Roma Books

This book is duende! I come from Gypsy stock- and this book tells it all about our wonderful culture and passion for life. This book oozes passion, so be prepared for reading it beginning to end - it will be hard to put down!

I've always been drawn to stories about those mysterious wanderers known as the Gypsies. Although often portrayed in literature and in movies as conniving hucksters and campy fortune tellers with bad eastern European accents, author Alison Mackie's "The Gypsy Chronicles" captures the truly passionate heart and soul of the enigmatic Roma. Are you a hopeless romantic, longing and searching for meaningful prose in a age of bawdy sexuality and violence-themed literature? Then go out and get this book! Your only regret will be the words, "The End."

The Gypsy Chronicles is a crisp, energetic work that happily ensnares the readers into a world of love, passion, and beauty. The back drop is southern Spain and the culture of the gypsies. The stories convey a message of love and that sex without love and respect is not a worthy life path. This is so refreshing as our popular culture seems to deliver an opposite message, which degrades both women and men. Thank you Ms. Mackie for an enchanting book and I can't wait to read the next book!

The Gypsy Chronicles may be a Fairytale but the feelings it created were very real. And that is why at just under 180 pages, with illustrations, this book is maybe more like an appetizer than a main course.
It ended far too soon and so despite all the charm I felt a little short changed by The Gypsy. Even so I am eagerly looking forward to read the next book in the series.

Alison Mackie has created a modern day fairy tale. The Gypsy Chronicles is a story of passion, love and a wonderful bed in which to experience both. Within the book there are charming little tibits: quotes, photographs and artwork. Ms. Mackie brings us the gypsy life and culture and through her words we can almost taste the wine, hear the music and feel the pounding of the flamenca as she taps her way into your heart and mind. This is a delightful read and anyone with a little "gypsy" in their soul must experience it!!

Once you get past the strange layout (described in other sections), this is a great edition of Henry V. It is easy and fun to read and offers valuable insights (not just for students either). Well worth a flutter.

This play is best known for the St. Crispian's Day "Band of Brothers" speech given by King Henry just before the battle at Agincourt. It is a powerful speech that rallies people at all times and everywhere. Sir Lawrence Olivier made a film version in 1944 during WWII and Kenneth Branagh made another as recently as 1989. You can count on there being more versions. Epecially so when computers can help them make spectacular battle scenes (that aren't really in the play) with less expense.

Audiences love this play and they should. There is a lot to like and enjoy. I think upon repeated readings Henry becomes a more equivocal character than he seems at first. And readers of the King Henry IV plays will know him before he became King Henry and know something deeper about his personality.

And of course there is the whole bit about the drive to France being sponsored by the Church to avoid confiscation of property by the Crown. Moreover, there is the slaughtering of the French prisoners, and his treatment of Falstaff (who dies offstage in this play). This isn't revisionist stuff, it is right there in the play, but it is easy to miss the first time you are trying to take in the play.

In any case, this Arden edition is the one to buy and read from. Why? Because it has the most authoritative text, but that is only the beginning. It also shows variants between the early sources. The notes at the bottom of each page of the play are simply fabulous. The editor includes not only helpful notes explaining what might be obscure in the text of the play, he provides sources Shakespeare probably used such as Holinshed and makes for some very interesting study. There are also some helpful notes on how various scenes have been performed over time.

And to make this sound more like an infomercial, you get more! The introduction provides great background material on the play, its sources, and how it has been performed throughout history. After the play, there is a photo reproduction of the first Quarto from 1600 and it is fairly readable. There are also a couple of maps showing the path of the English Army from Harfleur through other towns on its way to Calais and makes clear how they had to pass through Agincourt.

There is also a helpful genealogical table so you can see the confusing claims used by Henry and the French nobility to make their claims. And there is a doubling chart so you can see how theater companies can perform all the roles with fewer actors.

This is a great edition as are all the plays published by the Arden Shakespeare. The amount of work collected in these volumes is stunning and they will enrich your experience of the plays tremendously. I can't recommend them enough.

