Book Description
Jonathan Brand, a graduate student in anthropology, has decided to do his fieldwork in the remote Faroe Islands in the North Atlantic. But, despite his Harvard training, he can barely understand, let alone "study," the culture he encounters. From his struggles with the local cuisine to his affair with the Danish woman the locals want him to marry, Jonathan is both repelled by and drawn into the Faroese way of life. Wry and insightful,
Far Afield reveals reveals Susanna Kaysen's gifts of imagination, satire, and compassion.
Customer Reviews:
My island!.......2005-01-14
Even though there are a couple of minor factual errors in the book I really enjoyed reading about my country and my neighbour village with the eyes of Jonathan. To me this is an important piece of history. Of course there are books in Faroese language describing this period (late 60's early 70's) - but this visitors' viewpoint really pinpoints the very soul of this tiny population. And by the way - Jonathan is not fictional. There really was an american by that name living in Skopun at that time. I know - he is not forgotten by his fellow villagers.
Northern Exposure.......2004-09-16
Jonathan sets forth from academia to apply his anthropological skills to the folks ways of the Faroe Islands. What ensues can best be described by the phrase "a duck out of water". Jonathan, who from the heights of his greater learning expects to note and judge "folk" behavior, survives his time in the field only because the good folks of the Islands take pity on him and take care of him - a fact to which he remains oblivious to the day he leaves. The writer approaches her subject with great wit and underlying compassion. When my book group read this book, it received a widely varied reaction. A year later, they still talk of this book and those who initially did not care for it find themselves more and more under it's spell. What is talked about a year later? The food (puffins and other delicacies). Fresh meat and sheep in the kitchen. The horrors of "stirring". A growing taste for Aqua Vit. The Danish girl. Definitely a book to read. You will never ever forget the Faroe Islands
Wonderful coming of age novel.......2004-09-09
OK, so Jonathan is 25 and should already have come of age, but as the only child of 2 professors, he has led the privileged, sheltered Eastern private-school life. So to watch him progress from emotionally detached, hyper-self-critical, pizza-eating Bostonite to a better self (you read the novel - let's just say there is whale blubber instead of pizza) over the course of his year on the Faroe Islands is a joy. A wonderful setting, humor, a great cast of characters, superb writing and an unforgetable young man in a book that I wish had a sequel.
An introduction to life in the Faeroe Islands.......2000-05-11
This is the sort of book where the exotic locale is the novel's sole strength. Few people have heard of the Faeroe Islands (a Danish possession north of Scotland), but those with an interest might enjoy this fictitious tale of an American anthropologist. The Faeroes are one of Europe's remotest corners, where people still pursue such customs as killing whales, eating sheep eyeballs, and (most shocking) slowly killing the household cat as an appeasement to the gods. The characterizations and the plot are too thin to sustain this novel; if it were set in (for instance) Maine, no one would ever give it a second look. The love-story-subplot is especially disappointing, consisting of the lead character obsessing over an airline clerk who is not equally interested in him, but who appears to be the only available woman in the country -- or at least that's the impression the reader is left with. Nevertheless, for those fascinated by remote Scandinavian locales, this in-depth look at Faroese life might be worth a read.
So Far Afield that it's just plain boring........2000-04-30
I loved Girl Interrupted, but Far Afield lacks the same emotional insight. I found the main character, Jonathan, to be empty, lacking in self-awareness, and just plain boring.
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- Re-examining and re-imagining the history of a 170-year-old
- Perpetuation of the Immortal
- The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same
- A field or a swamp?
- Tough Sledding, but Rewarding
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Too Far Afield
Gunter Grass
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
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Crabwalk
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My Century
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Headbirths: Or the Germans Are Dying Out
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Call of the Toad
ASIN: 0156014165 |
Book Description
From the Nobel Prize-winning author of My Century and The Tin Drum, a novel of broad historical proportions set in Berlin during the years of German reunification.
Two old men roam through Berlin observing life in the former German Democratic Republic after the fall of the Wall in 1989. Theo Wuttke, a former East German functionary, is a keen observer and a gifted speaker. Ludwig Hoftaller is a mid-level spy whose loyalties shift with each new regime. Together, both men see what the future is bringing as they try to save what they can from the past and understand the meaning of being German.
