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Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy

Frances Mayes

Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy Frances Mayes List Price: $28.95
By: Thorndike Pr
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 433 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Disappointed 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I was so looking forward to reading, "Under The Tuscan Sun". An avid traveler, I love to explore various places through books since having 3 kids doesn't allow me to travel as much as I used to. I assumed the book would be good considering it was a #1 New York Times Bestseller.

Maybe my expectations were too high. I found the book to be monotonous, laborious and rather self-indulgent. The relationships Mayes appears to have developed seem superficial at best and imagery of the old, deep south conjured in my mind as I read about her cook "Wille Bell" and her seamstress as a child in Georgia. I thought I would relate to this part of Mayes' life as I too grew up in Georgia, but, again, the absence of any emotional impact left me wanting just to finish the book and be done with it.

Aside from the rehabilitation of her home in Tuscany which was written about mostly at the beginning of the book, I found the book to have a lack of continunity and really any depth. The self-proclamed pagan describes churches and locations, but doesn't capture the romance, innocence and intrigue that will keep you flipping pages.

Mayes does appear to be a fabulous cook and I would probably like a cookbook by her. However, if you are looking for a novel with a plot to sink your teeth into, this is definitely NOT it. I much prefered "Eat, Pray and Love" and the first chapter (which I am now reading) of "Almost French" is wildly more clever and intriguing.

Editorial Review:

NonfictionLarge Print Edition*A New York Times BestsellerWith appealing and very vivid snapshot imagery . . . what Miss Mayes mostly provides are the kind of satisfying personal crotchets and enthusiasms you might exchange with an old friend over a cup of coffee at the kitchen table. New York TimesWidely published poet, gourmet chef, and travel writer, Frances Mayes opens the door to a voluptuous new world when she buys and restores an abandoned villa in the Tuscan countryside. What she shares with her readers is a feast for the senses as she explores the pastoral Italian landscape, history and cuisine.

Walden and Civil Disobedience (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Henry David Thoreau

Walden and Civil Disobedience (Barnes & Noble Classics) Henry David Thoreau List Price: $7.95
By: Barnes & Noble Classics
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Walden and Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics:
  • New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars
  • Biographies of the authors
  • Chronologies of contemporary historical, biographical, and cultural events
  • Footnotes and endnotes
  • Selective discussions of imitations, parodies, poems, books, plays, paintings, operas, statuary, and films inspired by the work
  • Comments by other famous authors
  • Study questions to challenge the reader's viewpoints and expectations
  • Bibliographies for further reading
  • Indices & Glossaries, when appropriate
All editions are beautifully designed and are printed to superior specifications; some include illustrations of historical interest. Barnes & Noble Classics pulls together a constellation of influences—biographical, historical, and literary—to enrich each reader's understanding of these enduring works.
 
Henry David Thoreau was a sturdy individualist and a lover of nature. In March, 1845, he built himself a wooden hut on the edge of Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived until September 1847. Walden is Thoreaus autobiograophical account of his Robinson Crusoe existence, bare of creature comforts but rich in contemplation of the wonders of nature and the ways of man. On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience is the classic protest against government's interference with individual liberty, and is considered one of the most famous essays ever written. This newly repackaged edition also includes a selection of Thoreau's poetry.
 

Jonathan Levin is Dean of the School of Humanities and Professor of Literature and Culture at SUNY-Purchase. His research interests include nineteenth- and twentieth-century American literature and culture, modernism and modernity, and environmental studies. He is the author of The Poetics of Transition: Emerson, Pragmatism, and American Literary Modernism, as well as numerous essays and reviews.

The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning : With Companion CD-ROM

Shannon Kilkenny

The Complete Guide to Successful Event Planning : With Companion CD-ROM Shannon Kilkenny Amazon Price: $26.37
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Gathering people together for a special event is always a challenge even for the experienced planner for each event is unique. This book is designed to empower any planner to meet all challenges that surround a production. Whether you find yourself in charge of one important event or you have chosen event planning as a career, you want your events to be incredibly successful and remembered for years to come. A memorable event is one that flows smoothly with every detail carefully orchestrated and produced meticulously with the participant in mind. Successful events do not just happen; they are the result of hard work, creativity, awareness, and careful attention to detail. Every detail! Successful Event Planning is the most thorough, concise, and easy to follow event planning book available. From the initial concept to ongoing management, this book has techniques to increase your chances of success and systems to avoid many common mistakes. It shows you dozens of ways to save time and money and introduces you to every facet of the planning process. This ultimate guidebook equips the reader with new ideas, support, and creative problem-solving skills. The chapters follow the dynamics of the actual event planning process and are supported by extensive checklists and timelines. As the reader undertakes the complexities of daily responsibilities and tasks, Successful Event Planning inspires efficiency and confidence and makes it possible to stay on track. Whether you are a professional or a novice, you will find this guidebook a must-have if you are planning the Academy Awards or your daughter's wedding. The information found in this book is suitable for creating any event for any theme, size, location, or budget. Two significant, timely, and relevant advantages this book offers that you will not find elsewhere are Environmental Friendly practices and the latest up-to-date technology applications and gadgets. **2007 Eric Hoffer Book Awards: Notable in Bus

Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas

Bill McKibben

Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case For A More Joyful Christmas Bill McKibben Amazon Price: $12.00
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Too many people have come to dread the approach of the holidays, a season that should -- and can -- be the most relaxed, intimate, joyful, and spiritual time of the year. In this book, Bill McKibben offers some suggestions on how to rethink Christmastime, so that our current obsession with present-buying becomes less important than the dozens of other possible traditions and celebrations.

Working through their local churches, McKibben and his colleagues found that people were hungry for a more joyful Christmas season. For many, trying to limit the amount of money they spent at Christmas to about a hundred dollars per family, was a real spur to their creativity -- and a real anchor against the relentless onslaught of commercials and catalogs that try to say Christmas is only Christmas if it comes from a store.

McKibben shows how the store-bought Christmas developed and how out of tune it is with our current lives, when we're really eager for family fellowship for community involvement, for contact with the natural world, and also for the blessed silence and peace that the season should offer. McKibben shows us how to return to a simpler and more enjoyable holiday.

Christmas is too wonderful a celebration to give up on, too precious a time simply to repeat the same empty gestures from year to year. This book will serve as a road map to a Christmas far more joyful than the ones you've known in the past.

Wedding Planning For Dummies, Second Edition

Marcy Blum, Laura F. Kaiser

Wedding Planning For Dummies, Second Edition Marcy Blum, Laura F. Kaiser Amazon Price: $13.59
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Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Congratulations, you’re planning a wedding! Besides obtaining a fancy tuxedo and a stunning gown, organizing a wedding ceremony takes creativity, planning, diplomacy, and nerve. The whole ordeal can seem overwhelming at first, but with a little guidance, you’ll pull off a wedding people will remember for ages.

Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2nd Edition demystifies and simplifies all the details that go into the Big Day, providing inspiration and innovative ideas to personalize your wedding celebration and, of course, make it fun for everyone—especially you! This one-stop guide is all you need to:

  • Design a comprehensive schedule for a snag-free wedding day
  • Keep track of expenses with a wedding budget
  • Negotiate contracts and surf online for deals
  • Get those pesky financial technicalities out of the way
  • Plan a weekend wedding, a themed wedding, and other celebrations
  • Select a suitable wedding party
  • Plan for various customs and rites
  • Get the decorative effect you want
  • Throw a great reception with music, food, drink, and cake!
  • Handle gifts, registries, rings, photos, and the honeymoon

Packed with tips for saving money and common kitsch you should avoid, this is the ultimate guide to satisfying everyone on the Big Day. You’ll discover the confidence you need to make the wedding of your dreams come true with Wedding Planning For Dummies, 2nd Edition!

Mythologies

Roland Barthes

Mythologies Roland Barthes Amazon Price: $10.40
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Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"[Mythologies] illustrates the beautiful generosity of Barthes's progressive interest in the meaning (his word is signification) of practically everything around him, not only the books and paintings of high art, but also the slogans, trivia, toys, food, and popular rituals (cruises, striptease, eating, wrestling matches) of contemporary life . . . For Barthes, words and objects have in common the organized capacity to say something; at the same time, since they are signs, words and objects have the bad faith always to appear natural to their consumer, as if what they say is eternal, true, necessary, instead of arbitrary, made, contingent. Mythologies finds Barthes revealing the fashioned systems of ideas that make it possible, for example, for 'Einstein's brain' to stand for, be the myth of, 'a genius so lacking in magic that one speaks about his thought as a functional labor analogous to the mechanical making of sausages.' Each of the little essays in this book wrenches a definition out of a common but constructed object, making the object speak its hidden, but ever-so-present, reservoir of manufactured sense."--Edward W. Said

Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage

Tanya Biank

Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage Tanya Biank Amazon Price: $18.96
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 50 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Army Wives goes beyond the sound bites and photo ops of military life to bring listeners into the hearts and homes of today’s military wives.

Biank tells the story of four typical army wives who, in a flash, find themselves in extraordinary circumstances that ultimately force them to redefine who they are as women and wives. This is a true story about what happens when real life collides with army convention.

