Book Description
Combining unique travel choices, outdoor adventures, and little-known locales into guides where vacations meet adventures, each title in the Hidden series also offers readers the comfort of detailed maps, internet information for each listing, author picks, suggested itineraries, and walking and driving tours. While Cancun has transformed from a small fishing village into multi-billion dollar tropical resorts -- and this book does recommend the best of them -- the true focus of this guide are the natural attractions, authentic historical sites, and outdoor activities of the Yucatan peninsula. Because so many of the Yucatan's attractions are obvious (Chitzen Itza's pyramids, the white-sand beaches), the less conspicuous can go unnoticed. For example, less than five percent of the visitors to Cancun make the short journey to the charming colonial capital of Merida. Hidden Cancun and the Yucatan always encourages readers to venture further, offering the descriptions and detailed information that will make them feel comfortable exploring lesser-visited areas. Details on 42 beaches, including 41 with swimming, 18 with snorkeling, 13 with windsurfing, 14 with beach hikes, and 12 with beach camping, are offered.
Customer Reviews:
Library Book.......2005-09-01
The book was stamped by a local library. Condition was average. Delivery was fast.
Great guide book for the adventure minded traveler!.......2004-10-15
This book and "A Tourist in the Yucatan" (cool thriller set in the Yucatan) really made my recent Holiday in Mexico a complete success! I agree with the last reviewer, you don't need this guide book or any other if you don't plan on leaving Cancun, but if you want to see the real Yucatan this book is a great help. Good info on lodging, meals, the locals, the ruin sites. There is so much to do that you will want plane a second trip! I am going back next year!
Read this BEFORE you plan your trip-- not much help after........2004-09-16
The author has some good advice, lots of knowledge, his standards of cleanliness and quality are to be trusted, and seems to really like Mexico in general.
But listen,if you're going to Cancun to drink, lie in the sun, and never leave the grounds of your resort, then you don't need a guidebook, period. Cancun is like Orlando, FL. There is an Outback Steakhouse and a Burger King, for god's sake. The price you pay for this little slice of America is that once you're already in Cancun, it's an ordeal to get away from it. Just checking into a hotel seems like you've signed a contract in blood.
Which is why the author advocates AVOIDING Cancun, renting a car, and checking out the area AROUND Cancun. For this purpose, the book is excellent. Also, it's the kind of book you should read cover to cover before you ever buy a plane ticket or plan your trip. Like i mentioned above, trying to escape Cancun once you've figured out that it sucks is really difficult.
Average customer rating:
- A good second book
- Great all around tour book about Yucatan
- Very Useful--And a Good Read!
- Terrific
- A very useful and enjoyable book, well worth it!
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Adventure Guide to the Yucatan: Including Cancun & Cozumel (Adventure Guide to the Yucatan)
Bruce W. Conord , and
June Conord
Manufacturer: Hunter Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Guidebooks
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Seiko SD8500GB Spanish-English Talking Translator
ASIN: 1556507925 |
Customer Reviews:
A good second book.......2000-07-11
A friend and I travelled in Yucatan last year with this book and the Lonely Planet "Ruta Maya" guide. LP was better for the basic information and town maps but the Adventure Guide had waaaaay more detail on little places that turned out to be a real treat. We would never have gone swimming in the Cenote at Motul with LP, or had about the best meal of our whole stay at the palapa restaurant above -- the town isn't even on the map in LP. No one book can do everything for you, but this one combined with another, such as LP or Rough Guides Mexico, will really help you get around. I'm looking forward to their new edition.
Great all around tour book about Yucatan.......2000-01-09
This is a great all around tour book of the Yucatan but I would not call it an adventure book. It has the usual tour information of the Fodor's and Frommer's style with only a few actual "adventures" mentioned. The biggest flaw to this book is that sites and museums opening/closing times as well as prices are sometimes omitted or out-of-date. However, the helpful hints, humor, and narative qualities do make an enjoyable read and worth buying if you plan to visit the area. Not many pictures are included and they are all black & white.
Very Useful--And a Good Read!.......1999-07-17
I have taken several trips to the Yucatan, and I found this book to be accurate, up-to-date and an all-around good read! I must say, however, that, although it provides quite a bit of information on "adventure travel," it is more of an all-around guidebook (the authors make it clear that they want to provide information for those travelers who may be making their first visit and for whom just being in the Yucatan is an adventure).
