Product Description
Film

The long-awaited republication of this captivating account of the star's life.

Louise Brooks left Wichita, Kansas, for New York City at age fifteen and lived the kind of life of which legends are made. From her beginnings as a dancer to her years in Hollywood, Berlin, and beyond, she was hailed and reviled as a new type of woman: independent, intellectually daring, and sexually free. In this widely acclaimed, first and only comprehensive biography, Barry Paris traces Brooks's trajectory from her childhood through her fall into obscurity and subsequent "resurrection" as a brilliant writer and enduring film icon.

"Star biographies don't get any better than Barry Paris's Louise Brooks." USA Today

"This account has the aphrodisiac gloss of Brooks herself: you meet the stare of a modern icon, a picture that taunts your inability to touch the real thing. A necessary and stimulating book, it is itself an important part of Brooks's life after death." The New Republic

"Absorbing, wonderfully well researched and, all in all, an exemplar of its kind." London Spectator

"Louise Brooks is not simply a summary of her movie plots and love affairs but a serious work of film and social history." New York Magazine

Barry Paris is an award-winning biographer, film and music critic, and contributor to the New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and other publications. He lives in Pittsburgh.

Translation Inquiries: Alfred A. Knopf ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

Our Miss Brooks
Between 1936, when Louise Brooks completed her final film (a John Wayne cowboy flick, OVERLAND STAGE RAIDERS) and 1956, when she began writing the movie memoirs that would comprise her single published book, LULU IN HOLLYWOOD (1978), she gave dance lessons and generally staved off poverty while dealing with the perception that she had failed to become the star that her two German silent films (PANDORA's BOX, DIARY OF A LOST GIRL) seemed to promise that she would be. (The biography effectively dramatizes many of the reasons that a woman would choose not to be a star, as Brooks perhaps did.) What makes Barry Paris's biography of Brooks so compelling is that the reader (like the author) is not completely certain that Brooks and her twenty-four films (seventeen of which survive) and her single book are deserving of a five-hundred and fifty page biography. They are and she is because of Paris's indefatigable scholarship, the thousands of letters Brooks so eloquently composed and he recovered, and the psychological complexity of this great beauty who included among her list of failures her inability to figure out how to successfully merchandise her ravishing looks. There are few things Paris says in LOUISE BROOKS that don't have their exact contradiction somewhere else in the text: in so many ways, she was extraordinarily self-sufficient, but she depended on wealthy males for financial support; some viewers find her performances in PANDORA and DIARY great acting, but she objects that "I was simply playing myself, which is the hardest thing in the world to do"; she insisted throughout her life that her unwavering commitment to "Goethian truth" was responsible for her unpopularity with acquaintances and readers, but Paris provides an appendix of errors and half-truths that pervade LULU IN HOLLYWOOD.
Paris's biography makes no brief for Brooks as anything more than a highly complicated, extremely intelligent woman more gifted than most in dancing and writing (and, in her twenties, more possessed of beauty than most humans ever are) but one no more capable of answering existential questions than are the rest of us. Her descent into deepening self-exile and old age is harrowingly depicted in the biography, but equally memorable is Paris's documentation of the fact that there were many in Rochester, N.Y., and elsewhere who cared about and cared for her no matter how badly she, in her late, irascible years, treated them. Perhaps the central mystery of her life and of the book is that of aging: how she went from being the ever-so-lovely Lulu of silent films to the Rochester shut-in keeping herself alive by writing. Barry Paris has written a biography worthy of that human enigma which we will, if we're lucky, also face in our own ways. LOUISE BROOKS is a profound study of a profoundly fascinating human being.

Fascinating
I am not a fan of silent films, and had never heard of Louise Brooks until I saw one of her photo's associated with a story about the Zeigfield Follies. Most of the other "Follies girls" pictured may have been considered attractive for their era, but Brook's photo was (to me) transcendant.Her life story is strangely addictive, as the author uses comments from her friends, family and contemporaries to flesh out this frustrating, pyschologically scarred little dynamo. As Barry Paris describes her self destructive approach to life, the many images of this beautiful sexually charged waif highlights the dichotomy between her physical beauty and her tortured soul. I enjoyed the book immensely and highly recommend it.

Definitive
This is the book. Who was Louise Brooks? Read this book. Paris is the best.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Louise Brooks...
This is an extremely thorough, even-handed and well-written bio.The author's approach is intelligent and his research and references are extensive.

One learns that Brooks began as an upper middle class wildchild from the plains who determined early to be a great dancer.She had talent and determination. But Fate along with timing made it possible for her to escape Kansas for New York City at the tender age of 15 (!) to train with a premiere dance company.She seems never to have gotten past being that wildchild and was, at 17, dismissed from the troupe for unacceptable behavior.Soon she was a dancer on Broadway, including a stint with the Ziegfeld Follies.Next stop, the movies!

