Book Description
A comic, picaresque novel set against the backdrop of twentieth-century Czech history, about the rise and fall of an ambitious busboy in Prague.
Customer Reviews:
"I was always lucky in my bad luck.".......2007-07-03
First published and distributed secretly during the 1980s in Czechoslovakia, this tragicomic novel by Bohumil Hrabal is a first-person account by Ditie, a teenage busboy at a rural hotel who progresses to waiter, and eventually to successful hotel owner before his fall when the communists take over. The picaresque plot serves as the framework for a series of often hilarious stories about the people Ditie works with, the lives they have led, the values they maintain, their hopes for the future, and the sometimes large chasm between their dreams and reality.
Set in rural hotels, in German camps during their occupation of Czechoslovakia, and in Prague, where Ditie served, not the King of England, but Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, the novel concludes at the "end of the road," where Ditie resides with his horse, goat, and cat, living on his memories and writing his autobiography--this book.
Ditie is a charming story-teller, using the casual, almost innocent language of a young boy at the beginning and becoming philosophical and contemplative by the end. Hrabal's sensitivity to small details and his accurate depiction of real people responding to real situations in sometimes odd and often darkly humorous ways make this sometimes satiric novel a delight to read. Ribald and rowdy in his descriptions of his own sexual awakening and in the stories of his customers' peccadillos, Ditie maintains his dignity when he describes the important people with whom he comes into contact--the headwaiter who "served the King of England," the President of Czechoslovakia, and eventually Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, for whom Ditie is personal waiter.
The novel takes a new, darker turn, when Ditie marries a German woman and leaves Prague to live in the mountains--at a breeding station the Germans have established to develop a "refined race of humans." Lise, his wife, travels widely for the Reich, once returning from Warsaw with a suitcase full of valuable stamps, confiscated from Jews, which guarantee their financial future. Their lives are less secure, however, and Ditie eventually dissociates himself from the Germans and tries to re-establish a life of his own, this time as the owner of a Czech hotel built with the proceeds from the sale of the stamps.
By turns hilarious and poignant, satiric and sensitive, the novel depicts many aspects of Czech society and culture, but it is, above all, the story of Ditie, in many ways a Czech everyman. With symbolism throughout, and a repeating character, Zdenek, the headwaiter who "served the King of England," who appears at every crossroads in Ditie's life, the novel is more than a comic romp. A record of a time, place, and culture, it is also Ditie's meditation on his life and his role, if any, in the wider world. Soon to be released as a major film by Academy Award-winning Czech director Jiri Menzel, who also directed the film version of Bohumil Hrabal's Closely Watched Trains, this novel deserves to find a wide, long-overdue audience. n Mary Whipple
Too Good To Be True, Therefore Better Than True.......2006-11-21
This is a fantastic novel - both literally and in the colloquial sense of that word when it is used as a hyperbolic form of praise; in this instance the praise is merited. Originally published in Czech in 1971, I Served the King of England certainly qualifies Hrabal to be considered as eminent a practitioner of "magic realism" as Gabriel Garcia Marquez or, for that matter, the Gunter Grass of The Tin Drum. If this places the author in elevated literary company, he has earned his place there.
