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Cover, corners & pages, and in new condition. I only had to cut my address label out. I dont have time to read due to school!! No Shelf wear. Will ship in a covered, protective package using USPS TRACKING system with in one day. ... Read more

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Contents of many titles, two more from cover: Michael Phelps: The Obsession Driving His Quest for Gold; Caught on Tape: Secret Spanking Video Shames Grand Prix King .... ... Read more

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Entertainment Weekly August 15 2008 Issue Exclusive Tropic Thunder, 'Twilight' Backlash, Obama vs. McCain, and more ... Read more

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From the Academy Award-winning Fargo to the cult classic Blood Simple, the Coen brothers have earned critical acclaim and a passionate, devoted following. Now, with Gates of Eden, Ethan Coen brings to the audiobook the same razor-sharp wit, imagination, and shocking intensity that have resonated with millions of fans.

With these unabridged stories, sometimes heart-felt, sometimes brutal, always wildly entertaining -- Ethan Coen delivers everything you would expect from such an original imagination.Amazon.com Review
Small-time mobsters, private investigators, adulterers, andHebrew-school students populate these stories written by Ethan Coen,the Oscar-winning cowriter of the Fargo screenplay. Read mostlyby actors who have appeared in his films--including regulars SteveBuscemi, John Goodman, and John Turturro--these vignettes are setprimarily in Minneapolis. There is a lot of fighting, farting, and theother f word in these tapes, disqualifying this audiobook forthe fainthearted, but the listener is well rewarded with some smart,if brutal, writing. Standouts include the Matt Dillon-read "Destiny,"a Mafioso story about a college graduate-cum-failed boxer whosepoverty sucks him into an underworld rivalry, and William H. Macy'sreading of the title story, a tongue-in-cheek noir featuring aCalifornian who is temporarily distracted from his work by a geishagoddess. (Running time: 5.5 hours, 4 cassettes) --KimberlyHeinrichs ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Hilarious and distrubing...
As a big fan of his movies, I was really inpressed with this collection of short stories.This guy can really write.GATES OF EDEN will leave you wondering if every story included could be made into a film.Brilliant!

Help! Coen turned people into pulp!
Well no, these aren't actual people in Coen's stories, but they are 'real' and brilliantly drawn. The dark humor those familiar with the Coen Bros. movies is ever-present in these stories, and Ethan proves he's as capable a writer as a storyteller, with very clever use (and abuse) of language and clever turns of phrase.

I suppose what I enjoyed most is that every chapter of this short-story collection is a *story*, rather than just a writing exercise from a creative writing course. These stories are populated by *characters*, and the actions of these characters advance the *plot*. Each is pure fun to read, and again, are excellent *stories*. They're about people, and the things people do, and how screwed up the whole species really it.

From Hector Berlioz, p.i., to the weights-and-measures man.
Coen brothers.

Just say the words, and most moviegoers can tell you what you're probably in for.

Crime. Criminals. Mystery. Shenanigans.

The same holds true for "Gates of Eden," a collection of short stories by Ethan Coen, one-half of the brother team (bro is Joel Coen) that created such contemporary classics as "Blood Simple," "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou?" and, most recently, "The Man Who Wasn't There."

With the short stories in "Gates," Ethan displays the tendency to irresistible characters that the brothers have put to such acclaimed use in their films.

And characters they are. Hapless schmucks, crooks who just don't seem to have a clue, oddballs and hitmen, all of whom are destined to win your heart. Or, at the very least, your funny bone.

The title story is probably my favorite, simply because it examines a career that is usually shucked aside by storytellers in favor of more glamorous work: The weights-and-measures man.

It's Joe Gendreau's job to make sure the gas station attendant isn't overcharging for or skimping on gas; a beating with a tire iron will keep him straight. All in a day's work, ma'am.

Like Joe says, "Standards are what make us a society. A community agrees. A gallon is a gallon. A pound is a pound. He who says fifteen ounces is a pound - he must be put down. A pound is a pound, or we go bango."