A complex and challenging exploration of what Germany's reunification will mean-for Germans, for Europe, and for the world-Too Far Afield is a masterwork from one of Europe's greatest writers. Written with the wit, fantasy, literary erudition, and political acerbity for which Grass is celebrated, it is a deeply human story laced with pain and humor in equal measure.
Customer Reviews:
Re-examining and re-imagining the history of a 170-year-old .......2007-09-01
One of my favorite moments in Grass's difficult, often ponderous novel takes place early in the book, in a McDonald's restaurant around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Eager to avoid a seventieth-birthday celebration thrown by his young followers, Theo Wuttke and his sometimes cohort, sometimes archenemy (and former Stazi agent) Hoftaller decide to escape to Berlin's "approximately Scottish" fast-food joint instead. Invigorated by a cheeseburger and Chicken McNuggets and sensing an audience in the "young folk" hanging out in the dining area, Wuttke adopts the persona of his literary doppelganger Theodor Fontane and launches into a spiel about the feud between the historical "McDonalds and their mortal enemies, the Campbells" and ends up declaiming all 33 stanzas of Fontane's poem "Archibald Douglas," about "the feud between the Douglas brothers and King James."
"The employees and the regulars were struck dumb with amazement. Nothing like this had ever happened at McDonald's before." Even "a beer-bloated skinhead, stuffed into much rivet-studded leather," commends the performance as "heavy."
Episodes like this one spice up a novel in which Grass constantly (and, at first, jarringly) shifts back and forth between Wuttke's life from 1919 to 1989 and Fontane's career in the second half of the nineteenth century as Wuttke re-imagines it--sometimes blurring the two men until it's not entirely clear who is being described. (Hoftaller, too, is transformed into a menacing Bismarck-era police officer named Tallhover.) Similarly, Grass mirrors post-Soviet German unification with the national unification of 1871 to reiterate his long held belief in the circularity of history. And, finally, the plots, themes, prose, and style of Fontane's many works pervade the book; Wuttke not only resembles his literary idol, who was born exactly 100 years earlier, but also he knows so much about Fontane's life that he has come to imagine that he lived it himself. Fontane is "the Immortal One" whose ghost survives in Wuttke.
All this will be confusing to American readers, most of whom (like myself), if they've heard of Theodor Fontane at all, know only of "Effi Briest"--the only one of his works currently in print in the U.S. Before attempting this book, then, one should read a good, brief summary of Fontane's life and work--novels, poems, and historical works. For example, to understand fully the McDonald's episode described above, I had first to learn that Fontane spend many years in England, under the thrall of Sir Walter Scott's romances, and that he had written the poem Wuttke--and Grass--quotes at length. (Like many of Fontane's works, it apparently has never been translated into English.) Reading this book made me wonder how non-English readers manage to appreciate novels about our own authors, like "The Master" or "March."
Likewise, it helps to know that many German readers were turned off by Grass's stance on German unification (he opposed it, arguing that Eastern Germany would be soured and corrupted by Western greed and materialism). Since many East Germans shared these apprehensions, Grass's incorporation of these beliefs into Wuttke's cynical worldview seems germane to the fiction itself--and Grass's portrait is a bit more ambiguous and nuanced than one might expect. Amidst the 600 pages of Grass's (understandably) parochial fixation with Germany's literary heritage, there are any number of comical scenes, poignant events, and two memorable characters (both Wuttke and Germany itself)--all of which make the exertion largely worthwhile.
Perpetuation of the Immortal.......2004-06-04
Not having read anything by the nineteenth-century German novelist Theodor Fontane has put me at a disadvantage in my reading of Gunter Grass's "Too Far Afield." Fontane's life and work, you see, are constant objects of reference in Grass's novel, to the extent that the protagonist, Theo "Fonty" Wuttke, is virtually a reincarnation of Fontane, who died in 1898 but whose memory is exalted by his protege. Fonty calls his predecessor the Immortal and, reliving his life in many respects, is either actively determined or passively fated to immortalize him.