The story begins as a picaresque autobiography of the narrator, the runt "Ditie" who recounts his adventures as a busboy and waiter in Prague and elsewhere. Amazing and awe-inspiring things happen throughout the young man's career, often involving unlikely candidates (waiters, hotel owners, traveling salesmen) for the performance of outrageous or admirable deeds. Ditie is always game for adventures, especially of an erotic nature, and his lavish descriptions of the anatomy and enthusiastic love-making of his favorite prostitutes and other girlfriends is sensually arousing while touching and humorous at the same time (an erection with a heart of gold, wreathed in flowers. as it were.) The story takes a grimmer turn when he falls in love with Lise, a Bohemian German gym-instructor who is even more diminutive than he is. He becomes her knight-errant in a situation of deteriorating relationships between Czechs and Germans as the war approaches, and in his haste to defend his lady-love's honor he turns away from his countrymen in their time of need and oppression, a decision which eventually comes to haunt and discomfit him. This leads to their marriage and his subsequent odd career as a despised waiter at a Nazi "Lebensborn" resort for young women programmatically impregnated by warrior-studs. To the music of Wagner and under the banner of duty to produce a specimen of the Teutonic New Man, he and his wife conceive a stunted, retarded child. At the war's end his wife wends her way heavenward (hellward? Or perhaps just into the ground) courtesy of an Allied bomb, and Ditie has the chance to return to his beloved venue of hotel-and-restaurant in Prague. He is not received warmly by his old colleagues, but manages to create a unique hotel in an abandoned foundry on the grounds of a quarry, using as his capital a fortune Lise looted from Polish Jews during her war service. With his stained wealth and an uneasy conscience he creates a sort of dreamy hotelier's paradise, which is soon doomed to destruction by the new political regime. There is a hilarious interlude at a newly established Communist Party "prison/reform camp" for millionaires, where the prisoners and their guards (all former miners who miss their old job) become interchangeable and totally confused about what is expected from whom - it's a wonderful parody of Lenin's who-whom rhetorical question. Throughout these adventures Ditie has been driven by the desire to become a very rich man, because as a youth he thought that rich men lived the most admirable and rewarding lives; he also desires the admiration of other rich men, especially those from the ranks of the hotel owners. After he realizes this dream he watches it go sour and be crushed. When he is released from the millionaires' prison, things take a final turn for the worse for Ditie, but only in the most superficial sense, because in his new life as an almost totally isolated rural road repairman (he has four animal companions) he discovers a kind of pantheistic tranquility and an impulse to recreate and reconsider his life by writing it all down -- the "arc" of his story is now "from-rags-to-riches-to-rags-again", with the final rags being the frowsy but durable mantle of a self-made philosopher.
The way the story is told - the characterizations and especially the language of Ditie the narrator - is as important as the tall tales themselves. This raises a tricky point. The irascible but occasionally brilliant F. Nietzsche once made the observation that "it is neither the best nor the worst" of a language which is untranslatable, implying that there is a vast range of thought and expression in the "middle" of this spectrum in which deeper meanings and emotional overtones depend upon the unique subtleties of each language and are therefore beyond translation. In a brief after-note the translator, Paul Wilson, writes, "Bohumil Hrabal's work, Czechs say, is untranslatable. This book is my response to that challenge." I don't know how truly bilingual readers evaluate his effort, but for English-language readers I can say that Wilson's translation is much more than serviceable -- it is direct, colloquial, jaunty, funny, and poetic and reflective when it needs to be. It creates a vibrant voice which the reader who does not speak Czech hopes is an authentic mirror of the original. It is definitely a voice you want to listen to, compelling and amusing. Mr. Wilson should be praised for this.
While I feel the above review does the book some justice, I also know that it is impossible to capture its animation and warmth in a brief sketch. How do I know that? Because I have read the work of the man who wrote about Ditie, the Man Who Served the Emperor of Ethiopia, and who himself was instructed by Skrivanek, the Man Who Served the King of England, and, once they -- we -- have been chosen for such estimable parts and acquitted themselves well, people like that just know certain things, don't they?
Fellini-esque..........2006-09-17
Ditie is the modest protagonist of this quirky, anecdotal fable set amid the backdrop of 20th century Czech history.
Hrabal's writing is detailed, and has a rolling, dreamlike rhythm that is fiercely engaging, and the novel holds up to repeat readings very well.
I was pleasantly reminded of certain Fellini films - Hrabal similarly blends fantasy and the wooziness of memory with stark and sometimes nasty historical events.
Recommended.
