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"I cannot draw you a picture of Peter and Benjamin underneath the basket," writes Beatrix Potter in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny, "because it was quite dark, and because the smell of onions was fearful; it made Peter Rabbit and little Benjamin cry." Beatrix Potter's animal stories, the first of which was published in 1902, have been a joy to generations of young readers. This deluxe volume collects all of Beatrix Potter's 23 Peter Rabbit tales and verses together--complete and unabridged--in one book. All the original illustrations, both color and black and white, are included. The stories are arranged in the order in which they were first published to enable them to be read in the proper sequence, from A Tale of Peter Rabbit to The Tale of Little Pig Robinson. Beatrix Potter's tales were often connected with real places, people, or animals, so each story also includes a brief introductory note about its history. For example, "The story of naughty Peter Rabbit in Mr. McGregor's garden first appeared in a picture letter Beatrix Potter wrote to Noel Moore, the young son of her former governess, in 1893." In addition to the original 23 tales, this edition contains two early narrative picture sequences, Three Little Mice and The Rabbit's Christmas Party. And, there are two charming little stories, The Sly Old Cat and The Fox and the Stork, which were originally intended to be worked up into books, but remained unpublished. This beautiful introduction to the world of Beatrix Potter is sure to remain on the family bookshelf for generations to come. (Baby to Preschool)
Book Description
"It spoils people's clothes to squeeze under a gate; the proper way to get in, is to climb down a pear tree," said Little Benjamin Bunny. Hear Peter Rabbit outwit old Mr. McGregor and Squirrel Nutkin come within a tail's length of being an owl's dinner. Listen as a family of mice save the kind tailor of Glouster and how Peter and Benjamin Bunny battle a barn cat. Learn how two bad mice and one fierce rabbit are set on the road to honesty.
Beatrix Potter's amazing universe of animals dressed in human clothing has taught and entertained children for nearly a century. Her love of animals and children is apparent in each of these twenty-one tales.
Customer Reviews:
One of the greatest childrens books.......2007-04-01
This is a must read for little kids. It's fun, entertaining, politically incorrect, well illustrated, teaches good lessons and uses the English language the way it was meant to be. The high-gloss paper is nice.
A Beautiful Book.......2006-11-10
I bought this book for my grandchildren, and couldn't be more pleased. A great introduction to classic children's books. Beautifully illustrated with the original drawings. This is a book to keep and pass down to the next generation.
The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter.......2006-08-25
This was my first purchase from Amazon and I was very pleased with the professional service and the quick delivery of my order
A staple for every home library.......2006-02-25
How wonderful it has been to get reintroduced to all of Potter's sweet characters. My mom had a small board book collection when I was growing up and I forgot all about these stories. There is just something so warm and relaxing about them. My four year old is loving them (they're a bit too long for my two year old's attention span and she usually wanders away after awhile). However you just can't go wrong with this book--it's a classic and definitely timeless. My only suggestion is that sometimes a "complete" edition is the cheaper route to go, but it does make for a heavy book for little ones to tote around or try to flip through. So if you are looking for something to be a more kid friendly you may want to purchase the individual stories separately.
The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter.......2005-10-30
The book I received wasn't the same as the one pictured in the listing. It is the same text but it came in a box as opposed to having a dust cover. Other than that I am happy with my purchase.
Book Description
Some people are born to lead and destined to teach by the example of living life to the fullest, and facing death with uncommon honesty and courage. Peter Barton was that kind of person.
Driven by the ideals that sparked a generation, he became an overachieving Everyman, a risk-taker who showed others what was possible. Then, in the prime of his life — hugely successful, happily married, and the father of three children — Peter faced the greatest of all challenges. Diagnosed with cancer, he began a journey that was not only frightening and appalling but also full of wonder and discovery.
With unflinching candor and even surprising humor, Not Fade Away finds meaning and solace in Peter's confrontation with mortality. Celebrating life as it dares to stare down death, Peter's story addresses universal hopes and fears, and redefines the quietly heroic tasks of seeking clarity in the midst of pain, of breaking through to personal faith, and of achieving peace after bold and sincere questioning.
Customer Reviews:
Perhaps the best book I've ever read...........2007-07-15
My father passed away in the fall of 2006, from cancer, at age 58. I found this book during the winter, it was out of place and I picked it up. Maybe I was looking for meaning, I don't know. But I have read it cover to cover twice, and pick it up often to browse. It is beautiful, poignent, raw with honesty. On the surface, my father was nothing like Peter Barton, but as I read the book I saw my father in every page. Much of what I witnessed in his final months were hard to articulate, yet Peter Barton and Laurence Shames gave me the words I could not find.
A beautiful book about death and dying, about life and love and lessons. Read this book. It's more joyous than sad, more beauty than darkness.
I randomly selected this book...and I'm glad I did.......2007-05-25
I happened upon an advance uncorrected proof of this book quite by accident. I read a few sentences and thought, "Why not give it a read?" Well, I have to say that the book - both the writing and the content - are absolutely wonderful. Laurence Shames gets all the emotion and humility and pride down flawlessly in the pages of this book. You can't help but wish you had known Peter Barton after reading this.
