Customer Reviews (9)

Great Gift at a Great Price
I saw this in an art studio with a $60 tag!So happy to find it here and the customer service getting it was outstanding.If you love birds and would like to see photos of them up close, this is for you.It's a great idea and very artisic.Too bad it's not in color, though.I'd take reality over art anyday to see that blue bird.

Flat, flat, flat!!
After seeing a solo show of these photos, I couldn't wait to buy this book. Save your money! The photos in the book are flat & uninteresting. They don't do the real photos (or Mr. Schrager's talent)any justice. What a shame.

Bad prose bad photography
If you are looking for flat black and white pictures of birds held by a person's hand with uninspired prose accompanying the bad pictures, this is the book for you.

If you are expecting stunning pictures of birds with lucid prose, look elsewhere. Without question, the worst book of bird photography I have every seen.

Brilliant & Georgeous - this is a WONDERFUL masterpiece
Victor Schrager's images are gorgeous - every single one is a masterpiece - lovely, endlessly fascinating, wonderfully rich and complex and brilliantly intelligent in conception and execution.
The superb photography is accompanied by the delightful text of A.S. Byatt. For anyone who loves photography, birds, nature, art or literature, this is the perfect book. It will charm and delight you forever.

Stunning in every sense
This book is stunning in every sense.A beautiful collection of bird photographs, interesting & insightful essay, with classic yet modern design marrying the two.Schrager & Byatt make a stellar combination.This book clearly illustrates the delicate interaction between man and nature.I think this book should appeal to many different individuals-- fans of Schrager's work, fans of Byatt's work, those interested in photography, as well as the birding population in general.I loved it! ... Read more

Product Description
Maria Tatar redefines the Grimm canon with this authoritative and entertaining collection.

The Annotated Brothers Grimm celebrates the richness and dramatic power of the legendary fables in the most spectacular and unusual Grimm volume in decades. Containing forty stories in new translations by Maria Tatar—including "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Snow White," and "Rapunzel"—the book also features 150 illustrations, many of them in color, by legendary painters such as George Cruikshank and Arthur Rackham; hundreds of annotations that explore the historical origins, cultural complexities, and psychological effects of these tales; and a biographical essay on the lives of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Perhaps most noteworthy is Tatar's decision to include tales that were previously excised, including a few bawdy stories and others that were removed after the Grimms learned that parents were reading the book to their children—stories about cannibalism in times of famine and stories in which children die at the end. Enchanting and magical, The Annotated Brothers Grimm will cast its spell on children and adults alike for decades to come. 75 color, 75 black-and-white illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Excessively Annotated
The stories aren't too bad and some of the notes are insightful and interesting. However, many of the annotations (including the long-winded introductions) simply state the obvious or go on to tell you what is about to happen. I was repeatedly annoyed by this. Some of the sidebar notes even reach out into the depths of space and make the sort of 'connections' that only someone who is fixated on a particular subject, or perhaps just bored, would make. After I chose not to read most of the notes, I enjoyed the book much more. For the most part, the illustrations were just okay. They appear to be historically appropriate - but they aren't what I would call aesthetically pleasing. I found it rather amusing that from the different versions that the Grimm's released, this particular collection includes the various episodes of violence along with the Grimms' additions promoting Christianity. Of course, how would I have known that if not for some of the more useful annotations?
This was my first time reading one of The Annotated Books, and I wasn't that impressed. The worthwhile insights could have been summed up in a succinct introduction.

Beautifully illustrated volume with insightful annotations
This book is truly a treasure to browse through and read. The author, Maria Tatar has collected more than forty Grimm stories sourced from the authoritative version first published in 1857. The author has the credentials to back up her work - she is a renowned scholar in the field of folklore and children's literature, and has authored many books in the field. As someone who is quite familiar with children's literature, especially fairy tales (albeit from a layperson's point of view), I was impressed by these new translations and the deep insights afforded by Ms. Tatar's annotations.

