Collins is an excellent biography. It is even more surprising in light of the battle casualties that decimated those who served under him (John B. Gordon excepted) and eliminated many of the normal sources on this fine officer. Even worse is that his wife Hortense destroyed all of his papers after the war.

Author Collins is extremely even-handed in his depiction of Rodes, even remarking the Rodes seemed insensitive to the potential breaking up of his slave's family. He was also sometimes harsh and unreasonable, alternatively loved and hated by his men. In short, the author presents Rodes with warts and all, although his portrayal is definitely sympathetic.

The book presents Rodes as the best or one of the best division commanders in the Army of Northern Virginia. That is certainly open to question and debate. Mapmaker Hotchkiss said Rodes was the best, but Hotchkiss was not a fighting man. Douglas Southhall Freeman issued the verdict in his time in his "Lee's Lieutenants" with:

"The young professor of engineering at the Virginia Military Institute continues to look like a Norse god in Confederate gray, but he does not retain as division commander the consistent distinction that has been his as a Brigadier. Perhaps on July 1 at Gettsburg -- the first day he has ever led his own Division in battle -- he tries too hard with feeble instruments. The next day, he halts his advance before it attempts to scale Cemetary Hill. Doubtless he is right, but it is not like the Rodes of Chancellorsville. When he goes back to the Wilderness in 1864, he has the furious, oldtime dash, and at the Bloody Angle he rivals his comrades Gordon and Ramseur. With them, under "Jube" Early, he goes to the Shenandoah Valley, and there, at a moment when he did not know the battle was lost, he leaves unanswered the question whether he would have realized fully his promise as a soldier."

Freeman's opinion is not contradicted by Collins's work when examined carefully, and I, for one, was saddened as a result. He was certainly fearless and a excellent commander of troops, but somehow that quality that makes a great captain seems elusive. In three years of battle, he only went from Brigadier General to Major General. Doubtless his lack of an influential patron or backed by a State (he was a Virginian commanding Alabama troops) did not help, but Lee tended to promote Virginians and specifically those who distinguished themselves in battle.

Nevertheless, this book makes a strong contribution to Civil War literature and should rekindle interest in a commander who was solid, but somehow not exceptional. I recommend it to every individual interested in the Civil War.

"If he could," author Darrell Collins writes, "Rodes might object to being the subject of a biography. It is even possible that he would not have agreed to be interviewed for one." Yet despite his disdain of self-promotion, even Robert Rodes could not object to the fine treatment, from beginning to end, that he has received in the pages of Major General Robert E. Rodes of the Army of Northern Virginia. Collins takes us on a truly captivating journey, beginning with Rodes' days at the Virginia Military Institute and leading us to that fateful afternoon in September 1864 at Third Winchester. If you begin this book -- as many Civil War readers may -- with a pejorative preconception of Robert Rodes, be prepared to at least reconsider the conventional wisdom.

Unlike most modern scholarly biographies, which merely recount an impersonal litany of dates and accomplishments, Collins helps us to encounter Robert Rodes the man; moreover, he demonstrates the linkage between his personal attributes and his military performance. Certainly, his life experiences before the war shaped the characteristics of his command on the battlefield. In downright captivating prose, the author gives us a portrait of a loyal and loving friend and family man; a diligent and well-admired engineer and scholar; and, finally, an efficient and capable officer who was able to demand the discipline of his men with a generous heart. I concur with the sentiments expressed below that you will find yourself emotional when reading of Rodes' demise, so young and so promising.

Not only is this biography well-written, it is scrupulously researched and well-documented. Considering that Rodes' widow destroyed his papers after the war, this is a stunning achievement. Collins has done his homework and then some, scouring the letters and diaries of Rodes' men and associates in some twelve states and the District of Columbia. His work is based largely on these unpublished primary sources, which are then supplemented by a survey of the pertinent secondary literature where necessary.

Cartographer Timothy Reese has augmented the text with a number of illuminating battle and troop position maps. As a whole, the book is very attractive and a "must read" for any student or scholar of the military history of the Civil War. I have already found it quite helpful and have cited it in my own work. While I do not agree with all of the author's assessments of Rodes' battlefield performances, he passionately makes his case in this first-class romp through the Civil War's Eastern Theater.