Indeed, a LIFE Well-Lived.......2007-03-03
Mr. Shames wrote a poignant and very real account of the disease that took his life at a very early age. I read this a couple years ago, and just re-read after hearing the story of a "younger" person stricken with cancer. This book will inspire, but will also force the reader to consider; "What would I do? Would I have that much grace and zest and enthusiasm?" The dirt-nap gets us all, this book demonstrates how one man dealt with his impending demise---and teaches valuable life-lessons that we could all use. Highly recommended.
Inspirational Read.......2006-06-04
For Peter Barton, a maverick businessman whose career has been characterized by creativity and billion-dollar partnerships, the psychology of cancer was difficult to digest. Unlike most business agreements he has brokered in the media industry, the deal between a terminal patient and his cancer appeared to be a zero-sum game, and the forty-something year old media mogul struggled to bridge the disconnect.
Hardly a person to let death dictate the terms of his legacy, Barton preserved his insights on the matter before he left the living. As such, Not Fade Away -- Barton's chronicle of the last days of his life -- is an attempt at coming to terms with one's finality. The chapters switch back and forth from Barton's first-person narrative and the observations of Barton by a professional writer assigned to shadow the terminal patient during the last stages of his life.
Despite the subject matter, Not Fade Away is an uplifting read because even as death closes in around Barton, we see that life reveals itself in all its sublime beauty. Such a paradox, namely that death is infused with life, leads Barton to embrace both the fact of his imminent death and the ever-present life that surrounds him. Barton reformulates his understanding of the linear aspect of the past, present, and the future, and realizes their convergence and singularity. Just as death is a part of living, we are not fixed to a single point in time; the past, present, and the future are manifest in the now.
Although such notions are not terribly original, Barton's honesty and courage in sharing his innermost fears and doubts during the last days of his life provide a refreshing look at life, death, and perhaps what it means to "not fade away" in a language that resonates with timeless relevance.
What a brilliant life..........2005-12-04
This is easily one of the most inspirational books I have read in a long time. Peter Barton was an extraordinary buisnessman, father, husband and friend...a man who knew how to make each day count and to challenge a terminal illness in a way that must have made his family so very proud of him. I highly recommmend this book to anyone and everyone!!!!
Book Description
The Hellenistic era witnessed the overlap of antiquity’s two great Western civilizations, the Greek and the Roman. This was the epoch of Alexander’s vast expansion of the Greco-Macedonian world, the rise and fall of his successors’ major dynasties in Egypt and Asia, and, ultimately, the establishment of Rome as the first Mediterranean superpower.
The Hellenistic Age chronicles the years 336 to 30 BCE, from the days of Philip and Alexander of Macedon to the death of Cleopatra and the final triumph of Caesar’s heir, the young Augustus. Peter Green’s remarkably far-ranging study covers the prevalent themes and events of those centuries: the Hellenization of an immense swath of the known world–from Egypt to India–by Alexander’s conquests; the lengthy and chaotic partition of this empire by rival Macedonian marshals after Alexander’s death; the decline of the polis (city state) as the predominant political institution; and, finally, Rome’s moment of transition from republican to imperial rule.
Predictably, this is a story of war and power-politics, and of the developing fortunes of art, science, and statecraft in the areas where Alexander’s coming disseminated Hellenic culture. It is a rich narrative tapestry of warlords, libertines, philosophers, courtesans and courtiers, dramatists, historians, scientists, merchants, mercenaries, and provocateurs of every stripe, spun by an accomplished classicist with an uncanny knack for infusing life into the distant past, and applying fresh insights that make ancient history seem alarmingly relevant to our own times.
To consider the three centuries prior to the dawn of the common era in a single short volume demands a scholar with a great command of both subject and narrative line. The Hellenistic Age is that rare book that manages to coalesce a broad spectrum of events, persons, and themes into one brief, indispensable, and amazingly accessible survey.
Customer Reviews:
Concise Rendition of a Transitional Age.......2007-08-06
As the title suggests ("A Short History") this treatment of the period sacrifices depth for brevity. Not being familiar with the subject I enjoyed this well-written introduction. Not only is the book a good first overview, it has plenty of notes geared towards further study and a short guide to further reading indicating what the author considers current best texts--as well as the usual bibliography.
A solid effort by a great scholar.......2007-07-31
Hmmm... a former professor who cannot spell the word "engrossed." What did you profess, exactly? (see review above).
Peter Green is one of the world's most eminent scholars of ancient Hellas. His *Xerxes at Salamis* is a classic of historical writing and an engrossing read. While this book is not his best effort, he was hamstrung by the Modern Library's page requirements (not to mention assumptions about the readership of such a book).
A Sad Example of an Over-the-Hill Academician.......2007-06-28
Don't waste your time or money on this one, unless you really want to memorize 2000 Helenistic names or be put to sleep by an obviously self-engrosed former professor (just to set the record straight, I am a former professor myself). Note: before I wrote this, I loaned the book to an educated and urbane Middle East native, and asked him to give me his opinion. His most telling comment was, "I wonder if the author has ever been there, really talked to people, and tried to understand their perspective." My evaluation: the author is "talking at us" rather than trying to tell us a story so that we come away with an understanding. Too bad that Modern Library Chronicles had to publish this one.
