Florida Books

Kathy Acker has become known as the queen of punk feminist fiction. With Literal Madness she solidified that position. Three short texts unrelated to each other but connected by the quest metaphor. Of the three, Kath Goes to Haiti -- a pseudo-biographical piece -- calls for the most sustained interest. It is ostensibly a travel book adventure in the third world, but ultimately its quest is the undermining of linear narrative. Acker is a storyteller of the postmodern, disjuctive type. She short-circuits the narrative line in order to call the reader's attention to the discontinuous nature of our lives in/as fiction. She creates a hyperreality in Haiti, transforms place into text, and thereby questions the so-called reality principle. When her alter-ego "Kathy" discovers that Haiti is more a state of mind than a Caribbean island, the disjuncture in the text becomes sensible and senseless at the same time. The effect is surreal; but hyperreality (Jean Baudrillard's term) and surreality have in common elments of discontinuity and therfore serve to disorient the reader. Anyone looking for a 'good, old-fashion story' will have to look elsewhere because Acker's book satisfies none of the traditional reader's desires for linear regularity and certain expectability as to what stories do. Labeled pseudo-pornography, Kathy Goes to Haiti and other texts by Acker certainly do contain pornographic elements. But it soon becomes clear to the careful reader that what is at work in her fiction is the question of what pornography "means," especially for women. Can it be a tool to deconstruct itself? Can women themselves use it -- as Acker does -- to undermine its negative effects for women? Literal Madness is a great introduction to these questions for those willing to suspend their need for normal narrative development and to follow Acker through an acrobatics of word and scene, an at times insane juxtaposition of seemingly disparate materials that echo the disparity of our everyday lives and of our dreams. R. L. Mazzola, Robercind@aol.co

Kathy goes to Haiti. Every man wants her to be his wife. A man takes her home. She is his wife. She cries. Little kids laugh at her. She goes somewhere else. Different men want Kathy as their wife. She doesn't let the first one take her home. Kathy is learning.

Before arriving to Miami, I bought this guide. Once there, I tested it and it was 98% accurate. No matter what you are interested in, this guide has a suggestion for you. From dining and clubbing, to hints and tips, to small excursions outside the metro area. A must for everyone interested in visiting Miami.

This provided me with plenty of groundwork to spend time in Miami . Historical background and explanations were excellent, as well as the maps, contact numbers, and accomadation. A lot of this bookd was taken the from the larger LP work on Florida was was excellent as well. The only thing to note is that some of the hotel prices in the-then more affordable category has risen, in some cases by a third. The hostels in Miami/Miami Beach cannot be beat.

I cried at the first chapter and was hooked. I never saw the ending coming.

Detective Doug Shearer is awakened from his sleep with terrible news - three beheaded manatees are floating in Pine Island Sound. A local commercial fisherman is arrested, but there are other, unknown people involved. Doug attempts to solve the crime with the help of prosecutor Roger Barklett. While investigating the crime, Doug's personal life is turned into a shambles when his ex-flame decides she wants him back. Sit back and enjoy the ride as Doug Shearer tries to solve the manatee murders.

It was a great surprise to find that there were no customer reviews for a book that was first published in 1987. This remarkable book is an insight into an American legend, Marjory Stoneman Douglas. She began as a young girl to write for the Miami Herald in 1915. The book shows how she was able to achieve a long history of publications and books to her credit. Additionally, this eminent conservationist who died in 1998 at age 108 has been honored with the saving of the Florida Everglades. This book is a must read for all American women because it provides insight into just what can be accomplished when one woman is motivated to take action.

When I moved to Florida in 1973 I almost immediately fell in love with the pine forests, the bayheads, the shallow lakes, the hardwood hammocks and the swamps. By then much damage had been done to the state and more was contemplated. The drainage canals around Miami, the cross Florida Barge Canal and other, often quite unfeasible schemes, had either been done, started and then scrapped, or were in the works. It seems like the temptation to "improve" Florida from the late 1800s on was so strong it was almost impossible to stop. A number of people had warned about the fragility of the Everglades and other Florida ecosystems, but few listened. However one talented writer with a remarkable background was able to help along the effort to protect the Everglades. Almost simultaneously with the establishment of Everglades National Park, Marjory Stoneman Douglas published her "Everglades: River of Grass'" now the standard work on the subject. In it she demonstrated that the Everglades was not a worthless swamp, but a vibrant ecological community with a long history. Her book's first printing was sold out within 2 months! Other fights were raging by the time I reached Florida- the Florida Barge Canal, of course, but also efforts to protect the Big Cypress and Fakahatchee Strand. Among the people involved were Archie Carr and his wife Marjorie Carr (the latter is included in a photo in the current book).