This play more than any others in the histories glorifies Englishmen and England. His characters in this one are larger than life, but each has their own limitations and flaws. The play covers the time of the Battle of Agincourt when the French King Charles was so sure of victory that he sent a messenger to Henry to ask him to give up and to pay a ransom before the battle. On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, the English were outnumbered five to one, Henry's troops were on foreign soil and riddled with disease. The scenes where Henry dons a disguise and goes out amongst his troops to bolster their confidence are great. The English managed to triumph in this battle where all was stacked against them mostly because of Henry's leadership. This is such a sweeping story that it is hard to condense in a few words, the plot of the play, but it is a wonderful example of Shakespeare's skills as a writer.

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.' What more need I say? Henry V is an imortal classic of western literature. And this edition is complete and accurate. See the film if you want, but be sure to read the words at least once. They are inspiring.

"Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the King that led them to it."

Particularly poignant poetry in these times of pompous presidential sabre rattling and wars based on questionable facts.

This is a well-paced and fairly detailed book about the slow fall of the Roman Republic, but the author seems to persistently spin his rendition of events to favor traditionalists and aristocrats. Therefore Caesar's role in bringing down the Republic is heavily emphasized and decried, but the violent opposition to the Gracchi is made to seem natural.

The fact of the matter is that conservatives had a big hand in undermining the rule of law in Rome, and that resistance by all means necessary to social change had helped turn Rome into a city ruled, in the last instance, by force. This long, long before Caesar crossed the Rubicon.

It is possible to lay more blame on Caesar than many historians have done, but one shouldn't do it by ignoring or glossing over the crimes of conservatives and traditionalists.

If you want one book to give you insight into how the Republic of Rome operated and evolved into an Empire, this is the book to get. Very well written. It is fascinating how much modern politics resembles the politics of ancient Rome, as engagingly and clearly described in this book. If you think Julius and Augustus Caesar came to power by military conquest alone (and that is how Republic became Empire), read this book to understand how wrong you are.

The Romans were arguably the most remarkable people in history, although having said that the Greeks would certainly give them a run for their money. Therefore it is no wonder that the Roman Republic is without doubt the most written about and who better to do the writing than Tom Holland, a historian who has a string of successful books behind him. This book certainly achieves what I am sure the author set out to do and that is to entertain and inform the reader at the same time, without boring the pants off them.

It is a sobering thought that what started out as a small community of people living among the marshes and hills of the area ended up as the greatest city of its time with the might and power to rule the known world. A city that had architects and engineers that could easily hold their own in today's modern world. The book paints a picture of Rome in its finest hour. This was the century of Julius Caesar , a man addicted to both power and glory. A man who crossed the Rubicon in a demonstration of both defiance and power.

A time of the great orator Cicero and Spartacus a slave come gladiator who dared to challenge the might of all Rome and briefly, but only briefly glimpsed success. Tom Holland brings to life all of these events and makes the people involved more than just names from long ago. He makes them into living people with likes and dislikes. Lovers of people and things and also the hatred within some of them and the lengths they were prepared to go to achieve their ambitions.

A book bursting with the facts of how people lived and loved in the most famous city in the known world and on the other side of the coin the ones who were continually striving to just to survive.

Rubicon is a history of the fall of the Roman Republic that reads like a novel, but seems to be based on pretty sound scholarship. Professional historians may quibble with the style, but this is an excellent overview for the average reader, dealing with a subject that is neglected in the school curriculum but seems very relevant to 21st century America.

Starting with a brief runthrough of the early history of Rome, the establishment of the Republic, and the gradual growth of an empire, Hammond gradually focuses in on the last century leading up to Julius Caesar's fateful crossing of the Rubicon and shows the gradual crumbling of values and institutions that allow one brilliant, popular demagogue after another to hijack the government and turn it to his own ends. Pre-emptive wars of "defense" are only one of the tactics that will sound very familiar.

I believe that some reviewers have objected to Hammond's use of "anachronisms," but I found this to be an effective, if not always precise, way to convey what was happening. After all, the fact that a name has only recently been given to "spin" doesn't mean that it hasn't been done for millennia.

This book's real strength, however, is in its portrayal of a huge cast of living, breathing human beings who grow and change over time. Pompey starts off looking like an obnoxious showoff, but his real love for his wives (which got him laughed at in a society even more macho than 20th century America) and his devotion to the Republic give him an air of tragic pathos. Cato is curmudgeonly but honorable to the end, and Hammond's portrait of Caesar projects a charm and ruthlessness that are both utterly calculated and extremely dangerous.

