The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life

Customer Reviews:

Coetzee's View of This Book.......2004-07-01

Readers of this book should be interested by the rather harsh comments about it made by the main character of J.M. Coetzee's novel Elizabeth Costello.

the very rich hours of count von stauffenberg.......2003-10-08

Having read both this book(several times) and Hoffman's definitive biography, I believe that full appreciation of the novel requires considerable factual background of the type provided by Hoffman. That said, though spectacularly difficult to read owing to the horrors of Nazism explored in brilliant imagery, as well as to just the pyrotechnics of the language, the book is ultimately extraordinarily moving. Stauffenberg is presented as a man as self-doubting as Hamlet in his way. At the end, though, willing to risk everything for his beliefs. The last paragraph of the book is unforgettable.

Damning with faint praise..........1997-07-09

To say that the most intriguing aspect of Paul West's novels are the titles may be damning with faint praise. But the titles are great. "Lord Byron's Doctor", "Bela Lugosi's White Christmas" and, of course, "The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg". These are wonderful titles. They tease one into contemplation - what about Lord Byron's doctor? And why the doctor? They create contradictory images. Bela Lugosi brings to mind darkness, bats, vampires and blood. To picture Bela Lugosi frolicking through a White Christmas (with Bing crooning in the background) could cause a slight brain cramp.

More than the titles, I am drawn by the subjects Mr. West chooses to explore. Jack the Ripper stalking the women of Whitechapel through the fogs of London. Lord Byron, who was, according to Caroline Lamb, mad, bad and dangerous to know. And the rich Von Stauffenberg, rakish in his eye patch, who carried the bomb into a meeting with Adolf Hitler in an abortive assassination attempt.

So we have interesting subjects, intriguing titles. Enough so that I picked up and looked at a copy of The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg. LOVED the cover.

Trying to think of a word to describe Mr. West's style, "dense" came to mind. This is a densely written book - lots and lots of words. But the words don't always move one forward in the story. Instead, it feels as if one has fallen into an eddy of words, and only after whirling about in place for a while does one spin out of the eddy and move on to the next. When only half way through the book I realized we were fast approaching the moment of Von Stauffenberg's demise. Since the book is written in his voice, I was curious as to how Mr. West would deal with the rest of the book. I had underestimated the man. The death of the narrator didn't phase the author in the least. I hadn't expected that.

Drawn by subject, title and cover, I also read The Women of Whitechapel. And now, as curious as I am about Lord Byron's doctor and Bela Lugosi's Christmas (white or otherwise), I'm gonna have to give it a pass

Damning with faint praise..........1997-07-08

To say that the most intriguing aspect of Paul West's novels are the titles might be damning with faint praise. But the titles are great - "Bela Lugosi's White Christmas", "Lord Byron's Doctor", and, of course, "The Very Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg". These all do what a title ought - tease you into interest. What about Lord Byron's doctor? And why the doctor and not Lord Byron? I think of Bing and white, not Bela and white.

Knowing that Von Stauffenberg was the man who carried the bomb into the meeting to try to assassinate Adolf Hitler, I was drawn to this book by the title. So it was not only the title, but also the subject matter. West chooses interesting subjects. The bomb plot to kill Hitler, the Jack the Ripper murders, Lord Byron (who, according to Caroline Lamb, was mad, bad and dangerous to know).

So, drawn by the subject matter, intrigued by the title (what was it that made Von Stauffenberg's hours rich?), I picked up the book. LOVED the cover.

I find it hard to describe Paul West's style. The closest I can come is to say it is a densely written book. There are a lot of words, and not all the words carry one forward into the tale. Indeed, in some instances one feels like one has stepped into a small eddy of words and only after whirlling about a bit does one spin out of the eddy and move on to the next. When not half way through the book I recognized we were coming upon the moment of Von Stauffenberg's demise, and given that the narrator of the book was Von Stauffenberg himself, I was curious to see how West was going to approach the second half of the book. I underestimated the man. The death of the narrator did not phase him for one moment. Nor did it cause a change in the voice of the book. Goodness. I hadn't expect that.