The book contains an introduction by A.S. Byatt, the author of Possession : A Romance (Modern Library) and Babel Tower, among others. There is also an article by the author titled "Reading the Grimm's Children's Stories and Household Tales: Origins and Cultural Effects of the Collection" which in itself, provides interesting perspectives on fairy tales. As Tatar writes, "the fairy tale keeps us firmly rooted in reality....we never stray into a world that requires us to navigate a new reality or to learn entirely new rules of behavior." The articles also explores some of the defining characteristics of fairy tales, the link between myth and culture as observed by Joseph Campbell (author of The Power of Myth), and the origins of fairy tales.

The book itself is divided into five parts:
Part I The Tales (37 in all) including The Frog King, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, The Brave Little Tailor, Cinderella, Furrypelts, The Singing, Soaring Lark, The Worn-out Dancing Shoes, etc.

Part II Tales for Adults
The Jew in the Brambles
Mother Trudy
The Hand with the Knife
How Children Played Butcher with Each Other
Hans Dumm
The Evil Mother-in-Law
The Children Living in a Time of Famine
The Stubborn Child
The Rose

Part III The Brothers Grimm: Biographical Essay

Part IV Other Matters (Prefaces to the First Two Editions of the Grimms' Children's Stories and Household Tales

Part V The Magic of Fairy Tales (Further Reading and a Bibliography of Illustrations)


The work is extensively illustrated in both color and B&W, with illustrations by some renowned artists such as Arthur Rackham, and samples of his work can be seen inThe Arthur Rackham Treasury: 86 Full-Color Illustrations, amongst others, Kay Nielsen, and also A.H. Watson.

The annotations reflect a deep understanding of the motivations behind the writing of these fairy tales, for example on page 231, the annotation to "the evil mother-in-law was sentenced to death at the stake" (from The Six Swans) reads "the villain's punishment, however severe, is no worse than what she planned for the tale's protagonist. The fact that she burns to ashes signifies a definitive end to her reign of terror." Most readers are drawn by the triumph of good over evil in these fairy tales, and children especially are calmed by the thought that such evil will end at the end and the perpetrator/villain will not ever return to cause pain or hurt.

I am deeply impressed by this work and have a couple of other annotated works by the same author. I hope to share them with my young daughter someday (she does ooh and aah at the illustrations!).

Annotated Book of Grimms
Great book with annotation on the Brothers Grimm. This was bought for a director's gift for a play based on the brothers.Needless to say, he was pleasantly pleased!

Interesting for all ages!
I bought this for my young child, to introduce her to Grimm's fairy tales.I loved these as a child. I particularly chose this book so that we can discuss the many questions that will arise throughout our readings.I would have loved to have known some of these facts when I was growing up.

Old stories, modern language
I was a little disappointed to find that Ms. Tatar chose to modernize the language of the Tales to the extent she did.While it's not a bad idea to make literature that is at least purportedly aimed at children more accessible, I think it is also important that the language retain some of the character of the original.Case in point:one of my favorite Grimm tales, "The Boy Who Could Not Shudder," which frightened me immensely as a child, has been changed dramatically here.Instead of being unable to shudder, the boy is unable to get the creeps.That's not really even the same thing, and lessens the impact by failing to use exactly the right word in exactly the right circumstance, a goal toward which I believe all writers, translators, or editors should strive.
... Read more