Book Description
Producing and Directing the Short Film and Video is the definitive book on the subject for beginning filmmakers and students. The book clearly illustrates all of the steps involved in preproduction, production, postproduction, and distribution. Its unique two-fold approach looks at filmmaking from the perspectives of both producer and director, and explains how their separate energies must combine to create a successful short film or video, from script to final product. This guide offers extensive examples from award-winning shorts and includes insightful quotes from the filmmakers themselves describing the problems they encountered and how they solved them. The companion website contains useful forms and information on grants and financing sources, distributors, film and video festivals, film schools, internet sources for short works, and professional associations.
* Unique approach which looks at the process from the director's and producer's point of view
* Third edition includes information on new HD formats, postproduction, and a new animation example
* A companion website contains useful forms, information on grants and financing sources, distributors, film and video festivals, film schools, internet sources for short works, and professional associations
Book Description
Clear and applied, INTERVIEWING FOR SOLUTIONS features a unique solutions-oriented approach to basic interviewing in the helping professions. Peter DeJong and Insoo Kim Berg's proven approach views clients as competent, helps them to visualize the changes they want, and builds on what they are already doing that works. Throughout the book, the authors' present models for solution-focused work, illustrated by examples and supported by research.
Customer Reviews:
great service.......2007-09-30
thank you for selling this book. it made it to me in great time and is in excellent condition. thanks!
Interviewing for Solutions.......2005-09-17
Great strengths based approach to working with families and young people from vulnerable communities.
Great Book for All.......2004-11-24
"Interviewing for Solutions" is wonderful. I would encourage anyone interested in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to read this book. "Interviewing for Solutions" supplies the reader with a overview of SFBT, as well as demonstrating SFBT in action via examples of interviews with various clients. Regardless of the counseling orientation one takes when assisting clients, the book provides valuable tools for all! In addition to this book, I would highly suggest obtaining a few of the lecture tapes of Berg, de Shazer and etc from the Brief Family Therapy Center.
Excellent Book on Interviewing--Period!.......2003-10-20
Although solution focused-brief therapy is considered a paradigm, this book could very well be used in any introductory, microskills class, and it should.
The authors put forth a paradigm that is easy to learn (yet technique is perfected with much experience),and it places focus on the client's "non-problem" life. This is important because what we tend to focus on tends to increase.
The authors present SF in a way that is very empowering to both the therapist and the client. For the therapist who is interested in genuinely helping people, this will work, but you cannot use this approach and have an ego-issue w/regard to being an "expert." Rightly, the client is the expert on his/her own life.
A first-class text, and a keeper!
great introduction to SF.......2002-04-26
Nearly two years ago this book was my first acquaintance with the solution focused approach to helping people. I had heard from a collegue (who is also a management coach) about solution focused working and, although I thought it sounded promising, I remained a bit skeptical. However, from the very moment I started reading 'Interviewing for solutions' my attention was firmly captured. Two chapters later I was practically sold. The approach is very clearly explained and the many dialogues in the book are really excellent (especially those by Insoo Kim Berg). After reading this book I started reading and learning more and I began using solution focused working in my practise as a coach and consultant. With peasure and success.
Book Description
If you want to know what anthropology is, look at what anthropologists do. This Very Short Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology combines an accessible account of some of the disciplines guiding principles and methodology with abundant examples and illustrations of anthropologists at work. Peter Just and John Monaghan begin by discussing anthropologys most important contributions to modern thought: its investigation of culture as a distinctively human characteristic, its doctrine of cultural relativism, and its methodology of fieldwork and ethnography. They then examine specific ways in which social and cultural anthropology have advanced our understanding of human society and culture, drawing on examples from their own fieldwork. The book ends with an assessment of anthropologys present position, and a look forward to its likely future.
Customer Reviews:
using this for undergrads.......2006-12-13
After disheartening forays into text books and frustration at readers that are either too thematic or otherwise not quite right for a quick orientation in the discipline, I decided to check this out. This is about as perfect a scene-setter as I could ask for for either an intro course or any course that is likely to attract students who do not have an anthropological background. It's pocket-sized, it's affordable, it's readable, and it's SMART. It covers theoretical debates in a straight-forward and understandable way that shows why anyone should care about evolution vs. diffusion (to name one example). This little book as does about a good a job as any at showing how (and why) anthropologists and others use the word "post-modernity" (pg 69). The field examples are well chosen and engaging. The chapters are of a length and written in a style students are likely to read. Even better, the authors give enough tantalizing detail that I suspect it will inspire students to read MORE.
A very good Introduction.......2006-11-10
The first time I laid my hands on this little pocket size book I could not put it away until I drained out all its information. This book really gave a very concise idea about anthropology and its subfields. The authors provided valuable first hand examples about their experiences as anthropologists and ethnographers. This book is perfect for those who would like to get a brief understanding of what anthropology is about and also good for experts because the authors managed to incorporate some of the most relevant anthropologists.
