Reviewer's Choice
MWBOOKREVW
The Second Sorrowful Mystery
Jonathan Harrington
Write Way Publishing
10555 East Dartmouth, #210, Aurora, CO 80014
1-88517-337-7 $21.95
G. Miki Hayden
Reviewer
The sequel to Harrington's The Death Of Cousin Rose is, as the first, set
in Ireland. Danny O'Flaherty, an American now teaching in Dublin, often visits
Ballycara to fish with Father O'Malley, and is said by the residents there to
be the priest's only confidant. But there's much about parish spiritual leader
that Danny doesn't know, and it's a surprise to all when the priest turns up
dead in the rectory basement with the door locked from the outside. The police
are content to call it a heart attack, but Danny, who found the body, is
troubled.
The "second sorrowful mystery" is the scourging of Jesus by the Roman
soldiers, a rosary meditation that O'Malley has asked the congregation to
consider. What is the priest's terrible secret and was he ill, or staggering
drunk, at mass? Danny will persists until he finds the answer.
The theme is penitence but The Second Sorrowful Mystery is a nonetheless
pleasant trip to rural Ireland. Harrington travels to do his research and his
setting is authentic He also has drawn his characters well and doesn't
stereotype the people of the village. Today they even have Mohawks, purple
hair, and noserings in the pubs of Eire, just like everywhere else in the
civilized world. Harrington uses the red herring to his advantage and creates a
genuine puzzle as to who killed the priest-and why.
Night Whispers
Leslie Kelly
Harlequin Temption
0-6715-257 - 43 $7.99
Bea Sheftel
Reviewer
Romance book lovers will enjoy this book which features a clever,
independent woman, and a hunky male who is an exciting researcher
writer-adventurer.
Kelsey Logan, heroine. Place: Baltimore, Maryland. Her job: Radio show
host for "Night Whispers".
Mitch Wymore, writer, researcher, adventurer. Owner of brownstone. He
rents to two people. One is a quiet student, Fred. The other is the daughter of
a friend Kelsey Logan.
This book caught my attention immediately with the sexy opening of Kelsey
Logan's radio show. She is Lady Love and has all of Baltimore under her spell.
The one man she wants, though, Mitch Wymore, resists her and his own desires
out of some misguided loyalty to the family who had practically raised him.
But Kelsey is not about to let Mitch think of her as the little girl who
trailed around after him as a kid. She is a full grown woman with desires of
her own. From the beginning it is obvious these two are meant for each other.
The level of sensuality is high as is the amusement level. When Kelsey and
Mitch come in conflict it is a mix of love and laughter.
Mitch was happy with his masculine brownstone decorated to his style, only
Kelsey has other ideas. She has turned his yard into a glorious garden with a
riot of colorful flowers. She has redone his kitchen, too, much to Mitch's
surprise and consternation.
The real internal conflict is Mitch's. The Logan family took him in
during his wild years and helped him to become the successful man he is. He
owes them his love and loyalty. Somehow he doesn't believe the family would
welcome his interest in Kelsey and so he fights his natural desire for her.
It's a losing battle.
Mitch tries to act like the big brother and protect Kelsey, only this
independent woman will have none of that. Mitch's resolve is a gonner when he
realizes, "The most erotic, exciting woman in Baltimore lived right in his
home. She slept, and moved, and ate, and fantasized right over his head."
Mitch has to reconcile himself to the fact that Kelsey is not his little
sister, and accept that fact that she is a mature adult with a mind of her own,
and a body any many would go wolf over.
This is the author's first book. I find it hard to believe because the
writing is so flawless. I really enjoyed this book which is light hearted,
fun, and sexy. With this book as her first example, Leslie Kelly will be going
far in the romance market. She's already tops in my book as I look forward to
more of novels.
A Prayer for the Dying
Stewart O'Nan
Henry Holt & Company
115 W. 18th St., New York, NY 10011
ISBN 0-8050-6147-9, $22.00 195 pages
Jonathan Shipley
Reviewer
The cover is why I picked up the book at the library. It shows a picture
taken in the 1800s. A man stands on a sidewalk, solemn in a black duster and
black cowboy hat. His arms are outstretched. Behind him is a barren street of
some uknown small town. I begin to read.