-David Alston
Funny, bittersweet personal narrative of Czech man in turbulent times.......2005-11-25
Generally speaking, I don't enjoy novels translated into English as much of the eloquence and humor is lost in translation. However, I really liked this book by Bohumil Hrabal (translated by Paul Wilson). Although the book is based on the rise and fall of a fictional person, the historical background is real enough. We trace the personal history of a young man named Dite (which means child in Czech). The story begins during Czechoslovakia's first republic, the nation's golden age. Dite is working as a lowly busboy, but he has dreams and is ambitious. We are with him when he loses his virginity at the local bordello and meets his first love. Dite, always on the lookout to improve his wealth and status, takes a new job at a very prestigious elite hotel, where he meets a whole host of fascinating characters.
Unfortunately, he loses his job, but lands a new one at the swank Paris Hotel in Prague (still exists by the way). He falls in love with a Czech citizen of German ethnicity - unfortunately in 1938 when the Germans had seized the Sudetenland and some Czechs had become extremely hostile toward all ethnic Germans. (Czechs have a long history of being occupied/exploited and are consequently xenophobic.) His girlfriend Lise is attacked by an angry Czech group, and Dite seeths with anger. The tables are turned, however, when the German army occupies Prague later that year, and Dite and Lise are being served by now subservient Czechs. Dite, despite being Czech, is nominally accepted into the ethnic-German community.
His life begins taking a surrealistic turn when he lives in a Nazi-designated breeding town, Decin. Though once passionately in love with Lise, they are drawn apart as the pressures of war and Nazi ideology separate them. Typically, despite this, they have a little boy, which Dite later discovers to be somewhat retarded. When the war comes crashing through Bohemia, Dite's life with Lise lies in ruins, and he is jailed first by the Nazis and then by the Czechs. After many months in prison, he is released and is determined to start a new life.
Dite takes all the substantial savings he has accumulated over the years and invests it in a rather fantastic idea for a hotel. His idea takes off and is hugely successful. Unfortunately, fate deals him another cruel hand as the communists come to power in 1948. Inexplicably, he turns himself in to be imprisoned with all the other successful bourgeois hotel owners he has worked for. After his stint in a monastery prison, he is exiled to the now-depopulated Sudetenland to work as a roadkeeper on a road going nowhere.
The beginning of the book is fun, racy, and exciting, but as the book continues it becomes more sober, introspective, and melancholic - much like the life of an average man I suppose. Hrabal does a wonderful job of bringing characters to life and revealing much of the humor and sadness of everyday Czech life.
Delightful.......2005-03-02
Jaroslav Hasek meets Haruki Murakami in Kundera Land. That makes it sound derivative, but it isn't. By turns funny, erotic, sad and nasty. Smashing.
Product Description
I Served is a first-person account of the lonely childhood and manhood rites of passage of a Catholic orphanage schoolboy and plankholder in Company F, 51st Long Range Patrol (Airborne) Infantry. From separation from most of his siblings, to life in an orphanage in Virginia, to the dank jungles of Viet Nam, and finally to homecoming and marriage to his childhood sweetheart, Don Hall keeps us on edge.
Customer Reviews:
Great book! .......2006-06-06
I felt really touched by the life story of Don Hall. It is one of those veteran memoirs that are also a great story about love, healing, faith, redemption, compassion, courage and friendship. This book has all those things that can make your heart break or warm up. It is a story of a young boy who endures many emotional and physical hardships in a lonely and cold hearted orphanage, long before he was on his way to Vietnam to face the NVA and VC.
Knowing Don and Annette as I do, made this story even better because I can tell that what was in the book was really all about love. That romance is still alive and well today. The book explores their relationship but it also explores the world that a young Don found himself in during the Vietnam War.
What Don faced in Nam and how he handles himself makes for a real action packed adventure sure to satisfy those readers who enjoy war genre books however, there is much more spiritual and emotional depth to the story line as you follow the unfolding of the man Don was to become.
I highly recommend this book to all readers. I believe that women may find this a book that they can take to their hearts. This is not a combat book but a book about one man's personal journey through his life in search of meaning and love.