Being admittedly "selfish and stubborn" as well as volatile, Brooks tore through New York, Paris, London, Hollywood, Berlin and back, living it up and burning bridges all around.By age 25 she was finished in terms of ever becoming a movie star or great dancer.She eventually disappeared into a gin bottle, was reduced to dance instruction, retail sales and finally "love for sale."

This is all fascinating enough, but her late-in-life resurrection as a rediscovered silent era "icon" (based mostly on films made in Europe in the late 20's) and as a newly minted writer is the surprising twist toward the end of an otherwise bleak life story.

Her work in Pabst's "Pandora's Box" ought to provide Brooks all the immortality any actress could desire.She is spectacular as Lulu and deserves every accolade.She was a beauty, but there were other beauties of her era who achieved greater stardom - Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow. Her "black helmet" hairstyle was well suited to her looks, but it's more likely that Colleen Moore actually popularized the look, having been a superstar of the 20's (which Brooks wasn't)and the iconic "flapper."As for her skill as a writer (with reference to "Lulu in Hollywood"), I find Brooks interesting, insightful and even poetic, but there is an underlying note of bitterness that undermines any claim of objectivity.And, considering her decades of gin guzzling, I question her ability to be very accurate 40-50 years after the fact. For me, the mystique and power of Louise Brooks comes down to her performance in "Pandora's Box," her primary and glorious claim to fame.

Read "Louise Brooks" by Barry Paris and form your own conclusions.Don't miss "Pandora's Box."The Criterion Collection DVD boxed set includes Kenneth Tynan's 1979 profile, the TCM production, "Looking for Lulu," a 1970's interview with Brooks and other extras.

Biography and history
This book is an expansive overview of the life of Louise Brooks and also of the early days of the movie industry.Very throughly researched, it gives a nuanced look and the beautiful, brilliant and maddeningly self-destructive icon.It also is a wonderful history of the entertainment world in the 1920's and the personalities who populated that world.A must-read from fans of Louise Brooks. ... Read more

Product Description
Film

Introduction by Kenneth Tynan

The collected writings of this icon of the silent era, in a new, more complete edition.

Louise Brooks (1906-1985) is one of the most famous actresses of the silent era, renowned as much for her rebellion against the Hollywood system as for her performances in such influential films as Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl. Eight autobiographical essays by Brooks, on topics ranging from her childhood in Kansas and her early days as a Denishawn and Ziegfeld Follies dancer to her friendships with Martha Graham, Charles Chaplin, W. C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart, William Paley, G. W. Pabst, and others are collected here. New to this edition is the revelatory "Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs" by Brooks and "The Girl in the Black Helmet" by Kenneth Tynan, which brought about the revival of interest in her work and was the best discussion of Brooks's film work to appear in her lifetime.

"The writing is assured, graceful, and magnetic; the life the dancer-actress-author describes makes most fiction trivial by comparison. . . . This is no ordinary collection of gossipy memoirs. It is a tour de force, as history and as a searching study of human nature." Publishers Weekly

"Brooks is brilliantly perceptive and articulate on everything from the art of film directing to the comedy of W. C. Fields." New York Times

"A minor classic." Film Quarterly

Translation Inquiries: Alfred A. Knopf ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Worth the money
Louise Brooks is a gifted writer who lets you in on what Hollywood was really like in the 20's and 30's. It makes you realize what a publicity machine Hollywood was, and how the myths they created about their star properties are still in evidence today. If you're a fan of the golden age of movies this book is a must.

Excellent Essays by a Hollywood Beauty
Louise Brooks led one of the most fascinating, self-destructive lives of any actor of the silent film era.A born dancer, and giving professional appearances in Kansas at a very young age, she joined a famous ballet group and became a top dancer before she was kicked out for a "bad attitude".Then on to Broadway rising in the ranks to be a starlette of the great revues of that time, including Ziegfield.Talked into taking a screen test in New York, she immediately was cast and, once again, shot upward like a rocket.NY movie making was quite different than the Hollywood "machine" and once forced to CA, she again rebelled at the reins thrown around her.Off to Germany to make the two greatest silents ever:Diary of a Lost Girl and Pandora's Box with director GW Pabst.Bored with Germany, she fled back to the USA, only to find herself blacklisted.She made a few non descript movies after that and only one with sound.The studios, she claimed, let out a story that her voice wasn't "good" for talkies.What a lie!Her voice is angelic as is shown by her only speaking movie made with none other than a fledgling John Wayne, fresh out of USC.
After virtually vanishing for years, she was found in a terrible NYC apartment and convinced to move to Rochester, NY, home of the George Eastman House which was the inception of the largest film library in the world.Through devoted fans and despite her aggressive and often callous behavious, she began writing about her career and Hollywood, German film making and actors she knew.The result is a stunning tour-de-force and not to be missed by a "Lulu" fan. She led a wild, sexually charged life and was an alcoholic in her teens, yet she read philosophy, history, and classic literature.She was so intellectual that men were frightened of her.The rich wanted arm-candy.She was all of that, but because she had brains.
Be aware, however, that highly researched biographies of Louise prove that many of her assertions of "fact" and incorrect.Either she didn't remember well or purposely chose to bend the truth a little.Still, a beautifully, lovingly written set of words.The photos alone are worth the price of the book.With her hugely copied "helmet" hairstyle and those dark, penetrating eyes and perfectly symetrical face, her beauty was unrivaled.Personally I think, in her teens to early thirties, she was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