For anyone who wants to learn more about this fascinating era, whose parallels to our own can send chills down the spine, I highly recommend Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series.

The idea that average people need to know history, especially ancient Roman history, has fallen by the wayside in the last several decades. The problem this leads too, naturally enough, is that the people in a democracy loose site when their elected leaders start to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Roman history is filled with people who made mistakes, often times for all the right reasons. Caesar is such a personality. Caesar would contend that he was simply moving to protect the people of the Republic from what was extensive corruption in the systems that governed Rome.

Tyrants rarely come to power saying they are going to enslave the masses and restrict the rights of the average citizen. They always claim, and in many cases truly believe, that they are moving to protect the average men and women of the time. However, in attacking the rights of the powerful, they often end up also restricting the rights of everybody. -- Restriction of civil rights in order to protect and preserve them... this appears to lead to parallels with out own times.

To put to this another way, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Even after the Republic had passed and the Empire was in full swing, there was still much to admire in the Romans. "To protect the weak and make humble the proud". Not a bad motto, and they even lived up to it from time to time.

Julius Caesar, in "crossing the Rubicon" didn't know that he was changing everything. The problem is that everything didn't happen on that day. Most events that lead to the Empire had already passed: Sulla's dictatorship had been a defacto empire; the Gracchus brothers had tried reform before and been slapped down -- hard and dead.

It is possible that any large scale nation state, given sufficient size and power, becomes an empire at some point. After all, if Rome, Britain, revolutionary France and other great nations couldn't avoid it that may mean that the only real hope is to embrace the beast and do it well while possibly making some good come from it.

This fine book provides a very good discussion of the transition period from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire.

I love the way the poems in this book tell stories but then take you beyond the stories. The stories are just the first layer--behind them the strange echoes the words cast back on each other create a kind of glittering city-scape of the soul. I'm not sure I feel safe there, any more than I always feel safe in my own mind, but there's no end of places to explore--and I trust Lois Roma-Deeley as a guide. Over and over in this book, just as you encounter a beautiful land of the fantastic, you find your feet on the concrete of a truth you've been waiting much too long to hear. I'm so grateful for this voice in the wilderness--Write more! Write more!

After reading--and then hearing--Lois Roma-Deeley's poems from Rules of Hunger, I was amazed at how much this poet's work spoke about my own experiences. Further, the musicality of her language was pure joy. At a reading for the November 2004 Chicago Humanities Festival, where more than 100 people attended a panel presentation by national poets and artists, Roma-Deeley touched me with the depth and truth of her words, and mesmerized the audience with her dramatic yet honest performance. If you need poetry that you can return to again and again for both pleasure and meaning, buy this book.

Lois Roma-Deeley's first collection will make you hungry--for food (sausage, baked ziti, lobster bisque); for the past (dead relatives, lost friends, childhood memories); for love (both good and bad, won and lost); and for the entire sensuous world. Roma-Deeley serves up her poems with the master chef's attention to detail, as, for example, in these lines from "The Given," a poem about the speaker's father:

Plums should be cold,
in a glass bowl and offered to children.
This is his simple goodness,
the sword to keep on your back, the one
to scrape away the pain of not knowing
what we're to do next or how we're going to act.
And it's just like him to say this in a poem
I never intended to write. Like an amen
after a prayer, he invites you to stop
at the doorway of our past
and step into our home.

The world we step into in this collection gives pleasure because it holds the promise and excitement of the unfamiliar but is, at the same time, always recognizably our world. These accessible and memorable poems are written with an elegant simplicity; again and again, Roma-Deeley gives us not the fancy word but just the right word in poems that satisfy and remind us that to be human is to be hungry.

This collection of poems is a MUST-READ for all poetry lovers. Lois Roma-Deeley's mastery of the craft is beautifully conveyed in her vivid imagery which is powerful, witty, and tantalizing to the senses. I can't wait for her next book to come out!

After reading Lois Roma Deeley's "Rules of Hunger" I felt
transported back to a place in the memory of my childhood growing up in an Irish-Italian family in the suburbs of N.Y.C. At times I could feel the presence of the "ghosts" of my family coming back to life while reading her poems. She has the unique ability of being able to rekindle images of the past in your heart and soul. I would recommend this book to people of all ethnic backgrounds.

