Dance upon the Air (Three Sisters Island Trilogy)

Amazon.com's Best of 2001

Setting: Three Sisters Island, coast of New England, present day

Sensuality rating: 6

Perennial New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts's new Three Sisters Island trilogy is pure magic! No, I mean really magic. An intriguing combination of The Witches of Eastwick and Sleeping With the Enemy, Dance Upon the Air introduces readers to the idyllic town of Three Sisters Island. Reputedly conjured by a trio of sisters seeking to escape the Salem witch-hunts, the island remains a place of quiet refuge for one and all, including pretty Nell Channing who arrives in town afraid of her own shadow, with few possessions and no past. But the warm, sunny days and cool, windswept nights, as well as the loving concern of new friends--especially hunky sheriff Zack Todd--soon lure skittish Nell into a much-welcome fresh life. Nell's new boss, the captivatingly lovely bookstore owner Mia Devlin (look for Mia's story, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future), wonders from what or whom Nell is running. Mia treats Nell as she would a sister, which isn't too far off the mark, helping Nell discover and explore her inner resources while Zack's romantic attentions bring a rosy glow to Nell's cheeks and to her future. But something wicked this way comes… Will Nell be ready to face and conquer her past? Even with the love and support of Mia, Zack, and Zack's fellow police officer, his peppery, down-to-earth sister Ripley, Nell has the fight of her life--the fight for her life--on her hands. Roberts continues to delight fans and create new believers with her talent and imagination. --Alison Trinkle

Book Description

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author-the first book in the reissued Three Sisters Island trilogy is a tale of friendship, fate, and the mysterious ways of the heart.

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Nell, Ripley, and Mia are three women bound by the magic, legends, and romance of the Massachusetts coast in the first novel in Roberts's bewitching new "Three Sisters Island" trilogy.

Customer Reviews:

Fun Read!.......2007-09-10

I absolutely loved this book, and I can't wait to read the second in the trilogy. I loved the characters, the setting, everything! I have yet to read something by Nora Roberts that I dislike. Pick up one of her novels, you will not be disappointed.

The first in the triology leaves you wanting more..........2007-08-13

I finished the first in the triology this weekend and I couldn't wait to start the next book. This book was hard to put down and I found myself reaching for the book when I had more than a few minutes to savor it.Nora Roberts paints a vivid picture of the Island and its inhabitants. Her characters come alive on the pages making it easy to picture yourself in the setting and becoming involved in the drama. It's a great read and I can't wait to get to book three. Savoring book two....

Great for Women who are or have been abused.......2007-07-04

This story is an example that women do not need to take domestic violence and there is a way out. It is a very romantic story with some "magic" involved. I recommend you check it out and see for yourself.

classic Nora Roberts.......2007-05-15

I have audio tapes of this trilogy (Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, Face the Fire), purchased at a used book store, and enjoyed the story so much that I wanted the unabridged books on disc. The discs are well worth the purchase price. Narration and clarity of sound are excellent. This trilogy is my favorite Roberts trilogy -- pure escapism at its best. This set is worth a place in my permanent collection -- I'm sure I'll listen to it many times.

Island Getaway.......2007-05-13

As usual, Nora Roberts delivers another excellent series. This series was one of the first Nora Roberts books I discovered.

Since then, and yeah, I'm a guy, and I lift weights, and I'm a straight macho guy, ad nauseum, but I love Nora Robert's writings, I have read thirty five of her books in the last three months.

The ladies at my favorite restaurant enjoy talking to me about Nora Roberts. I have a couple of them reading Nora Roberts and one lady and I are exchanging different copies of her books.

Enjoy this series. It is one of her best. It has the best blend of magic, romance, good plot twists, and strong characterization. Her series creates a desire in you to pick up the atlas and start hunting down the island and it's inhabitants.

And guys...with Nora Roberts you just might gather a little insight into the minds of these amazing female creatures. One hint...bring lots of chocolate and never forget what outfit and scent she wore the first time you met her.

Nora...I'm about to figure you out!

Average customer rating:

Fabulous plays!
Beautiful melancholy
"The folk of Argos are my folk. I must open their eyes."
good but not great
Hell is other people, and they exist to torture you.

No Exit and Three Other Plays
Jean-Paul Sartre
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679725164
Release Date: 1989-10-23

Book Description

4 plays about an existential portrayal of Hell, the reworking of the Electra-Orestes story, the conflict of a young intellectual torn between theory and conflict and an arresting attack on American racism.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous plays!.......2006-12-23

This book is a wonderful collection of plays written by the brilliant intellect of Sartre. It is an essential reading for the philosopher at heart.

Beautiful melancholy.......2006-11-26

Sartre is sometimes given a reputation that far precedes him, as with many Nobel recipients. These plays are a testament against the skeptic's mindset.

"No Exit" is a modern-day interpretation of the antiquated "fire and brimstone" hell we are so accustomed to hearing about. Sartre adroitly picks up on the small idiosyncracies of human behavior and capitalizes on them with his version of hell. Three incompatible personalities are locked in a hot, stuffy hotel room for eternity, unable to get along with one another or reconcile their personal differences. The lights are always a bit too bright, the furniture a bit too stiff, and the wonder at "what lies down the hall" eats at the occupants for eternity. This is a far cry from biblical interpretations of hell, where an individual can mentally will themselves against pain. Instead, Sartre focuses on the interpersonal nature of unhappiness, and gives his spirits "one of those days" for eternity.