Executive summary: A very good read! Clearly written, very thorough, and covers the topic to full satisfaction.

Review:

You know its a very good biography when you feel saddened when reading about the death of the subject. But that's getting ahead of myself.

Mr. Collins sets out to produce a complete biography of one of the best general's in the Army of Northern Virginia. A story of a man well-respected by his superiors, his peers and those who served under him. Collins notes the difficulty in getting some primary accounts about Rodes, the task made even harder because Rodes' wife destroyed their personal letters. Nonetheless, the author went out of his way to provide a large number of personal accounts from those around Rodes - in particular there seem to be a lot from men such as Major Eugene Blackford - who served directly under Rodes, thus having very close first-hand knowledge of the subject.

I should note that the book seems to be well-footnoted, a quick look through the bibliographical contents show some fine research accompanies this work. There is an index, but I haven't really looked at it. I'm not a scholar, so I really am not qualified to judge the quality of the research, but from my readings it looks fine.

The first three chapters describe Rodes childhood through his becoming a brigadier general at the start of the war. This takes about 100 pages to accomplish, and Collins fills it with enough information to not only teach you about Rodes background, but gives you a good feel for the type of man he was at the start of the war. Rodes' trials and tribulations as a railroad engineer after leaving VMI are well documented - but those tough days helped harden Rodes' into a the general he became. The road to the start of the Civil War helped Rodes learn that above all else he had to be reliant upon himself, he wasn't about to be "given" anything, it all had to be earned. The third chapter also details Rodes' entry in what became the Army of Northern Virginia and the opening battle of First Bull Run.

The next 300 or so pages are broken down into 8 chapters, each based primarily around the campaigns he was in with the ANV. Collin's does a very good job here of providing enough general information so as to place Rodes' decisions and actions in proper context, while at the same time remaining focused upon Rodes as a general. In these chapters (whenever appropriate) he also discusses non-military matters that Rodes attended to - including his devotion to his wife Hortense, his fathering of two children, along with the more mundane management of his estate. We also get a very decent look at "Rodes the man" as opposed to just "Rodes the general", there's enough human stories strewn throughout the work describing Rodes more genial nature as well.

As to the military aspects and judgments concerning Rodes, Collins shows fine skill as well as his own good judgment. He doesn't hold punches where Rodes perhaps doesn't perform up to what would have been expected of him. His handling of his troops at Gettysburg for example comes under close scrutiny. Collins questions some of Rodes decisions and non-decisions, while at the same time offering up the potential mitigating issues surrounding Rodes' health. But even there Collins does note that /if/ Rodes was so impaired physically, he should have turned over command. Collins' even-handed evaluation of Rodes seems very fair throughout the book - his praise for Rodes at Seven Pines, South Mountain, the Bloody Lane, or the counterattacks at the Mule Shoe are offset with questions about actions at Gettysburg and other battles where Rodes was less than perfect.

On the personal side Collins also tries to show the love and devotion to Hortense, and then his children. But as the latter were born so late in his short life - his son was less than a year old and Hortense was pregnant with their second child when Rodes died - its a bit harder to understand Rodes' history on that side of the ledger. And as noted earlier, Hortense's destruction of their private correspondence removes a whole slew of potentially important clues on Rodes' personal life. Nonetheless, one does get enough information showing Rodes concern for his wife's welfare, and coupling that with the abundant evidence showing his loyalty and concern for those around him, one certainly does grow to respect and "like" Rodes as one reads the book.

Besides the great job done by the author at achieving his goal, I should also mention the fine quality of book production. The book itself is quite well made, the font is eminently readable, and the book jacket is very nice as well - a fine portrait of Rodes gracing the cover.

As is usual, the number and perhaps the quality of the maps /may/ be one slight negative area. History readers always clamor for more and better detailed maps, but this is really a very small quibble: This is not a military treatise per se, it is a biography after all. To offset this, there are a number of fine photographs of key people mentioned in the text, and a couple of nice pictures of Rodes as well. I don't recall seeing one of Hortense offhand, interestingly enough.

