Book Description
As a college freshman, Molly Worthen wrote the words "Charles Hill is God" on the inside cover of her History and Politics notebook. Hill was her professor, a former diplomat and behind-the-scenes operator who shaped foreign policy in his forty-year career as an adviser to Kissinger, Shultz, and Boutros-Ghali, among others. Hill's Grand Strategy class (taught with John Lewis Gaddis and Paul Kennedy) developed a cult following at Yale, and Worthen soon found herself caught in his aura. Feeling the seductive pull of a gurusomeone who reduces a messy world to its essence, offering a beguiling set of principles to live byshe was determined to get inside Hill's head. Surprisingly, Hill granted Worthen full access to his life, meticulously documented in over 25,000 pages of notes on everything from Iran-contra to the dissolution of his marriage. And Worthen in turn applied all the lessons Hill taught her to the study and understanding of him. In the end, she was forced to reconcile Hill's godlike presence with the person she came to realize was brilliant but fallible. The result is a genre-busting bookone that charts the intricate relationship between biographer and subject, student and teacher, even as it illuminates a momentous period in American history. Psychologically astute and masterfully written, it lays bare the joy as well as the heartache of coming to know someone you once revered. Even more profoundly, it portrays a young woman's search to find her own voice as she and her entire generation struggle to figure out how the world really works.
Customer Reviews:
Thank you Molly.......2006-03-17
For a wonderful read about a man I know, but thank you even more for articulating the hugh problem at the heart of academia today -- political correctness that has left a whole generation of students with a disfunctional inner compass. Thank God Charlie Hill decided to teach at Yale after he left the Foreign Service!
Francie Bremer
A new kind of biography by a promising new star.......2006-02-28
Charles Hill is the consumate man behind the curtain - Worthen writes a bio worthy of close examination - her writing is just lovely and shows her wisdom. - Great job.
Hitting the nail.......2006-02-24
This biography is the first I've read of a man I've had the privilege to know. It's also the first review on Amazon I've felt compelled to write. I applaud Worthen's ability to peg Charlie Hill. Her characterizations are 100% in my experience of man who has lived a compelling life. I recommend this book to all students of foreign policy.
Yes, you can marvel at the fact that a professor buys coffee at Starbucks. I feel sorry for those who've forgotten that.
Nothing Lost, Nothing Gained.......2006-02-22
I'm sorry but I've read this book twice now and I don't know when I've had a more amateur read. I'm with Publishers Weekly on this one, this author is smart and clever and in love with her own voice but she's not a natural writer, and her apparent infatuation with Professor Hill gets tiresome after only twenty-five pages. I can imagine that students who went to Yale and took courses with Hill might enjoy reading about him. Will anyone else? His family, perhaps. To the rest of us, even after Worthen's comprehensive look at his career, he seems like a nobody who somehow wound up at the top echelons of a corrupt government and now runs pretentious power courses from a cushy academic post. Worthen gives us a charming picture of campus life at New Haven, and how a lottery system insures everyone an equal shot at studying with Professor Hill.
I got the impression also that Hill was flirting with Worthen continuously, but that his passion for Norma was making him "walk the line" as Johnny Cash used to say. Hill certainly seems unabashed by Worthen's curiosity about his romantic and sex life, even urging her on to ask him some unseemly questions even Bill Clinton might have balked at, though I didn't catch if he wears boxers or briefs.
The revelations about Iran/Contra are minor ones, and debatable. I hate to break it to you, Molly Worthen, but your emperor has no clothes.
The Grand Strategy course he teaches, she notes breathlessly, culminates in a "Crisis Simulation" day in which students are thrown into an imaginary crisis like an outbreak of Ebola or Muslim terrorists occupying the Senate chambers. It's like a Universal Studios tour ride putting you, the tourist, into Jack Bauer's shoes on "24." And out of such theme parks our foreign policy is born.
A great read!.......2006-01-17
This is a fascinating book. Worthen was still an undergraduate at Yale when she began it, and she brings both the idealism of youth and a mature writing style to the page. Besides being a fly on the wall at some of the most important foreign policy events of the 20th century, the reader also gets an inside view of one of Yale University's most elite communities -- the Grand Strategy program, which trains future leaders in the art of statecraft. Followers of contemporary political events will be particularly interested, since two of the Grand Strategy professors -- John Lewis Gaddis and Charles Hill -- have close contacts with, and regularly advise the Bush Administration. This is no tawdry expose of secret societies (a la Secrets of the Tomb), but an insightful look into how an experienced diplomat mentors some of the most accomplished students in our country. It also is a moving coming of age story, as Worthen learns that her mentor is as flawed and human as the famous leaders he counseled.
