Letters to the Precious Group

Customer Reviews:

Peeking Into an Older Sister's Journal.......2003-08-21

Maybe it's the name we share; maybe it's that we both hail from the Valley in Virginia....I really like this book. I doubt Lucy Breckenridge could have imagined her forthright, honest and innocent comments would survive, much less impact a reader with such treasure of insight and sharing of like feelings--regardless of the time passed. Sometimes a teenager; often a woman wise far beyond her few years. At once, new and intriguing glance backward, while a more than passing look inside ourselves. I'm so grateful she hid it in her skirts when the Federal troops----oh, you'll need to read it all yourself!

Personal story from Civil War.......2000-11-16

For those of you like me who are not general history buffs but enjoy personal stories from bygone eras, this is a wonderful book. Reading along with Lucy, sharing her joys and pain during the days of the Civil War, she becomes a friend, and we her confidante. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Civil War, particularly women's views. In reading her story, we can relive a piece of America's past through the eyes of a young woman.

Diary of Lucy Breckinridge.......2000-05-09

The diary is an excellent way to look into the eyes of a young woman during the Civil War years. She sounds like a typical teenager today, writing about boys, socializing, familys issues, lonliness, happiness, body image, sexuality, and just life in general; however, it also contains information related to the time, such as her views on slavery and the war. Unfortunately, what is missing from this book is an historical examination into the people, places, and events she wrote about.

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It's a cultural problem, I think.
The real Africa exposed

Sunjata (Penguin Classics)
Bamba Suso , Banna Kanute , Lucy Duran , and Graham Furniss
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0140447369

Book Description

Sunjata started life as a gluttonous and slow-witted child but went on to become a celebrated warrior who defeated the Susu overlords and founded the great Mali empire in the early thirteenth century. Equally crucial in the conquest was the role of his sister Nene Faamaga, who lured his archenemy, Sumanguru, into revealing the secret magical powers that made him invulnerable.

These stories remain central to the culture of the Mande-speaking peoples. This book brings together translations of live performances by two leading Gambian jalis (or bards). Where Banna Kanute's exciting version is all about violent action, supernatural forces, and the struggle for mastery, Bamba Suso uses far more dialogue to reveal his insight into human relationships. A map, notes, and lists of the characters (many of whom have several names) help nonspecialists gain access to one of the major epic oral traditions of Africa.

Customer Reviews:

It's a cultural problem, I think........2002-11-28

Naturally, I was interested in reading African epic--and in a Penguin Classic, no less (the answer to the inevitable question asked by Penguin obsessives is: green. Just like the Asian ones. BO-ring). And this slim tome was certainly interesting from an anthropological point of view; however, it didn't work quite as well for me as entertainment.

I think the major problem here is that the storytellers who narrated these versions of the story are--naturally--presupposing a certain level of basic familiarity with the story, and so they have no compunctions about downplaying those aspects of it that are less interesting to them personally while highlighting those that they like. This makes for a disorienting experience to someone--like me--who knew nothing about the original legend. The inclusion of two different versions is no doubt, in part, an effort to remedy the problem, but it doesn't really work--the two stories are very different in tone, yes, but that doesn't mean you can just sort of combine them, as it were, to get the whole story.

The biggest blame here, however, should go to the woefully inadequate scholarly apparatus. The introduction is short and makes only a token attempt at providing the necessary background information, and annotations--even of things that are totally incomprehensible to the foreign observer--are conspicuously absent.

This book might be of interest to established students of Sunjata looking for different versions to study, but for beginners, it ain't much. An underwhelming job from Penguin, I'm afraid.

The real Africa exposed.......2001-10-18

I have read many books that show africa in a negative light and say that Africa people have never accoplished anything. The books are still coming out from the Bell Curve to J.Phillipe Rushton. I feel all these people have a biased eurocentric view of the world and are writting these just because of politicks. I read Sunjata and it really changed my perpective of Africa history. Sunjata is worth a read for anybody uif they want to know the truth about Africa and not the biased perceptions we have of the so called dark continent.

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I thought this book was very touching
The Title of This Book Says It All
AMAZING!!
Inspirational, indeed
Painful and powerful

Autobiography of a Face
Lucy Grealy
Manufacturer: Perennial (HarperCollins)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 006097673X

Amazon.com

At age nine, Lucy Grealy was diagnosed with a potentially terminal cancer. When she returned to school with a third of her jaw removed, she faced the cruel taunts of classmates. In this strikingly candid memoir, Grealy tells her story of great suffering and remarkable strength without sentimentality and with considerable wit. Vividly portraying the pain of peer rejection and the guilty pleasure of wanting to be special, Grealy captures with unique insight what it is like as a child and young adult to be torn between two warring impulses: to feel that more than anything else we want to be loved for who we are, while wishing desperately and secretly to be perfect

Book Description

The bestselling memoir by a woman who survived terminal illness only to confront the tragedy of being deemed unacceptable in a world that worships physical beauty.