And as I noted in the introduction, as one reads a well-written biography, you do grow to "know" the subject - so when they do die it can be a bit saddening. Especially with one so young, so chivalrous, and so gallant - I'll end quoting the key paragraph:


Quote (pg. 402)
"As [Rodes] was trying to control his mount, Rodes' head snapped violently forward. A bullet or shell fragment (the record is unclear) had struck him in his skull behind the ear. The general hesitated for a brief moment, then tumbled hard to the ground."

This book is a rare delight.

There are two types of science books. Most explain how and why we know something about what we know. The other questions what we assume we know, which is generally the path to new, expanded and sometimes very new fields of scientific knowledge.

Al Gore, for example, who realizes no one gets major headlines by being modest or unsure about one's ideas, says we must end our reliance on fossil fuels within a decade. Dyson says, in effect, wait a minute, we're already overdue for an ice age, maybe global warming is keeping us from freezing.

In contrast to Gore's certainty, Dyson questions, probes, doubts and considers alternatives. In a world overun by people who are dead certain about politics, progress, art, theology, music and almost everything, it's a treat to find educated and thoughtful ideas by someone who admits, "I am trying to reconcile the theoretical law of increasing disorder in the universe with the evidence for increasing order in the universe as we observe it."

On that basis, Dyson will upset people who know things.

Granted, once upon a time he was young, immature, impatient and brashly confident of his wisdom. In 1945, when he was 22 years old, he advised Francis Crick not to give up physics in favour of a new career in biology. Fortunately, Crick didn't take Dyson's advice; instead, within seven years he discovered the double helix structure of DNA which gave birth to molecular genetics.

Suffice to say, Dyson learned, "Even a smart 22-year-old is not a reliable guide to the future of science. And the 22-year-old has become even less reliable now that he is 82."

Great stuff, if you like the idea that science is a continual search for knowledge and not a platform for politically correct dogmas. Science doesn't freeze what little we believe is true into rigid orthodoxies that cannot be doubted, challenged or modified.

Dyson writes that it is the poets who sometimes have a greater insight into science, such as William Blake, who was once "this crazy poet" but who also invited us

"To see the world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."

Fortunately, those who see more and question more than most in today's world are not crazy. They are merely gifted with a different and sometimes better insight. From them we learn new concepts, or strengthen our own ideas. This intellectual approach creates a rare book when someone such as Dyson share ideas in a clear, concise and provocative style. This book is a dialogue of ideas.

It begins with philosophy of the fox and the hedgehog by Isaiah Berlin and Archilochus, and ends with a beautiful portrait of an autistic child who grew into a wonderful woman. This delightful tour of ideas, questions and observations closes with the thought "... there may be more things in heaven and earth than we are capable of understanding."

Dyson reflects here on the 'dome of many - colored glass that stains the white radiance of eternity' our richly varied world. He shows a commendable humility in his reflections on the place of life in the Universe. Originally given as public lectures to a scientifically literate public Dyson opens with a consideration of problems of biotechnology.
In one section he writes about three heresies he espouses, one in which he suggests that global warning is not perhaps the awesome danger many see it to be. In another reflection he speaks about the divisions between 'humanists' and 'naturalists' the latter being those who wish to preserve 'nature' and believe nature's way superior. He talks about his own native England about the poverty of the natural landscape until human beings transformed it to the land of meadows and moors, of pastures and green farmland. He considers himself a 'humanist' who believes that mankind's mission is too in transforming nature for the better. And this though of course he is aware of the dangers of this, of those we have created for ourselves. In another realm he speaks about his belief that the U.S. is about to be replaced as the world's major power most likely by China but perhaps by Brazil or India. He suggests that about one- hundred and fifty years is all the time a major nation can be predominant before it becomes over- extended in every way. He suggests the U.S will reach this point around 2070.
In speaking to young people about the future he warns about rapid changes making obsolescent the professions and work they have trained for. But he concludes with a modest and somewhat optimistic word of advice to them.
"The main lesson that I would like them to take home is that the long-range future is not predetermined. The future is in their hands. The rules of the world-historical game change from decade to decade in unpredictable ways. All our fashionable worries and all our prevailing dogmas will probably be obsolete in fifty years. My heresies will probably also be obsolete. It is up to them to find new heresies to guide our way to a more hopeful future."