"Too Far Afield" begins with a chronology of modern German history, which Grass implicatively traces back to 1685 when French Huguenots escaping religious persecution in their native country sought refuge in Prussia; Fontane, as his French-looking name indicates, was descended from Huguenots. Born in 1919, exactly a century after Fontane, Fonty leads a life that surrealistically parallels that of the Immortal. Like Fontane, Fonty is a man of letters with a keen interest in the march of war, a renowned poet and one of East Berlin's leading cultural figures since the second World War ended in a geopolitically divided Germany.
Grass's narrative takes place mostly in East Berlin in the early 1990s after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In much the same way that Fontane had chronicled the unification of Germany under Bismarck in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Fonty reflects on the reunification of Germany following the collapse of the Soviet umbrella under which East Germany had been nurtured and the clash of cultures that results when the stagnant communism of the East is awkwardly reconciled with the dynamic capitalism of the West.
Fonty, in addition to his literary endeavors, has worked as a courier in the East German Ministries Building, where he runs files up and down the floors in a rickety elevator affectionately called the "paternoster" (Our Father) -- perhaps after a prayer uttered by the hapless passenger for his safety. The dissolution of his government after the Wall has fallen temporarily displaces Fonty, but fortunately the Ministries Building is taken over by a trust company called Handover, where he accepts a job as a consultant in their affairs to help reconstruct East Germany.
The political situation provides a backdrop for Fonty's personal dramas. His daughter Martha, a teacher, having lost her faith in socialism, becomes a Catholic and marries a wealthy West German builder she had met at a resort by the Black Sea several years ago; in this episode we learn that West Germans, whose currency was much more solid than that of the East Germans, received preferential treatment. Fonty's closest friends are Hoftaller, alias Tallhover, a spy for the former East German government, and the cynical Professor Freundlich, pointedly referred to as a "leftover" Jew, an anti-Zionist who is sour over his daughters' decision to move to Israel but eventually accedes to the view that Europe can never again be a haven for the Jews. We also learn that Fonty has a granddaughter named Madeleine, the offspring of a daughter he had illegitimately with a French woman while serving ineffectually as a soldier in World War II, who comes to him in his old age.
"Too Far Afield" bears little resemblance to Grass's 1959 masterpiece "The Tin Drum" (one of the best novels of the last century); of course, "The Tin Drum" did not anticipate a reunified Germany but instead assumed a permanently splintered one symbolized by its deformed protagonist Oskar Matzerath, whose piquant personality Fonty lacks. "Too Far Afield," facing the reality of what many Germans including Grass might have thought impossible, is less whimsical, as though it were wandering around in a daze contemplating the unexpected destruction of the physical barrier that had emerged emblematic of the great German divide of the twentieth century.
As for myself, I resolve to delve into "Effi Briest" as soon as possible. Dare I ignore the Immortal any longer?
The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same.......2004-01-08
Having been recently impressed by Mr. Grass's new book, Crabwalk, I also found myself happy to have finally read The Tin Drum since then. Encouraged by those experiences, I decided it was time to read Too Far Afield, which was roundly criticized when it came out. I wondered how the book had stood the test of time in its views about German reunification. I came away feeling that I had read a masterpiece.
Mr. Grass's point is simply that human nature and our histories play a powerful role in shaping our present and future lives. In Too Far Afield, he magnificently captures the enormous influences that culture, nation, religion and family practices play in reinforcing our human nature and histories. Of the three books, I felt like Too Far Afield was the only one that captured the human condition in its broadest sense, rather than just the German human condition.
Although I majored in European history in college, I don't think I ever quite got the point about how 19th century influences came together to have such a large impact on people who lived in East Germany prior to the reunification. Too Far Afield put the mosaic of those influences together for me for the first time.
The story is an unbelievably intricate one. After finishing the book, I couldn't see how the points could have been made as powerfully without all of the material. You will feel like the book dawdles in many places. Please realize that Mr. Grass is trying to set you up to draw the wrong conclusions as you react to the surface reality, so that his story can serve as a counterpunch to your gut reactions. In that subtle way, he strengthens his message that life is vastly different than what you believed when you started the book.