Army Wives is a groundbreaking narrative that takes the listener beyond the army’s gates, taking a close look at the other woman – the army itself – and how its traditions, rules, and wartime realities deeply impact marriage and home life.

"A timely look at the impact of combat and military life on the families the soldiers leave behind." - The Washington Post

“Tanya Biank’s experience as a reporter has produced a candid and detailed study of her subjects and a riveting story, certain to engage army wives of all generations.” – Joanne Patton, the wife of Major General George S. Patton and the daughter-in-law of General George S. Patton, Jr.

“Tanya Biank has written a stunningly detailed, eye-opening account of what it is really like to be an army wife. Army Wives demonstrates that while it is tough to be a soldier, it can be even tougher to be the wife of a soldier. Army Wives should be required reading for every military spouse and all those who are considering marrying into the military.” – Ron Martz, military affairs correspondent, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and coauthor of Heavy Metal: A Tank Company’s Battle to Baghdad

“Army Wives captivates readers with an up-close and personal look into the ‘real’ everyday lives and challenges of army spouses.” – Victoria M. Parham, host of Military Spouse Talk Radio

Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America

Bill Geist

Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America Bill Geist Amazon Price: $16.29
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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

“To say it very simply, freezer burn may very well have set in.” —neighbor on the frozen dead guy kept on ice in a backyard shed in Nederland, Colorado.   

 “Everybody loves a parade; we were just geographically challenged.” —David Harrenstein, organizer of a parade in tiny Whalan, Minnesota, where viewers are in motion and the “marchers” stand still.

“We haven’t lost anyone off these switchbacks in at least ten days” —Mailman Charlie Chamberlain, leading us on horseback 2,500 feet down the sheer walls of the Grand Canyon.
 
“Ours are the finest cow chips in the world today,” —Kirk Fisher, enthusiast, in Beaver, Oklahoma, world cow-chip capital and cow- chip exporter.

“We live out in the middle of the corn and bean fields, and there’s not a whole lot to get excited about, you know?” —Dan Moretz, on celebrating the day the sun sets in the middle of the railroad tracks in Hanlontown, Iowa.

“It’s like drilling for oil; sometimes you come up dry.” —Gay Balfour, who sucks problematic prairie dogs out of the ground with a sewer vacuum in Cortez, Colorado.    

“All you have to do is beat the flies to it,” —Michael “Roadkill” Coffman on the secrets of cooking with roadkill outside Lawrence, Kansas.  
 
“I ain’t gonna brake ´til I see God!” —driver named “Red Dog,” taking the track at a figure-eight school bus race in Bithlo, Florida.

“It’s a gift; you either got it or you don’t.” —Lee Wheelis, world watermelon-seed-spitting champion, Luling, Texas.
“I am the mayor, the board, the secretary-treasurer, the librarian, the bartender —that’s my most important title —the cook, the floor sweeper, the police chief, and I have the books for the cemetery, if someone wants to buy a plot.” —Elsie Eiler, the sole citizen of Monowi, Nebraska.

Celebrated roving correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning and bestselling author Bill Geist serves up a rollicking look at some small-town Americans and their offbeat ways of life.

“In rural Kansas, I asked our motel desk clerk for the name of the best restaurant in the area. After mulling it over, he answered: ‘I'd have to say the Texaco, 'cuz the Shell don't have no microwave.’”

Throughout his career, Bill Geist’s most popular stories have been about slightly odd but loveable individuals. Coming on the heels of his 5,600-mile RV trip across our fair land is Way Off the Road, a hilarious and compelling mix of stories about the folks featured in Geist’s segments, along with observations on his twenty years of life on the road. Written in the deadpan style that has endeared him to millions, Geist shares tales of eccentric individuals, such as the ninety-three-year-old pilot-paperboy who delivers to his far-flung subscribers by plane; the Arizona mailman who delivers mail via horseback down the walls of the Grand Canyon; the Muleshoe, Texas, anchorwoman who delivers the news from her bedroom (occasionally wearing her bathrobe); and the struggling Colorado entrepreneur who finds success employing a sewer vacuum to rid Western ranchers of problematic prairie dogs. Geist also takes us to events such as the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival (celebrating an inspiring bird that survived decapitation, hired an agent, and went on the road for eighteen months) and Sundown Days in Hanlontown, Iowa, where the town marks the one day a year when the sun sets directly between the railroad tracks

Along the wacky and wonderful way, Geist shows us firsthand how life in fly-over America can be odd, strangely fascinating, hysterical, and anything but boring.

Children Just Like Me: Celebrations!