Product Description
The works assembled here introduce George Eliot’s incisive views on religion, art, and science, and the nature and purpose of fiction. Essays show her rejecting her earlier religious beliefs, questioning conventional ideas about female virtues and marriage, and setting out theories of idealism and realism that she developed further in her famous novels. Also included are selections from Eliot’s translations of works by Strauss and Feuerbach, excerpts from her poems, and reviews of writers such as Wollstonecraft, Goethe, and Browning. Wonderfully rich in imagery and observations, these pieces reveal the intellectual development of this most rewarding of writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The genius of George Eliot is made palpable in these essays, reviews and poems collected by Penguin editors
George Eliot (1819-1880) is best known as the brilliant author of such jewels in the Victorian age's crown as
"Silas Marner"; "Scenes from Clerical Life"; "Adam Bede"; Middlemarch"; "Daniel Deronda"; and Romola. She was born
Mary Ann Evans to an estate manager in Warwickshire. Evans took the pen name George Eliot at an early age. She was a liberal atheist who lived in an unmarried state with George Henry Lewes. This living arrangement led her to be scorned by much of polite society causing a rift within her own family.
In this new Penguin Classic "Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writers" we see Evans in her journalistic work for such periodicals as the Westminster Review a liberal journal which she edited.
Among the articles are:
a. Several deal with historical criticism of the Bible shocking to many fundamentalist Christians in the age of Darwinism. Also included are excerpts from "The Life of Jesus" which Eliot translated by German scholar David Strauss.
b. Eliot reviews the latest novels to come across her editorial desk. Works by Charles Kingsley, Thomas Carlyle, Mary Wollstonecraft, Harriet Martineau and several others are reviewed. Eliot disdained so called "Women's Fiction" labelling much of it silly. She was a serious artist of creative genius.
c. A smattering of Eliot's poems are included including excerpts from "Armgart" and "The Spanish Gypsy."
d. Eliot reviews contemporary plays and looks back at Greek tragedy in a review of "Antigone."
This is not a book for the neophyte student of literature or life. Eliot's style is scholarly with long sentences and abstruse thoughts dealing with philosophy through the lens of her Auguste Comte' inspiried positivistic beliefs.
George Eliot is one of our greatest novelist. This book aids us in understanding this complex woman, scholar and writer of genius. ... Read more

Product Description
From Anthony Trollope, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hardy, through Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf, right up to Graham Greene, J.G. Ballard, Angela Carter, Ian McEwan, and many others, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories encompasses comedy and tragedy, farce and delicacy, elegance and the grotesque. Edited by noted novelist A. S. Byatt, the thirty-seven stories gathered here range from social realism to surreal fantasy, from rural poverty to war-blitzed London, from tales of the supernatural to precise delineations of the mundane, all unified by Byatts demanding criteria that the works be both startling and satisfying, and if possible make the hairs on the neck prickle with excitement, aesthetic or narrative. For short story lovers and anyone unable to resist the enchantments of the English imagination, The Oxford Book of English Short Stories offers a wide array of unforgettable pleasures, now reissued with a fresh, contemporary feel. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good collection
A good collection for readers interested in England and also well written stories.High quality tales. ... Read more

Product Description
One day in 1925 a friend asked A. J. A. Symons if he had read Fr. Rolfe’s Hadrian the Seventh. He hadn’t, but soon did, and found himself entranced by the novel—“a masterpiece”—and no less fascinated by the mysterious person of its all-but-forgotten creator. The Quest for Corvo is a hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of the strange Frederick Rolfe, self-appointed Baron Corvo, an artist, writer, and frustrated aspirant to the priesthood with a bottomless talent for self-destruction. But this singular work, subtitled “an experiment in biography,” is also a remarkable self-portrait, a study of the obsession and sympathy that inspires the biographer’s art. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Merits in the form if not the content.
This book is mostly famous as an example of how o make a biography engaging. Rather than chronologically narrating the life of Frederic Rolfe a.k.a "Baron Corvo", the author follows his own progress and correspondence in search of the Baron's life details. The subject of the book itself is one of those late victorian characters that simply had to confront a new reality driven by capitalism and not just church or aristocratic patronage.
Frederic Rolfe was a delusional, tragic man with a talent for writing and a deep seated paranoia. He attempted to become a priest for all the wrong reasons and was quickly expelled and dismissed as a superficial spendthrift . He cursed at all those who tried to help him, begged and buggered around in Venice till funds ran out. Then he died alone and poor as a rat. He refused moral judgment while dispensing it in abundance. But his writings, mostly "Hadrian the VII" and "Tales that Toto told me" caused enough impression on enough people to merit Mr. Simmons "quest" for Corvo. It is interesting to see how the author seems to need to justify the life of this hard working parasite again and again based on his literary merits. The author cannot conceal his passion for the subject and it becomes contagious. May be he saw in Fr. Rolfe a twin soul. I haven't read the books Rolfe wrote but I am afraid that they might have lost whatever glow they had in their time. Some of the neologisms he created and the language he used might have been dazzling a century ago. Today, I am afraid it might be almost incomprehensible in its rancid archaism. I admit I am judging it a priori but somehow I have no interest in finding out if I am right or wrong.