A Very Smart Introduction.......2005-06-19
I wanted my 100th review for Amazon to be for something I could wholeheartedly recommend, and this is it.
The authors manage, within severe space restrictions, to convey the essential features of their discipline, an outline of its history and development, and an indication of the philosophical and moral issues that it raises.
Monaghan's work with the Mixtec of Central America and Just's work with the Dou Donggo of Indonesia are used as sources for the anecdotal details that are used throughout the book to illustrate aspects of anthropology. This is very much a description of anthropology as a practical endeavor, a hands-on discipline whose theories are firmly grounded in the everyday lives of human beings.
Broader theoretical contexts, such as are found in Marxism or Structuralism, are touched on but no more. Those are the things you go on to read about after your appetite has been whetted by an excellent introduction such as this.
Not Mired In Postmodern Rhetoric.......2002-09-06
This is the first Anthropology introduction I have read that doesn't get bogged down in postmodern academic speak. It was very clear and interesting, with good examples.
This was the first VSI I read and it made me fall in love with the series.
Get a first impression of the field.......2001-04-05
This is a great little book to get a first impression of anthropology. The two authors present different historical developments and schools of thought. I had not know anything about this academic field before, but this book made me want to read more. Especially helpful with that were the examples that pertained to the authors' own fieldwork in Mexico and Indonesia. Reading about bee larvas and onion soup just makes the ideas presented more "real".
Average customer rating:
- decent introduction, but needs more
- Surprisingly readable
- An excellent introduction to cosmology
- A very good introduction to cosmology
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Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
Peter Coles
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 019285416X |
Book Description
This book is a simple, non-technical introduction to cosmology, explaining what it is and what cosmologists do. Peter Coles discusses the history of the subject, the development of the Big Bang theory, and more speculative modern issues like quantum cosmology, superstrings, and dark matter.
Customer Reviews:
decent introduction, but needs more.......2007-05-07
In an introduction to a topic, one expects lots of figures to explain just about every topic. This book, and indeed the entire series, generally has rather few figures. The series also, generally, focuses on the historical development of the topic and not necessarily on the current understanding of the topic. Therefore, the series sacrifices a better explanation of our current understanding to explain who thought what and when. However, that is a matter of personal taste as to whether this is a digression or not. Nonetheless, this book serves adequately in the capacity of a "very short introduction."
Surprisingly readable.......2006-07-12
I never would have expected a book with chapters discussing physics concepts to be enjoyable or understandable. Nor did I expect a book on cosmology to include that type of thing in the first place, which shows how little I knew about the topic before I read this. Needless to say, understanding the concepts author Peter Coles presents and actually wanting to know more about them was a pleasant surprise.
This book flows smoothly from topic to topic, and the author does a good job of explaining things at a level detailed enough so you get some of the science behind things but not at a level so in depth that the average reader would be lost. A few helpful diagrams are also scattered about the book in places which would otherwise cause confusion. Where applicable, Coles gives brief introductions to various competing theories and points out both their strong and weak points.
Despite being "a very short introduction," the book is very solid and thorough. The information presented is well organized and builds upon itself, so essential concepts are reinforced even as new ones are discussed. After finishing the text, I skimmed through the index and found that I actually remembered what most things listed there were. The only exceptions were names of people, and those aren't exactly essential to understanding the subject matter.
I started this book without a completely accurate idea of what cosmology is, and I finished it knowing far more about it than I expected to. As such, I must say Coles was extremely successful in writing "a very short introduction" to cosmology, and I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.
An excellent introduction to cosmology.......2005-08-07
First, be warned that Amazon has mixed up two very different books here. Cosmology: A Very Short Introduction is the 139-page paperback I am reviewing. The editorial review refers to Cosmology: The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Structures, a 520-page hardcover. At the time of writing this review, Amazon have the two books confused and you will find the same editorial and user reviews under each. So if you order one, make sure it's the right one.
Anyway, Cosmology VSI is excellent. Laymen's guides to physics usually resort to metaphors that are seriously misleading. The alternative is a highly mathematical approach that is inaccessible to most readers. Coles manages to simplify without misleading. Actually, some basic knowledge of physics is assumed, at least if you want a full understanding of what is being said, but it is never beyond high school level and most of the book does not require even that.
Covering relativity, quantum theory, particle physics and much else, this is a perfect introduction to a vast and profound topic. My only complaint: cosmology is a fast-changing subject. A new edition is needed very soon.
A very good introduction to cosmology.......2004-03-28
Professor Coles' book on cosmology in the VSI series is a very good introduction to the subject. If you search for a first book on the subject, that's it (although you can also choose Stephen Hawking's Brief History of Time and the contents of these two books could complement with each other)! It provides an overview of the key concepts of cosmology in non-technical language while preserving room for deeper thought and exploration for those who are not satisfied with an introduction.
In my opinion, Chapter 2 provides the best simplified exposition of Einstein's relativity and here and there the book shows very clear exposition of the Hubble's law with kept-to-minimum mathematical presentation which is comprehensible by the general reader without relevant training at all.