We started our five week tour of India with Let's Go India Nepal, and found the Footprint guide four weeks into our tour. After looking it over, we quickly realized how much detail, clarity, and completeness we were missing. We didn't open Let's Go again, other than to retrieve our bookmark.

Some of the telephone numbers were slightly off, but that is par for the course in India. The correct numbers were easily located via directory assistance, which the book informed us of.

We stayed at two of the highly recommended hotels between US$5 and US$6 a piece and were delighted by the overall quality and cleanliness we found.

Its descriptions of some of the sights surpassed even that of our tour guide.

We liked this guide so much that we now use Footprint guides for our travels wherever they are available and up to date.

WARNING: The guide warns that the prices for many tourist attractions will go up on Jan 1, 2001. They actually went up on October 18, 2000. Now at most major tourist sites in India, foreigners pay the same number of dollars as Indian's pay rupees.

A comprehensive guidebook to India which proved indispensable during our three month trip. Detailed descriptions of the history and layout of the various tourist sites renders local guides and guidebooks largely unnecessary. A broad based guidebook of nearly 1400 pages, it includes digestible background sections covering history, language, religion and politics which enhanced enormously our appreciation of Indian life and culture. Despite the wealth of information its handy size, hardcover and tough binding stood up well to the rigours of backpacking. The up-to-date hotel and restaurant sections cater for the full spectrum of travellers - from budget back packer to luxury holiday makers. The opinions offered are balanced and fair, providing enough information to plan and enjoy your trip without unfair bias - in contrast to many of the other India guidebooks we consulted. An added advantage of using this little known guide was that we avoided the ubiquitous "Lonely Planet" bores who tramp through India reciting parrot fashion the recommendations and opinions of the LP authors and researchers.

The India Handbook is a thoroughly well-researched and detailed guide. The most informative guide on the market, it provides invaluable information which is useful to both the short and long-term visitor to India, particularly by the inclusion of accurate large and small scale maps. It is also strong and compact. However, perhaps the most appealing feature is it's direct and non-chatty text, packing important and need-to-know facts into a notey yet precise format, leaving the reader to form his/her own opinions on people and places.

I spent one month travelling all over India with the 1999 edition of the India Handbook and what a life saver it was. The book was fantastic with its information and right on the money everytime with hotel rates, ferry schedules, etc. The brief anecdotes were especially helpful and I really appreciated the open mind the book had quick not to judge a country full of many different aspects. The book was enlightening and in my hand all the time, but my mind was still open to new experiences which were not preconceived by the authors. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone who really wants to experience India in a different light!

We hav just completed an excellent three week journey through India. Much of this would simply have not been possible without the help and guidance of this excellent guide. For instance we have just come back by road from Goa to Mumbai through some very varied and interesting countryside including a trip up into the Ghats which was quite hairaising anlong narrow, twisty roads. The road conditions were such that it took us much longer than we anticipated. The Handbook did not let is down but suggested an excellent hotel at Kiplung. In addition, we found that the descriptions of the sites more than compensated for not having guides available at Orccha for instance. The only time we had problems was when we did not consult the guide sufficiently!

The edition of Edward II I read was the New Mermaid Series one, which had a very good and informative introduction, and has the spelling modernized. The spelling modernization extends to place names as well as general terms. I am not sure how I feel about spelling modernization, as it is nice to see how the work was originally spelled, but it made the work very easy to read. The play itself is amazing, very engaging even though it is a history, and is mostly based on things that actually happened. The language is not as flowery as Shakespeare, but is lovely nonetheless. Some of the characters of the play are very fickle, and seem to suddenly change as you read the text of the play. (Queen Isabella goes from devoted and self-sacrificing wife to cunning adulteress.) It makes more sense on stage, and after seeing this play, it was easier to see how good it is.