"

Crystalline writing and thinking in this book that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries.
Nathan Szajnberg

Freeman Dyson is one of the most forward thinking people of the last 100 years. For some book review to simply dismiss his resume out of hand is absurd. This is a complex issue that demands we think with our heads and not with our hearts. The study of this issue requires that those familiar with the complex mathematics involved have a say so, and not just climate scientists with only a cursory understanding of the machinations of their climate models....twhair@fgcu.edu

Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.

this book is the greatest that i have read ever.
though that i have a little expiriance with HTML and CSS , but this book give you the actually way to write your code only at XHTML and CSS , with a great way of explaining .

I've been studying at web design and construction for over 10 years. Since I'm both dyslexic and limited in my short-term memory, I've had problems with doing more than just the basics. Understanding XHTML and CSS have been problematic for me, and I've had to rely on programs like Dreamweaver and Front Page to write my pages. This book is finally bringing home how web pages are constructed, and how CSS is used for both styling and positioning things. Virginia has put together the best method of presenting the material in a manner that I can comprehend, and hopefully retain. I've purchased a lot of books on web construction, but none have helped me as much as this one has, and continues to do. I'll keep it over all the others as a reference in the future.

Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

I really enjoyed this book as it shedded light on parts of my family I had not known about. Despite the personal connection, I believe the book provides a unique perspective on the hazards of coal mining [particularly timely read based on the Sago mining disaster], life in a company coal town and the struggles of a work force to unionize to raise wages, benefits and increase safety issues.

"Memories From Dante: The Life of a Coal Town" is far more than just a trip down memory lane of a small town in the coal fields of SW VA. The detailed oral histories and the huge number of photographs do provide those living in the area with the chance to renew old memories but it also provides researcheers and scholars with a social, economic, political, religious, and family history of the town and area. Anyone interested in a comprehensive study of a coal town needs this book. I especially recommend it for libraries and archives. Kathy Shearer has done a remarkable job of helping the people of Dante tell their story. Perhaps she never saw a lumb of coal before she came to the area (all the Dante mines are closed now) but the town and its elderly residents live in her book. Without any sense of superiority she has enpowered these people to tell the world what it was like to live in a time and a place now largely forgotten.

This Book took me back to a childhood that many of us only wish we could revisit. Kathy Shearer was able to catch the history of a wonderful little coal town and bring it to everyone's attention. People who grew up in a small town will be able to relate and relive the pleasures of a hometown community. Kathy Shearer took us all back to a time of childhood happiness. This is a wonderful book to read and learn of the struggles these people lived while trying to make a living mining coal and how they held on to each other for support and survival.

I bought this book thinking it's just another novice trying to write about something they know little about, but what a suprise when I started reading it. Kathy has done a thoroughly wonderful job describing these hard working, hard living and honest people in such vivid color you become friends with them instantly.
They become your family, and you love them, laught with them, cry with them, and hate them but you cannot forget them.
She is a first class writer and deserves high praise for a book which is both entertaining and historically founded.
I am just waiting for the sequel.

This is a great edition for anyone who has never read Virginia Woolf before. There is enough biographical information included at the beginning of the book to give any reader a good idea of Woolf's background before they proceed to the actual novel. It was very helpful for me as it was my first exposure to Woolf.

The novel itself is very interesting and the notations were quite helpful to keep the events and places throughout the novel straight.

It's a very good book. Mrs. Dalloway is very important book to understand the psycological game of a woman with existential problems in the twenties.