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, in her autobiography based on tape recordings by John Rothchild, subtitled "Voice of the River," was an institution in the Sunshine State and her book informs her many admirers of the struggles and triumphs she had in a life that spanned a whole century. It is a fascinating tale and full of associations with the most prominent names in Florida and in literature, newspaper publishing and politics. I recommend it highly to anyone, but especially those who are interested in the Florida that used to be.

This brings up another point, and a very sad one. I got to see some of what was left of Florida's natural environment, including Everglades National Park and the Ocala Scrub while I was in Florida (some in the company of Archie Carr). It was a ghost of what once was! Even though the citizens of Florida voted in monies to buy up thousands of acres of sensitive areas, there were many tragic losses. The state's wilderness has deteriorated further since I left it in 1978. I have no wish now to return and see the result, but what is left in Big Cypress, the Everglades, the Ocala Scrub, and many others, is there because of people like Marjory Stoneman Douglas!

It's wonderful to read about the life of this beautiful and talented artist. Amazing story!

May O'Donnell: Modern Dance Pioneer is a biography of May O'Donnell (1906-2004), one of the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance Company's most successful soloists during its early days. O'Donnell's skill, self-confidence, and choreography technique enabled her to create her own roles in such well-known Graham works as "Appalachian Spring" and "Herodidade". She was the first American to create dances of musical abstraction, a prestigious teacher, and had an eventful sixty-year career. This true-life story of O'Donnell's extraordinary accomplishments is supplemented with black-and-white photographs, as well as the first available intermediate-class syllabus of O'Donnell's technique. An eye-opening look into dance through the decades and the life story of a talented professional.

havent read this book yet and i have to keep this short so let briefly say i think that i would find this book interesting, as would you. Now, i hope that thats less than 1,000 words.
thanks for reading my prediction/future review

This is a well writeen, thoroughly researched book on Pedro Menendez De Aviles, a Captain General for the Spanish Fleets, Governor of Cuba, Founder of Ft. St. Augustine and more. It mainly focuses on his Military career, especially focusing on Florida. A very good book

Bethany Hamilton and Ricky O'Connell were in love all through high school, then Ricky got an agent and a possible career as an actor, and the romance was over. Ten years later, Bethany has a career of her own, working with special-needs kids through the Dolphin Therapy Project. Ricky is now Brick O'Connor, a famous movie star. Bethany believes they have nothing in common any more. Then the movie production company wants to use the Gulfarium where Bethany works to film Ricky's next movie.

Bethany understands the Hollywood lifestyle and wants no part of it, but for some reason she can't seem to avoid Ricky. The man is always underfoot, and grows more frustrating every day. Merely Players is an entertaining story about a man and a woman separated by more than the passing years. If you enjoy a good love story, you'll want this one.

Reading this Heartsong novel was like delving into a delectable dessert. Delicious. The romantic element was fabulous...every reader's fantasy. Who wouldn't want a hot Hollywood movie star to be in love with them? I enjoyed every minute of this savory romance. The tension was great and the storyline...exciting! I felt like I was on a movie set and worked at the aquarium with Bethany. The dolphin scenes were great, too. The characters were very well-developed and believable. My emotions were totally tied in to their relationship. Bang up job for a debut novel. I can see this going into movie production. And the spiritual thread in the story was the best part, IMHO. A must-read! Very high quality writing and storyline. Made me smile at the end and sigh. I'm not kidding. Did I mention the fabulous kissing? Not just a peck at the end! I loved it!!! (I just had to say it one more time.)

If you want to send someone a feeling of Miami, send them this book! I've lived in Miami about a year and a half and was looking for a pictorial demonstration to send to a friend who has never been here. This book captures and draws you in to all aspects of the city: nature, architecture, culture, glamour, and grit. You can sense the vitality of the city.