Marlowe's final play is also his masterpiece. To be sure, the dramatic events in this play really did happen, but Marlowe shows himself at his best when he paints the picture. At first, Marlowe masterfully allows us to detest Edward for undoing all the fine work of his father Edward Longshanks. We also are able to feel sorry for Mortimer and Isabella. (the eventual villains). Isabella feels neglected and Mortimer can not stand to see the fine work of Edward Longshanks undone. Later, we come to have some respect for Edward II when he shows himself to have some of his father's fine qualities and he crushes the first rebellion against him with courage and intelligence. When the second uprising successful, we no longer are lead into any feelings of admiration for Mortimer and Isabella. Once they have power they are more vile and disgusting than Edward II ever was. By Act 5.1, Marlowe gives Edward II moving soliloquies and does not allow our new won pity to slack for a moment. The final scene of this play when Edward II's 17 year old son Edward III flips the tables, crushes his corrupt mother, has Mortimer put to death, and offers prayers to his murdered father is a scene that is almost unsurpassed in literature. To be sure, this did actually happen, but Marlowe not only tells us what happened, but colors it with his superb mastery of the language.

Edward the second, or to give it its full title, 'The troublesome reign and Lamentable death of Edward, the second king of England, with the tragical fall of proud Mortimer', is famous for being an Elizabethan 'Gay play', but this is only one of the subjects contained within the play. Politics, cruelty and the Feudal System are all important themes in this, one of the great masterstrokes of Elizabethan literature. The play itself is a history play, set in the 14th century featuring Edward and his previously basished lover, Gaveston, who returns after the death of Edward's father. This return enrages the barons, who were sworn to Edward's father that Gaveston would never return. This is the catalyst for a plot that races around like a cheetah on speed, culminating in one of the most excruciating deaths ever portrayed on stage. "Shakespeare? Who? Marlowe was far better!"

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564¯1593) has faded into the background over the centuries, little remembered by the common man, unlike his contemporary William Shakespeare. But, in his own time, Marlowe was known as one of the greatest of playwrights.

This play tells the story of King Edward II, who ruled England from 1307 to 1327. Edward shocked medieval England with his openly bi-sexual relationship with Piers Gaveston, and his barons rose up against him in a series of wars, finally culminating in Edward's death. (Rumor having it that he was horribly murdered by having a red-hot iron thrust up through his rectum!)

Now, this play is not entirely historically accurate. The theatre of the day did not specialize in accurate historical portrayal, but strove to entertain. However, that said, this play does do an excellent job of telling the story of Edward and his reign, in an entertaining and informative manner in a mere 25 scenes.

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting read, and I couldn't help but wonder why I have not heard of it being played today. It is still very entertaining, and you would think that modern play producers would want to put it on. This is an interesting play, one that I do not hesitate to recommend.

(By the way, just in case you didn't realize, this Edward was the effeminate son of Edward I, Longshanks, in Mel Gibson's movie Braveheart. That portrayal of Edward was well done by actor Peter Hanly, but was even less accurate than this play. I suspect that the character Phillip was based on Piers Gaveston. Longshanks did indeed hate Gaveston, but certainly never threw him out of a window!)

+++++

(Note that this review is for Dover Classics "Edward II" published by Theatre Communications Group in 1999.)

This play in five acts or twenty-five scenes, written by Christopher Marlowe (1564 to 1593, born the same year as Shakespeare) is a history play that chronicles the reign of Edward the Second. The actual name that Marlowe gave his play was "The troublesome reign and lamentable death of Edward, the second King of England, with the tragical fall of Mortimer." (Mortimer is Edward's nemesis in the play.)

The precise date of this play is not accurately known, but it is generally thought to have been written circa 1590.

Marlowe condenses, omits, elaborates, and rearranges actual historical events in order to gain dramatic effectiveness, and to bring out Edward's character and the results of his weakness. So the action in the play covers a historical period of just over twenty years (near the end of the fourteenth century) even though such a period of time is not suggested by the play itself.

Marlowe effectively succeeds in giving a true, as well as a powerful picture of the character and fate of Edward the Second. This play masterfully shows the delineation of character, the construction of plot, and the freedom and variety of the mostly blank verse.

Readers of Shakespeare's plays (especially "Henry the Eighth" and "Richard the Second") should find it quite easy to read this relatively succinct play. Even those not familiar with Shakespeare's plays or even Elizabethan drama should have little difficulty with this play. Footnotes are minimal.