Although it may be my own problem, I cannot quite get hold of the key concept of the Friedmann models. The models are first presented in Chapter 3 but they are often quoted in later chapters. Reading them all together, I fail to make a coherent understanding on the models.
Average customer rating:
- Publisher Notes:
- not bad, but not good
- An easy to follow introduction
- A Little TOO Short
- An almost ideal introduction to the subject.
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Marx: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions X)
Peter Singer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0192854054 |
Book Description
Peter Singer identifies the central vision that unifies Marx's thought, enabling us to grasp Marx's views as a whole. He sees him as a philosopher primarily concerned with human freedom, rather than as an economist or a social scientist. He explains alienation, historical materialism, the economic theory of Capital, and Marx's ideas of communism, in plain English, and concludes with an assessment of Marx's legacy.
Customer Reviews:
Publisher Notes:.......2006-10-10
The Past Masters Series is a concise, lucid , aythoritative introduction to the thought of leading intellectual figures of the past whose ideas still influence the way we think today. ... sees Marx as a philosopher, rather than as an economist or social scientis. ' an admirably balanced portrait of the man and his achievement' says Philip Toynbee, Observer.
not bad, but not good.......2006-02-10
Very little of the text is devoted to analyzing Marx's most important work. For example, a total of one chapter (~30 pages) is devoted to Das Kapital, Marx's seminal work.
On the other hand, excessive attention is paid to unimportant aspects of Marx. For example, most of the book is spent analyzing Marx's philosophical background, his obscure earlier works, his philosophical predecessors (Hegel & Feuerbach), and the effects of his doctrines. The chapter devoted to Singer's mediocre economic analysis is as long as the chapter devoted to Das Kapital!
Although the book has some good material, that good material constitutes only ~30 pages.
An easy to follow introduction.......2005-04-13
I am doing an MA in political science and my professor screwed his nose up a bit when I showed him this, because Singer is not a name that one associates with Marxism. I bought it because I liked his anthology on Ethics so much. I must say that I don't agree with some of the conclusions that Singer draws in his assessment of Marxism at the end of the book, but his strength is his ability to write at a level that is easy to understand. He avoids jargon where possible and that in itself takes a lot of the mystery out of this stuff. I recommend this book as a good place to start when looking at Marx.
A Little TOO Short.......2005-02-28
I felt the later chapters of this book were well developed, but the first few chapters on how Marx developed his philosophy from Hegel's left me with more questions than answers. Overall, the book provides are decent foundation on which to critique Marx as a philosopher, social scientist, economist, etc. Singer brings up many common objections to Marxist thought, but he also presents Marx's ideas in a non-bias way and gives credit where he sees credit is due. I found the biography of Marx to be interesting along with the subtleties of his relationship with Engels. But in the end, I wish this book had been a little more detailed, especially with regards to Marx's early works and philosophy.
An almost ideal introduction to the subject........2003-08-22
Peter Singer's "Marx: A Very Short Introduction" is a superbly lucid and concise introduction to the subject of Marx and Marxism. Assuming the reader has no background in Marx's thought, Singer covers most of the important issues of Marxism and then assesses Marx's achievements and shortcomings in a refreshingly balanced manner.
What makes this book such a valuable introduction is Singer's clear understanding of what lies at the heart of Marxism: the issue of human freedom. Too many works on Marxism reduce it to a merely economic philosophy, which has the destruction of capitalism (and subsequent liberation of the world's workers) as its end. This is a gross misrepresentation of Marx's thought. Marx saw the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of a classless society as means toward the true end which he sought: the liberation of humanity from oppression and exploitation and a return to our true nature as creative, self-actualizing beings rather than mere laboring appendages to an economic machine. Marx envisioned a world in which humanity toiled with its individual and universal fulfillment as the goal, rather than a world in which a few grow rich while the many dig ditches or work in Asian sweatshops for Nike. Freedom, true freedom, was the purpose behind Marx's work and also his life.
I highly recommend this book as a serious, thorough, and fair introduction to this complex subject. Apart from Terry Eagleton's "Marx," there is no better guide than this.
Book Description
In this gorgeous collection featuring eight of Kipling's JUST SO STORIES, each tale is illustrated by a different leading contemporary artist.
How did the rude Rhinoceros get his baggy skin? How did a 'satiably curious Elephant change the lives of his kin evermore? First told aloud to his young daughter ("O my Best Beloved"), Rudyard Kipling's inspired answers to these and other burning questions draw from the fables he heard as a child in India and the folktales he gathered from around the world. Now, in this sumptuous volume, Kipling's playful, inventive tales are brought to life by eight of today's celebrated illustrators, from Peter Sís's elegantly graphic cetacean in "How the Whale Got His Throat" to Satoshi Kitamura's amusingly expressive characters in "The Cat That Walked by Himself." From one of the world's greatest storytellers come eight classic tales just begging to be heard by a new generation — and a visual feast that offers a reward with every retelling.