Let me begin by saying I utterly loathe Virginia Woolf with every atom in my flesh. After reading 6 of her novels (Jacob's Room, To the Lighthouse, The Waves, Between the Acts, The Years, and Orlando) and two essays (A Room of One's Own and Three Guineas) I decided to try one of her most celebrated novels (if it weren't celebrated, then why write a parallel novel or direct a movie based on the aforementioned novel or even attempt at making a cinematic adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway in the first place?), and needless to say, her most celebrated work added one more book to the list of books I will never read again. I had heard from a great number of "literate" people that she is an acquired taste; that reader's will need an ear for poetry to have a richer appreciation for her prose. I sadly do not have an ear for poetry, and I, obviously, have the foul taste of Woolf in my mouth. Her prose is difficult- and that's putting it mildly. Mrs. Dalloway is no exception. At times I had no idea who was narrating, sentences can go on for paragraphs at a stretch with little meaning to them.
I must say this edition (the latest from Hartcourt; the annotated edition) is particularly fine. The notes aide readers- both scholarly and passive- how to acquire a better taste from Virginia Woolf. It details a number of Wollf's allusions, places the novel in a historical timeframe, and provides insight into Woolf's psyche. I recommend getting this edition over any other editions based on the extensive notes.

This is a fine edition and value, including a helpful preface introducing the author and novel as well as an appendix (the "annotated" part) with explanations of terms, places, and designations for non-Londoners along with identifications of literary, political and historical allusions for readers who could use a little extra help.

Anyone who has read James Joyce's "The Dead" will recognize some of the same themes and preoccupations in "Mrs. Dalloway," which in addition evokes numerous English "comedies of manners" as well as satirical narratives about a straight-laced Victorian culture that has become an anachronism in the 1920s. The story at times resembles a Jane Austen novel, except for the absence of a "fixed" point-of-view or reliable standard by which to measure the characters, each of which has, to lesser or greater degrees, sympathetic and unsympathetic qualities and is shown from the "inside" as a mind-in-process, a consciousness-in-flux (consequently, a reader needs to be careful not to apply an overly "logical" approach, insistent upon hanging on to a single point or statement as "the truth" about a character, who is more likely to try one possibility, then another, leaving it up to the reader to infer a character's essence through careful consideration of the important meanings derived from multiple impressions).

This is not a novel for the impatient or tone-deaf. Woolf creates a character's interior life through a virtuosic, highly mobile third-person narrator, who might be thought of as the character's "persona," not merely "expressing" the character's thoughts but "mirroring" how the character perceives him or herself as seen by others. Moreover, the indefinite pronouns can shift unexpectedly or occur in too close proximity to make identification easy or even definite. As a result, the reader has to work overtime to achieve entrance into the mind of the "right" character while simultaneously sensing the liquid, interpenetrating and shared qualities of human identity itself. And finally there's that tone, now soft, next loud, and never to be trusted to be without irony.

Woolf makes it fairly easy on the reader with the broad, sardonic strokes she uses to paint the practically villainous Sir William Bradshaw, the eminent psychiatrist viewed by many (especially himself) as the scientific high priest of this cross-section of deluded London luminaries; and she's equally nasty to her other "villain," Miss Kilman, a repressed and embittered born-again Christian who, like Sir William, lives by the code of "conversion," Woolf's euphemism for those powerful personalities who are bent upon breaking, controlling and dominating the will of anyone not strong enough to resist them. The other portraits are more subtle, requiring the reader either to hear the soft, nuanced ironical tones or risk missing both the social satire and the character. Woolf's targets range, perhaps not surprisingly, from the pretense, pride, and hypocrisy of an out-of-touch social stratum that clings to the "orderly" past; to the arrogance of modern medical "science"; to, more surprisingly, the suffocating alternatives offered by both religion and love.

Readers lured to this novel because of Cunningham's "The Hours" (novel or film) may be disappointed or quickly frustrated. Moving from Cunningham to Woolf is a bit like going from Fitzgerald to Faulkner, or from Austen to Shakespeare. What you immediately notice is, despite Woolf's limiting her story to a single day (compared to Cunningham's three-generation setting), the far greater range and more inclusive thematic focus and, most importantly, the sheer power and vitality of the prose (from fluid motion to dynamic rush). Woolf--like Joyce, Faulkner, and Shakespeare--employs a syntax that can cause the earth to move from under a reader's feet: she's a writer who represents not merely individual characters but captures the world whole not to mention the life of language itself.