Unfortunately, this play has been labeled a "Gay Play." This is not quite accurate. Edward was bisexual because he had a queen who he had a son with (the future Edward the Third) and, as well, had a male partner (named Piers Gaveston). Gaveston too was bisexual since he was not only attracted to Edward but also to Edward's niece! Edward's queen is heterosexual because she is later attracted to Mortimer after Edward starts ignoring her.

Sexual orientation is actually a small part of this play. The play is about a king who loses control of his kingdom. Edward's brother says this early on to Edward: "My Lord, I see your love to Gaveston / Will be the ruin of the realm and you."

Finally, the last scene of the play is truly magnificent as Edward's son, now King, gets revenge for his father's murder.

In conclusion, this is a great play that can be enjoyed by those who are heterosexual (like myself), bisexual, or homosexual. Also, in my opinion, this history play closely rivals Shakespeare's history plays.

(this book first published 1999; play written circa 1590; 95 pages)

+++++

I am definitely charmed by Lilian Moore poems, but I also want to tell few words about illustrations.
First thing I noticed about illustrations was... that I could not find them. They just were not separable from the poems in the book. One body and soul, one true love, one poetic story of the city (big or small) for a child (big or small). And this very fact, I suppose, is the greatest success of Roman Karas - extremely gifted artist, who managed to not only reveal his artistic talent but also do it in a very "understanding" manner. Neither did he overpowered nor yielded to the strength of Lilian Moore's poetic images - but matched and mingled his own into, creating, this synthetic artwork, that is greater then just text plus illustrations.
As the good theater starts from garderobe, this book captures the reader from the title pages. No poems were read yet, but the story has started with the image of the house-book - very poetic and very precise concept of the whole book. The book in which turning the new page is like opening new door (painted wood in the background is another grate tip carefully left by illustrator). The house, that opens it's pages letting out it's characters so resembling yourself. Or may be you are the one to step into?
I want to thank Roma for this creak of old doors, smell and touch of old paint, fairy tale of window reflections, that adds it's voice to the poetry of the book.

The Mural on Second Avenue reminds me of the beautifully illustrated poetry books I had as a young child in the 1950's. I remember the pictures inspiring me to memorize, recite and fantasize about the poetry. The Mural on Second Avenue has that same quality. The illustrations using wonderful colors and textures contain little surprises at every turn. A truly charming book for all children.

We liked poems very much, and how artist, Roma Karas,illustrated
them. "Mural on Second Avenue" looks very colorful and "fresh".
We are very glad that we ordered this book.

A delightful book for the whole family. Beautiful illustrations by Roma Karas bring wonderful poetry by Lilian Moore to life. Feel the "silence in the city hushed by snow," look at "how roofs design a sky," "fling yourself into the tree's great pool of shade." Enjoy!

This amazing book happened to be the last for poet Lilian Moore (who died at the age of 95 in 2004) and the first for a young artist Roma Karas. No wonder it combines wisdom and youth, experience and freshness, mystic and realism. Written for kids, the poems and images will remind you of your own childhood, no matter how old you are. You will recognize your own native town in images of New York, no matter what part of the world you were born in. And you will smile at the end of this book, no matter what...

"Ways To Stay Miserable By Roma Desai is an awe-inspiring book. While reading this wonderful story of a woman coming to terms with the idea of living life one day at a time opposed to always worrying and wondering about the future and what her family and friends think of her. I was able to look inside myself and see life from a different perspective.

This book is an exceptional piece of work. I really enjoyed reading it. If you want a book that makes you dig deep into your psyche then Ways To Stay Miserable is a must read."

In reading Ms. Desai's wonderful book, I was taken aback at how much her thoughts mimicked my own in many ways. Perhaps mimics all of "our" thoughts. So many times we feel as though we are not worthy to receive wondrous things in this life. So many times we believe that the rug will be pulled from underneath of us, in many cases it has happened, making us extremely "gun shy". Ms. Desai is profound and analytical in her thoughts, putting forth those thoughts in to words for us to read, and to think about. I could not put the book down. Needing to know more about what she was feeling as she wove the words in to this gem of a book. "Ways To Stay Miserable" is dramatic. A book that is easy to read, hard to put down and provokes deep thoughts. In the end, the 'melancholy versus happiness" is explained so well that you have no choice but to wonder why you have not allowed happiness to over ride the turmoil's of your own life, especially when so many others in worse case scenario's can.