The book has many interesting characters, but all exist to tell the story of Theo Wuttke. Wuttke is every person in the story. He has been drawn to the rich cultural tradition of Germany's great writer, Fontane (referred to as "The Immortal"), and is inspired to want to experience the freedom and variety of the West. Historical accidents impinge on those yearnings. The East German bureaucracy keeps him in line, acting very much as its predecessor, the Nazi bureaucracy, and its predecessor, the Prussian bureaucracy did. The governmental constraints work because Wuttke has sinned, and does not want those sins exposed . . . or his children harmed. So he turns out to be a captive of his past and his nonexistent former nation, even as the dawn of freedom arrives with the reunification. Wuttke ultimately finds redemption as the indirect result of his attempts to do good in the past.
The story is told through extensive use of internal monologues and indirect references to the past. Be patient. Those indirect references are eventually brought together in an astonishingly cogent way.
Although the tone of much of the book is quite grey and seemingly hopeless, Mr. Grass does a marvelous job of employing satire and irony to comment upon seemingly unpromising situations. I found myself laughing aloud in many places in the book. I'm sure that anyone who knows Germany better than I do will find the book even funnier. No one can miss or fail to appreciate the humor involved in the marriage of Wuttke's daughter to a prosperous West German business man . . . an obvious metaphor for the reunification itself. Although the book is ostensibly about the reunification, please be sure to see the reunification as a metaphor for our need to reconnect with our true selves and the rest of humanity.
Please do be aware that this book is a challenging read. Be sure to read and refer to the brief chronology at the beginning of the book. It's a wonderful introduction into the historical elements that Mr. Grass chooses to weave together. I found it helpful to go through the book in 40-50 page chunks. Whenever I began to find my mind wandering away from the story, I would stop for the day. Also, Wuttke has two sides. One is a file courier operating in a large bureaucracy where he snatches moments of freedom on the ancient elevator (the "Paternoster"). The other is as Fonty, the erudite cultural aficionado of Fontane. He is referred to in both ways in the story . . . but it's the same man acting in different ways with others.
As I finished the book, I began to question how my own culture and personal history influence me in choosing some paths (and ignoring others). I came away with a stronger sense of who I am, versus who others hope that I am. That's a great gift. Thank you, Mr. Grass!
A field or a swamp?.......2003-06-06
It is often said in both literature and music that large scale works need a small number of simple themes.
In despite of Grass' immense abilities, this book showed me that even one of our greatest living writers can get lost in a swamp of his own making.
Hot on the heels of his highly engaging "My Century", in which he gave an overview of 20th century German history in 100 short stories, Grass decided to write a novel focusing on the German reunification and to place it in the context of about 150 years of national history. To provide the link between present and past the protagonist Theo Wuttke, a soon to be 70 year old filing clerk, has an alter ego Fonty, who happens to be the reincarnation of late 19th century writer Theodore Fontane. So far, so good. Based on the first 50 pages of this book I had expected that Grass had chosen Wuttke/Fonty as a symbol of the German nation as he did with Oskar in the Tin Drum. Alas, while the book ends with Fonty's liberation, the next 700 pages (I read the original German version) contain one great scene, a number of good nuggets, but too little of a book one has come to expect of Grass.
As a counterbalance to Wuttke's often fond reminiscences of the former Eastern Germany he is still in daily contact with his former designated Stasi spy Hoftaller, who knows every detail of Fonty's political and maritally infidel past and seems to require Wuttke to retain his own identity. Add to the mix the disgruntled Mrs. Wuttke, the soon the be married Ms. Wuttke, her capitalist husband, the French illegitimate grandchild and many an obscure reference to the works of Fontane and things get worse. Topple it of with continuous time traveling of Fonty between Wuttke and Fontane and the reader ends up in quicksand. Moreover, the text is at least 30% too long and often gets lost in tens of pages of superfluous diversions.
In Germany this book caused quite a stir due to its view of the "West taking over the East". I had the opportunity to walk the streets of East Berlin three months before the wall came down. While Grass makes some valid points about Western Patronization, anyone having first person experience with the former Eastern Germany will just respond with a highly appropriate "so what".
