History & Criticism Books - Page 4

The Red Tent (Barnes and Noble Reader's Companion) (Barnes & Noble Reader's Companion)

Anita Diamant

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1442 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Bible stories from a woman's eye 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Stories of women in the Bible are few and far between. When they are included, they are often temptresses, harlots, or victims. Occassionally they are heroes. Because of the time and influences of authors and editors, their stories are limited and culled. Anita Diamant examines the life of one of these women, Dinah. In Genesis 34, the story of her rape and the revenge enacted by two of her brothers (of the 12 sons of Israel) is presented, but nothing is ever written about her again. Diamant tells her tale from Dinah's point of view. She begins by telling the stories of the wives of Jacob, which to her are as important as the life of Dinah.

Diamant shows her love of Biblical history and scholarship by presenting the smallest details and showing their importance. She embraces the tone of a woman of the time. She takes every scrap of mention of the women in Jacob's life and weaves a beautiful and compelling tale. She creates characters with spirits. You'd swear they were women you could meet soon, women you could admire and learn from. While reading many Bible stories, I've often be confused by the motives of the characters and wanted to know why they acted a certain way. I knew why the women in the book did everything they did. I still don't understand why the men acted the way they did.

This is a very female story. The title of the book should make that obvious-it's named for the isolation of women during their periods. Every day life is important-cooking, cleaning, weaving, child-rearing. Some of the best writing she does is when she describes childbirth. I rarely get weepy when reading, but I did choke up when Dinah describes the need for a special song or prayer for a mother when she first looks upon her newborn. She also describes the distance women in this time had from Jacob's god and reminds the reader that when this story was written, the world was still polytheistic, ruled by many gods, of which, the god of Abraham was one.

I've read about midrashes, stories that rabbi's wrote to explain the actions of the characters in the Bible or because there seems to be a gap. The story of Lilith as the first wife of Adam is one of these, if memory serves me correctly. I think that Diamant wrote this in that tradition. I commend her efforts and wish that other novels taking on the lives of women of the Bible were so well-written and concieved. This is an interesting one to read with The Handmaid's Tale (Everyman's Library).

Editorial Review:

Anita Diamant's bestseller The Red Tent boldly reimagines the biblical story of Dinah, a woman who makes only a brief, tragic appearance in the book of Genesis. Diamant's controversial novel has fascinated countless readers and enraged others, who believe it takes too many liberties with Hebrew scripture. Learn more, and see what you think about this:

• How much of The Red Tent is really based on known biblical history?
• Why did Diamant make the changes she made to the original biblical story?
• Why is the story of Dinah so different when told from a woman's perspective?

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World (Vintage)

Lewis Hyde

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Bad-boy critic deploys magic charm against vampire economy 4 out of 5 stars.
62 of 71 people found this review helpful.

This book has been published under various subtitles since it first appeared in 1983: "Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property", "How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World" and "Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World". None of these quite captures what it really is, and that's probably because the book doesn't know what it really is, either. Lewis Hyde takes obvious delight in his work's ability to defy categorization or the pithy summary. Unique books have that quality. So do many that are poorly written. It took me a while to figure out which kind this is.

Hyde's central theorem - that true art does, and must of its nature, stand outside the market economy, and this therefore presents a serious problem for the artist forced to live in a world increasingly subsumed by the market economy - could have achieved its full elaboration in the space of a single chapter. In the first half of the book we get that, but we also get quite a lot of wide-ranging argument about economics and the traditional tribal life of gift exchange. Not all of this is relevant, but it's all admittedly fascinating. Less fascinating are Hyde's attempts to locate contemporary examples. For example, he argues rather unconvincingly that the scientific community is "a gift community to the extent that its ideas move as gifts". Fair enough, but the extent to which they do in fact move as gifts is negligible. Scientists are among the most egotistical, petty and jealously self-serving academics ever born. Science isn't about sharing ideas, or not only that. It's about promoting "my ideas" and having "my name" forever associated with them. It's about personal prestige and glory. Ask any scientist how he or she would feel about all work being published in journals anonymously, and used thereafter without attribution.