In reading Ms. Desai's wonderful book, I was taken aback at how much her thoughts mimicked my own in many ways. Perhaps mimics all of "our" thoughts. So many times we feel as though we are not worthy to receive wondrous things in this life. So many times we believe that the rug will be pulled from underneath of us, in many cases it has happened, making us extremely "gun shy". Ms. Desai is profound and analytical in her thoughts, putting forth those thoughts in to words for us to read, and to think about. I could not put the book down. Needing to know more about what she was feeling as she wove the words in to this gem of a book. "Ways To Stay Miserable" is dramatic. A book that is easy to read, hard to put down and provokes deep thoughts. In the end, the 'melancholy versus happiness" is explained so well that you have no choice but to wonder why you have not allowed happiness to over ride the turmoil's of your own life, especially when so many others in worse case scenario's can.

"Ways To Stay Miserable" eloquently expresses what we've all experienced at one time or another. This is an exceptionally written book that helps nudge the reader into considering how they see their own life. Ms. Desai has managed to accomplish what takes many of us years to do. "Ways To Stay Miserable" is a dramatic yet easy to understand book that you won't be able to put down until you've read the last page.

It was a beautiful, lyrical little book. There were moments that made me chuckle because there was a point and time in my life where I had similar thoughts. I could relate to these things. Some moments I would just nod my head for no particular reason because I was simply agreeing with everything she had to say. And other times in the book made me especially sad because Roma does such a great job at putting you in her state of mind. Once again...I could relate to her. I especially liked that bit where you feel like your thoughts are getting in the way of your work. Which has happened to me on several occasions. I believe that every woman that picks up this book (no matter what age) will be able to relate to Roma's book.

Just the most hilarious manga, ever!

The artwork is unique; I didn't like it at first, but don't hesitate! The characters are wild, good natured, and just plain silly. Plenty of laugh out loud gags, over the top situation comedy, and a story line running through it. Plenty of Tsukkomi/Boke. Nandeyano?!

I want more!!!

If you don't believe me, believe CLAMP. They are telling all their friends to "read this manga!"

For a while I've been getting tired of anime and manga. Repetitive storylines, the same hackneyed characters, and lame gags ad nauseam have started to turn me off of most new stuff. I happened to run across this manga in the bookstore. Reading through it, I was pleasantly surprised to find something different! What I like the most is the unique art style which will definitely (perhaps thankfully) mean that this manga will not have an anime version.

Negishi thinks of herself as a rather average and plain-looking high schooler until a boy named Hoshino declares his love and asks her to go out as her stunned classmates look on. While put off at first by his open heart, Negishi submits to his attentions because of peer pressure and her own secret desire to fall in love. Volume 1 of Love Roma is mainly about the couple's first bumbling attempts to get to know each other and to carve out their own space in the realationship. It is filled with light-hearted and innocent comedy and some occasional deeper insights into the human heart that alternately craves solitude and company. Adding to the comedy are the friends of the couple, Tsukahara and Yoko, whose deadpan attitudes about life offer constant counterpoints to Negishi's excitibility and Hoshino's one track mind. The story is slow-paced and comfortable and feels like a window into a naive but warm world. The art is a bit more cartoony and American-seeming than most manga, but it suits the story. The author has really drawn and plotted a winner here.

I would also recommend the manga Aria, which also has a laid-back plot and mood. Also, the Azumanga Daioh anime and manga. His and Her Circumstances is a good anime that delves into a little more seriousness than is seen in Love Roma.

I enjoyed this volume because it takes an otherwise common formula--boy declares love for girl, girl stumped--and makes light of all of the usual emotional and shoujo-esque aspects of relationships in manga. It's very much like Kare Kano (Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou/His & Her Circumstances) without the emotional baggage, heavy storylines, and occasional complete changes of story focus on what should be minor characters. Granted, this is only the first volume, but it's certainly well-grounded in what it's trying to express, and the upbeat and almost comic-strip-like art keep the series from collapsing on itself with too much drama. Totally recommended, especially if you've just gotten through a far more serious manga series.