A distant view of harmless shadows
I first read LULU IN HOLLYWOOD long ago but I did not see Louise Brooks in a full-length feature until I bought PANDORA'S BOX on DVD a couple of years ago. I believe you have to see her on film to truly "get" her. While I don't agree at all with the French proclamation, "There is no Garbo, there is no Dietrich, there is only Louise Brooks", I was impressed by her performance and her intensely charismatic and erotic/quixotic presence. She should've become a superstar after this - but the times and her own idiosyncrasies were against her. She faded into obscurity, alcohol, poverty, ill-fame till the 1950's.

LULU IN HOLLYWOOD is of most interest to Brooks aficiondos. I recently re-read the book and enjoyed it - but this time around I was more aware of the ax Brooks was grinding. Most of her essays are ostensibly about Hollywood stars and creatures of the movie business, but she is really writing about herself and what she writes is telling. Brooks had earlier written of herself that she was "selfish and stubborn" with a "rotten temper", and that's obvious, but she is also cleverly observant. While I agree with another reviewer that she tends to generalize and ramble, she can be poetic:
"...he reduced reality to exclude all but his work, filling the gaps with alcohol whose dim eyes transformed the world into a distant view of harmless shadows." ("The Other Face of W.C. Fields")

More than the book, I recommend the Criterion Collection's PANDORA'S BOX DVD package. The film is a classic. Brooks is captivating and the viewer instantly understands the uproar that ensued when the film and the star were rediscovered. This set includes the TCM production, LOOKING FOR LULU, Kenneth Tynan's profile, a 70's interview with Brooks herself, etc. Lots of extras.

I highly recommend LOUISE BROOKS, the 1989 bio by Barry Paris. It's extremely thorough and well-written. Paris is very even-handed in his treatment of Brooks. He provides much background and documentation but leaves conclusions to the reader.

Quintessential Lulu (Louise Brooks)
What made Louise Brooks interesting beyond just the typical celebrity she was unusually intelligent.She was an extraordinary beautiful woman but if that were all - she would have been just another face in the Hollywood crowd albeit a striking one.Her life was not so much one of just ups and downs but most generally straight down starting at the top.Lucky to have so much success early in life but maybe unlucky for her vision as to witness the folly of those who gave it. Louise's insights and critical assessment of her life and those around her were a " blessing and curse" but then again she had no choice but to follow her own mind as it played out to the end. She was certainly not one to parlay her attributes as a cunning femme fatale as it were but she existed as a passing player through a masquerade of "bread and circuses" orchestrated by those with lesser sensibilities.No, Lulu could have never been satisfied with the status quo, the mundane of the hoi polloi, the trappings of the superficial she was an individual who saw life in its raw form and played no game and for those who did not understand Louise - missed - that her only glory was the truth and its price to pay. She was an intriguing and talented woman who deserved more but would not sell her soul to gain it. Her book tells of her life and times and the pathos within it.
I will recommend highly Barry Paris' biography of Louise Brooks as a necessary read for anyone interested in reading about the life and times of Louise Brooks.The book is excellent and engrossing. It gives a most informative detail of all aspects of Lulu's life.Actually Paris' book should be read first to gain a comprehensive overview of Brook's life before reading "Lulu in Hollywood."A better biography you could not read.

sharp but rambling
This book will be helpful for anyone interested in silent film. Brooks' insights about certain aspects of Hollywood are original. She has no fear of revealing some of the ugliest secrets of the past, and also has valuable things to say about why she believes certain directors and players created works of art. However, in my opinion she could have been a better writer if she'd had more education and/or editorial experience. Some of her essays are rambling and disorganized, and a number of her claims are unsupported. (e.g., that many actresses were pulled from the screen not because of the arrival of sound, but because they couldn't live up to Garbo, p.88.) She also tends to make bold generalizations (e.g., "Every actor has a natural animosity toward every other actor"), which, depending on whether you agree with them, are either smart and charming or arrogant and imprecise.

Some of Brooks' cleverest comments are reported in the introduction by Kenneth Tynan, not in her own writings. My favorite was her joking suggestion that she and Marlene Dietrich write each other's memoirs: "'Lulu' by Lola, and 'Lola' by Lulu".