Terrific.......1999-03-03
(From Planeta magazine): Highly-recommended guidebook to this fascinating corner of Mexico, which the authors describe as a land mass resembling "a big hitch-hiking thumb." Their interest and hard work has paid off. It's loaded with hotel and transportation info, great maps and interesting art work.
A very useful and enjoyable book, well worth it!.......1999-01-22
We were nervous about our first time traveling in the Yucatan but having this book was like having a real live guide in the backseat pointing us to all the best places to stay and eat, and not the glitzy tourists traps either. We saved ourselves lots of time and money and got to see places and things that few other tourists find. Plus the funny quotes scattered throughout made it fun to read as well. Kudos all around for a great guidebook.
Book Description
SHELL CHIC brings the design and imagination of today's shell enthusiasts and artisans to the home. This is a book to be savored for its eccentric decorative flair, its lavish sense of fun, and its practical instructions for shell projects and design ideas that will work in any home decor. Frames, chandeliers, unusual boxes, mirrors, a child-size claw-foot tub - all are fabulous possibilities for shell encrustation. Memories of peaceful beach vacations become ravishing decorative items when glued to lampshades and screens.
In all, 14 step-by-step illustrated projects and 20 design ideas cover everything readers need to know to create richly marvelous objects. To lend inspiration, there are profiles of contemporary shell artists photographed with their creations. One profile features Marian McEvoy, editor of House Beautiful, who has embellished her Manhattan apartment with an estimated 15,000 shells. While most shell enthusiasts will not be working on quite this scale, there are ideas, photographs, profiles, and inspiration for all!
Customer Reviews:
Awesome ideas!.......2006-11-10
I saw this book at my aunt's house and from the time I started flipping through the pages, I knew I had to buy this one. There are the most beautiful shell flower projects with easy to follow instructions that I have come across to date. The color photos are spectacular and provide so many ideas for what to do with the buckets of shells that some of us have collected! I have already purchased my floral wire and plan on doing some group projects out of this book with family and friends.
Joni Chew
beautful book.......2006-03-27
usuful hints but not possible for me.who lives in Iceland and our shells are not so exotic.Still I try to buy some,when I am abroud. I got lots og useful hints from and ideas his beautiful, which is really sweet for the eyes elvasigvalda@hotmail.com
Shellatious.......2005-09-29
Whether you craft or only crave shells, this book will do it for you. This book provides inspiration whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or merely an admirer of shelled creations. The range is from the extraordinary to the amusing to the out of this world.
absolutely beautiful!.......2003-09-05
This is the most beautiful book I've ever seen. Whether you like making things with shells or just love the beach, you'll be inspired by page after page of unique and even elaborate uses for shells in the home. It will leave you craving the ocean and inspired to do beautiful things.
Look through it in person first............2003-07-18
I looked through this book at a craft store the other day, and as a person who loves the ocean and seashells, I found maybe one project in here that I would consider making. Just about every project uses a ridiculous amount of shells so imagine the cost would be prohibitive and for this reason projects look overly ornate. Unless that is the look you are seeking to accomplish, I wouldn't recommend this book. Try to find "Decorating with Seashells" by Anita Louise Crane
Average customer rating:
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Whose House Is This?: A Look at Animal Homes-Webs, Nests, and Shells (Whose Is It?)
Elizabeth Gregoire
Manufacturer: Picture Window Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1404806083 |
Average customer rating:
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Shell Houses and Grottoes (Shire Album)
Hazelle Jackson
Manufacturer: Shire Publications Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland
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Sailors' Valentines: Their Journey Through Time
ASIN: 0747805229 |
Book Description
Before New York City was the Big Apple, it could have been called the Big Oyster. Now award-winning author Mark Kurlansky tells the remarkable story of New York by following the trajectory of one of its most fascinating inhabitants–the oyster, whose influence on the great metropolis remains unparalleled.
For centuries New York was famous for its oysters, which until the early 1900s played such a dominant a role in the city’s economy, gastronomy, and ecology that the abundant bivalves were Gotham’s most celebrated export, a staple food for the wealthy, the poor, and tourists alike, and the primary natural defense against pollution for the city’s congested waterways.
Filled with cultural, historical, and culinary insight–along with historic recipes, maps, drawings, and photos–this dynamic narrative sweeps readers from the island hunting ground of the Lenape Indians to the death of the oyster beds and the rise of America’s environmentalist movement, from the oyster cellars of the rough-and-tumble Five Points slums to Manhattan’s Gilded Age dining chambers.