Book Description
A grisly racial murder in what news commentators insist on calling “the heartland.” A feeding frenzy of mass media and seamy politics. An illicit love affair with the potential to wreck lives. In his grandly inventive last novel, John Gregory Dunne orchestrated these elements into a symphony of American violence, chicanery, and sadness.
In the aftermath of Edgar Parlance’s killing, the small prairie town of Regent becomes a destination for everyone from a sociopathic teenaged supermodel to an enigmatic attorney with secret familial links to the worlds of Hollywood and organized crime. Out of their manifold convergences, their jockeying for power, publicity or love,
Nothing Lost creates a drama of magnificent scope and acidity.
Customer Reviews:
Sparkling in the details.......2007-01-17
Nothing Lost contains all the right elements: a good plot, good characters, weighty themes, and fine sentence-by-sentence writing. Unfortunately, these elements do not coalesce into an excellent novel. The book is, finally, a hash. Plot lines are disjunct; speaking voices are unidentifiable; transitions are often nonexistent. It feels as if someone took a great novel, threw the pages into the air and then printed the clumps that came down together in no particular order. Dunne did not see the book through to final page proofs, but a strong editorial hand could have made this book competitive with True Confessions, Dunne's masterpiece in fiction.
Having said that, I must also say that I finished it and that I enjoyed it and that I admire its constituent elements. It is sad that the book's narrative potential was not reached.
Tongue in Cheek, Fast-Paced, Cynical, Super Thriller.......2004-08-25
Nothing Lost is narrated by Max Cline, who was ousted from the prosecutor's office when South Midland's born-again Christian Attorney General, Jerrold Wormwold (AKA "The Worm" finds out that he is gay.
Max was supposed to prosecute trial of two white men (Duane Lajoie and Bryant Gover) accused of the gruesome torture and murder of a black drifter named Edgar Parlance. Gover quickly rats out Lajoie, who happens to have a supermodel sister, Carlyle. Carlyle has agreed to pay for his legal expenses and make a coffee table book out of the trial.
This all turns the case too high profile in the eyes of The Worm, who takes Max off the case and replaces him with J.J. McClure. The Worm doesn't want a gay lead prosecutor ruining his chances of being elected - especially now that conservative talk show hostess and Congresswoman Sonora "Poppy" McClure has mentioned that she will run for Governor as well. Little does The Worm know, J.J. McClure is Poppy's husband.
Max is down but not out, as he returns to the case as a Defense Attorney and goes head to head with J.J. A full blown media circus beings as Poppy tries to use the case to her advantage and The Worm tries to spin the case to his advantage.
Nothing Lost is a fast-paced thriller that is cynical, profane and tongue in cheek funny.
Nothing Lost except the time to read this book.......2004-08-02
I really thought the author had a terrific idea in writing a send up of our modern world plotted around a sensational killing. All the elements were there, the media, hollywood, gays, etc. However, he missed the opportunity to paint the characters and the plot in broad satirical brush strokes. Often you could almost take these characters seriously. The dialogue, which is probably typical for Dunne, is too clever by half. This book certainly did not make me want to read any more of his writings.
Smart, fun, and pleasingly cynical.......2004-06-25
I'm at home on bed rest and desperate for something good to read. This book did the trick.. The narrator is smart, funny, and clearly aware that it is next to impossible to do much about most of the evil sleaziness of the world. Certainly it is impossible to make changes in individual lives, one at a time. (Or maybe I'm just jaded, too. Some may call it maturity.) Clearly, the narrator is the most decent character in a novel full of morally bankrupt people (from both sides of the tracks). Ironically, his career is blindsided due to what others perceive to be questionable morals. Anyway, join Max as he watches pathetic people with and without class, power, and agency screw up their lives even more than they already have, and help him make sense of it. Great literature this ain't, but a smart, fun, cynical read it is.
Not Dunne's Best, But Well Worth Reading.......2004-05-29
John Gregory Dunne was a greatly underappreciated American writer at the time of his death in December 2003. His novel about the Black Dahlia case, "True Confessions" is a masterpiece of neo-noir and black comedy (forget about the dull movie version with DeNiro and Duvall.) His searing, direly funny "Dutch Shea, Jr." is a classic waiting to be rediscovered. "Nothing Lost" is set in the same fictional universe as "The Red White, and Blue" and "Playland". Those books tended to be longer on atmosphere than story, but "Nothing Lost" has the snappy surprise of his earlier work. It's Dunne's fictional version of those sensational, media-driven criminal trials of the 1990's. In a fictional midwestern state, a poor African-American man is tortured and murdered by some lowlife young white men in the horribly familiar manner of Brandon Teena, Matthew Shepard, or James Bird. Because one of the accused turns out to be the brother of a notorious teen supermodel the media is further sucked into the case. The model, Carlyle, seems to be based on Paris Hilton; a conservative congresswoman appears to be modeled on Ariana Huffington before her recent conversion to the left. (Another lady talk show host character, who has a lesbian affair with the congresswoman, seems to be the Ann Coulter figure, so to speak.)