I had the honor of attending Lois Roma-Deeley's reading at Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona, last Friday evening. I was deeply moved several times during the evening by the power and purity of this brilliant poet's words. I had a similar reaction a month ago on September 11, 2006, when I heard the world premiere of an oratorio based on Roma-Deeley's four-part poem from this collection, called "Voices From the Aftermath: New York City Requiem." The 600 people who attended the two commemorative performances must have felt the same way, as the poet and her composer collaborator, Christopher Scinto, received resounding standing ovations at both occasions. Every time I read northSight, I am moved to tears. This book is a gift not only to the poetic world but to all who seek truth and beauty.

Jane Hirshfield writes that northSight is "a vital chorus." This seems to sum up this wonderful book. Hirshfield says:

"northSight is above all a book of lives. Of the poet's own life, but not only that. Of women's lives, but not only that. Of human lives, but not only that. Time and history, the transcendental, even a bead of sweat are given their voice in Lois Roma-Deeley's vital chorus, whose song is of hard-won resurrection and the unlikely survival of hope."


Yes, I agree! The 9/11 poem sequence, "Voices from the Aftermath," is heartbreaking. The poems "Explict,"Complict" and "Implicit" are a brilliant sequence which forces the reader to confront her or his own role in the creation of gender perceptions. And The poem, "My Mother Says the Neighbors Think We're Mafia" is as funny as it is on target with respect to ethnicity.

This book is a gem. If you buy only one poetry book this year, make it this one.

After hearing Lois Roma-Deeley read from her newest collection of poems, northSight, to an audience of more than 30 people at the Clearwater Library in Florida, I was amazed and inspired by this major talent! Teachers take note: her work, which deals with various aspects of gender, race and class, is as well-crafted as it is inspirational and cutting edge. In addition, she is an outstanding reader who completely engages the audience. Her poems make you laugh, cry and think all at the same time. Take a look for yourself:



Once on A-Pond

is what I thought the teacher had said.
When she spoke, I didn't hear
but saw it: the circle of blue ice and

an angel skating backward.
Eye half open against the cold;
snow falling on both wings.
The angel's long coat, pure wool.
And inside the rabbit muff,
five fingers close around one hand.

Later when I was older and less deaf, I'd know
God put spaces between words so we can find ourselves
less alone, to make it so
we can breathe in and breathe out
the distance between us
and the unknown.

But now the angel is humming a song I've never heard.
The pond is surrounded by snow banks
behind which a dozen cherubs hide.
In a moment they will fly
into a frozen sky that has no sun or moon.
At last the angel leans, hard, on the outer blade,
cutting deeper into thick ice: two rings, interwined.

Once. Upon. A. Time.

Lois Roma-Deeley's new book, northSight, is even better than her first one, Rules of Hunger. As before, the poems mix dazzling images and musical phrasing with stories drawn from an Italian-American girlhood and other "spots of time" where the speakers find themselves sometimes stranded, sometimes exalted or transformed. The new poems are stronger though; both more harsh and more lovely in their unblinking confrontation with the structures of power and relationship that frame them. I've had the privilege of hearing a CD of Roma-Deeley reading from the book, and the poems, alive on the page, gain new dimensions as her tone ranges from playful to somber to passionate.

One reviewer, Norman Dubie, called Roma-Deeley "brilliant," and he must have a true understanding of poetry to praise her writing with that term. The poems are sheerly faceted, polished into a stand of mirrors where the reader encounters her own fears, hopes, and questions.

Thus when (in the poem called "This"), "The monk stops, looks up/sees the blood on the stone/floor, a star burst he can copy/something he can use," we are drawn to wonder what alien purposes our own pain might be used for, and what use we find for the blood and suffering of others. In "Throwing a Chair Through the Hospital Window," when the speaker in jagged hysteria says "they will think that I am insane and they will take care of my little girl because crazy people get listened to," we are driven to ask to what lengths we would go for our own children and what kind of world we live in that those lengths could be necessary. Behind these poems is an insistent question: Do you know how this feels? And the reader must muster the courage to admit either I do-or, not yet.

Some people believe we have to choose between poetry that is understandable and poetry that explores the imaginative and ontological deeps. northSight offers poems that, while easy to dive into, carry the reader out and down into a larger sea. The book seduces and compels; and the journey it takes us on thrills the mind, the soul, the senses.