"Dirty Hands" is perhaps my favorite piece of literature. It plants its focus on a young intellectual revolutionary intent on assassinating a corrupt party leader. As he grows closer to Hoederer, the man he is sent to kill, he comes to realize that pure intellectual theories will always become muddied in the waters of reality.

"The Respectful Prostitute" depicts a young woman, a prostitute, who spends the night with a man who turns out to be a politician. The man completes his sordid mission, but the next morning scorns the woman. An lesson in objectivity and the two-faced nature of those who tend to preach loudly.

"The Flies" is set in Ancient Greece, but possesses Sartre's aptitude for human behavior. Just as good as all the others, though not as indicative of how humans behave.

These are all plays, making them quite easy to read. The characters are not hard to keep straight. The ease of reading doesn't detract from their literary quality. These four plays are elegant simplicity at its finest.

"The folk of Argos are my folk. I must open their eyes.".......2006-08-04

I have read this little collection countless times over the years. I have seen Huit Clos (No Exit) performed several times (generally poorly) but it has never quite lived up to the power that I find in the written version. I realize that this is unusual for a play, and may reflect a fault in Sartre's work rather than a strength.

It is important to remember, however, that Sartre's work is always more about the ideas behind it than it is about the form he is using. Sartre wrote novels, plays, essays, and criticism during his long career. Through it all, he was a philosopher-- struggling with the notion of freedom and indifference.

People (particularly students) tend to stop with No Exit, neglecting its less famous cousins. This is a shame, as both The Flies and Dirty Hands are fascinating pieces. Particularly if you have an interest in the Oresteia then The Flies is a wonderful interpretation.

A must read book.

good but not great.......2006-07-09

These four plays were good plays- they are easier to understand if one is familiar with Sartre's philosophy. The plots in all these plays were both unique and exciting yet at times, especially in dirty hands and the flies, the plays seem to drag on and on. Had the plays been shorter, Sartre's main point would have been made clearer and more forcefully. In plays, it's hard to communicate character background yet with a novel the author can just describe it from third-person perspective. I think perhaps these plays would have been more successful and more dramatic had they been written as short novels with more description and character analysis. At times I felt that the characters were explored and described in superfical ways. All in all, these were good plays yet I cant say I loved them. This might just be me though since I have never been too fond of the format of plays- i feel like it never gets to the heart of the character since you only get dialogue with little analysis.

Hell is other people, and they exist to torture you........2005-10-13

This book is an answer to a question many people have been avoiding all their lives. And when you finally develop the ability to ask it to yourself, Sartre provides his suggested answer for you, though it may not be the answer you wanted.

The premise of the main play, "No Exit", is that many people have chosen to exist in misery, even when the exit to that misery presents itself clearly. For these people, there is "no exit". Their existance is defined by their misery. If they make the concious decision to exit, then they have nothing to live for.

All four plays are written in non-pretentious and easy to understand styles, unlike many philisophical writings. They don't require a great deal of effort to read or understand. In fact, they are quite enjoyable and I found myself reading each play many times before moving on to the next one.

Don't expect to feel uplifted about the state of humanity while reading these plays, however. Sartre's message about human existance can be a dismal one. It is quite helpful, though, to come to terms with the fact that many of our fellow humans are just puzzled about their lives, and sharing a social existance with these people can be precarious to your own search for meaning.

Nora Roberts Three Sisters Island CD Collection: Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, Face the Fire (Three Sisters Island Trilogy)

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Three Sisters
Three Sisters Island CD
A good escape
face the fire

Nora Roberts Three Sisters Island CD Collection: Dance Upon the Air, Heaven and Earth, Face the Fire (Three Sisters Island Trilogy)
Nora Roberts
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio on CD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1597377058
Release Date: 2005-08-25

Book Description

Dance Upon the Air: When Nell Channing arrives on charming Three Sisters Island, she believes that she's finally found refuge from her abusive husband… But even in this quiet, peaceful place, Nell never feels entirely at ease. Just as Nell starts to wonder if she'll ever be able to break free of her fear, she realizes that the island suffers from a terrible curse - one that can only be broken by the descendants of the Three Sisters, the witches who settled the island back in 1692.

Heaven and Earth: Ripley Todd just wants to live a quiet, peaceful kind of life. Her job as a sheriff's deputy keeps her busy and happy. She's perfectly content, except for one thing: she has special powers that both frighten and confuse her - and though she tries hard to hide them, she can't get them under control… Distraction soon arrives in the handsome form of MacAllister Booke - a researcher who's come to investigate the rumors of witchcraft that haunt Three Sisters Island.

Face the Fire: Mia Devlin knows what it is like to love with your whole heart - and then watch your love walk away. Years ago, she and Sam Logan shared an incredible bond built on passion, legend, and fate. But then one day he fled Three Sisters Island, leaving her lost in memories of the magic they shared - and determined to live without love. The new owner of the island's only hotel, Sam has returned to Three Sisters with hopes of winning back Mia's affections. She'll need his help - and his powers - to face her greatest, most terrifying challenge.

Customer Reviews:

Three Sisters.......2007-09-18

I love this story, however, not as captivating as the Circle Trilogy with all the action but really good and would recommend it to anyone. I'm starting on the Key Trilogy now and heard it was very good. Nora Roberts is an excellent versatile writer. I love her spiritual supernatural hero/heroine triologies.