An Important Perspective.......2006-02-22
Don and Annette Hall's "I Served" is plainspoken when compared to more literary works such as Michael Herr's "Dispatches" or Neil Sheehan's "Bright and Shining Lies". But it is an engaging first person account that accurately reflects the world view of some extraordinarily brave soldiers who were routinely in contact with the enemy.
Reviewers who served with Don's unit have attested to the veracity of his story and I certainly concur. I was an Army photojournalist in 1967 and 1968 and to my knowledge was the only reporter/photographer to cover an F Company team on an ambush mission. I trained with Sgt. Carter's team for a week before we were inserted in an area of suspected enemy activity. The team was extremely well disciplined and were masters of stealth, moving silently from the LV through dry brush that would snap crackle and pop under the careless feet of most infantry units I accompanied. When the point man climbed a tree and spotted a base camp across a river, we hunkered down in a small clearing to observe enemy activity and determine the size of the force. That night an emeny patrol walked by no more than 10 feet from our concealed position. The next day, a team inserted nearby came under fire and we were extracted in advance of an artillery barrage and an infantry sweep.
Decades later my memories of F Co. 51st Infantry LRPS are very clear but reading Don's book gave me insight into the unit I would never have known otherwise. It's clear that he and Annette have gone to great lengths to reconstruct events where memory alone fails. Back in the day most of us were prohibited from keeping journals so Don's National Archive research is instructional for anyone who would look to write about their own experiences. For those who study the Vietnam experience, Don and Annette provide an important testimony for those who served in front of the front lines.
Disappointing.......2006-02-13
I was under the impression that this book was a true to life accounting of events leading up to the Tet Offensive of 1968. I bought the book based upon the recommendations here. I was disappointed to find that it was more of a heavily gilded diary, with little to no credibility where actual events are recounted.
Further, I did not enjoy the overall ego-centricity of the contents, and would've like to read about the accomplishments of the men in this LRP unit, rather than the personal jabs (sometimes scornful) and off-hand speculations of the first-person author.
I've judged the contents of this book as misleading, but perhaps others will enjoy it more as a story that plays fast and loose with the facts. I guess I was just expecting this book to be more of a hard-core Vietnam era combat account. [...]
This book is the best on Vietnam War.......2005-09-13
This book sets a new standard in memoir writing with supporting documentation backing up the facts in this book, 'I Served.' It was the motto of the unit, 'I SERVE' that the author, Don Hall takes the title from and he has done the men a great service in this award winning book.
Wait for the documentary 'Silent Victory' by, Don Hall and Annette Hall to come out! These two projects are the best to have been made showing the real faces of the Vietnam War from the men who were there and did the most dangerous job in the Army at the time ---- LURPING.
On a side note, it is unconscionable how so many trifling and jealous Random House/Ivy/Ballantine Book authors (a dozen or more at least) have tried to stop the filming of their documentary and how they have smeared the names of all the good veterans in this outstanding book. Read it, believe it, because it's not one of those, "believe me 'cause I was there, this is what I remembered three decades later and I have all these fake and made up military awards" types of books.
This book is based on actual radio communications and records from teams on the ground, other units, the gunships and controlled by the C&C ship of Lt. Colonel William C. Maus, Jr. (commanding) who was put in for the Medal of Honor for his actions during Tet 1968 with this unit.
These men (220 strong), pulled an inordinate back-to-back patrols never witnessed before in military history and unlike the other platoon-sized Lurps of the time period. These men are the silent warriors written about with clarity, in-sight, character, and bravery in a modest way that Don Hall touchs you with each person in the book. This unit, as a whole, was so valuable in obtaining intelligence on the enemy, destroying the enemy that, in fact, the U.S. Army War College studied this unit Foxtrot Company, 51st LRP (Airborne) Infantry to set up the current-day 75th Ranger Regiment of the U.S. Army Rangers and F Company, 51st LRS (Long Range Surveillance) at Fort Bragg, NC. A must read with valuable lessons to be learned for the military historians and those interested in the times because it is more than a war tale. It's about the characters.