The second half of the book is given over to two long essays on poets, and here Hyde - a poet himself - is clearly on stronger ground. One is a very engaging treatment of Walt Whitman which traces elements of "the gift" idea through his poetry and sad personal life, though for some inexplicable reason Hyde doesn't quite want to state clearly what he constantly implies: that Whitman's charitable works had a good deal more sublimated homosexuality in them than they did Christian love for his fellow man. The other is an interesting analysis of Ezra Pound which traces the arc of his genius and generosity, and yet doesn't hold back from depicting him as a frustrated bigot and fascist lunatic who only recanted his vile "suburban prejudice" (anti-Semitism) at the very end.

The conclusion and afterword link elements of the gift argument to the support for the arts in postwar America and its relationship to the Cold War.

Margaret Atwood overstated the case when she apparently called this book "a masterpiece". It's very good, but it isn't that. It's overlong, weirdly structured, and in places poorly argued. Hyde often makes huge leaps in order to connect the "evidence" with his argument, or asks us to assume an assertion is true and then builds a case on the assertion without ever coming back to prove it. Disappointingly, there is very little synthesis here, nothing that binds all of these ideas into a consistent argument - and very little in the way of recommendations about how art might flourish in a market economy. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. I came away from this book uplifted and refreshed, with a whole new way of looking at Whitman and Pound, and a new way of looking at art's place in the world. There really is no place for art in the market economy, and that's probably why art will outlive it. There is something primal and fundamentally human in art and "the gift" economy on which it relies. Both are necessary functions of human life.

Editorial Review:

By now a modern classic, The Gift is a brilliantly orchestrated defense of the value of creativity and of its importance in a culture increasingly governed by money and overrun with commodities. Widely available again after twenty-five years, this book is even more necessary today than when it first appeared. An illuminating and transformative book, and completely original in its view of the world, The Gift is cherished by artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers. It is in itself a gift to all who discover the classic wisdom found in its pages.

I Hate Your Guts

Jim Norton

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Total reviews: 87 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton isn't paying for massages with happy endings, or pretending to be fooled by transsexuals he picks up, he spends his time wondering what certain people would look like on fire...

What do Heather Mills, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and Dr. Phil have in common? Jim Norton hates their guts. And he probably hates yours, too, especially if you're a New York Yankee, Starbucks employee, or Steve Martin.

In thirty-five hilarious essays, New York Times bestselling author and comedian Jim Norton spews bile on the people he loathes. Enjoy his blistering attacks on Derek Jeter, Hillary Clinton, fatso Al Roker, and mush-mouthed Jesse Jackson. It's utterly hilarious -- and utterly relatable if you've ever bitten a stranger's face or thrown a bottle through the TV screen while watching the news.

But don't think Jim just dishes loads of shit on his self-proclaimed enemies; he is equally atrocious to himself. He savages himself for his humiliating days as a white homeboy, his balletlike spins in the outfield during a little league game, and his embarrassingly botched attempt at a celebrity shout-out while taping his new HBO stand-up series.

Uncomfortably honest, I Hate Your Guts is probably the best example of emotional vomiting you'll ever read. But there is hope; at the end of each essay, Jim generously offers helpful suggestions as to how the offender can make things right again: Eliot Spitzer: If you run for re-election, instead of shaking hands with voters, let them smell your fingers.

Reverend Al Sharpton: The next time you feel the need to protest, do so dressed as an elk in Ted Nugent's backyard.

Hillary Clinton: When you absolutely must make a point of laughing publicly, don't fake it. Just think of something that genuinely makes you laugh, like lowering taxes or any random male having his penis cut off.

For the legions of devoted fans who know Jim Norton for his raw, sometimes brutal comedy, I Hate Your Guts is what you've been waiting for. But even more important -- it's a great book to read while taking a shit.