Book Description

In 1920s Paris, Adrienne Monnier provided a focal point for the writers and artists drawn to the Left Bank. Her bookstore in the Rue de l’Odeon was aptly called La Maison des Amis des Livres.

Monnier took a simple though sophisticated delight in language, books, art, music, nature, friendship, and food. Her 1940 journal, written as Paris fell to the Germans and originally published in 1976, is a rich tapestry of essays, reviews, and personal recollections. She goes to lunch with Colette, visits T. S. Eliot, befriends Joyce, argues with Breton, takes walks with Gide, publishes her elegant reviews, and reflects on the ballet, opera, Steinberg drawings, Marlon Brando and Alec Guinness movies, and the country of her birth.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent view of Paris at its peak in this century........1996-12-17

Adrienne Monnier was one of the hidden focal points of the Lost Generation in Paris. Her bookstore, La Maison des Amis des Livres, was a meeting place for some of the most famous authors of the time and their fans. Joyce, Hemingway, Gide, Colette and Eliot were among her many associates in the literary world. In addition, she was in many ways a trailblazer. She opened her bookstore in 1915, at a time when women in France were obviously not encouraged to do such things. She pioneered the concept of a lending library in France, a luxury that Americans take for granted, and she cultivated a female clientele. She particularly encouraged them to use the library, as many women of the time did not have money of their own, and would not have been able to get money for books from their husbands. This book is a collection of essays, letters, and other writings by Monnier. Most of them appeared in one or more of the various literary journals she published. I found it fascinating because it talks about the period of history just prior to our own, and talks about her observances of the events which many no longer remember. She discusses going to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, her impressions on the young Alec Guiness, and her notes from the very first days of the occupation of Paris by the Germans, which chillingly reveal trying to get her Jewish friend to leave the country. Her observations on the famous people of the time are enhanced by her intimate knowledge of them all, and are, for that very reason, honest and unworshipping. Through the writings, one gets to know Adrienne Monnier and her friends. She is a gourmand, a bookseller, a denizen of Paris, an art lover, a theatre-goer, and a friend. She will provide you with a view of Paris between the World Wars unlike any other.

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Praise by a reader familiar with Hiestand's work
Adventures of the mind and heart
Yet more praise!
Reviewers praise this book!
The Very Rich Hours has very rich prose, full of grace.

The Very Rich Hours (Concord Library)
Emily Hiestand
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Travel | Writing | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books

Essays & Travelogues | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
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Kirkpatrick Sale says Emily Hiestand travels with "the mind of an ecologist, the heart of a pagan, and the words of a poet." From peat moors to mangrove roots, from fire corals to pelagic caves and underwater sponges named after "black chimneys, orange softballs, stinking pillows and vases, chicken livers, and lavender tubes," Hiestand's descriptions of nature are hard to resist and the rest of her travels are every bit as delightful.

Book Description

Travels in Orkney, Belize, the Everglades, and Greece. "A tour de force of personal narrative. . . . Astonishingly fluid and keenly observant." --The Boston Globe

Customer Reviews:

Praise by a reader familiar with Hiestand's work.......1998-07-21

The Very Rich Hours does not merely tell; it transports. And if this is not enough, it also entertains. Hiestand has an eye for the humor innate in most situations involving human beings, a sense communicated delicately and wryly rather than broadly. The tableau which features Hiestand and her travelling companion learning how to navigate a houseboat in the Everglades is as funny as choice parts of Douglas Adams' Last Chance to See. Like Adams, Hiestand does not allow her own discomfiture to eclipse the enjoyment her audience might obtain from her experience. Hiestand also knows that the real adventure in travelling lies in discoveries like the Stromness Natural History Museum, with its "hundred frozen-in-flight, frozen-on-a-branch, or frozen-in-defense-of-their-young stuffed birds," or the sudden appearance of an herbalist shop, populated by "crones," on a busy Athens street. She finds many marvelous surprises, and she invests the time and att! ention required to appreciate and understand them. The Very Rich Hours deserves the same attention.

