South Carolina Books

While compiling a listing of North Carolina wineries, I stumbled across Pamela Watson's book in a local library. With the wealth of history on grapes and winemaking in the Tarheel State, I bought an autographed copy for my personal library. I found it perfect for the day tripper, as this paperback fits nicely in a picnic basket or the door map pocket of my van. Extensive interviews with winery owners, lots of history, precise driving directions, wine listings, food pairings, and other sites of interest near each winery (including chambers of commerce, lodging information, and recommendations for local eateries). Well researched and complete for both North and South Carolina and their burgeoning wine industry. Contains telephone numbers, web sites (if available), and suggested winery groupings for day tours. Would that all winery guides be this complete!

I just want to say that the thing I loved about this book was the illustrations. I LOVED how so many women were depicted carrying their babies around in various slings. Such a good message wrapped up in a sweet story.

The 1850s was the decade F.O. Matthiessen called the American Renaissance. This novel should be added to the list of the best literature of that era. Simms's WOODCRAFT should also be included. We are indeed fortunate to have the novel back in print once again, since its most recent publication in the 1980s.

These poems are right on! They speak the truth. This book is a must read for those who want an insight into the mind of African American descendants of slaves.

L. Hayes, author of "Afroetry".

"... Porgy was quite as stout as Sancho - a shade stouter perhaps, as his own height was not inconsiderable, yet showed him corpulent still. At a glance you saw he was a jovial philosopher - one who enjoyed his bottle with his humours, and did not suffer the one to be soured by the other. It was clear that he loved all the good things of this life, ans some possibly that we may not call good with sufficient reason. His abdomen and brain seemed to work together. He thought of eating perpetually and while he ate, still thought. But he was not a mere eater. He rather amused himself with a hobby when he made food his topic, as Falstaff dicoursed of his own cowardice without feeling it. He was a wag, and exercised his wit with whomsoever he travelled." Thus did William Gilmore Simms describe Porgy, certainly his most interesting and noteworthy creation....

Unfortunately, Porgy's exploits have been buried in six large novels, all but one of which are out of print. Now Mr. Hetherington has done for Porgy what Allan Nevis did in The Leatherstocking Saga for Cooper's Natty Bumppo. He has extracted the Porgy portions from the novels and set them in chronological sequence of the events they describe. All of the passages depicting or concerning Porgy are given in toto, with the exception of those in Woodcraft, which is currently available. Only the best Woodcraft passages are given complete; the remaining ones are summarized. Mr. Hetherington has also provided as illuminative introduction and transitions between episodes. The reader can therefore become acquainted with the fabulous Porgy and yet avoid the rather formidable task of getting through the six sometimes prolix novels.
--- excerpts from books dustjacket

Brookgreen Gardens is an outdoors public sculpture garden and wildlife preserve near Myrtle Beach, S.C. Begun by a wealty businessman and his sculptor wife to showcase her work, it expanded during the Depression by buying other works, to help support other artists. This book has wonderful pictures and descriptions of some of the collection. There are works by artists we are all familiar with, it's an enjoyable book and the next best thing to going there yourself.

Dr. Fox accomplishes many things in his treatment of Esther and brings along a few negatives. First of all, it would be foolish to not see this commentary and character analysis as one of the most creative, novel treatments of Esther to come to the Esther studies in English in some time. The utilization of the "close-reading" style of narrative criticism to get at the author's utilization of themes and characterization will enable most (if not all) to read this narrative in a fresh light.

Fox's honesty when dealing with the "heroine (?)" Esther is a must read for all traditionalists and those who read the story with gilded pages. The methodology on the whole is thorough, though there were a few areas that had me (and my seminar group along with me) scratching my head concerning certain inconsistencies in weighing data for conclusions. In certain areas said conclusions could be more prominent, with Fox sometimes settling to present the case for multiple options and not definitively defending a certain point of view. One may also find fault that Fox does not deal with any issues at length in Greek Esther(s) (eg Alpha text, LXX, etc) which may have helped inform certain aspects of his character portrait (eg, What does the Greek prayer of Mordecai addition (?) add to the earliest perceptions of him as character?), but this is his prerogative.

Despite little percieved problems, on the whole the book is excellent, and along with the JPS commentary by Adele Berlin and the monograph by JD Levenson I believe this book composes one third of the best and most recent mainstream Jewish scholarship on the Hebrew text.

The Harcourt Street Line was a double-track suburban railway that ran in Ireland from Dublin through Dundrum and Foxrock to Bray. It was shut down and abandoned in 1958. Some forty years later in May 1998, the Irish government launched a major investment of capital to create a new railway (Luas Line B) that would run along the identical trackbed of the old Harcourt Street Line as far as the Sandyford Industrial Estate (a distance of about eight kilometers). In The Harcourt Street Line: Back On Track, County Dublin native and railway enthusiast Brian Mac Aongusa presents the reader with an informed, informative, and colorful history of this local railway. Highly recommended reading for all railroad fans and a unique contribution to Irish transport history collections, The Harcourt Street Line is so well done that it could wonderfully serve as a template for others wanting to capture the history of their own local commuter lines.

This cookbook has traditional southern recipes mixed with beautiful photography of some historic Charleston homes. There is also a bit of history included with each menu. I highly reccomend this book.