Note: this is a collection of essays, which don't necessarily follow a sequence. The brief history of her family and childhood given in the first chapter fooled me into thinking this book would be an autobiography, but Brooks leaves much of her own story untold. (In fact, the epilogue is titled, "Why I Will Never Write My Memoirs.") Tynan's introduction fleshes out a little more of Louise Brooks' history, but fans will probably want to keep looking for other writings and biographies after they've read this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Louise Brooks has become one of the most spectacular icons of early cinema.Her distinctive "bob" haircut looks as modern as they did when she first appeared in films in 1925. Louise Brooks was born on November 14, 1906 in Cherryvale, Kansas, and by eighteen had established herself as a dancer with the Ziegfeld Follies, and was receiving film offers from both MGM and Paramount. In 1928, she starred in William Wellman's Beggars of Life. Meanwhile she was mingling with the high and mighty of Hollywood, having a passionate affair with Charlie Chaplin, spending weekends at William Randolph Hearst's castle and captivating such men as William S. Paley, the founder of CBS. Her brief, yet spectacular role in Howard Hawks' A Girl in Every Port impressed G.W. Pabst, the German maestro who was seeking an actress for his upcoming production, Pandora's Box. He rejected Marlene Dietrich in favor of Brooks, who went to Berlin and made not only Pandora's Box but also Diary of a Lost Girl, forever ensuring her status as a screen icon.This exquisitely produced album celebrates Lulu with rare film footage stills, private photos, letters, interviews, and text by renowned film critic Peter Cowie, exploring this influential cult figure and abiding symbol of theJazz Age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Lovely!
Any fan of hers needs to have a copy of this wonderful book! very moving and beautiful!

The All Time, All American Beauty: Louise Brooks
I have to admit up front that I have always been in love with Lulu Brooks.I am 62, but have thought about her every day of my adult life.Ever since seeing Pandora's Box for the first time in my late teens.I have read virtually all of her writings and several biographies of her life and seen all her extant movies (sadly some have not survived).
This book is mostly photos coupled with a brief biography.But, ah, the photos of this woman!She was so famous during her teens and twenties that the studios and fan magazines hired the best photographers in the world to snap her portraits.Her neck is swann-like; her eyes jet black as is her hair, the eyes penetrate and show a lively intelligence, that "helmet" hairstyle perfectly frames a perfectly symetrical face.She attracted men like flies; led a sexually charged life; was an alcoholic by age 18; partied like there was no tomorrow.Yet through it all her beauty remained.
One photo is enough to convince anyone that she was a very special woman.Her self-destructive behaviour brought her career as an actress to a halting end, but nothing can destroy the utmost beauty of her face and body.Hard to believe she was barely 5'2" and washed up by age 30.

not what I expected
I've always been a big fan of Louise Brooks' classic beauty, and I greeted the arrival of this work with anticipation.The book itself is well written, but there is nothing new in it.As I looked through the photos, which are well reproduced, I realised that I had seen virtually all of them before.

If you are a big Louise Brooks fan, you will enjoy this, but you may wish that you had obtained it less expensively.

beautifully done!
A great book on one of the most fascinating and alluring ladies of the silver screen! If you're a Louise Brooks fan you owe it to yourself to get this book! Now if only someone would do a book like this on Clara Bow!

Fabulous ...Just Like Louise!
This book by Peter Cowie has stunning photos and the story of Louise's life is quite intersting.It is put together beautifully and is very well written. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Garbo is Garbage. Dietrich is Denied. Louise Brooks No One.
Louise Brooks is one of the most stunning presences to ever grace the screen. She had inimitable beauty and uncanny movement. Langlois was justified in saying, "There is no Garbo. There is no Dietrich. There is only Brooks" It is impossible to watch her and not be taken by so fluid an actress.
Yet there is still more to this woman. She was a brilliant writer. An even better writer than actress.The style is clipped, almost curt, with a real sense of place. Louise Brooks was a woman with a long memory, a fierce independent streak, and a poison pen.
A cult has grown up around her, and shows its fruits in this anthology. Two of her essays are included which talk about her technique as well as her origins. The other essays are mostly French, being that she became synonymous with her character "LouLou" (Pandora's Box release title in France). It's fairly easy to believe that she inspired such poetry and fevered evaluations her eroticism. The works collected discuss her charisma, innate intelligence, how she compares against the real LouLou. The reader will even be treated to how she inspired not one, but two, comic strips.
Overall, this collection deserves to be read. Louise Brooks is still a fringe figure. Her acting and writing do not deserve to be so. Peruse this collection to discover what it was like to come in on films during their most early and exciting years. All this from a woman who could have quite literally become the most popular actress in the world, but gave it all up to return to dance and literature. Typical LouLou-- always leaving them wanting more.

Sublime
Kenneth Anger once described Louise Brooks as "one of the loveliest visions ever to grace a screen", and his description should be taken as gospel.Louise was a shimmering beauty, but she was more than that: she was an opinionated, intelligent, thoughtful human being who knew thatHollywood breeds crap and who believed in film as art. . .positions sheultimately couldn't reconcile.Who couldn't love Lulu?