Kurlansky brings characters vividly to life while recounting dramatic incidents that changed the course of New York history. Here are the stories behind Peter Stuyvesant’s peg leg and Robert Fulton’s “Folly”; the oyster merchant and pioneering African American leader Thomas Downing; the birth of the business lunch at Delmonico’s; early feminist Fanny Fern, one of the highest-paid newspaper writers in the city; even “Diamond” Jim Brady, who we discover was not the gourmand of popular legend.
With The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky serves up history at its most engrossing, entertaining, and delicious.
From the Compact Disc edition.
Customer Reviews:
Who knew?.......2007-09-27
First off, I am a chef...so my five-star rating might be taken with a grain of sea salt. Also, I am a chef from New York City...who still opens a couple of hundred oysters a week.
I learned bunches from Mark's book. I was able to justify a long held stance about storing oysters in the face of superstition from my twenty-something rock-star staff.
I owned a restaurant in Telluride, Colorado back in the 70's. We dug around in the basement and found menus from the 1890's that featured fresh New York City oysters.....long before refrigeration. The book reveals how this worked, and consequently saved me a few hundred dollars every week. Five stars indeed1
Meanwhile, Mark gives an in-depth sociological, geographic and gastronomical account of how the oyster affected life in New York and America. In many ways the oyster is the canary in the coal mine of our inland waterways. If the oyster is happy with the water....you are probably OK with the water. No oyster.....don't even think about jumping in. Oysters kept New York City harbor water clean for millenia....until overwhelmed by chemical pollution.
Just this morning I picked up Mother Jones, and read an article about the largest oil spill in American history: in Newtown Creek between Queens and Brooklyn. Having read Mark's book....I already knew the history of Newtown Creek...once the source of millions of oysters and the support of an entire social structure.
Oysters had started a comeback there in 1997. Ooops. Back to the drawing board.
Buy the book. Learn something.
An Entertaining and Fun Voyage of Discovery!.......2007-09-23
Who would have thought it possible that anyone could produce a great book on the humble oyster? Intrigued by the cover, I picked up Mark Kurlansky's "The Big Oyster" and embarked on an entertaining and fun voyage of discovery!
I learned that mankind is obsessed with the oyster and has been consuming them for thousands of years. Americans are among the world's biggest producers and consumers of oysters, which played a huge role in the growth of New York city and the young republic.
I found "The Big Oyster" so well written and enthralling that I read it cover to cover, and then went out and bought every book written by Mark Kurlansky. As a voracious consumer of books, it was a wise decision!
I highly recommend this excellent book to anyone searching for a great read!
How can anyone not love this book?.......2007-07-24
I'm not sure what kind of person would buy this book. It's not 100% history, not 100% science, not 100% recipe, it's a little of everything. After reading this book, I'd say this book is for someone who's not afraid to try something different, some who likes oysters and a little history to go with their oysters. So what is this book about?
1) It's a little bit oysters. The science: such as scientific names, reproduction, anatomy, etc. Just a little, not too much to bore the casual reader, but not enough to interest the casual scientist. I tried to find more about oysters online but there's not a lot of info, I suppose I should go read a book on it.
2) It's a lot about the early to mid-1800's history of New York City. As I like history, I really liked this part.
3) It's a little about oyster recipes. Sprinkled throughout this book are recipes, many from old books and from famous cooks and restaurants. That's a gem. It must have take some effort to collect the recipes and whether you like them or not they are interesting, at least for their historical aspect.
4) It's a little about the history of the oyster trade. This is a very good part of the book as I don't think you could find much written on it anywhere else.
5) New York society in the old days. Talked about the who's who and where they would eat. Interesting reading.
6) New York slums and the inhabitants, also interesting reading.
So to summarize, this book is about oysters, the eating of oysters, the oyster trade and New York city. You can't pidgeonhole this book because it's not history, not gastronomy, but a little of everything. It's quite well written and very easy to read. I enjoyed reading it, a break from my regular diet of thrillers. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I'm going to get Cod and Salt, two other books by this author that got mixed reviews. But I think the author deserves my custom after this book.
As usual - easy read.......2007-06-27
Another book by MK. Nice and easy read and somewhat entertaining. Plenty of historical references but true historians could have plenty od reservations about it as well. Overall C to B-.