Dog Man: An Uncommon Life on a Faraway Mountain

Martha Sherrill

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

My favorite dog. 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have read the other reviews written by Amazon readers and am so impressed with them. For my part, I agree with the others, and then some. I found that Morie and Kitako are elegant and honorable, much as their dogs were. As with any book one reads and thoroughly enjoys, I dreaded that the words would end and I took my time with every story. I found hardship, honesty, love, respect and great adventure within this book's pages. The children that Morie and Kitako raised are also an interesting bunch. Samarai Tiger is my favorite dog, bigger than life. I would like to meet Shiro and would have loved to know Hoku.

I read this book standing up at the public library. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I had to leave it at the library because i wanted to leave it for my friend who i intended to send right down to check it out. It's about an eccentric in a culture not known for eccentrics. It's about his wife and family. His wife is a stoic and her relationship with her husband is like reading science fiction to a 21st century American. The dogs are great. Great. Please do not go out and buy an Akita though. This is a lot of dog. A whole lot of dog. They almost need a mountain.

Editorial Review:

How one man's consuming passion for dogs saved a legendary breed from extinction and led him to a difficult, more soulful way of life in the wilds of Japan's remote snow country.

She's Come Undone

Wally Lamb

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1679 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

She's come undone 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This was a great book. I looked a couple to times to make sure it was a male author. Really could relate with this woman's struggle for her own identity.

Fascinating Book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Although this women Delores in this book "She Comes Undone" has so many problems in her life we somehow relate to her on some level. She has a troubled life as a child, becomes an obese adult, attempts suicide during her first semester in college than spend several years in a mental institution. All these disasters somehow make for an interesting book. I think people relate to this character Delores because they have similar problems finding something good in their life. This book ties in to another book I read that helped me in many ways. It's entitled "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers: A Message for Everyone" by John H. Eagan. I'm sure you will love how it show one how to live without so many disasters.

Editorial Review:

As Dolores Price grows from four to forty, she reinvents herself and, along the way, is supported by a cast of bizarre characters, including a Rhode Island Polka Princess. Reprint. NYT. AB.

Free-Range Chickens

Simon Rich

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Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his riotous debut collection, Ant Farm, Simon Rich found humor in some of life’s most desperate situations. Now this former editor of The Harvard Lampoon and current writer for Saturday Night Live has returned to mine more comedy from our hopelessly terrifying world.

In the nostalgic opening chapter, Rich recalls his fear of the Tooth Fairy (“Is there a face fairy?”) and his initial reaction to the “Got-your-nose” game (“Please just kill me. Better to die than to live the rest of my life as a monster”). He goes on to present Count Dracula’s desperate Match.com profile (“I am normal human looking for human woman to come to castle. I am normal, regular human”). Later, he gets inside the heads of two firehouse Dalmatians who can’t understand their masters’ compulsion to drive off to horrible fires every day. And in the final chapter, he tackles some of life’s biggest questions: Does God really have a plan for us? Yes, it turns out. Now if only He could remember what it was. . . .



Praise for Simon Rich’s Ant Farm

“Ant Farm has an imaginative power that can trigger snort-fests. . . . Ferociously creative, this book is for readers craving both smart humor and belly laughs.”
–People (four stars)

“Savagely funny.”
–The New York Times

“Hilarious. Open this book anywhere, begin reading, and you will laugh.”
–Jon Stewart

“Ant Farm is what all humor books should be: full of brief, high-concept musings that you wish you’d thought of yourself.”
–Time Out New York

“A satirical salmagundi that bites back . . . Imaginative premises abound. . . . As unpredictable as YouTube, as in your face as MySpace.”
–Publishers Weekly

On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction

William Knowlton Zinsser

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 180 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Excellent read on how to write well 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I received this at work from a consultant and for a year, did not open it. Then one day bored on a conference call, I started reading it and did not want to stop. While I took breaks over the course of 2 months to read this (reading 5 books in parallel) I just finished it and must say that it is the BEST book I have read on Writing Well. I am quite self-conscious of what I write now after reading Zinsser's book. I can see his red pen scratching my extra words, cleaning up my run on sentences, and make suggestions. Oh but grammar, spelling, and correctness aside, he touches on so many crucial topics - how to write creatively, how to think about writing, how to approach anything from a humorous essay to a memoir to writing about sports (uhm, the only chapter I skipped :)). He is an excellent writer, and the book is packed with easy-to-grasp passages on how we should behold and use this beautiful language of ours.