Anabel Kindersley, Barnabas Kindersley

Children Just Like Me: Celebrations! Anabel Kindersley, Barnabas Kindersley Amazon Price: $12.23
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very interesting and joyful 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This is a very interesting book, with wonderful pictures and lots of joy. It's a book that makes you happy. Many of the celebrations were unknown to me, and it was fun to see that the Swedish celebration of St. Lucia is described correctly in the book (I'm Swedish).
The only doubtful thing about this book is that the mix of different religions isn't very good. Most celebrations are Christian or Hindu - only one is Muslim and none is purely Buddhist. That's a bit of a pity. Anyway, great book.

Gorgeous full-color large photos 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I love this book and I use it all the time to teach children about other faiths and cultures. The beautiful, realistic photos make it great for sharing. When I am not using it, it makes a nice coffee table book. My only criticism is that it always makes me want to research more (not a lot of text, but the photos and illustrations make it worth having).

Editorial Review:

Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley, creators of the acclaimed Children Just Like Me, meet with children around the world as they celebrate 25 of their favorite holidays and traditions. With stunning photographs and illustrations, readers meet each child and learn the significance of the chosen celebration. Full color.

The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies

Marcel Mauss

The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies Marcel Mauss Amazon Price: $10.17
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Social Science Man 4 out of 5 stars.
19 of 20 people found this review helpful.

In his The Gift, Marcel Mauss attempts to explain and understand gifts in primitive societies. Mauss first decides to show that the motives behind giving gifts are more complicated than commonly believed to be. In modern day society, gifts are often thought of as something given out of good will and without the expectance of something in return. Mauss shows us that in many tribal and native cultures, this is not necessarily true. In discussing the Maori, he says, "They had a kind of exchange system, or rather one of giving presents that must ultimately either be reciprocated or given back" (10). The principle of gift giving is governed by the concept of mana, which is the authority, honor, and prestige derived from the wealth and glory of being a superior gift giver. One must give gifts in order to maintain and increase mana and reciprocates them in order to prevent oneself from losing it. The obligations to give and receive are both very important. To reject a gift leads to two problems. Initially, Mauss states that to do so "is to reject the bond of alliance and commonality" (13). To reject such an important bond in a society that so heavily values communal identity is "tantamount to declaring war" (13). The second problem is that of losing mana and being viewed as afraid to accept gifts because one is unable to reciprocate them. The concept of gift giving as one that has the motives of power and authority involved displaces the common belief of gift giving. Durkheim's influence on Mauss is apparent in Mauss' discussion of the contract and sacred qualities. The sacred quality of exchange and contracts also has a relationship to appeasing the gods according to Mauss, or so it is viewed in primitive societies (and according to Durkheim the remnants of such beliefs continue in today's society). Mauss says that the ideal of the gift as distributive justice arises from the belief that the gods punish those with great wealth who are not generous. Therefore, if a gift are given out of generosity and to promote justice, does that mean that those with less wealth have not only less honor and authority, but also a lower level of justness because they are unable to give great gifts?
Gift giving appears to be a "total" social phenomenon or service because of how it works on not only economic levels, but also social levels. The motives for gift giving are not as magnanimous as one may believe because as Mauss says concerning exchange-gifts, "They are kept for the sheer pleasure of possessing them" (23). He seeks to understand the blind accumulation of wealth and says that it is motivated by "competition, rivalry, ostentatiousness, the seeking after the grandiose" (28). To him, these are somewhat negative motives, although he does not explicitly say so. Mauss shows how gift giving evolves with the Native Americans where the concept of honor is more exaggerated and the idea of "credit" and a time limit on the reciprocation of gifts is highlighted. A gift is essentially given with the motive that not only does one gain honor, respect, and authority from it, but that one will also receive something in return. Now if this something received in return is usually paid "with interest" so to speak as it is expected to be of greater value than the original gift. If Mauss is indeed correct, then why is there not a greater disparity of wealth in these primitive societies? If one is wealthy, then one could seek to continuously extend one's own authority and wealth at the same time by giving all the time, since accepting the gift is virtually required, a wealthy person could do so and gain interest on all the gifts given.

Overall, it's interesting and provocative. It is helpful to have read Durkheim's Professional Ethics and Civic Morals (then you realize that Mauss is just following in Durkheim's footsteps). What kind of society do they propose? It's not too clear. I'm still trying to figure that one out, but nonetheless, it's a provocative book, as is Durkheim's.

Editorial Review:

Since its first publication in English in 1954, The Gift, Marcel Mauss's groundbreaking study of the relation between forms of exchange and social structure, has been acclaimed as a classic among anthropology texts.

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