Very Interesting
A good companion to the movie Pandora's Box ... Read more

Product Description
Louise Brooks, silent star and sex goddess is remembered best for her reputation and her role in G.W.Pabst's film "Pandora's Box" in which she played Lulu, a role which apparently suited her well. The author uses her letters and diaries in an attempt to separate the myth from the reality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

LOUISE BROOKS LIVES!
Louise Brooks by Barry Paris is the only full-length biography on silent screen legend Louise Brooks to date.Paris' career as a successful journalist serves him well in his role of biographer; his talent for in-depth research paired with stylish writing makes for exciting and highly-informative reading, and creates a book that will stand as the definitive biography in the face of any others that may follow.

In Louise Brooks, Paris carefully traces the actress' childhood in Cherryvale, Kansas - the events of which would have a profound influence on the woman she was to become.Her early stage career in New York and her film career in both Hollywood and Berlin are covered fully from both a professional and a personal viewpoint.Weaving Brooks' own reflections as well as countless interviews with contemporaries, Paris gives a well-rounded impression of a complex character.Brooks' sad decline is handled with sensitivity but also full disclosure, and her joyous, phoenix-like uprising in her later years serves for a real-life happy ending.

The book itself is nicely presented and a pleasure to hold - both in hardcover and in paperback - and is written in an easy-to-read font.A substantial book at 608 pages, it is illustrated throughout with black & white photos as well as an 8-page portrait gallery insert.

In a genre where dross is often offered as gold, Louise Brooks by Barry Paris is an intelligent, top-of-the-line masterwork - the very best in biography.Read it - you will not be disappointed!

Highly readable biography of Louise Brooks
I am one of those who became entranced by Louise Brooks after seeing her in "Pandora's Box". She appeared to be highly sexual, intelligent, and to be marching to the sound of a drummer that she aloneheard within herself. It turns out that she was all of this. This is anexcellent biography and a lesson about what happens to those who despisethe opportunities that life presents to us and to those whose lives aredriven by sex rather than common sense. Louise Brooks was a very modernwoman despite having been a star of the silent screen. She made only a fewfilms but her performances in those films stand up with the greatperformances of today and their naturalism makes the acting of most silentscreen starlets seem idiotic. While other actresses were concerned withnothing but their looks, Brooks was reading Shaw and Proust. While othersdid all they could to ingratiate themselves with the movie studios, Brookshad nothing but indifference for them. She turned her back on fame,fortune, and power. She could have had a brilliant career but alwayssabotaged her chances. She had beauty and incredible sex appeal. She hadChaplin as a lover. She wrote. She lives on today as an image of a womanahead of her time and also as a tragic waste. Her own difficult personalitydrove everyone away. Her lack of discipline was childish. She fascinates.This is the best biography we will ever get of her. Recommended.

Highly overlooked actress starring in 'Excellent Bio'.
This Bio does not look upon Louise Brooks as sympathetically as other's Bio's do.Here we feel that we are being told the truth - as not everything in her life was perfect, or admirable, or even sympathetic. Louise Brooks was still a person who did things her way.And this bookstells us what her was.A wonderful look at a wonderful Actress, Dancer andWriter.

A Great Biography
An all-emcompassing book for fans of Louise Brooks. It has interesting stories and beautiful photos.

A brilliant summation of an extraordinary life
This is a great biography of an obscure, but fascinating silent film star. Barry Paris has done a great job researching the life and times of Louise Brooks. A must-read for any Brooks fan. ... Read more

Product Description
LOUISE BROOKS and Jan Wahl had a special, roller-coaster relationship lastingtwenty-odd years. He met the legendary star when he was a student; it turned outeach of them hoped to be a writer. This intense friendship continued by letterand in person. The letters from Louise reveal much of her inner personality--herinsights and anecdotes make fascinating, compelling reading.JAN WAHL is the author of over 100 books for children of all ages; he has wonnumerous awards. His work has been translated into many languages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great personal history
A fascinating look into the relationship between Louise Brooks and a young writer who became her close friend and correspondent. Very revealing and tender. ... Read more

Product Description
A classic tale of loss and childhood from the author of Heidi. . . .

"Be still, be still," said the woman. The child's mother was gone, lost to the fierceness of the winter. "I shall find something pretty for you presently; then you must sit down quietly and play with it, and not go outside, not one step, do you hear? Pshaw! there is nothing but rubbish here!"

"Well, then give us the rose," said the little girl, still scowling.

The woman looked about the room.

"There are no roses here," she said. "How should there be, in March?" she added, half vexed at having looked for them.

"There," said the child, pointing towards a book that the woman had but a moment before replaced in the cup-board.

"Ah! now I know what you mean. So your mother always kept the rose, the 'Fortune rose?' I often envied her when she used to show it to us. . . ." ... Read more

Product Description
Easy and simple mealtime solutions are within reach of every busy family with the Rush Hour Cook's latest collection.Each day of the year features a new recipe along with a personal challenge, kitchen tip, or words of wisdom.