A Prayer For The Dying, Stewart O'Nan's brilliant poetic new novel, takes
place in Friendship, Wisconsin, just after the Civil War. The summer is a good
one, nothing out of the ordinary. That is until the disease. It is always
fatal, and it's begining to take one neighbor after another, one friend, after
another. The epidemic is a collective nightmare. Particularly to our sole
witness to it, Jacob Hansen. He's a Christian man, a man who believes in the
Almighty and His ways. He's the town's sherrif, undertaker, and pastor, a man
with a large heart and conscience. But the disease continues to ravage the
towns folk. Jacob must find a humane way to save those he loves, short of
calling a full quarantine and boarding up the sick in their houses. Who will
bury
the dead properly if not for Jacob? Who will pray for them if not for Jacob?
Who will save them if not for Jacob?
O'Nan writes with clarity and precision. The novel, only 195 pages, is
rich with questions of human crisis, morality, and tragedy. The book is a Bible
story of sorts, a modern day story of a believer in God who seemingly loses
everything, yet finds a way to carry on. It is a story of important questions
that want answers yet can't seem to find them. Why does God allow tragedy? Are
we all saved? Is there a Heaven? What happens to the living after their loved
ones die? It is a story of refusing to be defeated, even under the deepest of
sorrow and desperation. It is a story of a man of God tested by God, or is he
testing himself? It is a remarkable story, a Bible story set just after the
American Civil War.
He writes as if you were Jacob Hansen, which is an amazing way to get the
reader involved in the story. You bury the dead. You hold you wife Marta. You
play with your daughter Amelia. You visit the Ramsay house, whose inhabitants
are sick and dying. You are a man on God. You ask God why. It is your story. It
is our story.
O'Nan, the author of 4 previous novels, including "The Names of the Dead" and
"A World Away" is a remarkable American literary voice. His new book is
wonderful, terrifying, a book that grabs you from the first and holds you
tightly within its words until the final page. It's proof that good things come
in small packages.
Norumbega to New England
Cynthia Glynn
American Truths
P.O. Box 201, Waban, MA 02468
Fax: (781)461-0951 E-mail: cgl...@americantruths.com
Price: 2 cassette tapes - $20.00 Course Book - $28.00
Katharine Fulton
Reviewer
Norumbega To New England is a remarkable work tape recorded for three
voices. Cynthia Glynn tells the story of the initial contact between the
Eastern Woodland Indians of Norumbega and the English settlers who arrived in
1620. The three perspectives offered are the Native Voice, the Pilgrim
Perspective, and the English Agenda. The listener is led through the events
that transpired during the oppression of the Pilgrims in England, and their
plan to fund what they envisioned as an escape to a "New England."
All sources are primary and the impressions of the English visitors is
surprisingly well-balanced considering that the native possessed only an oral
tradition at the time of the first encounters. Glynn shows a sensitivity and an
intelligence about the topic at hand.
To say that this work is comprehensive without being overwhelming is a credit
to the fine rsearch skills and choices made by Glynn. The accompanying course
book contains relevant historic documents, engravings, and maps by noted
historians, compilations that add depth and detail to the work.
The material can be used by researchers and students at the high school or
college levels and contains discussion topics and an extensive bibliography.
It is enlightening and incorporates traditional native music that enhances
understanding and appreciation of the recording.
Circling the Sacred Mountain: A Spiritual Adventure Through the Himalayas
Robert Thurman and Tad Wise
Bantam Books
0-553-10346-6 $25.95
Douglas Durham
Reviewer
There is an old German saying-What is the use of running, if you are not
on the right way? Circling the Sacred Mountain, like Robert Pirsig's Zen And
The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance has that question as its theme. The two books
are similar in three ways:
A small group is on a journey; There is a description of the journey
itself; Interspersed are serious talks.
The millions who responded strongly to Zen... will remember that the book
caused them to address two questions: What journey am I on; Is it the right
one?
Thurman and Wise are on the journey to Mount Kailas, in both physical and
metaphorical senses. Thurman, whose daughter Uma is well-known movie star, is a
professor of Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University. A close friend of
the Dalai Lama, Thurman provides the serious talks about the mental journey.