Quick and Interesting Read.......2007-06-09
I bought this book halfway as a joke for some oyster-loving friends, but it turned out the be a great page turner -- finished it in about 3 sittings. It's a great light read with some excellent information about oysters and a surprisingly fascinating history of NYC.
Average customer rating:
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Houses from the Sea
Alice E. Goudey
Manufacturer: Atheneum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
Adams, Adrienne
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ASIN: 0684124580 |
Customer Reviews:
Great living book!.......2006-05-18
They have recommended that this book be for baby-preschool, but I think they truly underestimate the quality information contained inside of this book!
I read this book to my 6-year-old daughter and we learned the names, shapes, and colors of over a dozen shells, as well as what type of creature made the shell and HOW they made the shell!
I highly recommend this book for children up to 8.
Average customer rating:
- A marvelous work of local American history
- A Mirror of America
- Eggshellent book!
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Empty Shells : The Story of Petaluma, America's Chicken City (Chicken House Chronicles)
Thea Snyder Lowry
Manufacturer: Manifold Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0961011610 |
Customer Reviews:
A marvelous work of local American history.......2001-03-16
Empty Shells: The Story Of Petaluma, America's Chicken City is the meticulously researched and superbly presented history of Petaluma, California. A small town 38 miles north of San Francisco and straddling a gentle river, Petaluma was justifiably known as "The World's Egg Basket". In the 1920s, millions of glossy white eggs were shipped by train to New York City where they brought top market prices because of their uniform high quality. Empty Shells is the story of the rise and fall of this unique poultry oriented community and the contemporary presence of abandoned hen houses scattered over the southern Sonoma County landscape. Illustrated throughout with period photography, Empty Shells is a marvelous work of local American history which makes for informative, fascinating reading.
A Mirror of America.......2001-02-21
Empty Shells: The story of Petaluma, America's Chicken City is much more than the title implies. Beginning in the 1500's with the "discovery" of California's coast, Thea S. Lowry chronicles the social changes and technological advances of America through the eyes of Petaluma's poultry industry. She notes the changes within the poultry industry, from assembly line manufacture of incubators, to the advances of transportation and roadways, to progress in the medical field (from using nicotine and mercury cures to modern day Coccidiostats and Tetracyclines). From marketing a few dozens of eggs or birds a year by individual farmers to the million bird co-operatives, the poultry industry has led the way, and reflected much of modern day business models. As the majority of these changes happened in the last century (or in the span of two lifetimes), Empty Shells is a must-read for anyone interested in a true perspective as to where our society is today.
Eggshellent book!.......2001-02-08
This is a fascinating book and well worth reading - even if, like me, you have no connection with Petaluma or chicken ranching.
Thea Lowry has meticulously researched the history of Petaluma and how it came to be the Colossus of egg production in the USA - in its heyday producing 450 million eggs a year. She also catalogs the subsequent decline of the industry and records the vanishing traces of its former prominence.
A book such as this could easily have turned into one of those numerous local history books recording the facts and figures of Nowheresville, USA. Ms Lowry has, like her birds, a beady eye and brings alive the history of Petaluma and its industry through dry wit, judicious use of anecdote and magnificent photographs.
This book was more than 10 years in the writing. The product of such effort is evident in every aspect of it. The book has some truly amazing photographs - from the cover picture of a collapsing chicken shed to the memorable picture of a rancher standing next to such a shed but dwarfed by what can only be described as a mountain of egg shells outside it.
It's a great book - I loved it.
Average customer rating:
- Teens haven't changed
- Worth at least one read, but problematic
- Just get past the first 50 pages...
- Ripe novel for discussion
- 'The Shell House', Hachneyed, cliched and BAD
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The Shell House
Linda Newbery
Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0440237866
Release Date: 2004-04-13 |
Amazon.com
Connected through time by a once stately mansion, now a burned-out shell of its former grandeur, two young men struggle with the contradictions between body and soul in both contemporary England and the barbed-wire battlefields of WWI. In 2002, Greg is a shy photographer who is elated to discover the ruins of Graveney Hall, a crumbling manor undergoing restoration. As he begins to photograph and explore the grounds, he mulls over the strange new feelings he's having for his classmate Jordan, an introspective boy on the school swim team. Meanwhile, he's also been befriended by Faith, an outgoing girl whose strong sense of spirituality draws Greg into several arguments about religion, causing him to wonder how his recent feelings for Jordan fit into the world of Faith's God. In 1917, Edmund is a young aristocratic soldier burdened by family expectations, the brutality of war, and a secret that could destroy his family. While he loves Graveney Hall, he knows that he will never produce the heir required for him to inherit it. Why? Because he is in love with Alex, his superior officer. Both Edmund and Greg strike bargains with God as each decides what he must to do to uncover his secret--or hide it forever.