Customer Reviews:

I thought this book was very touching.......2007-08-29

I had started this book and not gotten very far with it when I put it down to read something else. I am glad that I kept a hold of it because the next time I picked up I couldn't stop reading it. Very powerful memoir.

The Title of This Book Says It All.......2007-08-09

Our book group is reading Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett and decided to read Autobiography of a face as well, and I am glad we did. Lucy Grealy writes her painful story from age 9 and we are with her every step of the way through her many painful ordeals.

Lucy is a seemingly normal 9 year old child growing up in a disjointed and admittedly dysfunctional family. She is diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a cancer with an alrmingly low survival rate. Although she has a twin sister, she rarely talks about her. You get the impression the family is not close, nor are they very supportive of one another. When her father is hospitalized for a serious illness, Lucy only goes to see him one time. Although the stay is extensive, they just stay at home, waiting for phone updates on their father's condition. Only her mother seems to make many appearances at the hospital where Lucy spends the majority of her pre-pubescent years.

Lucy Grealy is a person who is obssessed with her appearance. She talks about not really knowing who she is and what she looked like before her surgery, therefore, her post surgery appearance is the defining one for her. She is grossly disfugured, not only by the cancer and the resulting surgeries and treatments, but by the many surgeries performed in an attempt to repair the damage. Unfortunately, no clear thinking adult ever steps forward to get this poor child any kind of counseling or therapy, and she spends much of her life tortured by secret shame. She strives to be strong enough to make her mother proud, to be the model patient and to portray herself as a person who really doesn't care about her appearancence. Sadly, as most women know, this is not the case, especially in a society obsessed by appearances.

In my review of Truth and Beauty, I refer to the article Lucy Grealy's sister Suellen wrote in reaction the the publication of that book. My question to the Grealy family would be; where were all of you? I understand the family had many problems, but to be angry at Patchett and the other friends of Lucy's who were their for her when her own family wasn't seems misplaced. especially because the publication of this book precedes that of this book. And Lucy's own book is clearly an indictment of the disinterest of the Grealy family.

This is the life story of an extremely unhappy and disturbed person. She needed serious therapy to deal with her serious physical illness and all its side effects. Sadly, she was neglected in this way. Yes, through her writing and many of her relationships (some healthy, most not) she found a way in the world, but if you read Truth and Beauty and learn of the rest of her life through the eyes of a bystander, you see the personality that develops from the pain that was her early life. Well written and fast moving, this (Lucy's book) is a different kind of story than any other you will ever read. Brutally honest and excuciatingly sad, Lucy seemed to believe all she was was a face, and the only way to true happiness was to be loved and adored by a "lover." If only she was able to embrace herself as so much more than just a face, but a spirit that transcended what she looked like. If the title was Autobiography of a Soul, this would have been a different book, and this life may have had a different outcome...

AMAZING!!.......2007-07-13

You will never look at life the same way. And its so real and beautifully written. A must read.

Inspirational, indeed.......2007-07-04

Lucy's story, itself, is not only inspirational but it is also beautifully written...the language lyrical, quiet, insightful, touching...

It is so unfortunate that given Lucy's triumphs and accomplishments over her illness, she would be gone at such an early age, depriving us all of the lovely stories that could have been.

A great writer.

Painful and powerful.......2007-01-18

I read this book a while ago and it has stayed with me--always the sign of a good book. I wish this was a book that was given to all young girls especially. The idea that you are loveable, worthwhile and have so much to offer the world, no matter how you look is, sadly, a message that many never get. Even with all of the author's struggles to reach that place, the facts of her life show that she was never able to do it. Beautifully written.

Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery: Volume IV: 1929-1935 (Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery)

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Delightful insight into a world long gone
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery: 1935-1942
LM DIARY
I've been waiting so long
Fascinating

Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery: Volume IV: 1929-1935 (Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery)
Lucy M. Montgomery
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195413814

Book Description

The fourth volume of the immensely successful Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery covers the years from 1929 to 1935, a tumultuous period in the writer's life. By 1929 she was 54 years old and known world-wide as the author of Anne of Green Gables and many other books, yet this was also a time of numerous setbacks. The stock market crash, a drop in royalties from her many books, the need to provide her two sons with a university education, her husband's modest church salary often in arrears, and the fact that many loans she had made to friends and family were not repaid, placed Montgomery in the position where she had to type her own manuscripts for the first time since 1910. She also had to face personal crises as her sons' university results were extremely disappointing, her husband suffered a total nervous breakdown, she had concerns over her own mental state, there was further controversy in her husband's parish--Norval Presbyterian Church, and Montgomery became the unwilling object of a young woman's declaration of passionate love. Yet this was not a period without joy as well, the volume opens with joyful travels to Prince Edward Island and western Canada and ends with her looking forward with great excitement to a new life in Toronto. Besides providing an intimate look into the daily life of one of the world's best-loved authors, these journals can also be read as a fascinating social history of Canada in the early twentieth century. Within this volume Montgomery's health concerns provide for intriguing insights into the state of medical practices. Readers may shudder slightly when a bout of asthma is treated with strychnine tablets or a "bad chill" brings out a compound of arsenic. This is the penultimate volume in the series. Volume V will cover the years from 1935 to the author's death in 1942.

Customer Reviews:

Delightful insight into a world long gone.......2006-04-04

Obviously this is for fans of L M Montgomery - if you know and love her writing, you will recognise among the friends and acquaintances of her youth the characters that people Anne of Green Gable's turbulent world. But this wonderful journal is much more than that - it is a fascinating insight into a world which is long gone.

We read of Maud's complex family arrangements, her desire to be a good teacher and disappointment with some of her placements. Her small victories selling stories to publications, and the seemingly endless stream of suitors who proclaim love for her (my favourite is the hapless Mr Mustard). It is a tale of love found and not acted on (and the agonies that accompany it), familial obligations, frustrated talents and beautiful Canadian country side. It tells of heppiness, despair, joy and nostalgia, and is as engagingly written as any fabulous novel.

By all means read this if you wish to understand the creator of one of the world's most engaging literary characters, but also to have a glimpse of a world none of us will ever see the likes of.

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery: 1935-1942.......2005-08-03

Although the famous author's last years brought her much sorrow and depression, she continued to depict the world as it once more became plunged into yet another world war. In her famous journals, she described movies she saw, including GWTW, air conditioning, and the frustration involved with generational gaps. It is a must read for those who followed the previous books.

LM DIARY.......2005-07-23

IF YOU LOVE THE OTHER DIARIES YOU WILL ENJOY READING ABOUT HER FINAL DAYS. I ENJOYED ALL OF THE OTHER DIARIES BUT THIS ONE IS THE SADDEST. SHE HAS HER GOOD DAYS AND BAD, BUT SADLY SHE STOPPED WRITING IN THE LAST YEARS WHEN LIFE BECAME SO UNBEARABLE THAT SHE COUDLN'T EVEN WRITE ABOUT IT SO THIS DIARY IS INCOMPLETE. YOU WILL LOVE SEEING INSIDE THE LIFE AND MIND OF AN AUTHOR WHO ACHIEVED SUCCESS IN HER OWN LIFETIME AND LIVED TO WRITE ABOUT HER PERSONAL LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD TO HER LAST DAYS. THIS DIARY IS HER LAST, BUT LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY WILL CONTINUE TO LIVE ON IN HER WRITINGS. HER DIARY WAS A WAY TO SHARE HER INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS THAT SHE COULDN'T SHARE IN HER NOVELS. YOU TOO WILL FEEL LIKE A KINDRED SPIRIT.

I've been waiting so long.......2005-05-05

These journals, are beautifully put together. I remember when I found the first one and then each suceeding volume. I knew this one was coming. I even called the author at Guelph University to ask her how much longer I would have to wait.

She said then that they had to wait for some of the people in the journals to die before they could publish them. I would guess Dr. Stuart Macdonald was one of them.

They thrill me and make me feel closer to thise amazing woman. I've read everything she's written now. The sad thing is that once this volume is finished there is nothing new to read.

My greatests thanks to L. M. Montgomery and to Drs. Rubio and Waterson for their great work.

Fascinating.......2005-02-25

Poor poor woman. I could scarcely put it down. But it brings up many questions. Why did she think that Mr. Leard, the Love of her life, was not worthy of her? Why did no one ask her husband Mr. McDonald what the heck was bothering him? Why did she not know in 5 years of courtship that something was terribly wrong with him? Poor, poor woman. The synthesis of this book is when she asks herself why a woman that she felt was mean and hateful was happy and she was not. Indeed, why?