Finally a note on the translation. While Grass is notorious for his long and complicated sentences he has outdone himself here. On top of that there are endless pages of stream of conscious conversations. The translator has done an admirable job in untangling, predigesting and finally translating. As such, the translation is definitely more easily readable than the original. Yet, a lot of the rhythm and flavor which defines Grass gets lost.
In all a virtuoso, yet unfocused effort. While the wedding banquet scene is on par with Gunter's best and intimate knowledge of Fontane's works may lead to greater appreciation of this text, I did not feel appropriately rewarded for the effort that reading it took.
Tough Sledding, but Rewarding.......2003-02-15
The way to get the most out of this novel is to be both well-versed in German literature (especially the work of Fontana), as well as to be knowledgeable about the history of Germany, and of Berlin in particluar. For me, to read this book was to embark on a rigourous journey of two extremes:
On the one hand, I did not understand and thus could not appreciate the no doubt rich literary commentaries and allusions that surrounded Fontana; I am simply not conversant with his writing. All I could do in those parts of the novel was read what was written, and wish that I had read Effi Briest, etc. first.
On the other hand, I was at times mesmerized by the depth and breadth of Grass's probing and questioning of historical issues pertaining to Germany and Berlin. By my having spent the equivalent of almost a year in Germany, including time in Berlin in the 70's, 80's and 90's, I was able to grasp Grass's commentary on the transformation of Germany and Berlin into one country and city, respectively, from their previously divided conditions. Grass makes all sorts of subtle and clever references to certain streets, neighbourhoods and buildings ("the hall of tears") in Berlin, as well as to various historical incidents and figures (e.g. the "Goatee": Walter Ulbricht), referring to them by their locally-known idioms or nicknames; this rich aspect of the novel, which, gratifyingly, made me feel very close to the author and to the story, will likely be lost on readers without a firm grounding in 20th century German history. The historical commentary is usually highly concentrated, at times hypnotic in its relentlessness and directness; I often found myself mentally exhausted from having to concentrate as much as I needed to, to follow the threads of discussion and inquiry. Invariably, though, I wanted to do nothing more than keep reading, so compelling is Grass's writing style.
I did not want the book to end; I did not want to say goodbye to Wuttke|Fonty. I was sad that the exhilarating experience of reading this novel was over. I felt a certain wistfulness toward Germany, its people and its turbulent history. One can tell that Grass both loves his country, and is most wary of its history and circumstances.
One needs to invest a lot of emotional and intellectual energy to get through this novel, but so long as the reader is conversant with German literature, German history, or, ideally, both, it is well worth the effort.
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Far afield in the Caribbean;: Migratory flights of a naturalist's wife
Mary Wickham Bond
Manufacturer: Livingston Pub. Co
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0870980351 |
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Not Far Afield: U.S. Interests and the Global Environment (World Resources Institute Report,)
Norman Myers
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Too Far Afield
Gunter Grass
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJBUO2 |
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Critics call Texas College's huge athletic program too far afield.(Ranger College): An article from: Community College Week
Manufacturer: Cox, Matthews & Associates
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ASIN: B0008G787Y
Release Date: 2005-07-30 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Community College Week, published by Cox, Matthews & Associates on February 3, 2003. The length of the article is 609 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Critics call Texas College's huge athletic program too far afield.(Ranger College)
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Community College Week (Newspaper)
Date: February 3, 2003
Publisher: Cox, Matthews & Associates
Volume: 15
Issue: 13
Page: 17(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- Super Reader
- Flawed heroes, great story - perfect combination.
- Good he never disapoints
- Good But the Storyline Has Been Overused by Gemmell...
- The Drenai Saga Continues
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Winter Warriors (Drenai Tales, Book 8)
David Gemmell
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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ASIN: 0345432304
Release Date: 2000-06-06 |
Amazon.com
David Gemmell has a talent for fantasy tales of heroism and villainy that feature characters who, while sympathetically flawed, are almost superhumanly good at what they do. Often these people are warriors: finely drawn, emotionally complex, and struggling with their individual human challenges against the backdrop of epic events.