It turns out that eveyone involved, including the dead man, has secrets to hide, secrets that come back and bite them at the worst possible times. What prevents this book from being Dunne's best are a couple of things. In this one his bitterness and misanthropy are out of control. Dunne thought that if you lived in the middle of the country, away from the sacred precincts of LA and New York, you lived in a hell of yokelry and lower-class backwardness. These qualities are bracing and invigorating in his earlier books, but in "Nothing Lost" he seems to hate everything and everyone. A little light and grace would provide some contrast, at least. And the last hundred pages are rushed. Too much happens all at once to be completely convincing. The book has an aura of being unfinished, and it might have been a little better crafted but for Dunne's untimely death. Nevertheless, if you are a fan you don't want to miss Dunne's last effort. It's bleakly entertaining, but if you aren't already familiar with his books you should really start with "True Confessions."
Average customer rating:
- There's Nothing to D-O-O-O-
- Great story, great pictures, a real delight!
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There's Nothing to D-o-o-o!
Judith Mathews
Manufacturer: Browndeer Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Fiction
| Farm Animals
| Animals
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Family Life
| People & Places
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0152016473 |
Book Description
Laloo the calf lives on the farm with her mother, Mamoo. One day she looks around and sees the same old--everything. "I want something n-e-w,” Laloo says to her mama. Then she slips through a broken place in the fence and runs away. When Laloo and Mamoo are reunited, Mamoo promises that her child can go exploring again another day s-o-o-o-n.
Customer Reviews:
There's Nothing to D-O-O-O-.......1999-12-21
I love the rhyming in this picture book. The theme of children wanting to explore, but realizing home is best is great for the younger children. It contains excellent color illustrations. I highly recommend this one for students from K through the 2nd grade.
Great story, great pictures, a real delight!.......1999-04-28
"There's Nothing to D-o-o-o" is a wonderful children's picture book. The story is gentle and fun, something children and adults will love. The pictures are terrific and perfectly match the text, adding charm and depth. This book is a delight to read silently and to look at, but will also be a delight to read out loud. I loved it.
Average customer rating:
- Amazing Filmaker
- Great book for Early SNL fans like me
- A Winner
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Nothing Lost Forever: The Films of Tom Schiller
Michael Streeter
Manufacturer: BearManor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Entertainers
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Movie Directors
| Arts & Literature
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Belushi
ASIN: 1593930321 |
Book Description
"I hate it when people throw around the word 'genius,' so I'll just say that Tom Schiller is an 'asshole.' Any true fan of Saturday Night Live should read this book - it's genius." - Jimmy Fallon
Tom Schiller was among the first to join the Saturday Night Live team in 1975. Recognized more for his work than his name, Schiller spent a total of eleven years with the show, writing sketches and directing short films. He directed John Belushi at age 90 in the ironic grave-dancing short Don't Look Back in Anger; Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks lip-synced to Bing Crosby in the musical Love is a Dream; and Bill Murray played a homeless man who thinks he's a brilliant Shakespearean actor in Perchance to Dream. With his memorable short films, Schiller added an element of heart and style to Saturday Night Live.
Many took notice to Schiller's unique filmmaking vision including producer Lorne Michaels and MGM, who signed Schiller to write and direct his first feature film. Nothing Lasts Forever, a clever science fiction comedy with strong aspects of social satire, starred Zach Galligan and Bill Murray. But with MGM facing financial uncertainty, Schiller's forgotten masterpiece was never released. Despite its critical acclaim, and having being invited to the Cannes film festival two years in a row, the film has been doomed to the vaults for over twenty years.
Nothing Lost Forever takes a thorough look into the films and career of Tom Schiller, through his own eyes and through those who have worked closely with him.
"Every SNL performer trusted Schiller. We were all as in love with his visions as he was." - Dan Aykroyd.
Featuring:
-Foreword by Tom Davis
-Extensive new interviews with Tom Schiller, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Zach Galligan, Lorne Michaels, Bill Murray, Mike Myers and many others.
-Rare, never-before-seen photos - over 100 in total
...and much, much more!
"This book captures Tom's giddy, enchanting creative spirit. Watching Schiller play 78s on the gramophone in his office, a 1940s version of Pee-wee's Playhouse, is one of my favorite memories of SNL. You'd visit for the quaint escape and come out remembering why you love to create comedy." - Robert Smigel
Customer Reviews:
Amazing Filmaker.......2005-11-02
Tom Schiller has an amazing filmic vision. It was great to read all the details of the making of this overlooked classic film.
