Enjoyed thoroughly the information on making 2 leather jackets from one and the scarf jackets - ingenius! Shirley knows her stuff. For experienced sewing enthusiasts who dress well only.

This twelve short stories collected here share both a first-person narrative format and a thematic concern with work and the ways work affects ones' life. The narrators vary widely, including an English garbageman recounting incidents from his work, the wife of an Aussie mason struggling to find work in France, a French tire-repairer working for his father under German occupation, an English clerk for a timber company in the Congo, an American adrift in Paris who befriends an cigarette-butt gatherer, a French swimming pool salesman, the brother of an English car-restorer who commits suicide, the wife of a German metalworker, a Pakistani immigrant working at a lightbulb factory, and others.

Their stories vary in interest, but through them Thorpe is attempting with varied success to show how work can radically define a person's life and outlook on life. Although, by setting almost every story in past (especially the '30s-'60s), he seems to be indirectly suggesting that this is less and less the case in the modern world. The stories display a keen sense of research and care, as Thorpe adeptly summons disparate voices and argot of various trades, ethnicities, classes, and nationalities. Sometimes the drama gets a little too, well, dramatic. And some of the shorter stories lack the depth to make them truly compelling, but on the whole the book is worth checking out. The title 45+ page story, about a Ghanaian adrift in mid-'60s London, is especially worth reading.

Note: Five of the stories appear in other collections (New Writing 3, New Writing 6, New Writing 7, Obsession, Time Out Book of Paris Short Stories), two were performed on BBC radio, and several appeared in The New Statesman.

In roughly 150 pages, author Jose Orlandis presents to readers a neatly compacted history of the Catholic Church up to the early years of the collapse of the Communist bloc. Published originally in Spanish as "Historia breve del Cristianismo" ('Brief History of Christianity'), this English translation by one Michael Adams is quite brief as well, even cursory to some. But, as Orlandis points out in his Preface to this work, he made the book short "in order to make it accessible to a wide readership, to people who might not be inclined to read a more elaborate book." This being said, the author does manage to effectively profile the main events and theological developments which molded the Church to its present form. "A Short History of the Catholic Church" is orthodox in its outlook and does not neglect to mention unfavorable events and characters in Church history. Orlandis dedicates a curiously laudatory paragraph in the final chapter to Opus Dei, the lay organization which is considered controversial in some circles but enjoys at the same time the support of conservative Catholics including Pope John Paul II himself. In a more conventional vein, the author supplemented his text with a fine chronological table divided by centuries, but unfortunately did not insert a bibliography.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. The book I read is called Shorty. I have read that book a lot of times, I can't even remember how many times I have read it. Well let me tell you a little bit about it. There was a boy and he had two sisters and a mom. His sisters were younger than him and they both were taller than him. His name is Josh and his sisters names are Amanda and Andrea. They always picked on him and he got in trouble for it. All of his friends were taller too. Josh's friends steal things from the store as they're walking home and Josh is afraid to tell his parents because he likes his friends. Well, one day as they're walking home from school, Josh goes in the store with them, and his friends put something in his pocket. As he's walking out the door the cashier sees the pack of candy and Josh gets in trouble! So when Josh's mom gets to the store she wants to see the camera to see the whole thing and they find out who did it. I think that you should read this book. It's really good.

I think this book is really good because I like funny characters. Some of the funny characters in this story are Elliot Banks and Adam Joshua. My favorite chapter is called "The Show-and-Tell War."

I have long enjoyed Ziolkowski's books, and this one is no exception.

In three chapters, the book examines three central mythological figures--Prometheus, Adam, and Faust--and explores their origins and original functions in their respective societies. Ziolkowski then examines in three subsequent chapters how each figure has been appropriated in modern literature as a reflection of changes in values.

Ziolkowski examines Adam within the literature of the early modernist writers, Prometheus in the literature of the former East Germany, and Faust in recent American literature. I found the chapter on Prometheus and East Germany especially insightful.

Incidentally, I also recommend Ziolkowski's study of Virgil for those readers seriously interested in the use of ancient mythological figures in modern literature.

Pretty hilarious. The unexpected combination of pet skunk tales and Native American folklore. All captured in light of the author's spiritual journey.