Sigh. Coen's use of dialogue makes me weak in the knees. Oh, to have that firm control of dialect.

Other faves in "Gates":

"Destiny": A knocked-out-too-often boxer agrees to take pictures of guy's wife in bed with a business associate, and ends up caught in between two gentlemen of less than civil reputation.

"Cosa Minapolidan": Among other things, a mob boss wants a fresh stiff. But the guys he's got on the job ain't quite right in the head, if you know what I'm saying. And one of 'em's new on the job.

"Hector Berlioz, Private Investigator": Aside from his name, there's nothing out of the ordinary about this private investigator. Coen sets the whole story like it could be an old-fashioned radio drama, and the results are both familiar and fantastic.

"A Fever in the Blood": Next to "Eden," this is the best story in the collection. Another p.i. finds himself deaf in one ear psychologically after having the other one bitten off. Brings the "Twilight Zone" to mind, complete with twist at the end. Perfection.

Anyone in need of a quick pick-me-up or an enjoyably light read can do worse than Coen. Grab your teddy bear, hunker down under the covers after (or in the middle of) a long day and thank your lucky stars you don't lead these sorry souls' lives.

The Strange Mind of Coen
Ethan Coen's collection of short stories is a hint to his remarkable movies.The writer of such great films as Raising Arizona, Fargo, and O Brother Where Art Thou? brings his unmistakable sense of humor to literature with his first work of fiction, Gates of Eden.Coen's sense of humor is uniquely intelligent at times, stupid at others, and very often disturbing.

From mafia back-stabbing to a decapitated wife and every story in between, Coen makes the reader laugh and simultaneously makes the reader feel uncomfortable for laughing.One often finds himself asking, "Should I really be laughing at this?"It is upon this type of humor that the Coen Brothers built their film career.Coen overcomes the occasional lack of true plot development with intriguing character analysis and captivating dialogue.

This book is a very easy read even with the intriguing and interesting lanuage and dialogue.The stories are short enough for a single sitting and long enough to actually say something.I would recommend this book to anyone who has taken even the slightest interest in a Coen Brothers film.But take heed, many stories are not for the weak-stomached conservative.Be prepared for a few shocks and an interesting insight to the American way.

If you like his movies...
If you like Ethan Coen's wacky films, and I am among their biggest fans, then you are bound to enjoy most if not all of the subject stories.Unlike most audio collections, these stories are narrated by many of the actors who have starred in Coen Brothers films such as William H. Macy, John Goodman, John Turturro and Steve Buscemi.I thought that was a great touch, and unlike another reviewer here I thoroughly enjoyed the vocal talents, never sensing that the stars had been quickly handed the stories and told to "read" by the director.

As for the tales themselves, they were each very different, and ranged from typical Coen brothers slapstick crime stories to poignant tales of growing up Jewish in Minneapolis.I really enjoyed "Destiny",the story of an over-educated boxer with no fighting spirit, narrated by Matt Dillon, who becomes hopelessly involved in a battle between a couple of two bit hoods while getting pummeled throughout the story."The Boys", a story of a father struggling to maintain his sanity on a camping trip with his two sons really struck a chord as well, since Coen displays his typical caustic wit and dead-on observations of family relationships.

The stories are not for everyone, sometimes the language can get a little coarse (especially the Steve Buscemi narrated "Have You Ever Been to Electric Ladyland", involving a music industry executive who tries telling the police the myriad of enemies who might have tortured his dog), and those easily offended may want to look elsewhere.Even here Coen's biting sarcasm is evident, as he skewers thinly-veiled real stars including Cat Stevens.