Passionate and provoking, The Shell House will provide teens with food for thought on a number of compelling issues, including the search for identity, the question of spirituality, and how sexual ethics have changed over time. Fans of Aidan Chambers's similarly themed, Carnegie Award-winning novel, Postcards from No Man's Land, will also enjoy The Shell House. (Ages 13 to 18) --Jennifer Hubert
Book Description
Greg’s casual interest in the history of a ruined mansion becomes more personal as he slowly discovers the tragic events that overwhelmed its last inhabitants. Set against a background of the modern day and the First World War, Greg’s contemporary beliefs become intertwined with those of Edmund, a foot soldier whose confusion about his sexuality and identity mirrors Greg’s own feelings of insecurity.
This is a complex and thought-provoking book, written with elegance and subtlety. It will change the way you think.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Teens haven't changed.......2007-09-03
This captivatingly-poignant, love story-mystery vibrantly depicts the struggles of Greg, Faith, and Jordan as the lives of these young adults of the twenty-first century and those of the twentieth century Edmund intertwine in the universal quest for identity. As Greg, Jordan, and Faith explore their sexual, spiritual, and moral identities in the year 2002, their lives begin to reflect the issues surrounding the mystery of an intriguing antique mansion, left as a mere shell by a fire that ravaged it during World War I, and of Edmund, the wealthy young man who once lived in the magnificent home. In spite of his wealth and apparent ease of lifestyle, Edmund encountered many of the same issues that Greg and his friends do in their middle class lives in 2002.
Vivid, flowing descriptions paint a memorable, picturesque integral setting in which the believable, fully-developed characters struggle to mature. Considering the controversial topics conveyed, this novel is remarkably free from didacticism, thus lending itself conducive to the reader to, in turn, strive to be true to his own reality. The unusually subtle denouement as well as the neutral tone of the author, merely reinforces this. The characters' antagonists are their own preconceived expectations of what life should be. Symbolism and metaphors are skillful embellishments that contribute to deeper meaning and impact of the theme of self-discovery. The story is very effectively written in first person narration, primarily by Greg and intermittently by Edmund. Each young man's chapter is introduced by his own means of self expression. A mental photograph, reflecting Greg's love of photography, begins each chapter narrated by Greg, and Edmund's chapters are initiated by his poems. Although this is a British novel and the slang is problematic for American youth, this will prove to be no hindrance to its appeal. Once the young reader deciphers the unfamiliar words, the language used may even become part of its appeal.
Worth at least one read, but problematic.......2005-03-21
This was one of those books that disappointed me because I got the feeling that it had the potential to be so much better.
I should probably say that I'm older than the age group this book is intended for, which may bias some of my views. For young teenagers who don't have much exposure to gay fiction, I could see this being a good starting point.
One of the best things going for this book is its page-turning nature; I put off some work for an hour and a half towards the end because I just had to finish it. The ambiguity of Greg's sexuality is also a nice change from the standard; having been through my own long sexual identity crisis, I thought that it showed a nice range of doubts and questions.
A major problem, for me, lies in the relationship between Edmund and Alex. This is one of those books where we know they're in love because we're told so, not because it's evident from their behavior. It's obvious that they like each other and are attracted to each other, but their relationship should have been given more time to develop so the reader could feel the complete emotional impact. Alex in particular deserves much more time than he's given; his "alternate ending" to Edmund's poem hints at a lighter aspect of their relationship that could have balanced some of the angst.
Edmund's family and the family of the girl they want him to marry, Phillipa, are cardboard cutouts of stodgy and unaccepting Representatives of Oppressing Society. The scene where Edmund talks to the minister is a tired retread of a lot of better-written scenes that pit homosexuality against religion, to the point where I found myself successfully predicting the gist of the next line the whole way through.
The last part of Edmund's story, however, stuck in my mind, and belongs in a better book where the emotions are developed enough to suit its highly dramatic nature.
Faith and Jordan didn't fascinate me very much as characters, though they were just interesting enough not to be boring. A lot of the time I wanted to get back to the Edwardian part of the story, but when I did I was disappointed.