The key to understanding Hemingway's work is to view it as a broad allegory on the sociopolitical environment in which he lived and wrote. On a purely literal level, one could view "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" as a campy yet endearing story of one man's search for the perfect ski slope (Kilimanjaro) or the perfect hunting trip(Macomber). But if you look at the mountain as, say, the U.S. economy and the elephant as, say, the gold standard and Francis' wife as, say, the War Powers Act, the story takes on an entirely different meaning. And the ancient sherpa's diatribe on the Securities Exchange Commission becomes an extremely poignant and brilliantly crafted fulcrum on which to balance the story's central metaphor.

Daniel Adams' The Solo Snare Drum came out in the year 2000 from the publication house of HoneyRock Press. This book is 125 pages long. It was written by a composer and percussionist who teaches music at Texas Southern University.

Some music books are for listeners, and others are for performers. Listeners might get a kick out of certain parts of this book, for Adams has a very funny writing style. He describes, for example, the proverbial « inept and perhaps ill-advised snare drummer flailing away in the hind quarters of the junior high school band » and some other images that are either familiar teachers' nightmares or otherwise autobiographical. Also, though most of the pieces that he reviews really deserve to be taken seriously, some of the ones that he reviews, especially the one with the soda can, the television, and the socks, are, if nothing else, surely good for more than a few laughs.

But this book is really a book for performers, and particularly for those who are really interested in relating different styles of music to the snare drum and maximizing what can be done with this instrument. A lot of what the book describes is relevant to a variety of drums, not just the snare. He talks about various systems of notation, the often underestimated potential of the snare in particular ( but what he says about the snare could really apply to a lot of types of drums in general ) and summarizes the « left hand / « right hand » versus « strong hand » / « weak hand » issue in how composers direct drummers, that kind of thing. He also deals with the importance of distinguishing « improvisation » from « indeterminance, » and with such issues as the virtually limitless variety of options that perfomers have in choosing what kind of mallet, if any, to use. Some parts of the book really are for those who are especially concerned with the snare in particular, for example, the chapter « Snare On / Snare Off » pretty much fits this description. One of the most interesting points that he makes about the snare is that it is so often treated as a kind of a step-child, and yet despite this has a unique cross-over potential that really distinguishes it from a whole lot of other instruments. Come to think of it, how many instruments can be in the Symphony Orchestra, the Military Marching band, the Jazz Band, the Salsa Band, and the Rock and Roll Group all at the same time ? What better way to fuse these seemingly incongruous styles together than to exploit the potential of an instrument that is equally at home with all of these genres ? Also, as Adams points out, the snare, when in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, and he cites various composers and performers whose pieces and performances indicate that they do, has some unique qualities that link it with the tabla, the timbale, etc. If you know how to manipulate this one instrument, you can pretty much simulate some of the musical possibilities of others. In other words, for the musician who wants to incorporate the sounds of these instruments without cluttering the stage with a plethora of exotic instruments, this may be just the book.

On the whole, what gives this book its charm is its erudition ( he draws on dozens of snare drum performance pieces in detailing the potential of the instrument ), as well as its exploration of the high level of potential in something that has normally been devalued. It is this « ugly duckling » quality that he does a great job in dealing with. One of the only problems with the book is the lack of historicity to the snare. Where does it come from and what were its original intentions ? This is not dealt with very much. Is this an instrumant that started out as something very different than what it can potentially become, or is this an instrument that at one time had a proud history that has now been consigned to oblivion and that must be revived ? Someone who is dealing with the value of a musical instrument should acquaint those of us who don't know all about that particular instrument with whether it has arisen out of nowhere or some kind of a base origin, or whether it is a kind of fallen aristocrat whose nobility finally needs to be reclaimed. These kinds of things should be dealt with a bit more. But this is really a minor quibble with a really intelligent book that has a lot of practical value to musicians.

Solving Marriage Problems, by Jay Adams is a short easy to read book of only 122 pages. One should not be fooled by its brevity however. As far as a well annotated, academic treatise on marriage and family counseling goes, this book does not purport to be of that genre. What it is rather, is a very well thought out, practical handbook for the Christian counselor.

It follows judiciously it's a priori notion that God is in control of our lives, and therefore has the right to prescribe what is best for His children. It proscribes any solutions based solely on human ingenuity, but recommends instead a reliance on God's word. One gets the distinct impression while reading this book, that in the mind of the author, no marriage problem is too insurmountable for God, when these biblical principles are applied.

The assignments at the end of each chapter are an indispensable tool that counselors should avail themselves of. They force counselors to think very hard about the principles discussed in the previous pages. On balance, this is an excellent book that should be on the shelf of every serious Christian counselor.