Adventures of the mind and heart.......1998-06-23

What fun, what vision, what a great shipwreck story. I've read plenty of sea adventures, but never one that merged grit, adrenaline, and fear with a lyrical excursion worthy of Calvino or Marquez. And that's one part of one essay. Like a travelogue shot by a feature filmmaker, this beautifully wrought book offers sharp, compelling storytelling images set in luminous portraits of the natural world.

Yet more praise!.......1998-06-13

"If one must travel, one should do it with the eyes of a child, the mind of an ecologist, the heart of a pagan, and the words of a poet. Astonishingly, Emily Hiestand has all of that." --Kirkpatrick Sale, author,The Conquest of Paradise

"The prose quivers with grace and wit as it charges the large questions with luminous details." --Bonnie Costello, author, Marianne Moore:Imaginary Possessions

"In these fresh accounts of far-flung locations, Hiestand keeps returning us to the profound questions not of exploration, but of home. That is the book's great discovery: we're in this together, wherever we are." --Patricia Hampl, author,A Romantic Education

"The most exciting travel writing I have read in years.... These pieces are, in the best sense, world-views... The poetic eye is their greatest strength; or rather, a poetic sensibility and intuitive perceptiveness combined with a remarkably cultivated and civilized intellect... The style seems to be an expression of good manners, good intellectual manners. She confronts head on some of the basic issues of writing and thinking about nature." --Robert Finch, ed.,The Norton Book of Nature Writing

"Her range of references is wide and unexpected, and she is a wonderful observer... [W]hat holds the book together is a wry and elegant dexterity of intelligence, a sense of humor that engages both the solemn revelations and the undignified exasperations of travel with precision and elan." --Franklin Burroughs, author, Billy Watson's Croker Sack

Reviewers praise this book!.......1998-06-13

"Hiestand journeys in this altogether terrific book to the far reaches of the human heart as well as to places for which there are maps. Her language is special. It is also, in the best sense of the word, 'poetic': precise, intense, compacted, and full of surprises." --Geoffrey Stokes, The Boston Globe

"Categorizing The Very Rich Hours as a travel book seems at first an underestimation of its scope, but this tour de force of personal narrative is indeed an odyssey of sorts, a rich and rewarding literary journey told with the voice of a poet and the heart of a consummate observor...Hiestand has crafted a complex, yet elegant, naturalist approach to travel...This is a rare book, one that is astonishing fluid and keenly observant." --Fiona Luis, The Boson Globe

"Here is a dazzlingly different kind of travel book. And it's just in time too, for a genre that was in danger of running to ground in the old ruts.... Deftly, Hiestand moves from specific physical observations to her big philosophical question: 'What is right habitation?' As she travels, she looks closely at our world and thinks hard about why and how we are to live in it. It is a rare experience." --Luree Miller, The Washington Post

"Hiestand won the 1990 Whiting Writers Award and received a National Poetry Series award. Her book is more than a collection of travel essays...She brings a keen intellect and intuitive insight into human nature, and her prose is both evocative and lyrical...With its natural synthesis of poetry and prose with nature and culture, this volume provides a literary treat for the mind." --Jane Gilliland, Library Journal

The Very Rich Hours has very rich prose, full of grace........1998-02-27

Traveling through the eyes and heart of Hiestand is engaging and thoroughly fulfilling. As Bonnie Costello said, "The prose quivers with grace and wit as it charges the large questions with luminous details." Or, as Robert Finch said, "The most exciting travel writing I've read in years."

The Very Rich Hours (Johns Hopkins: Poetry and Fiction)

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The Very Rich Hours (Johns Hopkins: Poetry and Fiction)
Jean McGarry
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Very Rich Hours of Adrienne Monnier
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THE VERY RICH HOURS TRAVELS IN ORKNEY, BELIZE, THE EVERGLADES, AND GREECE

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THE VERY RICH HOURS TRAVELS IN ORKNEY, BELIZE, THE EVERGLADES, AND GREECE

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THE VERY RICH HOURS: TRAVELS IN ORKNEY, BELIZE, THE EVERGLADES AND GREECE
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The Very Rich, Hours Of Count von Stauffenberg -

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The Very Rich, Hours Of Count von Stauffenberg -
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Very (The) Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg, A Novel

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Very (The) Rich Hours of Count Von Stauffenberg, A Novel
Paul West
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Book Description

Don Danenberg, the recognized master of wooden runabout restoration, is back with his second book about how to undertake detailed restorations. While Volume 1 focused exclusively on woodworking, Volume 2 covers a wide range of topics to help restorers complete their projects. This new book addresses running gear, electrical wiring, plumbing, instruments, upholstery, trailers, and maintenance. The techniques are presented so they can be applied to any make of classic wooden boat and include further insights from the author into selecting materials, lapstrake construction, hardware, and more. Volume 2 also includes an appendix of resources, and a glossary.