The heroic figures here are three Drenai soldiers, Nogusta, Bison, and Kebra, whose services have been rejected by their king because they are no longer young. However, while these old friends might be a tad past their best, they are still very good indeed, and when they are called upon to protect the infant heir to the throne, the little prince could not be in better hands. In the midst of flight and eventual, desperate battle against the forces of the demon lord Anharat, they fight not only a human army and a band of demon riders bent on the heir's death but their own doubts about their ability and worth. Gemmell is particularly deft at describing fine gradations of the friendship between the three men, including the subtleties of liking, of loving, and of the different strengths that come with age. Winter Warriors is both a fast-paced fantasy adventure and a powerful story of living and dying well. --Luc Duplessis
Book Description
Winged demons gather, silent and unseen, above the city of Usa, their talons long and sharp. Their purpose is clear, as is the prophesy: Upon the deaths of the three kings, the demon riders of the Krayakin will become flesh, free to slake their thirst with human blood - and the stench of evil will cover the land.
Two of the kings are already dead. For the prophesy to be fulfilled, spreading carnage across the world, the Demon Lord must sacrifice the third king: Queen Axiana's unborn child.
When Emperor Skanda disbands his army, the pregnant queen takes flight, pursued by the Lords of the Undead. All hope lies with three ancient heroes, though discarded by the emperor, they are still Drenai soldiers: Bison the giant, Kebra the bowman, and the great swordsman Nogusta - the Demon Lord's greatest foe. But will these warriors - once the best in the land - be enough to stem the tide of gruesome horror that threatens to envelop the world?
Customer Reviews:
Super Reader.......2007-08-26
A book that does not contain any of Gemmell's major heroes, but instead focuses on three aging men, warriors all. Nogusta the Swordsman, Kebra the Bowman, and bison. This hearkens back quite a lot of Quest for Lost Heroes, but the underlying theme is a bit different.
The warriors set out to rescue the unborn child of a woman, and end up confronting demons and a man they have taken over, in a heroic last stand.
Flawed heroes, great story - perfect combination........2007-01-26
Winter Warriors by David Gemmell is a continuation of the Drenai saga. In fact this is book number eight in the series. Like most Gemmell books you do not need to read all the books before reading this book. There are some references that have read the prior books will make more sense, but it is by no means mandatory to read all the others first. I think that is one of the beauties of Gemmell's writing. He ties things in, but not overly much.
Fans of previous Gemmell books will see a little bit of a difference between this book and the other Drenai books. He writes about more magic use and more monsters and creatures in this book. Yes, there is the human element in this book, but there is also the added element of spirit travel, demons, summoned creatures etc. It is something that Gemmell rarely utilizes much in his writing, but he pulls it off quite well here.
The overall story line of this book is at times classic Gemmell - fighting for what someone believes is the right thing no matter what others think, but also something different from his normal fare - the demon riders want to bring their brethren back to the world in the flesh. As with the majority of Gemmell's books the plot is rather straight forward with not many subplots. Yet, for this book in particular it works very well.. with the pace of the book and the limited number of pages he is allowed, there is simply not much room for subplots to be really developed so basically he just doesn't include them in this novel. I don't believe the novel suffers from lack of subplots, in fact I think it is made stronger because the reader is not forced to read about irrelevant things that merely fill up space.
Again, as with most Gemmell books the real strength of the book lies with the fantastic characters that he creates. These are characters that all have flaws; they are by no means ultra-powerful nor perfect in any sense of the imagination. They are who they are. The main characters in this book are not your traditional characters, young, spry and energetic. In fact they are quite the opposite, they are old men who are in the twilight of their lives. Having the heroes in the end of their careers adds an element that very few fantasy books have ever explored. Gemmell pulls this piece of information off wonderfully and it adds a very nice addition to the story. Of all the characters in the book Kebra was my favorite with Bison being a close second. They were all interesting in their own way and never did I not want to read about one of them.
Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. It's refreshing to read fantasy books that don't try to be something they are not. Gemmell writes engaging stories that are easy to relate to. This book was no different. I would strongly recommend the Drenai books to any fantasy fan, be it the fantasy fan who has read hundreds of books or the person that is just starting to read fantasy books, everyone will find something they enjoy within Gemmell's pages.