Featuring illustrations by:
Christopher Corr
Cathie Felstead
Jeff Fisher
Satoshi Kitamura
Claire Melinsky
Jane Ray
Peter Sís
Louise Voce
Customer Reviews:
My son loved this book.......2007-09-11
I don't understand the other comment about not being appropriate for children because my son loved it! A friend gave me this book when my son was 3 years old. I went through it first, to see what the stories were like, before reading any to him. He was used to all the Disney stories up until then, but really liked the stories in this book. This was back in 1989 and 1990. His favorite was "How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin." Unfortunately, I sold the book when I moved so now have to buy a new copy that I will give to a friend having a baby. My son still remembers this book and how much fun it was to listen to the stories.
Not what I expected.......2007-07-29
I had the impression the stories would be good to read to a child, they weren't.
kipling's just so stories.......2007-02-26
As these stories were written in another era they may not seem PC by today's standards. However, some of them are amusing and can be retold with subtle editing if necessary.
Family Readaloud Material.......2007-02-11
When I married, Mother gave me our family copy of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories which had scribbles in it from more than one of my five siblings. I don't remember reading it as a child, to be honest, but it was there. When our first two children were old enough to sit still for a story, my husband sat them in his lap and read them "The Elephant's Child" from this volume. After they squirmed a bit, he assigned acting parts to one or the other of them at various times, and by the time the third son came along they were fighting over acting parts. With voice inflection and movement to accompany the reading, they understood this story more and more, and they began to beg for more story time. He added first one and then another of the stories in this classic. Now our second son and his wife have had their first child, and for his first Christmas as a parent we were delighted to give him him own copy, and the two new parents are continuing the tradition. Bravo, Rudyard Kipling, and bravo, Daddy
Old School doesn't die.......2007-02-10
Still excellent as a reading time project. Both my son and daughter love the stories as much as I did as a child.
Average customer rating:
- Let it STEAL you.
- It Stole My Time
- A hysterical and heady masterpiece
- Make it stop...
- Paint-By-Wonders
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Theft: A Love Story
Peter Carey
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0307263711
Release Date: 2006-05-09 |
Book Description
From the two-time Booker Prize–winning author and recipient of the Commonwealth Prize comes this new novel about obsession, deception, and redemption, at once an engrossing psychological suspense story and a work of highly charged, fiendishly funny literary fiction.
Michael—a.k.a. “Butcher”—Boone is an ex–“really famous” painter: opinionated, furious, brilliant, and now reduced to living in the remote country house of his biggest collector and acting as caretaker for his younger brother, Hugh, a damaged man of imposing physicality and childlike emotional volatility. Alone together they’ve forged a delicate and shifting equilibrium, a balance instantly destroyed when a mysterious young woman named Marlene walks out of a rainstorm and into their lives on three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels. Beautiful, smart, and ambitious, she’s also the daughter-in-law of the late great painter Jacques Liebovitz, one of Butcher’s earliest influences. She’s sweet to Hugh and falls in love with Butcher, and they reciprocate in kind. And she sets in motion a chain of events that could be the making—or the ruin—of them all.
Told through the alternating points of view of the brothers—Butcher’s urbane, intelligent, caustic observations contrasting with Hugh’s bizarre, frequently poetic, utterly unique voice—Theft reminds us once again of Peter Carey’s remarkable gift for creating indelible, fascinating characters and a narrative as gripping as it is deliriously surprising.
Customer Reviews:
Let it STEAL you........2007-08-22
Having just finished Peter Carey's latest novel, Theft, I have mixed feelings.
I liked the book, and simultaneously, found it... difficult.
First off, in the "liking it" department, well... it is Peter Carey!
You don't win the Booker Prize twice by writing poop even once! He is an incredibly good writer.
I loved his Oscar & Lucinda, and My Life As A Fake.
But this one, Theft. I did not love it, per se. I liked it.
I needed help. Parts of it got away from me, like a lifejacket floating out of reach, and I often had to rely upon my Reading Partner to haul me into the boat, as it were.
Theft is sub-titled "A Love Story" and it is!
The story of Michael Boone, an ex-"really famous" painter, born 1943, in Bacchus Marsh, Australia. [? As was Carey himself, in both time and place. Let the reader interpret!]
Newly divorced and down on his luck, Michael retreats to the unoccupied house of his patron, Jean-Paul, in an effort to here, perhaps re-invent himself.
With him is his near-autistic brother Hugh. Michael takes care of Hugh in lieu of the only other option, which would be abandoning him to an institution.
And so Michael sets out out to work on a series of new paintings.
But into this peaceful backwoods setting, a beautiful woman appears one rainy night, her car stuck in the mud.
28-year old Marlene Cook is not only vivacious, but also an art expert.
Michael soon discovers she's married to the son of the now-deceased 20th-century artist, Jacques Leibovitz, and is involved in the authentication of Leibovitz's works.
Michael has been a fan of Leibovitz since his high school years.
Needless to say, his interest in Marlene knows no bounds!
Soon he will wish there were bounds to his interest, as she involves him in a web of thievery and chicanery that threatens all he has ever stood for, in the production of authentic, genuine ART!
Not to mention, he loves her. And she, him, apparently.