fascinating reading
This book is subtitled "An Experiment in Biography" and it is, truly, an unusual work. Which is all for the best, considering its subject: Frederick William Rolfe, aka Baron Corvo, an obscure English writer from the turn of the 20th century. Rolfe was...well, "eccentric" doesn't quite cover it. "Repugnant" comes to mind, as does "beastly"...also, however, "charming" and "intelligent" and even, yes, "genius". A normal biography couldn't possibly give the reader the complete sense of knowing the man, let alone build a sympathy for someone who, in his own words, "...cultivate(d) the art of making enemies". The Quest for Corvo is fascinating reading, regardless of one's interest in the subject.

A Model
I read this book many years ago and it was fascinating because of its portrait of a seriously weird man.The man who called himself Baron Corvo was one of the strangest members of the British company of eccentrics.At the time I read it, I was of an impressionable age, so I was not sure that I would be as impressed by it upon re-reading it.It is still an engrossing "experiment in biography" but it is much more than that.I felt at the time of first reading that the prose was the best model for a writer that I had ever read.The prose is is not florid or ornamental.It is almost transparent.When reading it, you do not notice the prose.It is almost as if the story it relates goes directly into your mind without any intermediary.Outstanding writing!

Roundabout Biographical Excursion
In agreement with what other reviewers have said, I enjoyed The Quest for Corvo primarily because of the ways the book displays the author's quaint but intense enthusiasm for his subject. This is, to me, the most interesting aspect of the biography, for the most defining (and perhaps most important) thing about Fr. Rolfe was not his literary exploits (relatively few, mostly unnoticed) or indeed anything he ever accomplished, but rather his eccentricity of character.And Symons' enthusiasm for Rolfe's eccentricity is infectious, and it lends not only authenticity but genuine merit to his choice to structure the book as a "quest" instead of as hagiography.

Nonetheless, despite his intrinsically fascinating character, Rolfe should be approached first through Hadrian the Seventh, and not directly through The Quest for Corvo--if only because then the reader will be following in the biographer's footsteps.

As for the content of the biography, I found its wayward structure refreshing, but confusing, especially with regard to the author's depictions and analyses of Rolfe's literary output. A bibliography or chronology would have been quite helpful.Also, echoing other reviewers, Symons's reluctance to speak at length about Rolfe's homosexuality (especially the elements that might still be considered deviant today) leaves too much of Rolfe's character and contemporary reactions to him concealed.

Roundabout Biographical Excursion
In agreement with what other reviewers have said, I enjoyed The Quest for Corvo primarily because of the ways the book displays the author's quaint but intense enthusiasm for his subject. This is, to me, the most interesting aspect of the biography, for the most defining (and perhaps most important) thing about Fr. Rolfe was not his literary exploits (relatively few, mostly unnoticed) or indeed anything he ever accomplished, but rather his eccentricity of character.And Symons' enthusiasm for Rolfe's eccentricity is infectious, and it lends not only authenticity but genuine merit to his choice to structure the book as a "quest" instead of as hagiography.

Nonetheless, despite his intrinsically fascinating character, Rolfe should be approached first through Hadrian the Seventh, and not directly through The Quest for Corvo--if only because then the reader will be following in the biographer's footsteps.

As for the content of the biography, I found its wayward structure refreshing, but confusing, especially with regard to the author's depictions and analyses of Rolfe's literary output. A bibliography or chronology would have been quite helpful.Also, echoing other reviewers, Symons's reluctance to speak at length about Rolfe's homosexuality (especially the elements that might still be considered deviant today) leaves too much of Rolfe's character and contemporary reactions to him concealed. ... Read more

Product Description
Softcover with colorful jacket, printed in England ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Magnificent as Usual
A.S. Byatt delivers again in this book, which contains two "novellas."One traces the history/love affairs of a Victorian era naturalist and the other is a stunning and moody story about a womanwho belives she has lost her husband at sea.Truly wonderful to read. ... Read more

Product Description
The only piece of erotic literature in the Bible, this book was regarded by earlier devotees as an allegory of God's love for his people. Taking the form of a poem, the song tells of two lovers praising each other's bodies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

amazing
One would never expect to find something in the Bible that is so sensual, so erotic. Poetry yes, eroticism no. But itis there in the Song of Songs. Solomon's poem (and you couldn't call this book anything other than a poem) is beautifully written. This is one of my favorite books in the Bible.