Great book for Early SNL fans like me.......2005-06-30
I'm an older SNL fan and I do remember seeing several of Schiller's films on SNL. What I enjoyed most about the book is the details provided for every step of Schiller's cinema portfolio. I never realized how involved the filmmaking process was for a short clip. The writing is easy-going and quite engaging. The photos are precious, and I would have preferred to see them on glossy paper as opposed to on regular paper. Any one who loves films and is considering film as a career should pick up the book. The book really provides a bird's eye view of what the industry is really like: the good and the bad. Makes me appreciate Schiller's work even more.
A Winner.......2005-06-17
"Nothing Lasts FOrever" gives SNL fans like me an inside account of how the show was put together in the early years. It's sort of a book within a book. The detailed accounts of Shillers short films, combined with a summary biography of Schiller, provide the background for the intriguing inside story of a feature length film, "Nothing Lasts Forever", written and directed by TOm Schiller in 1982. MGM commisssioned the making of the film but decided not to release it. The six chapters dealing with that film leave the reader interested in seeing it. And the choice of the title of Michael Streeter's book makes it clear that at least one of his motivations for writing this very well researched book is his hope that "Nothing Lasts Forever" will not be lost forever.
Average customer rating:
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Nothing Is Lost in the Spirit
Cynthia Graham
Manufacturer: iUniverse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Short Stories
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0595183018 |
Book Description
Two middle aged African American females, analyze the way people in their lives handle various situations. Anima and Baset both work corporate jobs, and have families of their own. As multiple issues creep into their lives, the women decide to apply spirit to each situation that comes along, to help them understand what they are undertaking. In them analyzing others, they learn how to deal with issues in their own lives.
They share their dreams, culture and unexplained phenomena's to their close Italian friend. However, when there is a crisis with an associate of either of the women, they call upon others for help.
This book has been designed so that you, the reader, can open to any section and relish the narratives as they unfold from the creases of the universe. In these short stories, each episode is done with drama, and humor.
Although Baset and Anima, the two main fictional characters, are used in every chapter, breath of wisdom and emotions are present, so that you may experience the spirit of loneliness, joy, love and more.
Average customer rating:
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Nothing is Lost Save Honor
Kurt Vonnegut
Manufacturer: Nouveau Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0962000744 |
Book Description
The ravaged continent of Genabackis has given birth to a terrifying new empire: the Pannion Domin. Like a tide of corrupted blood, it seethes across the land, devouring all. In its path stands an uneasy alliance: Onearm's army and Whiskeyjack's Bridgeburners alongside their enemies of old--the forces of the Warlord Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake and his Tiste Andii mages, and the Rhivi people of the plains. But ancient undead clans are also gathering; the T'lan Imass have risen. For it would seem something altogether darker and more malign threatens this world. Rumors abound that the Crippled God is now unchained and intent on a terrible revenge. Marking the return of many characters from Gardens of the Moon and introducing a host of remarkable new players, Memories of Ice is both a momentous new chapter in Steven Erikson's magnificent epic fantasy and a triumph of storytelling.
Customer Reviews:
Probably is the best book if you over look the blatant flaws.......2007-03-03
These books aren't for everyone. There's a lot of good. But then there's also a lot of bad. Whenever I read Erikson, I feel like i'm fighting a dragon. His prose is convoluted and his story even more so but not in a great way. It's a tad irritating to have to read 3 commas and 2 dashes in every other sentence. He tries really hard to sound sophisticated in favor of keeping things simple and explaining things. I've all ready gotten past the hard parts like having to remember 20 generic names like Gruntle, Picker, Spindle, Fiddler, etc.
The number of plot holes is astounding. For example, the Moranth Munitions are incredibly powerful. How come none of the Moranth flew some of the munitions to Capustan? Because then there would be no siege to write about. Anomander Rake can literally breathe darkness upon a mob of Tenescrowri and wipe an entire line down the ranks. Why didn't he fly to Capustan in his Soletaken form (bring Caladan Brook with him)? Both of them probably could've wiped out the entire Pannion Domin army by themselves! There are many, many more. I know every story will inevitably have plotholes. But the ones in these books are so blatant it just makes it kind of eyerolling to read.
There's no balance of power at all in the books. It seems Erikson just writes whatever he wants, introduces new powers or limits them according to whim. The Hounds are supposed to be so powerful, yet Fiddler admitted he could slay all of them with a rigged crossbow bolt. I'm not even sure why they have regular infantry. A K'Chain Che'Malle can take down 20 Grey Swords by themselves, yet three Seguleh can kill one easily, but they can be controlled by Lady Envy just as easily. It just makes no sense a lot of the time. One second, an ultimate force arrives, then another one, then another. A girl appears and she becomes all of a sudden the leader of the T'lan Imass, then another is the leader of the whirlwind. No ones powers are really explained and they just seem to be able to do anything when it's necessary. Kalam can pull out a rock and magically warp anywhere along the Imperial Warren. What the heck is the imperial warren and why dont' they do that more often instead of traveling by horse and foot?