Hi, I just LOVED this book. It shows Miami at its best! The photography is the best I have seen, with colors that seem to jump right off the pages & into your lap. The clarity of each & every picture seems like a photograph in itself. If you would like a book on Miami & its sites,......................THIS IS IT! Congrats to Alan S. Maltz. I was very, very impressed to say the least & it is one book that will always remain on my table (in the family room) for guests to admire & I love to watch their expressions as they ooooh & aaah after each turning page. I live in NYC but the book remains a hit here in the BIG APPLE! I am sure that it took many years of hard labor to bring this book about & I would highly reccomend it, & my compliments once again to some of the finest photography I have seen in any book yet. Randy Rabin

The book consists of many vignettes on real people who live, or have lived in Key West.

Each story touched my heart, made me laugh and sometimes cry.

June Keith is a powerful writer on the human condition. Simple, truthful, and to the point. Each story makes you think and reflect.

I also read Postcards From Paradise, in anticipation of my trip to Key West. The book, made me feel comfortable in a place I've never been before.

June Keith feels like an old friend, even though We've never met.

I half expected to meet her, and the many people she wrote about so eloquently in these two fine books. The photographs really made the stories come alive for me.

Solares Hill Newspaper 12/25/98 By Rosalind Brackenbury

June Keith's new book is a deceptively easy read. While you're being royally entertained by anecdotes, gossip and chat about Key West, what's really happening is that June Keith is sharing her own attitudes to life, which are extraordinarily kind, tolerant and intelligently liberal. More Postcards From Paradise is much more about the people who have lived and died here since the early seventies than it is about the tourist tattiness for which Key West has recently become known. If Paradise is a place that contains all of life, not some idealized destination, then Paradise is Key West. And June Keith is the perfect guide to it, because she committed herself to the place instead of just passing through; she lived and worked here as a waitress and a go-go dancer before she became a published writer, married a Conch and raised a son and made many friends. She came here in 1974 and like several other women I know (and like Goldie Hawn's character in Criss-Cross) found that topless dancing -may not be the most wonderful job in the world, but it sure beats hitting the road back to the mainland.' She has since put down her roots here, '-as one who doesn't leave.' She's also one who does not abandon people when they get sick, who puts in her word against prejudice of all sorts. The evidence of faithful friendships with old, young, black, white, gay, straight, living, dying people runs through these pages and was for me the most striking aspect of the book. It isn't written as a memoir or autobiography, but when you've read it you truly know this warm-hearted, principled and funny woman who has been entertaining you for 255 pages with her unpretentious snippets of Key West life. The wit and toughness, as well as the optimism of this book, show Keith as a survivor; but the lightness of tone doesn't quite conceal the fact that the road less traveled has at times been a hard one. Buy this book for friends, family and out-of-town visitors. It's impossible not to enjoy it.

Because this book's story plays out in NW Florida's panhandle, it made it even more interesting due to my own familiarity with that locale. The author weaved a plot that kept me wanting to continue reading to learn "who dun it" which is what mystery writing is supposed to do. An excellent book and highly recommended. You definitely will want to read her first novel, Murder on the Prairie, before reading this one. This latest book keeps referring back to events and people from the first book so it makes for a much more interesting read by knowing the background.

This new whodunit by M.D. Abrams, like its predecessor environmental parable, is impossible to put down once you read the Prologue. It immediately grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you happily through its several hundred pages of intrigue and sheer delight. The plot is ingeniously unique, the main character (Lorelei Crane, an actress) interesting and well delineated, the conclusion surprising. The author clearly knows and loves the lakes, springs, and wetlands of North Florida, and understands the perennial threat from human encroachment on natural habitats.
The book's plot, which revolves around the desire of several locals to develop some pristine land for profit, parallels the plot of Henrik Ibsen's play An Enemy of the People, in which Lorelei has a starring role. In Ibsen's work a scientist insists that scientific truth must be told even if it hurts his family and the perceived interests of his community. In the book's "real" life, a scientist who likewise insists on disclosing the threat to Wakulla Springs from proposed development ends up dead. Thus, the book, depicting as it does the eternal struggle between abstract truth (like survival of the environment) and short-term people needs (or greed) is really a morality play of sorts. It is subliminally educational while at the same time a fast-moving entertaining read.