Scamming, double-crossing, faking, severe cheatitry.
In many ways, this novel is rip-roaring good. Roller-coastery good!
Funny, too.
In style, Carey is as subversive and non-generic as ever. The narration alternates, chapter by chapter, between Michael and Hugh. Hence, we are given dual perspectives of simultaneous events, and this keeps the reader [if the reader is me] fully engaged and on the edge of their seat. Or the edge of the boat, as it were.
But a few times I fell into the lake.
I got a bit lost in the intricacies of exactly what is done in the art world as presented, regarding counterfeit painting and related forgery activities. I think that Carey is counting on a real savvy reader here.
It's not the kind of book you read while driving a tractor along a straight furrow. Or while stirring a pot of soup with one hand and changing a diaper with the other.
You're just not going to get it unless you are paying attention.
Throughout the book this one sentence is, themewise, center-stage:
How do you know how much to pay if you don't know what it's worth?
Hmmm.... a good question. As for me, I like to pay nothing!
My own walls are filled with laminated posters I stole from Starbucks, so what do I really know about the higher realms of art?
Because I needed a friend with this book, I suggest it as a Reading Group selection. In the multitude of voices, this book has gemstone potential.
It Stole My Time.......2007-08-21
Perhaps an Australian reader might appreciate this novel more than I did. It is filled with references to life in Sydney and the Austrailian bush which I did not fully understand. I believe that some of the language includes Australian colloquialisms lost on me. Any book that sends me to the dictionary as often as this one did should be fabulous. It isn't. Theft is the story of an australian artist now fallen out of favor who is saddled with the care of his retarded brother, Hugh. After his acrimonious divorce he falls in love with the beautiful sociopathic young wife of the son of a now deceased famous artist. The story follows him as he follows her to Japan and NYC while he hopes that his future is secured by finding a rich patron. The art theft and forgery around which the story turns churns the plot forward albeit slowly. The book is obviously humorous as well as an example of black humor which I usually like. However, I found it tedious. It is technically well written, but I only finished it because I read it for book club. This author won the Booker prize. However, unlike most of the prize's winners, his language includes particularly foul words. Nevertheless, they are not gratuitious, and that is not the reason I didn't find it engrossing.
The narrative switches from Butcher Bones in the first person to his brother, Hugh. However, the diction and vocabulary emited from the supposedly mentally disabled, Hugh, was unconvincing. The sentence structure and vocabulary were simpler but not sufficiently so. In fact had the author used such simple diction for the narration from Butcher I might have liked it better. However, other than walking around with a folding chair and his rigidity of routine, Carey does not portray Hugh realistically enough. I cannot say this was bad fiction, because it is not. Someone should inform this author that when writing is reduced to simple sentences and vocabulary, the story is enriched. I felt he was trying to impress. Still the plot might make a good movie.
I recommend reading something else.
A hysterical and heady masterpiece.......2007-08-03
Peter Carey's novels have always traversed the line between truth and fiction, trading action for intent, and forcing the reader to re-examine what we understand as truth. He's done this fairly overtly in his last two novels, My Life as a Fake and True History of the Kelly Gang. Both titles call attention to the truth theme and by following a thread where fiction and truth overlap and twist in so many ways that fact is no longer the underlying key to truth, the novels shake up the reader in a pleasurable but unexpected way. Although the title isn't quite so overt in Theft, there is a similar theme on reality versus truth in Carey's latest book. Although the truth theme continues to be compelling, it never takes precedence to the original and natural integrity of the story, which is overwhelmingly entertaining, first and foremost. On pure plot and characterisation alone, Carey is a master. That Theft like all of Carey's books, is also linguistically beautiful and full of the kind of transcendency that makes literary fiction so much more than light entertainment, is icing on what is already an excellent cake.
The story follows a heady period in the life of artist Butcher Bones, an Australian painter who has fallen out of favour after a nasty divorce and term of incarceration for trying to "retrieve" his best work "which had been declared "Marital Assets". Set in 1980, the novel opens on Bones' release as his lawyers and a wealthy collector `exile' him to a country property in Bellingen with his challenging brother Hugh where he attempts to begin painting again. One wet evening he meets Marlene Leibovitz, daughter-in-law of one of the greatest painters of the 20th century, and Bones and Marlene begin a love affair which takes them deeper into the political machinations of the art world as they travel to Tokyo and New York in a complicate thread of sexy intrigue, real and fake art, murder and a certain amount of chaos. The story is well plotted, and as is always the case in Carey's novels, is fast paced enough to push the reading forward, while the writing and characterisation are so rich and powerful that it's an almost necessary effort to continue slowing the pace to savour and re-read the gorgeous prose.
Right from the start of the book, Carey sets up the paradox between real and fake as he begins sipping a non-alcoholic beer with his patron Jean-Paul, which is "Like the real thing." (6) The house is almost like the real thing too, although impossible to paint in until Bones destroys it, and his neighbour Dozy Boylan owns a real Leibowitz painting. Marlene, a would be American, whose real Manolo shoes Bones ends up washing mud off, is a classy art savant, whose delicate beauty and sophistication contrasts with Hugh's brutish childishness. Between The Magic Pudding and Benalla High School we learn that the truth isn't always as obvious as formal certification (or "droit moral").