For those who want to reduce their grocery bills, save time, and enjoy incredibly delicious recipes with simple ingredients, the Rush Hour cook will become a one-stop solution.Like all of the books in the Rush Hour Series, this ultimate collection follows the five Rush Hour Rules:

*All ingredients are pronouncedable through the phonetic use of the English language.

*Each ingredient can be found in the market without engaging in a full scale scavenger hunt.

*No list of ingredients shall be longer than the instructions.

*Each recipe has to be durable enough to survive the "Queen-of-Incapable-Cooking."

*The Rush Hour Cook's finicky child will eat it-or some portion of it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Brook has done it again!
I originally purchased Brook Noel's "The Rush Hour Cook's Weekly Wonders: 19 Weekly Dinner Menus Complete with Grocery Lists for Today's Busy Family" last year.

That book changed my life by giving me the grocery lists and menus to coast through weekly cooking.I was cooking every day like normal people do, and I LIKED it!

Coming back as a more developed cook, I purchased 400 Rush Hour Recipes recently and I have to say, I LOVE IT.The recipes are good, easy to prepare with normal ingredients, which is Brook's promise.Another thing that I find helpful is the kid-friendlyness of the menus and the fact that it is an economical way to feed the family with food made at home.The tips and wisdom are also fun and helpful bonuses that add to the book.

If you are looking for more complex, adult oriented foods, I would recommend Leanne Ely's "Saving Dinner" books.Same concepts, different style.Those books along with Brook's Rush Hour books are really great additions to any every day cooking library.

Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially for domestically challenged or new cooks, with children and/or on a budget.GREAT JOB Brook, THANK YOU!!

All ingredients are common, easily obtained in any supermarket, and come attached to recipes simple to duplicate
Brook Noel has written fifteen books and has appeared on headline news shows, so if her name sounds familiar, it should...she's a busy CEO with nary a domestic gene to her name, so if she can easily prepare the dishes she features in 400 RUSH HOUR RECIPES, anyone should be able to. All ingredients are common, easily obtained in any supermarket, and come attached to recipes simple to duplicate. They are appealing dishes even finicky kids will eat - and they're main dishes so don't worry about breads and rice filling up half the book.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

... Read more

Product Description
Rico was almost nine years old, and had been to school for two winters. Up there in the mountains there was no school in the summertime; for then the teacher had his field to cultivate, and his hay and wood to cut, like everybody else, and nobody had time to think of going to school. This was not a great sorrow for Rico, -- he knew how to amuse himself. When he had once taken his place in the morning on the threshold, he would stand there for hours without moving, gazing into the far distance with dreamy eyes, if the door of the house over the way did not open, and a little girl make her appearance and look over at him laughingly. Then Rico ran over to her in a trice, and the children were busy enough in telling each other what had happened since the evening before, and talked incessantly, until Stineli was called into the house. The girl's name was Stineli, and she and Rico were of exactly the same age. They began to go to school at the same time, were in the same classes, and from that time forward were always together; for there was only a narrow path between their cottages, and they were the dearest of friends. . . . ... Read more

Product Description
One of the greatest cinema comics of all times, W.C. Field's work is a model for writers and performers. Each script is a masterpiece of comic writing. This is a selection of three screenplays of his films, "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break", "Tillie and Gus" and "The Bank Dick". ... Read more

Product Description
Johanna Spyri's first book -- entitled A Leaf on Vrony's Grave -- was published in 1871. A year later she published a great pile of tales for both adults and children, among them the tale of Heidi that became an instant and enduring success. Heidi, the story of an orphan girl who lives with her grandfather in the Alps, is not only famous for its vivid portrayal of the landscape but also for its understanding of how children see life and their feelings.

This book, How Wiseli Was Provided For, is yet another in Spyri's library of tales. Like all others, it's a story not to be missed. ... Read more

Product Description
Welcome to Red Oaks, GA where the congregation of Red Oaks Christian Fellowship Church greets you with open arms! Although this book features traditional romance stories and is not written to be inspirational Christian fiction, the authors have captured the spirit of strong hearts and the power of undeniable love in each of their stories. Enjoy! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

BEWARE - Not A Christian Book -Strong Sexual Theme
If you are into african-american romance novels like myself then this is the book for you.It is a great romance novel which I love to read along with a little sexiness, But.......the cover and title is very deceiving.This is NOT for the Christian reader looking for a little romance within the church.This book has a LOT of sexual content, values of a TRUE Christian are questioned and you will most likely be offended with this book.There is NOTHING Godly about this book so please beware.

Too predictable
The group discussed the book and felt that the storylines throughout the novellas needed a bit more substance.There were no real issues associated with each short story.Following the discussion with the author, the group learned that the standard format for most romance novels is always the same where there is a featured hero, heroine, at least one love scene along with a happy ending (wedding).But those members who have read other romance novels did not remember a similar format.Within "Can I Gen an Amen," each novella introduced a male and female character and it became very obvious after reading the first novella that these two characters would not only fall in love (rather quickly) but get married by the end of the story.Therefore, each novella became very repetitive and predictable for the reader.