Good he never disapoints .......2006-05-05
While George RR Martin is my favorite fantasy author David G. is a close second.
I don't care that all the stories are the same with flawed yet noble characters fighting the good fight against impossible odds the books are very well written.
This book is interesting because while events from previous books are vaguely mentioned no one is standing around going "my father was a solider under Druss the Legend" every five pages.
Some people I know can't stand "Legend" the first book and if that's you here might be a good place to start.
Good But the Storyline Has Been Overused by Gemmell..........2006-03-13
David Gemmell, I think, has played out this scenario a few too many times. I loved it in Legend and The King Beyond the Gate and enjoyed it in Quest for Lost Heroes, but I think this one felt too similar to the others when it came to the character development. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed reading about the new characters and their history, but it seems like they have been reproduced too many times now. The story was good and the writing was the same type of Gemmell writing that I have come to love, but it lacked something new that all of his others included.
Nogusta is an aging Blademaster who just wants to go back to his Drenai home and start up his family again. Bison is prone to drinking and making a mess of things, but his heart is always in the right place. Kebra's eyesight is failing, but he is still one of the best in all the land. They are finally released from their military duties, but their path leads them away from home when they have to protect a newborn babe and his mother.
Even with the same classic Gemmell characters, this book still has enough magic and action to make it fun, but it is not one of Gemmell's best. I look forward to the next in the series, White Wolf. Enjoy this one!
The Drenai Saga Continues.......2005-11-08
Winter Warriors is listed as a part of the Drenai Saga, and although it does take place in those lands, specifically Ventria, to me it feels very much as if could be a standalone novel that is only peripherally connected to the earlier books. The plot of Winter Warriors is set well after any of the previous books, with only a passing mention of Druss the Legend to tie it to earlier books in the series. So, even if you haven't read the other books in the Drenai Saga, don't let that stop you from diving into this excellent novel.
As is usual for David Gemmell's novels, there are two characteristics that make this book stand out: nonstop action and excellent, well-crafted characters. Gemmell is one of the best when it comes to writing tightly-plotted, action-driven fantasy and this tale qualifies as one of his best. He keeps the story moving at a quick pace, sending his heroes from one seemingly impossible situation right into the next.
At its core, this book is the tale of three aging heroes, whose time has seemingly passed. However, as fate would have it, they find themselves in the position of saving a kingdom, and possibly the world, from a demonic threat. It's these three heroes, Nogusta: the master swordsman with a tragic past, Kebra: the archer with unsurpassed skill, and Bison: the giant-sized fighter with a heart of gold, that gives this tale its soul. While these characters may seem similar to others in the series, Gemmell is always able to make them real and unique in their own way. He has the rare ability to make you as a reader really care about what happens to each and every one of them. Don't become too attached, however, as Gemmell is also known for being willing to kill off any character at any time.
One thing that distinguishes this book from others in the series is the fact that the main antagonist is of supernatural origin, the Windborn, or demons from another realm. In the prior Drenai Saga tales, magic has played a secondary role. Here it takes a much more prominent role. Gemmell handles this very well, although it gives the book a slightly different flavor, especially when compared to a book like Legend.
Overall, this is another top notch read from one of the masters of fantasy adventure. If you've read the other books in the Drenai Saga, don't pass this one up. If you're looking for a place to sample Gemmell's writing, this is a good place to jump in. If you're a fan of fantasy, David Gemmell is a can't miss.
Average customer rating:
- Took me to the next level
- Workable, but nothing new.
|
Weekend Warrior's Guide to Expert Skiing (Weekend Warrior's Guides)
Liedtke Judy
Manufacturer: DaoEn, Corrporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Winter Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
Downhill | Skiing | Winter Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Skiing | Winter Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 097891855X |
Book Description
Using a unique method we developed, the simple Imagery Teaching System (SITS), each element of expert skiing is divided into simple, illustrated steps and procedures. This comprehensive, user-friendly guide delivers a proven system that transforms intermediate skiers into experts on the snow. We go beyond ski instruction, and offer strategies on motivation and goals, diet, off snow training, and making the right equipment choices.