The greatest challenge "Mrs. Dalloway" presents to a first-time reader is never to let up. It's essential to stay with Clarissa throughout her entire day, finally becoming a fully engaged participant in the party itself--the final thirty pages of the novel, which contain some of Woolf's best writing. Especially critical is the extended moment, almost 20 pages into the party scene, when Clarissa, like Septimus, walks to the window and has her epiphany. At that moment, one character chooses death; the other, life. But Woolf enables us to see these apparently opposite choices as "existential" cognates: both characters make choices that enable them to save their souls.

Cunningham is a first-rate stylist and craftsman who can tell a story that's moving and evocative, a narrative, moreover, that connects with today's readers by affirming the choices available to the self. But it inevitably pales alongside the vibrant novel and microcosm of life that is its source and inspiration. Virginia, like her character Clarissa, knows how to throw a party.

Francine Prose is one of our more important writers (novels 'Blue Angel', 'After', 'A Changed Man', 'Primitive People'; probing biographies 'Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles'), a writer with a profound respect of the past, for the art of writing and the art of reading. Her most recent book is titled 'Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them' should give an idea of what is in store in this most enjoyable and illuminating book THE MRS. DALLOWAY READER.

Prose writes an Introduction that, while brief, offers keys to unlocking the genius that was Virginia Woolf. 'She longed to fill the book [Mrs. Dalloway] with "speed and life", to "give life & death, sanity & insanity; I want to criticize the social system & to show it at work, at its most intense.' Prose extracts quotes form Woolf's writings in an astute manner that allows us to understand the tortured genius who wrote them. As far as the book 'Mrs. Dalloway', Prose writes '...its all here: life, death, sex, love, marriage, parenthood, youth, age, the present and the past, memory, London, war, reason and unreason, loyalty, medicine, social snobbery, friendship, compassion, cruelty; the occasionally apt but more often unfounded snap judgments we make about ourselves, each other, loved ones, strangers, and the world in which chance and fortune have thrown us all together'. She touches on Woolf's insanity and conflicted sexuality that blossomed with Vita Sackville-West, and with her suicide by drowning, but she is far more interested in sharing the manner in which Woolf created her books - her fleshing out of the state of consciousness.

As editor Francine Prose then gathers writings form such erudite dignitaries as Katherine Mansfield, E.M. Forster, Michael Cunningham, Daniel Mendelsohn, Sigrud Nunez et al, couples these observations with Woolf's own serialized beginnings of her famous novel, and then offers us the entire MRS DALLOWAY at the end of the book. Reading Virginia Woolf in this atmosphere serves to enlighten the reader and once again prove that this novel is one of the more important writings of the last century. This book is a treasure! Grady Harp, December 06

Francine Prose's Mrs. Dalloway Reader makes the enigmatic and brilliant Virginia Woolf's masterpiece and bit easier for us modern readers. Since the publication of Cunningham's spectacular The Hours and the movie titled the same, Woolf's writing has undergone a renaissance, rising once again on bestseller lists everywhere. But she's STILL difficult, with the loooong sentences, endless paragraphs, the convoluted windings of words and thoughts and phrases and explanations and descriptions and disclaimers with which her writing is rife.
This book is the missing link. It includes the complete text of Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway's Party, plus relevant journal entries and letters by Virginia Woolf relating to the creation of Mrs. Dalloway. Also included are essays and reviews by other writers, all about Mrs. Dalloway. Taken all together, these snippets function like a lovely roadmap into not only the character of Mrs. Dalloway, but into the mind of her creator.
Top notch.

`Mrs Dalloway' is a kind of cultural phenomena.

Everyone that I know has a different take on who she is, what this book is, and what the novel is supposed to stand for. Enter into this fray the authors own opinion about the whole of it and you have an all-out melee of fiction versus fiction.