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Letters to Henrietta
Isabella Bird
Manufacturer: Northeastern
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1555535542

Book Description

Until the middle-aged, unmarried Isabella Bird (1831-1904) left her native Scotland for an independent life of travel, she was debilitated by illness, suffering from "neuralgia, pain in my bones, pricking like pins and needles in my limbs, excruciating nervousness, exhaustion, inflamed eyes, sore throat, swelling of the glands behind each ear, stupidity." Bird was so weak that she required a steel support to hold her head up and spent most of her time confined to bed. Desperate to find a cure, her doctors finally packed her off to the Pacific and Switzerland. Once there, the forty-year-old invalid miraculously recovered, and became determined to seek any adventure that allowed her to see the singular beauty of nature.

In Hawaii, she was the first woman to climb the world's highest volcano; in Perak, she rode elephants through the jungles; in Colorado, she scaled 14,000 foot mountains, spent six months traveling mostly alone on horseback, and fell in love with a one-eyed desperado named Rocky Mountain Jim. But whenever she came home to Scotland, her symptoms returned, making another trip essential. Bird's remarkable journeys took her to the remotest parts of the world and brought her considerable fame. She became the first female Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, advised Prime Minister William Gladstone on the issue of Armenian Christians, and was presented to Queen Victoria in 1893. Her numerous travel writings, including 'The Hawaiian Archipelago,' 'A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains,' 'Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,' and 'The Golden Chersonese,' remain popular today.

In this fascinating collection of Bird's previously unpublished letters to her homebound younger sister Henrietta, one experiences her journeys firsthand and gains insight into the ambiguous private life of a woman who often invented her public face. Containing correspondence from her first two grand tours to Australia, Hawaii, and Colorado in 1872-1873, and to Japan, China, Malaya, and the Holy Land in 1878-1879, 'Letters to Henrietta' provides a fresh view of the legendary Victorian traveler.

Memorials of the life of Amelia Opie, selected and arranged from her letters, diaries, and other manuscripts, by Cecilia Lucy Brightwell.

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Memorials of the life of Amelia Opie, selected and arranged from her letters, diaries, and other manuscripts, by Cecilia Lucy Brightwell.
Michigan Historical Reprint Series
Manufacturer: Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

United States | History | Historical Reproductions | Formats | Books
ASIN: 1425550738
Release Date: 2005-12-21

Book Description

This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's preservation reformatting program.

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Lucy Larcom: Life, Letters, and Diary
Daniel Dulany Addison
Manufacturer: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I9WGRS

Thackeray's Letters To An American Family

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Thackeray's Letters To An American Family
William Makepeace Thackeray
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

1904. And original drawings by Thackeray. Vanity Fair is Thackeray's masterpiece, but he also showed great skill in writing historical fiction with fine attention to period manners and customs and a dispassionate sympathy for his character's actions. Contents: Letters to an American Family and Letters to Miss Libby Strong. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

Book Description

The colorful earthenwares known as Majolica are popular once again, part of the nostalgic revival of Victorian taste in interior decoration. Majolica's long history begins with Italian Renaissance tin-glazed wares; over the centuries its styles and techniques spread to France and England. With the advent of mechanization, the wares could be mass produced. Majolica became popular among the rising middle class in England, Europe, and the United States. This book presents a new analysis of Majolica set against its cultural-historical background. Hundreds of forms in dozens of patterns, especially American and British ware with a sampling of European pieces, are displayed in over 550 color photographs. The text presents new research and the examples are individually identified by style, pattern, maker, size, and date. Short histories of the manufacturers are presented as they relate to Majolica wares. The up-to-date price guide will be a valuable tool for collectors and dealers.

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Majolica: American & European Wares
Jeffrey B. Snyder , and Leslie Bockol
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0887405614

Book Description

The colorful earthenwares known as Majolica are once again a popular part of the nostalgic revival of Victorian taste in interior decoration. This book presents a new analysis of Majolica set against its cultural-historical background. Hundreds of forms in dozens of patterns, especially American and British ware with a sampling of European pieces, are displayed in over 550 color photographs. The text presents new research and the examples are individually identified by style, pattern, maker, size and date. Short histories of the manufacturers are presented as they relate to Majolica wares. The price guide will be a valuable tool for collectors and dealers. Majolica's long history begins with Italian Renaissance tin-glazed wares; over the centuries its styles and techniques spread to France and England. With the advent of mechanization, the wares could be mass produced. Majolica became popular among the rising middle class in England, Europe, and the United States.

, 554 color photos, 8 1/2" x 11", Price Guide

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