Some of the parts are really overly dramatic. Anomander Rake just finishes wiping out a line of Tenescowri. I'm guessing thousands have just died. He then feels the need to use Dragnipur to slay the 6 insane witches for some reason (plot device for Whiskeyjack to intervene?). The commander comes up and kills the 6 insane witches and he feels guilty. The character development feels forced. I felt the exact same way when I read the part about Itkovian and how he 'eased' all the souls burdens.
All of a sudden Paran is the master of the deck and he has to decide whether or not to let the Chained God in. Seriously, what the heck is the deck and why is it so powerful? Who made the deck and how does it work? Who selected Paran? I'm guessing it's because he escaped Dragnipur, but some details would be useful. Perhaps Erikson mentioned what the deck was in 2 sentences in Gardens of the Moon. Forgive me if haven't been taking notes.
Everyone talks the same. Except for perhaps the eccentric characters, like Kruppe. Everyone refers to everyone else by rank whenever they address them. They all say, "Damn Bastard." They all use "... [adjective]" profusely. In fact, he must do that once in every paragraph, no matters who's talking.
Erikson has potential. The world does feel epic. Some of the characters are really very intriguing. But this is a first series, and it shows. I'm not sure if everyone is just impressed superficially by his prose. If someone could explain to me if i'm missing something, that would be great. I will probably continue the series, but I will not be expecting that much. My desire to find out what happens just isn't as great as it was when I read Gardens. The novelty is gone, and you realize that Erikson is just going to continue writing without really making the story grow other than adding new characters, new enemies and changing things according to his whim when he needs a plot device to bridge events.
Brilliant continuance of an amazingly deep story.......2007-02-02
Memories of Ice was an intriguing look into yet another peril facing the people of Erikson's fantastic world. The Pannion Domin presents an immediate and deadly threat to the Malazan Empire as it devours the continent. This story follows the bravery of the last remaining Bridgeburners, their brave sergeant Whiskeyjack, and the hesitant Cpt. Ganoes Paran. A tangent of the story focuses on the fall of the god of war and the ascendancy of its replacement. The novel does not have a boring spot but the ultimate battle climax at the end is pristinely done. This is a must read for fan's of Erikson, but if this is the first Erikson novel you've picked up, you are missing out on some important background presented in Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates. Read as much Erikson as possible!
A Gathering of Gods.......2007-01-15
Memories of Ice (2001) is the third Fantasy novel of the Malazan Book of the Fallen, following Deadhouse Gates. In the previous volume, Fiddler, Apsalar and Crokus reached the Malaz Deadhouse and discovered an unexpected guardian. Kalam confronted the Empress and decided not to try to assassinate her. Later, Shadowthrone reunited Kalam and Minala with the thirteen hundred rescued Malazan children.
The Army of the Apocalypse marched from the Whirlwind to discover ten thousand rotted bodies nailed to the trees of the Aren Way. Korbolo Dom bragged of the betrayal, but Sha'ik brought him to heel. She ordered Leomam to have the bodies on the plain buried, but left the bodies along the Aren Way, and then returned to Raraku.
Iskaral found himself facing a black spider D'iver, who reassembled into a wiry, black-haired woman, Mogara, and they returned to his domicle. Two knee-high creatures took Duiker down from his tree and delivered him to their master. Mappo used his last two potions to save the lives of a pair of dogs and then had to wait for his friend Icarium to recover naturally, whereupon they walked off toward Jhag Odhan.
In this novel, on Genabackis, Dujek Onearm has appointed Whiskeyjack as second in command of his outlawed army. Dujek and Calladan Brood have allied against the Pannion Domin. They are meeting for their initial parley as allies outside the city of Pale.
In the Gadrobi Hills outside Darujhistan, caravans traveling over the river are being delayed due to the destruction of the bridge by the Jaghut Tyrant on his way to the city. The nearby ford is rather deep and muddy, so crossing the river takes time and much effort. Many conveyances become stuck until the other merchants decide to help clear the ford.
Gruntle is captain of his small caravan -- one carriage and two other guards -- and has time on his hands while the preceding vehicles are worked across the ford. He is invited to talk to a pair of merchants in a huge carriage. At first he demurs, but then his employer asks that he find out what the pair want with him. They offer to hire him, but he refuses and carefully eases out of their camp.
Gruntle's friend Buke, however, later accepts their offer. Buke had been left jobless when his former employer ignored his advice and tried to cross the ford. After the river washed away the remains of his wagon and goods, the man returned to Darujhistan without Buke. Gruntle tried to talk Buke out of accepting the position, but Buke was convinced that one of the men was a serial killer and he wanted to keep an eye on him.