Riveting, Truthful, Heroic, Right from the Heart........2003-05-09
...It is beyond the shadow of a doubt, the best book I have ever read.
I am retired, and reading non-fiction books about the Vietnam experience is what I like to do best. In the year I've been retired, I have read as of 5/8/03 between 75 and 80 books all relating to Vietnam and what these people went through.
Mr. and Mrs. Hall's book "I Served" is without a doubt the best I have ever read. In all honesty and truthfulness, I can't imagine a better book to read. It has more to offer than any book, and I loved every word of it. The writing has a way of making you feel like your standing right there watching it all take place. It is a very rare quality to be able to write like that. I honestly feel if Mr. Hall ever wanted to, he could be one heck of an auther, and probably could write a good number of book's and have before long, a following of faithful readers.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone over any other book I have ever read. I would like to say, Please check this book out. It's not an expensive book, it's worth is far greater than any amount you would pay for it. I can guarentee, you will love it the same way I and everbody else who read it does. This is a book you will be sorry you didn't read. And that's the truth. So help me God.
From his day's in an orphanage, to the end of his tour in Vietnam, Mr. Hall reveils so much about himself that other people wouldn't want anybody to know. It is so honest and forthright as to put it a league all it's own.
I will keep this book for as long as I live. And I will hope and pray that my two son's find the time time read it. I know it will have a positive effect on them both. And I'm sure it will have the same effect on you. You won't be sorry you bought and read this book, so please do for your sake.
Average customer rating:
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I served on Bataan,
Juanita Redmond
Manufacturer: J. B. Lippincott Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B0007E6FGC |
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- Documenting the experiences and service of women during the first world war
- Terrific book!
- An engrossing look at the women who also served in WWI
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American Women in World War I: They Also Served
Lettie Gavin
Manufacturer: University Press of Colorado
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 087081432X |
Book Description
Interweaving personal stories with historical photos and background, this lively account documents the history of the more than 40,000 women who served in relief and military duty during World War I. Through personal interviews and excerpts from diaries, letters, and memoirs, Lettie Gavin relates poignant stories of women's wartime experiences and provides a unique perspective on their progress in military service. American Women in World War I captures the spirit of these determined patriots and their times for every reader and will be of special interest to military, women's, and social historians.
Customer Reviews:
Documenting the experiences and service of women during the first world war.......2006-08-20
Journalist Lettie Gavin first became interested in women's World War I experiences when she wrote an article back in 1978 about a retired Signal Corps woman denied veteran's status. She and other women had not been recognized for their service: AMERICAN WOMEN IN WORLD WAR I: THEY ALSO SERVED goes far in charting these stories, documenting the experiences and service of women during the first world war. By the time Gavin began interviewing survivors it was a race against time, as living veterans were dying off: her interviews together with her research from historical archives, diaries, letters and memoirs pair with some black and white photos to create a fine memoir.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Terrific book!.......2006-06-19
Wow, I just read Ms. Gavin's book as part of my research for a novel set during World War I. The book is a wonderful compendium of pictures, actual eye-witness accounts and statistics concerning the more than 25,000 women who served in uniform Over There. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of the Great War and the role that women played in it.
Merline Lovelace, Colonel, USAF (Ret)
An engrossing look at the women who also served in WWI.......1998-04-10
Gavin has written a clear, detailed history of the women and the various organizations they belonged to while serving their country during World War I. These often-overlooked women (finally!) get full credit for the back-breaking work they performed to serve "their boys." The real shame is that they returned to a nation which proved to be so terribly ungrateful that the women could not even get equal benefits that their male counterparts received. Gavin has organized her book by the various units and organizations that sent women "over there" and at the end lists those who made the ultimate sacrifice and those who earned recognition, more often from other countries, for the work they did.