The group also had a perception that there would be some connection between the various characters in each novella.But at the completion of the book, the reader realized that Mother Maybelle and Red Oaks Christian Church were the only link between each story

Modest affirmations in the Amen Corner
Capturing the spirit of one church and the antics of a certain matriarch is told in four different vignettes through the eyes of these authors displaying wit, charm and imagery. Every one looks forward to anthologies because they exemplify changes of pace and usually embody stories told from unique perspectives, which gives them flavor. We collectively visit Red Oaks, GA as the setting for this collection of traditional romance stories using the church as a supporting prop. Can these stories stand up individually and collectively to give this book a sense of belonging? The title notwithstanding, the gist of what the authors wanted to convey included the type of romance that you may be accustomed to: unpredictable characters reveling in love scenes with enough drama to make the cast par for this course. Central to all of the stories is Maybelle Carmichael, charismatic and recalcitrant in approach and delivery, who manages to be the catalyst fueling meddlesome mischief. Reverend Avery, is the Pastor is a common denominator to his sermons. Each story boasts the type of women that men gravitate toward, while lacing the stories reciprocally with handsome men women swoon over, all amid small town gossip and jilting jealousy.


Each of these authors are well-adept at how formulaic romance writing is, and they all color their writing acumen with vestiges of it as scenarios are set up with the normal boy meets girl syndrome with a hurdle someone has to overcome to garner the prize. We have four distinct stories with Janice Sims' A Love Supreme setting the stage where the immovable object meets the irresistible urge. Jared Kyles gives all the reasons why he eschews marriage until Alexandra Cartwright comes along to persuade him to change his mind. Usual, you root for the male to get his girl and vice versa. I would have liked more significant drama and more work put into the relationships.

A Love Supreme by Janice Sims pits landscape artist Alexandra Cartwright against businessman Jared Kyles, who is totally against commitment and marriage based on what he perceives as a biological gene. Love and Happiness by Kim Louise hosts Renata Connor as an entrepreneur providing job placement and skill training services to at-risk young men. Mother Maybelle makes it her to recommend Red Oaks Church as a possible sponsor to cure Renata's ailing business. Renata is paired with Devin McKenna, the outreach ministry and entrepreneurial ministry's coordinator. A Love Like That by Natalie Dunbar showcases Dominique Winston, a divorcee who struck out in the marriage game and became the talk of the town and the church. She is the apple of Blair Thomas' eye, a race car driver and engine designer who is in town for six weeks visiting an old college buddy who happens to be a deacon at Red Oaks Church. And finally Love Under New Management by Nathasha Brooks-Harris highlights Valerie Freeman as a woman with a secret as she finds her way to Red Oaks Church to listen to their award-winning choir. There she is in awe of the choir director, and the church is in awe of her voice.

Each story has the proven stamp of Mother Maybelle and her instigating ways. Though there are the usual Christian influences that are prevalent in the book, readers should be wary of labeling the fare Christian inspirational fiction. These stories are pure fiction using the church as a backdrop to tell stories that might be happening in any church in America.

You've Got My Amen!
This was a very nice anthology.Being the Janice Sims fan that I am, I enjoyed her installment the most.Ms. Sims' Love Supreme is beautifully written and it features an adorable couple - Jared and Alexandra.When the two of them explore their feelings for each other, it's obvious that they'll soon be strutting down the aisle of Red Oaks Church.Obvious to everyone except the two of them that is.But with a strong supportive cast of characters pulling for them and the ever-present Mother Maybelle putting her two cents in, these two find blessed love.Great job Ms. Sims!

Now This Is A Powerful Pairing
To understand my review, one must first understand that I was most hesitant at first to even read the book.Author Janice Sims I was familiar with, however, she was the only one of the four that I could say this about. Aside from having only read the works of one of the others, the entire concept of "Can I Get An Amen," made me a little hesitant.I wasn't quite sure if the authors would be able to pull off this concept of centering all their stories around this fictitious town and church.

Though I admit, the concept was daring, Arabesque knew their stuff when they assembled Janice Sims, Kim Louise, Natalie Dunbar and Natasha Brooks-Harris together for this anthology. What was indeed a Mission Impossible, became a Mission Fulfilled as the writers penned stories filled with love, laughter, tests, trials and religion.

Readers are bound to cheer as Jared Kyles overcomes his commitment fears to build something special with the lovely, Alexandra Cartwright, in a Love Supreme.

They'll cheer again in Love and Happiness, but not just for the main characters, Renata Connor and Devn McKenna, but also for the troubled teen, Malcolm Goodwin. Malcomlm's story is representative of so many troubled males. And to show a couple's love blossoming while helping out one of the often forgotten ones, was nothing short of genius on Kim Louise's part.