Further south, Toc the Younger awakes in the barrows of Morn. He seems to be alone until he finds a corpse lying in the dust. The body is that of an undead T'lan Imass. Toc searches his memory and comes up with the name of Onos T'oolan, but the undead informs him that he is now named Tool.
Tool is waiting for Lady Envy, daughter of Draconus. When she appears shortly thereafter, Lady Envy is accompanied by an ay -- a canine ally of the T'lan Imass -- and a large dog. She also has three Segulah waiting in the tower in which she currently resides. After some discussion, all depart the tower and head north toward the Pannion Domin.
Outside Pale, Corporal Picker and Blend intercept an old trader with a large leather pack. Picker buys a set of interlocking torcs dedicated to Treach, the Tiger of Summer, from the man and then slips a tracker into his pack. Picker slides the torcs onto her arm and the trader continues on to his rendezvous with the Crippled God.
Picker later learns that the torcs can't be removed, even by Quick Ben, the cadre mage. Quick Ben followers the tracker and encounters the Crippled God. He learns that the Chained One has infected Burn -- goddess of the world -- but barely escapes with his life. Still, he does retrieve the tracker.
While fleeing, Quick Ben is pulled down into the ground and drops into a tunnel that is occupied by Burn's servants, huge clay figures. He learns still more from one servant before it dies. He resolves to free Burn from her sleep and leaves the tracker within the tunnel so that he can return later.
Captain Ganoes Paran still commands the Bridgeburners -- all thirty-eight of them -- and refuses to take another command. He is feeling very sick since his encounter with Dragnipur, Anomander Rake's soul eating sword, but tries to hide it from the others. Whiskeyjack and Mallet discuss his illness, but Whiskeyjack decides not to relieve him of command.
In the army of Caladan Brood, Silverfox is the Rhivi child of the Mhybe, but carries the souls of two dead sorceress: Tattersail and Nightchill. She may even carry more than two souls. Mhybe had been a young maiden, but she has aged decades in the six months since the delivery of Silverfox. Silverfox has also aged, for she is now about twelve years old.
In this story, Kallor, the High King and Brood's second in command, fears Silverfox and tries to kill her. Brood himself has defended her and, after the merger of the armies, so has Whiskeyjack. Paran still loves Tattersail and has a mental connection to Silverfox.
Lady Envy and her companions destroy several armies sent against them. Yet Toc the Younger leaves these companions and joins the Tenescowri to learn more about the Pannions. Then the Pannion Seer sends an escort for him.
The allies march toward Capustan, but cannot reach the city before it is taken. Gruntle reaches the city before the Pannion Domin army invests it; he becomes greatly angered at their treatment of his friend Stonny Menackis and leads a mixed group of fighters against the Pannions. The Grey Swords under their Shield Anvil hold the city for three days.
This story is increasingly about the gods themselves. The Crippled God remains in the shadows, but others -- including the Elder God K'rul -- participate in the campaign against the Pannion Domin. During the siege of Capustan, Treach becomes the God of War and appoints his Mortal Sword.
Highly recommended for Erikson fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of offensive strategy, defensive tactics, and godly intrigue.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Very decent third book in this series.......2006-12-24
This book picks up with some of the characters from the first novel. Heboric/felisin, apsalar/crokus, icarium/mappo are not present here.
Tale introduces a new enemy only alluded to before (the Pannion Seer), re-introduces Toc the Younger, as well as the re-incarnated nightchill/tattersail/?, Silverfox, now a living t'lann imass bonecaster. The efforts of the Crippled God to disrupt warrens and his other goals, as well as the appearance of a new master of the deck, feature prominently in this story. Major features include a major city siege, and an even larger engagement later (Coral). A fair amount about the overall background of the t'lann imass, barghast, jaghut, and tiste andii is revealed here. While it is somewhat disconcerting to have each novel feature new characters and characters who were skipped in the previous novel, you get up to speed fairly fast.
This is a very enjoyable series. While at times the bantering dialogue seemed to drag the story down, overall you get the feeling the author is moving his story forward. I certainly have continued reading (now on 5th novel) after finishing this last week.
The best book in the series so far........2006-12-17
I had promised myself that if I felt that Memories of Ice was going to go down the same path as Deadhouse Gates, then I was going to put it down and never look back. I have to admit, even if it had only been as slow to begin as Gardens of the Moon, that might have been it for me with the Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Instead, I am delighted to report that Memories of Ice combines all of the outstanding features of the first two books and is nearly perfect to read. Believe it or not, every one of the 1180 pages flew by. I found myself anxious to read House of Chains as soon as it was over. The complex weave of plot, character and back story worked in harmony. I was fascinated by the world that was described, and I felt like I finally got the Warrens for the first time in the series. Best of all, I did not get lost in all the characters. I instead was involved in them, and able to follow them with interest and attention. In the first book, I was engaged with the characters despite the level of detail. In Memories of Ice, it was because of the level of detail. I was really impressed with the quality of the prose. Like all of his work or not, Erikson is one of the most interesting writers working in the fantasy genre these days.