Tad Wise, author of the novel Tesla, was a student Thurman's and, like Thurman,
is a native of Woodstock, New York. Wise provides the description of the
physical journey, lasting 25 days, going from Nepal to Tibet back to Nepal. He
also provides his own responses to Thurman's talks.
Located in remote Tibet, Kailas represents for each man the long sought
after goal of profound personal transformation. Like Pirsig's book, the
physical journey is away from the familiar habits of home and provides the
setting for the metaphorical journey. That mental (or metaphorical) journey
also takes one away from accustomed responses. Its objective is to achieve the
dissolution of the ego and achieve freedom from socially conditioned and
personally constructed bonds. The serious talks all deal with aspects of
dissolving the ego and achieving such freedom.
Circling the Sacred Mountain differs from Zen... in that the thoughtful
talks in Pirsig's book were based on a combination of Zen Buddhism and
classical Greek thought and were delivered in a relatively accessible fashion.
The earnest talks in this book are based on a Tibetan Buddhist text. In parts,
they are not what most people are accustomed to reading. However, substantial
portions of these talks are accessible and might help you find your own Mount
Kailas.
An Equal Music
Vikram Seth
Orion
1-861591-17-9 A$35.00 (hardback) 381 pages
Ann Skea
Reviewer
"Music to me is dearer even than speech." -- Author's Note
This is a love story. It is not a romantic saga, like A Suitable Boy, but
a deeper, more serious story of a man for whom music and a young woman, Julia,
are an essential and inseparable part of his life.
It is also a story which reveals the strange, precarious, obsessive, joyous and
difficult life lead by a professional musician: in this case, Michael, who
plays second violin in the Maggiore Quartet.
Vikram Seth's passion for music, his empathy with it and with the people
who create and perform it, glows through this book, making it totally different
to anything else he has written. Michael is a complex, sometimes prickly young
man whose birthplace, Rochdale, in the North of England, was once rich in
orchestral and choral music. And, although music was never part of his own
parents' lives, Michael, at the age of nine, was taken by a neighbour to a
performance of Handel's Messiah. "More than anything else", he recalls, "I
wanted to be a part of that noise". So, he immerses himself in music and with
borrowed instruments, a scholarship to the Royal Northern College of Music in
Manchester, an invitation to join a masterclass at the Musikhochschule in
Vienna, and against great opposition from his parents, he becomes a
professional violinist.
We learn Michael's story gradually as he goes about his daily routines of
teaching, solitary practice and rehearsal, until he glimpses, on a passing bus,
Julia - who he had once loved and left in Vienna and has been unable to find
again since.
The search for Julia, their meeting and its consequences, are woven into
other larger themes. Music especially, which dominates both their lives,
provides a counterpoint for every mood and action. And Seth explores the
strange dependence, and independence, of the individuals involved in the
Maggiore Quartet; the terrible dilemma of a musician who suffers almost total
loss of hearing; and the plight of musicians whose precarious income prevents
them from ever owning the best and most beautiful instruments and who, like
Michael, may lose a much loved but borrowed instrument at any time.
The action moves between London, Vienna and Venice but the real life of
the novel is the music.
"When I realised I would be writing about it", says
Seth in his Author's Note, "I was gripped with anxiety".
But he has written well, and expressed the soul of music well. Only very
occasionally, as with Michael's strange anxiety-produced collapses, did I get
the feeling that something did not ring quite true. Michael's mental "riffs",
however, which swing between madness, fractured echoes of poetry and pure
poetic prose, are quite wonderful. Sometimes, they come as near to conveying
the shifting moods of love and of music as is possible in words.
An Equal Music is a fine book. Those who are looking for a sequel to A
Suitable Boy will be disappointed, because this is very different and far more
challenging, but it shows Seth to be an exceptionally versatile, thoughtful and
accomplished writer.
Arty Cats
David Baird
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
115 West 18th Street, NY, NY 10011
1-55670-884-X $15.95 1-800-932-0070
In Arty Cats we lean that the muse that has inspired artistic greats from
Munch, Matisse and Van Gogh to Degas, Bonnard, and Andy Warhol were cats!