Overall, while Coen may never push writers like Raymond Carver out of the pantheon of American Short Story writers, these tales are an amusing bunch, made more entertaining by the considerable vocal talents of each of the narrators.I recommend you give them a try, especially in audio format. The people in the next car will wonder what you are grinning about. ... Read more

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Never opened. Cover, corners and pages in excellent condition. I only had to cut my address label out. I dont have time to read due to school. No shelf wear. Will ship using USPS TRACKING system, in a covered protective package within one day. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Thomson Gale on January 25, 2004. The length of the article is 827 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Along Came Polly (y vino Polly): lo más fresco en cine y televisión.(reseña incluye notas sobre el programa de televisión Friends)(Reseña de película)
Author: Susana Moscatel
Publication: Siempre! (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 25, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 50Issue: 2641Page: 76(2)

Article Type: Reseña de película

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This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Spanish Publications, Inc. on October 19, 2001. The length of the article is 2007 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Pantalla Grande.(películas)(TT: The silver screen.)(TA: motion pictures)(Reseña)
Publication: Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 19, 2001
Publisher: Spanish Publications, Inc.
Volume: 7Issue: 451Page: 41

Article Type: Reseña

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This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Spanish Publications, Inc. on January 18, 2004. The length of the article is 604 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Along came Polly.(Reseña de película)
Author: Sindy M. Ortega
Publication: Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 18, 2004
Publisher: Spanish Publications, Inc.
Volume: 10Issue: 568Page: 26(1)

Article Type: Reseña de película

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This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on December 17, 2000. The length of the article is 672 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: "Los padres de ella".(TT: Meet the parents.)(Reseña)
Author: Pedro Crespo
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 17, 2000
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Page: 76

Article Type: Reseña

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By the early nineties, singer-songwriter and former Blake Babies member Juliana Hatfield’s solo career was taking off: She was on the cover of Spin and Sassy. Ben Stiller directed the video for her song "Spin the Bottle" from the Reality Bites film soundtrack. Then, after canceling a European tour to treat severe depression and failing to produce another "hit," she spent a decade releasing well reviewed albums on indie labels and performing in ever-smaller clubs. A few years ago, she found herself reading the New Yorker on a filthy couch in the tiny dressing room of a punk club and asked, "Why am I still doing this?" By turns wryly funny and woundingly sincere, When I Grow Up takes you behind the scenes of rock life as Hatfield recounts her best and worst days, the origins of her songs, the source of her woes, and her quest to find a new purpose in life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (48)

I like it
It's been about a year since I read this book and I still think about it once in a while.Yes, Juliana complains a lot and makes the life of a rock star seem like endless aggravation.She makes good points about perserverence and professionalism in the face of difficult conditions.Whatever her complaints, Juliana has been making great, innovative music for decades and she seems a little happy and proud of that, which makes me happy too.

I really like the parts about her early life and history with the Blake Babies.

Surprisingly good and well written.
I found this book in a remainder pile. I had never heard of her or her music.

The book turned out to be beautifully and brutally honest. And she must be the shyest girl in the world. But very sensible, and lovable.

I am now getting into her recent music.

Mind-numbingly dull
I was excited to read this book.I had been a fan of her music in the 90's and thought that she might have some interesting stories to tell.Maybe she does, but none of them made it into this book.Instead it's chapter upon interchangible chapter of her moaning on about her mundane self-doubts and lousy guitar playing.She shows shockingly little actual insight for someone her age.This was the most pointless memoir that I have read in a long time.

For Hard-Core Fans Only
A major disappointment.

I understand her desire to write a 'warts-and-all' memoir, but instead of giving us gritty reality, Hatfield does nothing but throw herself one long pity party - 300 pages of it.

There are passages regarding life on the road that are interesting and show promise. But her god-awful writing makes the book read like the diary of a teenage drama student. (Where WAS the editor, anyway?) She is a talented song writer for sure, but the poetry involved in song writing is a completely different animal from that of writing prose, and Hatfield simply isn't up to the task. Virtually every-other page exhibits embarrassingly twisted grammar, awful sentence structure and excruciatingly bad writing technique

Worse still is Hatfield's constant complaining: She didn't get $15 food money from a promoter.......her hotel room had an odor she didn't like.......all the "adoring" fans won't leave her alone....she was only paid $1,500 for a show instead of the $3k she wanted........waaa, waaa, waaa.At first I thought this was a set up for later enlightenment. I was waiting for the moment of 20-20 hindsight - the "I see now how lucky I truly was and I shouldn't have treated people like that" moment. But, no, she just keeps complaining right up to the end.