This book, The Mrs Dalloway Reader, attempts to focus this problem somewhat. In it, not only will you find the novel itself, but you will also find various supplementary materials that help to ease you into what this novel is and what it means to so many different people. From those whose experience began with trying to impress a girl (and the lucky happenstance of finding the book at a Book-Mobile) to those who fought off the strains of absinthe addiction, the short pieces in range from essays to the first `draft' of the novel `Mrs Dalloway's Party'. Include in this assortment such lovingly-crafted emulations as Jane Mansfield's `The Garden Party' and you've got yourself a real winning combination.

But is this a good reason to buy this book? Don't you need more reasons? Of course!

Take this one: I knew absolutely nothing about Virginia Woolf when I purchased this book. She lived about 100 years ago. She wrote many books and I've seen some of her diaries in the hands of female students when I was in high school about ten years ago. She is popular with the intelligent-female group, those who want to be well-read and know the difference between Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Add to this that I am a guy. Now, take all that and combine it, dashing in the fact that this book single-handedly introduced me to who Virginia Woolf is and what she stood for- just through the supplementary material- and you have not only a great novel but a good place to get your foot into the door of this wonderful writer.

Is that still not enough? Okay: supplementary material aside, how is the book? Wonderful. It is a style of writing that I've heard called `Impressionistic' by some learned person. This is true- until you read Virginia Woolf (who is far easier to understand than other stream-of-consciousness writers such as Joyce) you have no idea what great pictures such simple things as words can express. Mrs Dalloway does this too, moving the reader through a simple narrative that is painted with poetical words, bringing to life a novel that is to fiction what Renoir is to painting; only the basic outline is there, amid all the broad strokes, and you must look to find it...but it is amazing when you see it.

LP

Bottom line: If you know nothing about Virginia Woolf and want a good, solid platform from which to start, pick this one. If you know a lot about her and want to explore more, you pick this one too.

I admit that I almost was very middle aged when I read any of Woolf's novels. And, that was only because I read "The Hours."

I learned that the character names therein related to Mrs. Dalloway and other characters of her novels. So, I picked up "To the Lighthouse" and experienced my first "stream of consciousness" style which I analogize to ADD - now the novel is dialogue, then thought, then observation, then . . . and all in one sentence. But, within that one sentence, you learn more than most authors can present on pages.

Reading one page of Woolf takes twice or three times as much time as other authors. Basically, the density of the writing style prohibits skimming, prohibits glossing, or prohibits you from losing concentration.

Modern authors who can conjure as much in as little paper include J.M. Coetzee or V.S. Naipual. These are three great names in the all-time history of fiction. I truly believe that she influenced these writers and hundreds of others.

This book awakened me to many things which I did not know lay within the pages. And, it also helped explain some of the orthodox-like exactitude of the characters, names and plot of "The Hours." Woolf's fans are true blue, died-in-the-wool absolutists. And, this book reflects that more than anything. Many of the published fans herein are famous in their own right, and they are just as devout to Woolf as her secret admirers - like me and probably you (who else but a Woolfie would be reading about this book?).

I recommend this book greatly as it educated me more than I could ever have imagined about the relationship between the book and her life and other related events.

I live in Kentucky and this book works great for my area. I have nothing to add to the previous glowing reviews. This is just such a wonderful book I wanted to make sure it got as much high praise as it deserves! Well formatted, clear concise descriptions and nice pictures. Everything you would like to see in a mushroom book. Five Stars all the way!

After a decade of waiting for this book, I am certainly not disappointed. As an avid mushroom hunter, I have to say that this is the best field guide I have found.

I live in Tennessee. I own about 40 mushroom books and this one is my favorite. It is great to have a book for identification that covers mushrooms found in the south so well. The pictures are excellent. Roody lists possible look-alikes in many of the excellent, detailed descriptions. He also comments on the edibility of each species. Should be an excellent book for beginners and seasoned mushroom hunters alike. Highly recommended.