If the novel had stopped with the above two, I would have honestly been able to say readers had gotten their money's worth. But added to the above, were sizzling and humorous romance stories by Natalie Dunbar and Natasha Brooks-Harris. Dunbar's story pulled at your heart strings, while Brooks-Harris' story tugged at your funny bone. And none of this would have been possible without the absolutely, delightful Mother Maybelle.Now if that isn't worthy of an Amen, I don't know what is! ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Ziegfeld Girls, Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Olive Thomas, Joan Blondell, Ann Pennington, Mae Murray, Florenz Ziegfeld, Nita Naldi, Susan Fleming, Iris Adrian, Anna Held, Bird Millman, Tamara Geva, Dorothy Mackaill, Billie Dove, Paulette Duval, Yvonne Hughes, Claire Dodd, Irene Hayes, Cecile Arnold, Jean Howard, Helen Gallagher. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 164. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 August 8, 1985), generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, famous for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W. Pabst films: in Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe) (1930). She starred in 17 silent films and, late in life, authored a memoir, Lulu in Hollywood. Born in Cherryvale, Kansas, Louise Brooks was the daughter of Leonard Porter Brooks, a lawyer, who was usually too busy with his practice to discipline his children, and an artistic mother who determined that any "squalling brats she produced could take care of themselves". Myra Rude was a talented pianist who played the latest Debussy and Ravel for her children, inspiring them with a love of books and music. None of this protected her nine-year old daughter Louise from sexual abuse at the hands of a neighborhood predator. This event had a major influence on Brooks's life and career, causing her to say in later years that she was incapable of real love, and that this man "must have had a great deal to do with forming my attitude toward sexual pleasure....For me, nice, soft, easy men were never enough -- there had to be a...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=187904 ... Read more

Product Description
The 1929 Louise Brooks film, Diary of a Lost Girl, is based on a controversial and bestselling book first published in Germany in 1905. Though little known today, the book was a literary sensation at thebeginning of the 20th century. Spirited debate and lawsuitsfollowed its publication. By the end of the Twenties, it had sold morethan 1,200,000 copies - ranking it among the bestselling books of itstime.

Was it - as many believed - the real-life diary of ayoung woman forcedby circumstance into a life of prostitution? Or asensational and clever fake, one of the first novels of its kind? This contested work - a work of unusual historical significance as well as literary sophistication - inspired a sequel, a play, a parody, a score of imitators, and two silent films. The best remembered of these is the often revived G.W. Pabst film starring Louise Brooks.

Thisnew edition of the original English language translation bringsthisimportant book back into print after more than100 years. It includes an introduction by Thomas Gladysz, Director ofthe Louise Brooks Society, detailing the book's history andrelationship to the 1929 film. This special "Louise Brooks Edition" also includes more than three dozen vintage illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Rescuing Provocative Literature from Obscurity
Historian Thomas Gladysz has done the silent film community an interesting service: He has made available the original English translation of Margaret Bohme's novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl. To fans of the beautiful actress Louise Brooks, this is a significant contribution indeed. The novel would go on to become the basis of Louise's torrid 1929 German film, which was directed by G.W. Pabst. What makes this new book so appealing is the way in which Mr. Gladysz has presented the vintage material. Featuring a scholarly introduction and numerous, wonderfully reproduced stills and rare advertisements, it is a pleasure to behold. It is also obviously a labor of love. For many years now, Mr. Gladysz has been the director of the Louise Brooks Society. ... Read more

Product Description
Like many of Johanna Spyri's works, Uncle Titus begins with a painful loss of a parent. But this loss ggives way to new hope, and a life of proimise . . . ... Read more

Product Description
Chapters: Barbara Stanwyck, Eve Arden, Lucia Pamela, Jeanne Eagels, Bessie Love, Paulette Goddard, Louise Brooks, Marion Davies, Olive Thomas, Joan Blondell, Ann Pennington, Mae Murray, Nita Naldi, Susan Fleming, Iris Adrian, Anna Held, Bird Millman, Tamara Geva, Dorothy Mackaill, Billie Dove, Paulette Duval, Yvonne Hughes, Claire Dodd, Irene Hayes, Cecile Arnold, Jean Howard, Helen Gallagher. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 149. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 August 8, 1985), generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, famous for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W. Pabst films: in Pandora's Box (1929), Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), and Prix de Beauté (Miss Europe) (1930). She starred in 17 silent films and, late in life, authored a memoir, Lulu in Hollywood. Born in Cherryvale, Kansas, Louise Brooks was the daughter of Leonard Porter Brooks, a lawyer, who was usually too busy with his practice to discipline his children, and an artistic mother who determined that any "squalling brats she produced could take care of themselves". Myra Rude was a talented pianist who played the latest Debussy and Ravel for her children, inspiring them with a love of books and music. None of this protected her nine-year old daughter Louise from sexual abuse at the hands of a neighborhood predator. This event had a major influence on Brooks's life and career, causing her to say in later years that she was incapable of real love, and that this man "must have had a great deal to do with forming my attitude toward sexual pleasure....For me, nice, soft, easy men were never enough -- there had to be an element of domination". (When Br...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=187904 ... Read more