If you were like me, and unsure whether to continue after Deadhouse Gates, I encourage you strongly to give it a try. Readers new to the series will be hopelessly lost without the first two books, and should begin with Gardens of the Moon. Be aware that the Malazan Book of the Fallen has many very adult themes. It can be extremely violent, and is not for younger readers.
Product Description
"Ice Bat lives in an ice cave inside an icebox. Anything he touches turns to ice . . . yet he warms your heart! With a high-quality plush and embroidered cover, this quirky journal is a must-have for all Uglydoll fans. Approximate size: 6.75"" x 7.25""; 96 pp ; embroidered plush hardcover."
Average customer rating:
- The terrible beauty of the void
- Science, poetry and personal experience in a unique weave
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Water, Ice, And Stone: Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes
Bill Green
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Science | Subjects | Books
Lakes & Ponds | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Regional | Geography | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Geography | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Geology | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0517587599
Release Date: 1995-06-06 |
Book Description
Bill Green goes to the lakes of Antarctica to do scientific field research, but finds in his own memories and in the beauty and brutality of a lonely, dangerous land, something of the awe and wonder that are the inspirations for scientific inquiry.
Customer Reviews:
The terrible beauty of the void.......2003-02-10
I live just a few miles from Oxford, Ohio and Miami University, where Dr. Green does his work when he's not away from civilization, and have sailed or swam many times at Acton Lake, which he uses in an early chapter to introduce the science of limnology, or the study of lakes.
This is a complex and ambitious book, and the result is thoroughly engrossing. It is an introduction to lake science, an adventure tale, and an account of how a scientist plans and executes his work, but these are just at the surface. It is also a personal exploration of the author's own memories and motives. Ultimately, it is a book about what moves mankind to keep learning and exploring, presented using the author as his own example.
Wondering about the powerful emotional draw that Antarctica exerts on him, the author is reminded of his boyhood, when Great Lakes winter storms would transform his town's landscape with a featureless cover of snow, allowing him to explore what became, in his imagination, an unexplored land. He describes the beauty that can be found, if one will allow himself, in the terrifying nothingness of the universe, whether it be seen in the vast coldness of space or the inhuman bleakness of an ice-covered continent. Some of his colleagues found Antactica intolerable, probably for the same reasons. He writes...
"The ice seemed a reminder of the universe at large, of the universe as accident, as matter blown and strewn and expanding, 'heartless' as Melville had described it, all moon-filled and dry, hung with poisoned worlds, incinerating stars, vacuums of frozen light. Loneliness, the warm sun as memory, as myth, the blankness of white landscape, in which we see no trace of ourselves, no artifact of our genius and cunning...". Reading this, I was taken back to my own boyhood to find my love of exploration awakened as I stood studying the cold and vastly distant stars from by back yard, and felt the fearful thrill of being sucked upward into the eternal void...
Science, poetry and personal experience in a unique weave.......1998-08-30
As a classicist and poet, I am shy - if not wary - of "hard science". I stumbled upon this book by accident, browsing the non-fiction shelves in the public library. It is unique! I have ordered it - and I'm not even quite finished with it - I am reluctant to finish this first reading, although it is five-star enjoyment. Water Ice and Stone is a "braided river" (read it and you'll see why the phrase is in quotation marks) of a) Green's personal passion for his field and his subject that took him to the Antarctic lakes again and again; b) scientific explanations of that field that are accessible and fascinating without being either patronizing or unscholarly; c)the personal reminiscences and experiences that led to his choice of profession and to the Anarctic; d) the daily observations, colleagues and acts of living while he was there; and e) the beauty and wonder and astonishment and inspiration that this world we live in has to offer any of us who will take the time to look, to understand, to see. The book is science and it is poetry; it is wonder and it is analysis; it is a marvel. My highest acolade for books in fields that I did NOT take up is: it makes me almost wish I had become a.... Water, Ice and Stone left me an almost-geochemist.
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Black and Yedley Pig: Ice Cream Memories
Ray Merrell
Manufacturer: Leathers Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Memoirs | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 158597434X |
Product Description
Recalling childhood memories is a great pastime, telling about them is even more fun... That is how "Black and Yedley Pig" begins and it reflects the spirit of the book - that memories are a treasure meant to be savored and shared. And readers are sure to enjoy every page of this family history. The book begins in the early 1850s, with a family boarding a sailboat from Germany to come to the USA. The struggles that they endured are hard to imagine. The ship was becalmed and food ran out. Passengers were so desperate they boiled their shoes to get some nutrition. But life in America would be filled with good times and loving families doing their best for each other.