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He Loved and Served
Nathan Rutstein
Manufacturer: George Ronald
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0853981213 |
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Krschners Gelehrtenkalender/German Men and Women of Science
Manufacturer: K. G. Saur
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ASIN: 3598236034 |
Average customer rating:
- Disappointed
- Almost requires the other book
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- BUYER BEWARE
- Don't waste your money
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Wedding Kit for Dummies (Soft Cover with CDR)
Marcy Blum , and
Laura Fisher Kaiser
Manufacturer: IDG Books
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0764552635 |
Amazon.com
If you're planning a wedding, accept it now--there's a ton of details mucking up the happy path to the altar. There is so much on your mind that it's easy to freeze up and forget everything, or go crazy and paper the house with cryptic post-it notes. "After all," say authors Marcy Blum and Laura Fisher Kaiser, "a wedding is a complex affair to orchestrate, and keeping track of all those details, phone calls, expenses, and decisions is a job and a half." Organization is key.
Wedding Kit for Dummies breaks the whole planning process down for you with a series of questions, charts, and spreadsheets. Intended as a companion piece to Weddings for Dummies, this book does not help you word your invitations or tell you where your step-grandmother should be seated. Rather, it helps you knowledgeably talk with your stationer (How much extra are the vellum invites? Should the date be written out or numeric?) and helps you chart who will escort whom down the aisle and when.
Weddings can be ridiculously complicated, and almost everyone involved--especially the bride--is running on high. Wedding Kit for Dummies aims to lessen the stress with its comprehensive checklists, examples of contracts (for the caterer, hotel, flowers, DJ, etc.), and Excel spreadsheets (invitation list, RSVP list, budget tracker). Included is a CD-ROM that prints out hard copies of the lists and runs the spreadsheets (you'll need Windows 95 or later or Mac OS 7.5.5 or later to use the CD). And since so many couples plan on using the Internet, Wedding Kit for Dummies includes the Web addresses of many wedding-oriented sites. --Dana Van Nest
Book Description
You finally said “yes!” and decided to throw in your lot with Mr. Right. But before you can embark on your new lives together there’s the little detail of your wedding. Handled correctly, it can be what it should be—the most wonderful day of your life. With Wedding Kit For Dummies in your corner, you can guarantee that your wedding celebration is everything you always dreamed it would be.
Whether you’re planning an intimate affair, a huge event, or something in-between, this book/CD package arms you with checklists, templates, worksheets and other useful tools to help you manage all the details. And you get expert tips and advice on, among other things, how to:
- Select the perfect venue
- Track your guest list and RSVPs
- Choosing the food and flowers
- Finding a good photographer
- Negotiate rates with caterers and musicians
- Nail down the wedding-day agenda
- Outfit your wedding p arty
- Plan a destination wedding
Marcy Blum has created magical weddings for hundreds of couples. Now in Wedding Kit For Dummies she shares her tricks-of-the-trade on all aspects of planning, organizing, and pulling off a wedding without a hitch, including such crucial topics as:
- Financing your wedding and staying within your budget
- Seating for meals, tracking gifts, creating invitations and finding the perfect far-away destination for a destination wedding
- Getting all the details of the ceremony right—from choosing an officiant and who walks with whom to cueing the music and dealing with the jitters
- Throwing a whiz-bang reception—covers all the bases including meals, music, flowers, the cake, the bar...all the way down to the send-off
On the bonus CD-ROM you’ll find:
- Live links to top wedding Web resources
- Templates, forms, worksheets, and sample contracts
- A calculator to help you plan your reception
- Spreadsheets to keep track of all your budget details
Your complete wedding planning survival guide, this all-in-one kit is the one accessory every bride-to-be absolutely must have.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed.......2007-02-14
I ordered this book again, since the first one I purchased, the cd was broken. The seller, returned my money and told me to keep the book...but what I really wanted was the cd. So I ordered the book again. Now, I have the cd and it is only good for 30 days.
Almost requires the other book.......2006-02-25
I thought Wedding Kit For Dummies would be Weddings for Dummies plus the CD, it's not. It actually references stuff that's in the other book as if I'm going to buy both.
All in all it's not bad, it's just frustrating.