Three Sisters Island CD.......2007-07-03

This CD kept me througly engrossed during my recent car trip. I didn't even want to arrive at my destination until I had heard the last sentence.
The story of witchcraft, romance, and relationships is compelling. The characters are enchanting with their quirks, personal histories, and involvement with each other. The narrative is easy to understand.
I definitely recommend this for entertaining listening.

A good escape.......2007-06-01

This series is very entertaining. You like all of the characters right away, and somehow, even though it is a fantasy storyline, you can relate to and with all of the characters, both women and men. The only thing I did not like was the narrator deepening her voice and using different tones to be three different men. Otherwise a good listen and escape.

face the fire.......2007-02-21

this set of stories were execellent. so open and easy to follow you can't miss what is happening. the three of them with their speciality and love is so heart warming and romantic.

The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries: Three Classic Hillerman Mysteries Featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn: The Blessing Way/Dance Hall of the Dead/Listening Woman

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Three Joe Leaphorn Mysteries
You'll Enjoy Hillerman's Flights of Imagination
My first Hillerman book, it made me buy all the others!

The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries: Three Classic Hillerman Mysteries Featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn: The Blessing Way/Dance Hall of the Dead/Listening Woman
Tony Hillerman
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0060161744

Customer Reviews:

Three Joe Leaphorn Mysteries.......2005-07-24

---"The Blessing Way"---

"He stirs, he stirs, he stirs, he stirs,"

"Among the lands of dawning, he stirs, he stirs.
The pollen of dawning, he stirs, he stirs.
Now in old age wandering, he stirs, he stirs.
Now on the trail of beauty, he stirs,
Talking God, he stirs..."
It is in the 1970's pre-cell phone where parallel lives take place. We have an Indian wanted for a stabbing who turns up dead. Not just dead but in the wrong place. Not the wrong place but in a mysterious way. There is also a team of archeologists looking into which craft (they just may find it). One archeologist seems to be missing. A strange Navaho has his hat stolen but the silver hat band left. A woman is coming to visit her fiancé is in for an adventure she did not count on. From all of this Joe Leaphorn must make some sort of sense.
It is the descriptiveness of Tony Hillerman that goes beyond the mystery to pant a picture of a different world that we get to glimpse in the process of reading.
Read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall ads a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting pronunciation of certain words. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version.

----------------------------------------
---"Dance Hall of the Dead"---

The Fire God is missing

Twelve-year-old Ernesto Cata (Zuñi) is practicing to be the Fire God in a local ceremony. His best buddy George Bowlegs (Navaho) is a Zuñi wana-be.

Ernesto is missing and there is a pool of blood by his bike. The next day his buddy George runs off. It is up to Sgt. Joe Leaphorn to find the boys before anything happens to them (if it has not already.)

As with most of Hillerman's novels everyone has different agendas and stories that overlap. There are alleged stolen artifacts form and archeological dig, and possibly a drug interest. They may or may not interact. We also get a good dose of Zuñi culture, and a feel that we are in the area.

Hillerman is nice enough to leave sufficient clues to let you figure out the mystery before Leaphorn and you then get to watch as he finally comes around to your way of thinking.

Another book by Hillerman "The Boy who Made Dragonfly" further describes the dance hall of the dead (Kothluwalawa.)

Author's Note:
"In this book, the setting is genuine. The village of Zuñi and the landscape of the Zuñi reservation are depicted to the best of my ability. The characters are purely fictional. The view the reader receives of the Sha'lak'o religion is as it might be seen by a Navajo with an interest in ethnology. It does not pretend to be more than that."
--------------------------------
---"Listening Woman"---

A great cliff hanger

Joe Leaphorn can put the loose ends together even when no one else realizes there are loose ends. The story starts out with an old man being bludgeoned and later Leaphorn is intentionally almost rundown by a mysterious man in gold rimed glasses. He tries to tie these together. Then he uses an old robbery as an excuse to get out of a Boy Scout commitment and track down the antagonist. Needles to say the story gets more convoluted for everyone but Leaphorn.
This is an excellent story with the added plus of the description of the area and the Navaho that occupies this area. What seems at first to be over description later enhances the final scenes.
Speaking about the location and Navaho, even the schools, this story is even more enjoyable if you read "Seldom Disappointed" first. Tony describes how he comes by the plot and the people. He even goes out to locations first as research.
I have read the book but the addition of the voice of George Guidall adds a dimension to the story by helping visualize the people and correcting pronunciation of certain words. I suggest you read the book and listen to the recorded version.

You'll Enjoy Hillerman's Flights of Imagination.......2000-07-17

In this volume, encompassing three novels, we are introduced to Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, educated at a White college yet living on the reservation, and discover some of the ways of the Dineh, the people. The subject novels -- "The Blessing Way," "Dance Hall of the Dead," and "Listening Women" were written between 1970 and 1978, and deal with the effects of jealousy, greed, rage, and revenge brought onto the Navajo reservation by outsiders. Hillerman has an unerring talent for using small bits of Indian culture to weave convincing stories laced with an inticate pattern of mystery.

From day one, Hillerman has been a successful mystery writer. He writes with integrity about the lives of the Southwest Indians (emphasis on the Navajo) with perception and understanding. Hillerman has won many fans with his series of mysteries but some in the Navajo nation are disturbed over a White author writing about their "ways" even though Hillerman doesn't get into secret tribal matters. Regardless, Hillerman has fostered a lot of good will for the Navajo, the Zuni, and the Hopi with his large audience of readers.