What I like about this edition is that one, it is pocket sized. Two, it contains only the Song of Solomon, so that you can read it on its own, separated completely from the rest of the Bible. And three, A.S. Byatt has a great introduction (longer than the poem itself) to the Song of Solomon. Very informative and good reading. It is a shame that this is only readily available in the UK. ... Read more

Product Description
Oversize Trade Softcover ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Gothic/Horror for those who appreciate literature.
Dziemianowicz does a superb job of assembling an eclectic collection of intense, macabre stories by female authors. Nadine Gordimer, Louise Erdich, Shirley Jackson, Jean Rhys, Doris Lessing, and Susan Sontag are but a few of the writers featured in this book. Each piece is tightly written and peopled with memorable characters. ... Read more

Product Description

The index, taken for granted, perhaps considered boring - or not considered at all - is an essential part of a book. Indexers and Indexing takes a wry look at the history, uses and implications of this little-considered element of the book, and offers an anthology of amusing index extracts. Compiled by a professional indexer, it examines the history and development of the index, and highlights the debate and comment that the index has invited over the years. The author examines indexes from earlier centuries: some endearingly quaint; some deliberately humorous; some plain awful; and some which are astonishing in the vehemence of the views they present. Bell also examines the depiction of indexers in fiction - and the picture she finds is not encouraging to the professional indexer - variously portrayed as diffident, domestic drudges or incompetent and fallen pedants.A wonderful book for editors, indexers and bibliophiles.

Customer Reviews (2)

A Jolly Good Read
It is not often that a book by an indexer about indexers and indexes can be described as fun. Hazel Bell's meticulously researched book is fun to read. Bell was editor of the British journal, The Indexer, for over 18 years. In this volume she has collected gems -- quotes about indexes, quotes from indexes, indexers that appear in fiction as characters, and much more. And, oh yes! The book includes an index.

Unique and appealing
No bibliophile will want to resist this instructive, entertaining and amusing anthology, which reveals indexes as whimsical (Lewis Carroll), enticing (Pepys), hilarious (Julian Barnes), or playful (Virginia Woolf). Indexers portrayed in fiction are noted to be everything from drunk (in Trollope) to meticulous (Sherlock Holmes) to romantic (in Barbara Pym). The entries are fascinating, the brief history of indexing is engrossing, and A.S.Byatt's foreword is brilliant. A splendid and unique 'must-have' for any book lover. ... Read more

Product Description
Esta extraordinaria novela, cuenta su autora, tiene su remoto origen en las reflexiones que le inspiro una biografa americana de Coleridge que habia dedicado toda su vida al estudio del poeta. Todo empieza con unas cartas robadas. Roland Mitchell, un oscuro graduado en literatura inglesa, descubre entre unos libros, dos cartas inconclusas y nunca enviadas a una desconocida mujer. Roland investiga la identidad de la misteriosa corresponsal y descubre que esta es Christabel LaMotte, oscura, ambigua poetisa de la epoca, reivindicada en la actualidad por feministas y lesbianas. Roland ha hecho un descubrimiento que puede lanzarle a una brillante carrera academica y constituir un hito en el estudio de la poesia victoriana. Y acompanado por una mas que atractiva especialista en la obra de Christabel, seguiran un rastro de poemas, diarios y cartas, y gradualmente poseidos por aquellos que buscaban poseer, reconstruiran una historia de pasiones alli donde nunca se supo que las hubiera. ... Read more

Product Description
The catalogue of the first retrospective exhibition of Patrick Heron's work, held at London's Tate Gallery, summer 1998. A substantial interview with the artist is followed by a selection of his paintings, all exploring what Heron himself has called the "continent" of colour. ... Read more