Customer Reviews:
Took me to the next level.......2007-05-17
This book is easy to read and the techniques are very simple. In one season while practicing each technique over and over until they were a reflex action I was able to take my skiing to the next level. I purchased a second book as a gift to a friend who is struggling to improve. I recommend to anyone who would like to improve there skiing ability. Two thumbs way up!!!
Workable, but nothing new........2007-03-11
As an intermediate skier looking to improve, this book was a disappointment since it comes off as merely a Poor Man's version of Harald Harb's "Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier" series. In fact, Phipps usage of terms like "SITS" and "Shift to Flat Foot" for his descriptions that comes awfully close to Harb's "PMTS" method and "Free Foot to Little Toe Edge" move.
Weekend Warriors starts off overpromising its instruction. In the first few sections it repeats the the agenda ahead to the point it's almost comical. It's organized semi-decently but not written extremely well, with several errors throughout.
I tried some of the techniques on-snow and, while workable, don't offer anything new if you've read some of the other, better ski books out there. Throughout most of the book, the instruction is well-intended, but I got the impression Phipps didn't really test his method out thoroughly on novice skiers and a lot of it was hot air.
What the author DOES accomplish though that I wish we saw in other ski instruction books is a simplified way of demonstrating technique. Phipps uses analogies like "hugging a beach ball" or "holding a teacup" that do help as opposed to some of the overly academic descriptions in other books.
Will this book make you a better skier? Possibly if you get around the poor writing. But Phipps becomes guilty of just what he accuses others of (and promises to avoid early on in the book)-- describing too many complicated moves that you won't remember on snow.
The author succeeded in making us believe there was a quick method to hit the slopes ASAP and look good skiing... what was delivered takes just as much practice and work as the other methods. Not something you'll accomplish in one weekend.
Good skiing takes practice. This book may help some beginners, but better to look into Harald Harb's "Anyone Can Be an Expert Skier I" book... which "Weekend Warriors" surprisingly echoes like an imitation perfume.
Book Description
Cross-country expertise . . . easily
Glide into an invigorating sport with this guide from true experts who show you how to have fun from your first day out and coach you all the way through the advanced skills you'd like to learn. No ordinary manual, The Essential Cross-Country Skier brings together the combined expertise of one of the country's top cross-country skiing instructors; a two-time Olympic biathlete and former Dartmouth skiing coach; and one of the sport's foremost professional writers.
This all-star team has created one of the most engaging, clear, and potent learning tools ever published for beginning and intermediate skiers. This unique, carefully illustrated guide gives you the information you need to get started: choosing the right skis, boots, and poles; where to find the best trails; what to wear for comfort and warmth; plus tips on safety.
And, if you're already familiar with nordic skiing, the book shows you how to improve your style and your conditioning; master the subtleties of waxing and ski maintenance; and enjoy new skills including ski skating, telemarking, ski racing, and backcountry touring.
Customer Reviews:
Good Beginning.......2006-02-17
I am finding this book an excellent one for someone who has been away from the sport for years, having been a novice in the past. Have just recently decided to renew this interest and the book is providing good guidelines for me.
Good for Beginners.......2000-08-24
"Essential Cross-Country Skier" is a good handbook for beginner skiers. It is an easy read and probably what you want to get you started.
Intermediate level to elite skiers could take issue with many of the technical explainations, for then I would suggest "Ski "Skating with Champions" or "Tao of Skiing" but the then, the book "Essential Cross-Country Skier" was written by someone who obviously loves the sport and will be enjoyed by those who want to take it up.
The Essential Cross-Country Skier: A Step-By-Step Guide.......2000-03-30
I'm a beginning cross-country skier and former Valley Girl with no downhill experience and found this book to be helpful. The book covers choosing equipment, getting started and gives good tips on technique. I haven't purchased any other books on cross-country skiing but this one seems to be a valuable resource.
Customer Reviews:
Winter Warriors.......2007-01-05
I found that all of the stories in this book pretty boring. I usually like the anthology books, but this one was pretty hard to get through without yawning. Not much more i can say.
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- Fascination: Stories
- Final Payment: A Posadas County Mystery (Posadas County Mysteries)
- Golden Apples of the Sun, The
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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