Over the years, the possibilities inherent in the mystery formula have become exhausted. Hillerman has developed, within the framework of the formula, a Navajo policeman who solves crimes with a mixture of modern and ancient skills and also educates readers about Navajo beliefs. Hillerman's stories don't challenge a reader's intellect. That isn't the author's intention. What he produces is a likable hero, descriptions of fabulous scenery, unobtrusive murders, and the absorbing lives of the Navajo. The author ably works the White and the Idnian worlds as he explains the reality of Whites and some off-reservation Indians intruding on the reservation and the resulting conflicts. In Hillerman's mysteries the reservation Indians always win.

The author's writing skills are evident as he mixes the acts and thoughts of different individuals smoothly and coherently in "The Blessing Way." The author employs McKee, a close friend of Leaphorn, to do most of the work. McKee deduces, faces danger, solves dilemmas, but Leaphorn actually ties the loose ends together at the finale. Leaphorn reveals clues but you'll be none the wiser unless you have some knowledge of Southwestern weather, fauna, hieroglyphics, Indian beliefs, and similar arcana.

The author uses the "Dance hall of the Dead," to really educate a reader in SW Indian lore. The central point to the story is an archeological excavation and the disruption brought by the White man to the reservation. Navajo mysticism pervades this murder mystery. We learn about the Beautiful Mesa Families, who elected to die when Kit Carson arrived in 1864; Zuni Indian spirits who join the Kachinas and become one of them; the Navajo Chindi who spread sickness and evil among the Dineh; and the Shalako Ceremony which grants fertility to crops and brings needed rain to the desert regions of the reservation.

In the "Listening Women," Hopi ways are introduced as are the Navajo concepts of -- Remaining in harmony with the universe; Navajo wolves identified as men and women who turn from harmony to chaos and assume the guise of Coyotes, Dogs, Wolves, and Bears in order to spread sickness among the Dineh; Disharmonious sand paintings which can cause death; and Destruction of tradtitional Kiowa medicine bundles when the Buffalo disappeared. While this quantity of information might seem daunting to a reader, author Hillerman allows Joe Leaphorn to solve a murder while smoothly inculcating a reader in Native American lore.

The author has applied a gentle and refined twist to the mystery formula by creating an intriguing product employing Southwest Indian lore, the masterful Joe Leaphorn, and a little murder or two wrappoed up in a pleasing package. Try Tony Hillerman's mysteries, you'll enjoy his flights of imagination.

My first Hillerman book, it made me buy all the others!.......1997-11-10

The Joe Leaphorn mysteries by Tony Hillerman have become one of my favorite reads. I never thought that I would be interested in mysteries set on an indian reservation but this book changed all that. After reading this book I found and read every Hillerman book I could find and watch the lists for new ones. I have also learned a lot about reservation life and have a new-found respect and understanding of what life is like for the American Indian today. Kudos to Tony Hillerman!

Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra

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Desire Under the Elms
mourning becomes elektra
THREE MASTERPIECES
need some ideas
Three great and rarely performed plays by Eugene O'Neill

Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra
Eugene O'Neill
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679763961
Release Date: 1995-10-31

Book Description

These three plays exemplify Eugene O'Neil's ability to explore the limits of the human predicament, even as he sounds the depths of his audiences' hearts.

Customer Reviews:

Desire Under the Elms.......2006-08-20

Its the only play i read in the book. It was an interesting read. The dialect is sometimes hard to understand, only a few words though.
The play is fast moving and interesting. The scandalous Eben-???(dont want to ruin it for you) relationship is unexpected and dramatic. Perhaps too dramatic, in a rome and juliet complex.

mourning becomes elektra.......2001-11-10

Oneill, death death death, this is rereleased in vintage 1958,
mourning becomes electra , strange interlude, required reading
for all playwrights of our era.

THREE MASTERPIECES.......2001-02-15

Each of the three plays in this volume are beautiful in their own way, with a poignant message that you'll be the better for hearing. O'Neill's genius is breathtaking and sometimes I wonder how he does it. Out of all his plays, there's not a stinker in the bunch.

need some ideas.......1999-09-28

i need a thesis for a paper on strange interlud

Three great and rarely performed plays by Eugene O'Neill.......1998-11-18

One of these three great plays by Eugene O'Neill is Strange Interlude which was written in 1923 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 when it originally ran on Broadway. Its running time is over four hours and it is usually performed with a dinner break. It is a family chronicle, of sorts, following the life of Nina Leeds and her family in a small university town in New England - from her early days as a young woman mourning the loss of her ideal lover during WWI, through her middle age years. It is the story of a family's secret and their determination to keep this secret unknown by others, and sometimes even to themselves. The play's most unusual quality, though, is found in the words that each character speaks. Not only do they converse with each other using naturalistic dialogue, but they also voice their subtext, which is unheard by the other characters in the play, but is heard by the audience. This device brings to the surface the secret life that each character in the play carries with them but is not willing to reveal to others. It creates, in the audience, as if it were another character in the play, a "sharer" of these stage characters' secrets. Through it all we view the lives of these characters with a fondness, and we root for them. Perhaps we root for them because we know, very much, why they are doing the things they do to each other.