Magnificent works never before are now reproduced and made accessible to all
art lovers in the fascinating pages of Arty Cats. From Old Masters to
impressionists, symbolists and surrealist to moderns, there are more than forty
examples giving evidence that behind every great work of art there is a cat,
and behind every great artist there is a hungry feline meowing for dinner! Arty
Cats may be fiction, but the spirit of the cat is true!
Meditation for Dummies
Stephan Bodian
IDG Books
Cate Cummings Publicity (publicity)
919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Suite 400, Foster City, CA 94404
0-7645-5116-7 $19.99 1-800-762-2974
Stephan Bodian's Meditation For Dummies is an ideal "how to" introduction in
ordinary English to the practice of daily meditation for improved physical,
mental, and spiritual well-being. Bodien offers clear, accessible, applicable
advice on how to use meditation to help strengthen and heal the body,
increasing awareness of the exterior and interior world, how meditation has
enriched the lives of all types of people, using meditation to fight everyday
stress, cultivate love and compassion toward others and toward oneself,
increase the ability to focus on and complete important tasks, even how to
prepare for meditation in terms of what to wear, where to go, and how to do it.
Topi
Shah-Naz Hayat Khan
Empyrean Quest Publishers
1150 Virginia Ln., #7, Concord CA 94520
1-890711-05-5 $7.95 1-888-274-3282
Topi is a lively and entertaining series of stories about life in Pakistan
spanning more than a century. These tales are chronicled with a joy in life and
its irresistible questions: Are the Pathans really the lost tribe of Israel?;
What trouble with the young Khan get into next?; What is it like to grow up in
a frontier village? Shah-Naz Hayat Khan is a superb storyteller whose tales
engage the reader with an almost mesmeric quality.
The Story of Jeep
Patrick R. Foster
Krause Publications
700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990-0001
0-87341-564-7 $21.95 1-800-258-0929
How did the Jeep vehicle move from wartime roots to its sport utility
reputation of modern times? Foster researches 60 years of Jeep background and
development to provide a fine historical background of early prototypes,
changing Jeep use patterns, and collectible Jeeps. Car fans will relish the
depth.
A Bride's Touch
Sara L. Ambarian
Symbios
4367 SE 16th, Gresham, OR 97080-9178
0-96512363-1-5 $26.95 1-503-667-0633
A Bride's Touch: A Handbook Of Wedding Personality And Inspiration is a wedding
reference book designed specifically for couples who have six months or longer
to really plan their wedding down to the smallest detail. This is not a mere
picture book showing current fads, nor is it a fill-in-the-blanks planner. A
Bride's Touch is written by an experienced wedding consultant and as useful to
the woman who plans a simple wedding as it essential for one who anticipates a
pageant. Sara Ambarian explains the "Four-Step" approach to wedding planning
and the elements which determine a bride's wedding personality, creative
techniques and considerations for attire and accessories, floral arrangements
and decorations, music and entertainment options, photography advice, numerous
examples from real as well as theoretical weddings, projects, worksheets and
activities, ceremony and reception locations, rehearsal, and the advice and
recollections of 35 former brides. A Bride's Touch is enhanced with 60 original
line drawings and photographs to illustrate and clarify the narrative
information. Highly recommended.
Dover Publications
A.C. Scott's Kabuki Theatre Of Japan (0-486-40645-8, $10.95) provides a
comprehensive examination of Kabuki, from the history of its development and
its roots in classical Japanese drama to its relationship to Japan's social
evolution. An excellent handbook for any seeking a strong introduction to not
only Kabuki, but Japanese history and culture. Kristina Harris edits Authentic
Victorian Dressmaking Techniques (40485-4, $10.95), a reprint of a 1905
Butterick classic presented unabridged. Instructions for pattern alterations
and producing historic costumes will delight any involved in drama and stage
productions. Mrs. Mary Merrifield's Medieval And Renaissance Treatises On The
Arts Of Painting (40440-4, $34.95) provides original texts with English
translations, presenting an original 2-volume 1849 piece under one cover the
providing students with important descriptions of oil painting practices in
Italy, France and Brussels. Most are practical recipe instructions, adding to
this book's value to students of art. Lewis Simon, et.al.'s Modular Origami
Polyhedra (40476=5, $5.95) appears in a revised, enlarged edition to provide
models of three-dimensional geometric origami. Those who've mastered the usual
simpler origami designs will be intrigued by this complex set.