HONOST.......2005-09-12
The book I purchased was no in the condition which it stated and this seller was very honest about it. The seller gave me the option to have a full refund since the book did not come with the CD. I'd buy from this person again.
BUYER BEWARE.......2005-01-20
The CD doesn't include the software that it says it does. You have to hunt in the book to find the information that the software included is TRIAL versions only (you can get full versions for a "nominal" fee). It says it includes excel and excel documents which are simply NOT present on the CD. DO NOT BUY!
Don't waste your money.......2004-10-12
If you know how to read, you're too smart for this book. Marcy Blum's approach is 1) condescending and 2) geared toward a big-budget crowd. The CD-ROM is difficult to use and the anecdotes in the text are tired. I'd suggest buying another dozen roses and saving your money.
Book Description
The fourth book in the popular "Christmas with Martha Stewart Living" series, Parties and Projects for the Holidays helps holiday hosts impart the warmth and good cheer of the season to all their holiday entertaining and decorating.
Customer Reviews:
Another Martha Classic!.......2002-12-30
Here's another Martha book for the collection! With all the ideas and beautiful pictures, it's a book that sure to inspire most to creating beautiful tables and decorations for your own spectacular party!
Mediocre for Martha.......2000-11-03
In this month's (Nov. 2000) issue of ************************, Martha's traditional opening letter proudly describes the way she gave a presentation to potential stockholders about "spreading our costs of creating fresh and timely and evergreen content." What that means for us, Martha's consumptive public, is increasingly recycled content, which is unfortunately the case in this book.
While previous Holiday books have also consisted of compilations of recipes and projects from the magazine, they were richly useful and well-organized. This book doesn't even bother to reformat the original content. The book is divided into three parts - "The Parties," "The Projects," and "The Recipes." So, "The Parties," are basically reprinted articles from the magazine in their original "story" form, whose recipes are inconveniently clustered at the back. Of course, the quality of the recipes is high - included in this book are my favorite cookie recipe ever (Torie's Oatmeal cookies), and you'll be interested in the menus if you're thinking of making crown roast or roast goose this year. "Party plan" timelines are also included. However, I see no real reason to buy this book if you've subscribed to the magazine for a few years, or what advantage this book has over the newly released compilation of MSL recipes.
"The Projects" section's obvious intended highlight is the creation of the candy decorations featured on the cover. People with children might be interested in this, as there is a menu devoted to accompany a "Candy Craft Party with Kids," with the quintessentially traditional peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches, mac and cheese, little pigs-in-blankets, and cocoa with candy canes. Other projects, like ideas for giveaways, are skimpily represented.
On the whole, I am a great fan of Martha's, but I find previous Holiday books, such as "Christmas with Martha Stewart Living," or "Handmade Christmas" more charming.
It's About Time!!.......2000-09-23
After searching for several years for a Christmas craft book that is simple enough for the average person to follow, Martha Stewarts "Parties and Projects for the Holidays" hit the spot. She does an excellent job of illustrating the instructions to make them easy to follow. She also included some great crafts for children of all ages in this book. Not only are there these beautiful crafts for us to try, but just as many good recipes. A definate and all around great buy!!
It's About Time!!.......2000-09-23
After searching for several years for a Christmas craft book that is simple enough for the average person to follow, Martha Stewarts "Parties and Projects for the Holidays" hit the spot. She does an excellent job of illustrating the instructions to make them easy to follow. She also included some great crafts for children of all ages in this book. Not only are there these beautiful crafts for us to try, but just as many good recipes. A definate and all around great buy!!
I can finally do it!!!.......2000-09-16
After searching for the past seveal years to find a Christmas project, I have finally found a source that can help me do just that. Martha Stewart's "Parties and Projects for the Holidays" includes so many unique and exciting holiday crafts and recipes. The book also does an excellent job of illustrating the directions for almost each and every craft, which comes in great use. She did a wonderful job including a section of crafts that are great for children and easy for them to complete. A definate and all around great buy!!!
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