Amazon.com

Playwright David Mamet's three lectures at Columbia University are ostensibly about issues of dramatic structure, but as they unfold, and Mamet continually explores the relationship between dramatic structure and the lives we live, much broader concerns are revealed. Here, for example, is Mamet on political propaganda:

It is ... essential to the healthy political campaign that the issues be largely or perhaps totally symbolic--i.e., non-quantifiable. Peace With Honor, Communists in the State Department, Supply Side Economics, Recapture the Dream, Bring Back the Pride--these are the stuff of pageant. They are not social goals; they are, as Alfred Hitchcock told us, the MacGuffin.... The less specific the qualities of the MacGuffin are, the more interested the audience will be.... A loose abstraction allows audience members to project their own desires onto an essentially featureless goal.

Although occasionally academic, the overall tone of the lectures is consistent with Mamet's no-nonsense manner of speech. He has no time for obfuscation and little time for repetition, save when he must absolutely employ it for emphasis. He is passionate about good theater, and passionate about the truth. 3 Uses of the Knife makes an excellent companion piece to his True and False, which addressed similar philosophical matters in the form of advice on the actor's craft.

Book Description

What makes good drama? And why does drama matter in an age that is awash in information and entertainment? With bracing directness and aphoristic grace, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross delivers a thrillingly original treatise on his art.

To David Mamet, human beings are drama-creating animals who impose narrative structures on everything from today's weather to next year's elections. Mamet distinguishes true drama from its false variants, unravels the infamous "Second-Act Problem," amd considers the mysterious persistence of the soliloquy. Three Uses of the Knife is an inspired guide for any playwright or theatergoer that doubles as a trenchant work of moral and aesthetic philosophy.

Customer Reviews:

A contemporary poetic........2006-03-13

This book is a great essay about dramaturgy and politics that evolves some philosophical and psychological theories.

My Copy Is Torn To Shreds!.......2004-01-23

I bought this book when it first came out in hardcover. It was about triple the price that it is now on Amazon, and many people I knew thought I was insane to buy such a small book for a high price.

But to me -- it was all too worth it.

David Mamet is all at once a very clear writer and a very mysterious writer. Critics of this particular book mainly see fault in its "seeming" lack of clarity -- Mamet has the intellect of an academic but does not feel that he should write like a dry academic because ACADEMIC PAPERS ARE BORING -- right? At least, I think so.

Three Uses of The Knife -- I've read it about 30 times, I've underlined my favorite parts, and the dust jacket is falling to shreds. When I had Mamet sign it at a book reading he gave me this confused look because everyone had a brand-new book (it was South of the Northeast Kingdom) and I had this tattered one. I had to have that book signed because that book is really awesome and means a lot to me (it taught me alot).

Wether you love it or hate it you have to appriciate it. Mamet's genius is undeniable, and the confidence he enbues in his writing is unforgettable.

fundamentalist brainstorm.......2003-12-22

This reads like a weekend brainstorm into the dictaphone, or party-chatter with metropolitan friends. First glance - you've got the large font, wide-margins and generous line-spacing to pad these notes out into a book. Then you notice that nearly every paragraph includes several parenthetical thoughts (like I just had another way-outer to squeeze in here, okay?), plus quoted after-thoughts (sorry, couldn't find "the right words" just then, you know?) - and foreign phrases swept in from every part of the old country - like this gem: "This pronunciamento can be taken as a jejune promise". Footnoted brain-sprinkles complete the overall intellectual profile of this work.

The reader doesn't get any help to piece it all together. Eventually, you might suspect Mamet has something to say about the "three acts" of theatre (no other dramatic structures apparently exist). Mamet dips here and there into the function of drama, his bold thesis being that theatre is magic. Theatre, he declares, is a place of wonder, and no place for popular entertainment or politics. We are to walk out of theatres with "cleansing awe", knowing we are "sinful and worthless".

Mamet never considers any ideas apart from his own. He draws heavily on the Old Testament and a primer on Freud for back-up, but no theatre theorists ever get a mention - apart from Brecht, with a single word, namely: "problematic".

Most of "Three Uses" is actually nothing to do with theatre. It's an outpouring of quotables about statesmanship, the "Information Age", the psychology of the masses, the causes of gambling ... all argued with arrogant inconsistency: Mamet rails against "centralisation by the body politic", and then derides all manner of extremism; he argues against "avant garde nonsense" with absurd phrases like "In endorsing a blank canvas, or the Domino Theory, the individual becomes like a King Canute". For Mamet, "good art" is no more than The Bible, Shakespeare and Bach, plus an American work - "Death of a Salesman", of course. There are no surprises in the ideas, however much they're dressed to impress with showy associations and stiff fundamentalism. Too bad that the result is more like a freshman's freewheeling weblog on "life", than anything from the likes of Brook or Grotowski on "the theatre". American critics equating it with such works is no more than chauvinism.

One use of the knife Mamet forgot was editing. Then he might have been able to communicate something useful here - into 3 or 4 pages. But there's no holding back the primary process exhibitionist. You have to get out the knife and do the editing yourself.

Oh, yes, the knife. Nice title, and it's the substance of a few lines near the end, which Mamet cares - and seems only able - to explain by offering more curly metaphor: "the knife is the dramatist's bass line". Meaning? Dramatists are misanthropes who basically want to kill their audiences? Who knows, but the meandering content and grandiose style of this work sure suggests Mamet's fundamental contempt for the reader.

Premium content, distractingly poor typography........2003-09-01

I just got this book this morning and these are preliminary reactions.
First of all, the content rocks!
Mamet suggestivey points out how we dramatize our lives in our banal exchanges with each other about impersonal things like the weather. In doing so we endow our lives with significance. The insight reminds me of how charged the world once was when I was in love for the first time. I am sure that the access that this small volume gives to an interesting mind repay reading and reading. This is one of those books that makes you think and makes you feel clever for the thinking the thoughts it guides you to.
Unfortunately, I find the poor word-processed typography is distracting. One line has the the initial capital of a sentence squeezed up against the period of the preceding one. The next line has wide open spaces between the words. Paragraph after paragraph finishes with the dangling ends of hyphenated words. I would rather pay a dollar more for a clean view of a remarkable mind.
Surely a respected publishing company can do better than just feed the author's data file to a poorly automatic compositing application and then print the results unperused by human eye?

An artistic credo well worth reading.......2003-02-01

While Mamet's booklet is essentially an exposition of opinions with little or no discourse, it is extremely thought provoking and provides ample fuel for thinking about drama - and art in general - as lying at the edge of reason.

In a treatise that mirrors the three act structure he discusses, Mamet eloquently puts forth the idea that much of political drama, by instructing us what to think and feel, is mere melodrama and that "the theatre exists to deal with problems of the soul, with the mysteries of human life, not with its quotidian calamities." He assails avant-garde artists for taking "refuge in nonsense" and electing themselves "superior to reason," yet also criticizes the "hard-bitten rationalist who rails against religious tradition, against the historical niceties, against ritual large and small."

Customer Reviews:

A great book!.......2000-04-05

Being a fan of all things film, I was naturally overjoyed when my girlfriend recently presented me with this book. Having seen the three great films featured in it, I approached the text with high expectations and was most definately not let down. My favourite part of the book is the introduction by Burns, wherein he writes openly of how he came to be a film-maker and also how he eventually made his debut feature and finally got it distributed. The standout of the three scripts is 'The Brothers McMullen', which presents an amusing look into family life and relationships that just about everyone can identify with. The film, which won the Best Picture Prize at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival, is equally amusing to read as it is to watch, as are the other two scripts, 'She's the One' and 'No Looking Back'. As a film student myself, I found this book to be great reading and count it as one of my favourite script compilations (along with 'Clerks & Chasing Amy : Two Screenplays' by Kevin Smith). I thoroughly recommend it for anyone who has any kind of interest in film, as it certainly a great read.

Elmer Rice: Three Plays: The Adding Machine, Street Scene and Dream Girl

Average customer rating:

Cool

Elmer Rice: Three Plays: The Adding Machine, Street Scene and Dream Girl
Elmer Rice
Manufacturer: Hill and Wang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0809007355

Customer Reviews:

Cool.......2007-03-21

This is a pretty neat book. It has great 'what you want to know' info about everything cultural, historical, environmental about the camino. I wish it wasn't so bulky - but there's just so much stuff to pack in there! My biggest complaint is that when you are just wading through it's a little hard to weed out what you want to read about from what you don't want to read about. But I guess that's no fault of the authors' since they can't read my mind. :) Great book w/ really cool info. Nice to read before you go - and you wish you could take it w/ you.

Average customer rating:

More educational than engrossing
An audacious novel
A Most Interesting Meta-Fiction
Impressive First Novel. Not for Casual Readers.
An Intelligent, Complex Novel of Ideas

Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance
Richard Powers
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0688042015

Book Description

In the spring of 1914, renowned photographer August Sander took a photograph of three young men on their way to a country dance. This haunting image, capturing the last moments of innocence on the brink of World War I, provides the central focus of Powers's brilliant and compelling novel. As the fate of the three farmers is chronicled, two contemporary stories unfold. The young narrator becomes obsessed with the photo, while Peter Mays, a computer writer in Boston, discovers he has a personal link with it. The three stories connect in a surprising way and provide the reader with a mystery that spans a century of brutality and progress.

Customer Reviews:

More educational than engrossing.......2004-11-21

I like Richard Powers, in fact, I'd rate his "Galatea 2.2" as one of my top ten novels of all time.

But "Three Farmers" (which I read _after_ "Galatea" and "The Goldbug Variations" and "Gain") was a bit of a let down. Sure, it had all the intellectual stimulation that I expected. And yes, it had some great quotes (both from Powers and from others that he cites ... such as "The world has changed less since the death of Jesus than it has in the past 30 years").

What went wrong? Maybe I was just not in the mood. Maybe it was the lack of a compelling love interest (so powerful in his other novels). Maybe it was that his historical lectures (on Ford, WW I, Sarah Berndhart, and photography) were a bit too pedantic.

But what really bothered me was the gimmicky ending: in the final two pages, one of the protagonists (who is on the verge of continuing a relationship with a female character) abruptly stops and asks (the reader? the author?) "So does he [I] get the girl?" ... and he walks out of her life forever. Huh?

Okay, so Powers has just finished a lecture on how (in photography, at least) there is a fascinating relationship between photographer, subject, and viewer. They fulfill each other, they create each other, they cannot exist without each other. I get it: this same relationship exists between author, characters, and reader. But to take a 350 page narrative and have it end on this cheesy metaphysical note .. a bit of a let down. I'm not even sure what is happening: is the character stepping out of the novel and into the readers reality? If this is so important to Powers, why not at least develop it for a few pages rather than tack it on in the last page?

This device reminds me of Pirandello's "Seven Characters in Search of an Author" ... but in that case it was a successful device because it was clear what was happening, and gave the audience something to chew on.

Try one of Power's other books.

An audacious novel.......2004-08-20

Mr Powers begins his novel by following a narrator travelling by train from Chicago to Boston. He has to change trains in Detroit and since he has several hours at his leisure, he decides to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts. There, he is puzzled by a photograph taken by Augustus Sander in 1914 showing three farmers on their way to a dance. The reader follows the narrator's progress as he tries to find answers to the questions that preoccupy him about the photograph: who took it, why was it taken, who are the three farmers appearing in the picture.
On another level, Mr Powers gives a fictional account - or it may also be the result of the narrator's research, it is not explicit in the text - of the action taking place at the time the photograph was taken and also what happens subsequently. And so the reader gets to know the three farmers Hubert, Peter and Adolphe.
Yet on another level, the author introduces various contemporary characters working in the Powell Building for a magazine called "Micro Monthly News": Mays, Moseley, Delaney. After having at first the impression that the events at this level are unrelated to the two other levels, the reader soon realises that there is a connection indeed.
What makes Mr Powers's novel interesting are his many reflections on various topics. These range from the situation of a small Belgian village called Petit Roi during the First World War, the part that Henry Ford played in that war, various personalities like Darwin, Freud, Gödel, Planck or Sarah Bernhardt, to the Industrial Revolution and the changes that mechanisation brought to our civilisation. And because the main protagonist so to speak of the novel is a photograph, Mr Powers also deals in detail in the history of photography.
A very instructive novel, plenty of interesting points of view that show Mr Powers's broad knowledge.

A Most Interesting Meta-Fiction.......2003-11-11

I agree with the other customer reviewers of this novel when they state that it is a "difficult" work. In many ways, reading Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance is not even like reading a novel. The book uses its main stories as a clothesline to hang an astonishing number of meditations on history, culture, technology, and memory.

While the other customer reviews to a wonderful job of touching on most of the topics described above, the one area I would add is that the novel serves as an excellent explanation of the principles underlying the Heisenberg uncertainty principle: that it is impossible to study anything or anyone without bringing the researcher's bias into the study. In this novel, the reader is treated to discussions on the subjectivity of history, as well as of the seemingly concrete art of photography, that will cause the reader not to be able to view either discipline in the same way after completing the book.

Hopefully, readers will not find all of the discussion of the more challenging aspects of the novel as a reason to find the book too intimidating to read, as it is a work that surely rewards the efforts necessary to read it.

Impressive First Novel. Not for Casual Readers........2003-10-31

This book consists of three intertwined sagas, all revolving around a picture of three farmers taken in 1914. The main idea behind this book, as I see it, is the interconnectedness of observer and observed. The lives of people who see this picture are irrevocably changed, but the prospect of having their picture seen by generations of future viewers, changes the lives of the three farmers as well. This is a recurring motif in the book.

After reading this book, I discovered two amazing facts. The first is that this is Richard Powers' first novel and as such the virtuosity and craftsmanship that Powers' exhibits in this book are truly incredible. The second incredible fact is that the picture around which the novel revolves is a real one. Had I known these facts before reading the book, I would have enjoyed it even more.

On the down side, this book is not an easy read. The story itself never really gripped me, and there are a lot of dead spots. In addition, while the prose is beautiful it demands concentration and close attention to every word and sentence. Bottom line, I will definitely read Powers' other works, but I cannot recommend this one to the casual reader.

An Intelligent, Complex Novel of Ideas.......2002-07-26

In 1910, Richard Powers relates in "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance," the German photographer August Sander came upon the idea of an epic photographic collection to be called "Man of the Twentieth Century." Sander went on, during the next several decades, to take thousands of photographs of everyday life, "a massive, comprehensive catalog of people written in the universal language-photography."

One of Sander's photographs, taken in May, 1914, depicts three German farmers standing in a muddy road, their heads turned to the camera. The three farmers are dressed in their best suits, white shirts, ties, hats, and walking sticks. They are on their way to a dance. As Powers' first person narrator writes, "the date sufficed to show that they were not going to their expected dance. I was not going to my expected dance. We would all be taken blindfolded into a field somewhere in this tortured century and made to dance until we'd had enough. Dance until we dropped."

From this intriguing beginning, Richard Powers tells three stories, each of them connected through the photograph and through time. The first is that of the narrator, who stumbles upon Sander's photograph at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He becomes obsessed with the haunting aura of the photograph and spends the next several months trying to find out more about the photographer and the three men in the photograph. The second is that of the three farmers themselves-Hubert, Peter and Adolphe-and what happens to each of them when the Great War breaks out in Europe. The third story is that of Peter Mays, a writer for a computer trade magazine in 1980s Boston, who also becomes obsessed-not with the photograph, but with a beautiful red haired woman dressed in early twentieth century period costume that he sees on the street following a Veterans' Day Parade-and ultimately finds out that he has a connection to one of the men in the picture and to the events of the Great War.

To say that "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance" tells three stories is misleading, however, insofar as the novel is dominated not by plot, but, rather, by a range of discursive narratives on how the world has changed between the Great War, when Sander's photograph was taken, and the present day. Plot does not drive the action of Powers' densely intellectual novel; rather, it provides a touchstone for the narrator to explore certain events and fundamental ideas of the Twentieth Century. For example, when the office cleaning woman shows the narrator artifacts from the Great War, it strikes an intellectual cord that leads to a long discourse on Charles Peguy, the French thinker who, in 1913, made the subsequently oft-quoted remark that "the world had changed less since the death of Jesus than it had in the last thirty years," and the ideas "hidden" in Peguy's formulation. Similarly, the narrator's obsessive study of the 1914 photograph leads to an historical investigation of Sander's life and works. It also leads to speculations on the nature of photography and on how photography changed conceptions of art that derive closely from Walter Benjamin's classic essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction."

Ideas and intellectual referents are ubiquitous in this novel; simply read the epigraphs to each chapter to get a feel for the intellectual gyroscope that orients "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance". It is a remarkable work that demands a great deal from the reader. It is also a work that will disappoint anyone who is looking for a straightforward plot or a mere "page turner."

If you're interested in ideas, in novels with intellectual density, in narratives that force you to think deeply and reflectively about the world, "Three Farmers on Their Way to a Dance" is the perfect novel. Read it, enjoy it, and move on to the rest of Richard Powers' remarkable list of fictions.

Average customer rating:

I love the charmed ones

Totally Charmed:Demons,Whitelighters adn the Power of 3

so not charmed

Charmed & Dangerous

Intellectual Fun

Totally Charmed: Demons, Whitelighters and the Power of Three (Smart Pop series)

Manufacturer: Benbella Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Book of Three, Volume 2 (Charmed)

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ASIN: 1932100601

Book Description

** COMPLETELY UNAUTHORIZED **

From Cole's downfall and Phoebe's somewhat questionable fashion sense to the power of three in history and literature and a magical tourist's guide to the Halliwells's hometown of San Francisco, this clever, lighthearted essay collection offers a fun and funny look at the world of the WB hit series Charmed. Edited by New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Crusie, these accessible and entertaining essays apply the wit and insight of one of today's leading romance authors to the stylish, occasionally campy fan favorite known for its scandalous outfits, revolving door of love interests, and the magical mayhem of three otherwise normal sisters who must fight against evil as they deal with the challenges of everyday life.

Customer Reviews:

I love the charmed ones.......2007-05-16

I really thought it was different than it was. I found it a bit on the boring side and a bit of a mistake. The only interesting thing was it was about the charmed ones.

Totally Charmed:Demons,Whitelighters adn the Power of 3.......2006-03-16

I thought this book was good but it needed more about the show and less opinions. I would recommend this book to people who have follow the show but not for people that have not.

so not charmed.......2006-03-01

I found this book wasn't worth the money I paid for it. All it did was go on about how sexy Cole Turner and the older version of Chris was, what the girls were wearing and the power the girls have. But worse of all they did nothing but rubbish Leo and rave about women's lib. For me in the series, Leo is my favourite character, to me he makes the show, he shows the love he has for Piper and his two boys as well as fighting evil. He might be a whitelighter but to me he holds the family together, he's down to earth and trust worthy. As far as Cole goes if people only watch the show to see how sexy the men or women are then they're missing the whole meaning of the show! I have never liked Julian Mc Mahon even when he was in Home and Away. I think he loves himself and thinks he's just it! And frankly, he's nothing! Look what he did to his wife in real life? Married a few months and having an affair. They also wanted to get rid of Grams and the girl's mother and how glad they were that Prue is dead, I think the people who wrote this book are only interested in what is and isn't sexy and the power the girls have. They appear to have boring lives themselves and have to have television to have fantasies about what they're lives might of been. I mean if your a true lover of the show who cares who is better in bed a demon (Cole) or a whitelighter (Leo), or if Cole has a hairier chest than Leo? These people want Charmed to be a boring everyone's in bed soap opera or something similar. They aren't interested in the real meaning of the show! I have been too many charmed sites and hundreds of people have e-mailed these sites saying how upset they were that Leo is getting the axe. If amazon had zero then this is what I would of given this book, I found it very disappointing. I know my opinion doesn't amount to much, but I would suggest to others don't worry about getting this book because it isn't worth it if you are a true Charmed fan! Which these people who wrote in this book can't be! They're too busy living in the land of fairies!

Charmed & Dangerous.......2006-01-01

This book compiles a gaggle of essays on the facts, fans, flaws and fallacies of "Charmed." The chapters are written by a variety of fantasy, science fiction and romance novelists, modern witches, essayists, columnists, film critics, scientists and more.

The funny thing is, being a non-member of the "Charmed" fanverse, I expected to get bored with the book and quickly hand it off to another reviewer. But no, instead I found myself enjoying these deep, analytical explorations of a show I rarely watched. The hypotheses made and the arguments supporting them are interesting, and often quite fun. ("Charmed" fans must, by the show's very nature, have a good sense of humor, and that comes through in many of these essays.)

I can't say whether or not I'll become a fan of the show. But "Totally Charmed" has me wanting to turn on the television and give it a chance, and that has to be a victory for the writers.

Intellectual Fun.......2005-11-12

"Charmed" has always been a show that more than what it seemed. It was never really about 3 sisters with magical powers, but 3 sisters and their dynamic. That's one of the things that I loved about this book - it takes the ideas presented in the series over the course of the past 7 years (not including the current 8th season) and examine them. My favorite is the article discussing Piper's powers that both freeze and speed up time. Personally, I've always believed in magic, but I'm also aware that most of magic is just science. To learn that there is actually a scientific theory behind her power was absolutely fascinating.

So if you're looking for something a little different to read, pick this one up. You won't regret it.

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