Just get past the first 50 pages..........2004-11-24
If you can get past the first 50 pages of this book, you will find that it starts to grow on you. I put the book away, came back after a week, plowed on--and then I finished the last 3/4 of it in a flurry, needing to know what happened next.
As you read, the characters become more alive and rounded, and their interests and experiences more developed, nuanced, and believable. The novel also has an ending that keeps you kind of guessing as to what eventually Greg tells himself about his own sexual identity. It is not a foregone conclusion that he will "come out" to himself or continue to think of himself as "definitely not" gay. The author has created in Greg a teenager who is still able to be quite turned on, physically, by girls, but who hasn't yet discerned whether his attraction to Jordan is something more than just aesthetic (he's a truly beautiful swimmer for Greg to watch and photograph) and platonic (he's a low-key but deeply-thinking friend).
About the novel's language: I am an American, and this book is thoroughly British, so I have no idea whether the dialogue is appropriately realistic. Do people say "yobs" and "gits"? I didn't care, because as I read, I became more convinced that I could see it happening.
The novel tries to weave together some big themes besides sexual identity, including the value of religion (trust in God vs. trust in the physical world, including sex), the tragic fighting of World War I, and, underlying both of those issues, the meaning/meaninglessness of suffering. I was skeptical that all this could be pulled off, but the author succeeded. Only occasionally are there too text-book-like phrases (such as the "3 questions of theodicy" put into the mouths of "normal" teenagers--but hey, I kind of like that "too-smart-for-real-teens" kind of talk once in a while, too. Think Dawson's Creek).
As I reflect on the book, some of the minor characters stand out most brightly. Greg's crude friend Gizzard is completely imaginable, as is Dean, the punk who causes him problems, and Dean's selfish mother. Their brief appearances deserve notice. Even more brightly drawn, but given too small a part, is Tanya. Tanya at first repulses Greg with her blatant sexual desire; she later proves to be a refuge for him (the most descriptive language about sex I've read in a teen novel occurs in Tanya's and Greg's encounter); finally, near the end, she appears in Greg's wet dream, her body blending (as in a dream) with the body of Jordan, the swimmer. I may go out on a limb here and state that Newbery seems able to create more believable "bad" characters than "good" ones. But it's said that it's harder to write good characters than bad.
Finally, as someone who did some "bargaining with God" in my own teen years, I can say that I found believable this novel's recurrent issues of wanting to believe in God, asking God for a sign (especially when something tragic occurs), and yet still basically thinking that God probably doesn't exist. The answers to the novel's questions are left hanging in the air--literally!--at the novel's conclusion, the meaning of which will be well debated by those who have read the book.
Ripe novel for discussion.......2003-08-04
It is impossible not to compare this book to this yearýs Carnegie Award winner, for it is the perfect companion novel to Aidan Chamberýs Winner Postcards from No Manýs Land (Dutton Books, 2002). Both books delve into issues of world war and burgeoning sexuality with passion, elegance and authentic characters.
In The Shell House, shutterbug Greg is lured to the ruins of a mansion, where he meets a girl whose family is intent on a volunteer project to restore it. Faith becomes a pillar between his internal storm between Gregýs libido and his heart as he tries to figure out his sexual and spiritual identity.
Gregýs story is contrasted with that of Edmund, a gay soldier who once lived in Graveney Hall whose is struggling with similar issues. An element of mystery is thrown in, as Greg and his friend the aptly named Faith are trying to discover the history of the hall and its inhabitants as they assist with the restoration.
Abundant in metaphor and symbolism, the historical detail is excellent and characters and situations realistic but bit dramatic. Still, this would be an excellent book for discussion on many levels, and a possibility for history curriculum frameworks for mature students or progressive schools.
'The Shell House', Hachneyed, cliched and BAD.......2003-06-04
There are almost no words to express how bad I thourght this book was.
It is a very nice love story but I am convinced that if the two couples were hetrosexual rather than homosexual then nobody would think that it was any good. Being able to write about gay people takes neither wit, talent nor skill merly a little imagination, which is no recomendation at all.
The prose was awful and if possible the dialogue was even worse. I hated the war peoms and feel that the opinions expressed about the first world war, however valid in themselves, were both hackneyed and cliched with no basis on real experience or research.
The only saving grace of the whole book was that the author didn't use the traditional streotypes of gay men, but any merit achieved by this was distroyed by her use of streotipical religious charcters.
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