The narrative is told in alternating chapters of first person singular between Butcher and Hugh. Carey links the separate paragraphs with shared memories and a rough vernacular which bisects, but it is Hugh's chapters which are almost startling in their vivid intensity and the raw truth they emit.
The difference between the two narratives is a gulf between perspectives and is often funny as the narratives describe the same situations in absolutely different ways. The relationship between brothers is almost as much of a love story as that between Butcher and Marlene. It isn't a perfect love affair by any means. The filial tension is almost unbearable at times as both Hugh and Butcher see themselves as subservient to the other and jealousy, love, need and resentment all collide.
Butcher's own description of the power of colour and quality is immediately accessible to the reader, taking words beyond their usual medium.
The ride is hysterical at times, and the reader will often grimace, or laugh outloud following Hugh's exploits with his metal chair, or the feverishly naïve attempts of Butcher to try and control the events which take him over and still maintain a sense of bravado and artistic integrity. The line between self-creation, deception, crime, and reality start to blur with a rapidity that can be dizzying. It's the best kind of dizzy. However crazy the story gets, and however tricky the relationship between true and false in the end, it is as clear as the title makes it that there is simply one truth that underpins the story - love.
Like Carey's other masterpiece, Oscar and Lucinda the fantastic, easy to read plot almost masks the fact that the work is an ode to the non-discursive nature of love. There are many thefts in Theft including the theft of a child, of a life, of a painting, and of a heart, but the final theft is one where the ultimate thief is unclear, and there is only one truth. The painting is beside the point. This is a stunning novel and one which certainly lives up to Carey's claim as a modern master.
Magdalena Ball is the author of Sleep Before Evening.
Make it stop..........2007-07-17
Carey is a terrific writer. Theft, however, is a stupendously dull novel, chock-full of vapid characters and insipid storylines. To the extent that the emptiness of this novel was intended to mirror or riff on the emptiness of the contemporary 'art world', I guess it succeeds, but who's interested in an endless story about boors behaving boorishly? To the extent that this novel is intended as a black comic sendup of the same -- as some reviewers have suggested -- it fails. It is a slog from start to finish.
Paint-By-Wonders.......2007-07-13
Two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey has a command of the language that is beautiful in its simplicity. Just as three primary colors can make up the universe's sumptuous palette, so too does Carey's uncluttered prose create a world so detailed and rich that you might re-read some passages just to wonder how the man did it. The words are there, naked and innocent, but Carey's talent is locked somewhere behind them.
In "Theft," Carey tells the story of two brothers. Michael Boone is an artist who has just been released from jail, where he was held for trying to steal his own art from his ex-wife. Hugh Boone is mentally-disabled, a looming child of a man who enjoys a good chair, a good chicken sandwich, and a children's book called "The Magic Pudding." Michael, fresh from his incarceration, has discovered that he is no longer "in," his fame has fled, and he is now reduced to playing caretaker for his not-so-simple sibling.
"Theft" claims to be a love story, and it is on several levels, but it's hard to say which level actually works. Certainly Michael is a man in love with himself as much as with his art (and at a loss to distinguish between the two). And there's a good chance he loves his brother, although there's not much evidence of that, other than his dogged (often resentful) dedication to the lumbering man-boy. Perhaps he loves Marlene.
Marlene is an authenticator of paintings, specifically those by the late Jacques Liebovitz, one of Michael's profoundest influences. She strides into Michael's life, wet, harried and wearing three-inch Manolo Blahnik heels, and she trails with her not just rainwater and mud, but also a mystery involving a missing painting, a murder, and the possibly fradulent work of Jacques Liebovitz. She's a beautiful woman, a complex and fragile work of art herself, so it's no wonder why Michael falls moronically in love with her.
Less clear is why she would fall for Michael. Maybe that's the point. In spite of the book's lucidity (and its even, measured tone) much remains muddied, like a priceless canvas that is in want of careful cleaning. The story is told from both brother's perspectives, although the narrative leaps don't happen with any kind of discernable regularity. Hugh's voice makes it easy to see why he is at odds with a world that pretends to be sane. Still, in spite of the gaps and flaws in the poor man's mind, he's eloquent enough to seem at least as coherent as Michael, if not quite as grounded. These are mostly worthless descriptions, anyway. Carey seems to be suggesting that artists, at heart, aren't that different from self-absorbed mental defectives.
That sounds harsher than the novel is. Carey mingles technical details and slick cityscapes with loving precision, and although no character in the book could be called likeable per se, they all certainly seem real enough. It's this unswerving reality that makes it hardest to like the novel, which ends with a poignance that is deserved but somehow dull. Carey's artwork is beautiful, but it feels unfinished, unframed, and lacking the last, finishing touches. His technique is flawless, but the overall effect lacks clarity. Come for all the fantastic colors, but try not to stare too long at the big picture. It's not nearly as wonderful as the brushstrokes it's made of.
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