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Dark Tower - Wheel of Time - Sword of Truth - Pern - Riftwar Saga - Discworld - Tales of Alvin Maker - Majipoor - Earthsea - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - Song of Ice and Fire
Robert ( Author & Editor ) - King, Stephen - Jordon, Robert - Goodkind, Terry - Mccaffrey, Anne - Fiest, Raymond E. - Pratchett, Terry, Card, Orson Scott - Le Guin, Ursula K. - Williams, TAD - Martin, George R.r. Silverberg
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WB55DO |
Product Description
Book Contents: [The Dark Tower: The Little Sisters by Stephen King] [Discworld: The Sea and Little Fishes by Terry Pratchett] [The Sword of Truth: Debt of Bones by Terry Goodkind] [Tales of Alvin Maker by Orson Scott Card] [Majipoor: The Seventh Shrine by Robert Silverberg] [Earthsea: Dragonfly by Ursula K. Le Guin] [Memory, Sorrow and Thorn: The Burning Man by Tad Williams] [A Song of Ice and Fire: The Hedge Knight by George R.R. Martin] [Pern: Runner of Pern by Anne McCaffrey] [The Riftwar Saga: The Wood Boy by Raymond E. Feist] [The Wheel of Time: New Spring by Robert Jordan].
Customer Reviews:
Legends Vol 2.......2007-09-28
I'm guessing this is Legends Volume 2. Great book. Fun shorts. I ended up reading most of the series that the shorts came from.
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Ice Fishing Journal
Leisure Time Gift Books
Manufacturer: Voyageur Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Fishing | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ice Fishing | Fishing | Hunting & Fishing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Journals | Accessories | Formats | Books
General | Journals | Book Accessories | Our Favorites | Gift Ideas
General | Journals | Our Favorites | Gift Ideas
ASIN: 188655806X |
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Ice Memory, Selected Poems
Joachim Sartorius
Manufacturer: Carcanet Press Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Criticism & Theory | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Continental European | Single Authors | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Criticism | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1857548329 |
Book Description
Based on encounters, observations, and gleanings while traveling the world, this collection of Joachim Sartorius' eclectic and esoteric verse ranges in topic from the yellow cabs of Lagos and the horseshoes on Hitler's favorite steed to North African guards loading bottles of butane onto a trolley outside a crematorium. Poignant and timely, these poems speak to a global community, revealing how cultural divides can be bridged.
Average customer rating:
- Worth the Money
- Nice Pictorial History of Michelle!
- Great Photos From Michelle's Career!
- A must-have for true fans
- A great companion for her autobiography
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Michelle Kwan: My Book of Memories : A Photo Diary
Michelle Kwan
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Sports & Recreation | Biographies | People & Places | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Nonfiction | Winter Sports | Sports | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Chinese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
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Michelle Kwan
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Michelle Kwan: My Story - Heart Of A Champion
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Winning Attitude, The
ASIN: 0590458906 |
Customer Reviews:
Worth the Money.......2000-12-06
I have to start off by saying I am a bit confused as to the complaints about this book being a rip-off -- it is printed on almost indentical grades of paper and a fraction of the price of other similar photo-centered skating books, so how could this possibly be a rip off in comparison to others in the genre? Although many of the photos are not new, the book is nicely laid out and presented, like a personal scrapbook. I enjoyed it, but with its simple presentation it is most definitely geared towards Michelle's younger fans.
Nice Pictorial History of Michelle!.......2000-08-04
I really enjoyed this book! Michelle's book focuses only on positive things -- her own skating, friends, family, and favorite things. Michelle is truly a class act, and this book is yet another reflection of what makes Michelle a true champion.
Great Photos From Michelle's Career!.......2000-03-19
Great, full-color photos featuring Michelle in all her best-loved programs over the years. A must-own for any Michelle kwan fan!
A must-have for true fans.......2000-01-23
Michelle is a great athelet and role model for kids. This book is great for it's price. It has many good pictures of Michelle and her family. Any true fan of Michelle Kwan must have this book.
A great companion for her autobiography.......2000-01-18
This book was a nicely arranged book with many pictures and captions. They help you to know a little more about Michelle Kwan and her family and friends. It is worth getting and it is short but very enjoyable to the reader. This book is a must have for any Michelle Kwan fan !
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- The Melancholy of Anatomy: Stories
- The Rector of Justin: A Novel
- The Richard Rodgers Reader (Readers on American Musicians)
- The Sea Came in at Midnight
- The Songs of the Kings: A Novel
- The Sweet Smell of Psychosis: A Novella (Self, Will)
- The Tyrant Falls in Love V02: Yaoi (Tyrant)
- The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith
- The Valley of Light: A Novel
- Third Factory
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