I live in New York State and have been collecting mushrooms for years - edible and otherwise. I already own just about every other field guide to identifying mushrooms and other fungi, so when I saw this book for sale, I thought "do I really need another?" Well, it turns out I did. This book is fabulous! The pictures are first rate, and sometimes provide identifying detail that pictures in other books do not. While the "regulars" are there (mushrooms you find illustrated in almost every field guide) it also contains pictures of mushrooms that are common but not regularly pictured in other field guides. Consequently, it allowed me to solve a lot of long-standing "mushroom mysteries" in my backyard. The book contains longer than average "comments" on each species, often providing fascinating information. I highly recommend ths book!

In today's world of multi-cultural marriages, the surprises seem to be endless. So many women have joined multi-cultural families in the Middle East to find their viewpoint on women is not the same as we see them here in the United States. Much easier to get into the marriage than to get out of it.

Ms. Dale's story of an 60s American co-ed who marries a Frenchman livingin Morocco really taught me a lot about the country at that time as well as expatriates who lived there. It is a captivating personalized history which easily brings the reader back to that time. A very good read indeed! I wish I, like Ms. Dale's heroine, had gotten to see Algiers then. It sounds so beautiful.

Going back to our post-college days and meeting a wealthy foreigner is such a romantic notion,but when reality strikes for the differences in culture, the romance hits a different level. A most enjoyable read on every page, an insight into personalities, cultural differences and the adventure of youth.

Well, first of all, after reading only the review online, I don't think I care to buy this book personally. I am a bit offended by the differences of the title and the caption of what the book is supposed to be about. I am an American and I got married to a Moroccan man in Morocco last October. His family is wonderful. But it seems like this book would have a different title than the one for which it is published. For instance: "Don't marry an aristocrat in Europe." or something to that nature. It seems to have nothing to do with actually marrying someone in Morocco or the family being from Morocco. The family mentioned only has a business in Morocco. This is a very misleading title. It would prompt one at first glance to think that the person was actually speaking of an encounter of marrying someone in the country and being subjected to the hassles of a foreignor marrying a Moroccan national.

Schlafly's story has something for everyone. He is a gifted story teller. A real renaisance man, he brings disparate bits of knowledge together to tell the story of his brewery and so much more. His wit reminds me of Mark Twain. Schlafly is a keen student of history and culture and it shows throughout his entertaining book. Once you start, it is hard to put it down.

This book is tons of fun and is filled with lots of St Louis History that I was never aware of prior to reading it. It's the kind of book that is hard to put down, you can read it in one sitting, by the time you finish you feel like you know more about beer and are a personal friend of Toms! As a business major, I also found it to be a wonderful case study in all the economic good businesses can provide to a community(while turning a profit). Restoring areas that had seen better days by setting up shop and making them vibrant thriving "places to be" again is something to be admired and commended. As a beer fan, I can't speak highly enough of this book, it has piqued my interest in homebrewing and I hope to try my hand at it very soon. God Bless Tom Schlafly! I hope he can bring his "Beer the way it used to be" to the Dallas market!

After about 10 years of indulging in Tom Schlafly's products and enjoying the fine food they serve at his restaurants I was excited to see that he had written a book of his David versus Goliath journey in the St Louis beer industry. I was even more excited this Friday night to get to meet him at a book signing event and have a sip with him of his new "No. 15" brew to commemorate their 15th anniversary in St Louis.

Anyway enough of how I came into the possession of this fine book, which can be read in a matter of hours, and on with the review. Not only is Tom a great person and business man but he also has incredible writing talents. As the story unfolds and you are taken on journey of not only Schlafly's rise in the St Louis brewing arena but a historical recount of his beloved town, family, partners, and even his rivals at AB (or the Brewery as it is called in St Louis). Readers of biographies as well as many other reading genres will enjoy this great account of an American business triumph by the little beer company that could! Good luck Tom we hope to enjoy your products and wit for years to come!

This memoir is an interesting and often amusing look at the entrepreneurial spirit of someone who turned his love of beer and entertainment into a thriving business. The book is an easy read and makes you feel as though you just sat down for a couple of beers with Mr. Schlafly and you listened to his story, with lots of sidebars. It helps if you are familiar with St. Louis and the people and workings of medium sized mid-western cities.