Editorial Review:

On Writing Well has been praised for its sound advice, its clarity and the warmth of its style. It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sole, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.

The Marvel Encyclopedia

Daniel Wallace, Tom Brevoort, Andrew J. Darling, Tom DeFalco, Peter Sanderson, Michael Teitelbaum

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 80 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Very poor, cheesy and generic new age animation 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

While this book is somewhat entertaining to flip through, the new style of generic artwork and animation ruins the experience. Gone are the old type illustrations and artwork of these characters from the original artists of the 60's, 70's, 80's and even 90's. They have all been replaced by crappy updated "ultimate" style animations and CHEESY artwork that really is sub-standard in appearance. Most of these characters drawings are very simplistic in their quality and presentation. It is very difficult for old Marvel fans like me to tolerate these low quality renditions. Just not acceptable. Skip it unless you must have it.

Editorial Review:

Marvel Comics' character roster boasts some of the best known and most popular characters ever conceived-heroes that are international household names, both as comic book stars and movie stars, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk and Wolverine. This unique, one-volume encyclopedia contains more than 1000 of Marvel's greatest, with full details of their powers and their thrill-packed careers. The encyclopedia's range of spectacular art features eye-popping work by Marvel's finest artists, while the authoritative text is supplied by a team of top Marvel comic book writers. In addition, double-page features, illustrated with classic covers, trace the fascinating story of Marvel Comics through the decades. The Marvel Comics Encyclopedia is an essential book both for new fans and for those who grew up loving the excitement, heroism and humor of the Marvel Universe. Includes a foreword by Stan Lee.

Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The (Barrons Book Notes)

J.R.R. Tolkien

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1244 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good Book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Book to read in an airplane or bus or train, to kill time. However, it is easy to lose its own original binding shape after a few readings.

"The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings", book set by J.R.R. Tolkien 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

The classic and age old story of good vs. evil told in a way that captures the imagination from the first book to the last. Books to gather enjoyment and wisdom from as the tale unfolds: "The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater..." - Haldir, Elf of Lothlorien ("The Fellowship of the Ring")

Box set (The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings) 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Books in nice condition, only slight wear from shelving; the box corner is slightly torn though.
Timely delivered.

Thanks

Editorial Review:

Plot synopsis of this classic is made meaningful with analysis and quotes by noted literary critics, summaries of the work's main themes and characters, a sketch of the author's life and times, a bibliography, suggested test questions, and ideas for essays and term papers.

Cat's Cradle (Modern Critical Interpretations Series)

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Total reviews: 375 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The master of Cat's Cradle 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The cat's cradle is an extraordinary tale about the extent of human limitations when incompatibilities exist between the goals of science and humanity. Vonnegut created another masterpiece that describes the dangers of human science when mixed with their desires and lewdness.

John, the narrator, is writing a book about the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and in the process of his research discovers the life of Felix Hoenikker, the Nobel prize-winning physicist and one of the creators of the atomic bomb.

Similar to walking through a hilarious human maze, we are taken to San Lorenzo; a town were Hoenikker's two sons and daughter live and ignorantly use their father's last invention causing another world wide human disaster.
Vonnegut brilliantly shows human limitations and foolishness with his description of an imaginary religion called Bokononism, which originated and blossomed in San Lorenzo.

Vonnegut, who survived the cruelty of war and faced life's emptiness, is one of the few writers who can laugh at the human inability to reconcile the inherent conflict of science's power and capabilities with the needs and limitations of humanity.

Editorial Review:

- Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from "The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom