Customer Reviews:
From beginner to average.......2007-10-18
Outstanding book that will take you from watching it on TV to making it deep in tournaments. Dan recommends a very basic tight and conservative approach but then again what beginner book doesn't. If you are new to the game then this is the place to start.
Many practical lessons. Much practical analysis........2007-10-12
This is a very good book. It is well organized. It provides exactly the type of analysis that you can use to improve your poker game. The author provides several methods of analysis. He gives play by play analysis. In one chapter he focuses on how to analyze that round of betting that happens before the flop. In another chapter he focuses on how to analyze your fellow players. In another chapter he show you how to focus on how the other players see you. Knowing how they see you will help you to analyze what you should do based not on how YOU see yourself but on how OTHERS in the game see you. I repeatedly find myself replaying in my mind my own previous losing hands. I see that I made mistakes that I would not have made had I known what I know from reading the examples in this book. Well worth the money.
Best Detailed Hold'Em Book Out There.......2007-09-21
We Bought all Three Harrington on Hold 'Em books and I'm still reading through the first one. There are real examples that you can read through and decide if the way you would play them matches how they should be played. He'll tell you precisely why the hands should be played that way. I can't wait to read the next two. There are excellent insights into starting hands, playing against aggressive players...well you just have to get the book to find out all the goodies inside. I have many other books on poker already (Super System I and II, etc.) but this book by far is the best one out there for No Limit Hold 'Em. Especially if you want to refine your play. I'm an advanced player but this is great for beginners too. It brings you back to basics. Enjoy!
Great book! Don't buy this if you are going to play against me........2007-09-17
This book has really helped me improve my game. It is very thourough, and gives you example hands with detailed explainations as to why you should play them a certain way. Don't read this if you want to stay mediocre in your Texas Hold-em game play.
Harrington on Hold'em Vol 1.......2007-09-16
Helpful, essential; valuable information. Not boring or hard to read, but delightful, enjoyable, easy to read, understand, and apply. One of the best books available.
Average customer rating:
- Better read the REAL Shakespeare
- Intriguing thriller
- Disappointed
- Two thumbs up!
- Delightful reading
|
The Book of Air and Shadows
Michael Gruber
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Suspense
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Christine Falls: A Novel
ASIN: 0060874465
Release Date: 2007-03-27 |
Book Description
A distinguished Shakespearean scholar found tortured to death . . .
A lost manuscript and its secrets buried for centuries . . .
An encrypted map that leads to incalculable wealth . . .
The Washington Post called Michael Gruber's previous work "a miracle of intelligent fiction and among the essential novels of recent years." Now comes his most intellectually provocative and compulsively readable novel yet.
Tap-tapping the keys and out come the words on this little screen, and who will read them I hardly know. I could be dead by the time anyone actually gets to read them, as dead as, say, Tolstoy. Or Shakespeare. Does it matter, when you read, if the person who wrote still lives?
These are the words of Jake Mishkin, whose seemingly innocent job as an intellectual property lawyer has put him at the center of a deadly conspiracy and a chase to find a priceless treasure involving William Shakespeare. As he awaits a killer—or killers—unknown, Jake writes an account of the events that led to this deadly endgame, a frantic chase that began when a fire in an antiquarian bookstore revealed the hiding place of letters containing a shocking secret, concealed for four hundred years. In a frantic race from New York to England and Switzerland, Jake finds himself matching wits with a shadowy figure who seems to anticipate his every move. What at first seems like a thrilling puzzle waiting to be deciphered soon turns into a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse, where no one—not family, not friends, not lovers—is to be trusted.
Moving between twenty-first-century America and seventeenth-century England, The Book of Air and Shadows is a modern thriller that brilliantly re-creates William Shakespeare's life at the turn of the seventeenth century and combines an ingenious and intricately layered plot with a devastating portrait of a contemporary man on the brink of self-discovery . . . or self-destruction.
Customer Reviews:
Better read the REAL Shakespeare.......2007-10-13
I picked up this book because I like books and I like Shakespeare. It turns out I should have read a work of Shakespeare then.
I didn't like this book for the following reasons:
1. Language. Just for your information, English is not my native language. Still I can tell that this book is written more like a freshman's essay about his pet than a work of literature. Even the parts in renaissance English sound as ridiculous and deep as a fancy shop owner calling his place 'Ye Auld Booke Shoppe'.
2. Credibility. The story of the narrator being an olympic weight-lifter alone is a laugh.
3. Tempo. The author drones on and on about side stories of the narrator's live that are way too long and of no interest at all. Add to this the fact that he is supposedly writing this in great danger and under a lot of pressure and it's just too much to bear.
4. Enough is enough. I stopped reading the book in the low 100's when nothing had happened yet and the narrator tells us how he had sex with every (ex-)wife of his best friend. "Louise and I had a single long afternoon about two weeks before she got married. She said she loved him ... but simply could not bear the thought of never doing it with another man and she said she always had a sneaker for me ... and wanted to see what it was like before the gate clanged shut." This sounds like one of these erotic stories one can read in an adult magazine. Honestly, his best friend and I both hope the bad guys will get to him in the end.
I don't know if this will happen as I haven't finished the book. I usually finish every book I start reading but this one just was too much.
Intriguing thriller.......2007-10-09
This is an extremely well-written book that keeps the reader guesing until the very end. There are a myriad of disparate characters, and all of them are well developed. The plot line involves an old manuscript that may or may not lead to an unknown play by Shakespeare, and it is very difficult to discern who are the "good Guys" and who are the "bad guys". Even by the end of the book I was still a bit confused as to what really happened, and whether or not the manuscript was genuine. If you like literary thrillers, and puzzles to figure out, you will certainly enjoy this book.
Disappointed.......2007-10-08
Although I like thrillers, including those with literary themes, I didn't finish this one. I just didn't care enough about most of the characters to warrent further reading. An Olympic weight-lifting lawyer...an ex-con priest...these just didn't work at all for me.
Two thumbs up!.......2007-09-30
Having read Gruber's first two books Tropic of Night and Valley of Bones I wasn't sure I was ready for a third. The first two having left me a bit nonplussed. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy books and movies that take a detour around reality but those two books made a right angle turn somewhere and I'm not sure I'm over them yet!
TBoAAS is a whole other beast. Slow moving, tedious at times, it none-the-less hooked me and drew me in until I could not walk away. I felt that that the first 2/3's of the book moved at a glacial pace. Which is great if you want to fully involve youself in the characters and the plot. At some point, which I can't precisely pin down, the pace picked up and hauled me, open-mouthed, to the final pages.
Honestly, who would have thought combining a self-absorbed, womanizing lawyer (a heavy lifter, literally, to boot) with a dreamy young man who believes life is literally determined by the movies and setting them on what may or may not be a wild goose chase for an unknown Shakespearean manuscript could prove to be so entertaining?
As a mark of how well done the book is, I shed a few tears at the end, not because it was sad but because the story was over. To date only two other writers have affected me that way.
You don't have to be a literary, artsy type to get into this story, btw. You DO need to persevere long enough to let the story get hold of you. Then you're stuck. Happily so, I might add.
Delightful reading.......2007-09-28
What a wonderful, amusing book. It reminded me of Saul Bellow's Herzog combined with a much smarter version of The Davinci Code. It gets a wee bit confusing at the end as layers of intrigue are peeled away, but still a delightful, fresh voice.
Amazon.com
Writing for the screen is quirky business. A writer must labor meticulously over his or her prose, yet very little of that prose is ever heard by filmgoers. The few words that do reach the audience, in the form of the characters' dialogue, are, according to Robert McKee, best left to last in the writing process. ("As Alfred Hitchcock once remarked, 'When the screenplay has been written and the dialogue has been added, we're ready to shoot.' ") In Story, McKee puts into book form what he has been teaching screenwriters for years in his seminar on story structure, which is considered by many to be a prerequisite to the film biz. (The long list of film and television projects that McKee's students have written, directed, or produced includes Air Force One, The Deer Hunter, E.R., A Fish Called Wanda, Forrest Gump, NYPD Blue, and Sleepless in Seattle.) Legions of writers flock to Hollywood in search of easy money, calculating the best way to get rich quick. This book is not for them. McKee is passionate about the art of screenwriting. "No one needs yet another recipe book on how to reheat Hollywood leftovers," he writes. "We need a rediscovery of the underlying tenets of our art, the guiding principles that liberate talent." Story is a true path to just such a rediscovery. In it, McKee offers so much sound advice, drawing from sources as wide ranging as Aristotle and Casablanca, Stanislavski and Chinatown, that it is impossible not to come away feeling immeasurably better equipped to write a screenplay and infinitely more inspired to write a brilliant one.--Jane Steinberg
Book Description
Robert McKee's screenwriting workshops have earned him an international reputation for inspiring novices, refining works in progress and putting major screenwriting careers back on track. Quincy Jones, Diane Keaton, Gloria Steinem, Julia Roberts, John Cleese and David Bowie are just a few of his celebrity alumni. Writers, producers, development executives and agents all flock to his lecture series, praising it as a mesmerizing and intense learning experience.
In Story, McKee expands on the concepts he teaches in his $450 seminars (considered a must by industry insiders), providing readers with the most comprehensive, integrated explanation of the craft of writing for the screen. No one better understands how all the elements of a screenplay fit together, and no one is better qualified to explain the "magic" of story construction and the relationship between structure and character than Robert McKee.
Customer Reviews:
Get this book........2007-10-10
This is the quintessential screenwriter's bible. I've written tons of screenplays, and I still refer to this book again and again. If this isn't in your library, you're not serious about writing for film/TV!
Recommended by son, to mom and now you.......2007-09-23
Transforming a lifetime of short stories to screenplays has become my focus. Struggling with story, my son told me he had a teacher in film school suggest this book. It helped him. Now its helping me. Hopefully, you'll be next. Screenplays are perplexing if you've always written in short story or book form. McKee assists in making the necessary thought revisions you must in order to succeed.
A must read book.......2007-08-02
I bought this book three years ago, I keep referring to it whenever I am stuck in a script problem.I like the scene structure part very much, it is very focused, easy and helpful.
This is not a kind of book that you would read in the bus station or in one session.It is a lifetime friend once you decided to be a screenwriter.I am strongly convinced that "Story"is most useful for film and TV writers and not for any other writing genre.
Buy it, read it, re-read it and start writing knowing that it is a long journey.
There is only one way and that is McKee's way because he says so.......2007-07-30
If you can look past the contradictions, McKee's enormous ego, and writing as coherent and clear as that in Dianetics, you will occasionally find a helpful insight in this book.
Write the truth..........2007-06-26
In my experience books tested and proven before being written tend to be the best. A prime example - Angela's Ashes, won the Pulitzer Prize, fine tuned by the author McCourt doing a one man show talking about his wicked cruel childhood, growing up in Limerick, Ireland.
In the same way, Story evolved out of McKee giving lectures, and now, he continues to spread the word.
McKee is definitely an antagonist as opposed to a protagonist, and in person a funny and engaging fellow, and an excellent teacher. As you might expect, he does know how to tell a funny story, and he had a little fun at the expense of some of the sacred cows in the industry. I particularly liked his rant about Roger Ebert, who took his name in vain once but never again.
Anyway, the book shines a bright light on the elements of story. Conflict is to story what sound is to music. Story trumps dialogue in importance. Setups, payoffs, turning points, structure, inciting incident, protagonist vs antagonist, resonating and contrasting subplot, negation of the negation. Emotional value of scenes. Arc of the character. Act structure, rhythm and pacing. Text and subtext, beats, exposition. Character, dimension, step outline. All this and so much more.
Perhaps the most important single thing I learned from McKee is..treatment. The character treatment may be twice as long as the screenplay. This is the key difference between aspiring screenwriters, and successful ones.
I open my book, and look at his personal inscription to me, which I am sure he has written to many others... "Write the truth." I will, Mr McKee, I will.
If you were to find this review helpful, please click yes.
Customer Reviews:
prosperity consciousness from another source.......2007-08-05
Florence Scovel Shinn was writing about prosperity consciousness in the late 1800's and early 1900's, well ahead of the current trend. Her books are easy to read and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to all of my friends and they are purchasing it and doing the same. That says it all in my mind.
Changed my entire approach to living. . ........2007-07-06
The Game of Life and How to Play It has been the most influential self-help reading to date that I have found. The book is easy to read and understand. I have read my copy probably 15 times; pages are beginning to fall out. The fact that it is divided into sections for life's encounters, e.g., prosperity, love, etc., I can go back when I need help getting through the rough times to that particular section and gain strength and guidence. Once read, the writings just all come together to make more sense about approaching life's daily challenges than anything I have ever read; and, trust me I've read plenty of self-help books. I love this book so much that I have bought 6 copies to give to beloved family members and close friends because I do not want to keep the insights this book reveals to myself. I want everyone I care deeply about to experience what this book has to offer. Great read, great lessons!
Brilliant!.......2007-06-13
I've had this book for years and have worn out the cover. I refer to it constantly. I purchased copies for friends and have been doing so since I first read it. Florence was before her time!
My Favorite Book of All Time!.......2007-06-09
Absolutely without question the most charming and inspiring book I've ever read. My copy is lovingly dog-eared, my loaner copy is in the same condition and I've bought several as gifts.
Of all the "positive thinkers", including the much more well-known such as Louise Hay and Norman Vincent Peale, Florence is the most enjoyable to read and the easiest to apply to your life, in my opinion.
Reading her is sheer delight and an instant mood-lifter and problem-solver, every time.
before the secret.......2007-05-17
This is an amazing collection of writings that gives real and practial ways to move forward in life. A Lady well before her time, the princibles that she teaches are not secrets just forgotten over time.
Have a little faith, change your Life.
C.M. Dwyer
Book Description
The World of Shakespeare: The Complete Plays and Sonnets of William Shakespeare (38 Volume Library) By William Shakespeare Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmiller, General Editors
Amazon.com Exclusive
The Pelican Shakespeare is available in hardcover for the first time in one complete collection only at Amazon.com.
For anyone with an abiding love of the Bard and his to all of Shakepeares singular contributiOn to English literature, this complete library combines enduring beauty with the scholarship and authority demanded by modern readers. Easier to read and enjoy than massive, single-volume editions, these individual volumes feature authori tative text, essays on how the plays would have been performed in Shakespeare's day, and notes valuable for general readers, teachers, students, and theater professionals. Here, in 38 truly stunning heirloom volumes, are William Shakespeare's classic plays and sonnets in the only complete, individually-bound set of Shakespeare's works currently available. The tragedies, comedies, histories, and poetry, so beloved by millions of readers and theater-goers, are reproduced here in luxurious, linen-bound hardcovers, enhanced by silver stamping on the covers and spines, and sewn-in, satin ribbon markers.
The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare editions have sold five million copies. Since the series debuted more than forty years ago, developments in scholarship have revolutionized our understanding of William Shakespeare, his time, and his works. The general editors of the Pelican Shakespeare, Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmiller of UCLA, have assembled a team of six eminent scholars who, along with the general editors themselves, have prepared new introductions and note * Authoritative and meticulously researched texts * Illuminating new introductions and notes by distinguished authors * Essays on Shakespeare's life, the theatrical world of his time, and the selection of texts * A handsome new design inside and out * Deluxe packaging, including a full-linen case with silver stamping, ribbon marker, printed endpapers, and acid-free paper * Line numbers marking every tenth line and footnote references * Both glossorial and explanatory notes appearing conveniently at the foot of the page
Included are:
Tragedies
Antony and Cleopatra
Coriolanus
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Histories
Henry IV, Part I
Henry IV, Part II
Henry V
Henry VI, Part I
Henry VI, Part II
Henry VI, Part III
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III
Comedies
All's Well That Ends Well
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline
Love's Labor's Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Winter's Tale
Poetry
The Sonnets
Customer Reviews:
Almost perfect deal.......2007-10-03
Should I judge this collection by price or quality? I'll try to blend them. At the time of this writing, I ordered it from Amazon for $89.70, which was marked down from $299. Sounds hard to believe, and after owning it, it still is. At this price, this is, without doubt, a major, total, complete deal. However, I give it four stars instead of five because it is 99% of Shakespeare's complete works. Why not include the rest? Why, why, why? It'd take two more volumes, one for his non-sonnet poems and one for THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN, which is now officially part of the Shakespeare canon. It's very easy to get these works, but they wouldn't match your 38-volume set. Still, at anything less than $100, this set is a steal, especially considering that buying all these plays even as used paperbacks would probably cost more, and these are new, 8.5" by 5.5" hardcovers. Call me a nitpicker, but I just don't get why this collection didn't go that extra half-yard. Still, I bought it anyway and am very happy with it.
As for supplements, each book has a basic intro and meanings of archaic words and phrases printed at the bottom of each page.
Super deal! Great investment........2007-09-02
I read the other reviews about this being a great deal for what you're getting. Took a chance....and they were right. After visiting London this summer and realizing I'm literary-deficient, my goal was to read all of Shakespeare's plays once I got home. So I needed a starter set. For $90, I have just that. And much easier to manage that a huge compilation book that I was considering. The book covers are simple, but elegant. Just the right size--easy to carry in my bag to work. I'm very happy with the set--it is a good investment.
The Value Purchase of the Year.......2007-09-01
This is an excellent edition, the volumes are extremely nice to read: larger and clearer than paperbacks; handier, lighter and much easier to handle than one-volume editions. It's the buy of the year. You'll never forgive yourself if you let this slip away. It's a cliche, but true in the case: I would have bought it at twice this price and considered myself lucky.
GREAT value. .......2007-08-08
I bought this as a gift for my partner as a graduation present. It is a REALLY great deal: I can't believe how cheap it is for what you get.
The quality of the books is really high, the paper is lovely stock and the binding is excellent. All in all, this is a really wonderful product and definetely worth forking out the cash for. When you think about it, it's an absolute steal.
Do it!
ps. it arrived REALLY quickly. I am in Australia and it was here within 7 working days (i paid for the mid range postal option, whatever it is called).
Glad I Bought These Volumes.......2007-05-15
The reviews encouraged me to buy this series, and I'm very glad I did. I've read a number of different Shakespeare editions; my favorite had been the Folger. But these books are luxurious, and comparing one to a Folger proves the quality of the paper and the clear, easy-to-read text. At the $89 price - and even higher - these volumes are a rare bargain.
Book Description
For today's poker players, Texas hold 'em is the game. Every day, tens of thousands of small stakes hold 'em games are played all over the world in homes, card rooms, and on the Internet. These games can be very profitable — if you play well. But most people don't play well and end up leaving their money on the table.
Small Stakes Hold 'em: Winning Big with Expert Play explains everything you need to be a big winner. Unlike many other books about small stakes games, it teaches the aggressive and attacking style used by all professional players. However, it does not simply tell you to play aggressively; it shows you exactly how to make expert decisions through numerous clear and detailed examples.
Small Stakes Hold 'em teaches you to think like a professional player. Topics include implied odds, pot equity, speculative hands, position, the importance of being suited, hand categories, counting outs, evaluating the flop, large pots versus small pots, protecting your hand, betting for value on the river, and playing overcards. In addition, after you learn the winning concepts, test your skills with over fifty hand quizzes that present you with common and critical hold 'em decisions. Choose your action, then compare it to the authors' play and reasoning.
This text presents cutting-edge ideas in straightforward language. It is the most thorough and accurate discussion of small stakes hold 'em available. Your opponents will read this book; make sure you do, too!
Customer Reviews:
excellent for a specific situation.......2007-09-20
Two + Two consistently publishes outstanding poker books, and Small Stakes Hold Em is no exception, so long as one understands the basic premise. This book is not a general guide to hold em, it doesn't cover tournaments or beating top level players - it is specifically written to help the experienced player target the beating of weak, often passive, usually loose players at the smaller tables, and nothing else. Although the authors make this point several times, it bears reminding and keeping in mind. You will not beat good players using the starting hand, pre or postflop play, or betting guidelines presented in this book.
That said, you are looking at a pretty typical Sklansky book. Sklansky does not insult the intelligence of the reader; he assumes the reader is already a decent to good player, familiar with Hold Em play and general strategy, and is not entering his first live game, but wishes to maximize his profits at that game instead. His advice is detailed, well explained, and when counter-intuitive, backed up by some persuasive reasoning. There are charts and tables, all kinds of hand breakdowns - most likely these are best NOT memorized but used more as a way of organizing your approach to the game situation. Rigid play will lead to losses, even at games well stocked with fish. And there are lots and lots of such games available, both online and live.
Not all small-stakes games will fit the profile as here defined - the reader/player will need to use his own judgement about passive/aggressive and loose/tight every time he plays - but when the circumstances are right, Sklansky's book is all about calibrating your game to extract the maximum advantage. And as such it has value and belongs on a poker players bookshelf.
Loose against Loose.......2007-09-06
I'm a long time player and started playing online a little while ago. So to get the feeling for online Poker I thought I'd start with small stake tables until I know my way out and then play my usual higher stakes games.
After a short while I realized that small stakes table are just horrible to play and that I need to adapt my game to the new situation. I went out and buy the book of Sklansky about how to play small stakes... after reading the book carefully and trying to follow most of his strategies I must say that I'd better have lost my money at a table than for the book. My new table experiences would have been more valuable.
What Sklansky suggests is actually to play loose against loose players! I've been playing for many years now and my tracks show that I'm pretty tight, solid and aggresive but since this strategy doesn't seem to work very well at small stakes online tables, I thought being open minded and reading about new ways would pay out. I know now that playing my usual way doesn't pay out as much as I'm used to at tables like that, but I also know that the way they explain how to play doesn't pay out at all but makes you even loose more money...
Most Likely better for Casino play.......2007-08-30
This book is quite good but I think most of the advice is more applicable in brick and mortar rooms where the action is more loose. Many of the examples in the book are games in where the pot odds are favorable to chase all your draws but that isn't the case even in games as low as .25/.5 limit online today. If you can find loose games then this book would probably be a very good addition to your library
Best Book on Limit Hold 'Em.......2007-08-16
I own several poker books and this is the one that I reference most often. Sklansky might be the best poker author of all time and his Theory of Poker is a must read for any serious player. Limit, and particularly low limit poker, is an entirely different game from No-Limit and the techniques that work well in no-limit often fail miserably in Limit. Don't buy the claim that you'll ever be able to earn a substantial income playing low limit, but diligently applying the concepts presented should result in + play. Low limit is a chase game for many and you need to have a rather thick skin to endure the many bad beats that you'll endure by playing correctly. Many players seem to have no clue that a three-flush after the flop should usually be thrown away if the only plausible out is to connect suited runner-runner. You'll want to chew on the table when your flopped 2 pairs gets caught on the river by the runner-runner chaser, but you need to endure! If you think that you'll be a successful player in low limit by using the bluff as your principal technique, think again. Bluffing works on occasion, when timed correctly, but you can't depend on your opposition to make rational folds. A recent example from one of my hands that pays off for the opposition: I was playing 3-6 limit with a kill pot. I was dealt pocket aces and raised. There was a raise and re-raise capped making the bet $24 pre-flop. Incredibly, 5 players stayed in. The flop came Ace - 5 - 8 rainbow, giving me a monster set of aces. An early position player bet, there was a raise and I re-raised. 4 players were still in the bloody pot! The turn card was a 9. More raising and the field was now down to 3, the pot was huge, but I didn't see how my pocket aces could lose. The river comes up a 7. You guessed it, I lost to a straight. The bozo called pre-flop with J-6 offsuit all the way up to a $24 bet, calls raises to the river and hits runner-gutshot runner and he wins a $240 pot! There's no justice in low-limit hold 'em. You may as well learn to live with it!
Poker Book.......2007-06-28
This is a very good book. I have added th book to my poker libary.
Book Description
Wicked is not just a musical, it is a phenomenon. Every week 15,000 people pack New Yorks Gershwin Theatre to see the show. The most successful musical on Broadway in 2004, Wicked is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Gregory Maguire. It tells the story of Elphaba, the headstrong Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, the good witch, growing up in the Land of Oz. The show has cast a spell on fans, many of whom return for second and third viewings. In 2005, the show begins an extensive tour across the United States and Canada, hitting major cities such as Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and many more. This beautifully packaged, whimsical keepsake is designed to resemble the Grimmerie, an ancient book of spells that Elphaba uses in the show. Wicked: The Grimmerie offers fans a behind-the-curtains peek at the musical, profiles of the cast and creative team, and inside stories, with full-color photographs throughout. Some of the irresistible special features include an Ozian glossary, spells, the shows libretto, an illustrated family tree, and a step-by-step look at how Elphaba gets green before each showeverything fans need to relive the Broadway experience day after day.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful .......2007-10-17
Received the book and just loved it. It gives a fantastic look behind the scenes of the play. There are many colorful pictures and illustrations.
The Grimmerie.......2007-10-14
I have seen the Broadway in Chicago production of WICKED twice, so far, and I had just heard of The Grimmerie so I knew I had to have the book. I am so glad I was able to find and order it online. It's actually a gift for my daughter, but I had to read it first! It has so much information in it that I didn't even expect to find! I really appreciate all the background on the musical plus all the photos; candid and otherwise. I recommend this to all the fans of WICKED; past, present and future! Sincerely, D. Vandervort
Great inside information on the production.......2007-10-11
Great inside information for the Wicked lovers, very light/fast reading, with interviews of the production team.
A must read for any Broadway fan.
You'll be thrillified with this book!.......2007-10-06
This is a "must have" for any fan (read "fanatic") of the show Wicked. The cover design, which simulates an antique tome, is tragically beautiful. Inside, it's chock-full of photos, comments by the creators and cast, and insider information like how they make Elphaba green or where the name Elphaba came from. Also includes complete lyrics of the songs. My only disappointment with the book is that it does not contain a full transcript of the dialogue.
Wickedly Wonderful.......2007-09-28
This is a totally wonderful book. The look, the feel, the photos....every Wicked fan will want this. Simply gorgeous.
Average customer rating:
- Three Silly Chicks Review
- imagination takes off
- Amazing book
- Not a Box - INSPIRING!
- the joy of imagining
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Not a Box
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0061123226
Release Date: 2006-12-12 |
Book Description
A box is just a box . . . unless it's not a box. From mountain to rocket ship, a small rabbit shows that a box will go as far as the imagination allows.
Inspired by a memory of sitting in a box on her driveway with her sister, Antoinette Portis captures the thrill when pretend feels so real that it actually becomes real—when the imagination takes over and inside a cardboard box, a child is transported to a world where anything is possible.
Customer Reviews:
Three Silly Chicks Review.......2007-10-02
Reviewed by Three Silly Chicks - Readers, Writers, and Reviewers of funny books for kids.
Just look at the bunny on the cover of this book. If you think he's (she's?) cute now, just wait until you peek inside.
This is one of those concept books that's so simple it's genius. Here's how it goes:
1. Our intrepid hero (aforementioned bunny) does various things with a box.
2. An offstage interrogator keeps asking him questions, i.e.: Why are you sitting in a box? Why are you doing on top of that box? Now you're wearing a box?
3. To which our hero replies, with increasing exasperation: It's NOT a box!
4. Turn the page and the next illustration reveals the scene playing out in bunny's head: bunny in a race car, bunny on Rabbit Peak, bunny-robot, etc.
Classic kid stuff and absolutely brilliant.
The tall chick has road-tested this book with a variety of kids in small and large group settings and it's been a HUGE hit wherever she goes, especially at the end when she puts a box on her head and asks the audience what's inside. Highly recommended!
imagination takes off.......2007-09-28
This is a fun take on the classic box addiction of very young children. My favorite thing about it is that it even invites older children to revisit that fascination and reinvent ways to use a box. The illustrations show kids how easy it is to take something as simple and boring looking as a box and create a blasting off rocket ship. This would be great to read along with The Birthday Box (Patricelli) or Sitting in My Box (Lillegard).
Books that promote imaginative, constructive discovery learning are on the top of my list, and this one makes it there with flying colors.
Amazing book.......2007-09-23
This summer I had a job working as a children's librarian, and was encouraged to read as many picture books as possible. This book was far and away the best in the library, I think I scared one of the kids who checked it out by being so exiceted about it. I forced everyone on staff to read it and then we all reminiced our various box stories. The book even smells slightly of corrigated cardboard.
Its simple enough that you can read it with your child, and the repetitive pattern of the words can allow you to really connect with your child as you read. Its a beautifully simple book that I believe every one should read.
Not a Box - INSPIRING!.......2007-09-08
Our daughter has enjoyed having this book read to her since she was an infant. Now at 2 1/2 years, I am amazed to find her approaching us with random objects as crumpled paper and saying "Not crumpled paper...what is it?" And then proceeding to identify numerous objects that my literal adult mind could not even try to out-do.
the joy of imagining.......2007-09-07
Really fun book about all the fun a kid can have with a cardboard box and the imagination.
Average customer rating:
- Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays
- A must have for anyone who loves Wilder, drama, and American letters
- A "must" for classic theater shelves
- Someone from Wisconsin
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Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays and Writings on Theater (Library of America)
Thornton Wilder
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1598530038
Release Date: 2007-03-01 |
Book Description
Tender, beguiling, suffused with feeling and wit, the remarkable plays of Thornton Wilder occupy a unique place in American culture. His most celebrated play, Our Town, has achieved iconic status as an expression of the spirit and pathos of small-town American life; adapted for the movies and the operatic stage, it continues to resonate with audiences responding to its formal elegance, plainspoken poetry, and moving evocation of the inevitability of loss.
Collected Plays & Writings on Theater, the most comprehensive one-volume edition of Wilder's work ever published, takes the measure of his extraordinary career as a dramatist by presenting the complete span of his achievement, beginning with his early expressionist experiments and daring one-act plays such as "The Long Christmas Dinner" and "The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden" (one of Wilder's personal favorites), ranging through the full flowering of Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Matchmaker, and encompassing the intriguing dramatic projects of his later years, such as his adaptation of the ancient story of Alcestis (The Alcestiad) and plays written for dramatic cycles based on the Seven Deadly Sins and the varied ages of an individual's life. Complementing the selection of plays is an illuminating group of essays that captures Wilder's reflections on his plays and contains a revealing epistolary account of the film adaptation of Our Town, as well as evaluations of dramatists such as Sophocles, George Bernard Shaw, and the Austrian satirist Johann Nestroy (whose farce Einen Jux will er sich machen Wilder brilliantly transformed into The Matchmaker).
Collected Plays & Writings on Theater also includes material never before published: scenes from The Emporium, an ambitious unfinished play that, emerging out of Wilder's intense engagement with existentialist philosophy in the postwar years, imagines a Kafkaesque department store whose enigmatic activities are as inscrutable as the mysteries of life itself; and the complete screenplay Wilder wrote for Alfred Hitchcock's film Shadow of a Doubt just before reporting for military service in 1942. Although faithful to the spirit of the film, the screenplay presented here restores Wilder's original dialogue, some of which (to Wilder's dismay) was altered for the movie. A study of family life, youthful illusions, and the desperation of a criminal on the run, the Shadow of a Doubt screenplay is a masterful exhibition of the art of suspense and taut dramatic storytelling, and is an essential part of Wilder's ouevre.
Customer Reviews:
Thornton Wilder: Collected Plays.......2007-05-12
Excellent edition of the works of one of America's greatest writers and dramatists. Readable type, good paper, scholarly notes & introductory material.
A must have for anyone who loves Wilder, drama, and American letters.......2007-04-13
I find the plays of Thornton Wilder to be a refreshing delight. While they have humor, satire, a freedom with the conventions of drama, and a telling use of the ordinary to make a deeper point, they also have scenes of emotional power and depth without ever becoming maudlin. Wilder never needs to make things "real" to make a real point. I can't think of any of his characters that need the psychological torture or a pathos built on a foundation of narcissism or the endless drumbeat of sex as the universal explanation for whatever one wants to conclude about life. Yep, I enjoy what Wilder provides and enjoy it very much.
The play that most people associate with Wilder is "Our Town", but they know it mostly from the 1940 movie. The play is sparer and Emily does not live. I think the play is better because her death makes its point about life more strongly than it does when she pulls through. This wonderful edition from the Library of America has articles by Wilder on the production of the play and a series of letters between Wilder and the producer, Sol Lesser, on the making of the movie version are quite interesting. This volume also has notes by Wilder on some of his other plays and on other theatrical topics.
What most people may not know is that the musical "Hello, Dolly" is based on Wilder's play called "The Matchmaker". The musical paid him sufficient royalties that made him financially secure for the remainder of his life. Wilder had based "The Matchmaker" on earlier works. It has a fairly long tradition because it is such a delightful topic.
The volume opens with a series of very short "plays" that are really literary pieces more meant to be read than produced. These were previously collected in a volume entitled "The Angel That Troubled The Waters".
Then come the longer and performable and even regularly performed one act plays. "The Long Christmas Dinner" is probably the best well known. The effect of the time compression of 90 years of Christmases (not every year) is such an interesting effect. The actors age on stage, are born, and die for four generations (a fifth being hinted at). The ordinary language and the way we observe these lives in "fast forward" tell us so much. Quite a fine achievement.
Then come the big plays. Wilder won three Pulitzers. One for his novel, "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" in 1928. Another for "Our Town" in 1938, and then for the strangely wonderful "The Skin of Our Teeth" in 1943. "The Skin of Our Teeth" is said to be influenced by "Finnegan's Wake" and Wilder did love that book. It toys nearly every dramatic convention one can think of. The three acts aren't really related except by keeping the central characters. But they are not informed from the other acts. It is full of anachronisms such as mixing 20th Century New Jersey with an ice age. And not only do the characters talk to the audience (a Wilder trademark), they do so out of character as if the actor himself or herself is speaking. But they are playing a role there, too.
The volume also includes a number of Wilder's "uncollected plays" and which are quite enjoyable and valuable.
The book also includes a very informative chronology of Wilder's life and very good notes on the texts.
Strongly recommended for those who love drama and American letters.
A "must" for classic theater shelves.......2007-04-11
The most comprehensive one-volume edition of dramatist Thornton Wilder's work published to date, Thornton Wilder Collected Plays & Writings on Theater is an 800+ page compendium of plays Wilder wrote throughout his career, essays that reveal Wilder's reflections on his own plays, an epistolary account of the film adaptation of the classic play "Our Town", a chronology, notes, and much more. Of special interest to literati is material that has never before been published: scenes from "The Emporium", an ambitious yet unfinished play that evolved out of Wilder's involvement with existentialist philosophy in his postwar years, as well as the complete screenplay that Wilder wrote for Alfred Hitchcock's movie "Shadow of a Doubt" just prior to reporting for military service in 1942. Like all Library of America editions, Thornton Wilder Collected Plays & Writings on Theater features a sturdy hardcover binding, a compact, relatively lightweight design, and an inset ribbon bookmark. A "must" for classic theater shelves, and recommended for college and public library collections.
Someone from Wisconsin.......2007-04-08
The master anthologist J D McClatchy does it again with this superb edition of Thornton Wilder's plays and associated writing for the theater.
In the SF Chronicle the other day, a reviewer gave this volume horrible marks, he didn't like one thing about it. He said THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH is labored claptrap, and that was about the nicest thing he said.
I'm here to refute that opinion. To me Wilder is a great god of the theater and the shame is that some of his very best work has rarely or never been staged. Over the past ten years, as the different episodes of his two cycles have been given to us by Gallup and others, it's been one enchanting masterpiece after another! I had no idea how protean his imagination was, nor how everything had to be different from one another. What a shame he didn't finish the 7 ages of man, but the episodes we have, "Infancy," "Childhood," "Youth" and especially the new "The Rivers Under the Earth" are pretty spectacular, And as for THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, what can I say, I don't believe any other author could have pulled it off. "A Ringing of Doorbells" gets sort of into Tennessee Williams country, but Williams lacked the control Wilder had in spades.
OK, I wasn't crazy about "In Shakespeare and the Bible," but I probably just don't understand it. I can't decide if Katy did the right thing, nor what the point was about her having changed her name from Mildred, nor what agreement is made by the other two more worldly characters, her fiancee and her aunt, after Katy makes her exit. "Bernice" and "The Wreck on the Five Twenty Five" are beyond praise and I wish I could step into a time machine and see Ethel Waters and Lillian Gish act in them in Berlin or wherever their fugitive premiere was. We don't usually think of Wilder as being interested in civil rights, and the famous plays we know by him deal with almost totally white worlds, but "Bernice" is all about a sort of Frantz Fanon liberation and empowerment after enslavement, just brilliant.
And the two "extra" (non cycle) plays are cute too, "The Marriage we Deplore" has a surprise ending, and "The Unerring Instinct" has a device I think John Waters would love -- or has he used it already?
The EMPORIUM grows in power and eerie knowledge every time I read more of it. Someday I hope to read the manuscripts for the whole thing, no matter how chaotic they are.
For many the great plus of this McClatchy-edited volume will be the screenplay for SHADOW OF A DOUBT. It is remarkable how much of it Hitchcock used! And yet while the editorial apparatus tut tuts the contributions made to the screenplay by NEW YORKER hack Sally Benson, I think she helped. She wasn't the carpetbagger some have made her out to be. Her writing is always good, and a thorough study of her work on the final screenplay of SHADOW OF A DOUBT must be undertaken at once. Is Benson still alive? Somebody must know. In the meantime we have this fantastic book will console us.
Book Description
Best-selling author and distinguished professor, David Elkind provides parents with an understanding of and appreciation for the powerful role of "play" in healthy emotional and academic development
In modern childhood, free, unstructured play time is being replaced more and more by academics, lessons, competitive sports, and passive, electronic entertainment.
While parents may worry that their children will be at a disadvantage if they are not engaged in constant, explicit learning or using the latest "educational" games, David Elkind's The Power of Play reassures us that unscheduled imaginative play goes far in preparing children for academic and social success. Through expert analysis of the research and powerful situational examples, Elkind shows that, indeed, creative spontaneous activity best sets the stage for academic learning in the first place: Children learn mutual respect and cooperation through role-playing and the negotiation of rules, which in turn prepare them for successful classroom learning; in simply playing with rocks, for example, a child could discover properties of counting and shapes that are the underpinnings of math; even a toddler's babbling is a necessary precursor to the acquisition of language.
An important contribution to the literature about how children learn, The Power of Play suggests ways to restore play's respected place in children's lives, at home, at school, and in the larger community. In defense of unstructured "down time," it encourages parents to trust their instincts and resist the promise of the wide and dubious array of educational products on the market geared to youngsters.
Customer Reviews:
Good start..textbook finish.......2007-07-05
I couldn't agree more with Elkind that play is important. As a parent myself I hear others concerned that their children aren't getting enough "education," even at tiny toddler ages. Many parents get stressed and competative over academic issues before their children are even school age. And, if you are a parent who does not enroll your children in this and that, you are looked at as neglectful...or unconcerned about your children's futures. A current concern I have is the push for all day kindergarten (not mentioned in this book) but I fear it will overtake our half day programs here in MN in just a few years. While these programs may benefit some children, they are certainly not beneficial to all, and I'd even argue they are not beneficial to the majority of children.
The problem I had with Elkind's book is not the message, but rather the delivery of the message. While the first 4 chapters were enjoyble, the rest of the book reminded me of a college textbook. I didn't really enjoy reading it and most of it was repetative as I went to college for el. ed. and took several ed. psych. courses. Now, if you have not heard all these things before, you may be more interested in this book. Personally, as a parent, I found John Rosemond's A Family of Value (read chapters on toys) to be a much more interesting in presentation. Be prepared, however, with Rosemond because he is much more strongly opposed to screen time than Elkind appears to be. Regardless, both books relay a valuable message.
Interesting book...........2007-05-09
I enjoyed this book very much and found it refreshing compared to a lot of the alternatives on the shelves...but, if you are an outdoorsy, no TV, stay at home and look after your child, play, kind of person, I didn't gain a lot from it!
Not the book this important topic deserves.......2007-04-11
I firmly believe in the importance of free play. Essentially, I was looking for a book that would reinforce that belief. Instead, I found myself annoyed by the poor reasoning this book employs. In brief, the author seems to argue that things are different from the way he played as a boy and, therefore, they are worse. Different=worse is not a logical or valid argument.
For example, choosing teams the way they did when he was a boy and was always the last boy chosen made him feel ostracized. But it also prepared him for the real world. Electronic games deprive children of this sense of ostracization. Hmmm... I'm no fan of computer games for young children, but at this point in the book I'm feeling an urge to go out and buy some software for my little ones!
Aaahhh, the good old days when children were allowed to build campfires without supervision! So what if they got burned occasionally? It taught them to handle risk! The idea that there might be other forms of play that teach risk in a more constructive way is not addressed, and I wish it had been.
His argument is needlessly complicated. For example, he discusses the idea of hot and cool media, which is a powerful theoretical construct and which could have been very helpful in this book. (Hot media encourages passivity; cool media engages the child's thought and emotions). But his supporting examples entirely miss the mark. For example, he discusses a study which compared children who watched hot media (e.g., action shows) with those who watched cool media (i.e., educational shows) and found that those who watched hot media were less educationally gifted later on. Therefore, hot media is bad, and cool media is good. Ummmm... Did it never occur to him that maybe the children's educational achievements were related to the educational content they viewed and might have had nothing to do with the warmth of the media? That seems a far simpler and more parsimonious interpretation.
I expected a better quality of reasoning and more depth in this book. The only reason I'm not giving it one star is that it doesn't seem to be actively injurious. Unless, of course, some parent is swayed to let the children build a bonfire unsupervised after reading it...
Possibilities of Play.......2007-03-15
Elkind is my kind of guy. In this book he talks about balance, balance, balance. His book addresses play in children infancy thru the elementary years, for the most part. He talks about what play does exactly for children's intellect, social skills and imagination. I would suggest this book to parents of kids ages 0-7. Educators and the late elemantary set will get something from this book, but not as much as folks parenting and working with younger children.
What I have enjoyed so much about this book is that he is not extreme in his ideas. He endorses tv and video games mildly, and then leads parents into selecting the right kind of show or game. He talks about the pros and cons of these entertainment modes.
He talks about the balance of planned sports/activities, and free, individually motivated play. He offers some guidelines in this area.
He addresses his ideas developmentally, and explains each developmental stage. He will talk about kids in the "concrete operational stage" which usually happens around the age of 6, but sometimes sooner, sometimes later.
I think the American Public cannot read enough about the importance of play for children of all ages.In an age where recess is being eliminated from schools in order to raise test scores, we need work like Elkind's to remind us of the importance of not overscheduling our children.
This read, where I enjoyed it, isn't my favorite book. But I like the info within, I like how it is organized, and believe whole-heartedly in the point that David Elkind is making. It is an intelligent book, and doesn't "dummy-down" to the parent. I learned quite a bit, and as a mother and and educator appreciated that most of all.
The Most Important Thing in Your Life.......2007-02-17
The essense of this book can be stated pretty quickly.
Turn off the television.
Play games with the kid.
Encourage her to play with other kids.
Don't schedule every evening.
Carefully select toys/gifts.
Now all you have to do is understand each of these points and put them into practice.
Perhaps few points should leave you with a few questions like:
what kind of games to play?
What kinds of gifts/toys?
But I'm scheduling educational things?
Of course, reading this book will explain all these points and more. This book comes right after a major report on the importance of play by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It reflects on and expands the report to give specific suggestions, and explains why those suggestions are so important.
And I'm going to add one more of my own. Spend every moment you can with them. We have them for such a short time before they are gone off to live their own lives.
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