University of Oklahoma Press
4100 - 28th Ave. N.W., Norman, OK 73069-8218
Lili Cockerille Livingston's American Indian Ballerinas (0-8061-2896-8)
represents the first authorized biography of four 20th-century American Indian
ballerinas and will prove essential not only for collections on Native American
history; but for ballet schools and ballet reference sections. Four women
raised in Oklahoma during the 1920s and 30s are profiled by an author who
worked with all four during her own dancing career, and who thus is in an
excellent position to discuss their careers and achievements. Paul A.
Johnsgard's Baby Bird Portraits By George Miksch Sutton (2985-9, $19.95)
deserves ongoing mention as an excellent survey of over thirty of his
paintings, drawn from his studies of birds. An ornithologist discusses Sutton's
contributions to bird art, while essays describe personal encounters with
birds. Suitable for ornithologists as well as art students.
HarperCollins
10 E. 53rd Street, New York NY 10022
John Gray's How To Get What You Want And Want What You Have (0-06-019409-X,
$24.95) provides a spiritual advice guide to personal success, blending Western
psychology with Eastern meditation and advice on keys to personal success.
Positive thinking is a large part of it in this guide to methods of attaining a
happier frame of mind. John Dominic Crossan's Birth Of Christianity (061660-1,
$20.00) reveals how Christianity emerged in the years following Jesus' death.
Theological and cultural history blend in a survey which argues that
Christianity would have happened with or without Paul - and how early views of
Christianity differ from modern perspectives. An intriguing history.
Scarecrows
Felder Rushing
Storey Books
Box 445, Pownal, VT 05261
1-58017-067-6 $19.95
Folklore blends with practical advice in this guide to the making and history
of scarecrows. The focus is upon constructing various scarecrows using
different materials, but chapters of scarecrow history provide an excellent
historical overview of the art and craft of scarecrow construction.
Pooh and the Millennium
John Teyerman Williams
Dutton
345 Hudson Street, New York NY 10014
0-525-45950-2 $20.00
Fans of Milne's Pooh and the later adult books which use Pooh's style to
communicate ideas will appreciate this spoof on Pooh in a semi-scholarly survey
to examine the dawning of the new millennium. Spiritual and social concerns of
the bear are illuminated in a title which reads like fiction but holds many
insights into the social condition.
Knowledge in a Nutshell
Charles Reichblum
ARPR, Inc.
1420 Centre Avenue, Suite 2216, Pittsburgh, PA 15219-3528
0-9660991-8-4 $7.50 1-412-765-2020
Charles Reichblum's fascinating Knowledge In A Nutshell is a compendium of more
than five hundred real-life information tidbits that are so bizarre, wacky, and
off-the-wall that they were never included in any school room history book.
Readers will learn which U.S. state no longer exists; the identify of the man
who was personally present when three different American presidents were
assassinated; which King of England couldn't speak English; what hamburgers are
called "hamburgers" when they have no ham in them; who was the youngest
American president (and no, it wasn't John F. Kennedy); what were the largest
animals who ever lived on earth (and no, it's not the dinosaurs); and a great
deal more. Knowledge In A Nutshell is ideal for trivia fans and anyone else who
is a student of the odd, unusual, and the idiosyncratic.
Memories of a Lost Egypt
Colette Rossant
Clarkson Potter
201 E. 50th Street, New York NY 10022
0-609-60150-4 $20.00
It's hard to easily categorize this presentation, which blends autobiography,
social memoir and recipe collection. A young French girl comes of age in Egypt,
pulled between secular Judaism and Catholicism, and recalls the one thing which
held her world together - food. The result is much more than a peppering of
recipes, but a powerful account of family interactions and connections.
Dance for a City
Lynn Garafola & Eric Foner
Columbia University Press
562 West 113th Street, New York NY 10025
0-231-11546-6 $50.00
Fifty years of the New York City Ballet are charted in a review of changing
dance movements, individual achievements, and the history of ballet in the
city. This appears in conjunction with a major exhibition at the New York
Historical Society and packs in fine vintage photos edited by a dance scholar
and curator as it examines the history of the New York City Ballet.
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