Amazingly, she doesn't even catch on to her numerous contradictions and ironies. Her complaint about not getting the $15 meal money is quickly followed by the chapter about her $400,000.00 advance, for example ($400k would buy a lot of meals, I would think). She admits the $1500 paycheck for the above-mentioned show was "pretty good money, though. I couldn't complain, really." Only to then go ahead and spend the next full page complaining about it.

In one instance, she's approached by a fan after a show who wanted her to autograph about 20 CD's. The discs included imports, singles, and very rare discs that Hatfield admits even SHE doesn't own. But instead of recognizing that this man was a major fan who obviously goes through a lot of effort to purchase her work (and in doing so, puts money in Hatfield's pocket, allowing her to lead the kind of life she's always wanted and the rest of us dream about - a concept that's continually lost on her throughout the book), Hatfield can do nothing but complain about this fan - for a full page and a half - and how burdensome it would be to sign all 20 disc. (She ends up only signing two and sends the fan away.)

Indeed, her lengthy screeds about long-past slights (or at least what she perceives as slights) only leads the reader to ask the obvious questions: can't Hatfield let go of anything? Why does she devote so much effort and page space to minor offenses from years past? What kind of person would be so petty as to spend a full bile-filled page about $15 she didn't get 7 years ago? And why am I wasting my time reading it?

As with most artists with small but highly devoted fan bases, Hatfield's hard-core fans will see anything she creates as nothing less than brilliant (I probably take that attitude toward anything Nick Cave does). But to the rest of us, this is a tortuous book to read, written by a narcissistic, ham-handed writer.

Intimate Rock 'n' Roll Memoir
When I was in high school, Juliana Hatfield was my idol. The former front person for Boston indie rockers, The Blake Babies, Hatfield exuded coolness and her lyrics seemed as if they were plucked from my brain. While in college, I attended her every local concert, yet never had the courage to speak to her much, even after a friend of mine became her drummer. I graduated from college and got sucked into a career in the music industry, often crossing paths with Hatfield. Still, I held her up on a pedestal, not wanting to shatter my esteemed image of her. Trust me: sometimes it's best not to meet your heroes.

Now, after having read When I Grow Up, I feel like I know Hatfield like an old pal. The chapters alternate between a recent tour with her current band, Some Girls, and a chronicle of her life in music. It is exceedingly personal and raw. ... Read more

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America has a glimpse of what some well-known celebrities call their favorite recipes. Over 25 top peronalities, ranging from Andy Garcia nd Janeane Garofolo to Ben Stiller and Mira Sorvino, have thoughtfully contributed their favorite recipes to this special cookbook. In 1997 Lomonaco was appointed Executive Chef/Director of Windows on the World. He brought his cutting-edge American cuisine with him, replacing what had been a French-inspired menu with food that made diners and critics take note. Michael eagerly took on responsibility for all culinary operations at the Windows on the World complex, including the main dining room, the intimate Wild Blue and the boisterous Greatest Bar on Earth. In addition, he managed the kitchens for and oversaw the Windows' private dining menus and operations. During his time at Windows on the World, Michael helped owner David Emil develop the wildly successful Latin Night, which gave diners a first taste of the duo's passion for Latin American cuisine, culture, and music. Latin Night sparked the creation of Noche, with Lomonaco as Chef/Director of this multi-story, midtown restaurant and nightclub featuring the vibrant culinary traditions of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Many former employees of Windows on the World in the World Trade Center were hired at Noche when it opened in 2002. The restaurant recently announced that it was closing in September 2004, and so we look forward to Chef Lomonaco's next culinary venture.In the meantime, you can catch Michael Lomonaco on TV. A former actor who is at ease in front of the camera, Michael is the co-host of Epicurious, the Discovery Channel's popular cooking program. He has also hosted "Michael's Place" on the Food Network, writing concepts and recipes for 140 episodes over three years. Michael has been a regular guest on many late night and daytime talk shows as well as cooking programs including "In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs." ... Read more