Customer Reviews:

A Necessary Reference Library Addition.......2005-09-10

This book is well written and is something you can read just for reading sake! Been doing boat repair for a long time and learned a lot from Don. Both Volumes 5 stars.

Book Description

44 Maps

Customer Reviews:

This is the Best Backpacking Guide for Alaska!.......2000-02-02

3 mos. in Alaska and I used this book extensively! I plotted numerous trips from multi-day trips to long "all day" hikes with the aid of this book. I did about a 3rd of the trails in this book (maybe more) and the trail descriptions are accurate. Additional information regarding lodging was extremely useful....... If you are planning a backpacking trip in Alaska, buy this book! It would have been difficult finding backpacking information without it.

Honest, Off-the-beaten-path advice, Great book.......1999-07-30

Jim Dufresne does a great job in outlining excellent hikes to take throughout Alaska. We used this book in a number of areas. He gives the backpacker's view of things, not the typical tourist's. Mr. Dufresne also wrote a great book on Glacier Bay. The only guidebook we used to kayak the area. We would have never done that area had we not come acrossed his book in Michigan where he is from.

Book Description

Valentine's Day at SVMS has everyone seeing red!

It's Valentine's Day and Sweet Valley is being treated to the dance of the decade, courtesy of Young Love, the hottest dating game show on TV. But although the music is cool and the decorations are great, the couples at the dance are totally bizarre.

Jessica Wakefield and her identical twin, Elizabeth, switched identities for the dating game. Now Jessica's trapped in a date with her sister's sort-of-boyfriend, Todd Wilkins, who doesn't even suspect that he's with the wrong girl! Janet Howell is stuck with super geek Donald Zwerling, thanks to Young Love. Maria Slater is actually psyched to be with Patrick Morris, but he only has eyes for Sophia Rizzo. Everyone's with the wrong partner! Can they find true romance before this night to remember becomes a night to forget?

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SWEET VALLEY IS THE BEST!.......2000-05-14

This Book is super! I love it! It's interesting and it's justTRILLING! Jessica and Liz r sure 1 of a kind! This book is Fab! I canbet u that sweet valley is a series you'll never 4 get!

GOOD BOOK ;BUT NOT AS GOOD AS IT LOOKS.......1998-12-29

I LIKED THE BOYFRIEND MESS BUT IT WASN'T AS GOOD AS IT LOOKED WHEN I BOUGHT IT.THE PREFACE TO THE BOFRIEND MESS,THE BOYFRIEND GAME,IS MUCH BETTER. THE BOYFRIEND MESS HAD IT'S GOOD POINTS THOUGH,MOSTLY THE END,BUT OTHER PARTS WERE SORT OF LAME.

IT IS GREAT.......1998-10-25

the book tell us that the middle school is being treated to the dance of the decade, courtesy of Young Love, the hotest dating game. and actually that Liz should be going to the Dizzy Planet with Todd Wilkins(Liz sort-of boyfriend) but Jess wanted to go to the dizzy planet so much since Lila (Jess best friend)had been showing off about she had where to Dizzy Planet on the first day it opened!If you want to know more about the story read and find out?

Sweet Valley Twins Collection 2: "If Looks Could Kill" / "The Boyfriend Game" / "The Boyfriend Mess" (Sweet Valley Twins)

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Sweet Valley Twins Collection 2: "If Looks Could Kill" / "The Boyfriend Game" / "The Boyfriend Mess" (Sweet Valley Twins)
Francine Pascal
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Anthologies | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Boyfriend Mess (Sweet Valley Twins)
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